Toy Fair 2007 : Sideshow Collectibles
02.17.07 By Collin DavidOn the initial Sunday of Toy Fair 2007, we arrived in the press room to discover that the registration computers were feeling rebellious and / or ornery, leaving us at the end of a long line of attendees from the press. Unfortunately, this was not remedied until we’d missed our appointment with the lovely BanDai, but it did afford us some time to watch the swingin’ Alien Creole Band that invades the Toy Fair floor every year and wander our way off to Sideshow Collectibles, a personal favorite of mine. Check out the Sideshow mini-gallery HERE.
Sideshow has the licenses for some of the most popular & cult characters in our time, including Marvel, Star Wars, Predator, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Lord of the Rings in multiple scales, including the unique Premium Format figure, which encompasses all statues over about 18″ tall, made with both solid sculpts and overlain fabric, and large maquettes. They also create full-scale 1:1 busts of the characters they possess and 12” action figures, as well as distribute figures from Medicom and statues from Electric Tiki.
Through no fault of their own, the Sideshow sprawl had a certain emptiness left where we would have traditionally been greeted by Diane Kamahele, who suddenly passed away this year. Instead of being social, we opted to dart around and excitedly take photographs.
Sideshow revealed a large number of great items this year, simultaneously offering them up for pre-order on their website.
Of special interest to Lord of the Rings collectors is the 1:1 scale Helm of Sauron, weighing in at 18 pounds and chock full of evil. Close inspection revealed an array of intricate gold leaf-looking spirals spanning the entirety of the helmet, almost impossibly detailed.
And while on the topic of 1:1 bust items, I finally got a chance to see Sideshow’s life-sized Yoda bust. I’m usually wary of anything that includes rooted hair, as we usually get that ugly ‘planted in rows’ look, but Yoda’s rooted hair wisps are so perfectly concealed that they almost look organic. The stock numbers on this are dwindling slowly, understandably so with the $550 price tag, but this has my in-person seal of approval.
Sideshow is also exploring the upcoming Spider-Man 3 film and the recently released Ghost Rider film with their collectibles, including imported 12” figures and VCDs from Medicom, which are cartoonishly proportioned, relatively small vinyl statues. Additionally, a full sized bust of Spidey in his Secret Wars black costume was revealed to accompany the regular comic bust.
My traveling companion was excited to see the Premium Format, 2-foot-tall Lord of Darkness figure from Legend. This figure in particular has been explored by McFarlane Toys in 8” scale, and SOTA Toys, who went up to 18” with their figure. None, of course, cast theirs in polystone and tailored clothing, though. After being imposed upon in person by the $350 thing, the price seems reasonable.
Also in the Premium Format, big-ass-figure category is the new Darth Maul. While he’s from the most hated of all Star Wars films and we dare not speak its name, Maul always had a pretty neat character design to validate his presence as a figure. Sure, we’ll NEVER see a Jar-Jar Binks (and if we do, he’ll be accompanied by bonfires and angry villagers), but Maul was also an impressive figure - again cast in polystone & real fabric tailoring.
While we’re on the subject of Premium Format figures, nothing new was announced in the Marvel category, but I think the Emma Frost will be enough to hold people over for a little while. I mean seriously…. what? What the heck? This figure is based on the artwork of Adam Hughes, also responsible for the busty Women of the DC Universe busts. 
Emma Frost also appeared on the second X-Men vs. Sentinel diorama piece, which was enormous and beautiful in person. Also, much more reasonably attired. This diorama is meant to be displayed in tandem with the previous Colossus diorama.
Also on display was the huge $845 Predator bust (always a pleasure to see that handsome guy), a handful of Buffy figures including an alternately-attired Premium Format Buffy, the Premium Format John Wayne and Elvis figures, and some 5th Element bobbleheads, which sparked continued rumours and dreams of a much-wished-for 12” scale figure of Milla Jovovich in her thermal bandages. Those dreams will have to remain in the pants of fanboys everywhere.
Unfortunately, no new Hellboy items were on display this year, marking either a temporary lull in the license as the next film is being made, or the end of Sideshow / Hellboy products entirely. While ferocious LOTR and Star Wars fans anxiously awaited the next 12” figure announcements from both categories, none were had, marking another company whose new offerings did not fall into their most strongly supported licenses. Sure, we got news of LOTR and Star Wars diorama statues in the 1:12th scale, but nothing can replace a 12” scale Chewbacca. For now, we’re just going to have to stick our cats in out Dejarik Holochess displays and hope that nothing gets eaten.
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Article Tags: collectibles, convention, Diane Kamahele, Javitz, McFarlane, Medicom, NYC, Predator, Sideshow, SOTA, Toy Fair, ToyFair================
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February 19th, 2007 at 8:42 am
I’ve pre-ordered the Electric Tiki Rocker Biker Girl, I want the Yoda, and now that Helm of Sauron is calling my name….
Sideshow needs to stop before they own my soul…
February 19th, 2007 at 9:49 am
I think that they already own mine, and about half of my limbs. And my firstborn.
Like I have anywhere to display this amazing stuff. Since when did I have enough money to collect these high-end glories?
March 14th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
[...] the past few weeks, I’ve described the offerings of Hasbro, Mattel, DC Direct, Sideshow Collectibles, and a handful of others, as well as posted a large photo gallery of my [...]