Did Sideshow ever release these...

[King Darkness]

Armor is a problem, whether it's a generic knight, an Origins Kurgan or a stormtrooper. Normally the only tooled part is the head, but with armor you have to tool all the armor pieces too. You'd have to be able to guarantee to sell over 3000 items to make it worthwhile. For Kurgan or a Knight, that's not likely for Stormtroopers? No problem.

Hot Toys managed to make AWESOME armor for their Predator figures and mass produce it. Why cant Sideshow??

 

[galactiboy]

Hot Toys managed to make AWESOME armor for their Predator figures and mass produce it. Why cant Sideshow??

Preach it Brother!!!

 

[screamingmetal]

I really don't think it's the armor plating preventing the Sideshow knights from being released. At the time Sideshow was showing these off, Dragon and Ignite had just come out with their armored knights.
They were direct parallels with Sideshow's offerings. The Viking that came out from Ignite and Dragon both look almost exactly the same as Sideshow's Viking, however the Ignite version had a more detailed costume and metal accessories, and the Dragon version had superior chain mail armor. Ignite released several versions of English knights, the first one looked similar to Sideshow's and had metal accessories. Dragon also came out with a knight from their Timeline movie license that looked similar to Sideshow's English knight a little later.

So I think Sideshow never made these because: Ignite and Dragon beat them to it, Ignite one upped them by having metal accessories and more elaborate detailed clothing, Dragon one upped them by creating a very good solution to the 1:6 scale chain mail problem (a much better solution then either Sideshow's Monty Python knights or Ignite's shiny chain mail cloth sweaters.
Another reason you won't see them from Sideshow is because these Ignite and Dragon figures never really did all that well.

If you're really jones'n for a 1:6 Viking, I highly recommend the Dragon version. I liked it so much that I bought two. The second was way marked down, I paid $20.

 

[FlyAndFight]

Previewed at the 2002 Toy Fair...


Viking Warrior 9th Century
https://www.toymania.com/toyshows/tf2002/full/tf02sideshow70.shtml

I can certainly see that Viking being tweaked into a LOTR Rohirrim warrior.

 

[galactiboy]

It would be cool if Sideshow had released this Frank and then maybe more of their "interpretations" of classic monsters... kinda like what McFarlane and others have done. But maybe not have sucked

 

[thamesvalidude]

That viking is awesome. I would definitely buy it. I bought Dragons viking, all of ignites variants and the Dog soldiers' version. A sideshow figure would definitely improve the collection.

 

[Darklord Dave]

Actually the Ignite is FAR from more detailed than the SSC proto. It does look like Ignite copied a lot of the details from Sideshow.

HT Predators are twice the price that SSC is comfortable with selling their figures for.

And as for the Warhammer, it was never solicited, it was done to show the license holder what COULD be done. Gives me a little hope for 1/6 Warcraft though...

 

[screamingmetal]

Actually the Ignite is FAR from more detailed than the SSC proto. It does look like Ignite copied a lot of the details from Sideshow.

HT Predators are twice the price that SSC is comfortable with selling their figures for.

And as for the Warhammer, it was never solicited, it was done to show the license holder what COULD be done. Gives me a little hope for 1/6 Warcraft though...

When I say more detailed clothing I mean Ignite includes all the undergarments and padding that's underneath the chain mail, Sideshow would never do that.
Between the two, Sideshow's chain mail sweaters look better then Ignite, but then again, the Monty Python Holy Grail figures are supposed to have sweaters since that's what they actually wore in the film.
I just think Sideshow gave up when they saw the Ignite and Dragon medieval figures, to much direct competition.

I'd actually would much rather have Warhammer figures then Warcraft. But that's just me. From all the preliminary art , Warcraft has a more animated look which I don't think will translate to 1:6 figures very well.

 

[Captain Faramir]

I just hope they use that same method for the chain mail in the LOTR line. Looking at Boromir, it seems they have. Their's looks better than anybody else's I've seen.

 

[screamingmetal]

I just hope they use that same method for the chain mail in the LOTR line. Looking at Boromir, it seems they have. Their's looks better than anybody else's I've seen.

Really?
I'm just curious, have you seen the method Dragon has used before?
https://www.dragonmodelsltd.com/html/74007-p1.html
https://www.dragonmodelsltd.com/html/74007-p1b.html
https://www.dragonmodelsltd.com/html/74007-p3.html
And here's a review Michael did of Olaf:
https://www.mwctoys.com/REVIEW_092404.htm
That I prefer over any other approach.
I wont mind it as much on Boromir but if it's covering a larger area I'd prefer Sideshow take the Dragon chain mail route.

 

[Captain Faramir]

I had never seen that before, and it certainly does look superior, however, it being made of rubber I wonder how much poseability it allows.

 

[galactiboy]

That is some pretty badass chainmail! I had never noticed before how realistic it looked!

 

[screamingmetal]

I had never seen that before, and it certainly does look superior, however, it being made of rubber I wonder how much poseability it allows.

It still allows quite a bit of movement. Of coarse, it all comes down to the design of the Mail suit; The one on Olaf is split between the legs which allows much more movement of the legs, and the short sleeves allow more movement of the upper arms. Bending of the torso backwards and forwards is also possible.
In comparison, Dragon also used the same approach to their Timeline knight figures, one had no split between the legs and made posing the legs apart impossible. The figure could only just stand there like a statue.
That Olaf figure can be found on the cheap at a few places, if what you see of the figure interests you, you should pick one up. I like it so much that picked up a second one for $20.
I think I recall that all the chain mail suits in LOTR are split between the legs so this approach is ideal, if Sideshow can get the rubber bendable enough.