2018 is the year that Thanos became a household name in the mainstream, and 2019 is the year that a multitude of high-end Thanos merch has begun arriving in stores and on doorstep. But Sideshow actually beat the rush with their insanely popular Thanos on Throne Statue, which went up for sale in March 2017. And now, they’re ready to try their hand at the Mad Titan once again: the Sideshow Thanos Bust is now up for order! It’s cheap-ish and beautiful—is it worth your 300 bucks?

When Sideshow began teasing a new Thanos Bust a while back, folks weren’t sure whether to prepare themselves for a huge $1200 Legendary Scale Bust or what. We continued to have no clear idea of exactly what SS was cooking until earlier this week, when they revealed what most people would consider—a mini bust!

The new Thanos Sideshow Bust is 10.5” tall, 7” wide and 14” deep. It’s a decent size by non-LSB standards, but also a lot smaller than most fans were expecting. Basically, this is like a souped-up Bust version of the Thanos on Throne Maquette.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as Thanos on Throne is both spatially and financially prohibitively expensive for many, many collectors at this point. The modest size of this piece will facilitate a much larger audience owning it, and also allows for a relatively cheap $325 MSRP!

What really shines about this piece is the colors, though: Sideshow opted for a very classic comic book-looking light blue and gold color scheme, and these colors bring classic stories like The Infinity Gauntlet to my mind much more than the more movie-inspired dark colors on the full maquette did. I would love to see Thanos on Throne repainted in these colors someday!

While some collectors hoped the head on this Thanos would be interchangeable with the maquette, Sideshow has confirmed that this is a standalone piece and that’s not possible. I think that’s a bit of a missed opportunity, but this is a lovely sculpture in and of its own right.

Rumors have persisted for a while that we might see a Thanos on Throne maquette variant released someday, and if so, I wouldn’t be shocked to see a portrait similar to this one used for it.

The Infinity Gauntlet on this bust is virtually the same design as the one on the ToT statue, and that’s fine with me: it looked excellent there and it remains excellent-looking here. Good stuff.

The most controversial aspect of this Thanos Bust is the way that Sideshow has surrounded the base and missing right arm with swirling souls and even the image of Mistress Death herself. This has had a mixed reception from collectors, but I think it’s really aesthetically creative and artistic. I’d still rather have two arms instead of one, but this is a masterful idea that Sideshow has cleverly executed here.

The Sideshow Collectibles Thanos Bust is now up for order, and is scheduled to be released in Spring 2020. I’m surprised to see a smaller piece like this one taking so long, and I’ve got high hopes it’ll be a quick production and an early release.

I was initially pretty cold on the early teases of this sculpture, but the finished prototype has colored me impressed and has me on the fence. What about you, Marvel collectors? Is this new Thanos Sideshow Bust looking fine to you, and is it a potential future addition to your own collection?