Inspected. Took pics, will post later when I get back home and sort.
First impression: good and bad -- honestly, he's a bit better than I was assuming after Elvis and jra's comments.
GOOD:
nice outfit -- the red santa suit is much more muted then the cordoroy one Gothmog has. Armor's very nice, not weathered but detailed. Lots of leather here too. Will be fun to redress him.
great head sculpt and paint -- this one is even better than Gothmog because its far more accurate. Love the staples holding the head together. The nails in the skull are actually firm rubber. The skin tone is darker than I was expecting in a good way -- I didn't want him as pale as Gothmog. It's a good, dirty orc flesh color with some nasty teeth. My particular head has a slightly lazy right eye drifting to the left which gives the appearance that he's looking to the left from afar. (its not the iris that's off, its the pupil which can be repainted if a problem). But this might be something to watch out for as 'even eyes' are not something Asmus seems too concerned about.
BAD:
Wobbly feet -- yep, I got 'em too. They'll never hold a pose unless perfectly balanced. It's an easy fix but you shouldn't have to. I planned all along to replace the body so it doesn't bother me, but be aware.
Head pops off easily -- well, on mine anyway. In fact it fell off just from taking him out of the box. The recepticle for the balljoint is misshapened and won't hold. Perhaps some warping in shipping. It may come around once it gets room temperature and resets. Again, this may be unique to mine -- and again, replacing body so not to worried. But be aware.
Really, that's it for the BAD -- it's once again the lousy body we've come to expect from Asmus. If something like this comes with GANDALF, I'm sure we'll hear much more about it.
I didn't toy with the accessories but they look fine. Banner is awesome, pressed flat on a cardboard inner layer between accessories and figure. Strange choice in hands -- open or completely closed. Not much to do except hold something or wave bye-bye. I guess 99.9 percent of people will have him holding his scythe so any extra hands is superfluous.
That's it. I really like this figure. Like the other two, it's gonna take a lot of futzing and some paint-washing to really bring this bad boy to life -- but it's a terrific start. AND a crazy character I thought we'd never see in 1/6th.
