Click on each category to sort by that stat! Bold blue text indicates the highest stat per each category. [update: New boards added!]

Compare with our last BOTB! (Aug. 2007)

Musings:
Most posts and members
[Update]: P. Wise was kind enough to provide us with the stats himself- no more question marks! In light of this, you may find it interesting that RS no longer holds the member record, which now goes to newcomer TFW2005.
——–
You’ll notice that the a couple of stats for Rebelscum are in bold blue, and you’ll notice that they are in question marks. How is this possible?

Firstly they are question marks because there are no stats to be easily found on the index. However, even using our numbers for their forum from two years ago, they’d still win in those categories. That’s why.

As always, any help in providing numbers for our ? stats is appreciated.

Growth
Clearly excelling over the others, Sideshow Freaks has experienced explosive growth at 275%. In case you’re wondering of course, “Growth” is calculated based on the increase in the number of posts since August, 2007.

Average
Average is calculated by dividing the total number of posts by the number of members, providing an indication of participation per individual. As with the 2007 BOTB, we (The Shadow and Flame) take this one with pride.

So long, farewell:
These are boards that have been removed from the table since the last BOTB, considering their inactivity.
Parenthesis indicate number of new posts in this two year time frame.
Yodas News (14696)
Wetaholics (1640)
Lordoftheringsguide (4406)

And Spawn.com’s board was removed– as the only board done by the company themselves, it just didn’t really fit.

In place of these boards, The Hunter’s Lair, Statue Marvels, Chocolate by Death, and Onesixthwarriors (OSW) were added.

Conclusion:
And there you have it folks. The economy sucks, but there are still a heck of a lot of people talking about collectibles online.

As always, here are links to all the fine boards discussed. Give them a visit!
The Shadow and Flame
SideshowFreaks
Statue Forum
Gentle Giant Collectors
Lord of the Rings Guide
Onesixthwarrior
Sandtroopers
Rebelscum
TFW2005
Statue Marvels
Spawn.com
The Hunter’s Lair
Chocolate by Death
Wetaholics
Yoda’s News

(Oh my! Rebelscum maintains lead and nears 300 votes! GGC pulls comfortably into third!)

Get your last votes in folks! Poll closes at the end of August. Thanks to everyone who participated.

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 »

You might have caught wind of the fact that the Moria Orc premium format has many seeing red, literally. The more vibrant shade of red on shipped production pieces has triggered a veritable meltdown, with swirls of bad blooded banter thick in the air. The technicalities of cameras and their ability to render said color is even being examined on a geekier level than ever has been in human history.

Along with the “red lipstick” Galadriel before it, this is the is precisely the sort of one-two punch the beleaguered line did not need. It’s bad press at a remarkably bad time.

I don’t believe Sideshow would still put up with the headaches on the production side if they didn’t genuinely love their pet brand. But be better. By any account this was primed to be a grand slam, but this incident has, to say the least, cast a dubious light on that distinction. We should be dazzled by Sideshow’s every new premium format, and not feel as though they’re going through the motions. If anyone has the resources and the know-how to push the form to new heights, it’s them.

There’s more at stake here than a potential sale- it’s the mountain of trust that Sideshow have admirably worked very hard to earn throughout the years that may slowly erode.

If this makes any potential customer just a little more leery now of committing $400 for that mighty elaborate Blackbeard premium format, could one blame them?

Hazy Shades of Orc

1. Official Moria Orc PF photo by Sideshow (original product photo)
2. Moria Orc PF at Comic-Con 08 photo by Charles Song
3. Official Moria Orc PF photo by Sideshow (360 turnaround)
4. In-hand Moria Orc PF photo by Jerseydevil
5. Packaging box art photo by Jerseydevil
6. In-hand Moria Orc PF photo by Darth Waller
7. In-hand Moria Orc PF photo by ronnin
8. Behind the scenes photo of film prop costume, DVD supplements
9. Sideshow Weta Moria Orc bust photo by Ringwraith
10. Sideshow Weta Moria Orc Swordsman statue photo by Zurko
11. In-hand Moria Orc PF photo by XMAN
12. Official Moria Orc PF photo by Sideshow (revised (12/18) product photo)

• Moria Orc thread at Sideshow Freaks (1408 posts and counting)
• Moria Orc thread at The Shadow and Flame (951 posts and counting)
• See our high res Moria Orc PF photos from SDCC 08
• State of the LOTR PF: Vol 1

Closing out the week of Comic-Con coverage, here is a roundup of thoughts and recollections. First thanks to the great industry folk who all in some way made the con this year a memorable experience: Tim, Magnus, Linda, Greg, Martin from Weta; Jennifer, Corie, Dusty, Heath from Sideshow; Kevin from eFX. And also salutations to all the visitors from Statue Forum, Sideshow Freaks, The Shadow and Flame and across the net, I hope your visit was worthwhile.

But I did catch up with my friend, Tim from Weta Collectibles. I have to admit to being impressed with his vision for the company under his management. He maintains a strong sense of awareness in what collectors are looking for, and is willing to broaden that knowledge, through chatter on forums, blogs, or face to face. In short, he recognizes the value of ideas from Average Joe collectors like you and I.

As a Weta collector, it will be exciting indeed to see just where the new team takes it.

Comic-Con 2008 Roundup

Everyone Wants A Piece Of: Bruce Lee
Sideshow, Cinemaquette, Enterbay, MINDstyle (and loads of others I’m sure) all had their own take on The Dragon. (Last year’s winner: Halo)

Most Improved Booth: Cinemaquette
They finally, finally, moved from the outer rim ’skid row’ where they’ve been eternally stranded. Much more plush, much less bright neon ‘Cafeteria’ signage reflections in photos. This relocation did cause me to nearly miss their booth on preview night. But I don’t hold a grudge guys. I’m happy for you.

Memorable Faces: Hot Toys and Gentle Giant
Hot Toys does it again with their Robert Downey Jr. headsculpt for their Iron Man Mark III figure. Gentle Giant had strong portraits with their Harry Potter line- their Weasleys (Ron, Ginny, Twins) were very lifelike. Cinemaquette’s Bruce Lee is certainly no slouch, but I have some reservation that the production statues will look the same. I hope they prove me wrong. (Last year’s winner: Hot Toys Elizabeth Swan)

Coolest Thing You Can’t Buy: Weta’s Unnatural Selector Raygun
It’s unclear whether this will be made available just yet. But sitting tantalizingly out of reach atop the Rayguns display case, it was certainly very popular with con attendees. (Last year: Lifesize Lord Cockswain and Moon Mistress display)

Longstanding geek-void filled: Pan’s Labyrinth
Gentle Giant took up the mantle with a big unfinished clay Faun statue and a con-exclusive Faun bust signed by Guillermo Del Toro. Prediction for next year: Firefly.

Most Detailed: Weta Dr. Who: The Cyber Controller

Eyesore: Medicom oversized VCD’s, GG Classics busts, GG LOTR Berserker busts

Best Action Figure: Hot Toy’s Iron Man Mark III

Best Mixed Media: Sideshow Thor premium format

Best Statue: Weta Cortana, Sideshow Species Sil (tie)

Best Diorama: GG Boba + Carbonite Han dio

Best Life-Size: Sideshow Iron Man bust

Best In Show: Sideshow’s Diablo 3 “OVERTHROWN” Diorama

• [[Arist Proof]] Collectiblog Comic-Con 2008 Gallery
• Enter our Weta Collectibles Hellgate: Cabalist Giveaway
• Enter our Sideshow Collectibles Elvis premium format Giveaway

Note 1: I declined to post a ‘reference’ photo, as a single photo would not sufficiently represent Gandalf/Ian as he appeared throughout the course of the trilogy.

Note 2: All images are stock company photos

• See the Aragorn comparison

Note 1: I declined to post a ‘reference’ photo, as a single photo would not sufficiently represent Aragorn/Viggo as he appeared throughout the course of the trilogy– depending on costume, hair/makeup, expression, what he ate that morning, or a combination of.

Note 2: I tried to use stock company photos where possible- could not find a large enough image for Weta’s Elessar, so you get to see mine instead. Aren’t you lucky?

Know what a million geeks cheering simultaneously sounds like? Today would’ve been as good a day as any to find out, as Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” is officially announced with Peter Jackson producing. No director attached yet, and some sources make as if the position may be eventually filled by PJ himself. I think if he was gung ho about it, they surely would have sorted that out by now. We will not see the barefooted one at the helm again is my prediction, though I hope I’m wrong.

* MGM and New Line will co-finance and co-distribute two films, “The Hobbit” and a sequel to “The Hobbit.” New Line will distribute in North America and MGM will distribute internationally.* Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh will serve as Executive Producers of two films based on “The Hobbit.” New Line will manage the production of the films, which will be shot simultaneously.

* Peter Jackson and New Line have settled all litigation relating to the “Lord of the Rings” (LOTR) Trilogy.

Said Peter Jackson, “I’m very pleased that we’ve been able to put our differences behind us, so that we may begin a new chapter with our old friends at New Line. ‘The Lord of the Rings’ is a legacy we proudly share with Bob and Michael, and together, we share that legacy with millions of loyal fans all over the world. We are delighted to continue our journey through Middle Earth. I also want to thank Harry Sloan and our new friends at MGM for helping us find the common ground necessary to continue that journey.”

• Theonering.net in hysterics
• Aintitcool lets the fur fly
• Sideshow Freaks jump for joy
• The Shadow and Flame approves; one person doesn’t care
• All quiet on the Weta Holics front, hopefully not for long
• BDboystoys ponders the return of Sideshow Weta