For fans lamenting the postponed San Diego Comic-Con this year, Sideshow Collectibles has declared ‘The Con is On!’ 2021 marks the return of Sideshow Con – Sideshow’s popular spin on the now-commonplace virtual con, which will take place July 19– July 25, 2021. While most of SDCC’s exhibitors took their booths online for digital events in 2020, Sideshow Con centered around a real-world physical booth space. A custom-made installation that recreated Sideshow’s Comic Con exhibition/art gallery-style presence.
This exhibition-style setup featured hundreds of statues, figures, art prints, and collectibles, and enabled fans from all over the world to engage with Sideshow’s team for 7 whole days, exploring a physical space from the comfort of their own homes. Fans had live access to HD streams of all of the new reveals from Sideshow and their brand partners, as well as a wealth of show-exclusive products, discounts, contests, and more!
Now, in 2021, Sideshow plans to raise the bar even higher…
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Sideshow PR Manager, Andy Smith, said: “In 2020, the “Sideshow Con” concept was a love-letter to conventions. It was born from our sadness about the cancellation of San Diego Comic-Con.
2020 was difficult for everyone, and we tried to find a way to share some love and celebrate the con experience we were all missing while showcasing all of the new products that Sideshow and our partners had coming up in the coming year. By including live interaction with our team as virtual tour guides, we tried to recreate that con atmosphere as much as possible.
We built a physical real-world booth that aimed to replicate some of the pop culture art gallery vibe from our San Diego space, and then leveled it up with multiple podium swap outs each day. We filled that booth with hundreds of statues and figures from Sideshow, Hot Toys, Tweeterhead, PCS, Threezero, Iron Studios, and many more.
Throughout that week, we released nearly a hundred videos from the booth, and we went live three times a day to chat with fans and explore the products in real-time! The fan response was overwhelmingly positive, and even though the event wasn’t without its own very unique challenges, we learned a lot, and we’re excited to aim even higher and try to offer even more in 2021.
We’ve been going to SDCC since 1998, and we’re very sad that the event has been postponed this year. However, we’re determined to make the most of this unusual and unprecedented situation. To our fellow fans, friends, collectors, and convention-goers worldwide, we miss you, stay safe, and we hope that Sideshow Con brings you some geeky joy in 2021. We are looking forward to seeing you all again in person soon, but until then, we hope you enjoy the show!”
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Keeping that “convention spirit” alive is an essential part of Sideshow Con 2021, and many aspects of a physical convention will be preserved, including an upcoming pre-registration process for priority access to content and merch, as well as early-bird access to limited edition convention exclusive products, contests and more.
A full line-up of Sideshow Con’s events, programming schedule, and convention exclusives will be revealed online soon. Visit side.show/con for the very latest news and information about this event as it’s announced.
