Asmus Toys: Tauriel Figure

[The Ween]

Haha, that's actually one of the few beefs I have with the Hobbit Trilogy. Kili is too human like, plus he likes to wield a bow. Dwarven archers bah, how about an axe to the face? He lacks the Gimli spirit (the dwarf archetype to me).

Kili is the baby of the group. Maybe he hasn't "earned" his beard yet. He's too busy goofing around and chasing elf tail.

 

[nox_23]

Hey Asmus have you thought to reissue this beautiful elf? Tauriel 2.0

 

[batsheva]

Evangeline Lily Asmus version vs Hot Toys version..





(photo of the Asmus version is taken from Michael Crawford's review of Asmus' Tauriel)

 

[hoodonit00]

Wait, hold the phone! Are you telling me that a sculpt from Hot Toys, arguably the best 1/6th scale company in the business, is better than a relatively new company at the time? No way?

 

[batsheva]

Wait, hold the phone! Are you telling me that a sculpt from Hot Toys, arguably the best 1/6th scale company in the business, is better than a relatively new company at the time? No way?

The answer is no, I am not telling you that. Maybe you should learn to read before making sarcastic remarks.. heheh.
I never stated in my comment that Hot Toys is better. Just showing the "a vs b" pic. It's up to the viewers to decide.

 

[hoodonit00]

The answer is no, I am not telling you that. Maybe you should learn to read before making sarcastic remarks.. heheh.
I never stated in my comment that Hot Toys is better. Just showing the "a vs b" pic. It's up to the viewers to decide.

I might believe you if I didn't already know how pissed you were about your Tauriel sculpt. So,

 

[batsheva]

I might believe you if I didn't already know how pissed you were about your Tauriel sculpt. So,

Well, you can always re-read my comment and see it yourself. Never stated that Hot Toys sculpt is better But it's up to you if you don't believe your own eyes, or if you have trouble reading.
Also, IMHO new company doesn't mean they can't make a superb quality sculpt. Blitzway is relatively new (Asmus is established earlier than Blitzway), and yet, their sculpt is almost on par with Hot Toys.

 

[Sassafras]

Well, you can always re-read my comment and see it yourself. Never stated that Hot Toys sculpt is better But it's up to you if you don't believe your own eyes, or if you have trouble reading.
Also, IMHO new company doesn't mean they can't make a superb quality sculpt. Blitzway is relatively new (Asmus is established earlier than Blitzway), and yet, their sculpt is almost on par with Hot Toys.

Well, their unmasked Zorro is OK; but could have been done better IMO re the likeness. Also Zorro - tho I like the fig a lot - was overpriced. Just got in a calvary sword to go with, from China (e.g. to represent Captain Love) and it's all metal and way better than the sword than came with Zorro. They couldn't even give the fig split boots. Or spurs. Or make the hat cloth and removable. Or add some fringe to the definitely fringed scarf mask in the film. And the mask is basically non-removable plastic; part of the sculpt.

I'd pretty much trust ASMUS any day; Blitzway not so much. Or HT who can be pretty uneven about their production. HT can be mind-blowing and then turn around and put out something like the IW Captain America with a big seam in the back of the head.

 

[batsheva]

Well, their unmasked Zorro is OK; but could have been done better IMO re the likeness. Also Zorro - tho I like the fig a lot - was overpriced. Just got in a calvary sword to go with, from China (e.g. to represent Captain Love) and it's all metal and way better than the sword than came with Zorro. They couldn't even give the fig split boots. Or spurs. Or make the hat cloth and removable. Or add some fringe to the definitely fringed scarf mask in the film. And the mask is basically non-removable plastic; part of the sculpt.

I'd pretty much trust ASMUS any day; Blitzway not so much. Or HT who can be pretty uneven about their production. HT can be mind-blowing and then turn around and put out something like the IW Captain America with a big seam in the back of the head.

Ah yes, I've heard about the Zorro issues. Sorry to hear that!
But Blitzway, I have their Ghostbusters, Ecto, and 2 versions of Hannibal Lecter, and I am completely satisfied with them.

With Asmus, not so much. I love their Saruman and Witchking, Mouth of Sauron, but I despise their Tauriel, and Arwen likeness is poor as well.
I have Galadriel on pre order and I love the prototype, so I hope the actual product will be as good or even better.

So yeah, I guess it's different for everyone. That's why I never stated which one is better in my comparison pics.
And for me, Hot Toys and Blitzway is overall better than Asmus in terms of production result. To each their own.

 

[denrep-lilium]

With Asmus, not so much. I love their Saruman and Witchking, Mouth of Sauron, but I despise their Tauriel, and Arwen likeness is poor as well.
I have Galadriel on pre order and I love the prototype, so I hope the actual product will be as good or even better.

So yeah, I guess it's different for everyone. That's why I never stated which one is better in my comparison pics.
And for me, Hot Toys and Blitzway is overall better than Asmus in terms of production result. To each their own.

Completely yes to Tauriel and Arwen, and hopes for Galadriel, as I also preordered her.
I agree that Asmus is growing, but sculptwise Blitzway hits 90% of their sculpts. Paint is OK, but may be better.
Asmus gives hopes with new releases (the early Gandalf, Sam and Frodo were bad, just really bad, and I am glad they gave the option to update their sculpts, except Gandalf...). Will see.

Well, Hot Toys also misses in sculpting. So... no company is perfect. But if we count the percent of the number of produced figures, probably Blitzway is the best (when they work with K.A.Kim )

 

[Sassafras]

Ah yes, I've heard about the Zorro issues. Sorry to hear that!
But Blitzway, I have their Ghostbusters, Ecto, and 2 versions of Hannibal Lecter, and I am completely satisfied with them.

With Asmus, not so much. I love their Saruman and Witchking, Mouth of Sauron, but I despise their Tauriel, and Arwen likeness is poor as well.
I have Galadriel on pre order and I love the prototype, so I hope the actual product will be as good or even better.

So yeah, I guess it's different for everyone. That's why I never stated which one is better in my comparison pics.
And for me, Hot Toys and Blitzway is overall better than Asmus in terms of production result. To each their own.

For sure. Yeah, I was surprised Blitzway didn't go all out with Zorro; or at least didn't lower the price. Am doing a fair amount of 'bashing to get him the way I like. But I will say I appreciate the very solid body, and some of the accessories. They were really uneven with Zorro as far as accessories. Honestly both plastic and metal swords from ASMUS blow Zorro's away, as well as ASMUS costume care.

We all know ASMUS - also a relatively young company - has had its bumps. Including the Frodo eye thing - shocked even me; and I wasn't getting Frodo. Elijah Wood is practically defined by those luminous eyes. BLUE eyes.

Made me a nervous wreck about Thorin and he turns out stellar (also blue-eyed, as he should be).

 

[batsheva]

Completely yes to Tauriel and Arwen, and hopes for Galadriel, as I also preordered her.
I agree that Asmus is growing, but sculptwise Blitzway hits 90% of their sculpts. Paint is OK, but may be better.
Asmus gives hopes with new releases (the early Gandalf, Sam and Frodo were bad, just really bad, and I am glad they gave the option to update their sculpts, except Gandalf...). Will see.

Well, Hot Toys also misses in sculpting. So... no company is perfect. But if we count the percent of the number of produced figures, probably Blitzway is the best (when they work with K.A.Kim )

Yes!! Tauriel is a total failure. That sculpt being approved by the rights holder is beyond me. Very much unacceptable, and even in the production piece, the head was distorted badly.. so not only terrible sculpt but also terrible molding. As for Arwen, they are making another version, so let's see if they can redeem their mistake. And please please don't ruin Galadriel! (also give her the crown!)

And yeah, Blitzway hits 90% of their sculpts. I totally agree with that, and indeed K.A. Kim is one of the main key. So, no matter how new your company is.. if you hired K.A. Kim (and don't mess up your production and company like molecule) or any other great sculptor, you can be on par with Hot Toys sculptwise! so no reason for that ugly Tauriel sculpt.

Also yes, HT did missed some of their sculpt (hello Indy!) but veeerryy small percentage. And they make it up with such amazing tailoring or accessories. But the price always made me cry. However, I'd rather pay relatively higher price but getting great likeness and good accessories than paying cheaper but ended up having an abomination.

For sure. Yeah, I was surprised Blitzway didn't go all out with Zorro; or at least didn't lower the price. Am doing a fair amount of 'bashing to get him the way I like. But I will say I appreciate the very solid body, and some of the accessories. They were really uneven with Zorro as far as accessories. Honestly both plastic and metal swords from ASMUS blow Zorro's away, as well as ASMUS costume care.

We all know ASMUS - also a relatively young company - has had its bumps. Including the Frodo eye thing - shocked even me; and I wasn't getting Frodo. Elijah Wood is practically defined by those luminous eyes. BLUE eyes.

Made me a nervous wreck about Thorin and he turns out stellar (also blue-eyed, as he should be).

I agree, they should lower the price for what they delivered in the finished product of Zorro.
Also I agree that Asmus swords are better than Zorro's.

Yeah, that is true. Glaring mistakes, and some unacceptable ones. But au contraire to what some people believe, I don't hate Asmus. I still preorder their stuffs, like I said, I will praise them when they deliver such a good product, and the other way around when they deliver such abomination.

Now I am hoping for Galadriel's great result and the new Arwen.. hopefully the sculptor managed to get Liv's likeness this time around!

 

[warlock664]

Wow, multiple posts from batsheva bitching about the Asmus Tauriel sculpt ... is it 2016 again ?!!

 

[batsheva]

Wow, multiple posts from batsheva bitching about the Asmus Tauriel sculpt ... is it 2016 again ?!!

Welcome to the time tunnel till they make Tauriel v.2 with a decent sculpt..
But now I added Arwen and Galadriel. That's new!

Well, in all seriousness, the release of the recent HT Wasp that is better than the prototype, kinda reminds me of this Tauriel. But yeah, now that we all can see what a good Evangeline Lily sculpt is, maybe Asmus can revisit their past mistakes and try to improve it.

 

[sabin23]

Welcome to the time tunnel till they make Tauriel v.2 with a decent sculpt..
But now I added Arwen and Galadriel. That's new!

Well, in all seriousness, the release of the recent HT Wasp that is better than the prototype, kinda reminds me of this Tauriel. But yeah, now that we all can see what a good Evangeline Lily sculpt is, maybe Asmus can revisit their past mistakes and try to improve it.

Asmus redid a lot of the sculpts for the Slim series and the Crown. Not sure if Tauriel is a significant enough LOTR/Hobbit character for them to revisit for 2.0.

Yeah, the revival of this thread definitely takes me back. [emoji23] I was still relatively new into collecting 1/6 around the time of the release of this figure and Tauriel was one of my first disappointments.

We have come a long from this sculpt to the Evangeline Lilly Hot Toys Wasp piece.

 

[batsheva]

Asmus redid a lot of the sculpts for the Slim series and the Crown. Not sure if Tauriel is a significant enough LOTR/Hobbit character for them to revisit for 2.0.

Yeah, the revival of this thread definitely takes me back. [emoji23] I was still relatively new into collecting 1/6 around the time of the release of this figure and Tauriel was one of my first disappointments.

We have come a long from this sculpt to the Evangeline Lilly Hot Toys Wasp piece.

Yes you're right.. they do, and I don't care anymore if they make Tauriel as I think they will have no chance in making a good Evangeline headsculpt like the one in the Wasp.. Hahaha. Interestingly, their Galadiel prototype shows promising chance that it will be close to Hela's great likeness of Blanchett.

I feel you.. it takes me back as well, and to think about that horrible time.. ugh. I was so very disappointed, just like you, and I make sure people here knows that, and I am sorry for it.
But anyway, yeah, it's a long way indeed. But when that awful Tauriel sculpt came, Hot Toys is already in another level actually.
Their Wasp figure is indeed in higher lever than HT quality at that time, but even back then they are already thousands of miles away from that Tauriel sculpt, LOL.

 

[sabin23]

Yes you're right.. they do, and I don't care anymore if they make Tauriel as I think they will have no chance in making a good Evangeline headsculpt like the one in the Wasp.. Hahaha. Interestingly, their Galadiel prototype shows promising chance that it will be close to Hela's great likeness of Blanchett.

I feel you.. it takes me back as well, and to think about that horrible time.. ugh. I was so very disappointed, just like you, and I make sure people here knows that, and I am sorry for it.
But anyway, yeah, it's a long way indeed. But when that awful Tauriel sculpt came, Hot Toys is already in another level actually.
Their Wasp figure is indeed in higher lever than HT quality at that time, but even back then they are already thousands of miles away from that Tauriel sculpt, LOL.

There was speculation for a time (i think in this thread) that Asmus would do the right thing and replace the Tauriel sculpts with new/improved ones. They were one of the few companies that listened to feedback and interacted with customers on this forum. I was optimistic for a time but eventually moved on. But when I saw this thread bumped, it opened that wound again.

You are right, the Galadiel prototype shows tremendous promise and one of the best sculpts I have seen - an instant preorder, i bought direct from Asmus to get the EX accessory. So there are signs Asmus is turning the page with the revised Hobbit sculpts and Galadiel/Gandolf in particular. Although I did see blowback recently on one of their new Aaragon figures.

Like you said, generally speaking Hot Toys is still the consistent gold standard for sculpts but a lot competing companies have narrowed the gap and some would say surpass them. A lot of it has to do with the specific sculptor though - i noticed K.A. Kim does a lot of freelance work for various companies (even Molecule8, speaking of open wounds) and her sculpt on the 1/6 Star Ace Hermione and various 1/4 Blitzway statues are very impressive.

Even 3rd party unlicensed figures are quite good now - and they fill in the gaps for characters that the bigger figure makers are unwilling to take a risk on. Compared to a decade ago, there are a lot more options and variety to choose from now than ever before - which as a collector is good, but bad for my wallet since it's hard to keep up collecting everything.

One company that has personally disappointed me is Enterbay - their quality (1/4 Terminator, Robocop) was somewhat on par with Hot Toys for the time. I own a lot of their 1/6 figures and all their sculpts are excellent. But over they years, Enterbay never really expanded their business or 1/6 product line beyond the same Asian actors (Bruce Lee, Donnie Yen, Jet Li, etc.) or NBA b-ball figures. I am not sure what happened to them financially, but all they seem to release recently is to reuse their old sculpts from years ago and pump out more Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant (R.I.P.) figures with slight variations in uniforms/accessories.

 

[batsheva]

There was speculation for a time (i think in this thread) that Asmus would do the right thing and replace the Tauriel sculpts with new/improved ones. They were one of the few companies that listened to feedback and interacted with customers on this forum. I was optimistic for a time but eventually moved on. But when I saw this thread bumped, it opened that wound again.

You are right, the Galadiel prototype shows tremendous promise and one of the best sculpts I have seen - an instant preorder, i bought direct from Asmus to get the EX accessory. So there are signs Asmus is turning the page with the revised Hobbit sculpts and Galadiel/Gandolf in particular. Although I did see blowback recently on one of their new Aaragon figures.

Like you said, generally speaking Hot Toys is still the consistent gold standard for sculpts but a lot competing companies have narrowed the gap and some would say surpass them. A lot of it has to do with the specific sculptor though - i noticed K.A. Kim does a lot of freelance work for various companies (even Molecule8, speaking of open wounds) and her sculpt on the 1/6 Star Ace Hermione and various 1/4 Blitzway statues are very impressive.

Even 3rd party unlicensed figures are quite good now - and they fill in the gaps for characters that the bigger figure makers are unwilling to take a risk on. Compared to a decade ago, there are a lot more options and variety to choose from now than ever before - which as a collector is good, but bad for my wallet since it's hard to keep up collecting everything.

One company that has personally disappointed me is Enterbay - their quality (1/4 Terminator, Robocop) was somewhat on par with Hot Toys for the time. I own a lot of their 1/6 figures and all their sculpts are excellent. But over they years, Enterbay never really expanded their business or 1/6 product line beyond the same Asian actors (Bruce Lee, Donnie Yen, Jet Li, etc.) or NBA b-ball figures. I am not sure what happened to them financially, but all they seem to release recently is to reuse their old sculpts from years ago and pump out more Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant (R.I.P.) figures with slight variations in uniforms/accessories.

Well said!
People complain about how I keep b*tching this Asmus Tauriel, but part of it is because they don't do what they said they're going to do. The headsculpt is clearly distorted (not that it will help the likeness anyway if it's not), and when they said (I think it's not just a speculation, one post from a member said that from the back and forth message with Asmus, they are going to send replacement) and if that is true, then they lied. I designed statues for XM Studios, and in one particular statue, the head is accidentally warped, and XM does the right thing by sending replacement heads for free. That is what I call responsible.

I also preordered Galadriel straight from Asmus to get the EX accessory. I prayed and prayed so that the headsculpt will be a close match to the prototype, or if distorted, it will be minimum distortion. I do not follow their other figures as I don't want to add more disappoinment, so sorry to hear about the new Aragorn figure.

And yes, that is so true. K.A. Kim does magic with her hands! All the HT figures sculped by her are amazing. It seems like she parted ways in bad terms with HT though.. and I do have the SA Hermione!! It's really good!! I just wish they hired Kim to do Snape as well, but no. Too expensive, perhaps. As for her work in Blitzway, I have the Ghostbusters and they look fantastic!!

True, some 3rd party deliver high quality products nowadays! I personally think even better than licensed figures such as the recent Harry Potter series by Star Ace. The Juggernaut was epic, and I am waiting for the Negasonic. Indeed its good for collecting but yes, it dries up your wallet. LOL.

As for Enterbay, you and I shared the same thought. It's too bad. They used to be HT's rival (I got their first IP man, and the Storm Warrior series, boy those figs are great!) but now they are just "the has been". Mainly because their choosing of product. If they can't afford the new license and capitalize on the hype like Hot Toys does, they can at least do what Blitzway does by making the cult classics, like Silence of the Lambs or Ghostbusters.
If they can't afford that as well, maybe they can do Chinese movie that people know and also a pop cult, like Kung Fu Hustle, or Journey to the West (the Stephen Chow version) series.
Now they don't interest me anymore. And I remember one time, at a con, I got the chance to meet the owner of EB. I go to him and I told him that I love his product (back then when they made good stuffs! I remember I just bought their IP man figure), and he responded by showing a very snobbish smile, like "yeah I know, so what?" and the guy next to him just laugh, and I was like, well ok.. nice way to treat people who appreciate you and your company.. and to see what happened with them now, some part of me got satisfied somehow.

 

[nox_23]

Got my Tauriel today, really happy! I think she is one of those figures if you missed, you'll never get again, I'm in deep doubt Asmus well reissue her.

 

[DanBlake]

Got my Tauriel today, really happy! I think she is one of those figures if you missed, you'll never get again, I'm in deep doubt Asmus well reissue her.

I have her on the way too! Had been looking for a while. Not a fan of the half rooted/half sculpted hair on her, Elrond or Arwen to be honest. Heard that Tauriel is most noticeable?
Might try and make shift some Elven ears and root the new Ant Man version of her!