|
 |
|
Sideshow Collectibles
Star Wars Busts and Life-Sizes |
| Note: This is our last Sideshow update as they were
unwilling to provide us with any reference material - even hi-res photos of
their busts! |
|
|
| Continuing with their trend of addressing some of the more
organic characters of the Star Wars universe - Sideshow Collectibles (SSC)
a few years back turned their hand to a one to one scale replica of one of Jabba's henchmen - the
wonderfully moody and aggressive Gamorrean Guard from Return of the Jedi.
Limited to just 300 - we feel this will be a much sought after item! |
|
|
| Mounted on the ubiquitous Sideshow stand - which is almost
completely obscured from some angles by the absolute hugeness of the
Gamorrean's head - it does look an awesome piece. Of course we use the
phrase "awesome" relatively since we're sure there are a lot of people out
there who wouldn't think a 2ft high pig head on a stick as particularly
awesome. But we do! |
|
|
| Yup, Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and we
love him - even if he is made of Polystone (a kind of resin) and he weighs
an absolute tonne. Not sure what the shipping rates are like as we sourced
this one via an eBay seller in the UK but we'd imagine the cost of shipping
this beast long distance would be pretty steep. To be clear he's not solid
as a few taps on his head reveal a partly-hollowed out interior, but there
still a lot of Polystone in this beast. |
|
|
| The level of detailing on Sideshow's Gammorean is extremely
nice, from the overall textures and colours of his skin and head piece - to
his wonderfully salivaricious mouth, nose and glistening eyes. Looking at
him you cant help but try and wipe his nose! |
|
|
| From the reverse you can see how the paint and surface
detailing gives the impression of cloth, leather and pounded metal.
Presumably these guys had good access to the remaining original masks in the
Lucasfilm Archive as they've done a fine job at replicating the on-screen
characters. |
|
|
| See what we mean about that nose and mouth? One of these
days you're going to stare int those eyes and they're going to blink! |
|
|
| Older images -
30th Oct 09 - Well the cat's out the bag (or should that be pig's?), as
its been leaked that Sideshow Collectibles is working on a 1:1 scale bust of
a Gamorrean Guard - which will be the next to arrive in Spring 2010 after the Darth
Vader Reveal |
|
|
| We have to say that this is a good move for SSC and the
likeness looks very good as well from these proto images. Thanks to Sergui
for sending the screen grabs (below) which we've now been able to supplement
with the "official" press pics from SSC. |
|
|
| Above - with those chubby features and pug nose he was not
the most attractive thing to look at. The Gammorean was not much better
either.... |
|
|
| Above and below a comparison with SSC's sculpt against a
frame grab of an original. The SSC looks a little thin in the face but that
could be the photo. We
would have preferred more shoulder as it would really beef up the display
(can you beef up pork?) but limiting the size of the shoulders was probably
a weight issue - these polystone 1:1's tend to weigh a lot with this one
coming in at 20lbs |
|
|
| The sculpt is really superb and features such as the runny
nose (Swine flu?) which oozes over his lips, gives the bust an impressing
dash of realism. Just don't expect your mum/girlfriend/wife to like it. They
wont and think you're odd for buying it, which you are. Accept this and bask
in your freakishness that you spend $500 on a decapitated pig head display. |
|
|
| As with all the Sideshow busts they've really made an
effort with this piece and wisely incorporated leather( or leather-like)
material for its headpiece. If you look from the rear it gives it a more
realistic appearance than if they had sculpted the whole thing. From these
photos it doesn't like like the headpiece itself is removable but part of
the main sculpt - but that's not a bad thing. |
|
|
| Below some detail around the eyes - which look the most
scarily accurate SSC has produced to date - much improved from their earlier
busts. We would have preferred deeper nasal canals. Wow, that's something I
never thought I would ever have to say. |
|
|
| In the photo below the green baize of the material SSC's
used in the photo almost illustrate what the bust would have looked like had
shoulders been sculpted. In our minds this would have been an improvement
but would also have added significantly to the size and weight (already a
shipping issue outside the US) - and thus the cost. Maybe it was a wise
decision. |
|
|
| In summary this looks like an absolutely fantastic
collectible. It has an excellent likeness to the originals seen on-screen
and the finishing touches are excellent - we keep expecting those eyes to
blink. If you're at al into these kinds of things (and by being here you
probably are) then we would seriously recommend this. Not sure what the
production run is likely to be but it'll probably be small - around 400?
In our view the best Star Wars bust Sideshow has produced for the
soft/masked characters.
So....do you dig on Swine? |
|
Back
to Sideshow Menu |
