Sideshow Gets 12" Figure License!

[Jesse James]

Hey, sideshow figs come armed to the teeth...  No reason a Katarn figure shouldn't just be "accurate".

[JesseVader08]

From StarWars.com:

Sideshow intends to lend some added distinction to the line by giving each figure a 30-point articulated body, hand-sculpted portrait features, well-tailored outfits, and detailed accessories. "Some of these characters will have real leather belts and holsters, metal buckles, little pouches that you can store little bits of Jedi equipment in, and all kinds of crazy details! I think some of our sculptor/fabricators lost their sight due to squinting to get the details so small and accurate."

Because of the figures' high-end treatment, fans can expect to pay a bit more for the Sideshow editions, but only a fraction of what they'd expect to pay for similar pieces in this class. While Sideshow's Premium Format series will typically run between $250 - $450 depending on a figure's complexity, the new 12" figures should cost around $40 - $55, with the possibility of deluxe figures in the future costing slightly more.

Sounds very, very promising!   

[Darth Broem]

Come on reveal the figures allready! 

[Jessica-of-Naboo]

$40 to 55 and up  is a lot of money

i'll kept practice my sewing and rescuing dolls 

[Commander Cody]

Come on reveal the figures allready! 

What? You didn't like nude Jedi?

[Darth_Anton]

I'm not much of a 12" collector, but I am a sucker for detail and if these are as good as they sound, it might just get me back into the 12" game.

[Jesse James]

I hear a lot of complaining from people about Sideshow getting this deal actually...   Nobody whose opinion I respect, but there's some bitchin' going down about the price increase.

People are funny...  It's like they want the 12" line to be the under-detailed, over-priced (for the ****** detail) line that Hasbro ran...  They don't wanna pay up for the increase in quality.

I may not buy them all but I'm definitely taking a look BACK at the Sideshow 12" figures when I've written off Hasbro's lackluster line.  Count me in.

[jadesfire]

Since I've had to pack up everything I own to move, I've had a lot of time to decide what I want to keep and what I can live without.  I know I've bitched and moaned about several of Hasbro's 12" dolls, and they deserved it, but for the most part they were pretty well done.  This is a line I will never be able to part with. 

In the beginnig they rang up for $14.99 to $19.99 (varied on the store) and jumped up to $24.99 to $29.99 the last year or two.  These were just basic dolls, no special editions or two-packs or anything of that nature.  As Hasbro got better with articluation, they tried to add more of it to this line.  Examples are the VOTC line and Leia w/speederbike.  They also tried (but didn't always succeed) in getting the face sculpts better.  They did a helluva job on any alien or droid and had at least one or two good "core" characters (they really did a bang up job on the portrait Amidala series).

I was really disappointed to learn that Hasbro was going to stop making the line and thrilled to find out that Sideshow took over.  I don't care if it costs me $50.00-$100.00 bucks for one doll.  If they can pack in articulation and all kinds of soft goods and goodies, it'll be worth it.  I still plan on customizing (the one nice thing about the Hasbro line is that there are ALWAYS clearance bins somewhere!!) and if Sideshow does pack in alot of goodies, I can swap some of it out with stuff I am missing.

All in all, IMHO, it's the greatest thing that could have happened to the line and I look forward to their first announcement of which doll will have my dining room table spot  .

[Darth Broem]

Yep, that's what I figured as well.  The figs were allready going for $25 at the end anyway.  Granted if you waited for clearence on some you could get them cheaper.  Or I could not find several like Yoda, Ewoks w pack, Biker Scout that end up being $30 a least. 

Anyway, like Jadesfire said it's the best thing that could happen to the 12 inch line at this point in time.

[JediMAC]

So are you Sideshow collectors going to be completists with their 12" line, or just pick and choose what you like?  I think they told us at Comic Con that they'd be releasing them maybe two or three at a time, at the most, and that they'd space them out a bit, keeping things a little easier on the wallet despite the increased prices.

Hasbro's 12" line is one of the very few sublines that I didn't collect.  I nabbed the first 10 or 12 of them, but then when the exclusives started going insane (Biggs/Wedge, Han/Luke Stormies, Sandtrooper, etc), I got annoyed and through in the towel right quick.  Never much liked how they looked though, so no big loss.

This Sideshow stuff will be amazing though, I'm sure.  But I think I'll be refraining, since 12" dolls just ain't really my thing (I like stuff more "miniature" in my collectibles"), and they just take up too much valuable display space.  Great stuff though, and considering how well Sideshow understands the Star Wars universe, and it's license, I'm sure they're gonna kick all kinds of ass with this line, and I'll likely be one jealous bastard when Beth puts up some pix with the first several of them displayed altogether... 

[DoctorPadawan]

I've thankfully never been a 12 inch completist, mostly because the quality was never high enough for me to track down figures I had no interest in (Ponda Baba?  WHERE DO I SIGN?).  Even now that Sideshow has the license, I probably won't go completist on them, but if they put out an ultimate Boba Fett or Grievous or a Clone Commander, I'll be more than happy to pay 50 dollars for one.

(where is a photo of Pip from South Park when I need it?)

I'm actually wondering how long it will take Hasbro to regret letting go of the 12" license when Sideshow surpasses every figure Hasbro ever did with the first one released, whoever it may end up being.  I get the impression that Hasbro allowed them to have the license because the Lords of Pawtucket saw it as a dead area of SW collecting, so if/when the Sideshow line succeeds, I'd love to be a fly on the wall in the Ivory Tower of Rhode Island. 

Oh, and Beth, could you PM me?  I wanted to ask you a question about the Padme stuff you mentioned in another thread.

[Darth Broem]

I will be picking and choosing for the most part.  I have to anyway anymore with all the lines.  Plus at $50 a pop it will make it that much more of a necessity.  I will most likely go for something that either blows away whatever Hasbro did or something never done before like say Mara Jade or Hammerhead (please!).  But I am hoping they do a kickass Luke Jedi Knight from ROTJ.  Oh watch me get them all.  LOL!

[Brian]

I've never really been much of a 12" collector, probably having 5 or 6 figures total from the Hasbro line.  I guess the quality overall didn't seem that great sometimes, and plus, I just didn't have the money or space for a bunch of them.  Also, I've always been more of a 3 3/4" person anyways.  That said, Sideshow getting the license could really make this line amazing.  Like Matt mentioned earlier, they seem to "get" the Star Wars license, and I'm anxious to see what the figures will be like.  I still don't know if I'll collect, but if they come out with an amazing Han and/or Chewie, that might make me bite.  It will probably be downhill from there, at least with some of the OT characters .  We'll have to see what they look like though, or if they will even go back and "re-do" figures Hasbro has done, with all the press releases praising "building on Hasbro's great line" or something like that.  Anyways, I'm anxious to get our first looks at the initial figure(s).  Nice to have this EU poll right off the bat too, Hasbro should just do the same type of thing for the fans.  We're about due for another Fan's Choice poll.

[proudfather2]

Not knowing alot about SS other than what I was able to glean here I have to say that this news concerning 12" figures is fantastic. For far too long I've been wanting a good 12" figure but had to settle with Star Wars Barbies and Ken's if I wanted anything. Needless to say the small assortment of 12" items I do have consists mainly of Droids and aliens. I couldn't even bring myself to buy any of the Stromtroopers... what a shame.

Hasbro's 12" outings were way over priced as far as I'm concerned, again, considering they were nothing more than glorified Barbie dolls. That being said, the thought of paying $40-$60 for high-end collectible 12" action figure that bears striking resemblences to the actual characters, with proper proportions, as well as having tons of articulation (posability) and accesories gives me wood!

Bring on the likes of E3 Anakin, Obi, Commander Cody and Grevious! Grevious. Can you imagine a SS version of Grevious? Wow! Oh my God, Clones! Imagine the Clone and Stormy potential! I may faint.

[JesseVader08]

Sideshow Collectibles has just announced that they will be the exclusive North American distributor of Medicom's Real Action Heroes 12 inch figures.  They are planning to sell them between $100 and $150.  So far, they are only carrying a couple of the Evangelion and Sex Pistols figures, but it will be interesting to see if they carry upcoming Star Wars figures as well, considering Sideshow just entered a contract with Hasbro to produce their 12 inch Star Wars figures.  You can read all the details here.