Showing posts with label collecting. Show all posts

Sideshow does Indy and more

Sideshow Collectibles (SSC) just announced that they have been granted the Indiana Jones license by Lucasfilm. Sideshow's line-up will feature 12 inch (1:6 scale) figures, premium format figures, and life-sized busts. They're gone to span the range of all four films in the Indy series. Sideshow always does an excellent job with its products and figures, and the Indiana Jones line should be no exception (Unless they use the Han sculpts of Harrison. Hopefully, they won't and we'll get some better looking Hans in the future as a result). Anyway, click the title of this post to see SSC's official press release.

Also, if you're a Harry Potter or DC Comics fan, you might want to check out SSC's announcement about their new print licensing agreement with Clampett Studio Collections here.

This is just the beginning of the SSC San Diego Comic-con announcements. With SDCC starting in a few hours, it's hard to tell what other cool news will come from this company and others.
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Master Replicas Poops on Celebration IV



Well, after the Lucasfilm licensing fell through for Corgi/Master Replicas, they have done everything in their power to poop on Star Wars Celebration IV, which is Lucasfilm's biggest US event this year.

First came the annoucement that the licensing for Lucasfilm properties was not renewed due to a dispute between Corgi/MR and Lucasfilm concerning licensing fees and other provisions. Now, I do applaud Corgi/MR for standing up to Lucasfilm, but at the same time, they had to realize that Uncle George has been licensing his way since the beginning. Personally I think Corgi/MR must not have a clue when it comes to the Star Wars franchise. Yes, they have other licensing properties, but none as wide-spread and successful as the Star Wars licensing. While Master Replicas did create one of the coolest pieces of Star Wars merchandise out there, the Force FX sabers, I think they may be having delusions of granduer if they think that no one else can step in and produce the same kinds of products as well as they do.

After all of this drama and turmoil went to press, MR announced that they would not be having a booth at CIV. Understandable, but definitely a poop. They were scheduled to be selling 2 convention exclusives and announced that those would not be available. They were also planning a huge Force FX combat trial event, which has now been moved to Henson Studios in conjunction with their Collector's Society party. This combination means that what was once going to be a fun event for all to witness will now be seen by a select few and their chosen 1 guest a piece. Don't even get me started on these manufacturers who have fee-based guilds. (Sorry, but paying extra to buy more stuff is the biggest shaft up the hole since Fast Passes were invented at amusement parks).

Now this brings us to the question of when these items formerly listed as "Celebration IV exclusives" are going to be sold. Today MR released this information and I'm sure that many collectors are not happy about it. The are selling to Collector's Society members on Tuesday and everyone else can try to log on at 9 PST on the Fan Club day for CIV. Brilliant poop. Make sure you make it nearly impossible for the most hardcore fans to buy these collectibles. Shame on you Master Replicas for taking your petty revenge out on the wrong people!
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Master Replicas and Lucasfilm part ways

It appears that Master Replicas have lost the Lucasfilm license to produce Star Wars related props and products. Lucasfilm assures fans that they are working to find a new licensee, and Corgi assures customers they'll still be producing products, just not Star Wars related products. If you were waiting to get that Force FX saber, now's the time folks.
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May the Fourth be with you



For those of you who don’t know, today is Star Wars Day. Something that started with a horrible pun and has now continued year after year for true Star Wars fans (I belong to this category). On this auspicious day, I thought I would post some info I know non-Star Wars fans are just dying to hear…

First, I’d like to tell you briefly how this all began for me. I was lucky to be introduced to Star Wars in my 8th grade English class by reading excerpts from the screenplay for The Empire Strikes Back. I was selected to read the role of Luke Skywalker (since there were only two people in my class who could read aloud without struggling – the other guy read Yoda). While I had seen bits and pieces of the movie as a child, I had never seen one all the way through. After class I went to the local video store and rented The Empire Strikes Back. I was immediately hooked and had to rent Return of the Jedi for obvious reasons (if it’s not obvious to you, stop reading now). I finished off the trilogy by watching A New Hope. USA decided to choose that exact year to run all three films in order during Christmas. I bought an 8-hour VHS and captured them for my own viewing pleasure. I can’t say how many times I watched that tape, other than daily for at least a month. To this day, while watching the originals (not Uncle George’s 2004 DVD monstrosity) I can still tell you where the commercial breaks from the tape were. Needless to say, some figures called Bend’ems turned up in Odd Lots not long after that and I began buying anything Star Wars I could get my hands on (which wasn’t much at the time). Then came the release of the THX editions with associated merchandise and then the big 20th anniversary release of the special editions in theaters - by this time, I had moved up the ranks to full-fledged Star Wars collector. When The Phantom Menace was released, I didn’t see it open in theaters because I wanted to experience the way I experienced the first three for the first time – on TV. After watching it, I’m glad I waited since it would have been one of the biggest disappointments ever for me. Well, now you have the gist of my personal Star Wars saga, and I’d like to give you a quick preview of the next installment.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Star Wars: A New Hope, Lucasfilm has decided to host another Star Wars Celebration cleverly named “Celebration IV”. This huge geekfest will take place in Los Angeles, and I’m going. I’m only planning on being there a couple of days due to finances and work, but I’m going to live it up while I’m there. Not only will there be tons of exclusive merchandise for collectors like me, but there will also be some interesting and perhaps unexpected celebrities in attendance. Two of these famous folks I’m really looking forward to seeing are Seth McFarlane (Family Guy) and Seth Green (Robot Chicken, Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Both Family Guy and Robot Chicken have Star Wars specials planned in honor of the 30th anniversary and both have permission from Uncle George to create them. Star Wars celebrities of course will be attending, and right now the confirmed big names are Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels, and Jake Lloyd. Two major “guests of honor” from the SW universe have yet to be confirmed. With so much to see and do I’m sure it will be a short and fast couple of days. Wednesday May 23rd kicks the celebration off with a 6-movie marathon in the order of storyline. While I won’t be spending 17 hours watching the films, I would at least like to try to catch one of the films from the original trilogy. I’m hoping to take a lot of pictures and take plenty of recorded notes so I can give a full report on my return. Until then, celebrate May Fourth the Star Wars way.
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Sink your Vampire Teeth into Buffy Season 8

Well, it seems some Buffy fans are becoming comic fans with the release of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 in comic form. Include me in this category. I'm been familiar with comics for a while and understand the different formats well enough. I used to peruse Spider-man comics as a kid, but Buffy marks my first foray into actually buying comics. Until this venture, I have only purchased Neil Gaiman's Absolute Sandman volume one. Now I get to explore the wonders of bagging and boarding, subscription services, variant covers, and debates on the best method of storage and preservation.

As a long time collector of Star Wars paraphernalia, I joined the Ohio Star Wars Collector's Club about 2 years ago to help create contacts and improve my knowledge of the collecting hobby. This amazing group of people are great at discussing the various available items and commenting on what actually makes a collection valuable to actual collectors. Through this club, I've learned a lot about the hobby and about building value into a collection. Now I am hoping to take this knowledge, plus knowledge gained from conversations with D-train, and apply it to the Buffy Season 8 series.

Currently, I have acquired all the essential pieces to make this a very valuable collection, including promotional posters and the limited 1 of 1,000 sketch variant cover of the 1st printing of issue 1. I decided to pay an additional $0.25 to have the comics bagged and boarded before they even reached me so that the ones I don't read will be as near to mint as possible. For some fans, this paragraph probably doesn't make much sense and may sound like a bunch of comic book jargon. It still kind of does to me too. I've decided to chronicle my foray into this new direction of collecting and share my information and assumptions with fellow fans. For folks knowledgeable in comics reading these posts, please feel free to comment with suggestions, etc to help me with my collection or correct something I am misunderstanding.

Here is the gist of this collection:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 continues the TV series in comic form. The series is reportedly up to being scheduled for 52 issues (unconfirmed). Joss Whedon is overseeing the entire story arc and actually writing several issues himself. The other issues will be written by other alums of the Buffy TV series writing staff.

The collection will contain a variant cover for each issue. These variants are being offered in a 1/4 ratio to merchants. This mean that for every 4 copies the merchant orders, one variant will be included.

Issue 1 also has a limited edition sketch variant cover. This LE variant is 1/1000 and was only provided to Dark Horse retailers that entered the Buffy contest. Each retailer who won in this contest received ten copies of this LE variant. Also of note, Issue 1 has already run its first printing and is now on its second printing to accommodate the large number of orders Dark Horse is receiving. That makes any Issue 1 first print a LE of 1/100,000. So currently, that brings Issue 1 up to 4 covers in the first week of release. To promote this series, Dark Horse released two promotional posters. The first was given away at recent conventions and is a 11" x 7" poster featuring the regular cover of Issue 1. The second was released in Buffy and Angel magazine #29 and was also given away at recent conventions. This poster is 36" x 24" and features the regular cover for Issue 2. Both posters were factory folded. The following is the current offerings:


Issue 1:

Regular Cover, 1st print


Variant Cover, 1/4, 1st print


Sketch Variant Cover, 1/1000, 1st print


Expanded Cover, 2nd print


Promotional Poster, Convention


Issue 2:

Regular Cover, 1st print


Variant Cover, 1/4, 1st print


Promotional Poster, Convention/Magazine


Issue 3:

Regular Cover, 1st print


Variant Cover, 1/4, 1st print


Issue 4:

Regular Cover, 1st print


Variant Cover, 1/4, 1st print

Pictures Courtesy of Dark Horse comics.
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Hasbro to Continue Using "Spud" Licensing

Hasbro is continuing their quest to tuber-ize movie greats through its "spud" licensing. You may already be familiar with these Mr. Potato Heads:


L to R: Spud Trooper, Artoo-Potato, and Darth Tater

Now meet the newest super spud:


Spider Spud

Pre-orders for this great Spider-man 3 collectible start Saturday, March 24 at www.hasbrotoyshop.com.

To see previews of other Hasbro Spider-man 3 collectibles, visit: http://www.e-directlogic.com/Hasbro/H017218.asp?q=hbc2g2pH017219107374&src=GENEMHT89987


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