"Brian and I were so impressed by the beauty, quality and craftsmanship of Sideshow’s work that they were clearly the ideal partner to reproduce our work in affordable, limited editions," explains Wendy Froud.

Robert Gould, President of Imaginosis, who represents the Frouds added "We were looking for a company who could not only faithfully replicate Wendy’s sculptures, but one that understood the immersive and magical nature of the world the Froud’s have created and had the desire to create new and innovative ways to share this world with our fans through collectibles. We found that company in Sideshow and look at this as the beginning of a long and mutually rewarding relationship."

SIDESHOW TO OFFER
‘WORLD OF FROUD’ COLLECTIBLES

Sideshow Collectibles and Imaginosis are pleased to announce the premiere of the first line of limited edition faery collectibles based on the artistry of Brian and Wendy Froud.

For over 25 years, internationally recognized British faerie artist Brian Froud has explored the realms of faerie in a wide range of media, spanning a variety of publications that have sold millions of copies, licensed products and feature films. His perennially popular books include the worldwide bestsellers, Faeries, Good Faeries / Bad faeries, Lady Cottington’s™ Pressed Faery Book, The Faeries Oracle and Lady Cottington’s™ Fairy Album. The success of Faeries led to his landmark work with Jim Henson as conceptual designer on the fantasy film classics, The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth.

It was on the set of The Dark Crystal that Brian met his wife-to-be Wendy Midener, an internationally recognized sculptor, whose work is in private collections around the world. Wendy’s beautiful faerie sculptures have been featured in three books, A Midsummer Night’s Faerie Tale, The Winter Child and The Faeries of Spring Cottage created with and authored by Terri Windling. World of Froud books are cherished by readers of all ages, often handed down to the next generation of faerie lover.

In the World of Froud, the magic and wonder of faery exists right here, in our own world. Faeries are alive in our everyday lives; they inspire and guide, tease and provoke. There are faeries that lose your socks, meddle with gravity so your toast always falls butter-side down, tangle your hair while you sleep and make strange things go bump in the night. Together, Brian and Wendy create the World of Froud, their own unique realm of faerie where the denizens are beautiful, magical, playful, provocative, mysterious and sometimes darkly unsettling.

Up until now, Wendy Froud’s hand-crafted doll-sized faeries and goblins inspired by her and Brian’s creations have been available for premium prices only at select galleries around the world. In response to overwhelming international demand, Sideshow will now make her creations into beautiful and affordable objects of art for the first time. Using proprietary replication techniques that have set the benchmark standard for the accurate duplication of an artist’s 3D work, Sideshow will faithfully re-produce Wendy’s original sculptures to scale in limited edition quantities under the Froud’s personal supervision and approval.

Sideshow Collectibles launches the World of Froud Collection with several lines featuring faeries and pixies and will also debut a large-scale faery doll line in the fall of 2003. This broad spectrum of 3D product will now offer collectors of all ages and budgets an opportunity to own a piece of the Froud’s work.

Series one starts with a set of three beautiful and graceful female Faeries. You may recognize these three from the cover of the international bestseller, Faeries: a delicate Flower Faery, a Woodland Guardian, and a sweet-voiced Faery of the Twilight. These limited edition Faeries stand approximately 4 to 6 inches tall and are expected to retail at $40.

Series two is a set of four Pixies; Pixies represent the wilder, more willful side of Faeriedom. This series captures their mischievous, fun loving nature: Grig, the Dancing Pixie, maker of so-called Faery Rings; Pinkett, the Pixie that tricks travelers into going astray; Mawmet, the domestic House Pixie, and Gull, the Pinching Pixie that will tease and nip its victims black and blue. These delightful little nasties stand between 3" and 5" when they’re not wriggling around, and have a suggested retail price of $15.99.

The first two series make their debut at the New York Toy Fair on February 16th through 19th, at the Jacob Javitz Center. Visitors to the Sideshow Collectibles booth (level 3, #1981) will also be able to see larger scale figures from the Frouds, including several original Wendy Froud sculptures of full size faeries, goblins and wizards directly from Wendy's personal collection, and a large scale Goblin based on the work of Brian Froud.

(Click for larger image of Toy Fair items)

"Our intention is to continually expand the product lines and to create original and exclusive projects in partnership with the Froud’s and Imaginosis," explains Greg Anzalone, president of Sideshow Collectibles.

World of Froud product will be available at specialty, gift and collectible stores nationwide, and will also be available at:

02-2003

Wendy Froud and Imaginosis are working closely with Sideshow Collectibles in the final design and production of our first World of Froud collectibles which will premiere at Comic-con International on July 17 in San Diego. We are very happy with Sideshow’s exceptionally faithful reproduction of Wendy’s beautiful sculptures and are anxiously looking forward to the finished figures in their packaging. Even as we complete these figures, we are in pre-production on three incredible 13" faery figures by Wendy that will be released this Fall, with new figures in the Collection released every quarter year. Be sure to visit us at Comic-con and be the first to purchase these amazing Froud faeries.

04-2003