Asmus Toys : Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee

[RandomHero]

Asmus and their Middle Earth line was literally what made me join these boards and get my interest up in collecting sixth scale. Wanted to pick up the Tauriel, saw the head sculpt, hated it, decided to pass. I was super excited about the Aragorn figure, it was going to be among my first figures. Hated the head sculpt, passed on it. Then, I couldn't wait for Gandalf. My most anticipated figure. Hate the head sculpt, passed on it.

I keep hoping that the head sculpts will actually have some resemblance of the actors who played these characters and I keep getting let down. Frodo and Sam are literally the straw that broke the camel's back. I LOVE Middle Earth..I can't get enough. But for what you pay for these figures, this isn't worth it.

I guess I'll be saving some money at least....because Asmus really does a nice job otherwise. Oh well.

 

[cmiller99]

I'm not saying it's right. I'm just saying it is what it is. I don't think they want to pay the salary it would take to get a top tier sculptor. Will this eventually bite them in the ass? Maybe so. I don't think any of the likeness have been horrible. They all have a resemblance. Some better than others. I just don't think we will see a spot on likeness.

Yeah, my comment was a bit more general than just addressing your post. I really wish they would hire top tier sculptors though. But the 1/6 Lord of the Rings license has always seemed like a bit of an under-seller for whatever reason. It's bizarre, I don't understand it. My problem isn't so much with them not getting likenesses spot on (disappointing, sure, but common in this industry) but the bizarre downgrading from good likenesses that happened with Frodo and John Connor, and (IMO at least) with Gandalf the Grey. Now that, for me, is truly beyond comprehension. Either they've got some really ****ing weird **** going on in the casting process, or they're modding them. And I suspect the latter, because John Connor's hair on Asmus's prototype was nothing like the hair on Caine's original sculpt. Which again, I find inexplicable.

For some reason I've always been under the impression that most of their portrait sculpts were free-lanced and not done in-house. (Is that how the industry generally works nowadays? Honestly, I'm asking, I don't know much about how this stuff.) That might explain the range in quality and why some of the works in progress they've shown have been physical sculpts and some have been digital.

I'd love a casting of Caine's original Frodo head. The Frodo proto looks okay, but it would be much improved with that un-tweaked portrait.

They certainly do seem to be freelancing a lot. They've got Caine to do Connor and Frodo, and MG was doing a Legolas sculpt that may or may not have been scrapped in favour of the most recent digital sculpt that we saw a few months ago. Original Gandalf was a clay sculpt, Boromir WIP is digital, the Sam WIP and all the Aragorn WIPS were clay... there's little consistency in the mediums that they're using for their portraits so that suggests lots of outsourcing to me.

I too would love a casting of Caine's Frodo. And the original Gandalf. But I'm not hopeful for those. We haven't heard anything about the prospective replacement Gandalf the White sculpt in a while, so I don't know if that's still a thing or not.

 

[Thainitty]

They look good I've said it before and I'll say it again. Everyone is always saying every head sculpt is off from hot toys and blitzway to asmus. I don't think these figures deserve the hate they are getting at all. They don't look just like the actors but they look really good still and I know who they are. I love LOTR and middle earth and will gladly display these. Hearing how the ss hobbits look better is getting old, that's like saying the Barbie bvs figures look better than the hot toys.

 

[Wor-Gar]

At this point, I want consistency among my figures... so suddenly getting perfect sculpts wouldn't do.

Grishnahk is so great that it makes Gothmog look terrible.

I don't want such a perfect Legolas that Aragorn and Gandalf and everyone else now have to be replaced.

It would be best to finish the Fellowship now... then Asmus can re-do characters in other garb where they can improve the sculpt. Aragorn in his Black Gates garb gives an excuse for a better head sculpt. They blew both Gandalfs but they could always do an official LOTR Grey. Maybe new Frodo and Sam in their Orc Gear a year or so from now.

 

[Thainitty]

I think that's a good point wor-gar, the sculpts are their style and they all work together (except I use aci aragorn). You really feel like they blew it on Gandalf? That figure really is fantastic to me...it's not perfect but once you've got him all set up it screams Gandalf to me.

 

[Wor-Gar]

You really feel like they blew it on Gandalf? That figure really is fantastic to me...it's not perfect but once you've got him all set up it screams Gandalf to me.

No, no, I like BOTH Gandalfs actually. Never had a problem with White. What I meant was that Asmus already made both Gandalfs so perhaps blew their chance at making yet another with improved sculpt down the road -- except as mentioned for an Official LOTR Grey.

 

[MaxGoof]

At this point, I want consistency among my figures... so suddenly getting perfect sculpts wouldn't do.

Grishnahk is so great that it makes Gothmog look terrible.

I don't want such a perfect Legolas that Aragorn and Gandalf and everyone else now have to be replaced.

It would be best to finish the Fellowship now... then Asmus can re-do characters in other garb where they can improve the sculpt. Aragorn in his Black Gates garb gives an excuse for a better head sculpt. They blew both Gandalfs but they could always do an official LOTR Grey. Maybe new Frodo and Sam in their Orc Gear a year or so from now.

I'm not sure I follow what you're saying. It sounds like you're saying that because many of Asmus' head sculpts have been crappy up until now, they shouldn't attempt to improve themselves now and should settle for shoddy, imperfect work...?

Asmus is charging a heck of a lot more than they were when they started making LOTR figures, and for that substantial increase in pricing, I would think folks would want to see the figure improving and not just remaining mediocre.

 

[Wor-Gar]

I'm not sure I follow what you're saying. It sounds like you're saying that because many of Asmus' head sculpts have been crappy up until now, they shouldn't attempt to improve themselves now and should settle for shoddy, imperfect work...?

Asmus is charging a heck of a lot more than they were when they started making LOTR figures, and for that substantial increase in pricing, I would think folks would want to see the figure improving and not just remaining mediocre.

"Crappy" is an opinion.

How many Asmus LOTR figures do you have?

 

[MaxGoof]

"Crappy" is an opinion.

How many Asmus LOTR figures do you have?

Seven. Tauriel's head is crappy. Gandalf the White's head is badly deformed. Merry's head has awful paint and Pippin's likeness is awful. Aragorn's head is off.

Of the figures I have, only Mouth of Sauron and Grisnakh are of a really high quality. It's really disappointing to see a company capable of turning out masterpieces like these two giving us a hyper-obese Sean Astin head sculpt and a Frodo head sculpt that's vastly inferior to not only Sideshow's decade old sculpt, but also Asmus's own original unpainted sculpt they showed off many months ago.

 

[cmiller99]

They look good I've said it before and I'll say it again. Everyone is always saying every head sculpt is off from hot toys and blitzway to asmus.

Weeeeeeell... not so much with Blitzway, but with the HT and Asmus, a lot of the complaints are justified. A number of these sculpts work ok in hand but don't hold up to picture comparison. Take Hot Toys' Ben Kenobi for instance. It's literally a generic old man in a Kenobi outfit, holding the sculpt next to any comparison image will tell you that almost instantly. But people seem to like that sculpt. I honestly don't get it. I think I do have very high standards but that saves me money and time, frequently. So I don't think that's such a bad thing.

I'm not sure I follow what you're saying. It sounds like you're saying that because many of Asmus' head sculpts have been crappy up until now, they shouldn't attempt to improve themselves now and should settle for shoddy, imperfect work...?

I must say I agree with this ^^ I don't think consistency is a very good argument for how this line should continue. If there's one thing that annoys collectors just as much as a bad sculpt, it's a rehash. Minimising that would be beneficial. Let's try to get the last three as home runs in all areas, and then go back and redo ALL the other head sculpts in the Fellowship as expansion packs.

 

[Thainitty]

a Frodo head sculpt that's vastly inferior to not only Sideshow's decade old sculpt, but also Asmus's own original unpainted sculpt they showed off many months ago.

Cannot disagree more, the old ss frodo is not even better than any of the figures you mentioned that you think are terrible. Ss was good for its time maybe but doesn't even compare to the asmus offerings. I think tauriel face looks good just don't like the the mixed hair media, aragorn has a great face it's the forehead and hair that look bad. I've seen haired asmus aragorns that look great. For aragorn I think aci is superior but the asmus is still nice.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Seven. Tauriel's head is crappy. Gandalf the White's head is badly deformed. Merry's head has awful paint and Pippin's likeness is awful. Aragorn's head is off.

Of the figures I have, only Mouth of Sauron and Grisnakh are of a really high quality. It's really disappointing to see a company capable of turning out masterpieces like these two giving us a hyper-obese Sean Astin head sculpt and a Frodo head sculpt that's vastly inferior to not only Sideshow's decade old sculpt, but also Asmus's own original unpainted sculpt they showed off many months ago.

Well, again, opinion. I like Gandalf the White and Aragorn. I didn't get deformed ones anyway.

Asmus does an amazing job on their "creatures". I'm looking forward to Lurtz and any other Orc/Uruk-hai they offer.

As to your question, I'm not suggesting that Asmus do any "crap". So far, I don't feel that Asmus has delivered anything "crappy" in the LOTR line. Their figures take a lot of futzing to get looking right but to me that's the fun part. Time consuming, but fun. And the figures come out looking outstanding (I'm thinking of the Nazgul and Aragorn in particular).

I've have passed on some figures mainly because of room and I prefer to have villains than 9 heroes. So perhaps my demands on the characters are not as demanding as others here. But then I'm enjoying my collection. I wish you were enjoying yours too. Sounds like you have 5 figures you really don't like.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Let's try to get the last three as home runs in all areas, and then go back and redo ALL the other head sculpts in the Fellowship as expansion packs.

Then those last three sculpts you thought were home runs suddenly seem sub par. Let's go back again and redo them again.... YAY!

Are you guys as demanding of your woman's looks as you are about your figures...? I expect you all are dating super models of course.

 

[cmiller99]

Then those last three sculpts you thought were home runs suddenly seem sub par. Let's go back again and redo them again.... YAY!

But of course. Nah, the aim is to get them looking nice, of course. The renders that we saw of Legolas and Boromir were very good. Hopefully they're used, and well painted (Asmus' paint on these two Hobbits is very good, just the sculpts are weak). And hopefully Gimli turns out well.

I'm not striving for some level of ridiculous perfection because that isn't possible, however close my standards may want them to be. And short of hiring K.A. Kim a 'perfect' Viggo Mortensen sculpt seems somewhat unattainable anyway, but I think there's certainly room for improvement on the Asmus Aragorn, same with their other Fellowship sculpts.

Are you guys as demanding of your woman's looks as you are about your figures...? I expect you all are dating super models of course.

You know I am.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Well Gimli's likeness is pretty well hidden behind beard and eyebrows so he should please most.

But the real question is: will Legolas "fit in" with Asmus' current "style" or will he look so great that it requires us to get new heads for Gandalf and Aragorn and Frodo (and Sam and Merry and Pippin)...?

 

[cmiller99]

Gimli hopefully should be easier to please in terms of the sculpt, yes, but the way they do the beard could make or break the figure.

I don't think an excellent Legolas would 'require' anyone to do anything, I think that drive just depends on personal levels of OCD. I hope that Legolas doesn't fit in with Asmus's 'style' though because I'm not a fan of 'styles' as such. Photo-realistic is always my preference, which they got for Grishnàkh and that poor abandoned Gandalf prototype.

 

[jankatana]

The exclusive item! Here it is

 

[cmiller99]

I thought it would be.

No lembas bread though? I hope Legolas gets some then.

 

[CanadianBrandon]

I think my wife is finally in agreement with me after seeing the photos. The quality of the sculpts/paint aren't doing it for me. I decided to be patient as they said the would tweak them, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. I still hope they prove me wrong and surprise us with good sculpts as everything else looks amazing.

 

[superdoug]

Well Gimli's likeness is pretty well hidden behind beard and eyebrows so he should please most.

But the real question is: will Legolas "fit in" with Asmus' current "style" or will he look so great that it requires us to get new heads for Gandalf and Aragorn and Frodo (and Sam and Merry and Pippin)...?

Lol. Well I hope they will all fit in together. As it is Faramir already cannot be on the shelf with them, my custom Gimli hides in the back and Frodo and Sam are on a different shelf as well. My custom Boromir and Legolas are hanging in there but they are clearly different than Asmus'.