Sideshow Collectibles

The hype levels surrounding Star Wars: The Force Awakens may have reached critical mass, but that hasn't stopped fans from clamoring for more. Fortunately, to sate some of those appetites, there have been trading cards and comics and books and toys to hold the hunger for the actual film at bay. I'm as guilty as anyone for jumping head first off the moving bandwagon onto the hype train, and a large part of that is due to the new bad guys we've seen in promotional materials. Apparently I'm not the only one, as trying to find any merchandise with Kylo Ren and the Stormtroopers has been a challenge. Even they can't hold a candle to the desire seemingly everyone invested in Star Wars has for Captain Phasma. Captain Phasma has appeared in footage and images, but hasn't uttered a single word. The only thing we know about her is that she's played by Gwendoline Christie and has the bossest set of armor. The fan fervor surrounding this character has already pegged her as the successor to Boba Fett. Now that's not from an actual coolness standpoint, obviously. We have no idea how cool she'll be in the movies. That's strictly from the point that any bit of merchandise that she's on becomes more coveted than the Ark of the Covenant. It's been especially true for all the figures Hasbro's made thus far, and it will likely be true for the upcoming Hot Toys version, too.

Looks like Sideshow has finally seen the green light at the end of the tunnel. Perhaps the sculptors were just green with envy that so many other DC heroes had their chance to shine already, and it was time to give the brightest star in the Justice League his chance to shine. There will be no more dark days in the future for this character now that Sideshow's finally going to give the emerald in DCU's crown the attention he deserves. It wasn't easy being green, but now that there's a premium format figure for the galaxy's greatest space cop on the way, the hard times are coming to an end. Is that enough cheeseball Green Lantern preamble for you? Good. Now we can just get to the part where I talk about how great it is that there's a sweet new Green Lantern statue on the way from Sideshow, while also bemoaning the fact that it's yet again another Hal Jordan collectible.

After the long string of successes Hot Toys has had with its various Marvel-themed figures, it actually not all that surprising to learn there will soon be a Stan Lee figure coming from the Hong Kong-based company. This actually isn't the first time the Marvel legend has been captured in figure form, as NECA, Funko, ToyBiz and more have all tried their hand at bringing the living embodiment of comic book history to life before. However, very few have been as true-to-life as Hot Toys' latest piece, which brings Stan to life in all his grandfatherly glory right down to the Members Only jacket. It's a curious thing that most toy companies have captured Stan well beyond his glory days in the Marvel Bullpen, and instead have focused on his semi-retired persona as the cameo du jour in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This current version is the more recognizable though, I suppose, but it would have been an interesting take to showcase Stan "The Man" in a younger guise back when he was still influencing the biggest guns in the business on a daily basis. It's also a tiny bit sad that Hot Toys' penchant for realism and accuracy depicts the Marvel mainstay in such a fragile form.

Devilishly handsome. Magnificently deviant. Criminally charming. Loki is many things, and now you can count stunning masterpiece among the superlatives bandied about when discussing the Marvel Cinematic Universe's trickster god. Thanks to Sideshow Collectibles, fans of Tom Hiddleston's incarnation of the character will soon be able to swoon over a premium format figure of the blue-eye mischief maker. Teased earlier this year, the large-scale statue is a tremendous piece of work, and one that captures the danger and attraction all at once. Captured in his guise from the first Avengers film, Loki is presented in his horned helm and traditional deep green garb. The lengthy fabric cape is a brighter shade, and complements the dark, leather-like pants and jacket trimmed in gold. There's a lot of terrific detail in the figure itself, including some outstanding texturing throughout the sleeves and chest. I don't know who does Loki's tailoring, but the facsimile job Sideshow does in on point.

With all they hype and hoopla surrounding Star Wars: The Force Awakens, many companies have dived in head-first into the uncharted waters of what lies in the future. Some however are still relishing in the past, and Sideshow Collectibles' upcoming Darth Maul figure only serves to show that not everyone has forgotten about the one good thing to come from The Phantom Menace. It's actually surprising that it took this long for Maul to get the sixth-scale recognition he's deserved, given just how many different figures Sideshow and Hot Toys have created under the Star Wars banner to this point. Still, good things to those who wait and all that jazz. Though he was killed off near the end of The Phantom Menace, Maul was resurrected, given new legs (twice) and has since appeared in the animated series that still count as canon in the Star Wars Universe. Much has been made about whether or not Darth Maul actually counts as a Sith. Since he was killed before his training under Sidious was complete, a case could be made that he's just a Force-positive player in the world like so many others who never had the proper training to master their skills. Whatever side of that debate you fall on, Sideshow's Maul figure comes from a time when it seemed that he would be an unstoppable force of evil on the side of the Sith for years to come. You know, until Obi-Wan gave him that 50% discount on life. Whoops.

Another week has gone by and we're still no closer to seeing any of the actual human characters whose faces aren't hidden behind masks from Hot Toys' upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens figure collection. That's okay though. The only thing people really care about is Stormtroopers and their various incarnations. So, it makes perfect sense that the latest sixth-scale soldiers to join up with the previously announced Stormtroopers and Snowtroopers are the Flametroopers. The First Order's soldiers have comprised a great deal of the action figure reveals so far across multiple scales and sizes. The Flametrooper is a division we've not seen in films before, though given how specialized the Empire was and how the First Order appears to be, there were likely similar troops in the Imperial Army as it existed all those years ago. The Flametroopers have gained some significance as of late thanks to the prevalence of fire and flaming villages in the trailers for The Force Awakens. We don't know who or what they're burning down, or why for that matter, but we do know that they are rather good at their job given the propensity of flames in the five or so minutes of footage that's been released.

Even though he's the king of the seas, DC's Aquaman gets his fair share of guff from the rest of the superhero community... and the fan community. While Aquaman definitely has some redeeming qualities, he's just never been considered a true champion among the likes of Superman, Wonder Woman or Batman. Sure, he gets invited to the big kids' table, but they always seat him near Plastic Man. I mean, it's Plastic Man, guys. Despite all that, Aquaman's come through from the people and animals of Earth more times then most citizens are willing to give him credit. Fortunately, Arthur Curry has more than just the denizens of Atlantis on his side. He's also got Sideshow Collectibles honor him. As crafters of fine statues showcasing the best and brightest DC has to offer, Sideshow wouldn't select Aquaman if they believed he was a lame duck. That's a lot of time and effort to be spent carefully rendering each piece of scale mail in his armor shirt. No seriously, there are a lot of individual pieces of plating in there to give the suit it's fish-y look. It's impressive.

Since 2006, fans have flooded the Javitz Center year after year for New York Comic Con, but until this year, they've never been witness to magnificent pieces Sideshow Collectibles offered. Sideshow does its fair share of shows, but 2015 marked the first time the company made an appearance at NYCC. Though the booth may not have had the same square footage as Sideshow's SDCC presence, it was still packed with loads of incredible sculptures featuring many fan favorites and some of the company's own creations. Most of what was on display at NYCC had been seen before at other conventions, but the more diminutive booth allowed for a more focused presentation. Where the SDCC collection was three or four times larger, that also meant there were that many more products vying for your attention. While it was definitely cool to see so many new things a few months ago, there was definitely some "cool stuff" overload happening. Notably missing from the NYCC booth was a great deal of Hot Toys, which was represented at New York with a handful of First Order Stormtroopers, and that's it. Sideshow put the spotlight on its own goods, including the DC and Marvel premium format figures due to arrive over the course of the next year, and its outstandingly creepy Court of the Dead line.

You guys, the Punisher wears a tactleneck. That easily makes him the best-styled vigilante this side of Hell's Kitchen. Well, at least as far as the Sideshow Collectibles version of the character anyway. Sure, body armor is nice (and is included as an accessory to throw on), but when you're out there on the cold New York streets gunning down lawbreakers other heroes would merely hand over to the police, there's honestly no better way to do than in a tactleneck. That's just science. Originally shown off at San Diego Comic-Con, the Punisher sixth-scale figure from Sideshow Collectibles got a more formal unveiling this week. I suppose it's just in time for New York Comic-Con, where the figure will likely be on display at the company's booth (which is nestled by Archie, IDW and WeLoveFine). Back in July, all we really knew about the figure was that it existed and looked impressive in prototype form. The new details shared today give us a much better idea of what to expect not just from the figure, but from Sideshow's Marvel 1/6 scale line in general, too.

So far, Hot Toys' Star Wars: The Force Awakens line has been and endless array of bad guys. Well, at least we think they're the bad guys. We haven't seen the movie yet, but everything we've read and seen so far seems to indicate the First Order is taking the place of the Empire in the new film and universe. Though we've gotten figures based on the supposed heroes of The Force Awakens from a few other companies, Hot Toys has been reticent to show off characters like Finn, Rey or Poe to this point. Instead, it's been First Order soldier after First Order soldier. The Stormtroopers and Snowtroopers can now count the TIE Pilot amongst their numbers. Revealed this week for the first time, Hot Toys' First Order TIE Pilot brings the sleek, black spacesuit you might recall from the original trilogy into a more modern era. Like the standard Stormtroopers before him, the TIE Pilot draws quite a bit of inspiration from the classic design. The helmet ditches the "mouth," instead opting for a cleaner faceplate. He does have a weird top on there, which doesn't appear to serve any purpose. If it was a flip down visor, there likely would have been at least one picture with it flipped down so we could see what it looked like.