With little rest after returning from Comic-Con Weta’s hit China as part of the Shanghai Int’l Film Prototype Exhibition. Forum member vigshane gives us a great photo report from the exhibit where she met up with Richard Taylor and Greg Broadmore. On display are original Lord of the Rings and King Kong props aplenty, right alongside Dr. Grordbort’s creations.

There is also an exhibit of workshop artist David Meng’s sculptures that I am curious to see. Click through and check out her pics!

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The flow of Prawn contraband is nigh unstoppable now as alarming reports of Weta’s Arc Generator surface outside the confines of South Africa. Forum members thx217, LOTR Fan, Mongoleone and JESTER have provided a plethora of photographic evidence detailing this dangerous life-size weapon. MNU stock has dropped 84 points today in light of this news.

Do you dare enter District 9?

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Settling into a Marvel and Star Wars induced malaise yet? Who could blame you? But look on the bright side, Sideshow’s SDCC announcement for the day is the first of their World War II premium format line: “Battle of Crete”: German paratrooper.

The choice to debut an Axis soldier is somewhat surprising, as is the pinpoint location (‘Crete’ is all that is emblazoned on the base). In any case, it’s a line lots of looked forward to, and it certainly looks decently realized. Check out Sideshow’s Backstage Pass here.

[Update] Forum member LOTR Fan tells us that Sideshow is using a new casting technique with different materials than the usual polystone to achieve a more realistic look.

ES: TBD | Exclusive: $334.99 | Regular: $324.99

High resolution Comic-Con pics posted in our forum! Click through!

Also check out LOTR Fan’s and thx217’s photos

While they’re on the receiving end of a lot of flack these days, Gentle Giant certainly has it in them to still put out some lookers every once so often. I was aware of Sucker Punch being Zack Snyder’s (300, Watchmen) next project, but it’s been extremely hush-hush until Comic-Con. In fact, the very first visuals of this film come to my eyes in the form of these statues. I kind of get a kick from that. And this movie’s going to catch on quick, at least with the geek crowd. (you can watch the trailer now on iTunes)

Gentle Giant would really have a much better profile in the collecting circle if they would hunker down and released the notable pieces that have deservedly captured some attention at the show every year– imagine if the Pan’s Labyrinth, Harry Potter, and now the Sucker Punch statues were all released (and obviously retained some sort of integrity in production). Their cred would have risen significantly. As it is, along with the praise people are throwing at GG for Sucker Punch, is just as much skepticism on whether they could deliver– on paint, or even at all.

True to form, there is nary a Sucker Punch mention on their website to be found. But fear not, we have photos for you of Baby Doll (Emily Browning), Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish), Amber (Jamie Chung), and that bunny robot thing in our SDCC 2010 Gallery, and a few select high resolution photos below. Click through!

For the last several years, Transformers was always the top untapped license in my mind. Its absence in the high end collectibles field had two obvious explanations, one being that this was a toy brand first, movie second. I doubt said toy company (Hasbro) were unhappy to have the entire market to themselves. Then there is the absurd complexity of the robots themselves, which would be a formidable challenge for any company to take on. In fact, Popbox already has an Optimus Prime statue on the market. While an admirable effort, it’s not really all that attractive.

Sideshow would be one of the few with the resources to actually have a proper go at this, so the announcement that they were to do a TF maquette was almost inevitable, especially considering in the three years since the first film was released, they have grown even more ubiquitous to the point where any property they might take on should not come as any shock.

In their latest video, you can more or less see what it’ll look like:

No doubt all of this complexity will be supported with a sky high price tag. I’m not expecting this to be anywhere near south of $1000– using what I think is the most similar product as a barometer, the Avatar A.M.P. Suit maquette (which retails for $1200).

The stench of the second film might have harmed interest in the piece, yet the looming prospect of the third installment probably balances the scales somewhat. In any case stay tuned for our photos of the piece at this year’s Comic-Con, where I’m betting heavily it will be on display.

Sell out time: Instant
ES: 100 | Exclusive: $1199.99 | Regular: $1199.99

5 high resolution pics posted in our forum! Click through!

Weta’s first character depiction since their return to LOTR is finally here– Gollum. Primarily conceived for Weta Cave visitors based on feedback (no doubt heavily influenced by the life-size displays there), this marks the third time Gollum has made an appearance as a Weta statue– and the first time he’s done so on a ‘proper’ black oval base. An exclusive will feature a Weta Cave plaque along with a little weta bug crawling on the rocks. Caveat? Only available to aforementioned Weta Cave visitors!

The regular version is expected to be available sometime soon for the rest of us. In the meantime see our pics from Comic-Con and fresh pics from New Zealand forumer JacKo of the Weta Cave exclusive!

ES: Open | (Weta Cave) Exclusive: $79.99NZD | Regular: TBD

9 pics posted in our forum! Click through!

If Bag End alone wasn’t enough to quite signal a trend, the resurgence of LOTR environments can now be firmly acknowledged as Weta confirms pending commencement on Rivendell.

Thanks everyone for your input

Now is the last chance for any further suggestions / thoughts

We will start work on Rivendell very soon

Thoughts / suggestions? Add them to our on-going Rivendell thread, brimming with stuff like this popular fan photoshop mock-up by forum member Indiana Fett:

Despite widespread assumptions that Sideshow’s Neytiri statue will play second fiddle to Legacy’s upcoming piece (which may still turn out to be the case), they have produced a very pleasing depiction of the sexy blue alien cat-person-thing in their own right.

So much has been said about the distinct separation at the hairline that I would be surprised if Sideshow doesn’t make some sort of amendment there. Personally that doesn’t even bother me much– I find the “Avatar” logo mashed amongst the wooden branches and foliage more distasteful. (contrast with Weta’s unadorned District 9 statues)

Still Sideshow’s faithful rendering of Neytiri’s portrait and good choice for a pose make for a visually appealing statue.

I did not find Sideshow’s Con offerings as engaging as in past years– no doubt exacerbated by their ‘jumping the gun’ month long online reveals– but Neytiri has a certain beauty about it, making it a bright spot amongst the usual Marvel and Star Wars overkill.

Neytiri is expected to pre-order this Thursday, 7/28 at around $300 for both versions.

[Update] The exclusive Neytiri is now sold out, and Sideshow’s posted the backstage pass video.

Sell out time: 1 day
ES: 600 | Exclusive: $299.99 | Regular: $289.99

10+ pics posted in our forum! Click through!

Daniel Falconer was kind enough to drop by our forums for another update on the progress of the much salivated Art of District 9 Book– click through to see the cover art and projected release window!

[Update] Daniel’s shared some actual page spreads with us! Click here to see them!

A treasure trove of in-hand Weta and John Howe’s Smaug the Golden images have been posted on our forum! The great dragon awakens in style as forum members Jen, LOTR Fan, and N2darkness have posted over 50 pics of this hotly anticipated piece newly seated in their collections.

Still on the fence? Weta’s Tim Launder tells us that the price on this piece will soon increase– a good incentive to presently make up your mind. In the meantime–

Click through and see for yourself!

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