Asmus Toys : Gandalf the Grey
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Zenjay
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You shall not pass!!!!!!
Haha!
Yeah, this dude is shaping up to be an "ultimate" version of The Grey. A sort of hybrid mishmash of Hobbit and LotR, it appears. If Asmus could promise to send the original sculpt to everyone who purchases this Gandalf, I would probably bite. Until then I will stay with my original position when the current head sculpt was revealed.
RandomHero
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Jaymas
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Yea, that's another way of putting it. I'm sure it can be futz some but I am glad it comes with a hat.
See this is why I am not sold on rooted hair being better than sculpted. Sometimes it works but it still seems to be too risky. In some angles Saruman's rooted hair looks great but in others he is balding. I have a feeling Gandalf will be similar. And it is not just an Asmus thing ACI had that problem with Aragorn's hair looking good sometimes and really bad other times.
slamscaper
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Asmus, sell me a cast of the first proto head and I'll buy this. 
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RandomHero
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Yeesh....you literally can not display this in any other fashion except for head on, unless he is wearing his hat.
We have a guest from HT.
Who would that be?
I typically display my figures with their heads on. Although if they start making orcs and goblins from the Hobbit displaying them without their heads on might be screen accurate.
Sassafras
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Er, looking at picture #2 and #3, still seeing more of a PAINT issue myself - the tip of the nose is a bit longer in #3. I need to go look at a picture of Gandalf to see if that is, in fact, correct - that Gandalf's nose is actually a bit longer than in #2.
But the placement of the iris of the eye is different in number 3. It was only watching this vid on painting a 1:6 scale head at about 25:00
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zplZeKtlHfg
where the artist uses simple cutouts I really began to understand how critical lens/pupil placement is. Head # 3 is IMO a sloppier paint job - you can see a bit of flesh tone in the beard on the left - like fingers + the caking in the forehead creases. They took out the two bumps under Gandalf's right eye. Plus, the lighting tone of these photos is different.
Also in pic #2, the hair is not so flat to the head. But I was already planning some hair-futzing - which I will do w. any other figure as needed - might even try "hairing" w. a needle along the hairline for a more natural look. But no company keeping a reasonable price point is going to do stuff like that. IMO there are just going to be differences when these are in-hand, same as any figure. If I get google-eyes or cross eyes I'll deal with it. I like the lens placement in #2 better....
But not cancelling, just because the figure picked for "staging" had some sloppy paint issues and the nose is a bit longer.
The finished product looks more or less like the version pictured when this went up for pre-order (and most of what changed actually looks a little better). The shots from the factory seem to indicate that the hairline can look good with a little work (the close ups are probably out of the box with the hair still pressed down from the packaging). It was pretty obvious from the first painted examples we saw that pics from "The Hobbit" were the main reference points in sculpting and painting this figure. It is odd to hear that this was a deliberate choice rather than an oversight, but the final product looks like what I pre-ordered and I expect I'll be happy with it in hand.
Sassafras
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I can understand that, but at the same time most of the time, I loathe "plastic" hair - especially for characters w. "signature" hair, and lots of it. Like my HT Jack Sparrow - which I wish had "real" hair. IMO the issue is more companies having to wrestle w. high quality "hairing" of a character - or - sell the character w. easily removable vinyl hair so that those who wish can easily re-hair as they like.
W. GTG I might try some added in hair or hair punching:
https://www.makeup-fx.com/punching.htm
as needed - because I want to display him w. hat. Hard to say without having in-hand. But if Asmus does Gimli and Thorin, they had better go all-out for these hairy dwarves...if they do Frodo I am going to be dying to replace that "plastic hair" w. a mop of curls.
Well said. It's not like a different actor was cast in the hobbit and they made that one instead. Asmus was obviously trying to make as many people happy as possible by making a hybrid hobbit/lotr Gandalf but even still people cry like little spoiled children and trash Asmus for it. It's sad when someone puts a lot of work and passion into their art or craft and everyone just trashes it... Really? Can you do better? Compared to all the other Gandalfs out there this one is by far the best one.
Sassafras
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Thank you for the hatted pictures tho I respect showing unhatted as well - OK, maybe I'm not geeky enough but not sure aside from staff and movie Gandalf possibly looking younger in LOTR than the Hobbit
and some costume things what the differences would be - anyway love the Hobbit films and IMO hatted pics look awesome - exactly what I was hoping for - a mini-Gandalf looking like the Hobbit SDCC posterhttps://kastorskorner.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/hobbit.jpg
If only I can get an extra head to try re-bearding...I think the sculpted beard looks pretty good, but I always picture Gandalf's beard blowing in the wind, a bit...
xequae
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I think he looks great, especially with the hat on. Hopefully the rest of the Fellowship won't be too far behind.
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Honestly I know the proto blank head shown had the strongest likeness and all and even this sculpt coming too us looks pretty awesome. I think it came out cool for sure and definitely an improvement over the Gandalf The White figure which to me was a huge disappointment when I had it in hand. Mine had so many issues I sent it back. I'll wait to see when everyone gets there in and ear more about it but from pics it looks good to me. I really want to pick up a LOTR/Hobbit figure but it must be good enough in hands for me to make the jump and I hope this is the case here. Asmus has come a long way and I've seen it even in the beginning with my complaints when I got Gandalf The White in. I'm impressed by them being here taking the comments and trying to improve. I give them a A just for that. It shows they care for sure.
Sassafras
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Well said, IMO. Just so impressed at ASMUS interacting w. community, responding, and taking the flack when there is a misfire. Also impressed w. hobbit and dwarf body development and at least the comments I've seen - the hobbit bodies are nice and sturdy which gives hope for dwarf bodies, too. I've need a Gandalf for a while and this is the one I chose, and looking forward to it. Never mind thinking about having Thorin, Legolas, Gimli, Thranduil, Frodo, Sam done by a company who is working hard and not just throwing stuff out that "looks like the character - sort of...."
Plus am sure ASMUS is learning, w. each figure they do. Also the cool environment bases.
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One of the biggest things going on with the studio shots is the acrylic hair reflecting light, which creates far more contrast between the face and beard. I suspect at home in normal lighting that will be a much smoother transition. I'm still in on this for sure. The pipe smoking pictures look good.
Thainitty
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Sheesh, it's too bad there are so many negative comments because this figure has me excited and looks fantastic! I'm glad I preordered and can't wait to have Gandalf in hand
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