Surprise! This is actually a story about rational people. He put the orc, which he'd owned for six years, up for adoption. "Dee means more to me, so he had to go," said Robert Cushnie, a 42-year-old telecommunications manager.

Seems Cushnie had acquired the statue when a games store shut down. He married his wife in February, but she, standing 5-3 was mildly repulsed, if not intimidated, by the six-foot orc. The statue is now with an elderly couple, whose 16-year-old granddaughter adores it.

Oh by the way, the Cushnies are still moving to Canada, Dee's country of origin. See? Happily ever after. We can do that here, too.

It's Him Orc Me [The Scottish Sun, via HBG]

[Image via GizmoWatch; it's not the statue in question, but close.]

Toy importer Pop Culture Shock do, as they've published a gallery on Capcom's site showing the factory in China where SOTA's Capcom statues are put together and finished off.

Most of the shots depict SOTA's Zangief piece being assembled then painted, but you'll also see Sagat and Darkstalker's Felicia pop up as well.

Makes you wonder why they don't advertise "individually hand-painted" on the box.

Behind the Scenes With Pop Culture Shock's Felicia and Zangief Statues [Capcom]

If you join a Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer game via Home between 2100-0100 ET (1800-2200 PT) tonight, you'll be in the running to win one of these Soap MacTavish statues crafted by Kotobukiya, first unveiled in September (and bundled with "Veteran Edition" copies of the game).

Looks great, and everyone loves Soap. Smart thinking, Sony.

There's some trickery involved in joining a game that'll be eligible to win one of 10 of these statues, so hit the link below for the full details. And if you can't be bothered with Home? The statues are available separately for $80 at your favourite comic store and/or online retailer.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Launch Event in PlayStation Home [PlayStation]

First off the blocks is, of course, the Master Chief. It'll be out towards the end of the year, and being so damn huge, carries a damn huge price tag, at $225. Still, might be worth it if you sit him up on some phone books in the front seat of your car. It'll get you into the carpool lane.

They'll be sold for $90 each if you want to buy them individually. And if you do, hey, that's cool. We're not judging. But as you can see, you might want to look at buying both, what with their bases locking together to form a Cammy sandwich.

She'll come in two variants; a standard blue version, and a pink one that goes for an extra $20. Both will be available early next year.

Like other pieces sold by premium collectible firm Sideshow, this isn't cheap. Unless, that is, you find $375 cheap. Which we don't. If you do, however (or just really like Zangief!), it'll be out in Q4 this year.

It stands about 12 inches tall (or will when it's done, this is just a prototype render), and should be out sometime in September, with a price of $120. Along with this Akuma piece, SOTA will also be releasing Cammy, Bison & Guile statues as well.

Trophies, points and Unlockable Achievements are all well and good, but if you have really made an impression in a game world, wouldn't it be nice to have some proper recognition? What's a Chaos Warrior gotta do to get some respect around here?

Warhammer Online aims to address this issue by erecting statues of highly-ranked players on each of its shard world servers. It may not be as permanent as actual stone, but it should last until the next client upgrade at least - which is immortality of a sort.

WAR Adding Statues to Immortalize Players [Wired]

These aren't vinyl "toys". They're cast in metal, either bronze or platinum-coated, and as such are heavy, and as such are expensive. Marcus and Dom are $205, while the fat-knees Boomer is a little costlier, at $260.

Sonic The Hedgehog-05-FEB-2008 [First 4 Figures]

No,. not the guy who does Mario's voice, though I'm sure that, much to Fahey's disappointment, he isn't for sale either.

Anytime we post about anything even slightly crafty, or cakeish or collectible, it seems we start a mini meme and over-sizeed Mario's are certainly not safe from the flood of emails and pictures that always proceed such a post.

So with that in mind (read not news), I give you Anthony's big-ass Mario, given to him by the manager of his Toys R Us after he helped reorganize the Rzone at the store. It's big, it's steel and it's totally not for sale. Brian Crecente

While 59 inches of Mario may not be as appealing as, say, a hump pillow featuring your barely-clad female gaming character of choice, it's said giant Marios bring good fortune.

For those of you who can't handle sixty inches, you can always go for the more manageable twenty inch version. Not only is the pose more welcoming, the $200 price tag is far less painful. Michael McWhertor

Super Mario Bros 150cm Figure [NCSX]

Shadow of the Colossi Statues? How neat. If only that first Colossus had his club erected into the sky, ready to smash down upon that punk-ass Wanda bitch. In that case, my purchase would be assured: an excellent toilet paper roll dispenser, even at the lofty price of $119.90. Florian Eckhardt

Shadow of the Colossus - The First Colossus Statue [Play Asia]

Alex over at First 4 Figures sent us word that the next figure in their series of Legend of Zelda themed toys/statues/collectibles/voodoo dolls has been announced: the 'Skull Kid'.

Never heard of him. But he's apparently from Majora's Mask. Here's the description from the press release:

The Skull Kid was a curious little fellow, often finding trouble in the most unexpected of places with his fairy friends Tatl and Tael. One day in the forest, the trio happened to come across the most peculiar of people, a traveling mask salesman. When the merchant was paying him no mind, the Skull Kid took a very precious mask. This was no ordinary mask; this was a special mask, a dark and cursed mask. This was Majora's Mask. Donning the strange artifact, the Skull Kid would harness a power far beyond his imagination. Little did he know, however, that he was to become a puppet, an unsuspecting pawn to the very mask itself. Possessed and corrupted, the once lighthearted and amusingly mischievous imp inadvertently unleashes a powerful and threatening force upon the peaceful inhabitants of Termina. Now time is running nigh, as the will of Majora swiftly mobilizes its servant into drawing an ominous moon from the heavens on a collision course towards the helpless people below...

Hand-painted! Only 2,500 pieces! $99.99! The statue is 9 inches high, including the base, so if you give it to your girlfriend for Christmas, it might well be the only 9 inch thing she'll ever get from you. Florian Eckhardt

Skull Kid Statue Product Page [First 4 Figures]

We saw this wonderful image of Mario about to smashing his mighty titan fist down on Pikachu transformed into a bus over at Cathode Tan. This amazing sight awaits German gamers who attend the Ehrenbreitsein fortress to check out the "From Card Games to Game Boy" exhibition in Koblenz. It's on until November 19th... I'm tempted to take a quick jet over to check it out myself.

est0al's photostream [Flickr]

This is the closest any gamer is ever going to get to resting his hand on Samus' sublime, imminently smackable ass.FLORIAN ECKHARDT

Me and Samus [Flickr] (via Cathode Tan)

If you have between 180 dollars and 350 dollars to spare, you might be interested in these extremely expensive statues of Cloud and Co. from Final Fantasy VII: Advent's Children.

Us? While we're tempted by the Cloud & Sephiroth statue, $350 buys a lot of Cambodian child-brides.

Final Fantasy Statues by Kotobukiya Japan (Thanks, Eric G!)