Let's finally go back to the collectibles, and actually go all the way back to the beginning of the Terminator Trilogy blog (in a way). My first post was about the Holy Grail of Terminator collectibles, the so called "must" for any Terminator fan or movie collector: The full scale T-800 Endoskull by Sideshow Collectibles. I eventually took down the post because it didn't bring anything new other than 3 sentences of a review and three promotional images, and finally now's the time for THE Ultimate Terminator Collectible. I don't really collect busts or figures or statuettes, although Id love to, but I'd love to have what Jim Cameron had in his office: just an item or two from each of his movie. This way the selected items would had more focus and wouldn't get lost in a "clutter" of collectibles.
So from the Terminator mythology, I would love to have 3 items. One, the Terminator endoarm, which I have. Two, the upcoming 1/6th scale of a Terminator Endoskeleton from Terminator 2: Judgment Day (which is coming at the end of the year from Sideshow and Hot Toys) and last but not least the "obligatory", must have Sideshow Endoskull bust.
The Bust came out in 2007, when the Terminator mythology was an actual trilogy. So much has changed since then. The legendary Stan Winston was still with us, and his Stan Winston Studio still existed. And brilliantly, Sideshow partnered with the legendary Studio that actually created the Terminator effects for all three movies at the time, to create a life size Endoskull bust. How bad ass is that. And it's still, to this day, other than the full size endo, the coolest Terminator collectible yet. It's amazing in person and no photos do it justice.
There have been full size Endoskulls released before: M1 in Japan (See HERE), Icons, HCG (Hollywood Collectibles), and most of them were actually very accurate (or completely accurate in the case of M1), and - and it may come as a shock for some - they were actually more screen accurate than the Sideshow bust! How is that possible, since the Sideshow bust was made by the people who made the real thing? According to John Rosengrant of Stan Winston Studios, for the Sideshow bust they created a new sculpt with a slightly "idealized" version of the skull. Interestingly enough, they used that mold of the Sideshow busts for the future movies so retro-actively it actually became screen accurate, a fun fact Rosengrant highlighted.
What makes the Sideshow bust different from the previous ones is, first of all, that it includes more than just a skull on a stand. It includes a part of the front chest armor, which creates a great look. And also, for the first time, the skull is tilted down, so it retains that menacing look of the endoskeleton from the opening credits of T2. The Sideshow bust has different proportions than the other skulls, and is more elongated, with some tiny details redesigned (like some pistons). The port cover for the CPU is also of a different size, to house the CPU better. And that's another thing that's different from the other full scale skulls: you can actually open the port and pull out the CPU from inside of the skull.
The lights in the eyes also fade out slowly, rather than just turn off abruptly. They look phenomenal and they're solid red like in the original Cameron films.
The first batch of the Endoskulls sold out quickly, and then a battle damaged, "Combat Version" was released and then re-released again in 2015 in limited numbers. All editions sold out, and they usually go over a $1,000 on eBay ($1,200 is the usual price). Most preferred the Clean look to the Combat version ( I don't, I think the Combat version wins), and a lot of them tried to remove the painted battle damage on them, some damaging the piece in the process. And that's how I got my piece. At a large discount, I found a guy who was selling it because some of the silver finish had been wiped off in few spots when he tried to clean the black explosion damage off the skull. I'm fine with it. Obviously I always wanted the Sideshow bust, but couldn't spend thousands of dollars. I waited for the right time, and it finally came.
And that's the same problem a lot of fans had, and where the Recasting business came to play. The bootleg versions of the Sideshow busts flooded the market, especially ebay, and they were referred to as Chinese Recasts because they were made in and shipped from China. There are two stories Iv'e read about how these were produced. Story one: Chinese workers who worked on the basic molding process in Chinese factories simply made casts of the Sideshow mold after-hours. Story two: Chinese recasters obtained the original piece and made a cast out of it.
But even thought the Bootleg is cast off the original piece, it's a night and day difference between the original piece. First of all, the overall paint job, or lack of it. The Original piece was finished by airbrush artists, who added outlines and black in certain areas to accent and give the piece a finishing touch. No such artists were present for the bootlegs of course, so all the areas that were suppose to be painted are not. Details get lost when there's no paint accents.
And the teeth don't have the finishing paint job either (side note about the teeth, the first batch of the Sideshow busts had very realistic looking teeth, while latter batches did a very sloppy job with them). Not only that, they were hastily incorrectly placed, throwing off the entire look. They were placed too low and on a wrong angle, making the whole thing look goofy even. And to that the fact that the eyeballs weren't placed correctly, and the skull could look really off. Also, the side hoses were sticking out far from the skull, while the original has then neatly and tightly tucked in under the skull.
One of the most striking differences is the name plate: it's inked on the original with the T2 logo and the Terminator 2: Judgment Day title, while on the bootlegs there's only the T2 logo which is embossed instead
The overall finish is more silvery on the bootlegs, while the original piece looks like metal. And weight as much too! The recasts are heavy, but the original weights almost 20 pounds.
Another difference is the power button for the eyes: its underneath in Recasts, but behind in the original. You can't take out the chip in the Recasts either of course. Below by comparison, the original and the recast. And have in mind, my recast that's pictured below had been custom improved: the excess teeth material was cut off and the teeth were placed on the right angle and in the correct spot. Hoses were fixed. So the recasts out there are even worse
To this day, the Recasts flood the ebay, and they're an option for those who really want a skull but can never afford the real piece, although the High End Collecting Community absolutely despises them.
I had a Recast too (and they're not cheap either, as they go for couple hundred bucks), but I always knew that I'll get the actual original piece someday. A piece made by Stan Winston Studios, how cool is that! I had the recast for years, and figured that the original won't differ much other than the finishing paint job, but once I opened the box it was "wow" in an instant. The word just came out of my mouth. Again, even though it.s the same mold, there's just no comparison