Short Round was only officially confirmed as starting development four months ago. I would guess the prod peek would be in a couple more months. Mine Cart was confirmed around SDCC last year, so that might be sooner.
Bottom line is, if Sideshow had Indy in any lower gear, they'd be running in reverse. These TOD figs probably won't be shipping until mid 2012.
But then look at the numbers and you can see why - the last Indy 12" fig was over a year ago now, and 2011 will likely see no 12" Indy released at all. That last Indy fig's edition size was half the size of a Star Wars alien a person in the street probably wouldn't even recognize - Gamorrean Guard - and the exclusive edition of that Indy is still in-stock at SSC a year later... as is the exclusive Belloq... from TWO years ago... with an edition size of 600 and 1000 respectively.
It's things like this that make you thankful that despite the quality issues, Sideshow stands by this license - and that TOD figs will in 2012 see actual light of day. They haven't confirmed it, but Mola Ram has got to be 100% certainty for that set - a worthy addition to the canon too, along with muscular TOD Indy.
But where they go from there, I have no idea... if Belloq was a hard sell, who will buy a Sallah? Toht was a minor icon (mostly due to melty head), but are characters like Donovan, Vogel and Brody really genuine candidates for this line when they are hardly iconic in any way? Is there anyone besides Henry or Young Indy from TLC that people will care to shell out that standard $85-120 pricepoint that SSC is establishing?
I can almost/maybe/squinting see a Willie Scott to complete the TOD hero's trio for that mine cart - solely due to a somewhat cool costume (and a cage) - but Marion I just honestly have a hard time seeing despite a desperate desire to have it. What would her edition size be - 250? And so who's left even from ROTLA? Cairo Swordsman? Dietrich in his drab green uniform? These are simply not characters that they could move in even a low 500 edition size.
Hot Toys has come to the party, but the overwhelming vibe of that is that it is what it is - a one off Indy figure, just part of a MMS DX series that touches on only the most iconic of the iconic. It would be brilliant if I'm wrong, but almost 100% certainty NOT to be the beginning of a Hot Toys Indy line.
There's a lot of discussion of "I'd like to see..." but I'm trying to separate the wants of a small group from the wider commercial reality. Can Indy 12" continue beyond the colorful world of TOD?
I'm far more interested in buying these figures than the HT offering. Shouldn't we have seen that mine car environment by now? And even a production peak at Shorty?
