Asmus Toys Lord of the Ring Gandalf Gray

"...do you think a spray with a matte varnish is worthwhile (to fix the flocking?)"

I have my doubts...might be too thin to actually hold the flock.
But you could always test it out on a piece of plexi or a plastic cap to find out.

Act FAST-Upgrade Gandalf heads are back in stock at Asmus

Heads up...the stand alone head is back in stock!

A bit late to the party...

My absolute favourite toy growing up was my 12" ToyBiz Gandalf the Grey doll with rooted hair. Took him everywhere with me and had an unhealthy obsession with washing his hair. I also had the ToyBiz Bilbo doll.

I bought the old Sideshow 1/6 Gandalf figure in 2011 and repainted it. Was never 100% happy with the sculpted hair and beard though.

Fell down an Asmus/Inart LOTE rabbit hole and ended up ordering both Gandalf and Bilbo. I hadn't purchased a proper 1/6 scale figure since I bought a Jack Sparrow OST DX in 2013.

I added bushy eyebrows and lengthened his beard; lucky I keep a stash of grey alpaca hair handy for my doll making hobby.

A bit (a lot) annoyed that the mailbox post doesn't fit into the base. And ideally, of course, I wouldn't have had to add hair at all. But overall, very happy with this figure.

Gab said:

A bit late to the party...

My absolute favourite toy growing up was my 12" ToyBiz Gandalf the Grey doll with rooted hair. Took him everywhere with me and had an unhealthy obsession with washing his hair. I also had the ToyBiz Bilbo doll.

I bought the old Sideshow 1/6 Gandalf figure in 2011 and repainted it. Was never 100% happy with the sculpted hair and beard though.

Fell down an Asmus/Inart LOTE rabbit hole and ended up ordering both Gandalf and Bilbo. I hadn't purchased a proper 1/6 scale figure since I bought a Jack Sparrow OST DX in 2013.

I added bushy eyebrows and lengthened his beard; lucky I keep a stash of grey alpaca hair handy for my doll making hobby.

A bit (a lot) annoyed that the mailbox post doesn't fit into the base. And ideally, of course, I wouldn't have had to add hair at all. But overall, very happy with this figure.

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I dont know why but with this mod, looks better than Inart to me.

alberto huesca said:

I dont know why but with this mod, looks better than Inart to me.

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The sculpt is brilliant but the fluffy hair and the fact they didn't style it before selling it let's it down.

Yeah, still not on the InArt's level even when futzed. But I'm happy that you are happy with it. I have left mine with the wife to do whatever she wants with it as she is not willing to sell it.

alberto huesca said:

I dont know why but with this mod, looks better than Inart to me.

Click to expand...

Will always be better than InArt to me, it has the more gaunt look e.g. older man wizard. InArt to me is just too handsome and hearty looking. In a way how I'd picture Tom Bombadil if Tom Bombadil looked like Gandalf.
Also I appreciate that ASMUS doesn't skimp on the volume of cloth used costuming.

This may be a wild opinion that no one agrees with, but I feel like the Inart Gandalf reminds me more of his appearance in The Hobbit, with the more aged look, fuller face, more steel grey (rather than brownish grey) hair, and frizzier beard texture. Inart is undoubtedly the more realistic portrait, but when I actually look at screenshots and promotional shots of Gandalf from Fellowship, I do see more of a resemblance in the Asmus portrait. I've attached photos of FOTR Gandalf and The Hobbit Gandalf for comparison.

I think just a bit more effort would have pushed the Asmus Gandalf to the next level. Mainly the bushy eyebrows, which were present in the prototype for the upgraded head, but absent from the production heads. Maybe also a bit more reddish paint around the eyes for added realism. As for the hair, a bit more variance in colours (same can be said for Inart), more styling apart from the (well done) hairline area, and styling the moustache (hard to explain, but FOTR Gandalf has a distinct, wavy moustache that is raised from the rest of the beard, whereas The Hobbit Gandalf has a frizzy moustache completely integrated with a frizzy beard).