"Legend held that the Pass of Cirith Ungol was guarded by a thing of great terror. Even the Orcs of that region held in reverence the foul creature that haunted the only pass through the Mountains of Shadow. For nesting there was Shelob, a remnant of the ancient brood of monstrous spiders of the First Age. Grown bulbous and fat on the sucked juices of countless victims, Shelob wove a silky trap within the tangled passageways of her dark home to ensnare passers by. Her presence ensured that none could enter Mordor by that perilous way."







The packaging for Shelob is actually quite nicer than most of the line thus far. The deep Return of the King blue mixed with the gold Lord of the Rings lettering and One Ring designs/script is very beautiful. The images of Shelob herself adorning it as well are fantastic. The side panels in particular do a great job playing with her spider qualities, having her legs leave the picture “window”, a very nice effect.

The inside packaging was also well done, very much in the design of how the environments are packaged. A very flat bottom Styrofoam piece for her base and the remaining area used to protect her delicate top half. This is what actually pushes the Shelob packaging to a perfect score: Her two front legs and her two “mandible” legs are removed from the statue, and stored away in a separate part of the Styrofoam to insure no breakage. This tactic has been used by Sideshow before with many statues, such as any that contain and unsheathed sword, but here I was not expecting it, and my greatest fear of having her arrive with broken legs was expertly averted.







Shelob is one of those statues that people already have their mind made up about. Yes, she’s a big spider. There are subtle differences that make her stand out, but trying to argue the point that she’s somehow not just a giant spider is ultimately doomed to failure. Some will like this, and some will not. I know for a fact that many collectors were turned off by her appearance, and to be perfectly honest, so was I. I had pre-ordered her in the mania of all my Lord of the Rings pre-orders, in hoping that one day I’ll have the one which sells for quadruple its retail price and I’ll finally have an outside chance of getting an Orthanc environment. Shelob, like so many others, is not that magic piece. In fact, I had meant to cancel her, but never got around to it, and then I got the shipping notice from Sideshow. So she arrives, and I was so impressed with the Balrog (my other “meant to cancel” piece) that I decided to give her a look.

Upon opening her, you immediately notice she’s not very imposing. She’s not a particularly large creature (although she may in fact have more material in her than the Fell Beast), but hardly the impressive first appearance the Balrog gives you upon lifting his Styrofoam. As mentioned before, her two front legs and mandible legs are removed from the main body during shipping to prevent breakage. This works very well, and they fit back into her main body with a peg and hole system (those familiar with the Witchking of Angmar bust will understand this concept).



Once everything is put together you see her for what she really is, and what she really is, is fantastic. There’s a certain thing I like to call the “3D effect”. This is basically how the piece looks when you turn it around in front of you. Shelob’s got one of the best 3D effects of any SSW piece due to her leg formations. The detail on her legs is impressive. From her exoskeleton armature to her little blade hoof-toes, everything is as it should be. Her mandible legs are also great, sculpted in a very nice defensive pose.

Her face and “belly” are probably the most impressive sculpting on the piece. Her face contains her eight eyes, haggard scarring, overgrown flesh and four fangs. Her mouth (with considerably sharp teeth even on the statue) is in an enraged scream, as we see her many times on film. Her belly contains a very well studied muscle structure and armor layout (Weta really did their homework when designing her), which upon inspection gives much insight into how not just Shelob, but spiders in general move.



Her backside, though plain in appearance, is actually one of my favorite parts. Aside from her spindles and stinger, which are very well done and very delicate, there are excellent, almost leather effects. They look like fat wrinkles, showing how truly heavy her ass is. It adds a level a realism that I once again was pleasantly surprised to find. Her butt also includes two “dimples” on either side, with appropriate creases and wrinkles.



The final part of the Sculpt is the base itself. It has several rocky crags, which are well done and look just like the unusual sort of volcanic Mordor rock we see in the scene. On top of these rocky areas are several skulls, both human and I would guess orc in origin, but nothing I haven’t seen after 10 years of collecting Mcfarlane figures. Of course, there’s also the little webbed up Frodo. There’s no face, but plenty of detail. It’s exactly as you’d expect it to be, the only downside being that it sticks out like a sore thumb on the piece.







The paint job on this piece can best be described as “Subtle”. You don’t notice anything (bar Frodo and the skulls), it doesn’t jump out at you color-wise unlike the Balrog. But it doesn’t have to. It’s a perfect representation of Shelob on screen. You hear that? PERFECT. Everything on Shelob herself is perfect. From her teeth to her fangs, all clean lines. From her belly to her skull, perfect blending of colors. They missed nothing and gave everything, and the worst part is most people won’t even notice. One fantastic part in particular is her left “big” eye, which is painted white, to match her blinding cataract from the film. Beautiful work, truly beautiful. Also of special notice are her leg hinges where the armor breaks. They’re painted a different shade from the armor itself and given a nice gloss coat for the wet look. Wonderfully done.

Her skin tone itself is also perfect, a dark blue-purple hue, with spots of gray, and specs of lighter shades. On top of her skull is a crimson red, which carries over to her backside with excellent blends and designs. Truly fantastic work. Her base it also as you’d expect. The rocks have all the necessary shades of gray, the yellowed skulls have an adequate dark wash over them, and Frodo has a nice web coloring. It should be noted however, that the webbing in the film on Frodo was more of a greenish-yellow instead of just white/gray. So though not completely film accurate, I won’t hold it against the overall piece, as Shelob is clearly the star here.







This is a new section of my reviews that I felt was particularly needed with Shelob. In short: Ouch! What the hell happened? This is one of the most non-sensible designs I’ve ever seen on a SSW statue. First of all, what in God’s name is she looking at? It’s not Samwise, I can tell you that much. Whatever it might be it clearly towers above her. In a funny twist, she’s looking up at just the right angle to lock eyes with the new Balrog, who’s looking down at just the right angle. It’s almost as if they’re companion statues, as the picture below demonstrates.



The other major design flaw is the base itself. The front of it is absolutely huge. It’s ridiculously longer than needed to protect the front legs against bumping walls, and it’s all just wasted space. The worst part is that it’s completely unused, no little Sam (not that she’d see him with her stargazing) or anything even remotely interesting. Her base is also particularly thick, so that’s a lot of polystone wasted for no discernable reason. It also no doubt drove up the price, which is only slightly less ridiculous than the design. I wouldn’t hold out hope for a Sam companion piece either, I don’t believe it’s physically possible.







The quality of this statue is the Sideshow norm. It’s heavy, thick, and well constructed. The only breakable parts, such as the spindles, stinger, and mandible arms are unavoidably so, not exactly something you can hold against the quality. What I can hold against it however are the two front legs. Since they were detached initially to ship, you have to put them on yourself, which is fine. But once again, anyone who owns the Witchking of Angmar bust can tell you that they do not fit back into place tightly. My Shelob’s left leg is very loose indeed, nothing dangerous to the piece, but I can make her hold 2 or three different poses, which I don’t believe was the original intent…





If you want to feel what I felt when paying $175 plus shipping retail for Shelob, then simply cheat on your taxes, go to prison and drop your soap. Not only does she leave the realm of the semi-established “mini monster” price of $150, she adds another $25 for seemingly no reason. I can guess, of course, and that guess being that the extra long base took up enough polystone to drive up the price, but that in and of itself is infuriating, since that part of the base has absolutely nothing of interest to the piece.

Now in all fairness, this should really be three stars, but I want to drive this base point home. She’s a big spider, in fact she gets bigger every time I look at her, if that makes sense. But still, this should have been a $150 statue, no more. They jacked up the base, I'm hoping it was not just to jack up the price. I could maybe have tolerated the price if she was in a better pose, looking downward or at least straight forward, maybe even the pose right when she drops Frodo in front of Sam, but nope, not at all what we got. For those of you who'll be buying the statue from sources other than Sideshow, you'll be getting a much, much better deal, as these are going for $140 and less in some places.







It pains me to give her this low of a score, because really, if you love giant spiders or hate them, this is the best one we may ever get. Perfect sculpting and a perfect paintjob seriously marred by a confusing design and steep price tag. Fans of the Lord of the Rings monsters will still definitely want to pick her up, as she truly is a fantastic piece, but just make sure you get her at $150 or under. Also, be sure to display her in low places to see her head, and not just her mouth.