The Big Bang Theory is a CBS comedy here in the states about 4 geeks. The genuine Caltech-smart variety. It is a prolonged riff on nerd-dom which deals frequently with all of the expected themes: ineptitude with women, Star Trek/Wars references, comic conventions, etc.

Like any proper geek, the protagonists are devout patrons of a comic book store which featuring among other things, a prominent accoutrement none other than Weta’s The Daily Planet statue, from Superman Returns. We must applaud the set designer’s exquisite taste– or did they simply pick out the geekiest thing they could find? You be the judge.

Of course it takes a true geek (and one who proudly has this piece in his collection) to be able to point out such nonsense to you, dear readers. You can see a clip of The Daily Planet getting quite a bit of air time here.

Here’s an oldie but goodie. Kind of an obscure item both cinematically speaking and in collectible-dom as well. What you’re looking at here is the haunting Santi and Bomb statue from Sideshow. Based on one of Guillermo Del Toro’s earlier films, The Devil’s Backbone.

I fell in love with this one right away and even had an order lined up back in the day. Alas, finances did not pan out and Santi left my grasp– judging by its value of late– forever it seems. Sure, GDT’s stock has since gone way up, but are we seeing a genuine indication of its worth or some other sort of fluke? Surely the edition size of 100 does help to support the case, but we are ultimately looking at a 747% appreciation, folks!

And while its got Sideshow’s name on it, Weta can at least claim co-parentage as the piece was sculpted by Weta Workshop’s Greg Tozer and Mary Machlachlan. Ah the one(s) that got away…

Valuation: +747%

(See latest completed Ebay auctions)

Sideshow:

• Horn tootin’ Boromir Legendary Scale Bust pre-sells
• SDCC G.I. Joe Crimson Cobra Commander priority pre-orders, ES 1000
• SDCC LOTR Mount Doom diorama pre-orders, takes a day to sell out; handful of Non-attendee versions vanish quick
• New pro 12-inch figure body is introduced
• Emma Frost premium format pre-orders, faces “cartoony, anime” criticism; exclusive sells out anyway

Weta:

• Podcast with Richard Taylor and Shane Rangi
• Drops Comic-Con hints

Hot Toys:

• Godfather Vito Corleone figure, now with more furniture
• Terminator: Salvation Marcus Wright figure pre-orders as film opens

But before we delve in, the title is a bit of a misnomer. Rather than chase the arbitrarily ill-defined and randomly subjective idea of ‘best’, we go for a much clearer criteria: Which Comiquette is most faithful to the control art?

#6 BLACK QUEEN

In addition to a tired, sleepy-eyed portrait that bears little resemblance to that seen in the control art, she’s also got strange looking hair. It’s not the only one of the line that deviates from its AH! counterpart, but it’s the most severe. To sculptor Tim Miller’s credit, most of these deficiencies might lie entirely upon the paint apps. Even the bodice, which is shown to be glossier in the art doesn’t look quite right. To Sideshow’s credit, this is the sole AH! comiquette that strays very far from target…. Read the rest of this entry »

Forum member LOTR Fan shows us the ins and outs of Sideshow first entry of their Dinosauria line, the T-Rex vs. Triceratops diorama (exclusive).

Check out all of the gory details ahead!

(12 photos)

Things have changed since our last Market Watch for the elusive Sideshow Hulk Premium Format conducted nearly a year ago. You may have heard a thing or two about the words economy and meltdown, often in close proximity. People lost jobs. Banks failed. So as you’d expect, the value of this Marvel grail has gone……..up?

Oh yes. Since the last Market Watch conducted nearly a year ago, the Grey exclusive has seen a roughly 12% increase, while the regular edition has achieved an even more impresseve 30.1% gain.

Valuation: +224% Exclusive | +164% Regular

(See latest completed Ebay auctions)

Forum member Olórin has some dynamite pics of the just-shipped Small Balrog Wall Mount from Gentle Giant.

He’s even included Gandalf and Saruman for your scale-referencing pleasure, so take a look won’t you?

(9 photos)

On display: Screen worn costumes from J. J. Abrams’ 2009 motion picture Star Trek

• See our other film prop galleries

I’m going to show some restraint and not put some quip about “Kirk’s daddy” somewhere in the title, which no writer has seemingly been able to resist thus far. But it appears that Chris Hemsworth, who’s just earned considerable geek cred recently as George S. Kirk in J.J. Abram’s Star Trek, is now anointed as everyone’s favorite Asgardian, Thor.

And here’s something you probably haven’t seen- Hemsworth in a mocked-up Thor costume (base image via Sideshow’s Thor Legendary Scale bust):

Hemsworth has also been cast as the lead in a remake of Red Dawn. Kind of a good month for the guy.

In related news, Tom Hiddleston has been cast as Loki. Kenneth Branagh’s Thor will hit screens in 2011.

And for old time’s sake, don’t forget our similar send-up of Kevin McKidd back from 2007 (goodness gracious, has it really been that long?)

The horn has been blown on Boromir’s addition to Sideshow’s Legendary Scale Bust line– see the rest of him in the newly posted LSB family portrait on Sideshow’s site.