12" Aragorn Image Thread

[Agent23]

If things changed I would almost guarantee New Line had a nice say in things.

How so? That New Line wanted the likeness changed?

 

[The Josh]

How so? That New Line wanted the likeness changed?

Well, they have a large say in things I would guess so if they wanted something changed or the leather on the coat to look different it would have to be done. Why? It's New Line and I'm sure all items have to pass through with their ok before being made. Just like anything with SW has to pass through Lucas. This is just a guess on my part.

 

[TheObsoleteMan]

Looks like the same sculpt to me, just with a lower quailty paint job.

 

[pjam]

How so? That New Line wanted the likeness changed?

I'm not buying into these new pics. I'll wait until the piece is in hand or SSC posts new prod pics; even then, their in house photographer is such a hack (consistently posting horrible misrepresentations) I'll just wait until mine arrives.

 

[The Josh]

Looks like the same sculpt to me, just with a lower quailty paint job.

I agree. After looking at it for several hours all the shots I could find. It does appear to be the same sculpt but the paint may be different.

 

[pjam]

I agree. After looking at it for several hours all the shots I could find. It does appear to be the same sculpt but the paint may be different.

How can you say it's the same when one sculpt has hair obscuring his eye (directly hanging over it) and another doesn't, it's clearly to the side of his face?. No, not the same, the brows look different too, that's why I'm not buying into these new pics.

 

[The Josh]

How can you say it's the same when one sculpt has hair obscuring his eye (directly hanging over it) and another doesn't, it's clearly to the side of his face?. No, not the same, the brows look different too, that's why I'm not buying into these new pics.

The overall look appears to be the same. With the exception of the hair and possibly color of the beard. The hair could that way from production? I don't know. I'm just guessing honestly.

 

[Darth Waller]

The top of The paint weathering looks like fingerprints

I remember seeing pictures of Sauron that looked like that as well.

 

[creecher]

That as it may be, and to reiterate pjam, the inhouse photographer is just an ordinary Joe/Joanne with a digi cam.

I used to denegrate the photographer till I found out ( back peddle back peddle), and now I take the pics as being honest interpretations, rather than the beauty shots that other companies put out.

Clearly, the pics are not to be taken as gospel, but rather as a representation of the article, sans gloss. Part of the reason the figs mostly look so much better in hand.

Sure, you could say they ought to employ a professional photographer, but then we'd get the bichin about the price hike of the figs.

 

[FlyAndFight]

Forget Newline having any major say in these 12" figures. They are smart enough to know that they should leave the R&D and manufacturing to the true professionals, in this case, Sideshow.

I honestly can't believe that Newline notified SS and told them, "Hey, the prototype looks like crap so please change the hair sculpt, the facial sculpt, and weather only the bottom half of the cloak with some dirty fingers..."

 

[Rugby1970]

Man, I cannot believe all the negativity. I think this is an amazing looking figure.
I think the softened the look in his eyes and I really think it helps. Yeah they paint apps aren't as good as the proto but aren't we used to that by now?

He's going to look great on my shelf and in my hands.

 

[TheObsoleteMan]

Except for the factory paint altering his facial expression a bit, I think he survived the transition to mass production very well, especially with such a complicated outfit.

 

[The Josh]

Forget Newline having any major say in these 12" figures. They are smart enough to know that they should leave the R&D and manufacturing to the true professionals, in this case, Sideshow.

I honestly can't believe that Newline notified SS and told them, "Hey, the prototype looks like crap so please change the hair sculpt, the facial sculpt, and weather only the bottom half of the cloak with some dirty fingers..."

You think NL has no say? That they don't care? I would guarantee if when SS takes it to NL if they say change those things SS has to by the wording of said contract. LOTR is a multi-million dollar license this is one I'm sure they have their marketing teams on for sure.

I don't know this for a fact but I got a feeling I'm pretty close to right.

 

[pjam]

Another reason I'm not buying into these new pics: More than once, we find out later some guy in Asia got one of these and modified it, repainted it, etc.

Like I said, I'll wait until he's in hand...

 

[KamenGuyver]

I read through the whhole thread from Toysdaily and I think those pics were taken fresh out of box. That Aragorn is not repainted.

 

[The Josh]

From Brock who is charge of SS Licensing. In an article he did. Stating pretty much what I've been saying.

Q:From rough concept drafts to finished product, how does the approval process proceed? Is there a lot of back-and-forth between Sideshow and the company?

Depending on the property, there can be a lot of back and forth with the company (or licensor). There are many stages of approvals, and each license has its different way these are approached. Generally speaking though- you start with a concept. This can be anything from a fully rendered illustration, to a picture of one of the staff holding a rubber sword.

From there, you submit a sculpt, usually unpainted. This is where a lot of the initial comments are made by the licensor, and we in turn make the appropriate changes.

Next is a painted prototype, from which more comments usually come.

After the prototype is approved, then it is sent overseas to the factory. In a few weeks, we start getting samples from the factory, showing what they can replicate in mass production. We then send a sample to the licensor, so they can see how the product is going to look for the consumer, as there are sometimes slight differences between the prototypes and final production samples.

After all that is done, we send the licensors the final samples, and it's this time that the customers get them into their happy hands.

 

[pjam]

"We then send a sample to the licensor, so they can see how the product is going to look for the consumer, as there are sometimes slight differences between the prototypes and final production samples."

Slight is the operative word here, but yes, changes are made, tweaks, etc. The proto was so good IMO, it really didn't need much and so far the SSC pics have been very consistent from proto to display pieces.... so far.

Thanks for digging this out J1!

 

[The Josh]

"We then send a sample to the licensor, so they can see how the product is going to look for the consumer, as there are sometimes slight differences between the prototypes and final production samples."

Slight is the operative word here, but yes, changes are made, tweaks, etc. The proto was so good IMO, it really didn't need much and so far the SSC pics have been very consistent from proto to display pieces.... so far.

Thanks for digging this out J1!

No problem.

 

[LOTRFan]

Ok Josh, most of the time I am with you, but are you really suggesting that NL asked for the facial expression to change? Wouldn't the more likely and thus more plausible explanation be that the paint simply changed from Proto to Production? Conspiracy theories aside, I think the answer is really quite plain.

For the record, I am convinced that the weathering would be VERY difficult to mass produce for such an ES, and I am relatively happy with the figure.

 

[The Josh]

Ok Josh, most of the time I am with you, but are you really suggesting that NL asked for the facial expression to change? Wouldn't the more likely and thus more plausible explanation be that the paint simply changed from Proto to Production? Conspiracy theories aside, I think the answer is really quite plain.

For the record, I am convinced that the weathering would be VERY difficult to mass produce for such an ES, and I am relatively happy with the figure.

Yes, I think they could have asked for it. Why is that so hard to believe? They could have also asked for a paint change of somekind. I mean Brock says in that deal the licensor can ask for that type of thing. I'm just tossing this out there. SS will take the blunt of the blame but I'm just saying that NL could well be deserving of some. We won't know till SS says something and we know they won't so they take the hit.