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

[Sassafras]

"Authority is not given to you to deny the return of the king, Steward!"
-Gandalf the White
[The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King 2003]

Got my Caveman Jesus a brand new shiny stick off Aliexpress!

Still warming up to it. Not sure if I like or dislike how shiny it is. But this one is diecast, is scaled better than the Asmus and has the ruins down the blade. Nice cheap alternative.

IMO for shelf display this is great - sort of gives that emphasis for normies etc. - e.g. you know what it is a few feet away and the light sparks off it. I want one.

InArt prices are rising quicker, and quicker even for their standard/sculpted hair figures. If they’re going to continue to raise their prices even on standard offerings, then collectors are going to expect more from them with each price hike.

Well, yes. One reason I decided to risk a second rooted Aragorn - not just because if InArt, but price hikes in general. As prices rise, basically I've gotta opt out. Another reason was a kind of defeat. . After larger versions of Aragorn were made available, along with WETA still not getting his face right after 20 years...I gave up. If I'd owned the ASMUS Ranger I wouldn't have bought the InArt anyway, but I didn't back when.

Decided to cut my losses - IMO this is the best portrait out there of a face any number of people seem to have problems with; and it's my preferred outfit that I can kitbash. So I gambled. Not that I can afford, or want, 1/3 statues anyway. I just want to put a period on this character, because futzing and comparing pictures I feel like a weirdo staring at Viggo's face this much.

The twins. It's been an interesting journey, hair-wise. Didn't end up with a silky-waved prototype look but I'm not unhappy with a rumpled by-the-campfire and a wet look either. For the new one, it's a good enough job thank Ch*&^% I don't think I'm gonna do anything to it. In any case outside clothes/accessories I've had enough hair styling for a while.

Tho it's a shame I'm not rich so I could get a third one and slap some blood on. Just checked One Sixth and only the Standard is available so guess that's that then. Now they need to do Thorin.

 

[Tolkien Nerd]

IMO for shelf display this is great - sort of gives that emphasis for normies etc. - e.g. you know what it is a few feet away and the light sparks off it. I want one.



Well, yes. One reason I decided to risk a second rooted Aragorn - not just because if InArt, but price hikes in general. As prices rise, basically I've gotta opt out. Another reason was a kind of defeat. . After larger versions of Aragorn were made available, along with WETA still not getting his face right after 20 years...I gave up. If I'd owned the ASMUS Ranger I wouldn't have bought the InArt anyway, but I didn't back when.

Decided to cut my losses - IMO this is the best portrait out there of a face any number of people seem to have problems with; and it's my preferred outfit that I can kitbash. So I gambled. Not that I can afford, or want, 1/3 statues anyway. I just want to put a period on this character, because futzing and comparing pictures I feel like a weirdo staring at Viggo's face this much.

View attachment 743534

The twins. It's been an interesting journey, hair-wise. Didn't end up with a silky-waved prototype look but I'm not unhappy with a rumpled by-the-campfire and a wet look either. For the new one, it's a good enough job thank Ch*&^% I don't think I'm gonna do anything to it. In any case outside clothes/accessories I've had enough hair styling for a while.

Tho it's a shame I'm not rich so I could get a third one and slap some blood on. Just checked One Sixth and only the Standard is available so guess that's that then. Now they need to do Thorin.

Though the hair on your first Aragorn turned out very acceptable in the end after your hard work, I am so pleased to see you got a really good one with your second figure. So you can now do a hood up and hood down display!
Amazing how much grief this figure has caused some collectors, but I hope all owners will be content and happy with him in the end.
Yeah, roll on Thorin and at some point a Thranduil in battle armour would be a dream, and even though I have multiples of the Asmus version, I still think it could be improved on.

 

[Sassafras]

Though the hair on your first Aragorn turned out very acceptable in the end after your hard work, I am so pleased to see you got a really good one with your second figure. So you can now do a hood up and hood down display!
Amazing how much grief this figure has caused some collectors, but I hope all owners will be content and happy with him in the end.
Yeah, roll on Thorin and at some point a Thranduil in battle armour would be a dream, and even though I have multiples of the Asmus version, I still think it could be improved on.

Thank you, yes, for me it's worked out pretty well (after I get my Ranger cloaks).

If it's a hair issue - well, it's like the customizers on the board warned about. I like working on 1/6th and futzing, but learning for a hobby IMO is something you should want to do - in this case dealing with mohair. Not be forced to do, or pay money to send a sculpt back and so on; or learn how to deal with 1/6 hair extensions (and not being funny here; if his hair was too short I was gonna go in and add more hair).

For sure even tho I'm happy with my ASMUS Thorins and Thranduils, I'd rebuy too. Thorin in particular is a candidate for this kind of fiber hair. Anyway if the rooted Aragorn run is at an end? hope all will end up with a good looking figure. My outer box looked like it had been sat on but everything inside was perfect, so kudos to Kit for the extra packing.

 

[DrWeaponX]

Well, my second arrived today. I ordered an Asmus Helm’s Deep off eBay but it was totally pungent from cigarettes. The chainmail was frayed so I trimmed - sadly too much and this looks more like the ROTK version showing red. I have a replacement from a buddy on the way.

I like how my second turned out and this was minimal futz.

 

[Gipetto0812]

That looks really good @DrWeaponX

 

[DrWeaponX]

That looks really good @DrWeaponX

Thanks! I will keep messing with him and I may remove the waist padding he has as well.

 

[Nyhargo Dirge]

That's a shiny and wonderful sword ye got there, CJ!

Looks like it’s magical. That’s pretty cool

 

[Mr.Tanker]

Finally got my sculpted Aragorn, and I honestly have a lot of mixed feelings about this figure.

First off, if I had never received the rooted version, I think I would be extremely happy with the sculpted.

The sculpted hair looked really bad right out of the box. I looked at photos of the prototype and the hair on mine was really flared out on the lower half compared to the proto. I have no idea if this was a purposeful change, in order to allow the head to have a larger range of movement on the neck, or if this was just an accidental production process change. I heated the hair and squeezed it back around the head, and it made a significant difference.

Just like the rooted, there are angles where the likeness and hair looks really weird, and there are other angles where the sculpted looks really good, at times maybe even better than the rooted.

Overall, I think the rooted looks more impressive, but I have zero regrets about keeping my sculpted pre-order.

 

[TonTon]

Finally got my sculpted Aragorn, and I honestly have a lot of mixed feelings about this figure.

First off, if I had never received the rooted version, I think I would be extremely happy with the sculpted.

The sculpted hair looked really bad right out of the box. I looked at photos of the prototype and the hair on mine was really flared out on the lower half compared to the proto. I have no idea if this was a purposeful change, in order to allow the head to have a larger range of movement on the neck, or if this was just an accidental production process change. I heated the hair and squeezed it back around the head, and it made a significant difference.

Just like the rooted, there are angles where the likeness and hair looks really weird, and there are other angles where the sculpted looks really good, at times maybe even better than the rooted.

Overall, I think the rooted looks more impressive, but I have zero regrets about keeping my sculpted pre-order.

View attachment 743669View attachment 743670

I sometimes think the rooted sculpt maybe widened just a tiny bit during the production process compared with proto. But I'm not sure I get that same sense on the sculpted. Do the eyes look just as far apart on both of yours?

 

[Brett Banner]

I sometimes think the rooted sculpt maybe widened just a tiny bit during the production process compared with proto. But I'm not sure I get that same sense on the sculpted. Do the eyes look just as far apart on both of yours?

I think that actually pinpoints why I see the rooted sculpt as being so off. I thought I was imagining things thinking the sculpted hair version had a better likeness for some reason. Unfortunately they didn’t do the greatest job on the actual sculpted hair, it comes across pretty gloopy. Why does their Superman’s sculpted hair look so much more crisp and detailed? Seems like the sculpted Aragorn was kinda an afterthought.

 

[Mr.Tanker]

I sometimes think the rooted sculpt maybe widened just a tiny bit during the production process compared with proto. But I'm not sure I get that same sense on the sculpted. Do the eyes look just as far apart on both of yours?

I just compared them side by side, and I can't honestly tell a difference. I think the sculpted hair frames the face and jaw better, and I think that leads to a slightly better likeness.

 

[Sassafras]

I think that actually pinpoints why I see the rooted sculpt as being so off. I thought I was imagining things thinking the sculpted hair version had a better likeness for some reason. Unfortunately they didn’t do the greatest job on the actual sculpted hair, it comes across pretty gloopy. Why does their Superman’s sculpted hair look so much more crisp and detailed? Seems like the sculpted Aragorn was kinda an afterthought.

Yeah, for my second Aragorn thought I'd do sculpted - think the shape/"style" is good - but I'm surrounded by figs and statues with really finely sculpted hair. And it shouldn't bother me there's no ears on the sculpted, but it does. It probably was to fit the sculpted hair, but it just reminds me of very inexpensive figures.

From pics tho I'm not seeing real sculpt differences for most of the features. But I haven't looked really hard. Could've saved some $$$ getting the sculpted tho and I probably would have been happy enough.

 

[Brett Banner]

Yeah, for my second Aragorn thought I'd do sculpted - think the shape/"style" is good - but I'm surrounded by figs and statues with really finely sculpted hair. And it shouldn't bother me there's no ears on the sculpted, but it does. It probably was to fit the sculpted hair, but it just reminds me of very inexpensive figures.

From pics tho I'm not seeing real sculpt differences for most of the features. But I haven't looked really hard. Could've saved some $$$ getting the sculpted tho and I probably would have been happy enough.

Yeah I felt a bit shoehorned into getting the rooted version since Gandalf and Legolas are only rooted, plus I would assume a Gimli would be rooted-only as well. I was interested in getting the HP trio but wanted to go sculpted and it would bother me to have a rooted Hermoine with sculpted Harry and Ron. I almost went for the sculpted JND trio but the Harry likeness specifically is so bad that I didn’t want to roll the dice on those.

 

[webhead05]

I agree that the Premium sculpt often seems wider, but I think it's just an artefact of (1) how much more closely the sculpted hair frames the face and (2) the darker shadows that the plastic hair casts, providing more contrast around the cheeks and jawline.

I was perfectly content with my sculpted Aragorn when I thought it was the only version I could get -- even if I agree that something about the sculpt itself or the paintjob makes the hair look very flat and unrealistic. It wasn't until I saw them side by side that I decided the rooted was better. Anyone who wanted sculpted from the jump should be pleased with it.