Sideshow have been doing this since 1994, and the Premium Format Figure is still the format most collectors measure others against — polystone sculpted around a real fabric costume, at a quarter scale that fits a shelf rather than a room. Everything here is reservation-only, priced in sterling with duty already paid.
Most premium statues are entirely cast — polystone or resin, painted, finished, sealed. Sideshow's Premium Format Figure is mixed media: a sculpted polystone body dressed in a tailored fabric costume, with real leather, metal fittings and hair where the character calls for it. It's why a Premium Format reads differently across a room to an all-polystone piece of the same size, and why the two aren't quite comparable even at similar prices.
Practically, most Premium Format Figures sit at 1/4 scale — somewhere around 50–60cm tall including the base, depending on pose. Above them, Legendary Scale pieces move to half scale and become architectural rather than decorative. Maquettes — drawn from animation and comics — vary in scale and tend to be more stylised. Busts and Statues cover the range below, and Court of the Dead is Sideshow's own original world rather than a licence, which is worth knowing before you go looking for the source material. Our scale guide covers what 1/4 means for your shelf.
This trips up more first-time Sideshow buyers than anything else, so here it is plainly. Sideshow release many pieces in two versions. The Exclusive Edition includes an extra part — usually a swap-out portrait, an alternative weapon or a second set of hands — and is sold directly by Sideshow. The Collector Edition is the same statue without that extra part, and it's the version supplied through the distribution channel.
What we stock are Collector Editions. We'd rather say that here than have you discover it after ordering. If the exclusive swap-out portrait is the thing you want, buy direct from Sideshow and accept the import cost — we'll say so if you ask. If you want the statue, delivered to a UK address at a UK price with nothing to pay on arrival, this is the better route.
That import cost isn't trivial. Buying direct from the US typically means 20% VAT plus around 5–6.5% duty, calculated on the statue and the freight, plus a courier handling fee of £10–20 — and the bill arrives after the parcel. On a £700 Premium Format that's a meaningful sum, and it's not visible at the point you click buy. The full working is on import duty and VAT on statues.
Sideshow announce well ahead of production. Twelve to eighteen months between announcement and delivery is ordinary, and dates move — that's the nature of the format, not a sign anything is wrong.
You reserve with a deposit rather than the full price. The balance is taken when the piece is physically with us and ready to ship, not on a date estimated a year and a half earlier. If you change your mind at any point before dispatch, you cancel and the deposit is returned in full — no fee, no restocking charge, no store credit. That's your right under the Consumer Contracts Regulations, and we'd rather state it than bury it in a terms page. The detail is on how reservations work.
Current estimates live on the release tracker, each showing the date we last checked it, so a quiet month is visibly a quiet month rather than an absence of information.
The fabric is the part people underestimate. Costumes attract dust in a way sealed polystone doesn't, and direct sunlight will fade dyed fabric long before it touches the paint. A closed cabinet and a soft brush handle both. Avoid compressed air on costumed pieces — it lifts fabric and drives dust into seams rather than off them.
Every Sideshow piece we list comes through official distribution and arrives in the manufacturer's outer shipper. We import as merchant of record, so there is nothing to pay when it lands.
Generally no — it's sold direct by Sideshow. Ask and we'll tell you honestly rather than take a deposit on a maybe.
Different things. Sideshow leads on costuming and character; Prime 1 leads on scale and engineering. We'd rather you bought the right statue than the biggest one.
No. VAT and duty are in the price shown.
Browse the full range of open editions.
