Sideshow expands Star Wars with new line

Sideshow has a new Star Wars line, Mythos. A couple of the figures look fairly interesting: A hermit Obi-Wan (in both Ewan and Sir Alec versions!) and a be-toged Darth Maul. And if this mean they’ll be doing figures of existing characters at non-movie points of their lives, maybe we’ll eventually see a couple insipired by post-Return of the Jedi. Here’s the money graph:

This line of collectibles will be populated by characters from new and existing story lines. We will bring history, unique details and personal choices to each in order to elaborate on who they are. Through the design and sculpt process our goal is to delve deeper into these established characters and offer our own interpretations of what they have done outside of the Star Wars canon.

Outside of canon!?! Eleventyone!

Anyway, the “new” part of the equation? Psst, there are a few existing characters you guys haven’t done yet, in any form. I mean, we are still waiting for that Mara. Or even, hell, a Leia wearing something other than the metal bikini. Or a Padme. Have they ever even done a Padme? An Ahsoka? What do the Gamorrean fans have that we don’t, Sideshow? TELL US. I promise we have many ladies willing to pony up for that Obi-wan if you do.

Santa Maul has woken, and he has a ‘gift’ for you

Santa Maul's Holiday Gift Guide‘Ah, Santa Maul, it is too early for you,’ perhaps you are saying. But you are wrong. Has retail taught you nothing? It is never too early for the trappings of Sithmas to intrude into everyday life. (Four days before Halloween! I am indeed mighty.) Santa Maul depends on your hatred and rage at the season’s shameless insidiousness, after all. It is what wakes him, long before his intended time. Well, that and the candy.

In any case, Santa Maul knows his lady readers, and the ladies (and many of the mens) love that silly twit Obi-Wan, even at his most mulleted. So he brings you this Sideshow production peek, to taunt you a product that will probably not be ready for Christmas! For such is his whim. Welcome to the Sithmas season, minions!

EUbits: Sideshow might actually get around to making a Mara Jade figure. No, really!

Namesake corner. Mara Jade gets a namedrop in Sideshow’s SDCC video, which leads me to believe that we might actually see a figure before we all die of old age. Alas, it’s pretty much the same thing they said last time, regarding the Adam Huges painting. Skip straight to 2:40 for the brief clip.

Comic-Con is so last week. There were copies of Year by Year on sale at in San Diego, but the rest of us will just have to settle for a con report.

First draft peek. Paul S. Kemp gives fans a very early look inside Riptide.

Good news, procrastinators! Star Wars Blueprints is coming out in book form!

EUbits: The Jedi Path falls to Earth in September; Your Imperial Commando is dead, son.

First look. The Jedi Path comes in a vault. What? Yeah. Or: “Passed down from Master to Padawan, the pages of this venerable text have been annotated by those who have held it, studied it, and lived its secrets.” Since we’re living in the real world, I like Dan Wallace’s explanation: ” It’s supposed to look like an in-universe artifact that fell through a rabbit hole from the galaxy far, far away.” It is an interesting concept, but mostly I just fear what the Jedi Church will make of it.

Hey hey hey, goodbye. Yes, it’s official: There will be no Imperial Commando 2. (It was probably a lose-lose sans Traviss anyway.)

Namesake corner. Sideshow is teasing about a Mara Jade figure again. They like the Adam Hughes painting! (Sigh.) At least she’s not doing laundry?

Comics! Preview the October solicitations, including Knight Errant #1. Which just so happens to be on the cover of August’s Previews.

Interview. Paul Kemp (Crosscurrent) on Fictional Frontiers

The fandom minute: Do tauntaun guts taste like candy?

EW.The internet’s favorite Star Wars cake – this week. As impressive as this Tauntaun grooms cake is, I’m not sure I’d want to eat it. Still, props to the folks at Cake Nouveau for really capturing the moment. And by moment I meant slimy tauntaun guts. (Their dazed-out Luke is amazingly good, too.)

Artoo found in Transformers 2. Are there enough oil baths in the world to get the poor droid clean after this?

Seriously? Someone is taking their dedication to authentic costuming a little too far.

Quack Vader. This unauthorized ’70’s Vader light looks like something Robot Chicken would come up with. Maybe Seth Green had one, too?

And finally… Sideshow has a site up for the customized stormtrooper figures they showed off at SDCC.

SDCC ’09: Continuing coverage of Muggs, stormtroopers, and roller-skating mechanical chickens

Robot Chick Skate Party / starwarsblog @ Flickr / Photo by David IskraNow that everyone’s settled back home and able to blog more easily, we’re starting to see a few more con reports. StarWars.com has recaps of The Empire Muggs Back and the Robot Chicken Skate party (which is now moving on to L.A.,) while Rebelscum posted a gallery of Sideshow’s customized stormtroopers. Meanwhile, Atom.com has recruited G4 hostess Olivia Munn to help with their Fan Movie Challenge. We can only pray that mullet-play is optional.

In EUish news, the Scribe Awards were also given out at the con, and Karen Miller’s The Clone Wars: Wild Space did not take the Best Novel – Adapted prize under Speculative Fiction. It went to an actual adaptation, Bob Greenberger’s novelization of Hellboy: The Golden Army. However, James’s Rollins novelization of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull did take the Adapted prize in the category of General Fiction. (How are aliens general fiction, again?) Congrats to Rollins and condolences to Miller, in any case.

Gift Guide: Santa Maul thinks of the Wantons

Santa Maul's Holiday Gift GuideSanta Maul invites his many lady friends (and perhaps a few of his man friends as well) to feast their eyes on Sideshow’s new Attack of the Clones Obi-Wan figure. These 12 inches of bearded Obi-Wan can be preordered on Friday for those who qualify. Santa Maul is not familiar enough with Sideshow’s arcane practices to guess what that means, or when the figures will be shipping, but he does believe that many a fan would appreciate the gesture even if it does come down to an empty box on the day in question.

Santa Maul also recommends io9’s Gift Ideas for the Ten Major Species of Science Fiction Fan, though overall he finds their choices rather obvious.