Sideshow Collectibles News Blog

IRON MAN LIFE-SIZE BUST BY SIDESHOW COLLECTIBLES

To celebrate tomorrow’s UK release of the first live action IRON MAN feature film, starring Robert Downey Jr and Gwyneth Paltrow, today we’ll cover quite possibly one of the most impressive items Sideshow Collectibles have ever offered.

Sideshow Collectibles have teamed up with none other than Stan Winston studios to produce the coolest piece of Iron Man movie merchandise ever. This is literally massive. The level of detail that has gone into recreating the movie incarnation of ol’ shellhead is impressive to say the least. Cast in high-end fibreglass and built on a 1:1 scale, the Sideshow Collectibles lifesize Iron Man bust is basically the finest piece of memorabilia released for the movie that I’ve seen thus far, and it is going to take nothing less than a full working suit of Iron Man armour to top it. I mean, look at the thing! Bear in mind this piece measures approximately 24 INCHES TALL and weighs in the region of 14 KILOS, and you start to get an idea of the sheer scale of the item. Featuring the customary hand finish job from the Sideshow Collectibles/Sideshow toys team, the bust was taken directly from the molds used in the movie to make the actual costume. How cool is that?? This is literally the closest you’ll get to the real thing without becoming a billionaire and building your own! The eyes contain working LEDS, working from a battery pack situated in the bust’s base. What we have here is one of the most serious pieces of collectible merchandise to come out in a long time. Iron Man is the perfect vehicle for movie tie-in memorabilia, and this life-size bust is nothing short of spectacular. Now, if only they could figure out how to make me some repulsor rays and a nice shiny suit of my own, I’d be a happy little True Believer.

The movie is looking set to be incredible, and for once a merchandise range is doing the film justice. That really doesn’t happen that often in this business, but with this and its associated Iron Man collectibles, we have been treated to items that are every bit as good as the film itself.

Thor Legendary scale Figure from Sideshow Collectibles and Marvel Comics

The mighty THOR is one of Marvel Comics’ most enduring characters. With his continued adventures throughout the Marvel Universe and a big-budget movie finally gathering preproduction steam, it only seems fitting that we should check out what Sideshow Toys and Collectibles have on offer. Aside from the full-scale replicas of Thor’s hammer Mjolnir and Thor’s helmet, there is this stunning large-format premium figure too. Let’s take a look…

Marvel fans can rejoice, as the mighty son of Asgard has been recreated to perfection in an extremely attractive statue, with our hero in a suitably iconic pose. Sculpted to museum quality standards by a team of Sideshow’s finest artists, this would make a superb cebtrepiece to any Marvel Comics collectibles collection.

Thor isn’t the first name that comes to mind when one thinks of Marvel, yet he has been a mainstay of the House of Ideas for most of its creative life. Unlike many of the other Marvel characters, his image hasn’t changed all that much since his inception, aside from the occasional beard. Where the sculpt on this piece delivers is the balance that has been struck between his classic and modern era appearances, and that pose is nothing short of perfect for the character’s slightly overblown nature. Holding Mjolnir aloft like that, he looks every inch the hero fans have known, loved and admired for so long. His costume is fashioned from real fabric as opposed to just being sculpted, and the addition of the billowing cape adds just that extra bit of drama to the piece. Cast in polystone and hand numbered, the piece is set to stand a whopping 30 inches high.

Now, I sometimes have issues with the bases that Sideshow will stand their figures on. Sometimes, items from Sideshow Toys are attached to bases that seem like a bit of an afterthought. Not so with the Thor Legendary Scale Premium Format figure- the base here is an integral part of the piece and doesn’t overpower the image with a tastelessly added logo. There’s a carving on the base, but it sits nicely with the figure and leaves the emphasis on Thor himself.