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

[Nick D]

I don’t see anything I’ve said as discrediting their work and improvements they’ve made on their Aragorn. The clothing on the prototype is fantastic, the thinner eyelids and flush PERS are much appreciated.

There’s a big drop in the tailoring from prototype to production on their Pennywise clothing, just compare the photos. This concerns me for Aragorns clothing as it’s much more complex, could I be wrong? Sure, I’d hope so.

InArt made these improvements quickly on their sculpts due to feedback received, they’re listening to the community, that’s a step in the right direction. If the community stays silent, then companies would assume everyone is happy.

Feedback is how a company progresses, I’m thankful they’ve adjusted the deep set eye issue and thick eyelids. However their PERS aren’t realistic in any way yet in comparison to how sculpted painted eyes look, at least when done by custom artists, hard to speak on factory work as the big companies all use PERS now.

Yes no one in the custom world has nailed Viggo’s likeness, but to be fair no one really tried outside of say two artists. This InArt release will probably spark interest in a proper 3D printed sculpt run. No one was interested in an accurate sculpt because of the lack of clothing available to go with it, this changes that.

 

[Raleig.h]

I don’t see anything I’ve said as discrediting their work and improvements they’ve made on their Aragorn. The clothing on the prototype is fantastic, the thinner eyelids and flush PERS are much appreciated.

There’s a big drop in the tailoring from prototype to production on their Pennywise clothing, just compare the photos. This concerns me for Aragorns clothing as it’s much more complex, could I be wrong? Sure, I’d hope so.

InArt made these improvements quickly on their sculpts due to feedback received, they’re listening to the community, that’s a step in the right direction. If the community stays silent, then companies would assume everyone is happy.

Feedback is how a company progresses, I’m thankful they’ve adjusted the deep set eye issue and thick eyelids. However their PERS aren’t realistic in any way yet in comparison to how sculpted painted eyes look, at least when done by custom artists, hard to speak on factory work as the big companies all use PERS now.

Yes no one in the custom world has nailed Viggo’s likeness, but to be fair no one really tried outside of say two artists. This InArt release will probably spark interest in a proper 3D printed sculpt run. No one was interested in an accurate sculpt because of the lack of clothing available to go with it, this changes that.

Pennywise thus far is a 1 off, and likely due to the puffy *** material they used, im not really worried about the tailoring as long as people futz it right. Look at Gandalf, his tailoring is really REALLY good when the right person gets their hands on it.

As for the lack of Aragorn outfits, there have been many 1/6 Aragorns and all of the more modern ones have pretty decent outfits.

 

[Nick D]

We’ve never had his outfit from a well respected 1:6 tailor, nor has a high end official company made it, until now. People in the custom world are notoriously hard to please, and for good reason, they want the best available. Isn’t that why you guys like InArt? Because they’re doing things at a mass production level thats beyond the usual mass production quality? That’s somewhat affordable? So why get mad at people that want to take it to the next level beyond InArt with custom work?

Isn’t this why I see people purchasing the HT Batman figures as a base, then going and getting custom sculpts and capes for it?

Why’s there all of a sudden an issue to do the same with InArt?

Imagine using this InArt Aragorn as a base with this clothing and nice accessories they provide, then adding a fully rooted sculpt complete with mustache & beard hair, Viggo’s scarred upper lip, and blue eyes that immerse you like the actors did on screen? Just because it hasn’t been made yet doesn’t mean it won’t be.

You heard Viper saying InArts goal as a company is to constantly search for better, i.e what I’m doing by asking for better. Where do you think they got the idea from? Seeing people upgrading HTs with custom work over the years.

 

[Raleig.h]

We’ve never had his outfit from a well respected 1:6 tailor, nor has a high end official company made it, until now. People in the custom world are notoriously hard to please, and for good reason, they want the best available. Isn’t that why you guys like InArt? Because they’re doing things at a mass production level thats beyond the usual mass production quality? That’s somewhat affordable? So why get mad at people that want to take it to the next level beyond InArt with custom work?

Isn’t this why I see people purchasing the HT Batman figures as a base, then going and getting custom sculpts and capes for it?

Why’s there all of a sudden an issue to do the same with InArt?

There is certainly no issue with that, hell I even have Dino ties on both of my Jokers. But with this release I don't think there's much more an artist can do better other than maybe get some very minute details on his outfit, which they're likely to miss as we're like 20 Ledger outfits down and no one has perfected his look.

Imagine using this InArt Aragorn as a base with this clothing and nice accessories they provide, then adding a fully rooted sculpt complete with mustache & beard hair, Viggo’s scarred upper lip, and blue eyes that immerse you like the actors did on screen? Just because it hasn’t been made yet doesn’t mean it won’t be.

You heard Viper saying InArts goal as a company is to constantly search for better, i.e what I’m doing by asking for better. Where do you think they got the idea from? Seeing people upgrading HTs with custom work over the years.

Because quite frankly when the figure looks this good for $500 there's no point in putting a $600 head on it. I think pretty much everyone shares that sentiment and thats why I personally don't see anyone making a Viggo sculpt after this.

 

[Rzeznikk]

There is certainly no issue with that, hell I even have Dino ties on both of my Jokers. But with this release I don't think there's much more an artist can do better other than maybe get some very minute details on his outfit, which they're likely to miss as we're like 20 Ledger outfits down and no one has perfected his look.



Because quite frankly when the figure looks this good for $500 there's no point in putting a $600 head on it. I think pretty much everyone shares that sentiment and thats why I personally don't see anyone making a Viggo sculpt after this.

Agreed . I won't be needing any custom artist for Aragorn after InArts. That itch has been scratched.

 

[Hologram AI]

A majority of people don't feel the need or want to spend money on top of the figures price to do that. It's cool if you want to but a majority of people in this hobby don't. These figures are already expensive enough. You're fooling yourself if you think the common thought process with these figures (Hot Toys/INART/etc) is to then slap a $500-$1000+ upgrade on top of it all. Not to say these figures don't have room for improvement, there's always something to complain about but not everyone pursues these things to an insane level.

 

[Rzeznikk]

Viggo’s scarred upper lip, and blue eyes that immerse you like the actors did on screen?

Scar is already present with InArts sculpt.

 

[Raleig.h]

His Iris's look insanely detailed and beautiful to me. Having multiple custom painted sculpts they dont even reach this level of detail. Of course I know it will lose a bit in production but still. Its always a treat to see these promo images.

 

[WolfBoy]

Scar is already present with InArts sculpt. View attachment 663469

That is insanity.

 

[Nick D]

Scar is already present with InArts sculpt. View attachment 663469

His scar is on the lip itself, not just above his lip, which isn’t present on the InArt sculpt, is what I was referring to bro.

Of course not everyone will be willing to upgrade to that level, but this train of thought is the very one that inspired Viper and InArt to scratch this itch some collectors have had by never being satisfied, always wanting to improve any areas that are lacking. Viper started work in this hobby by painting and hairing custom Joker sculpts because he clearly didn’t think stock paint and sculpted hair was good enough for him, what makes his thought different from mine? It’s just something that comes with being an artist, when you have an eye for the minute details you should acknowledge them. I’m not telling everyone that they shouldn’t be completely happy with Aragorn as is, what I am saying is there is always room to improve, and apparently InArt agrees.

If Viper turned around tomorrow and said their Joker release isn’t up to their standards and that they’ll be revisiting that character when they get better at the craft, a lot of collectors would purchase, not everyone, but a lot.

You can’t sit here and get mad at me for pointing out inaccuracies and room for improvement to be made on the InArt collectibles, then turn around and make fun of the people that think the Asmus sculpt is good enough, and that they see Ian McKellen more in it. Are they wrong imo? Yes, but does that mean InArts sculpt is a perfect likeness to him? No, not at all. The point is that you guys are entirely happy with InArt releasing a better product than Asmus, but won’t allow an opinion on InArt that you don’t favor be said without loads of backlash.

 

[xXJ0kerXx1]

Pennywise thus far is a 1 off, and likely due to the puffy *** material they used, im not really worried about the tailoring as long as people futz it right. Look at Gandalf, his tailoring is really REALLY good when the right person gets their hands on it.

As for the lack of Aragorn outfits, there have been many 1/6 Aragorns and all of the more modern ones have pretty decent outfits.

unless youre willfox

 

[xXJ0kerXx1]

I don’t see anything I’ve said as discrediting their work and improvements they’ve made on their Aragorn. The clothing on the prototype is fantastic, the thinner eyelids and flush PERS are much appreciated.

There’s a big drop in the tailoring from prototype to production on their Pennywise clothing, just compare the photos. This concerns me for Aragorns clothing as it’s much more complex, could I be wrong? Sure, I’d hope so.

InArt made these improvements quickly on their sculpts due to feedback received, they’re listening to the community, that’s a step in the right direction. If the community stays silent, then companies would assume everyone is happy.

Feedback is how a company progresses, I’m thankful they’ve adjusted the deep set eye issue and thick eyelids. However their PERS aren’t realistic in any way yet in comparison to how sculpted painted eyes look, at least when done by custom artists, hard to speak on factory work as the big companies all use PERS now.

Yes no one in the custom world has nailed Viggo’s likeness, but to be fair no one really tried outside of say two artists. This InArt release will probably spark interest in a proper 3D printed sculpt run. No one was interested in an accurate sculpt because of the lack of clothing available to go with it, this changes that.

i think hot toys is at a decent stage and at the right direction when it comes to PERS and how they use decals, trumps inart's. inart is like 6 years behind hot toys when it comes to them doing PERS. theres a reason hot toys ditched that system, but inart just wants to follow through with it lol

but realistically, PERS are notoriously hard to capture likeness unless its someone like batman where its natural or somewhat normal to have the eye sunken in a little. only other way I've seen only like 1 artist do is using plastic/glass eye within a silicone head in 1/6 and adjusting it manually while the eyes are inside the sockets, but even then it looks to be infant stage to me. the only way i can see eyes looking realistic while being moveable going forward is potentially silicone sculpts with glass eyes where you have a tool to manually adjust them.
it'd take a lot for someone to be really dissatisfied with inart's sculpt to go through lengths and hurdles to ask a sculptor to sculpt them aragorn. even with the clothing that's being offered, its could be possible but i feel a good chunk of people, custom collectors and casual collectors will be satisfied with the product and worse case scenario they ask an artist to restyle the hair or reroot it for some reason. i can understand people going through that route with their inart joker, but just more or less crunching down on time and waiting to see how production will turn out

Pennywise thus far is a 1 off, and likely due to the puffy *** material they used, im not really worried about the tailoring as long as people futz it right. Look at Gandalf, his tailoring is really REALLY good when the right person gets their hands on it.

As for the lack of Aragorn outfits, there have been many 1/6 Aragorns and all of the more modern ones have pretty decent outfits.

a shame they fumbled the ball with the tailoring. all they needed to focus and worry about was the collar and the shoulders, that was it but they ****** it up. its an improvement from hot toys but a real shame. maybe its oversight or they put less care into it since less people ordered it since horror is notoriously niche in this scale or in general

His Iris's look insanely detailed and beautiful to me. Having multiple custom painted sculpts they dont even reach this level of detail. Of course I know it will lose a bit in production but still. Its always a treat to see these promo images.

gotta be aware its still prototype so everything is subject to change in terms of the iris. it does look better, but all depends how it'll look in hand or whenever influencers receive their copies but im hoping their eyes are improved. gandalf looks promising. pennywise is good in the sense that they're separate but the likeness is so cartoony to me

 

[Nick D]

Of course more detail will be present on PERS iris than a painted iris, they’re decals not brush strokes.

The issue is the iris details are too uniform from one sculpt to another with just a change in the color of it, regardless of the actors actual iris detail, making all of their PERS eyes look like dead dolls eyes and not unique and faithful to the likeness they’re trying to convey. It’s by far InArts weakest aspect, no matter the skin texture and subtle detailing, your eye goes straight to a sculpts eyes when looking for resemblance to an actor, you know when you see Viggo’s eyes. I can’t say a single sculpt they’ve made captured an actor’s likeness when looking at the eyes.

I don’t see Robert Pattinson when I look at their sculpts eyes, you shouldn’t sacrifice likeness for range of movement. Am I nitpicking to someone who could care less? Of course, but so is anyone who strives for accuracy without fail, without people like me, this hobby would never have progressed over the years. The progress we’ve seen since 2008 till now is due to people not being satisfied, skill being developed, dedication and time invested, technology advancements, access to 3D printing, etc. We would’ve been stuck with HTs first Ledger Joker if no one cared about details.

 

[Cazza]

Pick your winner

 

[BrooklynWolf X]

Everything has returned to normal in the areas hit by the typhoon over in HK for more than a week now and Kit still hasn’t received his shipment of Gandalf from IA.

I wonder what the hold up is.

 

[Nagoya]

Everything has returned to normal in the areas hit by the typhoon over in HK for more than a week now and Kit still hasn’t received his shipment of Gandalf from IA.

I wonder what the hold up is.

Maybe they forgot to pack in his underwear

 

[Rzeznikk]

I think what some folks seem to not understand or not willing to comprehend is that "Perfection" doesn't exist in this hobby. Not at any scale. And especially not at 1:6. Artists can push for the best they can but there will always be flaws in sculpt, paint and hair when we sit and stare at these pieces next to screen shots of their live counterparts under a macro lens or microscope.

But we aren't viewing these figures under a macro lens or microscope in person in our displays so the majority of this insane level of nitpicking is a moot point. Our human eye won't notice in hand.

I'm all for InArt or any company pushing to continue raising the bar, but we need to keep a realistic level of expectations for ourselves as what is doable at this scale.

I've been collecting 15+ years and have decent sized collection as well as a healthy amount of custom artist pieces on top of seeing tons of other figures either in hand or on social media and I'll say as frankly as I can I've seen absolutely zero of them be perfect. It's not a realistic expectation.

That's not to throw shade at any artist. Not at all. Some artists do INSANELY AMAZING WORK, but no one is perfect because perfection does not exist at this scale. And I would even argue at any scale. Even 1:1 pieces.

 

[Nagoya]

Pick your winner

Hm the bottom 3 win it for me

 

[Rzeznikk]

Everything has returned to normal in the areas hit by the typhoon over in HK for more than a week now and Kit still hasn’t received his shipment of Gandalf from IA.

I wonder what the hold up is.

Yeah honestly I requested and paid my invoice early because I thought it was just around the corner. I was planning to pay my Pennywise early as well, but if there's another month + between Reviewers batch to "batch 1" then I may just hold off. I kinda expected a shipping noticed by this point.

 

[Sktchwlkr]

His scar is on the lip itself, not just above his lip, which isn’t present on the InArt sculpt, is what I was referring to bro.

View attachment 663480

Of course not everyone will be willing to upgrade to that level, but this train of thought is the very one that inspired Viper and InArt to scratch this itch some collectors have had by never being satisfied, always wanting to improve any areas that are lacking. Viper started work in this hobby by painting and hairing custom Joker sculpts because he clearly didn’t think stock paint and sculpted hair was good enough for him, what makes his thought different from mine? It’s just something that comes with being an artist, when you have an eye for the minute details you should acknowledge them. I’m not telling everyone that they shouldn’t be completely happy with Aragorn as is, what I am saying is there is always room to improve, and apparently InArt agrees.

If Viper turned around tomorrow and said their Joker release isn’t up to their standards and that they’ll be revisiting that character when they get better at the craft, a lot of collectors would purchase, not everyone, but a lot.

You can’t sit here and get mad at me for pointing out inaccuracies and room for improvement to be made on the InArt collectibles, then turn around and make fun of the people that think the Asmus sculpt is good enough, and that they see Ian McKellen more in it. Are they wrong imo? Yes, but does that mean InArts sculpt is a perfect likeness to him? No, not at all. The point is that you guys are entirely happy with InArt releasing a better product than Asmus, but won’t allow an opinion on InArt that you don’t favor be said without loads of backlash.

Damn.….if they didn’t make his lip scar pronounced enough even when in shadow, that probably means they forgot to include that pimple on his left *** cheek…Alright I’m canceling my preorders….

In all seriousness tho, I get you. There’s always room for improvement. There’s also a point of diminishing returns where details become less and less important as they move away from what is required to capture the likeness. Like how rooted hair, although stylized to look almost the same, will never be exactly the same from one figure to another nor the source material. It‘s an unrealistic request to ask for...at least for now. That line will shift as tech improves.

Regarding the scar, I’m seeing it on his lip to, it’s just very subtle since it’s softer and in shadow but I’m still seeing it. Honestly I’m just glad it’s actually there since it never has been up until this point on figures.