Officially debuted at this years Comic-Con, the incredible sculpt of a 1/4 scale Scorpion in his MK: 2011 attire certainly grasped the attention of Mortal Kombat fans and collectors everywhere! He is set to be the first installment of a range of Mortal Kombat collectibles helmed by renowned Sculptor and Director, Jerry Macaluso who founded Pop Culture Shock Collectibles back in 2007 and is now it's Presidentand Art Director.

In our first feature for Pop Culture Shock Collectibles we give you the full details on their upcoming Scorpion statuette along with the exclusive first-look preview of his revised interchangeable alterate flaming skull head!


The Scorpion statuette, scaled at 1/4 (the apple is a clear indicator of his size) and comes complete with meticulous detail, incredible paintwork and stands upon a 'glow in the dark' base modelled on the Netherrealm arena! Also packaged with him in the Sideshow Toy Exclusive is an exclusive aternate head featuring his Flaming Skull. Scorpion is limited to 700 pieces worldwide and comes with a certificate of it's authenticity. You can pre-order Scorpion for $314.99 through Pop Shock directly or via Sideshow Toys which are carrying the exclusive variant.

This week, myself and queve caught up with the President of PCSC himself to discuss why he had to have Mortal Kombat in his arsenal of products, what he hopes to achieve and the in's and out of the development process and more!


[MKO] 1) Please tell us about yourselves and what was the reason that inspired you to acquire the Mortal Kombat license? Why Mortal Kombat? [Jerry] Pop Culture Shock Collectibles has been around for close to four years now and we specialize in high end, limited edition, collectibles. My philosophy is to only make items I myself think are cool and would want to own. Mortal Kombat is definitely cool, iconic and most importantly, has some of the greatest character design in video games. It was always at the top of my list of licenses I wanted to aquire. In fact, I first approached Midway over 5 years ago to try and get the rights.

2) Can you tell us a bit about the decisions and the design process that takes place when sculpting and creating your statues? The design process begins with a combination of objectives. First, we would like to create the character in an iconic pose. Something they are well recognized doing. Secondly, we want to have it be dynamic and interesting in three dimensions, lastly we want to do something original and not a pose that other companies may have used for their products. One of the trickier aspects of designing these pieces is coming up with an exclusive variant. Its not always easy to find an idea that is cool and cost effective. As far as sculpting, I only use the best sculptors and I always select a sculptor that is not only talented, but loves the source material. Alterton, who is sculpting the Mortal Kombat ? scale line for me, is a huge Mortal Kombat fan.

3) Mortal Kombat has always been praised for its memorable and deep storyline, often referred as the "best and most complex story" in any fighting video game. What is it about the story of the Universe of Mortal Kombat that Pop Culture Shock Collectibles appreciates the most? My favorite part is the unique variety of characters. Everything from ninjas to giant four armed behemoths. Its an incredible playground for someone like myself.

4) Tell us more about the beloved iconic characters that will be immortalized through your statues collection. Can fans expect to see famous MK icons such as: Shao Kahn, Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade, Raiden, Mileena, Goro, and Shang Tsung, among others? Can you confirm some names? All of those mentioned will be made over the next few years. Two of them are scheduled to be the second and third releases and are already being sculpted.

5) Besides the famous iconic characters that most people know, there are also very popular and significant names in the MK Universe. Should fans also expect the inclusion of fan-favorites such as Ermac, Sindel, Sektor, Kabal, Stryker, Jade, Jax, Kano, Cyrax, Rain, Smoke, and Nightwolf, among others? We are going to judge the sales of the first two characters before determining if it is financially feasible to pick from some of the characters who are slightly less iconic. We need to sell 300 pcs to justify the cost of development and production. But I have to say the design of some of those mentioned above, particularly Kano and Jax, really appeal to me.

6) Does your Mortal Kombat license exclusively cover characters and costumes designs from the latest Mortal Kombat (2011) video game? Or will it also feature the various characters and costume designs from the other games such as Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, Deception, MK4, and even the MKvsDC Universe game? My license not only covers all of the games but it includes other types of products. In fact, we are already developing a new line based on the classic costumes.

7) Can we expect to see character busts along side your line of full statues? No busts. I prefer to focus on full figures at this time.

8) The MK female characters have an extremely vocal, big, and ardent fan-community, however, there's been very little of them in terms of merchandize and they've been constantly limited to just a few products. MK fans have always been disappointed about this particular issue. Can the community feel reassured that Pop Culture Shock Collectibles will definitely tackle the ladies of MK? Whats amazing is how little MK merchandize there has been in general. And an emphatic YES to doing the women of Mortal Kombat. In fact the third release will be a female character.

9) What is your opinion on the female characters that will get their chance to be immortalized in your incredible statues and/or busts (Sonya Blade, Mileena, Jade, Kitana, Sindel, Sheeva….)? As a designer and sculptor I have to say that a Sheeva statue would be awesome. It would be the centerpiece of a collection....but she wont be the first female character we do. I cant say yet who that will be , but she is already being sculpted.

10) Like Scorpion's spear and Sub-Zero's ice, all of the characters posses a variety of iconic and recognizable special powers and moves. Can fans expect to see the other character statues featuring their popular trademark powers and weapons? For example: Sonya with her Energy Rings or/and Kisses of Death? Shang Tsung and his power over stolen souls? Johnny Cage's Nut Punch or Shadow Kick? Kitana and her famous steel-fans weapon? How will you decide what to feature in each one of their sculpts? Yes, every statue will feature the character using an iconic power or weapon. Deciding which one to use goes back to an earlier answer. Its not always easy making these decisions.

11) How does Pop Culture Shock Collectibles decide on the characters' poses and iconic powers to keep all of their statues designs looking unique and memorable? Will all the characters have different special bases designs like Scorpion's "hell base" in his statue? Designing the bases is one of my favorite things to do. I think this is one of the things that separates us from the competition. Hyper-detailed bases representing key stages for the individual character. Its something I put a lot of thought into. So yes, all the characters will have unique bases.

12) How will you ultimately decide which costumes to use for the MK characters' final design? In MK(2011) some of them feature very popular Alternate designs while others have more popular Primary designs. For example: Noob Saibot's Primary (with his hood and goth-like design) and Sonya's Alternate (with her hat, shorts, boots, and aviators). Generally speaking we are sticking to the standard costumes from MK 9 for the line that begins with Scorpion. However, for the Classic line we may be bouncing around from game to game.

13) Will there be more than one statue and/or busts for certain male and female characters? Will they feature different and alternative costume designs? For example: An MK(2011) Ermac's alternate costume statue and his MK: Deception Primary costume as a bust? We will certainly revisit characters in the new Klassic line, so while he wont be first, fans and collectors can certainly expect to see a Scorpion in a classic costume down the road.

14) Can you tell us when and exactly how often are we to expect the release of your MK character statues? We got off to a slow start because of some hiccups in China but now we are really moving along and we should be showing a new statue every 2 months. Some may be MK 9 and some may be Klassic. We are going to mix it up.

15) Mortal Kombat fans are well known for being very passionate and vocal about their beloved franchise. Do you take into serious consideration the fans' opinions and suggestions? How valued are the opinions of the fans to Pop Culture Shock Collectibles? One of the main philosophies behind this company is fan interaction. I want to hear the input. I am not perfect and I make mistakes. If the fans dont like what we are doing I want to hear it and whenever possible we will change our course. For example, fans were pretty vocal that they wanted a variant skull head for our new Scorpion statue that did not have flames. As you can see in the attached image we listened and we are making that head and it will now come with the Sideshow Exclusive version of Scorpion for NO extra cost. Without the fans we are nothing. Any company that doesnt realize their customers are the reason they are in business is destined to go out of business.

16) How can the fans forward to you their thoughts, opinions and requests concerning your Mortal Kombat statues line? Email would become overwhelming. We do have a facebook page and I read every post/comment on it. Just search on Facebook for Pop Culture Shock Collectibles Inc

17) How are you aiming to please such a diverse crowd? What makes some suggestions and requests more agreeable to implement than some others? Its tough to please everyone. In fact, its impossible. All I can do is take in all the information and try to please what the majority are asking for.

18) Can we expect to see MK Dioramas featuring important and classic MK-story moments and rivalries such as: Motaro VS Sheeva, Kung Lao VS Goro, Sonya Blade VS Kano, Sektor VS Cyrax, Mileena VS Kitana, Nightwolf VS Sindel, Liu Kang VS Shang Tsung, etc? Its definitely being discussed.

19) Are there any plans on creating "Tag-Team" statues/dioramas that bring together iconic alliances such as: Shao Kahn and Sindel (Outworld Rulers), Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade (Lovers and only survivors), Shang Tsung and Quan Chi (Deadly Alliance), Cyrax and Sektor and Smoke (Lin Kuei), Raiden and Fujin (Protectors of Earth), Jade and Kitana (loyal friends), Liu Kang, Sonya, and Johnny (the original "Chosen Ones"), Stryker and Kabal (Police Partners), Jax and Sonya (Special Forces), Quan Chi and Shinnok (Netherealm team), Mileena and Shao Kahn ("daughter" and father), Kung Lao and Liu Kang (Shaolin Monks), Jade, Mileena, and Kitana (Kahn's Assasins), etc? This would fall into the potential dioramas. Possibly at a smaller scale than the current 1:4. I do think it is a great idea.

20) The Universe of MK is also about beautifully detailed arenas and worlds. Are there any plans on bridging to life famous MK arenas/worlds? Even for Dioramas or for character bases? For example: The living Forest, Tsung's Throne room, The Wastelands, Evil Monastery, Kahn's Colliseum, Edenia, The Pit, Wu Shi-Academy, Courtyard, Warrior Shrine, Outworld, etc. I cant say that idea has been discussed but it is interesting. The stages/worlds are pretty amazing. I guess we will see how it goes.

21) Is there anything else in particular that you would like to add and say to your fans? Id like to thank everyone for the overwhelmingly positive response we have from the Scorpion reveal at San Diego Comic Con. A lot of work went into the statue and it was great to see the fans appreciated it. Its been a massive success so far and I look forward to continuing the line for a long time to come.

Thanks so much for your time, Jerry! Us at MKO and the community as a whole can't wait to see what you manage to come up with and rest assured you have our full support!

For more information and details about their upcoming Mortal Kombat range be sure to keep all eyes on MKO and we will be publishing Part II of our ongoing feature later down the line. In the meantime be sure to check out Pop Culture Shock Collectibles over on their:

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