InArt: The Lord of the Rings - Aragorn 1:6

[Earth 616 Collector]

It’s insane to me that these are the “same” figure from the same company. I don’t understand how there’s such a giant improvement in the sculpt over a few months. I don’t have experience creating accurate sculpts like this but I assume it takes longer than 2-3 months from concept to final painted product. Did they have 2 in production then tested them both by sharing with an audience? What would be the point? I don’t know how you can say the first is better.
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I think they tried to rush it out to get it shown at the event. Mistakes made and hopefully lessons learned.

 

[Bo Shrek]

The only rooted hair figures I have are Jack Sparrow and Chewbacca! For both perfect hair placement is not a issue. I currently have Chewbacca hair a little shaggy circa ROTJ. When it comes to Aragorn I feel that if the rooted hair is just slightly off or the bangs on the sides of his face don’t fall right it may immediately through off likeness and make me frustrated at tinkering to get hair right. With sculpted it’s perfect right out of the box and always. Yes the cost is the added realism but is the price of frustration higher? Are there any HT rooted hair that is closed to Aragorn? Can anyone share experiences? Money is not a issue for me so it’s not a dollars and cents thing.

 

[Earth 616 Collector]

I’ve heard/read horror stories about Osk and toyswonderland on Reddit and Facebook. So I’d prefer not to use them if possible.

Understood. I would just wonder if those horror stories are from ppl who tried to screw over OSK and since they didn’t get their way, are blasting them in other places.

OSK is pretty transparent and shares screenshots on Facebook when someone tries to get their deposit back such as saying things like “I never ordered this, you’re just trying to scam me” or something similar to that effect.

But of course, it doesn’t hurt to be cautious, especially with items as high a price as these, so best to go where you feel the more comfortable for sure. You have a decent handful of options

Or you may also call me unprofessional or childish, in the old days I always fight with people in the public

I admin that

I am more calm now as a father and oldman

I would also say as Gipetto0812 eluded to, take some of the negative stuff with a grain of salt. You will find overwhelming support for OSK on these forums unlike TW. To me that says a lot.

I have 3 InArt preorders with Kit at the moment after placing my order for the Premium Aragorn. Although I have not had a completed order yet, Kit has been wonderful to work with. He's very personable and gets back to you quickly. I try to message him during his time zone work hours and he has gotten back to me in around 2 hours or less. He is so active in the community that you won't get that with much anyone else.

 

[Cammo]

With rooted; do they mean they glue or punch in the hair?

 

[Hologram AI]

I only just noticed that they got his lip scar/mustache correct. Great attention to detail.

 

[GaryPool]

With rooted; do they mean they glue or punch in the hair?

1/6 figures made from plastic tend to be glued at this level, no plugs like at Hot Toys level.

Also in regards to rooted hair, hair stays in its place if you don't touch it. I've had no degradation from mine in any manner save for a few loose strands here and there, which annoy me, then I remind myself real people's hair, no matter how pristine have loose hairs also.

Just try to have them in a display case, away from high humidity and direct sunlights, and just don't touch it. Get it styled a little bit after delivery and leave it also, use a puffer to blow dust from it, and it'll retain the shape.

However, if you're a person that can't stop touching things, and you look to repost, restyle etc. get sculpted.

 

[spaceghost2000]

This place is such an echo chamber sometimes.

Fine.

Greatest looking figure ever.

 

[GaryPool]

This place is such an echo chamber sometimes.

Fine.

Greatest looking figure ever.

I haven't read every page, why do you sound brow beaten into saying this is a good looking figure?

 

[SwedishHeat]

With rooted; do they mean they glue or punch in the hair?

This is a language problem that's developed over the past few years. Rooted hair is a specific term meaning punched-in hair, they use soft vinyl heads, which usually can't hold detail as well as harder PVC heads, that's why people call them "Barbie heads", because inevitably rooted hair heads don't have as much detail as sculpted hair heads, it's because of the plastic used. The hair used in rooting is typically nylon, it's still plastic hair, but it's strong enough to withstand the pressure of the rooting process, but it's not fine like real hair is in-scale.

However, as realism increased, customizers started gluing in yak hair, or other fine animal hair to create better results, and people just started calling everything "rooted hair". I assume that folks never really understood that "rooted hair" defined an actual process, but here we are in a situation where manufacturers are using the term "rooted hair" in a way that really undersells what they're actually doing. The gluing-in process is much more labor-intensive than rooting, so it behooves the manufacturers, and customizers, to come up with a more accurate term for their process.

In this case, InArt is gluing in the hair.

 

[spaceghost2000]

I haven't read every page, why do you sound brow beaten into saying this is a good looking figure?

Because anyone questioning it gets criticised into the ground, so why bother anymore? I actually preordered it, but I still have valid criticisms towards it but this particular forum isn’t the right place for that it seems.

 

[Cap'n Cook]

Because anyone questioning it gets criticised into the ground, so why bother anymore? I actually preordered it, but I still have valid criticisms towards it but this particular forum isn’t the right place for that it seems.

I don’t think that’s the reason. Mainly I think it’s because you described the price as ‘absurd’ which many people, myself included, do not agree with.

 

[SwedishHeat]

Kit apparently was able to re-open Gandalf for pre-order. Debating on getting an InArt figure just to see if it’s worth the hype and am torn between him and Aragorn.

Nice, good shout. I was able to save a bit of money going through OSK.

I waffled too long on Gandalf, I got burned on the Asmus version, and thought these figures were too good to be true, after announcing so many without having a production version to show. But the Joker has been enough proof for me to give them a shot.

 

[Johnny Utah]

I only just noticed that they got his lip scar/mustache correct. Great attention to detail.

Yup.

 

[Hologram AI]

Because anyone questioning it gets criticised into the ground, so why bother anymore? I actually preordered it, but I still have valid criticisms towards it but this particular forum isn’t the right place for that it seems.

Not really. You just said that you feel that the price is absurd and a lot of collectors argued that it isn't for what we're getting. It's as simple as that.

What exactly do you want if most collectors don't view it the same way you do on the value of the figure/package here? Some members have even posted paragraphs detailing that the quality rooted work here justifies the cost. Which you then just argued back saying that you still disagree because Inart being a company mass producing this somehow means they should sell this work for cheap.

Agree to disagree then and move on. Not much more to it. I think I speak for everyone when I say that no would would argue if these figures were cheaper. Who wants more expensive figures in this day and age? What people were disagreeing with you on is saying that the price they're charging for the quality of work here is unjustified and overpriced, which many believe it isn't.

 

[spaceghost2000]

I don’t think that’s the reason. Mainly I think it’s because you described the price as ‘absurd’ which many people, myself included, do not agree with.

Yeah fine it’s not absurd

 

[BANE.]

Best place / cheapest to order from.? I'm in the UK, also need a payment plan or deposit only. Cheers.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Because anyone questioning it gets criticised into the ground, so why bother anymore? I actually preordered it, but I still have valid criticisms towards it but this particular forum isn’t the right place for that it seems.

No hard feelings. I think we're all just caught up in the excitement. You'll see... the criticism will begin here shortly. You're just ahead of the curve.

 

[BANE.]

Yeah fine it’s not absurd

If you think it's absurd but he doesn't is he wrong.? it's his opinion as it is yours.

 

[Chopper Face]

How is KGHobby with such pre-orders?

I’ve ordered Joker dlx, The Batman All In, Gandalf and Aragorn from KG. They’ve got a great price for both Aragorns and have airmail shipping built into the cost.

They’ve confirmed their Joker batch will be shipping out in March.
We still have no real precedent for how InArt releases will work so can’t tell which retailers/resellers will get their stock in first.
So far, only one batch of Chinese orders placed directly with InArt have been shipped.

This is a language problem that's developed over the past few years. Rooted hair is a specific term meaning punched-in hair, they use soft vinyl heads, which usually can't hold detail as well as harder PVC heads, that's why people call them "Barbie heads", because inevitably rooted hair heads don't have as much detail as sculpted hair heads, it's because of the plastic used. The hair used in rooting is typically nylon, it's still plastic hair, but it's strong enough to withstand the pressure of the rooting process, but it's not fine like real hair is in-scale.

However, as realism increased, customizers started gluing in yak hair, or other fine animal hair to create better results, and people just started calling everything "rooted hair". I assume that folks never really understood that "rooted hair" defined an actual process, but here we are in a situation where manufacturers are using the term "rooted hair" in a way that really undersells what they're actually doing. The gluing-in process is much more labor-intensive than rooting, so it behooves the manufacturers, and customizers, to come up with a more accurate term for their process.

In this case, InArt is gluing in the hair.

Ha, every time I type ‘rooted head’ I pray some pedant won’t wiggle their finger and correct me. A new an accurate term would be nice but ‘glued hair’ just sounds so cheap and ugly for describing what is typically high quality work.

Could we say ‘Bonded’ or ‘Pasted’ hair… Nothing seems like it will be as catchy and elegant as ‘Rooted.’

Because anyone questioning it gets criticised into the ground, so why bother anymore? I actually preordered it, but I still have valid criticisms towards it but this particular forum isn’t the right place for that it seems.

Let’s have the criticisms. It’s about that time now.
So far we’ve got short boots, inaccurate coloured bedroll, bow should be darker brown…
You can’t really complain about the price though.
We know what we’re paying for with InArt and were basically all predicting $500-$550 for this. It’s $448 at KGHobby including shipping. There’s no way of convincing anyone here that’s a bad deal. Even $480 from OSK is still better than expected.

Best place / cheapest to order from.? I'm in the UK, also need a payment plan or deposit only. Cheers.

I went KG as they have it cheapest with shipping included for once. Paying all upfront also gets you 3% off but they do a 20% deposit option.

 

[Vanguard]

Waaah I did it, I preordered the premium version from OSK!!

This felt like too much of a special figure to miss. It helps that I only need one or two characters from LOTR to be happy - my poor Asmus Faramir is going to have to keep his hood up next to this guy!!