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

[BrooklynWolf X]

Preordered right when it went up

*looks at profile pic*

If you hadn’t, I would’ve been disappointed....


; )

It's just about keeping expectations in check in my opinion. I'm not expecting the production to match the prototype and no one should be expecting that. Why? Because there's not a single company out there that's able to achieve that, even Hot Toys. There will always be a downgrade from the master prototype to production version.

It's just a matter of how much the production version gets downgraded that matters. If the production tailoring quality is great and the sculpt is a bit softer with quality rooted hair, I'll be happy.

Yup, if they can get it to look 90-95% of the proto, I’ll be happier than a pig in $***.

Don’t **** this up IA!!

 

[vaanrose]

I don't think the DamToys factory rumors are true, because I've heard directly from the OEM factory, that QS/IA bought the factory's handgun off taobao for the Ledger Joker, which isn't diecast and they claimed it was, whatever factory they're using will likely be the same one Viper used in the past, I don't think the sculpt will be on the same level as the prototype, right now there's only one factory I know of that can cast sculpts with almost the same level of the proto and that is the same factory Hot Toys uses and I'm unware if they'll be using this factory for their sculpts so I doubt the final sculpt will be as crisp, the paint apps is another point of uncertainty, it could have acceptable paint apps for sure but it takes a lot of steps to achieve a good layered paint application and also a lot of work to print every mole, blemish and other skin details to make sculpts more realistic, I really doubt they will care about this, their main focus should be putting out a sculpt with great rooted hair, do I think they can achieve it in mass production? I have serious doubts but we'll see, there's a lot of hype and FOMO happening right now and QS/IA are setting a very, very high bar for themselves and making huge promises they need to deliver on but their marketing strategy is working that much is certain, the prototypes are impressive and the engament with the community is getting people comfortable with spending $500 for a toy, we've already seen how collectors can immediatly turn on them without having a product in hand so if this ends up being a standard quality figure with mass produced level of rooted hair there will be some very angry people to deal with and I would imagine they don't want that to happen but then again they have put out some questionable pieces recently.

Do you believe it's entirely fair to compare this figure to their larger scale busts, given it's a different team, a different scale, and will be produced in different factories? Because I keep seeing people bring up that Joaquin bust, and forgive me for being the optimist, but I feel like it's more difficult to reach this level of quality at larger scales. 1/6 has always seemed to be the perfect middle ground to me, where if you go any smaller, the details start to get so small that you can't properly pack them in, but if you go larger, anything wrong with the face grows increasingly more obvious. Personally, I frequently find those larger busts fall into the uncanny valley much more often than 1/6 scale figures. At the end of the day, these heads are two inches tall and usually viewed a couple feet away.

 

[R_R_X]

Do you believe it's entirely fair to compare this figure to their larger scale busts, given it's a different team, a different scale, and will be produced in different factories? Because I keep seeing people bring up that Joaquin bust, and forgive me for being the optimist, but I feel like it's more difficult to reach this level of quality at larger scales. 1/6 has always seemed to be the perfect middle ground to me, where if you go any smaller, the details start to get so small that you can't properly pack them in, but if you go larger, anything wrong with the face grows increasingly more obvious. Personally, I frequently find those larger busts fall into the uncanny valley much more often than 1/6 scale figures. At the end of the day, these heads are two inches tall and usually viewed a couple feet away.

I wasn't really comparing the statues to the future 1/6 offerings, I was saying QS/IA are about to enter a completely different world of collectibles and there's a lot of room for mistake if you don't source the right factories, materials, people, etc. I haven't heard what factories they'll be using but I know the best ones around, which Hot Toys uses as well, and they don't seem to be in any talks whatsoever with QS/IA, so I doubt they are going to reach the level of quality, sharpness and detail they're promising, but as I said they don't need to, the star of their figures is the rooted hair and that's what they have to nail.

I think there's way more detail you can pack in larger scales and busts the problem is companies rarely put it in, a 1/6 sculpt is tiny and minor details won't be as scrutinized like that of a 1:1 bust which is why I also agree that 1/6 is the perfect middle ground, as technology advances it's becoming easier to pack these tiny sculpts with more detail but it costs and it needs R&D, spider veins on a 1/6 sculpt are 100% possible now and it's crazy how realistic it can be but just about every company won't even consider adding that kind of detail since it's practically invisible to the naked eye, on a bust however I imagine it would result in some insane next level realism but companies just don't look into that sort of thing and silicone seems to be the go to material to replicate skin on busts now but I find it just makes the product fall into the uncanny valley like you said.

At the end of the day I'm not discouraging anyone from pre-ordering QS/IA items or even disagreeing with other's opinions, I'm just trying to offer a bit of insight into what to expect as Queen's marketing keeps hyping up their products and people create insanely high expectations based of their prototypes with master sculpting, painting, hairing, tailoring, etc, because right now all the hype, over promising and FOMO could end up doing them more harm than good if the mass produced product ends up not living up to the impressive proto's rooted hair.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Much of the time, the "trailer" is the best part.

 

[Luisenigma1]

Glad the PO window is a month cause I'll preorder on friday. $500 for this type of figure is better then what it usually goes for as a custom which is way more.

 

[Buttmunch]

Ah screw it. You guys talked me into it. Better to get an order in and decide later than to wait too long and pay even more for one. Gandalf can happily represent the entire franchise to me so I’m hoping I’m not tempted by the rest. Any more and they’ve got to do the entire fellowship.

 

[BrooklynWolf X]

The army grows!!

 

[dominishin]

No pre-order bonus shenanigans this time?

 

[Wor-Gar]

Ah screw it. You guys talked me into it.

Enablers

 

[Wor-Gar]

No pre-order bonus shenanigans this time?

 

[BrooklynWolf X]

No pre-order bonus shenanigans this time?

Oh goodness no. I think after the over blown joker fiasco, I’m sure IA didn’t want anymore negativity surrounding another release.


We got a One month window...


Watch, people will still complain...

 

[Mike86]

To me Gandalf is more tempting than yet another Ledger Joker. Not sure if I’m willing to bite for the price tag though. To me it doesn’t look that vastly improved over the Asmus version except the sculpt. The rooted hair on the Asmus actually looks better to me in some ways (particularly the beard).

 

[Luisenigma1]

The rooted hair on the Asmus actually looks better to me in some ways (particularly the beard).

You gotta stop smoking that hobbit weed. Lol

 

[Wor-Gar]

Bird in the hand...

 

[DakRen]

I can’t pay $515 for a face that isn’t perfect. I love everything else, just don’t understand why they messed up the nose and mouth.

 

[yy0925]

I can’t pay $515 for a face that isn’t perfect. I love everything else, just don’t understand why they messed up the nose and mouth.

And the eyes...

 

[Life_m2000]

I commented on InArts FB post about the hat and they responded that they are looking in to it.
So they seem to be listening to critiques

 

[hoodonit00]

I commented on InArts FB post about the hat and they responded that they are looking in to it.
So they seem to be listening to critiques

what’s wrong with the hat?

 

[Life_m2000]

what’s wrong with the hat?

It’s the wrong colour. Looks too grey and not the light shade of blue.
Think they need Nanjin’s colour charts lol

Saying that it could just be their pics, but spending all this money I want the correct shade. Maybe I’m just nuts lol

 

[Lizard Lips]

I commented on InArts FB post about the hat and they responded that they are looking in to it.
So they seem to be listening to critiques

I saw them say that about the eyes and nose too though and then they rushed to release this prototype without apparently fixing those issues. I still think overall the figure is very good but the face still bothers me. I just don't really see Ian McKellen which is disappointing but they've done just enough with everything else to convince me to PO.