New York Comic Con 2018: A Conversation with Sideshow Andy
Hey everybody, it's great to see you around! We've talked to you a lot about your superhero collectibles, but today we're going to focus on some of the creature horror stuff. Let's talk about some of these aliens and Xenomorphs. Not many people realize that Sideshow was started as a horror company. Our first-ever licenses were Universal Monsters, and we've made a bunch of cheesy jokes over the years. But at the end of the day, our roots are soaked in blood, and a lot of the detail that we bring to our pieces comes from a background of creating hyper-realistic horror.
We have a few pretty badass aliens and Xenomorphs here with us today, including the Wolf Predator, which is in conjunction with Legacy's Legend of Scale bust mixed media piece. We use different materials such as plastics and poly resins to get extra detail on the piece, while also making it safer for shipping. This was really an experiment in different materials, and it worked out great. The piece looks pretty darn cool and has been really popular at the show today.
When it comes to designing Alien characters, we want something that's interesting and unique. We've found that the Xenomorphs are very adaptable in terms of design, which allows us to get creative and not just stick to the original designs from the first or second film. When working with licenses, we need to come up with something that's unique to Sideshow, while still being recognizable as a fan favorite. This is where our mythos line comes in – it's all about taking iconic characters and adding our own twist to them.
We actually collaborated with Legacy from Tom Lee Stan Winston studios to design an Alien character inspired by Gigas work. We gave them the green light to do their own thing, and they came up with a unique design that incorporates elements of the Alien Queen, such as extra arms and ridges on the head. This was all part of our mythos line, which is about taking iconic characters and making them our own. It's not just a copycat piece; it's a love letter to the character.
One of my favorite parts about this piece is that Jonesy, one of the Alien Queen's faces, is included in the design. We wanted to tie this piece back to the movies, while still keeping it unique and special. The final product has a lot of matte elements, shiny surfaces, and even translucent pieces on top – it's almost like a ceramic or glaze on a piece of pottery. The pearlescent and glossy finishes add a lot of depth to the piece, especially with the carapace and mouth details.
We've also worked on other Alien pieces, including the Alien Queen, which is actually a different scale than the rest of our lineup. We wanted to create a sense of scale, so we brought out some extra Alien warriors to complement this piece. This was actually a collaboration with Legacy, who worked with us to recreate the original miniature of the Queen's head and body parts, which had been damaged over the years.
Working with Legacy was an incredible experience – it felt like getting the band back together! They were able to bring the Queen back to life again, and we're so proud to be a part of their portfolio. When they get to work on feature films, they can show that Sideshow has earned their place as designers who create something unique and modern. The team at Legacy was literally like I could sketch her from memory – she was my life! And it's awesome to see that they're able to bring that same level of passion and creativity to our pieces.
Overall, we're thrilled to be bringing these characters to life in this way. It means the world to us, and we can't wait to share more of our stories and creations with you. Thanks for sharing in this experience with us, and we'll see you at the next convention!
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey everybody norm from tested here at New York Comic Con 2018 of course with sideshow Andy good to see you around now we've talked to you a lot about your superhero collectibles I love the focus a little bit on some of the creature horror stuff of course let's talk about some of these aliens yeah you got it my friend so we and not many people realize we started off as a horror company our first-ever licenses Universal Monsters you know we've made a bunch of cheesy jokes and but the main thing is like sideshows roots are soaked in blood you know we're a horror company first and foremost and a lot of the detail that we bring to our pieces comes from a background of creating hyper-realistic horror you know and so right here we have a few pretty badass aliens and Xenomorphs the first piece here is the wolf predator so this is in conjunction with legacy obviously a legend of scale bust mixed media piece which I really love we use different and different casting materials different plastics and poly resins to not only get extra detail on the on the pole to try and get you all the detail on that stuff but a little bit more flexibility just to make the taste safer for shipping as well so we this was really an experiment in different materials and it worked out great and the piece looks pretty darn cool and it's been really popular at the show today what do you want to your alien warrior is something that's interesting of the Xenomorphs in the Alien franchise is they're they're very adaptable in terms of design right you can kind of get creative and not just have to design a xenomorph that you saw in the first or second film there are no other films so when you're working with the licensor for this how do you go about the back-and-forth of coming up with something that's very unique to sideshow well this one this one is actually now part of our mythos line and you might be familiar with it with our Star Wars mythos pieces we did a terminator Mattos piece recently yep well over I'm working with licenses they trust us they like what we do they've given us permission to start to explore our own interpretation of characters that love this one we went a step further we actually collaborated with legacy from Tom Lee Stan Winston studios and said to them got that oh gee team and said to them you worked on aliens what if you got a chance to design the alien to take your inspiration from gigas work but what would you have done what would your dream alien be so this was letting these guys to stop free rein to do their own version of the xenomorph I can see some inspiration from the alien queen which is behind us in terms of the extra arms yeah in the center but even the the texture of an extra ridges on the head even though you have a Jonesy I presume yeah what you've seen it's a twist yep that's the that's the idea behind mythos is you want something whether it's in this silhouette and certain iconic elements that it's still recognized beauty the character that you love but it's got a sideshow twist to it there's something that makes it unique and it's and it's always a love letter that's the great thing about mythos it's always people who adore the characters anyway right but it's being able to have that freedom to experiment and write their their dream story you know about the particular character and throwing Jonesy in there as well was just just awesome my favorite part at all statue but you had the idea that that he's in there ties it to the movies a little bit and then such a beloved character in his own right we had to throw man is this paint finished what you're going for for the final product from yes there's a lot of some matte elements some shiny and then the translucent on top is not easy yeah yeah that's definitely the way it's gonna look and with all of the alien pieces when when you actually see the original products when you start to work with the artists they're almost like a ceramic almost like a glaze on a piece of pottery the way that they did it it's incredible pearlescent and even though this is in its its Browns and CPS we wanted to retain that and the Mick the gloss and the matte light really adds a lot of extra depth to it especially with on inside their carapace and inside the mouth still got the translucent teeth yeah you know turning did lot to try and capture Ike if you entertained the piece for a long time and then finally the alien queen behind that now assume this is a different scale than the rest of this great and I like about the alien queen pieces you also have other Xenomorphs underneath it for scale yes yeah she's a really great complementary piece to another little piece which is the alien king whom we brought out last year but they've given you these these extra alien warriors to give you the sense of scale was very important to us and this was actually with the og team from legacy we got to work with the guys who created the Queen so the heads and parts of the body were actually asked from their original miniature the rest theses have been lost due to dis damage over the years they helped us recreate his character and then legacy just just went full-on redesigned and getting the band back together bring the Queen back to life again and this details in there I never spires and I didn't realize she had these cool little frilly wings on her back and they have her back feet are almost like high heels you know the shame on me I didn't spot that but like in the statue I've fallen in love with this character all over again and hopefully other people will too and I love for the team and legacy allows them to go through this exercise its creative exercise of concept and embrace them in life which add to their portfolio and when they get to work on feature films they can show like you know we've earned designed something yeah that can work that's modern these guys were literally like I could I could week scoped her from memory she was my life yeah the piece that they loved they did it was honestly felt like getting the band back together it really did and them and we're so proud to be able to bring this to life like this means the world to us awesome good to see you Andy thank you so much first share with us some of the stories of these characters and creatures and we'll see you at the next on my budget season\n"
