Asmus Toys Lord of the Ring Gandalf Gray

Collector Freaks Forum

Help Support Collector Freaks Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
We are giving out with Bilbo because it is the nearest LOTR release.

We make no promise to others like Ringhwraith or Gollum because there will be an additional thousands of hats to make, we cannot be sure if there is enough time.

We don't want to sell the hat as an individual piece, because there will be more unhappy customers if we try to sell this for money.

Gift with a purchase is only a quick way we can give to you for free, not forcing you to buy more things.

Please everyone, be understanding, there is no profit in this, we are not doing this to promote anything, only intention is to improve the Gandalf in your hand.

We will eventually give to all LOTR pre-orders,
Gollum, Ringwraith, and XXX.

But it will see if the production plan can match the release date of above items, which are all at the end of the production line.

We have around 1600 sets of hat ready in time for Bilbo,
and if we will have another 1600 sets in time ready for Gollum,
we will give it away with Gollum too

Ok, wait...which is it? You can't promise you will offer the "free" hat with Gollum but you say you will eventually give it to all preorders?

I'm so confused with this process. Maybe think through EXACTLY what you guys plan to do completely before making the announcement.

I'm with others here, I don't know if I even give a **** anymore. My next and final preorder figure with you is Gollum. If I get a hat great. If not. Whatever. I'm certainly NOT buying another figure to get the damn hat.
 
We are giving out with Bilbo because it is the nearest LOTR release.

We make no promise to others like Ringhwraith or Gollum because there will be an additional thousands of hats to make, we cannot be sure if there is enough time.

We don't want to sell the hat as an individual piece, because there will be more unhappy customers if we try to sell this for money.

Gift with a purchase is only a quick way we can give to you for free, not forcing you to buy more things.

Please everyone, be understanding, there is no profit in this, we are not doing this to promote anything, only intention is to improve the Gandalf in your hand.
But I don’t want it for free. I’m happy to pay. Let those of us who want to pay do so. This is really not a good look, I’m sorry.
 
I agree that this level of whining is undeserved. I do get the sense this is Asmus genuinely trying to find a way to improve their figure, and they're probably completely correct that most people buying Bilbo already own Gandalf, so it's an easy way to get this new hat out to those specific Gandalf owners. I don't want their takeaway from this to be that it's better to just never address issues because it will only get them more vitriol.

I just don't want this to set a precedent. It is very easy to see how this could become standard practice for not just Asmus but all the various companies, sticking high demand accessories into lower demand character's boxes to increase sales. Hasbro has been doing it for decades to great success.

Imagine if Hot Toys fixes the Doc Ock headsculpt, but the only way to get it is by buying Electro.
 
Yep, I think a measured approach to their offer is advisable. I've pre-ordered Gollum and will be getting Bilbo and the Nazgul too, so there's 2 spare hats for someone else. I'm not planning on being a ruthless reseller/flipper/scalper/scumbag. I'd be happy to help out a fellow collector too. Let's just be chill little Hobbits about it. :gandalf
Which is great and generous... if you get the hat. That's the problem. Even with the pre-orders Asmus has stated their plan with uncertainties. Despite suggestions to the contrary this isn't about anger or entitlement. It's about having a clear understanding of what the companies plan is so that I - a customer - can make an informed decision. Waiting on the generosity of a third party to possibly supply an item they may or may not receive is not exactly a solid plan.

Asking for this item to be made available as a separate purchase - in addition to all the other ways Asmus says it will be available - is a reasonable request. I don't even care if its sold at a small profit. Just so long as I have a clear path to getting this that does not involve a large purchase of an item I do not want.

The argument that Asmus has made - that this option will anger people - is not reasonable. It's just an extra option. No one who does not want to partake in said path need apply. They can still utilize the current offered methods.

This shouldn't be a problem.
 
I agree that this level of whining is undeserved. I do get the sense this is Asmus genuinely trying to find a way to improve their figure, and they're probably completely correct that most people buying Bilbo already own Gandalf, so it's an easy way to get this new hat out to those specific Gandalf owners. I don't want their takeaway from this to be that it's better to just never address issues because it will only get them more vitriol.

I just don't want this to set a precedent. It is very easy to see how this could become standard practice for not just Asmus but all the various companies, sticking high demand accessories into lower demand character's boxes to increase sales. Hasbro has been doing it for decades to great success.

Imagine if Hot Toys fixes the Doc Ock headsculpt, but the only way to get it is by buying Electro.
I mean Hot toys kinda did that with Venom 2. They first put up Carnage with the extra Eddie Brock headsculpt making it seem like that was the only way to get it seeing how their wording said it was compatible with the Venom 1 figure. They let that simmer for a bit getting their money from the initial orders put in then put up a new Venom 2 figure that included that headsculpt :lol from what I can remember there was nowhere near as much backlash for that move and those figures cost more than Crown Gandalf.
 
Which is great and generous... if you get the hat. That's the problem. Even with the pre-orders Asmus has stated their plan with uncertainties. Despite suggestions to the contrary this isn't about anger or entitlement. It's about having a clear understanding of what the companies plan is so that I - a customer - can make an informed decision. Waiting on the generosity of a third party to possibly supply an item they may or may not receive is not exactly a solid plan.

Asking for this item to be made available as a separate purchase - in addition to all the other ways Asmus says it will be available - is a reasonable request. I don't even care if its sold at a small profit. Just so long as I have a clear path to getting this that does not involve a large purchase of an item I do not want.

The argument that Asmus has made - that this option will anger people - is not reasonable. It's just an extra option. No one who does not want to partake in said path need apply. They can still utilize the current offered methods.

This shouldn't be a problem.
Exactly. Having more options is never a bad thing.

Offer the hat to those getting Bilbo. Gollum and whatever.

BUT also offer the hat to those that just want to pay for the shipping to get the hat alone.

By NOT offering that option they absolutely are shoehorning people into having to buy a figure that they may very well not have any need or want in doing so.
 
Asmus shouldn’t have said anything at all and just surprised people with hats in future figures.

It is clear the company didn’t want to be seen as profiting off of a mistake by offering these separately. And shipping is ridiculously pricey. Even if they offered to sell only for shipping cost, people would probably accuse them of profiting anyways. On top of that, others would probably order en masse to profit for themselves. Asmus is under no obligation to assist resellers. Could they also have required proof of purchase to buy a shipping-only hat? Probably. But we all know that their ability to handle CS tasks like that is extremely limited. Processing those receipt-based orders would be additional labor costs. But the staff they do have can shove hats into existing boxes.

Also keep in mind that fulfilling orders take labor. Labor has costs. They have essentially chosen to save on labor costs by having hats shipped out with other orders that they would have to be shipping anyways. This reduces labor and reduces costs. If you have never ran a business, you probably do not understand just how quickly your business could go upside down on labor costs alone. It is fine for all the keyboard warriors to demand separate order fulfillment only at shipping costs, but you’re demanding the company eat additional labor costs on top of what they already offered. There’s a reason why Amazon warehouse workers are pressured into pissing down their own legs to keep packing labor costs down.

It is also pretty unfair to compare the ability for a company like Hot Toys to eat the loss of shipping replacement parts compared to Asmus. Hot Toys is probably the only 1/6 company that can eat a cost like that without becoming financially destabilized. And considering the set backs they just had with Ash Williams and the costs they ate over there, I am surprised they still are going ahead with these hat replacements at all. Companies do not have unlimited funds to continuously fix stuff.

Is this an imperfect solution? Yes. But they’ve indicated a willingness to shove so many hats up the backends of so many upcoming figures that everyone ought to be taken care of as long as you‘re probably buying figures from them this year. They just aren’t about to make promises about future figures that production might be able to keep.

The only people kind of screwed by this solution are people who weren’t ever buying from Asmus ever again. Also at risk are the people who let themselves suffer from FOMO so badly that they have to act like children. Gotta go flip tables over a little hat for our dolls.

Keep in mind they didn’t need to do this. I think this is exactly where the phrase “don’t look a gift horse in the mouth” applies. Is the collective whinging increasing or decreasing the likely that this company goes out of the way to address a shortfall in the future? If they get **** on either way, the next time they screw up they’ll probably just keep the money and not bother making an alternative.

And personally, I do have Crown GtG. I do NOT have Bilbo or Gollum or order, but I do have 3 Nazgûl on order. Will I get a hat? Maybe. We’ll see. After over four decades on this planet, I can wait a few months to see if I get a little plastic hat in my happy meal.

Do I think Asmus chose the best way to do this? Would it have been the solution I would have chosen? I don’t know, I don’t know their business constraints. What I do know is that I am confident enough in my abilities as an adult human to secure a hat in the future without acting entitled to a freebie in the interim.
 
Asmus shouldn’t have said anything at all and just surprised people with hats in future figures.

It is clear the company didn’t want to be seen as profiting off of a mistake by offering these separately. And shipping is ridiculously pricey. Even if they offered to sell only for shipping cost, people would probably accuse them of profiting anyways. On top of that, others would probably order en masse to profit for themselves. Asmus is under no obligation to assist resellers. Could they also have required proof of purchase to buy a shipping-only hat? Probably. But we all know that their ability to handle CS tasks like that is extremely limited. Processing those receipt-based orders would be additional labor costs. But the staff they do have can shove hats into existing boxes.

Also keep in mind that fulfilling orders take labor. Labor has costs. They have essentially chosen to save on labor costs by having hats shipped out with other orders that they would have to be shipping anyways. This reduces labor and reduces costs. If you have never ran a business, you probably do not understand just how quickly your business could go upside down on labor costs alone. It is fine for all the keyboard warriors to demand separate order fulfillment only at shipping costs, but you’re demanding the company eat additional labor costs on top of what they already offered. There’s a reason why Amazon warehouse workers are pressured into pissing down their own legs to keep packing labor costs down.

It is also pretty unfair to compare the ability for a company like Hot Toys to eat the loss of shipping replacement parts compared to Asmus. Hot Toys is probably the only 1/6 company that can eat a cost like that without becoming financially destabilized. And considering the set backs they just had with Ash Williams and the costs they ate over there, I am surprised they still are going ahead with these hat replacements at all. Companies do not have unlimited funds to continuously fix stuff.

Is this an imperfect solution? Yes. But they’ve indicated a willingness to shove so many hats up the backends of so many upcoming figures that everyone ought to be taken care of as long as you‘re probably buying figures from them this year. They just aren’t about to make promises about future figures that production might be able to keep.

The only people kind of screwed by this solution are people who weren’t ever buying from Asmus ever again. Also at risk are the people who let themselves suffer from FOMO so badly that they have to act like children. Gotta go flip tables over a little hat for our dolls.

Keep in mind they didn’t need to do this. I think this is exactly where the phrase “don’t look a gift horse in the mouth” applies. Is the collective whinging increasing or decreasing the likely that this company goes out of the way to address a shortfall in the future? If they get **** on either way, the next time they screw up they’ll probably just keep the money and not bother making an alternative.

And personally, I do have Crown GtG. I do NOT have Bilbo or Gollum or order, but I do have 3 Nazgûl on order. Will I get a hat? Maybe. We’ll see. After over four decades on this planet, I can wait a few months to see if I get a little plastic hat in my happy meal.

Do I think Asmus chose the best way to do this? Would it have been the solution I would have chosen? I don’t know, I don’t know their business constraints. What I do know is that I am confident enough in my abilities as an adult human to secure a hat in the future without acting entitled to a freebie in the interim.
See, the problem is that people like you keep framing this as a matter of "entitlement" over a "little hat" and a "freebie". And that the company "didn't need to do this". But the fact is that this toy cost well over $300 and was delivered in a manner that did not match what was advertised. Would fixing it cost Asmus money? Yes. Buying the toy cost money too. And what was purchased was absurdly unworkable. It's on them to offer a fix if they want to keep their customers. It's not on the customers to wait and wonder if the company will fix it.

Maybe you can throw hundreds of dollars out on purchases that do not match what was advertised and do not meet reasonable expectations of quality. Great. Very happy for you. Me, I don't want a freebie and this is not about "entitlement". It is about receiving what I ALREADY paid for. And as said - I'm more than willing to pay a reasonable amount AGAIN in order to get this - but hundreds of dollars does not equate to "reasonable" here. I'm willing to do that because I am VERY aware of the costs of operating a business that manufactures licensed products. I've been working in that field for 30 years now.

Please stop suggesting that expecting what was purchased to be delivered as advertised is a form of entitlement. It's not. It's the most basic right of the consumer.
 
Last edited:
See, the problem is that people like you keep framing this as a matter of "entitlement" over a "little hat" and a "freebie". And that the company "didn't need to do this". But the fact is that this toy cost well over $300 and was delivered in a manner that did not match what was advertised. Would fixing it cost Asmus money? Yes. Buying the toy cost money too. And what was purchased was absurdly unworkable. It's on them to offer a fix if they want to keep their customers. It's not on the customers to wait and wonder if the company will fix it.

Maybe you can throw hundreds of dollars out on purchases that do not match what was advertised and do not meet reasonable expectations of quality. Great. Very happy for you. Me, I don't want a freebie and this is not about "entitlement". It is about receiving what I ALREADY paid for. And as said - I'm more than willing to pay a reasonable amount AGAIN in order to get this - but hundreds of dollars does not equate to "reasonable" here. I'm willing to do that because I am VERY aware of the costs of operating a business that manufactures licensed products. I've been working in that field for 30 years now.

Please stop suggesting that expecting what was purchased to be delivered as advertised is a form of entitlement. It's not. It's the right of the consumer.
You got a hat delivered. A cloth hat that can be fairly easily modified to better meet expectations. If you felt that wasn’t acceptable, all the retailers I know who carry Asmus would have offered full refund on a return. I did return my first batch GtG over QC concerns and waited a full year for a second batch replacement. Your consumers’ rights ended when you accepted the figure as is and opted not to return it. After this point, you are acting entitled.
 
You got a hat delivered. A cloth hat that can be fairly easily modified to better meet expectations. If you felt that wasn’t acceptable, all the retailers I know who carry Asmus would have offered full refund on a return. I did return my first batch GtG over QC concerns and waited a full year for a second batch replacement. Your consumers’ rights ended when you accepted the figure as is and opted not to return it. After this point, you are acting entitled.
Can you please point me to the advertisements for this figure that explained that modifications by the consumer would be required? No? Okay then.

I KNOW I can return the figure. I was about to do so when the announcement for the new hat was made. I (as I have already explained) have a limited window left to return this. I would rather not - if I can avoid it. I want the product I paid for as promised.

My consumer rights are still fully in effect. Your argument that this is entitlement is obtuse and irrelevant. I paid for an item. I am asking the company to address this. Not you.
 
Can you please point me to the advertisements for this figure that explained that modifications by the consumer would be required? No? Okay then.
This is the issue with Asmus fans, they genuinely don’t mind getting issue ridden figures that need fixing from their end. Asmus knows they can release half assed figures and it will be fine with a big chunk of their buyers.
So the cycle continues…..
 
Can you please point me to the advertisements for this figure that explained that modifications by the consumer would be required? No? Okay then.

I KNOW I can return the figure. I was about to do so when the announcement for the new hat was made. I (as I have already explained) have a limited window left to return this. I would rather not - if I can avoid it. I want the product I paid for as promised.

My consumer rights are still fully in effect. Your argument that this is entitlement is obtuse and irrelevant. I paid for an item. I am asking the company to address this. Not you.

Asmus has advertised the plastic hat as an upgrade. Asmus has also always stood by the previous hat as fulfilling their obligations to the consumer. Because the previous hat fulfills obligations and the new hat is a separate upgrade, you are not entitled to it. You are also conflating the two different products.

You sound very unhappy. My advice as a fellow collector is that you should return it. Then purchase another Crown Gandalf the Grey between 19th of June and July 2nd from the Asmus website. Congrats on having a loophole most here do not.

https://store.asmustoys.com/collections/crown/products/gandalf-the-grey
 
This is the issue with Asmus fans, they genuinely don’t mind getting issue ridden figures that need fixing from their end. Asmus knows they can release half assed figures and it will be fine with a big chunk of their buyers.
So the cycle continues…..
Apologists. Apologists everywhere.
 
Can you please point me to the advertisements for this figure that explained that modifications by the consumer would be required? No? Okay then.

I KNOW I can return the figure. I was about to do so when the announcement for the new hat was made. I (as I have already explained) have a limited window left to return this. I would rather not - if I can avoid it. I want the product I paid for as promised.

My consumer rights are still fully in effect. Your argument that this is entitlement is obtuse and irrelevant. I paid for an item. I am asking the company to address this. Not you.
Personally, at this point I'd return it and put that refund into the InArt Queen Release.

Had Queen announced theirs before I received my Crown GtG I would have canceled my order in a heart beat.
 
Asmus has advertised the plastic hat as an upgrade. Asmus has also always stood by the previous hat as fulfilling their obligations to the consumer. Because the previous hat fulfills obligations and the new hat is an upgrade, you are not legally entitled to it.

You sound very unhappy. My advice as a fellow collector is that you should return it. Then purchase another Crown Gandalf the Grey between 19th of June and July 2nd from the Asmus website. Congrats on having a loophole most here do not.

https://store.asmustoys.com/collections/crown/products/gandalf-the-grey
The previous hat does not fulfill the companies obligations because the previous hat does not match what was advertised.
I am unhappy, justifiably. Asmus can address this by making the fix for their mis-produced figure available for individual purchase.

Again, I'm happy for you that you can afford to purchase high-priced items without expecting the manufacturer to deliver what was actually promised. Not everyone has that option.
 
You got a hat delivered. A cloth hat that can be fairly easily modified to better meet expectations. If you felt that wasn’t acceptable, all the retailers I know who carry Asmus would have offered full refund on a return. I did return my first batch GtG over QC concerns and waited a full year for a second batch replacement. Your consumers’ rights ended when you accepted the figure as is and opted not to return it. After this point, you are acting entitled.
I would agree with what you were saying if this was a case of Asmus delivering on the hat with the final product, then seeing people try to mod or customize it further to SURPASS what they advertised and delivered. Then if Asmus offered a new upgraded hat, that is something we wouldn't be "entitled" to get, because they already delivered on what was originally advertised.

But that isn't the case here.

They advertised a beautiful looking hat and then gave us a practically unusable hat that people had to cut open and modify to get it to an acceptable level of use. Them advertising this as an "upgrade" hat is very obviously them covering their ass on the **** job they did on the production hat for this figure. It's only an "upgrade" because they messed up so bad with the production hat originally. They couldn't do worse so obviously this new hat is an "upgrade". An actual upgrade hat is one that would have people saying "Oh I'm happy with my current Crown Gandalf hat. I don't really need that new hat."

Instead you have people clamoring and fighting Asmus to try and get one because of how bad the production hat was.

I'm not even one to whine and whine about this. I don't agree with the method that they're going with but if they can say that ALL those who purchased Crown Gandalf will eventually get the better hat without having to buy another figure, that's fine with me but even that seems to be a grey area right now.
 
was
We will eventually give to all LOTR pre-orders,
Gollum, Ringwraith, and XXX.

But it will see if the production plan can match the release date of above items, which are all at the end of the production line.

We have around 1600 sets of hat ready in time for Bilbo,
and if we will have another 1600 sets in time ready for Gollum,
we will give it away with Gollum too
thank you! This is all I wanted to hear since I missed out on preordering Old Bilbo. I have Gollum and Sméagol deluxe set preorder however.
 
The previous hat does not fulfill the companies obligations because the previous hat does not match what was advertised.
I am unhappy, justifiably. Asmus can address this by making the fix for their mis-produced figure available for individual purchase.

Again, I'm happy for you that you can afford to purchase high-priced items without expecting the manufacturer to deliver what was actually promised. Not everyone has that option.

Since it sounds like you might be inexperienced at 1/6 collecting, I would like to recommend in a friendly manner that you should research these products on YouTube before buying. There is a sizable community of YouTube reviewers for 1/6 items. This is a known issue with this product, and you could save a bit of frustration by checking out reviews first.
 
Amazing thread this one.
Soon people will be pitchforking for the Bag End dio Asmus displayed,or even the Fireworks cart from the opening scene of FOTR from waaaaay back.

Hopefully everyone can get a hat for their head 😉
 
I would agree with what you were saying if this was a case of Asmus delivering on the hat with the final product, then seeing people try to mod or customize it further to SURPASS what they advertised and delivered. Then if Asmus offered a new upgraded hat, that is something we wouldn't be "entitled" to get, because they already delivered on what was originally advertised.

But that isn't the case here.

They advertised a beautiful looking hat and then gave us a practically unusable hat that people had to cut open and modify to get it to an acceptable level of use. Them advertising this as an "upgrade" hat is very obviously them covering their ass on the **** job they did on the production hat for this figure. It's only an "upgrade" because they messed up so bad with the production hat originally. They couldn't do worse so obviously this new hat is an "upgrade". An actual upgrade hat is one that would have people saying "Oh I'm happy with my current Crown Gandalf hat. I don't really need that new hat."

Instead you have people clamoring and fighting Asmus to try and get one because of how bad the production hat was.

I'm not even one to whine and whine about this. I don't agree with the method that they're going with but if they can say that ALL those who purchased Crown Gandalf will eventually get the better hat without having to buy another figure, that's fine with me but even that seems to be a grey area right now.

I’ve thought a bit about this and the discussion with Landry. I think it is actually even more important that Asmus has not come out with these hats as a mea culpa but as an upgrade. Because while the points you make might seem valid to a collector, you‘d have a hell of a time finding a judge to listen to that argument. But if Asmus comes out and says “our bad guys, the old hats did not meet our obligations to you,” then every buyer of their Crown GtG might have strong grounds to compel a return even if the product was purchased a year and a half ago. With InArts as an option, Asmus doesn’t want to let people dump their Crown GtG just to chase the new shiny.
 
Back
Top