Sideshow Collectibles Q & A - Update: 03/10

Sideshow Toy has updated with another round of Questions & Answers about things from Black Hole, Avatar, Star Wars, G.I.Joe & more.....

Q. Not sure if this has been asked before, but now that you have the Disney license, do you have any plans to fulfill my childhood dream of creating an amazing statue or figure replica of Maximillian from the Black Hole? I’d buy VINCENT too, but only after Max.

A.Truth be told, we hadn’t really considered VINCENT or the Black Hole until MINDstyles’ wonderful VINCENT made his appearance in our lives (and on our shelves). He triggered a flood of Black Hole memories for the creative team at Sideshow. We can’t say for certain that Max or VINCENT will appear in Sideshow’s product line, but they are on our radar.


Q. Are we going to see any maquettes or life-sized busts from Avatar together with Legacy EFX? Tell us something!… AND… I’ve been dying to see a Jake Sully Maquette from Avatar… any chances I’ll see it soon?

A. Yes, we are developing some very special pieces (large sized and everything) with Legacy. We’ll share more with you soon!


Q. With the news of the Fertility Idol Prop Replica, any chance fans will see a Light-Up 1:1 Scale Crystal Skull Prop Replica from you guys? It is my favorite thing from all of the Indy films! Please DO NOT make it fixed to a base though. Thanks so much Sideshow!

A. Understood – you want to role-play with your Crystal Skull, not just display it!


Q. Does Sideshow have any video game character Premium Formats for us in 2010? One that I’m particularly interested in is Jill Valentine from Resident Evil. Is she in your plans for PF? Thanks.

A. Apologies, we don’t have any current plans for Resident Evil. It’s always possible that things will change, but we can say with certainty that it won’t be part of our 2010 or 2011 plan.


Q. Can we expect to see a T-1000 Premium Format in the NEAR future?

A. Not in the NEAR future, although it is still part of our planning. The artist we’re most interested in sculpting this project has been busy on others – but he’s due to start the piece in the near future.


Q. With the success of the Alien and Predator Diorama lines, will there be a move into individual dioramas of the same style from the AVP movies, because you could do all the variations of the xenomorph’s and predators. I personally would like to see the Celtic Predator from the first film and Wolf and the Hybrid from AVP-R. I think now would be a good time to continue these lines, especially with the upcoming “Aliens vs. Predator” game and the release of “Predators” this summer.

A. Very good suggestions, and we are thinking (and developing) on a similar track. The products we have in development will be complementary to the existing dio line but are evolving more in the way of maquette and statue type products (not all will be wall-mountable, for instance, which was the primary reason that we called those pieces dioramas). You’ll be seeing a lot more of the alien races from Sideshow in 2010.


Q. I love the fact you expanded the “Live by the Sword” line from 12-inch to Premium Formats, and I really like your 12-inch “Brotherhood of Arms” collection. I’d like to know if you expand that one to a PF line, especially Abraham Lincoln. There’s so much character on his face that I think he will be an excellent Premium Format. Eventually you should do all major presidents such as Washington, Jefferson, Kennedy and Reagan. Let us know!

A. It’s a good suggestion, and one that we will discuss (again) internally. You’re absolutely right. Lincoln likeness is a favorite among many sculptors because there’s so much character to capture – he’s a craggy old soul. It’s not currently part of our development plan, although we are developing some other historical figures in Premium Format form.


Q. My question will relate to a license that you have not announced yet but I hope for soon. Here it’s about BILBO the HOBBIT and would be: Make an important scene of the book, I speak about the gathering of Gandalf, the 13 dwarves and Bilbo, which is at his place?? Here I put the question so that I can make savings for this piece, which will be surely splendid. Thank you for your answers!

A. We’re very, very excited about The Hobbit too, but we’re holding out for the film rather than the book. There are certainly some great characters, including some of the best known villains, in all of literature – and we can’t wait to see them translated to the big screen.


Q. Any chance we might see an Original Trilogy era Shadow Trooper in black armor with silver highlights using the new Stormtrooper shell armor sculpt? I believe there is also a version from the video game Force Unleashed that came in an exclusive Wal-Mart pack in the 3 3/4″ scale that I would love to see 1:6th scale.

A. You’re absolutely right – we were more inspired by the small Hasbro figure than any other previous Black Hole / Shadow Trooper product previously released because of the nice use of silver highlights. We do have a prototype finished, and it is a product that we will offer at some point in the future.


Q. With the shipping of the Commanded Cody Legendary Scale Bust and the pictures looking fantastic, do you plan to reveal the next Star Wars LSB soon? Also, can you hint as to who it will be?… AND… Are you planning on releasing a Darth Maul Legendary Scale Bust?

A. In this round of Ask Sideshow, we received a LOT of interest in the Star Wars LSB line! We can tell you that of the concepts that we debuted at SDCC 2009, three of those pieces are currently in the sculpt process (and yes, one is Darth Maul). We’ve been playing a bit with the torso and base integration elements, but we’re closing in on finished sculptures. We expect that we’ll unveil the next Star Wars LSB sometime before SDCC 2010, but it’s hard to say when exactly (just yet). We’ll get you a tease image or two in the production blog very soon!


Q. In an answer to a question regarding your 1/6th G.I. JOE line on 01/20/10, you wrote, “Our development team works hard to find a balance between classic Joe designs and modern practical real-world gear so that the 12-inch figures are immediately recognizable as their source characters but feature as much of the gear that a real-world operative of their type might actually use.” I appreciate this design philosophy, and have been very please with the 1/6th G.I. Joe figures you have already produced (especially Storm Shadow). My concern is that some characters in the G.I. Joe universe don’t really have a “real-world operative of their type”. For example: Zartan and his Dreadnoks. I can’t wait to get my hands on Sideshow’s Zartan. I can’t think of a real world counterpart for Zartan. He is a very unique character that utilizes sci-fi tech in a fantasy world. I am worried that attempts to make him “real world” will remove him from his beloved 80s cartoon and comic book stylings. Can’t Zartan be….Zartan? Should I even be concerned?…AND… Do you plan on making any of the more fantastic characters in 12-inch form, like Battle Android Troopers, Serpentor, or even Cobra-La?

A. Very good questions. I think the best example we can provide for how our team will handle these things can be witnessed in Cobra Commander. The Commander includes his very iconic raygun, which has no real-world counterpart of any kind. There is an integral fantasy / futuristic element of the Joe universe that demands some imagination, and our design team is working through interpretations of those fantastic elements. Realism in all things, but some of the characters do demand a bit of a departure. Of the characters listed in the first question, they’re basically listed in the same order by which we would tackle them. We haven’t started development on them yet, but they’re definitely on our radar.