Any love for the Toybiz line???

[DPrime]

Hmm, guess he's just had bad luck then. I'll still be careful...

I'm thinking of picking up at least Sauron, Gollum (the super-articulated one?), Gandalf (which one?) and maybe the rest of the fellowship... (again, which ones are best?). Maybe Treebeard (the big one) too.

I'm also tempted to get that big Neca Balrog as well, but that'll take up some space...

 

[ebor]

I'm thinking of picking up at least Sauron, Gollum (the super-articulated one?), Gandalf (which one?) and maybe the rest of the fellowship... (again, which ones are best?). Maybe Treebeard (the big one) too.

I'm also tempted to get that big Neca Balrog as well, but that'll take up some space...


OK I weigh in because I have most of this line.

The ones you list are awesome figs so:

Sauron, large Tree Beard, Gandalf the White Wizard, Gandalf w/voice chip "You shall not pass," Balrog, all must haves.

If you can get Faramir, Gothmog, Gimli (TTT is very rare, only released in Australia) King of the Undead are all awesome too.

Good luck!

 

[DPrime]

Thanks ebor!

What about Gollum? Which is the best one to get?

 

[ebor]

The "super articulated" wall crawling version. If memory serves me right, from the TTT line

 

[Maglor]

Yep, that's the one to get.


Every store had that thing on clearance for peanuts, with about 40 on the shelf.

 

[DPrime]

Yeah, I don't know what I was doing while these were on the shelves... I guess I was still in Korea, teaching - then shortly after basic training and all the subsequent training. Didn't really start collecting until the line was ending, I guess.

Oh well, as long as I can get these relatively cheap, no harm done!

Couple more questions though... First off, which are the "rare" ones I should grab if given the chance? And are they only rare in the box? (I'm a loose collector.)

Also, are all the Fellowship figures crap or what? Will I be able to get a halfway decent Nine Walkers? For that matter, did they do all the Nazgul, or are you basically looking at having to get the Witch-King of Angmar and then eight identical other figures. Did they do the Fell Beast (I think that's what it's called...)?

Sorry for all the questions. The only "Yojoe.com" type of website I can find for reference is the Green Dragon, and while it's a good website, I find the archives a little long to navigate, and they aren't terribly detailed. The pics are excellent, but info like, is this figure a repaint, etc, seems lacking.

 

[Maglor]

I'll answer what I know off hand.


The only figure I have a problem with of the '9 walkers' is Sam, but as long as you can get him to stand up you can have a very nice Fellowship display with those 9 figures. I had them displayed as a group for years.


I think you are right about the 9 riders. At best you will have the Witchking and 8 other identical figures (if you really wanted 9). I would just go with one Nazgul and be done with it. I think the Witchking is the 'shadow World' version, so he wouldn't display well with the other Nazgul. Someone please correct me if I have any of that wrong.


I don't know about which are most rare, but these are my 3 favorite, and they aren't as cheep as some:

^^^To be clear, this one is a repaint.

I really like this guy to:

 

[ChibiSchmoo]

Couple more questions though... First off, which are the "rare" ones I should grab if given the chance? And are they only rare in the box? (I'm a loose collector.)

Also, are all the Fellowship figures crap or what? Will I be able to get a halfway decent Nine Walkers? For that matter, did they do all the Nazgul, or are you basically looking at having to get the Witch-King of Angmar and then eight identical other figures. Did they do the Fell Beast (I think that's what it's called...)?

Sorry for all the questions. The only "Yojoe.com" type of website I can find for reference is the Green Dragon, and while it's a good website, I find the archives a little long to navigate, and they aren't terribly detailed. The pics are excellent, but info like, is this figure a repaint, etc, seems lacking.

Most of the Fellowship characters were remade later in the line so you can get a nice '9 walkers' line up. The only weak spots will be Merry & Pippin, who only had an early release in their original outfits. The Gimli is also very early, but still a very nice looking figure, if not entirely accurately.

Rare/semi-rare single-carded figures I'd say would include:
- The last wave in the "Epic" line: Shieldmaiden Eowyn, Mordor Orc Lieutenant, Witchking with Flaming sword, Gondorian Swordsman
- Two Towers: Easterling, Rohirrim Soldier, Gondorian Ranger, Faramir, Wormtounge
- Most army builder orcs from the "Trilogy" line: Battle Cry Uruk Hai, Shagrat, Gorbag, Orc Captain (especially!)
- And I personally found Isildur, Theodred, Transfixed Bilbo, and Mirkwood Legolas from the Trilogy line hard to find. These didn't show up at super-clearance prices at KB Toys.

Now you guys have made me want to pull them out of their box and display them!

 

[DPrime]

Thanks for the advice guys.

One quick question - were repacks typically repainted in different colours, or were they the same figure?

I'm a loose collector, so it doesn't matter to me what package it comes in, but - for example - can I get the Helm's Deep Gimli via other means? I've heard it was rare in the "red packaging", whatever that means...

 

[ebor]

DC the TTT red moon box Gimli is rare because it was only released in Australia. Prices between 200-350 US$ typically. If you can get it for less, grab it.

If you can find a loose Gimli from the Helm's Deep set, get that one, it's a great figure. and you don't have to drop the huge coin.

 

[Maglor]

I love both the Helms Deep Gimli and Legolas. They make an awesome pair.

 

[ChibiSchmoo]

Every Gimli they released is the same except the first one - the one with the ring on the Council pedestal - and the Coronation Gimli. "Helm's Deep" is just what that particular rare packaging said. But otherwise its the same Gimli that was repacked over and over. I have a few extras if you want.

With maybe only a couple exceptions, the repacks were almost always just that; not repaints.

I do recommend you track down the harder to find "Helm's Deep Legolas", though - the first released one from the Two Towers line. Almost all the subsequent releases had a different headsculpt with the lame open-mouth expression.

 

[DaveMac]

PJ as a Hobbit is hard to get hold of, it's a great little figure though and shows a chubby director complete with glasses and hairy feet!

 

[The Ringer]

Every Gimli they released is the same except the first one - the one with the ring on the Council pedestal - and the Coronation Gimli. "Helm's Deep" is just what that particular rare packaging said. But otherwise its the same Gimli that was repacked over and over. I have a few extras if you want.

With maybe only a couple exceptions, the repacks were almost always just that; not repaints.

I do recommend you track down the harder to find "Helm's Deep Legolas", though - the first released one from the Two Towers line. Almost all the subsequent releases had a different headsculpt with the lame open-mouth expression.

Gimli didn't even get much love from Toybiz.

The coronation one is cool but I would have loved to see tb do a super articulated one in his regular garb.

 

[DiFabio]

Oh yeah, this was a great line. I pretty much have them all save for lame Elves, Coronation figures, and other weird fairy crap.

Some of my favorite figures in the line are,

- SA Boromir
- Two Towers Faramir
- Rohan Armor Legolas
- Burger King Amon Hen Uruk mail away
- Sauron
- Helms Deep Uruk-Hai
- Berserker Uruk-Hai
- Fellowship 2 pack Gimli
- Electronic Cave Troll

They were really well done. I debated selling some but I figured I should just hang on to em. I have the Fellowship like 10 times over (first versions, Fellowship pack, SA updates) and a few MOC/MIB items like the rare Two Towers Boromir, Twilight Frodo, Fellowship pack with lothlorien capes and a Fellowship Cave troll that actually doesn't have damage to the face.

My only gripe is that we never got a Merry and Pippin that were up to date with the the rest of the Fellowship. The originals aren't bad (terrific likenesses) but they don't look right with the rest of them. They needed to be smaller, have sheaths and more articulation.

 

[Maglor]

I pretty much have them all save for lame Elves, Coronation figures, and other weird fairy crap.

-__-


Tolkien just rolled in his grave.

 

[DiFabio]

-__-


Tolkien just rolled in his grave.

There was a point where I just couldn't buy cutesy ____ from that line. I can't really explain it. Some things like the gift sets with the lavish Lothlorien art on the box, the lights, etc. I mean, I would have liked every character made but had to draw a line at "SA WEDDING ARAGORN AND CELEBORN".

I was much more enthralled with the Fellowship characters, Sauron, Saurman and the monsters (Orcs, Uruk-Hai, Cave Trolls). The Deluxe Horse sets were pretty epic too but I always despised the rubber legs. That Ringwraith would have been PERFECT with plastic limbs.

 

[Maglor]

"Lame elves" and "weird fairy crap" would be fighting words to Tolkien. The Elves of Tolkien's legendarium are majestic and beautiful. Tolkien didn't like traditional "fairies" and he wrote an essay about it.


I get what you are saying about "cutesy" gift packs though.



I've never been a big fan of collecting villains (with the exception of the Joker).

To have a LOTR collection dominated by villains kind makes it seem like one has missed the point of the story. Thats just me though. I understand the visual appeal of the Ringwraiths for example, but I would never want a PF Nazgul in my collection.

By the same token, while I might buy a piece of jewelry from the story, I would never want to own the one ring.

 

[DiFabio]

Help me out Maglor (or anyone that knows what I'm talking about). There was this toy photo archive just like tgd.com that had all of the pictures/information that tgd had. Now I'm hell bent on finding it because I used to use it for my collection. They had just about every figure, horse/rider, beast set, deluxe and role play item you could have.

I've tried toyvault, toy this, toy that but it isn't coming up on google. It had all of the Toy Biz line and other merchandise as well.

 

[Maglor]

Never heard of it but it sounds interesting.