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

[Kit Chen]

"why didn't you preorder" tax

Love this term

 

[ObiGlennKenobi]

Love this term

Is there still more Gandalf @Kit Chen ?
Chiming in from Australia so need to get my timezones right

 

[hoodonit00]

Is there still more Gandalf @Kit Chen ?
Chiming in from Australia so need to get my timezones right

He just posted on FB. Gandalf is temporarily sold out. Don’t need to stand by tomorrow

 

[Raydigo]

KGH has them but shipping is Surface Parcel by Hong Kong Post (9-15weeks) to the US. Crazy.

 

[choombaz]

Anyway.. some more pics I took of GtG today. Truly wonderful.

I removed the cloak, sword belt and scabbard to have him how he looks like during certain scenes at the beginning of Fellowship. During these select scenes, he shouldn’t have the sleeves around his hands, but for the life of me, I cannot remove it on his left hand now without potentially tearing it up. If there’s one thing about this set that is annoying me is that. INART needed to make them longer….

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Man your futzing is so good I’m too embarrassed to post my photos! I’ve got a lot of beard work to do!!

 

[Raleig.h]

This figure is so incredible looking, I feel wrong for wanting to sell him but I know I’ll regret it when Aragorn comes in.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Why do you want to sell him?


Tell you what: keep him, but give me $400... you'll feel the same in a year when you regret your sale and have to pay 2025 market price during Aragorn hype.

 

[Raleig.h]

Why do you want to sell him?


Tell you what: keep him, but give me $400... you'll feel the same in a year when you regret your sale and have to pay 2025 market price during Aragorn hype.

I really enjoy LOTR but its not a favorite franchise of mine and he doesn't quite fit in my collection. If I don't sell him now Ill likely sell him in the future, as thats always been my plan (before scalper prices went crazy). I only want 2 figures from LOTR and Legolas and Aragorn are my 2 favorite characters, so it will be them.

I will probably keep him for now though, for whatever reason I wasn't very impressed upon my initial futz but am liking him more now after the second go around.

 

[Wor-Gar]

If you're going to sell him, definitely wait until he's unavailable everywhere -- meaning no cancelations popping up. And if you can, wait for the return hype when Aragorn starts shipping. By then you'll likely get top dollar.

 

[webhead05]

I really enjoy LOTR but its not a favorite franchise of mine and he doesn't quite fit in my collection. If I don't sell him now Ill likely sell him in the future, as thats always been my plan (before scalper prices went crazy). I only want 2 figures from LOTR and Legolas and Aragorn are my 2 favorite characters, so it will be them.

I will probably keep him for now though, for whatever reason I wasn't very impressed upon my initial futz but am liking him more now after the second go around.

Well, all I'll say is that Legolas hasn't even been revealed, much less put up for preorder, much much less being a real, tangible thing in collectors' hands... So if the thought is that Gandalf is the odd one out, that's a problem literally years away. If you enjoy Gandalf, why deprive yourself of that shelf time in the interim?

 

[HyperDrive]

This figure is so incredible looking, I feel wrong for wanting to sell him but I know I’ll regret it when Aragorn comes in.

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Keep him.. this should be your line of thinking..

 

[HMC117]

I definitley need to style his hair and beard.... but amazing figure

 

[Chopper Face]

KGH has them but shipping is Surface Parcel by Hong Kong Post (9-15weeks) to the US. Crazy.

That’s the cheapest shipping but they still offer airmail and ems.

The markup price is huge though. There really is a ‘This is what you get for not PO’ing, you fool of a Took!’ tax in this hobby.

Gandalf now costs a much as the rooted deluxe Joker set.

 

[ObiGlennKenobi]

He just posted on FB. Gandalf is temporarily sold out. Don’t need to stand by tomorrow

cheers @hoodonit00

 

[Gipetto0812]

That’s the cheapest shipping but they still offer airmail and ems.

The markup price is huge though. There really is a ‘This is what you get for not PO’ing, you fool of a Took!’ tax in this hobby.

Gandalf now costs a much as the rooted deluxe Joker set.

That's the added labor cost for how long it's going to take someone to apply all those extra stamps by hand

 

[HyperDrive]

Man your futzing is so good I’m too embarrassed to post my photos! I’ve got a lot of beard work to do!!

Thank you, man! No need to be embarrassed but yeah, some futzing can go a long way! Post them up!

Just depends on how you want him to look, I suggest referencing a movie still that you like. I’m still trying to achieve straightening out the hair and beard more a bit, thinning it out too.

 

[RandomHero]

Speaking of futzing, I have a question - people have been talking about doing a water treatment for the hair and beard. I have never done a water treatment on a figure before, I've always been hesitant because I don't want to ruin something on an expensive/not easy to obtain piece. But I feel like there's a lot of benefit to doing it on Gandalf, so I think I'm going to try it this week.

How wet do you get the clothes in a water treatment? Do you just dampen them and let them dry? Or do you get them pretty wet? I was thinking of just spraying the clothes without the head on with a spray bottle a few times just to dampen them, but if there's a better way to do it, I'd love to know what's worked for you guys who have done this. Might be willing to try it on other figures if I feel confident in it but I guess I need to start somewhere.

 

[scumonkey]

I've soaked my through...keep wetting till it does what you want.
I also use a spray bottle. Sometimes just a wet brush for stubborn areas.

 

[RandomHero]

I've soaked my through...keep wetting till it does what you want.
I also use a spray bottle. Sometimes just a wet brush for stubborn areas.

I guess that’s my thing, I don’t know what I want, I’ve never done this before haha. At least now I know to soak through and not just dampen, that’s a very helpful start. Thank you! Did you shape anything on the clothes, or did you just wet them and however they dried was what you kept?

 

[Brett Banner]

Got my Gandalf out and setup today. Took a good couple hours to go through everything and futz a bit. I get the hype now. Probably one of the only figures I’ve ever bought where I was significantly more wowed in hand vs online photos and videos. The sculpt really is more crisp and hi-def in hand compared to a typical Hot Toys figure.

My pros and cons so far:

- Lots of volume to the beard but I think it still works in hand with a little futzing, I thought I was going to absolutely hate it with how these last batches have been looking in photos.
- I hate the blue belt, took me ages with the instructions before I figured out they had the main hanging strap knotted up too close to the belt (and the hanging strap was pointing upwards and ending all the way up under his right armpit) so I had to undo and reset it which was quite fiddly and annoying.
- Already scuffed the pipe a bit trying to put it only halfway into the staff, should have included an extra for that very purpose.
- Much more difficult to get the rooted hair and beard to sit/hang down as naturally when you have the additional outer robe on due to the extra layer of material.
- I think the hat works really well if you take the padding out, I can get mine on the head really well and looks great. However it obviously makes it so difficult to see the sculpt underneath that I’m definitely going to be leaving it off for the time being.
- Base sucks, magnets are weak as hell. I’m using the staff to give him extra support but will start looking for some sort of crotch grabber stand that will work for LOTR. I just have no faith that he won’t fall over at some point with my crazy toddler running around.
- The rooted hair looks fantastic. However. I’m not sure how I feel in terms of whether I’m actually going to enjoy owning this figure due to always having to mess with it again every time I change poses. Personally I can get pretty annoyed with futzing and to me that is the opposite of “fun” which is something I do prioritize with my figures these days. I already do not look forward to even touching him again but damn it looks good with that rooted hair.

To sum up. Yeah this is one of the best 1/6 figures ever made. Can’t wait for Batman and Aragorn.