Ikon Collectables are renowned for their beautifully designed Phantom collectibles, with statues, bobbleheads, rings and mugs making their way into many phans' collections over the last few years.
Two years ago we helped Ikon out with a competition for ideas to inspire their next Phantom release. That competition was won by David Hunt, with his suggestion "I would like to see the Phantom with Devil; ideally The Phantom has his guns drawn and Devil jumping to help his best mate out."
Fast forward to 2019 and here it is, with The Phantom leaping onto a rock, guns firing, as Devil leaps into action with a ferocious snarl. At 1/6 scale, this is the largest statue produced by Ikon yet!
Currently advertised on the Popcultcha and Mighty Ape websites for anywhere between $405 (pre-orders before 5th July) and $500, the price tag is not for the faint-hearted. With no fewer than SIX variant colours available, completists will need to start saving now!
With removable gun blast and a genuinely dynamic action pose, this seems to leap off the screen, so it will be exciting to see how it looks on the shelf.
In an exciting revelation in our exclusive interview with the team at Ikon below, phans attending Supanova this year (Sydney and Perth) will be able to see the statue in real life for themselves, as it appears at the Popcultcha booths. We're certainly looking forward to seeing it there, and our shelves at the end of the year when it is released!
We were lucky enough to ask Ikon Design Studio some questions, many posed by our Patreon supporters who, as part of the reward for their support, get early notification of our interviews and are able to submit questions as well.
ChronicleChamber: The Phantom's face would seem to be designed by the same person who designed the 'Phantom with Guns' and 'Phantom & Hero' statues? Who was the designer for these/this statue?
Ikon Design Studio: All elements of the process have been done by the Ikon Design Studio Team (To be more specific, Adam, Natasha and Robin)
CC: A price point of $450 retail is obviously pretty high-end in terms of Phantom collectibles on the market. What makes this piece so special?
IDS: There has been an extreme amount of detail put into this piece. This is very high-end and the details in this piece far supersede any other Phantom statue released to date. There have been many new paint and design techniques applied to this statue that we have previously been unable to execute that go into making this statue truly top of the range. Furthermore, this statue is scaled a little differently to previous versions, in that this is a 1/6 scale statue. Previous releases were 12 inch statues, meaning this release is scaled a little larger than the previous incarnations. These factors, in combination with the significant rising manufacturing and distribution costs has led to the higher price-point on this item.
CC: One observation might be the structural integrity of the statue, with the whole Phantom figure affixed to the base by a single leg, and the leaping Devil by his two hinds paws. Should there be any concerns about the strength of the item?
IDS: This should not be an issue. This statue is shipped as four pieces (Phantom, Devil, gun-blast and base). Shipping as 4 pieces eliminates the stress points on the joins during the highest danger period for damages, transportation. Customers will assemble the statue upon receipt (through an easy keyed peg-hole system). In fact, despite the complexities of the design and layout, we do not foresee any issue with damages on this piece.
CC: As Australians, we reckon the purple looks fantastic, and we certainly understand the market for blue, red and grey. Why have you also chosen green as a variant colour?
IDS: We are actually announcing two exclusive colours for this item that will only be available in extremely limited quantities.
Green (available exclusively through Popcultcha.com) which is a representation of how the Phantom appeared when he was first released in the Australian Mirror way back in 1938.
Brown (available exclusively through Mighty Ape) is a representation of the brown suit the Phantom was seen wearing in the early comic releases in New Zealand. Pictures of this will be available soon.
These are certainly are not mainstream colours and we are only making a handful of each colour available. The green is more for the avid Phantom collector, and the Brown is to give our friends in New Zealand the chance to own The Phantom in the colour they may have originally known him.
CC: Can we confidently add this to our Christmas 2019 wish lists? Will it definitely be available for shipping by then? Is this related to Popcultcha's pre-order closing date of July 5th?
IDS: At this stage we expect it to release in December. We can never guarantee ship dates, as we need to ensure the product meets all our QC requirements, so delays can occur. However, at this stage we fully expect it to be ready for December. As for the pre-order window, this is a Popcultcha initiative that they do on all their statue pre-orders. It has nothing to do with the manufacturing or timing from us.
CC: If a super-phan was looking to buy all variants, would there be a discount available?
IDS: This would need to be negotiated directly with Popcultcha, or whichever retailer the customer buys from. If a fan was in this position, I’d suggest they reach out directly to Popcultcha to see if a deal can be struck.
CC: Phans love your designs. Is there any more Phantom stuff on the drawing board for Ikon Design Studio?
IDS: Appreciate that. At this stage, we have no other Phantom products in the works….. but you never know what the future holds.
CC: Thanks for your time today. Is there anything else to add that might interest phans and convince fence-sitters?
IDS: It’s worth noting that this statue is being released under the “Ikon Design Studio” Brand (as opposed to Ikon Collectables). Ikon Design Studio releases are reserved for only the very highest quality releases. We concede that the price-point is expensive, but the workmanship that goes with it is top-notch. We are all very proud of this statue; and I’m sure Phans all over the world will appreciate the effort gone into making this piece. We are hoping to team up with the Popcultcha events team and have them display some of our upcoming statues (Including the Phantom) at Supanova events later this month. This will be Phans first chance to see the statue up-close and personal.
Make sure you check out the Popcultcha and Mighty Ape websites for all details pre-ordering, timelines and variants.
Special thanks to Adam Henderson, Department Head - PD from Ikon Collectables, for taking the time to share such detailed and comprehensive answers. Also thanks to our Patreon supporters who also submitted their own questions about this new design.
