I gotta tell you that after seeing Aragorn at Con, he is now my favorite steed piece. It is amazing, incredibly detailed, and may become my favorite piece of all.
It is not cartoony, and just as was said a
million times- it's the camera flashes that bring out too much color. To the naked eye the colors are perfect. Not muted by the murkiness of Mordor as in the the movie, however the blue is a rich, dark, royal blue and it looks appropriately kingly. That being said, and as a shocked as I am- RWoS drops to #3!
1) A@BG
2) GoSF
3) RWoS
4) Leg/Gim/Arod
5) ML on Fellbeast (since you're all talking ponys and wargs, he's in my list!)
Leg/Gimli is also not cartoony and the colors are exactly what I expected without the dang camera flashes- they're perfect. The horse is just as detailed as Shadowfax. And with the 2 hunters on board, the details of Arod's tack and the grassy base- it is very Rohan-ish. I am pleased to say that it actually is a great stand-in for a Rohirrim steed piece, since it is a Rohirrim horse. I am as happy as I can be without a Horse Lord in the steed line.