Everyone should be a little worried by InArt at the moment but I think Asmus still have a very strong chance to stay in the game due to their prices and the range of characters they’re willing to tackle.
A slight increase in quality from Asmus- primarily reflected in sculpt accuracy- along with the continuation of optional deluxe diorama offerings and really diving into those second and third tier characters- Haldir, The Last Alliance leaders, etc, plus orcs and army builder soldiers will keep them in business.
Just stay away from that Amazon garbage.
It seems quite evident that IA will focus on the BIG name, can’t fail to sell characters (and Nazgul for some reason) but I don’t see them doing the likes of Merry and Pippin and especially not in their Rohan and Gondorian armour or even a Boromir or Gollum so Asmus are still on the right track and have plenty of options.
They’ll just struggle to get collectors with IA levels of disposable income to buy the main trio and Gandalf from them from now on. So the crown line will have to conjure up something really special after GTW to remain relevant.
Saruman seems the logical next step but kind of boringly similar to the last two (despite having not even seen GTW yet.)
It’d just be yet another redo of an older bearded wizard but now with a glued on lamb’s wool beard- or whatever they use.
My top picks for the next Crown figure;
- Black Gates Aragorn (First, must absolutely nail the sculpt once and for all or no point proceeding,)
- Lurtz
- Possessed Theoden on Throne.