I would totally use this guy as a lawn jockey if I didn’t have to worry about him being stolen.
Yeah, basically they’re nerd-art. Instead of buying a decorative lamp, or a Jesus statue, or an ornate beer stein, we nerds decorate with Mr. Spock, replica swords, and model DeLoreans.
I’ve never really been a ‘statue’ guy, myself - or a ‘sword’ guy. But I do have some nice action figures on display. Action figures are much cheaper than the statues, and they’re poseable!
At comic con Sideshow collectibles always has a nice display of these statues. They range from about $100 to some really impressive and detailed pieces for around $50,000. I would much rather have those in my house than the glurgy Lladro figurines or some of the decorative vases of dubious taste that command big money on Antiques Roadshow.
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Genuinely ignorant - Do these pieces require equivalent artisitc ability as possessed by those at Limoges or Wedgewood or whatever? Are these ‘industrial’ pieces or more similar to one-offs?
They take similar amounts of skill to produce. Most Limoges or Wedgewood pieces are produced with a mold then greater or lessor amounts of hand finishing is done depending on how much you pay. The sideshow stuff is basically the same the smaller cheaper items have much less hand work than the really big detailed pieces.
The real difference is the subject matter.