Good morning everyone! Hope everyone is having a great Friday and looking forward to the weekend… as always, just as we head in to the weekend, Sideshow likes to drain our wallets and this week there’s a couple of items I think would interest you folks. They’ve released the Aliens Power Loader Diorama for Pre-Order to go along with the Queen Diorama, and they’ve just released a new Battle Damaged Edition of the Life-Size Iron Man Bust that is in-stock and ready to ship immediately!

Let’s start off with the Power Loader Diorama and break this baby down for ya…

Sideshow Collectibles is proud to bring you the Power Loader Diorama, depicting Ellen Ripley’s visceral battle with the Queen Alien*. The diorama is cast in high-quality, heavyweight polystone and packaged in a durable foam interior and stunning printed box. Each piece is finished with real tubing and detailing and individually hand-painted and finished, and each has its own unique quality and detail that is the trademark of a handcrafted Sideshow Collectibles product. The Power Loader Diorama stands 20 inches high above a themed display base, ready to join your Alien collection.

You might notice that the likeness is quite a bit off… that’s because the license Sideshow holds does NOT include the likeness of Sigourney Weaver as she does not permit it’s use to anyone for private reasons. So what you see her is a representation of her character as close as they were allowed to go… to be honest I don’t really care, this baby is all about the power loader! And as mentioned, this piece goes with the Alien Queen Diorama to create the full battle dio from the famous scene at the end of Aliens.

Product Type: Polystone Diorama
Product Size: 20″ H x 14″ W x 14″ D
Product Weight: 15.00 lbs
Box Size: 23.00″ H x 17.00″ W x 17.00″ L

Artists:

The Gore Group
Steve Riojas Anthony Mestas
Bernardo Esquivel
Tom Gilliland
Mike Allen
Trevor Grove
The Sideshow Collectibles Design and Development Team

Easily the best power loader I have ever seen and this is a no brainer if you already have the Queen on order. Please click HERE to see all the photos or to place your pre-order! This is scheduled to ship 4th Qtr 2009 so you have lots of time to save up! By the way, if you DON’T have the Queen on order, I would suggest you sign up for the waitlist… there’s always a ton of cancellations when a product arrives and goes to ship from people that’s aren’t financially ready for the piece. You can join the waitlist by clicking here (It costs nothing to join the waitlist).

Next up is the Battle Damaged Edition Iron Man Bust, which is a bit of a questionable move from Sideshow currently being debated on the forums… read on to find out more!

Sideshow is proud to partner with Stan Winston Studios to create a stunning Iron Man Battle Damaged Life-Size Bust in celebration of the blockbuster Iron Man movie. Iron Man has been captured in 1:1 scale in his unique powered armor, taken directly from the molds used to create the film costume. Each piece is individually painted and finished to exacting standards, each with its own unique quality and detail that is the trademark of a handcrafted Sideshow Collectibles product. The bust is cast in high-quality fiberglass and features LED light-up glowing eyes, which can be powered by the supplied power cord and wall plug (U.S. only), or it can be battery operated (batteries not included). The Iron Man Battle Damaged Life-Size Bust is sure to be the centerpiece of any collection, and the perfect complement to any office or home theater.

OK, so what’s all the drama about on this one? Well, you’ll notice that this piece is actually not a pre-order, it’s already in stock and ready to ship! The reason for this is because Sideshow’s production on these busts was a complete disaster with a TON of Quality Control problems and piss poor paint work that resulted in a large amount of returns. Even the better painted busts off the production line looked nothing like the “new car finish” Sideshow has promised in their video feature. So instead of fixing the problem and getting the paint done properly, they simply scuffed up and dirtied up the returns and VOILA! You have Battle Damaged Editions! Some people seem to be in favor of this and love the Battle Damaged look better than the clean version, others think this is a pathetic move from Sideshow and just another event in a growing list of alarming behavior from Sideshow. From a business standpoint, I would say this was their only reasonable option… what choice did they really have? Let’s face… redoing production on 1500 busts would just cost WAY too much money and in today’s economy, I doubt Sideshow could absorb that kind of loss. Perhaps the Product Management team needs to get together and work on solutions to PREVENT these cock-ups (hee hee) in the first place. Remember Sideshow… an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!

So, with that aside, let’s get on with the specs.

Product Size: 24″ H x 19″ W x 13″ L
Product Weight: 37.00 lbs
Box Size: 19.00″ H x 26.00″ W x 31.00″ L

Artists:

Stan Winston Studios
The Sideshow Collectibles Design and Development Team

This bust is in stock and ready to ship immediately, so bear that in mind if you place an order. Please click HERE to view all the pics or to place you order now!

Enjoy guys, more coming soon as my sinuses slowly return to normal lol! Have a great weekend, and please be sure to share your comments on these pieces by clicking the comment button below and using the form to post your thoughts!

Take care,
Dan