Asmus Toys: Gandalf the White

[hoodonit00]

Yup, glassed I passed on Squishy. Thanks for the pics they reaffirmed my decision.

You really seem to hate this line.

 

[kl241]

You really seem to hate this line.

Not at all. I had high hopes. The Gothmog and Morgul Lord were fantastic. Like Sideshow their human figures leave much to be desired.

 

[hoodonit00]

Not at all. I had high hopes. The Gothmog and Morgul Lord were fantastic. Like Sideshow their human figures leave much to be desired.

What don't you like about Gandalf?

 

[kl241]

What don't you like about Gandalf?

Head looks squished, hair is poorly sculpted/painted, doesn't look like McKellan, tailoring on vest, cuffs is not accurate. After seeing in-hand pics I'm glad I cancelled my order.

 

[SirGor]

Head looks squished, hair is poorly sculpted/painted, doesn't look like McKellan, tailoring on vest, cuffs is not accurate. After seeing in-hand pics I'm glad I cancelled my order.

I think Asmus could have done better.

 

[hoodonit00]

Like I already said, the posted link made me feel better about Gandalf. Shame you guys don't like it.

 

[Sankari]

I liked it, but I still want to see someone try to adjust the vests better, like most people ( myself included) have done with the Witch King.

Also, (and I think its a matter of personal preference ), I'd like to remove the sculpted hair, and give him rooted hair.

I'd prefered if they had done Gandalf the Grey first - none of the existing versions are good enough in my opinion.

 

[Jrobertson]

I really like this one and I think it looks better then the Premium Format sideshow made a while back.

 

[Rydeck]

I'd prefered if they had done Gandalf the Grey first - none of the existing versions are good enough in my opinion.

Asmus has said that they're still learning their craft and are always trying to improve with Hot Toys-type quality in mind. Waiting for an Asmus version of Gandalf the Grey, if they make him, should ideally result in a better product down the line.

 

[kl241]

They are not even in the same league as Hot Toys, I'd say just a step above Sideshow but not by much.

 

[Wake]

THIS LOOKS TERRIBLE. Im so disappointed. Oh well... will save me some money

 

[Wor-Gar]

Are there parts in the film where he does not wear the vest?

Yes. That's why I said I might pose him without the vest.

I might have to settle for relaxed White... even though everyone, myself included, wants Warrior White.

I have to say I'm not real happy with the way the head turned out. I can see why people are passing. For now, I'm keeping my preorder and hoping I'll be happier with it in hand. All three of the previous figures were much better in hand than any picture I had seen. I'm curious to see more pictures for consistency.

 

[Rydeck]

They are not even in the same league as Hot Toys, I'd say just a step above Sideshow but not by much.

Well, yeah. Thus the goal of improving. It may be a long road that some collectors will want to sit out, but interacting with the community appears to be helping Asmus along (see Aragorn thread).

Hot Toys had plenty of hits and misses on its way to the top and it still has misses from time to time. And at least Asmus is committed to this line, which is more than I can say of Hot Toys and its many one-off/half-complete/dead licenses... Platoon, Sucker Punch, Lone Ranger, Avatar, Watchmen, Pirates of the Caribbean, etc.

 

[kingbumble]

I think one of the problems with the photos is that the shadow on the cheeks makes his face seem narrower than it probably actually is. That combined with the overly large irises (a problem which seems to be plaguing Asmus' human sculpts at the moment) work together to make it seem like the face is squished. I think with a paler paintjob with more emphasis on making the skin look as aged as it should, the sculpt would shine as it should

Also I think the outfit will benefit greatly from water treatment - out of the box it looks way too flouncy

 

[superdoug]

Based on my experience stuff normally looks better in hand, with that in mind I think it is a good addition to the line. Is it Hot Toys? No but it also isn't $220 plus before shipping. Mine is under $170 (without shipping) and compared to Sideshow's Drake the final product head sculpt seems worlds better.

 

[hoodonit00]

Based on my experience stuff normally looks better in hand, with that in mind I think it is a good addition to the line. Is it Hot Toys? No but it also isn't $220 plus before shipping. Mine is under $170 (without shipping) and compared to Sideshow's Drake the final product head sculpt seems worlds better.

I agree. It's not 100% like the prototype but it's very close. I can see people complaining about the darkness of the stitching on the vest but that's about it. In this pic. you can see that the sculpt isn't squished.

It's just from afar that it looks squished. This picture looks very much like the prototype.

As has been pointed out, all the fabric is stiff. Once it is water treated and hangs more realistically this figure will shine.

 

[Geb]

For all the die-hard LOTR fans out there...lets just compare this to the Sideshow Gandalf the Grey sculpt. In my opinion, this is leaps and bounds ahead. Perhaps it is more paint and texture, but e end product is way better. The Sideshow gandalf just looks too much like Santa

 

[jankatana]

The choice of fabric is so cheap, sorry to say :-( theres no excuse for the outfit and cape to stand on end. Rigid fabrics are not good enough asmus, i can do better using 25p offcuts. Will hang on for gandalf the grey instead. Its the simple things that are the most annoying. On a positive note i love eowyn previews ;-)

 

[elvis1976]

I feel a bit disapointed. Face doesn't do anything for me he looks kinda odd. The worst is the hair IMO it looks like some bits of clay waiting to be sculpted.
I wanted to buy it but decided to pass.

 

[The Josh]

You can sort of see Ian McKellen in the sculpt especially around the eyes. Not sure what happened because what they showed a little while back had a pretty decent likeness to him. Also, I'm not sure why on the stitching they went back to the dark threads after changing it. Those two things for me would be quite disappointing if I was going to get this.