Asmus Toys - 1/6 Arwen 2.0

[DakRen]

I was able to get ahold of Asmus' customer service and after they saw the photos I took of the contents I received, and pointed out the hands that were missing, they gathered them up and are shipping them to me. Hopefully I won't have to wait too long to get them, but at least they were willing to take care of the issue. (I was also told that the "art" box was included as they wanted to use a sturdier box to protect the contents. I have no idea what that means for those that didn't order the Deluxe -- are they going to be getting the art box all crushed? I guess we'll have to wait and see...

So you get a free art box that way. Seems to work out in your favor at least.

 

[Stryker2011]

So you get a free art box that way. Seems to work out in your favor at least.

No. No art box for me — just the hands.

 

[batsheva]

I can compare the 2 companies, and for the price point continue to have a favorable opinion of ASMUS (the care they took with the scale and fabric on Galadriel's dress is one reason I bought her, among others). Her paint is beautiful. And not much is gonna dislodge that opinion, since they made the effort to come out with dwarf bodies, and fantastic diecast weapons - just look at all the accessories Thorin, Bilbo, the hobbits, Gimli come with. If I have a *thing* it's not the boxes, it's all these details I could never match on my own. Every single axe of Gimli's is different. Swords have little tiny runes. We get little tiny pipes and books.

HT can be unbeatable, true, when they are at their best. With a price to reflect that. But, I've spent plenty of time re-gluing HT costumes, and lately for the price they seem to be way too fond of using plastic; often less accessories. Even the new Armorer just comes with a card backdrop, no forge, which for me is a disappointment. Mysterio has a seam running around the helmet that drives me crazy. And so on. HT rarely interacts with customers, either, I'm surprised they even did anything about the Tony portrait thing, except for the huge outcry.

There's been some foul-ups with ASMUS, including the Frodo eye thing, and I own a Thranduil with the face of an Elven soldier. Not sure how that one even happened. But Arwen looks like a beautiful fig, with some great accessories.

If you are comparing it with price point, as a member here said, HT has more expensive licenses, and with the price they are charging, deliver much much more (in quality and accessories) than what Asmus did with their price/what they are charging.

Ok let's make a fair comparison here based on price point and the quality itself:
With Deluxe Arwen $250, (not including the added extra shipping and the extra charge from FedEx that the members here complained about) you get this:

And this is the actual sculpt we get (photo by a member here, Darkeyes):

and the box is like this (photo by another member here, Scumonkey):

And with $250 (same price as Deluxe Arwen) you got the Hot Toys Gamora (more expensive license) with 2 variant costumes (one of them are layered, and with a wired long coat, the costume itself made from different kind of materials, including belt, sculpted vest and jetpack), very detailed weapons, even sculpted accessories on her fingers and hands, AND a baby Groot (yep, an extra character) holding a bomb, and a standbase with a debossed nameplate and cool graphic on it's base:

And the actual in hand sculpt looks like this:

and the box looks like this:

And all of that with the same price as the Deluxe Arwen.. (but Arwen's extra shipping cost and the extra charge from FedEx made it even worse.. one member here, Superglue81 even ended up paying $315 in total for the deluxe Arwen!! add $310 more and you'll get a 1/6th scaled Tumbler!!)
Point is, the DELUXE Arwen is disappointing without the artbox, with the price it's cost!

And gluing HT costumes? Never happened to me, fortunately. All tight and sturdy. The thing they did with the Tony portrait was a very responsible thing, which is what the should do as a reputable company. The huge outcry is because they have that many buyers. If this DELUXE Arwen has the same amount of buyers, there will be a huge outcry as well for the artbox, as you can see yourself with the majority here who bought the deluxe are disappointed with the lack of it.

Don't get me wrong, I complained few issues about HT too and I agree with the armorer issue with the lack of accs, but you just can't compare HT with Asmus, especially on sculpt, accessories, die cast etc. Different level, man. Even with the same price point.

My point here, Asmus as a smaller company should learn from HT, with the Tony head fiasco, they should do what HT do, in terms of being responsible to its customers. HT is sending another sculpt, worth a lot of money, and Asmus as a smaller company, I'm sure they can send the deluxe buyer an empty folded artbox free of charge and shipping, but that aint never happen because Asmus is just like that.
Even they are being silent about the artbox till now.

I think some of these comparison about price tags and how much more expensive is HT in comparison to Asmus, etc.( HT certainly is, but so are its licences) are missing the point: you simply cannot cut corners in the most basic thing of all, i.e. the storage box of a high end collectible, let alone (only) in its DX version. I am sorry, but this is an indefensible mistake and I have never seen something like this in my years as collector.

Touche! Me neither, man.

and now with the LUXURY version of Gollum lacking the hands that comes with the regular version?!

Very disappointing and unprofessional of them. No excuse.

 

[George13]

If you are comparing it with price point, as a member here said, HT has more expensive licenses, and with the price they are charging, deliver much much more (in quality and accessories) than what Asmus did with their price/what they are charging.

Ok let's make a fair comparison here based on price point and the quality itself:
With Deluxe Arwen $230, (not including the added extra shipping and the extra charge from FedEx that the members here complained about) you get this:
View attachment 539585

And this is the actual sculpt we get (photo by a member here, Darkeyes):
View attachment 539594

and the box is like this (photo by another member here, Scumonkey):
View attachment 539595

And with $250 you got the Hot Toys Gamora (more expensive license) with 2 variant costumes (one of them are layered, and with a wired long coat, the costume itself made from different kind of materials, including belt, sculpted vest and jetpack), very detailed weapons, even sculpted accessories on her fingers and hands, AND a baby Groot (yep, an extra character) holding a bomb, and a standbase with a debossed nameplate and cool graphic on it's base:
View attachment 539586

And the actual in hand sculpt looks like this:
View attachment 539588

and the box looks like this:
View attachment 539591

And all of that is only $20 more than Deluxe Arwen.. (but Arwen's extra shipping cost and the extra charge from FedEx is more than $20.. one member here, Superglue81 even ended up paying $315 in total for the deluxe Arwen!! )
Point is, the DELUXE Arwen is disappointing without the artbox, with the price it's cost!

And gluing HT costumes? Never happened to me, fortunately. All tight and sturdy. The thing they did with the Tony portrait was a very responsible thing, which is what the should do as a reputable company. The huge outcry is because they have that many buyers. If this DELUXE Arwen has the same amount of buyers, there will be a huge outcry as well for the artbox, as you can see yourself with the majority here who bought the deluxe are disappointed with the lack of it.

Don't get me wrong, I complained few issues about HT too and I agree with the armorer issue with the lack of accs, but you just can't compare HT with Asmus, especially on sculpt, accessories, die cast etc. Different level, man. Even with the same price point.

My point here, Asmus as a smaller company should learn from HT, with the Tony head fiasco, they should do what HT do, in terms of being responsible to its customers. HT is sending another sculpt, worth a lot of money, and Asmus as a smaller company, I'm sure they can send the deluxe buyer an empty folded artbox free of charge and shipping, but that aint never happen because Asmus is just like that.
Even they are being silent about the artbox till now.


Touche! Me neither, man.

and now with the LUXURY version of Gollum lacking the hands that comes with the regular version?!

Very disappointing and unprofessional of them. No excuse.

My friend Arwen Deluxe price was 250 not 230
So same price as Gamora Hot Toys

 

[George13]

For me a collector who displays the art box (I don't, the boxes go back into a shipper if I have a shipper) I can see the disappointment.

Tho TBH since the talked-about Thranduil on Throne might be expensive, I was one of the ones pushing to dump a fancy box in favor of getting something as amazing as a throne display. The same would be true of a Bag End. There's a lot that goes into packaging and just getting the art to print right $$$$$

For a small production run IMO a fancy box is the first thing to let go, in favor of a plain box and biodegradable packing material. Then maybe a small card print with art could be included. HT a lot of the time doesn't even bother with any kind of display, they give you a printed card or something.



I can compare the 2 companies, and for the price point continue to have a favorable opinion of ASMUS (the care they took with the scale and fabric on Galadriel's dress is one reason I bought her, among others). Her paint is beautiful. And not much is gonna dislodge that opinion, since they made the effort to come out with dwarf bodies, and fantastic diecast weapons - just look at all the accessories Thorin, Bilbo, the hobbits, Gimli come with. If I have a *thing* it's not the boxes, it's all these details I could never match on my own. Every single axe of Gimli's is different. Swords have little tiny runes. We get little tiny pipes and books.

HT can be unbeatable, true, when they are at their best. With a price to reflect that. But, I've spent plenty of time re-gluing HT costumes, and lately for the price they seem to be way too fond of using plastic; often less accessories. Even the new Armorer just comes with a card backdrop, no forge, which for me is a disappointment. Mysterio has a seam running around the helmet that drives me crazy. And so on. HT rarely interacts with customers, either, I'm surprised they even did anything about the Tony portrait thing, except for the huge outcry.

There's been some foul-ups with ASMUS, including the Frodo eye thing, and I own a Thranduil with the face of an Elven soldier. Not sure how that one even happened. But Arwen looks like a beautiful fig, with some great accessories.

What I am trying to say is that the Art Box is part of any licensed 1/6 Scale figure.
At least Asmus should have mentioned that there‘s no Art box with the deluxe version.
And I would be happy if they just included a nice backdrop instead of the box.

 

[batsheva]

My friend Arwen Deluxe price was 250 not 230
So same price as Gamora Hot Toys

Ouch! Even WORSE then.
Thanks for the info, mate.. I edited my post.

 

[ObiGlennKenobi]

wow..
I've been working solid for 4 days..and have just been reading through the thread.

Sad to see what has happened here with the dlx Arwen.
I hope Asmus can make it right for you guys.

 

[DakRen]

So it’s settled, this is a legitimate fiasco and Asmus needs to figure things out going forward or this is turning into Hasbro levels of fan love-hate. Eventually everyone has a tipping point. We can’t justify the price, quality and license when compared to HT. The only one consideration could be volume, HT could keep prices lower than Asmus because they sell more product.

 

[batsheva]

So it’s settled, this is a legitimate fiasco and Asmus needs to figure things out going forward or this is turning into Hasbro levels of fan love-hate. Eventually everyone has a tipping point. We can’t justify the price, quality and license when compared to HT. The only one consideration could be volume, HT could keep prices lower than Asmus because they sell more product.

Sadly, I doubt they will do anything with this fiasco.
They will just remain silent and be irresponsible with all these fiasco.
Asmus is like that.

I'm sure their reps read the posts here.. say something, Asmus.

 

[George13]

I wonder if Asmus Won’t include an Art box for the Deluxe Legolas

So it’s settled, this is a legitimate fiasco and Asmus needs to figure things out going forward or this is turning into Hasbro levels of fan love-hate. Eventually everyone has a tipping point. We can’t justify the price, quality and license when compared to HT. The only one consideration could be volume, HT could keep prices lower than Asmus because they sell more product.

Regarding Arwen situation it‘s to late to make any changes
Many orders are already shipped

 

[George13]

For me a collector who displays the art box (I don't, the boxes go back into a shipper if I have a shipper) I can see the disappointment.

Tho TBH since the talked-about Thranduil on Throne might be expensive, I was one of the ones pushing to dump a fancy box in favor of getting something as amazing as a throne display. The same would be true of a Bag End. There's a lot that goes into packaging and just getting the art to print right $$$$$

For a small production run IMO a fancy box is the first thing to let go, in favor of a plain box and biodegradable packing material. Then maybe a small card print with art could be included. HT a lot of the time doesn't even bother with any kind of display, they give you a printed card or something.



I can compare the 2 companies, and for the price point continue to have a favorable opinion of ASMUS (the care they took with the scale and fabric on Galadriel's dress is one reason I bought her, among others). Her paint is beautiful. And not much is gonna dislodge that opinion, since they made the effort to come out with dwarf bodies, and fantastic diecast weapons - just look at all the accessories Thorin, Bilbo, the hobbits, Gimli come with. If I have a *thing* it's not the boxes, it's all these details I could never match on my own. Every single axe of Gimli's is different. Swords have little tiny runes. We get little tiny pipes and books.

HT can be unbeatable, true, when they are at their best. With a price to reflect that. But, I've spent plenty of time re-gluing HT costumes, and lately for the price they seem to be way too fond of using plastic; often less accessories. Even the new Armorer just comes with a card backdrop, no forge, which for me is a disappointment. Mysterio has a seam running around the helmet that drives me crazy. And so on. HT rarely interacts with customers, either, I'm surprised they even did anything about the Tony portrait thing, except for the huge outcry.

There's been some foul-ups with ASMUS, including the Frodo eye thing, and I own a Thranduil with the face of an Elven soldier. Not sure how that one even happened. But Arwen looks like a beautiful fig, with some great accessories.

Actually Galadriel wasn’t a flawless release.
Many collectors including my self mentioned the scratches on her neck.

 

[scumonkey]

And don't forget the lighter coloured head not matching the darker skinned body.

 

[batsheva]

And don't forget the lighter coloured head not matching the darker skinned body.

also underscaled. I think that's the most fatal flaws.

So.. all that with Galadriel.. You can't say Asmus puts their time and more effort on that one.
And Frodo with wrong eye colors.
And Gandalf, well, so many people just ripped the inner layer of his hat in order to make the hat sits properly on his head. Some are missing the pipes..
And Arwen with the artbox.
And Gollum with luxury set not having the hands that the regular has.. also inaccurate feet with plenty o'hair in it.

 

[George13]

also underscaled. I think that's the most fatal flaws.

So.. all that with Galadriel.. You can't say Asmus puts their time and more effort on that one.
And Frodo with wrong eye colors.
And Gandalf, well, so many people just ripped the inner layer of his hat in order to make the hat sits properly on his head. Some are missing the pipes..
And Arwen with the artbox.
And Gollum with luxury set not having the hands that the regular has.. also inaccurate feet with fur in it.

Gandalf Eyes

 

[WolfBoy]

Well…..i like the Arwen sculpt, and i’m not going to even bother comparing it to Hot Toys level products. It’s a company 200 times the size of Asmus.

I didn’t get the the deluxe, i got the standard, and if i did, i don’t care about art boxes, i never display them. As long as the figure looks good, that’s all i care about and i think she looks nice.
In saying that though, if the deluxe wasn’t going to come with an art box they really should have clearly specified that. 99% of figurines come with them, it’s standard at this point.

The fact that they have said nothing about this is rather poor too.

 

[batsheva]

Well…..i like the Arwen sculpt, and i’m not going to even bother comparing it to Hot Toys level products. It’s a company 200 times the size of Asmus.

I didn’t get the the deluxe, i got the standard, and if i did, i don’t care about art boxes, i never display them. As long as the figure looks good, that’s all i care about and i think she looks nice.
In saying that though, if the deluxe wasn’t going to come with an art box they really should have clearly specified that. 99% of figurines come with them, it’s standard at this point.

The fact that they have said nothing about this is rather poor too.

Well, I never want to compare them at first either, but then Sassafras said this:

Well it matters to me, in that with ASMUS so far I haven't paid HT prices $$$ and gotten stellar figures, along with a company that interacts with its customers -

So I just pointed out that if Sassafras bought the Deluxe Arwen, he/she's actually paid HT prices $$$, as the DX Arwen is at the same price with HT Gamora, that comes with much much better quality and accs, and with proper artbox.

Also, I'm still waiting for Asmus to see if Sassafras' statement about "a company that interacts with its customers" is true.

 

[WolfBoy]

Well, I never want to compare them at first either, but then Sassafras said this:

So I just pointed out that if Sassafras bought the Deluxe Arwen, he/she's actually paid HT prices $$$, as the DX Arwen is at the same price with HT Gamora, that comes with much much better quality and accs, and with proper artbox.

Also, I'm still waiting for Asmus to see if Sassafras' statement about "a company that interacts with its customers" is true.

I’d think this was an issue if we were comparing HT with Star Ace, who charge HT prices for abysmal figurines, but Asmus produce mostly good work. Sure there are some refinement issues when it comes to the end product sometimes, but overall i think the work they do is pretty solid for the size company they are.
I don’t have an issue paying the same price for Arwen as i did for Gamora tbh.

There does need to be box art though, i agree with you all on that.

 

[DakRen]

Actually Galadriel wasn’t a flawless release.
Many collectors including my self mentioned the scratches on her neck.

My Galadriel is my worst Asmus release since I have the scratched neck and the mismatched skin tone and subpar face paint apps.

 

[Bucky Underbelly]

Yeah, I really like the figure. The box was a weird omission, but I'm not upset about it. It would just end up in storage anyway. If they decide to make some boxes available to those who want them, that would be a nice gesture. But I'm still very glad I picked up the Lux, box or no.

 

[batsheva]

I don’t have an issue paying the same price for Arwen as i did for Gamora tbh.

There does need to be box art though, i agree with you all on that.

I don't have an issue either.. but my reason is because I love Arwen and there's no other choice to get her in 1/6 but to buy this.
Ideally, I would love to buy Arwen with the same price as HT Gamora if Hot Toys ever made her, so we can get the same quailty that we got from Gamora, in terms of likeness, details (Gamora's clothes are really layered for the same price.. not just illusion/fake layering) and accessories,
and of course.. artbox.