Asmus Toys : Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee

[superdoug]

Kind of wish they could have based them off of Sideshows sculpts and just sculpted them down to the right size.

 

[cmiller99]

Yeah the Sideshow sculpts were much better likenesses.

 

[Wor-Gar]

I have a suspicion you're right. Paint is good. No bueno on sculpts.

True, scale is a big factor. But I'm struggling to find resemblance in the Frodo sculpt. His cheek structure is dead on. The rest... lots of areas are subtly off, some majorly off, but it all just gives me a big impression of off. The shape of the upper lip is good, lower lip slightly off. But the mouth isn't in the right position compared to the nose (length of philtrum is way off); the bottom part of the nose is pretty close but the bridge is weirdly creased in a way Elijah's doesn't crease in real life, the eyes are incorrectly placed by just a few smidgens and his left eyelid is slightly misshapen, the chin is disproportionate to the mouth, and the hair strands are a bit chunky and undetailed.

The philtrum and the mouth being too low on his are the main things throwing it, but the eyes aren't right either. They're all that's off, really, but the overall effect is devastating IMO.

As for Sam, the mouth and the chin are just wrong, the jawbone structure is hidden by fat that wasn't on Sean Astin's face, the eyes are ok, the nose is slightly off and the bridge of the nose is correctly creased when compared to Astin looking a bit moodier, but isn't really right for the expression on the rest of the sculpt, and the haircut is too much of a bowl cut from what that picture suggests.

Those are my thoughts on this.

These are good points.

 

[cmiller99]

Just a shame it's probably too late to do anything about it.

 

[Underworld54]

Sam's been eating too many POTATOES!

 

[Cammo]

Sam's eyes (irises) need to be painted in a darker colour. Now he has a Jonah Hill look to him.
But again, this is a major improvement over the paint apps at NYCC.

 

[parrasmaniac]

I just came in the thread to have a look.

Asmus work as far as LORT figures go, has been very nice to follow.

IMO the figures look OK.

Clothes and scale look great.
Sam has a high likeness, I think, but Frodo doesn't.

He reminds me of somebody else...

 

[Stryker2011]

Wow. These are disappointing. What happened to the lower part of Frodo's face below his nose, that whole section is just distorted and makes him look like a monkey. And Sam... when did Chris Farley play Sam? Way too fat.

 

[MaxGoof]

Just a shame it's probably too late to do anything about it.

I swear Asmus doesn't show prototypes early anymore for sculpts that they know are awful until it's too late to make changes to the sculpt so that they can say "Whoops, he's already in production and it's too late to make changes!"

The fact that these Sam and Frodo sculpts are such a downgrade from the decade-old Sideshow sculpts is sad. If Hot Toys showed off a "final" sculpt like Sam's they would be ridiculed off the internet, but Asmus can coast on the goodwill of LOTR fans and the fact that no one else wants to make these 1:6 LOTR figures right now.

 

[zombini]

If you think of these as good representation of the characters of the book, then they are ok but as actors from the movie , I think they need more work on the likeness.

 

[RIDDICK]

Both sculpts are terrible for a licensed products.

 

[cmiller99]

The fact that these Sam and Frodo sculpts are such a downgrade from the decade-old Sideshow sculpts is sad. If Hot Toys showed off a "final" sculpt like Sam's they would be ridiculed off the internet, but Asmus can coast on the goodwill of LOTR fans and the fact that no one else wants to make these 1:6 LOTR figures right now.

I dunno how these will go on Facebook. They're pretty vicious there.

 

[koolkollectibleskhai]

I dunno how these will go on Facebook. They're pretty vicious there.

Perhaps we can find out! I'll be posting them up on FB today to get collector opinions. I personally dont think the outcome will be great to be honest.

 

[Bucky Underbelly]

I'm going to buy both of these figures.

Mostly because I'm a huge Middle-Earth fan. But also because I appreciate what Asmus has been trying to do with this line, putting out less popular characters while simultaneously trying to keep the prices at least somewhat reasonable for us. (I don't know anything about the business, but I would think their profit margins must be kinda narrow, considering how small the production runs are.) And I definitely appreciate their willingness to engage with collectors.

Anyhow, the point is, I'm buying these guys no matter what.

But ... that said ...

I do wish they were better. I'm not crazy about how fat Sam looks, but I do see Sean Astin in the likeness. And the repaint helps both figures a lot.

But mostly I'm just puzzled by that Frodo sculpt. They say they didn't alter Caine's original, but side by side there are clearly a lot of differences that can't possibly be from molding or casting. It can't be the same sculpt. It's not like it's squished or droopy. There are changes in the details of the mouth and brow and eyes and jawline. I just don't see why you'd change anything about that original sculpt. It looked dead on to me. Puzzling.

I'll pick these up because the hobbit bodies and outfits will be well done ... and I hope that we'll be pleasantly surprised when we get these in hand. Like we were with Gandalf the Grey, who got a LOT of bad press around these parts before he started showing up on doorsteps only to end up being one of the best in the line.

So I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Failing that, there's always the custom head route, I suppose.

 

[Wor-Gar]

I did not get Merry and Pippin. My plan was to wait and see if I'm going 9x Fellowship.... or just the Main Characters (in my eyes, Gandalf, Frodo, Legolas, Aragorn, Gimli).

I'm in for Frodo, but unless Samwise thrills me with in-hand pictures, I'll likely leave him behind with Merry and Pippin... and stick to my Main 5 plan.

 

[cmiller99]

I haven't bought any of them yet mainly because I want to know that the quality will be consistent enough to warrant going nine figures deep into a license.

Boromir and Legolas WIPs were promising. Gimli's the wildcard...

 

[koolkollectibleskhai]

Lol people were right. It's getting pretty brutal over on the Facebook groups and pages! Some of the comments, which aren't too promising as expected. I honestly hope more work is done on the sculpt, and not just the paint app. If these really are the final sculpts, I may be resigned to get them and just hope they don't look too bad on display.

"Sam looks like he **** his pants hahaha. And Frodo looks like he smells it lol"

"Looks like sam's eaten gollum!!"

"Looks like baring the ring has taken its toll on frodo aswell!!"

"Even the Eye of Sauron doesn't want to look at these."

"I guess Sam did eat all the elf bread, Gollum was right!"

"Stunt doubles for frodo and Sam."

"My Frodo PF looks more like Frodo then this and that ain't saying much."

 

[koolkollectibleskhai]

I think these probably come across as a little strong, but I guess someone else made a good point. If Hot Toys had announced these as prototypes, they'd probably be blasted all over the internet too. I really do hope the folks over at Asmus take a look at reworking the sculpt. From a customer perspective, I'd definitely prefer to wait to get a better product, than to have it pushed out at a lower quality.

 

[cmiller99]

"Sam looks like he **** his pants hahaha. And Frodo looks like he smells it lol"

"Looks like sam's eaten gollum!!"

"Looks like baring the ring has taken its toll on frodo aswell!!"

"Even the Eye of Sauron doesn't want to look at these."

"I guess Sam did eat all the elf bread, Gollum was right!"

"Stunt doubles for frodo and Sam."

"My Frodo PF looks more like Frodo then this and that ain't saying much."

*Hans Gruber voice* Regular as clockwork...

 

[jankatana]

Asmus have their style, its not 100% photo realistic like most of hottoys, but i do believe asmus are doing their best with the talent they can employ. The value for money is great considering all work involved putting the sets together. The facial expressions make sense, and the skin tone is well balanced, from the factory any roughness will smooth out.
Hottoys may have the best heads, but i have had some flaky and fragile stuff fall apart from hottoys and enterbay also.