Hey guys, another update on one of my favourite pieces from my collection and one which has a lot of sentimental value for reasons which i'll explain shortly
It's the Sideshow Collectibles old school classic...the Incredible Hulk Premium Format
I've never really reviewed this piece on my thread before despite having him in my collection for nearly over a year and half and this was only the third time I've ever actually removed the statue from its box since owning it
As crappy as having most of your collectibles stored inside their shipping boxes like I have, the great thing about it is that when you do eventually get to take them back out, it's like opening a whole new statue for the first time...and seeing this Hulk PF again just reminded me of why I searched so far and wide to bring this baby home to London...it's just an awesome collectible!
Looking back over 2 years now and the time when I first heard about Sideshow Collectibles, the one piece which I remember seeing on all the forums was the Green Hulk PF and I remember saying to myself that I'd never get to lay eyes on this piece in the flash let alone actually own one myself...then again, I also said that about the Dr. Doom PF and I somehow managed to get that bad boy (albeit he's now sold!)
but I remember very well the amount of time I spent searching helplessly through eBay sites of all the different countries just on the off chance of finding me a Hulk....
I think it took something like a 6 or 7 months before my perseverance paid off when I found an eBay listing in Paris, France and a guy who was selling his Hulk PF at a reasonable price. Not only was this amazing news but to find a seller who actually lived in Europe was a blessing! This would mean that i'd save a considerable amount of money in not only shipping but also custom taxes - this is because 9 out of 10 Hulk PF's that I'd come across in my searches over those 6-7 months were all in the States or Canada
So I took the bull by the horns so to speak and immediately got in touch with the seller and to my surprise after a few short messages were exchanged, we both agreed on the price of $1050 all in for the Green Hulk PF in all its original packaging aswell as the shipper
Now, I've mentioned before in my thread that there have only been one or two times that a statue has left me speechless upon seeing it for the first time. Infact, from memory, I think its only ever been this Hulk PF and the SSC Iron Man MKIII LSF that have had me drooling
but when I unravelled the protective polysterene sheeting from the Hulk PF I just couldn't believe just how huge this statue was and then was further shocked when I tried to remove him from the Styrofoam
he weighed an absolute ton!!! By far the heaviest of all my 1/4 scale collectibles that I own...the Hulk PF, along with the majority of all the other classic Sideshow old school collectibles such as the Doom PF, Thor PF, Captain America PF, etc...are some of the most remarkable pieces I've ever seen and unfortunately, ones which we are unlikely to see again in our lifetime. What I mean by that is that these statues were enormous, sculpted to perfection, painted to proto standards, solid weight behind each of them and most importantly, cost almost 50% less than what a 1/4 scale collectible would cost nowadays! Those of you who have these said pieces in your collection will know exactly what I mean...for me, these old school classics are simply some of the best that we've ever seen in the world of 1/4 scale collectibles.
So, other than giving you my thoughts on this magnificent piece, I also wanted to show you a little customisation I had done on the actual base of my Hulk PF. Taking nothing away from how it originally looked, its only because I like to have my statues look a specific way when I finally see it in the flesh. My imagination always runs wild with ways that I'd like to display things or how I could add to a statue something that I felt would make it more pleasing to me...well in this case, I wanted to add some detailing and shading to Hulks base...nothing too drastic but something that would satisfy my viewing pleasure more than what it already did...
so here is a before and after pic of how the base looked and what it looks like after I had it repainted
There are only a few pieces in my collection that I can think of which I can safely say will never leave my collection...this Hulk PF is certainly one of them. I know we've had countless Hulk statues released since the PF...we've had the Comiquette, Skaar, the Avengers Movie Maquette, the newly arrived Gladiator Hulk and of course the new set of Hulk PF's which will arriving in the future, but despite all these amazing statues, I still feel as though the original Hulk PF will always be the undisputed champion of all Hulks. Its the perfect representation of how I remembered Hulk as a young teenager and also my very first Hulk statue that I ever owned
Thanks as ever for looking guys and I hope you enjoy the pics
P.S. I'll be back with my next update which will be a first for me....in that it's my first movie prop collectible. My custom made lifesize 'Mjolnir' on display base based on the Avengers Movie, which also features a very very cool 'glow' feature