Sideshow Toys targets serious collectors with its superbly sculpted figures, which are expensive enough to weed out the casual fan.  While Sideshow's offerings are certainly not suited for all retailers, the high-end nature of the products limits their mass-market penetration and provides opportunities for specialty retailers.  Many dealers have had success with Sideshow's brilliant takes on classic movie monsters in the past, but last year's series of figures based on Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings film (and co-produced with WETA, the New Zealand firm responsible for the LOTR costumes and effects) proved to be a key product line as Sideshow suddenly got the attention of a lot more retailers (see 'A Second Series of LOTR Figures From Sideshow').  Sideshow just shipped a series of figures based on the classic comedy film, Monty Python & the Holy Grail (see 'Monty Python & The Holy Grail 12' Figures'), but the company has a number of other major properties on tap for 2002 including James Bond, Hogan's Heroes, Get Smart, The Twilight Zone, and The Muppet Show.

 

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
At the recently concluded New York Toy Fair, Sideshow displayed its new Cave Troll figure and a spectacular Balrog statue as well a series of plaques based on the Lord of the Rings films. The weighty and powerful Cave Troll figure demonstrates how effectively that the Sideshow/WETA team was able to simulate the power of Peter Jackson's vision. Also displayed for the first time in New York were several of the carefully crafted 'environments' for the film including the Mines of Moria and the Bucklebury Ferry.  The enormous success of the first installment of Lord of the Rings, which garnered more Academy Award nominations than any other film of 2001, ensures that this property will stay hot throughout 2002.

 

James Bond

Agent 007 has a devoted following, and thanks to a current Saturday night series on ABC TV, all the major Bond films are back on the airwaves again.  Sideshow is starting with the classic Bond (Sean Connery) as well as the initial Bond girls, and those great villains like Oddjob.

 

Twilight Zone

Sideshow also displayed some Twilight Zone figures at Toy Fair.  Just as with their figures based on Nosferatu or The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Sideshow has managed to craft every nuance of the character into the figures, which demonstrate a consummate knowledge of the original source material. It is this kind of quality and attention to detail that attracts collectors.

 

Hogan's Heroes and Get Smart

Hogan's Heroes and Get Smart are two of the funniest classic sitcom series, and the proof of their quality lies in both series' continuing popularity on cable channels.  Sgt. Schultz's catchphrase, 'I know nothing!' has long since entered into the vernacular as evidenced by its recent invocation at the Enron hearings in Congress.  As for special agent Maxwell Smart well, this humorous 'anti-Bond' is the perfect antidote to the suave 007, and no less popular in many circles.  There is no word from Sideshow as to when these properties will make it to retail, but ICv2 will try to keep you up to date.

 

The Muppet Show

Palisades Marketing is debuting a complete line of Muppet Action Figures (see 'Palisades Maturing Line Has Retro Tint'), but for those serious Muppet collectors, Sideshow has high end resin sculpts of all those wild and wooly characters from the Jim Henson produced Muppet Show.