Asmus Toys : Aragorn thread

[Wor-Gar]

Saw the slim version some days ago on my retailers sites, so came in here to have a look.
I own the previous version, which I found at a discounted price a while ago.
I preferred to have the aci version cause of the rooted hair, but was out of stock everywhere so pulled the trigger on asmus.
I knew that the asmus figure was great (except the hairpiece), wanted my 1st figure from the lotr universe, so bought it.
Was looking for someone to mod the asmus hs as to apply rooted hair,
but I didn't have the time to search and find the right person.
When I found out that a new hs with rooted hair was offered, I just went and preordered it,
cause I really want my asmus figure to shine.
What I want to tell in the end is that asmus should have done rooted hair to their 1st figure,
or at least make the hairpiece correct, as to avoid the conehead effect.
Now all of us who bought the 1st figure and want a correct hs, have to either pay someone to mod the hair,
or now to buy the new expansion hs.
It should be free for all previous purchasers of the 1st figure,
now I am not keen in buying any other asmus figure in the future.
The same was done with kp and the new head they put on sale for conan (which in the end didn't happen but for other reasons).
Now kp has lost me as a customer, more because of the words I exchanged with their owner,
but also for not respecting their customers when we supported them and bought their figures.

Not sure if you remember but ALOT of people here didn't want rooted hair. That's the problem.

I've been a fan of rooted hair for a long time, I see it as the next logical step, but many people don't like it and say it doesn't fit in with their other sculpted-haired figures.


I think a great option for Asmus would be to offer a sculpted and haired sculpt in the deluxe figure packages. Aragorn came with two heads anyway so it would have been a good option. For other, like Gandalf, the price would have to go up a bit, but then that's why it would be a deluxe.

The other option would be to offer the head separately from the body but preordered together and shipped together as one piece, just separated so the customer could buy either haired or sculpted head.

 

[FlyAndFight]

...It should be free for all previous purchasers of the 1st figure,
now I am not keen in buying any other asmus figure in the future...

Do you own any Hot Toys figures? Are you familiar with their Joker figures from "The Dark Knight" line? If so, if you had purchased the first Joker figure, would you also have expected Hot Toys to provide you, for free, all of the subsequent Joker releases' head sculpts?...

 

[Bucky Underbelly]

I get your frustration, but I think that's a bit harsh because Asmus deserves a lot of credit for doing what they do to fix and improve their releases (free bodies, expansion packs, etc.).

I feel that Hot Toys is the undisputed champion of the 1/6 mass produced world, and I can look at my collection and pick out 20-30 HT sculpts that are pretty less than stellar, that I would love a revised and improved sculpt for. But we don't see HT offering improved replacement sculpts for those figs.

I think Asmus is doing a great thing by offering us options to improve the 4 Haflings, Aragorn and hopefully Gandalf. I agree, it's not the ideal situation for us as collectors, but I'm sure doing this is not the ideal situation for Asmus either. But it is the best and easiest fix for sets that were already released but had room for improvement.

I said it in another thread, and I hope Asmus didn't misunderstand me or take offense. I greatly appreciate their effort and hard work to improve the last 6-7 figures that they've released (I'm ready to buy any and all improved expansions they offer), but I hope that everything from Legolas forward won't need after-release improvements

Very well said. Couldn't agree more.

The fact that Asmus is listening to their customers at all is kind of miraculous in this industry. (Have you ever tried contacting HT? Might as well scream into a pillow and then throw that pillow into the ocean.) That Asmus would even consider revisiting previous releases with these expansion/upgrade packs seems even more miraculous. I'm not aware of any other company who's ever done it. (There are probably examples, but I don't know of any.)

Should we be entitled to get these extras for free just because we previously bought the figure? Of course not. Because they still take time, money and manpower to produce. And I'm betting Asmus isn't making a ton of profit off the Aragorn heads. Try finding a custom head out there that's fully painted and haired at this level of quality (plus free shipping worldwide!) for $40 bucks. You won't.

But like everyone else (including Asmus, too, I'm sure), I'm hoping that going forward these upgrade packs won't be necessary.

 

[Manannin]

Have you ever tried contacting HT? Might as well scream into a pillow and then throw that pillow into the ocean.) .

Bahaha, truth

 

[jk_blue_tiger]

Aci's Aragorn had rooted hair and it came before Asmus Aragorn.
I think most agreed that rooted hair made the figure shine the most and that was the way to do Aragorns' hair.

But my point is different, it doesn't have to do anything about rooted or sculpted hair.
The problem is the hairpiece Asmus did on their 1st Aragorn.
Had it been correct, I wouldn't complain at all.
It would be my option to upgrade to the new one with rooted hair and I actually would see that head as an expansion.
The problem is with the hairpiece of the previous hs and the conehead effect it has,
which after Asmus saw the feedback of their customers didn't offer the new "expansion" hs for free
as they did previously with a figure of theirs that had a problematic body and if I red correct,
previously they stated that they intended to actually offer the expansion hs for free.
Why announce it for free in the beginning and then ask for money?

As for the remarks about satnavs, cars and the rest remarks in that type, I think you ve misunderstood my remarks.
If a car I had bought had no errors I wouldn't ask or complain about anything.
But if I found out that it had an error and after I had bought it the company that sold it to me,
asked me for more money to fix the error, we certainly wouldn't get along well.

Last I don't own many hot toys figures, not my cup of tea,
I prefer other figures from various companies licensed or not, or to build my own.
The ones from ht that I own, don't have this type of problem, but I don't support ht for other reasons.
Either the licenses they have don't interest me, their high asking prices, or milking a universe/figure to death.
So no, I don't have to face any problems like should I buy the new joker, terminator, ironman etc.

 

[cmiller99]

Error?

Many, many figures with not-quite-spot-on sculpts are released every year by a range of companies. Hot Toys crank out a startlingly high number of stunt double figures for such an esteemed company. But that's all irrelevant. You bought the figure, as it was, imperfect head sculpt and all. You chose to purchase it as it was. You knew what you were getting in the mail. Asmus don't owe you anything free of charge. A slightly-off head sculpt is not the same thing as a defective body, which is solely a factory quality control issue.

 

[Manannin]

My analogy was not about errors, it was about optional extras. Had Aragorn had a faulty body like the Morgul Lord did, then yes Asmus may well have arranged a free body somehow.
The shape of the head was an artistic choice not an error. Personally I didn't like it and I was not alone, but some did. But the shape of the head was well known when the figure released, so the choice to buy it was completely up to us. So them creating a new head is another optional extra we can choose to buy or not, which Asmus have offered based on the feedback they received. Something that I have only seen one other company (Big Chief Studios) do in the past, who had a very similar reaction to their Amy Pond figure's headsculpt (and rooted vs sculpted hair). They then went on to make expansions for other figures which weren't necessarily improvements but just expansions (for example their 11th Doctor got a new headsculpt with a Stetson).
Point being, these expansions are great options for those who want them, and if someone doesn't want them, then great too. But there is no reason they should be free.

 

[Haldiron]

Can someone explain to me the difference between the Aragorn that has already been released and this new "Slim" version? I see it has rooted hair, and looks like it doesn't come with as many accessories, like the arrows etc. Any other differences? I already own the original Aragorn so am wondering if this is worth picking up.

 

[Manannin]

It is basically the same. The headsculpt now has rooted hair, there are less accessories and the boots are now molded, not fabric. I think that's it...
If you have the original you are better just buying the head (unless of course you want a second for a different look)

 

[Haldiron]

It is basically the same. The headsculpt now has rooted hair, there are less accessories and the boots are now molded, not fabric. I think that's it...
If you have the original you are better just buying the head (unless of course you want a second for a different look)

How do you purchase just the head?

 

[tedbatman4]

How do you purchase just the head?

Here's the link for Asmus' online store:
https://adartwork.tw-blog.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=131

 

[Haldiron]

Here's the link for Asmus' online store:
https://adartwork.tw-blog.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=131

Sweet! That is awesome!
So that's what all the fuss is about.. people are upset we don't get the new sculpt for free, right? I'm pretty excited about it and that is a fair price considering. The current head has always really bothered me and have really wanted to customize it but was afraid I'd make it worse. This new head looks great. I think rooted hair works well for Aragorn!

 

[Manannin]

Totally agree. And getting the original sculpt rooted or a whole new custom sculpt would be way more than $40. I am looking forward to it personally.

 

[C-Brock]

It's pretty slick that they will offer the updated sculpt itself for sale - I'll upgrade my original figure so he'll be on-par with my ACI version

 

[Cammo]

Just bought (pre-ordered) this one for 188 EUR at a local store.

 

[denrep-lilium]

Seems the sculpt is sold-out. But I remember it to be quite limited.

 

[Manannin]

Don't quote me, but I think Asmus said it was 800 complete figures and 500 rooted head packs (could be the other way around...). Glad I got my order in!

 

[Cammo]

Don't quote me, but I think Asmus said it was 800 complete figures and 500 rooted head packs (could be the other way around...). Glad I got my order in!

You got that correct. 800 slim figures and 500 headsculpts.

 

[warlock664]

Wow, that's amazing that all 500 heads have sold out already!

 

[Manannin]

Yeah, bodes well for the future expansion packs!