Asmus Toys Lord of the Ring Gandalf Gray

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This figure is getting slated on the Lord of the Rings Collectors Facebook page... someone put up a comparison to the prototype next to possibly the worst in hand photos ever taken. After seeing so many decent images in hand on here, I really don?t think it?s warranted.
The figure has its faults, but I think most of us can agree, non are so bad as to really go in that hard on The great work Asmus have done here.

Yeah I saw that.
 
The people in the FB group are the same people that buy Weta and Sideshows's woefully sculpted and painted models so I'm not sure their opinion counts for much! [emoji28]

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The people in the FB group are the same people that buy Weta and Sideshows's woefully sculpted and painted models so I'm not sure their opinion counts for much! [emoji28]

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This definitely applies to the majority of the older stuff. Some of the newer Weta stuff is outstanding... but from what I?ve seen, this guy is the best Gandalf likeness out there currently.
 
This figure is getting slated on the Lord of the Rings Collectors Facebook page... someone put up a comparison to the prototype next to possibly the worst in hand photos ever taken. After seeing so many decent images in hand on here, I really don?t think it?s warranted.
The figure has its faults, but I think most of us can agree, non are so bad as to really go in that hard on the great work Asmus have done here.
Fools of a Took!

They aren't in hand photos they are screen grabs from my unboxing video. [emoji2357]

Who takes screen grabs of a video and cherry picks where the camera hit in a not so flattering way? Obviously trolling hard.


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The people in the FB group are the same people that buy Weta and Sideshows's woefully sculpted and painted models so I'm not sure their opinion counts for much! [emoji28]

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Even some of the more brilliant photos they are still trying to argue it looks nothing like Ian McKellan. I'm sensing a great level of bias and a pinch of salt.

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Even some of the more brilliant photos they are still trying to argue it looks nothing like Ian McKellan. I'm sensing a great level of bias and a pinch of salt.

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Yeah, that's crazy talk. Your photos on that thread should have silenced them all really. Some guy said the new Gandalf statue was better...I've seen better face sculpts on the old Toy Biz figures than that.

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Yeah, that's crazy talk. Your photos on that thread should have silenced them all really. Some guy said the new Gandalf statue was better...I've seen better face sculpts on the old Toy Biz figures than that.

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Yeah complete bias. Oh well. [emoji2373]

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You should have seen the original HT DX05 Indy thread. [emoji1787]

:lol I was a passenger on that trainwreck. The sad thing about that release was how it pretty much ended Arnie Kim at Hot Toys (along with failing to secure the Bruce Lee license).
 
[emoji38] I was a passenger on that trainwreck. The sad thing about that release was how it pretty much ended Arnie Kim at Hot Toys (along with failing to secure the Bruce Lee license).
I was there as well [emoji38]

They did bet on the wrong horse though. Even though I was a HUGE apologist for that figure it really was a rough release all around. Not just Kim's poor sculpt, but the pleather on that thing and the half *** whip etc. But at the time I didn't know any better being fairly new to the 1:6 hobby.

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I can't even look at a watermelon without thinking back to the DX5 fiasco.

That was when I really got a taste of what "It looks better in-hand" is like. When there's 15 people all posting pictures and it looks crappy and everyone's saying "It looks better in-hand" ... no, no it doesn't.
 
Took a deep breath and started futzing...
Water misting to the cloak & sand paper to the bottom of it.
Soaked his robe, fan pleated the fabric, and ironed it dry.
Took out the inside bottom of the hat (and magnet) with a seam ripping tool.
Carefully trimmed back the large inside seam that was left with thread scissors.
Wet it down real good and started stretching it out with my fingers, stuffed it
real tight with some plastic wrap.
Wet the hair and brushed it with a tooth brush & a flea comb
(to separate some of the strands). Stuffed the pouch with plastic wrap
to fill it out...
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futz3.jpg

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futz1.jpg
 
The eyes continue to be the main source of confusion for me. In some pics, they just look bad, sunken in and too bright of a blue. In other pics and in Rzeznikk's video, they look fantastic.

My figure is still in route and I can't wait to see it in person and finally put the issue to rest, one way or another.
 
The eyes continue to be the main source of confusion for me. In some pics, they just look bad, sunken in and too bright of a blue. In other pics and in Rzeznikk's video, they look fantastic.

My figure is still in route and I can't wait to see it in person and finally put the issue to rest, one way or another.
I will say this, it's damn tricky to get good shots of this figure. The gloss is over done which makes some angles impossible to photograph depending on where the light is hitting. I think this is the main issue as to why it's so hard to photograph. Some angles it looks as if he's eyes are tearing up about to cry. Aside from the hat that is my only criticism. They dial back on the gloss and it would be perfect.

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The eyes continue to be the main source of confusion for me. In some pics, they just look bad, sunken in and too bright of a blue. In other pics and in Rzeznikk's video, they look fantastic.

My figure is still in route and I can't wait to see it in person and finally put the issue to rest, one way or another.

I think one thing that definitely isn't helping is that the eyes are cut open wider than they were on the proto below, where he had more of a squint going on. The lower eyelids used to curve inward around the eye more but are now lower and flatter across. And while McKellen may have very blue eyes, the current ones are just far too unnaturally bright for something at this scale.

And the lower eyelashes being painted so dark and prominent is probably also contributing to that "cut out" look, whereas below they were much more subtle and barely even visible.


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Great work Scumonkey. Glad to see someone added the frayed edges to his cloak as it really boosts the screen accuracy and the hat looks the best I've seen it done so far.

Who is going to tackle the light eyebrows then? I'm certain it will really help with improving the likeness!
 
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