Sideshow Toys

In 2006, the entire toy community was struck by the sudden death of Diane Kamahele, a woman that many of us knew through her role within Sideshow Collectibles. I’d met her at my first Toy Fair in 2002 or 2003, and despite my friend and I being nervous, completely unskilled and having the wrong press badges, she welcomed us into the Sideshow Collectibles mini-showroom warmly.

This was our first stop at our first Toy Fair, and technically, we’d been turned away from getting passes a month earlier, but we were treated like the most important people in the room. From there, my friend and I made careers out of writing and pop collectibles. She recognized us on subsequent Toy Fair visits, and made the whole experience something worth looking forward to.

We were not alone in this sentiment, so when Diane left behind three children and her husband, Sideshow Collectibles began to orchestrate an annual auction to benefit her surviving relatives. I don’t want to sound ghoulish in calling it ’something to look forward to’, but it’s unfailingly a showcase of excellent experimental pieces by the finest pop collectibles company in the US. They offer works that are prototypes, differing significantly from the final production items, or things that never made it all of the way to production for various reasons. This year’s five offerings are no exception. It’s an excellent opportunity for collectors of unique items to get their hands on amazing stuff, and give back to an excellent cause.

If I had to place a bet, I’d venture that this year’s Psylocke Comiquette will bring in the most bids. Sideshow has recently been producing an excellent variety of incredibly sexy multimedia statues of Marvel Comics’ leading ladies, from the White Queen, to Black Cat, Scarlet Witch, and any other female character of questionable buxomness. Yes, I have a couple of the statues. Psylocke, however, is unique because Sideshow sculpted and painted the prototype before deciding to not produce it at all, making this the only Psylocke in existence, and an excellent companion piece to the other X-Men chicks.

Marvel collectors can also snag a Red Hulk prototype Legendary Scale Bust. The item in question is a professionally repainted version of Sideshow’s regular Hulk bust, as realized before they decided to resculpt different aspects of it. It’s a subtle variation on the existing products, but it’s an exciting glimpse into the process. Sideshow’s Legendary Scale Busts are a great collection by themselves – I’m guilty of owning a Dr. Doom, Iron Man, The Thing, Ghost Rider, Apocalypse and a forthcoming Galactus (while quietly pining for Thor and Captain America). They’re really the ultimate collection centerpiece, as the exclusive versions even come with super-fancy nameplates that work with an entire display of character paraphernalia.

In Sideshow terms, ‘Legendary Scale’ is about 1:2, or half the size of a normal human torso. Which is freakin’ huge. Also offered in the current wave of auctions is a prototype of the Star Wars Commander Cody Legendary Scale Bust. The final version has some slightly different sculptural details and a very different paint job. The original piece sells for $300, but the prototype will finish out at a price at least twice that. You can see that the colors on the final version are darker, and that the visor is shaped a little differently, among other differences.

Movie buffs will be thrilled with the prototype Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th Part III. Sideshow has only offered one Premium Format Jason before, and he came in his ‘Freddy Vs. Jason’ duds – far less classic than this sampling of his original attire. There are a ton of Jason collectibles out there, and all of them in different scales or subtle costume variations from between the different films, so this is a completely unique opportunity to score a F13: III Jason in 1/4th scale.

And finally, we need the Premium Format T-700 from Terminator, a creepy robot no matter what version it’s in. This prototype version was made early on, before full reference materials were available to the sculptors at Sideshow, so the final version had additional tooling and a lighter finish. There’s something really menacing about this dark, flat finish that might not be screen-accurate, but has a ton of aesthetic appeal anyhow.

My heart’s with the Marvel stuff, so I hope that it all goes to a great home – especially for such a great purpose. It’s nice to see people dipping into their pockets, even during these economically wacky times.

History is lousy with sons following in their fathers’ footsteps, carrying on the family business and further prolonging, exploring and building enduring legacies in roles from president, butcher, CEO, artist, or just about every occupation that one can find themselves in. While many of these attempts are valiant, they don’t always work out, shadows are cast, and offspring end up living within them.

Lon (Creighton) Chaney Jr., one of cinema’s most enduring monster actors, carried on the legendary monster-acting that his father began, and formed his own powerful legacy as the only actor to play all four of Universal Studios major monsters – those being The Wolf Man (his most notable character), Dracula (once, in 1943’s Son of Dracula), The Mummy (three times) and Frankenstein (once in 1942’s ‘Ghost of Frankenstein‘ and later in a live TV broadcast).

Along with Chaney Sr., Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, he’s considered to be one of the great cinematic monster thespians – not a small honor to be bestowed upon a second generation actor. Even one who once went through the aforementioned live broadcast of ‘Frankenstein’ so drunk that he didn’t realize that it wasn’t a dress rehearsal, and as a result, played an exceptionally gentle Monster who refused to break any of the props until ‘later’.

Of course, the Universal Monsters have been immortalized and appreciated every which way, and have spawned countless collectibles. Among my favorite Lon Chaney Jr. items are, of course, the action figures. Sideshow Toys has done an amazing job of making very actor-specific Universal Monster action figures, busts, statues and all manner of neatness. Among their artifacts are three 12” figures of Chaney Jr., as The Frankenstein Monster, as The Wolf Man, and as Larry Talbot – a figure that reveals his true human face in full. Of course, the latter two figures were his most notable roles, as Bela Lugosi usually gets all of the credit for Dracula and Karloff for Frankenstein.

Philatelists will note 1997 as the year that the US Postal Service immortalized Chaney Jr. on a postage stamp as The Wolf Man – alongside the aforementioned other monsters, as well as the notable Phantom of the Opera (played by Chaney Sr.).

The Official Lon Chaney website (constructed and maintained by great grandson Ron Chaney) actually provides a fairly extensive list, as well as buying opportunities for both Jr. and Sr. collectibles, although at the time of this writing, the site seems to be only half-working. Still, it’s worth a click-through to see just how many Wolf Man THINGS have been made. Finally, a Wolf Man in a snowglobe. Finally, he’s in his natural environment, and somewhere out there, a Wolf Man duvet is waiting for me.

Most of Chaney’s monster performances can be collected on the excellent ‘Legacy Collection’ DVD sets released directly by Universal Studios. Four Wolf Man performances are collected in ‘The Wolf Man Legacy Collection‘, as well as a Frankenstein performance on the ‘Frankenstein Collection‘, ‘Son of Dracula’ is contained in another set, and all three Mummy films in yet another. For around only $20 a set, and with four to six films per set, the real diversity and range of Chaney Jr. is explored. You can round out your monster collection with the remaining two sets, dedicated to The Creature (from the Black Lagoon) and The Invisible Man. If you’re a real completist, you can find the box set that includes all of these, plus some ‘Bride of Frankenstein’ and ‘Phantom of the Opera’ stuff. And watch out for the ‘Phantom’ Barbie & Ken set that was made exclusively for FAO Schwartz in 1997, worth about $300 now.

There have been no Wolf Man Ken dolls. They’ll deform his face and stick a mask over it, but there’s no way that Mattel is going to make him hirsute.

So pop in a monster movie today, and send up a big ol’ ‘ROCK ON!’ to Mr. Chaney.

About a year ago, toy collectors got the tragic news. ToyBiz, the company that redefined action figures with their collection of super-articulated and masterfully-sculpted Marvel Legends action figures, was getting a divorce from Marvel Entertainment. For the remainder of 2006, they’d be dividing up their stuff. ToyBiz would get to keep the recliner, the plasma TV, and the rights to make Curious George geegaws, while Marvel would take their collection of beloved characters with them. Yes, even Paste Pot Pete and Dazzler. The Marvel Legends line, darling of the toy aisle, would be coming to an end, along with the X-Men, Spider-Man and Fantastic Four spinoff lines.

The rights to create 1/12 scale (also referred to as ‘6-inch scale’), articulated Marvel action figures would go to Hasbro, who are known primarily for their much smaller, much less articulated Star Wars figures. Character licenses are tricky things – while one company may get exclusive rights to produce 1/12 scale action figures of a character, another might retain the exclusive rights to 1/12 scale statues of that same character, and the rules that govern these items are very specific. If those statues show a hint of articulation or poseability, a problem arises and exclusivity has been breached. So, us collectors usually end up with a wide variety of varying collectibles, all of differing quality, while everyone’s trying to uniquely cash in on The Hulk craze at once. You know, before Ang Lee made him a total whiny spaz-bag and made him fight Hulk Poodles. Yeah, that happened in the movie, and Batman had rubber nipples on his suit, and no one is ever going to care about Elektra or her sizeable big-screen rack.

The license year is running out, and this week, the toy shelves are bursting with ToyBiz trying to expunge all Marvel product from their warehouses ahead of schedule, not unlike like a spurned lover burning all of the stuff that their cheatin’ significant other left in their apartment. As a result, the final two waves of Marvel Legends have hit the shelves ahead of schedule, causing a total collector blowout. Usually spaced out by at least 3 months between releases, the last hurrah has happened, and it’s happened with a total of 21 must-have collector figures (nine of them being exceptionally rare), spanning waves fourteen and fifteen of the Marvel Legends series. Collectors know these waves as ‘Mojo‘ and ‘MODOK‘, respectively, because if you purchase the six main figures from each wave, spare parts in each package will allow you to create a seventh character that’s otherwise too large to fit into the packaging.

The Marvel Universe has a lot of disproportionate bad guys, so the last few waves have given us a huge Sentinel, Apocalypse, Galactus, and Onslaught, as well as hero Giant Man. ToyBiz seems to have known that the end of their reign was nigh, and for the final two waves of figures, they chose the most bizarre, inconsequential, ridiculous characters they could possibly think of. An obese slug from the television dimension, and a deranged giant floating head. Neither character has ever really had an impact or a memorable role in the Marvel Universe, except for unintentionally providing a hearty ‘WTF?’ and discrediting comics as a valid literary format. Touché, ToyBiz. Incidentally, Mojo and MODOK are two of my favorite Marvel characters ever for those same reasons. Sentimentally, the original Mojo figure was probably my first Marvel action figure, as well as the only other time that Mojo was ever an action figure, snapping robot scorpion tail and all. It was only recently that I acquired a MODOK from an older Iron Man series of figures (also by ToyBiz), but these Legends figures are eons ahead in their ability to capture just how greasy and disgusting a malevolent slug-man can really be.

The sudden release of these is setting collectors atwitter. They’re being found on the shelves of retail establishments like Toys R Us and Wal-Mart before they’ve reached specialized comic shops, which is unusual as far as collectible toys go. While comic shops order through a large distributor monopoly known as Diamond Comics, retail chains order directly from the distribution centers that ToyBiz uses. Usually, this means that comic shops (who need significantly more financial help that Wal-Mart) will get product first, getting prime selling time and real estate, and the retail juggernauts can fulfill whatever needs are leftover. The role reversal on these final two waves has been both disconcerting and rewarding for someone who does most of their pre-ordering online. Distribution is a sketchy and heavily debated topic at best, among all toy companies.

So to ToyBiz, who will never again produce another Marvel figure for us, I say unto you that you’ve done a wonderful job. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Jesse Falcon, toy developer and sometime-improv actor for UCB, who excitedly walked around the ToyBiz showrooms to point out the clear goggles on Green Goblin’s mask and other details that a real collector would appreciate. Before ToyBiz brought the Marvel Legends to life, toy collectors either settled for excellent sculpting or a high degree of poseability. Sure, it doesn’t sound like a big deal, but cities have fallen, people. Crumbled. To. The. Ground. Or, at least message boards got really heated and swear filters have overloaded. ToyBiz found an exceptional mix between the two opposing factions, and from wave one, I’ve been hunting these down every few months, and more often than not, foiled by opportunistic toy scalpers or collectors who were willing to sacrifice their dignity to get to them first.

But the tale of Barry, the Greasy Hat Man, and the thrill of the chase, will have to wait until next time. Allow me to conclude on a completely unrelated note. Sideshow Toys is having their annual Spooktacular sale, so click on the banner below to be transported to a world of extremely discounted monster collectibles, and if you’re lucky, completely free swag. Click the right place at the right time and you could walk away with your very own Hunchback. Last year, I won a Darth Vader statue valued at 350 dollars, so have fun!

Lately, I’ve been completely and irrationally sucked into the realm of high-end collectibles. Whereas a 4” tall action figure of Wonder Woman might have once sufficed, some remote part of me requires that I now possess an 18” tall replica of her, complete with gold-plated bullet-deflecting bracelets, fabric clothing and a lasso woven from the finest silk available to mankind. Signed and numbered in an edition of 150, of course, and not even remotely inexpensive. Maybe this taste in the fancier end of collecting indicates a passage into adulthood and maturity, but there’s also the very real possibility that it indicates a decline into far darker and less rational places.

The worst, most horrible monsters that perpetually attack my better sensibilities are Sideshow Toys, who produce some of the most amazing museum-quality statues and replicas of all things pop culture and exciting, from enormous Star Wars figures to action-packed sculptures of epic comic battles, screen-accurate movie monsters and art prints. I blame Sideshow for this month’s plunge into debt, but I still blame last month’s plunge entirely on goats and latex gloves. It’s a long story. I was sucked into them by collecting their 12” scale Monty Python Holy Grail figures, and I’ve never been able to break free.

Sideshow Toys has been producing 1/4 scale replicas of essential comic book costuming props for a few years now under the banner of ‘Marvel Archives‘. They’ve explored Captain America’s mask and shield, Thor’s hammer and helmet, and have only just explored Dr. Doom’s metal mask and gloves. The future (as we know it thus far) will hold Archangel’s metallic wings and Doc Ock’s extra four appendages. These all run at about 100 dollars each, and some have only been available when attending a particular comic convention. How one is expected to lug around a six-pound block of metal and polystone in a crowded convention is another story.

So, Dr. Doom, known for both his technological prowess and his ability to summon forces paranormal and unknown, archenemy to the Fantastic Four, has had his hands and legendary mask replicated in genuine metal and superbly displayed on a stand that mirrors the semi-Victorian appearance of his castle in the made-up land of Latveria, over which he is lord and master. Available only at San Diego Comic Con 2006 and for a very, very brief window on their website (for a few extra dollars, plus shipping), Doom’s costume pieces have been my gateway drug into that world of prop replicas. I had to pass on Sideshow’s 1/4 scale Dr. Doom figure (in his entirely) due to finances, but that’s a big Doom folks. Thirty pounds of Doom. The sculpture itself comes in four pieces, as both gloves and the mask are removable from the base. They’re slightly magnetized to hold them in place when the item is fully assembled. It’s majestic, it’s iconic, and it’s almost fetishistic in its presence. It owns any display that you might put it in.

The mask has beautiful detailing on the inside also, showing the mechanisms that might operate the mask. In a better world, where men wear crazy masks and shoot tiny robotic minions from their eyes,

Dr. Doom was my very first supervillian love. Before the Joker, before Darth Vader, there was Doom. The disfigured man in the iron mask, with a psychotic vendetta against someone who was once his best friend, unspeakably vain and arrogant and powerful. And he wore a huge belt buckle. What’s not to love?