Let the 2021 Collecting Season Begin: 12 Days of Sideshow

Do you keep a budget? How do you identify all of the areas that will pull some form of steady cash from your bank account? Electricity, sure. Internet, of course. Statue purchases, elementary, my dear reader. Each year, I have an idea of how much to allocate towards this hobby, a total I will keep to myself, and every year, that starts with Sideshow "12 Days" event. From December 25 to January 5, Sideshow Collectibles reveals a new upcoming product each day. That new product could include anything from vinyl figures and art prints to high end statues. It's an event that can be equally as exciting as it is frustrating, depending on whether any collectibles from your respective fandoms get love or not. Nevertheless, the 2020/1 "12 Days" has begun, and let me start with an apology to the Batman statue collectors...I know and I understand. The event started off with a band, with the first day's reveal being...

DAY 1

No fandom had more to celebrate or saw a larger resurgence in relevancy than those aligning with the Star Wars Universe. Regardless of little being offered from other major fandoms in 2020 (or in general, for that matter) the Mandalorian is a high quality show that has brought a lot of enjoyability back to a mostly disgruntled fan base following the conclusion of the sequel trilogy and did even more by bringing in characters from more celebrated corners of Star Wars canon, like Ahsoka Tano. For someone who isn't familiar with anything outside of the movies, this Jedi, portrayed by Rosario Dawson, visually made a strong statement with her dual-wielded white light sabers and had the fighting skills to back the look. No surprise that Sideshow would bring an iteration of this character to collectors, but as their Day 1 reveal...a real testament to the glory that Star Wars has rediscovered since the debut of The Mandalorian. Congrats Star Wars fans.

DAY 2

Now to the polar opposite for DC fans, in my opinion. Primary being relegated to the Batman Rogues Gallery, there have been constant cries for lesser made characters to be produced (as there always are) and I don't think Power Girl is gonna fill that void at all. The last rendition of this character was released about 4 years ago and I don't understand the care for her at all. Sideshow isn't winning points with most of the DC fanbase when Two-Face, Reverse Flash, Ares, Brainiac, Red Hood, and the like remain in the void of the licensed waiting room. Is there a huge Power Girl fan club I don't know about? Of all the DC characters that would benefit from a sculpt, THIS is what they go with?

DAY 3

I like that Sideshow hit on the 3 (assumedly) biggest fanbases to open this year' s "12 Days". Even with the disappointment of the first Marvel reveal not being an X-Men piece, which would've marked the 2nd straight holiday-time without an X-Men reveal, this wet a lot of lips. Dr. Doom, specifically on throne, has been one of the most popularly produced fan art commissions over the past few years. While this isn't specified as a throne piece, and likely isn't, it is still a popular character getting the Maquette treatment by Daniel Bel, who remains one of the more popular present-day sculptors. I won't be ordering, but I am highly interested to see what comes from this reveal.

DAY 4

THERE IT IS!! Not one of the characters I was hoping for (i.e. Angel, Nightcrawler), but a character I want and will order nonetheless. In the past year, I believe Sideshow has only revealed 1 new X-Men statue, the new brown suit Wolverine from NYCC 2020, and X-Men collectors like myself had been left with a major itch. I am feeling as though this is the end of the current X-Men line, considering they've provided just two product reveals in a 365 day span. My hopes for this piece are extremely tempered with Mark Newman reportedly managing this sculpt. His last two X-Men pieces were the most recent Jean Grey and Cyclops, both were very simple in detail and too boring for my taste. On the bright side, Jean's headsculpts were top notch, so at least Storm will likely have a pretty face.

DAY 5

I am no He-Man fan, but Skeletor is the one character from the series whose look is cool and intricate enough to draw my eyes to him. I don't know that Tweeterhead has really provided many disappoints to fans, and I expect this to be the same. I believe there is their first LSB, so it'll be interesting to see if this an area they dive further into. It would cool if they added a light up feature for his eyes, as the concept art has his eyes glowing and adds to the sinister sense of this villain.

DAY 6

Another addition to Unruly's affordable and "Urban Aztez"-style vinyl collectibles, this time entering the DC realm with Batman. Both the Iron Man and Wolverine that Jesse Hernandez worked on are really cool looking and offer an extremely unique take on the heroes. Considering both of those pieces maintain the typical color schemes for the characters, it is a bit puzzling to see orange so prominently used in the promo image.

DAY 7

A new sixth scale figure. That is all.

DAY 8

Ooooooo, a new versus maquette. Like the Dr. Doom Maquette, this is another piece that I am very excited to see but will not collect. I was not the biggest fan of the recent Batman vs Superman Maquette, but the Hulk vs Wolverine Maquette was one of my first statues and was an incredible piece in almost all ways (looking at you, Wolverine's teeth). I am curious as to how much this will resemble the characters in Age of Ultron, considering the background of the promo image appears to have some of the buildings and scaffoldin behind it. Even as a 1/5 scale statue, I expect this to be pretty big and I am sure many collectors will be excited to add this to their collections. Unfortunately, I don't expect to see much blood on Hulk considering his current role in Disney's MCU, but damage on him and the Hulkbuster would greatly accentuate the slobber knocker these two would have.

DAY 9

Another piece from a collection of which I have little knowledge and no interest in, but, damn, all of the Court of the Dead pieces look really cool. While Stryfe is supposed to be ome undead knight, he looks like a skinny golem creature made of rocks that was messily put together. The COTD is a property I would be interested in reading more of, but for now, they remain at a far distance from my interests.

DAY 10

I was really surprised to see a Scarlet Witch PF announced since Sideshow was on a roll of offering a new collectible type or IP each day, but doubling up on Marvel should've been expected. No surprise that it was a character who has a TV show coming out this month, so hopefully it holds up and builds up interest in this piece. For this with Avengers collections, XM is the only licensed company to produce the character in 1:4 scale, so a second option is welcomed. The old Sideshow Scarlet Witch pieces are lackluster to me, so a revamp should be welcomed. Even though this is, again, another piece I won't be collecting, I do hope they create a hybrid of the MCU version with that from the comics.

DAY 11

ART PRINTS?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! ART PRINTS?! Cheesus, what a waste of a reveal. Really phoning it in today, Sideshow. Tomorrow better be BRILLIANT.

DAY 12

Nope. Not brilliant, but it's new and different so I'll give Sideshow some credit for that. Accompanying the promo image is the news that this collection "will include a series of Statues and Sixth Scale Figures based on the legendary roles of famed actor Clint Eastwood". While I am sure there is a large enough fan base to warrant the news, it also opens the door to balancing a lot of pressure for the various demands for specific Eastwood iterations that collectors will be or which collectors will be yearning. There is also surely a risk regarding Sideshow's troubled history with actor likenesses. If these don't come out accurate, I wonder how quickly this collection could be swept under the rug. Not the note I would've wanted to end "12 Days" on, but that's how it is sometimes.

So this is the first glimpse of what to expect from Sideshow Collectibles in 2021, with the Storm Premium Format being the only piece to which my money will be thrown. I think Marvel and Star Wars fans walk away from this with some promise, while this sets the stage for another year of DC disappointment, even while awaiting the new Bane PF. Even with an X-Men reveal, it feels a lot lighter than last year's, and maybe even the year before that. At first, I thought they just didn't reveal enough heavy hitters, and Power Girl sure didn't help. But then I recall that some days used to include multiple reveals, of which this year certainly did not. But the biggest retractor to this year's "12 Days" was the lack of images to accompany the reveals, with about half left to the imagination. This was a disappointing start to the 2021 collecting season, but at least I got an X-Men out of it. Here's to hoping we'll see new reveals from XM Studios before the month is over.