7/10 is my rating on this one.
And In my opinion the only real winners this time are the ones who got the sculpted hair.
First let me say the good things, the tailoring apart from the elven cloak is excellent. The accessories are excellent. As always the whole presentation is excellent . And I do like the sculpt bare bones wise there’s a lot to work with
But the rest is a bit of a fail in my opinion. Sorry to say but this is the first inart I’ve seen where I think they dropped the ball production wise.
Let me most get this rant out of the way. As someone who does rooted hair in figures I was skeptical that they could pull it off in mass scale and my theory’s have been proven right. For half a thousand dollars plus, there should be no doubt what you’re getting but instead this is almost like blind box figures. It’s insane how badly I’ve seen the variation of the hairs on both Gandalf and Aragorn. And it radically radically changes the likeness. Sure you can mess with it and style it, but most collectors don’t have the gumption and even if they did most didn’t have the eye to make it look good, you should be giving the casual collector consistency out of the box. And I’m not saying they are not trying to. I’m just sort of saying I think it’s impossible.
Case in point with Aragorn. All the one I’ve seen apart from having too curly hair overall, have his forehead massively exposed. If you look at the prototype those bangs closed the gap on his forehead, they also were straighter and more natural looking. Maybe one lucky sole got one that looked like that in the prototype but mine and my brothers were so radically different that his whole cranium looked like a different shape.
Apart from being really nicely sculpted the sculpted hair actually holds the shape that makes him look like him. In my opinion if you have the skill to rework the hair you may come out ok. Most don’t hence those who have the rooted hair will actually have something that looks like him. At least that one above from Facebook also seemed to have a better painted beard
That also is an issue. Now we know with every company the hand painted prototype is going to look better but in this case the generic “Homer Simpson” gray wash on all of the beards I’ve seen is a total mess and absolutely loses any likeness it could. Viggo jaw and bottom half of face is incredibly nuanced and the shading of the beard in the wrong spots totally throws off the likeness.
Also the eyebrows are a completely different shape from both Viggo and from the prototype. I’ve said this for years and I’ve seen even the most technically skilled painters overlook this but eyebrows can totally make or break a likeness
so the head being bad out of the box is a big knock…
Then there is the body. Proportions are weird and it’s too bulky in the chest and shoulders
The cloak is a mess way too stiff and doesn’t drape nicely especially around his neck and shoulders. Thank goodness I still had my ACI one. I swapped the buckles but it was a 200% upgrade right there
Why such a high score if I dislike it so much! Because it IS still impressive overall. And it’s a quality piece and the right stuff is there to work with.
But they just can’t quite pull this off on a massive scale.
I’ll continue to get rooted versions because I have the skill to make it look good but if I were the casual collector I’d say from here on out I’d advise all to go with the sculpted hair.
For those who follow me on instagram @RFCustomFigures I’ll be showing the rework soon. I fixed the beard and eyebrows and other small tweaks to bring out his likeness. I also messed with the hair a bit to get his forehead less exposed ill likely still mess with it further
