Sideshow is throwing their Halloween shindig right now, and a bunch of new figures and licenses will be or have been announced. It would make little sense for SS not to announce a new SW figure. So the rumors are flying fast and furious.

What I think:
1) no armored figures yet (Vader, stormies, etc.);
2) no new Sith (the only one left is Dooku);
3) maybe PT (if there’s more than one slot open);
4) OT (not enough OT characters in a year that should have focused on them);
5) could be military (Tarkin)

I also think there might be a LOTR announcement, too. No reason; I just think it’s high time for one.

Two are flying around now, spawned by some eagle-eyes at the Freaks board. Someone applied their Photoshop skills to a pic found in a recent entry in SS’s production blog (the one on the top left). The post is about the new Iron Man helmets, but sharp eyes discerned a General Grievous shape on the cabinet behind one the helmeted SS employees. (The Freaks board thread about it, with the zoomed-in pictures, is here.) Probably a 1:1 bust, though I’d think it would be somewhat bigger at that scale than what’s seen there.

Also spied out there, actually inside the cabinet, is what could be a 1/6 scale Gandalf the Grey. Some thought is was the SS/Weta statue, but that has him holding his staff. The figure in the cabinet doesn’t appear to be holding anything. The Gandy discussion is in this thread.

Everything seems to be working fine, including all the hacks. If anything looks freaky, hit me with an email.

It’s been July since we’ve had a 12″ LOTR announcement from SS, and I don’t like putting that broken record back on the turntable. Once again, another bust has been shown before there’s anything about a new figure. I suspect there’s going to be another diorama announcement before the end of the year, if the pattern before Frodo and Sam holds true. Because there’s been a tiny bit of movement on the Peter Jackson/New Line flap, the excitement for a Hobbit movie is starting to be rekindled. Hopefully, SS might see this as encouragement not to continue dragging their feet on this line.

75 days since the last announcement and counting.