Portrait
Well, I've decided. The characters in The Lord of the Rings have the best hair ever. Every man, woman, and child has a do that you wouldn't find anywhere but in the latest hot fashion magazine. The same goes with the sculpts in the past few LOTR figures--even Faramir if you paint it to bring out the sculpt (you knew I'd bring him up again eventually). Frodo's is particularly laden with little curls and tendrils that make him stand out, and the minutia of the detail is simply stunning. It also makes his profile delightfully accurate. I wish I had hair like him.
The sculpt really does capture Elijah to a super fine degree, which is sometimes hard to do--many have tried and failed, and they've even lost their lives because of it (I swear). Yet this one gets his face just right, and you'll be very pleased. It's a great neutral expression that has a hint of tragedy, innocence, and sadness that's perfect for the character--he really does look forlorn and alone! So buy Sam, or else you'll make Frodo cry.
The paint job--I don't know about the whole flesh toned plastic--yeah the sculpt is there, but it loses some of the necessary colors and tones that a healthy Hobbit should have. Now I'll admit, for Frodo it can work--at any given time he's either bleeding, crying, or possessed, so he can get by being a little pasty. But you do kind of hope to see a little more ruddy color in your little friends. If your pal came in looking that pale, you'd have questions. Well, I have answers--add a little bit of paint just to give it a more lifelike feel. On Frodo, I mean, not your friend.
The result of the paintless wonder has another side effect--the soft and waxy skin, while luxurious and supple, is also rather easy to scratch and chip. How do I know this? Why, I'll tell you (how's that for service?)! My lovely little sample had an, um, interesting little "growth" on his nose--basically is was a flake of plastic that looked like a little tooth on the end of his nose. Not that I have anything against our tooth-nosed brethren, but Frodo was not such a one, and so I had to send him to plastic surgery (please laugh I'm trying). I only barely managed to clip it off without cutting into the nose itself, and I had be innovative and find little ways to smooth out the nose. Thank you, Sideshow, for forcing me to go to medical school just to fix Frodo's nose.
*insert Michael Jackson joke here*
And finally, the eyes--those eyes which had me fretting since the first Sideshow production stills. In person, you will be happy to know that they are NOT in fact that blue. They're just nice, and while not too detailed, they're so small in person you can barely notice. All these close ups magnify the little flaws, but it's a tiny 1:6 figure--and a half-sized one at that! They do a great job of capturing Elijah's eyes, and the eyebrows, while pretty chunky, don't distract from the overall figure. You know just who it is when you lay eyes on him.
