The She-Devil With a Sword Cuts Her Way Out of the Hyborian Age and Onto Your Shelf

Robert E. Howard may not have created Red Sonja directly, but his inspiration for the she-devil with a sword Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith would craft for the Marvel Comics incarnation of Conan the Barbarian is undeniable. Since appearing in that comic back in the 1970s, Sonja's gone on to be a rather large part of the Hyborian mythos, expanding beyond mere guest-star in Conan tales into her own full-fledged adventuress. As one of the preeminent fantasy bad-asses, Red Sonja's always been able to find and inspire audiences no matter which publisher has been telling her tales.

While she's been a staple of Dynamite's catalog as of late, there are surprisingly few Red Sonja collectibles on the market. There have been statues from time to time, but Sideshow Collectibles has been the leader of the pack when it comes to Sonja goods as of late. Already with one impressive Red Sonja statue under its belt, the collectible company has another in the works that shows a different, more detailed side of the crimson-haired warrior.

We've seen this Red Sonja on display in prototype form both at SDCC and NYCC this year, and for all intents and purposes, the piece is spectacular. The earlier Sonja statue Sideshow did was nice, and featured the sword maiden hoisting a decapitated head high, while standing in the show with a cape flowing from her shoulders. As good as it was, the level of detail on this new piece outstrips the previous by a significant margin. From top to bottom, this a superior statue in the musculature, armor, clothing and additional pieces.

You can actually get a true sense of Sonja's strength from the much-improved anatomy, from the veins bulging in her arms to the muscles rippling in her thighs. What little armor there is has vastly more intricacy as well, and the mail bikini has a much better sense of weight and realism, such as it can be for such an outfit. The smaller touches, like the pauldrons and the straps around her thighs, also show a great sense of design and detail.

The bloody snake base is terrific, too, and really ties the whole statue together well. The spatter on Sonja's legs and weapons is just enough to give you a sense of the brutal fight she was just in without covering the rest of the figure in too much gore. The paint app is near perfect from these early images, particularly in the fine mess that is the snake's head.

The Red Sonja She-Devil with a Sword Premium Format Figure will be available for pre-order from Sideshow starting on Nov. 12 for $549.99. An exclusive version from Sideshow's store will also include an axe to swap out with her right hand sword. Both versions will be out sometime in 2016.