Check It Out! Sideshow's 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom' Premium Figure

For the longest time, Temple of Doom was my least favorite Indiana Jones film, then Kingdom of the Crystal Skull came out and replaced it. Truth be told, I re-visited all three films in the original trilogy the week after Crystal Skull's release, just to make sure I hadn't been crazy in imagining that Crystal Skull just didn't feel like an Indiana Jones film (I wasn't crazy).

I was actually taken off guard a little by how much I actually liked Temple of Doom when I watched it in the shadow of Crystal Skull. For one, the movie is shot in actual locations instead of a green screen studio -- the jungle looks like a jungle, because, shock of shocks, it is one. John Williams' hummable Temple of Doom score is better than his Last Crusade score (and infinitely better than his lazy Crystal Skull score). Temple of Doom has a juvenile approach to its darker elements (gratuitous gross-out gags, off-putting humor) and when I was younger, I think I bucked against that more than I do now. For some reason, it's immature moments don't bug me as much as a grown man -- it's all in good fun.

Sideshow Collectibles has a new premium Indiana Jones figure, based on Temple of Doom, and like everything Sideshow makes, it's very expensive and very, very cool. Ten years ago, I might not have cared so much about this toy, but now I do, and I want one of my own. The premium format figure goes on pre-sale Thursday May 27, and sells for a cool $299.99. I hope you've got Indy's bankroll.