It’s great to see that Hot Toys are not one to rest on their laurels as kings of 1/6 scale likeness. This is even more apparent when they revisit popular genre actors and actresses, like Ms. Scarlett Johansson, captured on this here Black Widow figure (Iron Man 2). It is a marked refinement over their previous work on the Silken Floss (The Spirit). Current king-of-genre Sam Worthington has gotten the repeat treatment for Terminator Salvation and Clash of the Titans, and may well complete a trifecta as Hot Toy also holds the Avatar license (silver lining: they never have to change his hair style).

And I really thought the hair was not so great (an understandable challenge– ‘real hair’ doesn’t even look great on Cinemaquettes), but after seeing the film, it’s surprisingly pretty faithful. Which is to say, Black Widow has weird looking doll hair for some reason– the least of Iron Man 2’s problems at any rate.

Many months after glimpsing the Psylocke Comiquette Prototype auctioned for the Diane fund, Sideshow has finally previewed the production piece. As evident in the preview image, this version is based on comic artist Mark Brooks’ vision; unclear if this was a key deviation from the proto, however there’s no denying the two versions are strikingly different.

[update] The exclusive version has sold out in under 10 minutes at $275. The regular version sans art print is $10 cheaper.

The vampy blue Adam Hughes Mystique Comiquette has only just made her debut but it’s already being hailed among the best of the AH! comiquette line. Seasoned sculptor Tim Miller is at bat again and may have netted Sideshow another home-run. Alongside She-Hulk and Black Queen, the bevy of busty AH! ladies made a strong showing at this year’s Con.

For even more images of the Sideshow Mystique Comiquette, don’t neglect to peruse our Comic-Con 2009 Gallery!

• See more In-Depth features from Comic-Con 09

The latest Marvel-ous lady to join Sideshow’s AH! comiquette coterie: Mystique.

How will she stack up against her busty companions? (of which you lot voted Mary Jane the queen) Time will tell. We will have photos straight from the showfloor so you can probably ogle judge for yourselves.

[Update: we have Comic-Con photos!]

Hot Toys has revealed the first figure from their Watchmen figure line with a teaser of Laurie Juspeczyk/Silk Spectre II (Malin Akerman)

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.

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 Havok chimes in with a batch of fresh in-hand photos showing Sideshow’s latest Star Wars premium format entry, the ever scantily-clad Slave Leia. Exclusive Salacius Crumb to boot!

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It seems ages already since this beauty was shown off at Comic-Con, but Weta’s finally put up their first Halo piece for order- Cortana.

As I was prepared for a price of $250-$300 from what seem to be ever-rising cost of collectibles, the $225 ’special’ pre-order price comes as a nice surprise. There a certain element of beauty here that sets it apart from the other Chief / ugly space creature pieces, which the masses have definitely responded to. Edition size to be determined.

• Pre-order Cortana at WetaNZ
• See our Cortana photos from Comic-Con 08

Forum member suspect2b gives a real good look at his just-arrived Sideshow Lara Croft premium format. The exclusive version of the buxom Tomb Raider, no less!

Click through for his pics!

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