Or maybe you do. Especially if you work for Blizzard.

A recent Ebay listing advertising a “Sideshow World of Warcraft Orc statue” caught my eye for several reasons: While Sideshow does have WOW license, it has only released a grand total of one statue thus far- the Blood Elf Rogue VS Draenei Paladin Diorama- and this was not it. Another major eyebrow-raiser? This here mystery statue sold for $2000 (via best offer). By now perhaps your interest may be piqued as well.

It was quickly apparent that this was no Sideshow collectible at all, but instead a Weta one: A (looks like 1/6) scaled faux-bronze Orc Warrior on Wolf Mount statue of the life-size installation at Blizzard’s Irvine, CA campus, also by– you guessed it, Weta. Some very fine looking work courtesy of sculptors Eden Small and Daniel Cockersell.

The piece was given to Blizzard employees as a thank-you gift in 2007, which readily explains why such a rarely seen statue has an edition size of 2986. Being what it is, the act of ebaying it would seem to be somewhat of a faux pas.

And now you know. I know I do!

As the teaser shots and info continue to trickle on Weta’s mysterious Star Burst, a few things are apparent: Instead of a Comic-Con announcement of a new addition to the Grordbort’s Raygun line as thought, it will be instead another unique one-off, not unlike the hand-painted Manmelters sold last month. Like those pieces, this appears to be modified upon the Manmelter platform, by Dave.. I mean, Dr. Tremont himself. Price is still secret, but keep those expectations lofty.

The Star Burst will be up for grabs:
* US West Coast: Sunday 7 June 1 PM
* US East Coast: Sunday 7 June 4 PM
* UK: Sunday 7 June 9 PM

[[Update]]: The Star Burst was sold for $1,350.00

Sideshow Weta’s Balrog of Moria statue, aka “Big Daddy”, “The Original Balrog” etc. embodies the ‘holy grail’ of the line, fetching on the secondary market the bountiful ransom sought by the dwarves when they awakened this beast. No small feat in itself considering how vast the polystone range eventually became.

How is it holding up? While it’s certainly nowhere near its loftiest peak, that is fully expected. The decline in values have been all-encompassing for the SSW line. Still, by the look of things, the Daddy Rog remains the ruler of the roost, still maintaining the lead over its arch-nemesis Cave Troll. On the other hand, things aren’t looking so hot for the diminutive The Flame of Udun. See how they compare below.

Valuation: +296% Balrog of Moria | -69% Udun

(See latest completed Ebay auctions)

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)

What happens when you take your everyday Raygun and let a couple of Weta designers loose with paintbrushes?

We’ll just have to wait a while longer to find out as three unique custom painted ManMelter 3600zx Rayguns have been teased in silhouette form. You can however sneak a glimpse at them in the meantime. The custom pieces will go on sale (and hopefully, be shown) tomorrow, May 16.

Did you miss the teaser announcement last week right here at [[Artist Proof]]? Yes indeedy, Weta Collectibles will be selling prop swords from Peter Lyon, and the latest Weta Cast sheds more light on the mystery. One thing is certain, the swords will in fact be “one-offs” and not a part of any concrete mass produced ‘range’– as Peter himself describes it, this is all coming about as the downtime between film projects sometimes affords him the opportunity to work on “special commissions” for collectors.

Have a listen to the pod cast for yourself and see if you can decipher it any better than I.

Better yet, pick Mr. Lyon’s brain yourself at the Leeds, UK exhibit this upcoming weekend and more importantly, give us the scoop!