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

[vaanrose]

How many more days must I be tortured with the possibility of POing this figure? I need a cut-off.

If you order it, you won't have to worry about it anymore.

 

[DakRen]

How many more days must I be tortured with the possibility of POing this figure? I need a cut-off.

Couple posts above you says June 14.

 

[MyenShi]

I’ve gotta make it a point to stop by every InArt thread because these discussions are wild.

I have no horse in this race but I’m just going to say what I normally say.

If you’re on the fence, just buy it. It’s better to buy it and sell it if you don’t want it than regret it and buy it for more.

 

[GhostBeard]

Can’t you order it elsewhere after June 14? I’m not getting the deadline thing.

 

[Gipetto0812]

Can’t you order it elsewhere after June 14? I’m not getting the deadline thing.

You probably can. The reason there's a deadline, is that retailers themselves have a deadline with distributors on when they can lock in their order allotment with them. They usually add a couple above what ppl have actually ordered to have a few available when it becomes available. While OSK let's us know there's a deadline to order before he finalizes his total orders with the distributor, other retailers tend to not do this and continue to take orders up until the item is available. There are some retailers who have a growing reputation of keeping POs up until the item arrives and then when they don't have enough to fulfill all orders, they will more than likely tell you one of two things when you inquire about why you haven't gotten yours yet but yet other ppl who have also ordered from them have already gotten one:

1) The manufacture didn't give us our full allotment, so we have to cancel your order. Would you like a refund or store credit?
2) Due to covid delays we are still waiting on the rest of our orders to arrive but rest assured, it will ship when it's in our warehouse.
BONUS* They just ignore your email altogether and never respond.

These could be true, but are usually more than likely false just to keep you on the hook until too much time has passed and you've lost any money put down for the order.

So yes, you could take the chance and wait to order later from somewhere else and maybe you will still be able to get one. Just FYI, this isn't me trying to fearfully get anyone to order from OSK and not somewhere else. Just trying to give some information on why there's a deadline and why some folks don't get their orders when they order after said deadline at other retailers.

I hope this helps

 

[MyenShi]

Can’t you order it elsewhere after June 14? I’m not getting the deadline thing.

You probably can. The reason there's a deadline, is that retailers themselves have a deadline with distributors on when they can lock in their order allotment with them. They usually add a couple above what ppl have actually ordered to have a few available when it becomes available. While OSK let's us know there's a deadline to order before he finalizes his total orders with the distributor, other retailers tend to not do this and continue to take orders up until the item is available. There are some retailers who have a growing reputation of keeping POs up until the item arrives and then when they don't have enough to fulfill all orders, they will more than likely tell you one of two things when you inquire about why you haven't gotten yours yet but yet other ppl who have also ordered from them have already gotten one:

1) The manufacture didn't give us our full allotment, so we have to cancel your order. Would you like a refund or store credit?
2) Due to covid delays we are still waiting on the rest of our orders to arrive but rest assured, it will ship when it's in our warehouse.
BONUS* They just ignore your email altogether and never respond.

These could be true, but are usually more than likely false just to keep you on the hook until too much time has passed and you've lost any money put down for the order.

So yes, you could take the chance and wait to order later from somewhere else and maybe you will still be able to get one. Just FYI, this isn't me trying to fearfully get anyone to order from OSK and not somewhere else. Just trying to give some information on why there's a deadline and why some folks don't get their orders when they order after said deadline at other retailers.

I hope this helps

To add to that, I think this is further complicated by QS/InArt only having a very limited license for distributing these figures.

By comparison, Hot Toys has global licenses so they can afford to make figures in higher quantities with a lot more distributors and their authorized retailers to take pre-orders and carry inventory.

InArt is making expensive figures for very particular collectors with high expectations and budgets to match. There’s a fair number of people that fall into that category, but less than for other collectibles. They can’t really have these sitting around, and neither can the smaller scale shops in their territory handling sales to people in other markets.

There’ll probably be some amount of availability beyond what’s initially preordered, but it’ll be limited and bought up by quickly people who regretted not preordering. Might come at a higher cost, too.

If you think you’ll want it, preorder it. It’s not worth risking the alternatives for what’s really a small deposit.

Also what am I even doing here? I love LOTR but don’t own any LOTR collectibles. I looked at this figure on OSK and I felt like I was transfixed on the One Ring glistening at the bottom of the river, tempting me to reach for it.

 

[chrisstbh]

How many more days must I be tortured with the possibility of POing this figure? I need a cut-off.

You know you want to. Search your feelings…

 

[GhostBeard]

You probably can. The reason there's a deadline, is that retailers themselves have a deadline with distributors on when they can lock in their order allotment with them. They usually add a couple above what ppl have actually ordered to have a few available when it becomes available. While OSK let's us know there's a deadline to order before he finalizes his total orders with the distributor, other retailers tend to not do this and continue to take orders up until the item is available. There are some retailers who have a growing reputation of keeping POs up until the item arrives and then when they don't have enough to fulfill all orders, they will more than likely tell you one of two things when you inquire about why you haven't gotten yours yet but yet other ppl who have also ordered from them have already gotten one:

1) The manufacture didn't give us our full allotment, so we have to cancel your order. Would you like a refund or store credit?
2) Due to covid delays we are still waiting on the rest of our orders to arrive but rest assured, it will ship when it's in our warehouse.
BONUS* They just ignore your email altogether and never respond.

These could be true, but are usually more than likely false just to keep you on the hook until too much time has passed and you've lost any money put down for the order.

So yes, you could take the chance and wait to order later from somewhere else and maybe you will still be able to get one. Just FYI, this isn't me trying to fearfully get anyone to order from OSK and not somewhere else. Just trying to give some information on why there's a deadline and why some folks don't get their orders when they order after said deadline at other retailers.

I hope this helps

It does help. Not feeling the pressure to invest so much without more time to ponder, especially since I'm remodeling the house and would have to explain to my wife we're not getting the hot tub but instead we can grab a glass of wine, go into my office and look at my Gandalf. Eh, I can take it our leave it I suppose. Doesn't make the books any less fun to re-read.

 

[Hando]

How many more days must I be tortured with the possibility of POing this figure? I need a cut-off.

He comes with underwear

 

[MyenShi]

It does help. Not feeling the pressure to invest so much without more time to ponder, especially since I'm remodeling the house and would have to explain to my wife we're not getting the hot tub but instead we can grab a glass of wine, go into my office and look at my Gandalf. Eh, I can take it our leave it I suppose. Doesn't make the books any less fun to re-read.

It's only $75 to secure it at OSK and it doesn't come out till about middle of next year at the earliest.

Even as a non LOTR collector, I contemplated it for a few minutes.

Seems like a small price to pay to have this secured next to the cost of a hot tub or even a glass of wine, depending on the wine.

You would probably have no issue selling your figure or your preorder spot if you change your mind.

I don't really see a downside to preordering if it's something you feel you might even remotely like to have.

 

[GhostBeard]

It's only $75 to secure it at OSK and it doesn't come out till about middle of next year at the earliest.

Even as a non LOTR collector, I contemplated it for a few minutes.

Seems like a small price to pay to have this secured next to the cost of a hot tub or even a glass of wine, depending on the wine.

You would probably have no issue selling your figure or your preorder spot if you change your mind.

I don't really see a downside to preordering if it's something you feel you might even remotely like to have.

Get thee behind me satan!

 

[Wor-Gar]

1) The manufacture didn't give us our full allotment, so we have to cancel your order. Would you like a refund or store credit?
2) Due to covid delays we are still waiting on the rest of our orders to arrive but rest assured, it will ship when it's in our warehouse.
BONUS* They just ignore your email altogether and never respond.

I hope this helps

 

[Nagoya]

TNSFigures also has this guy at $515 with $75 down.
Ordered mine yesterday and already am feeling how light my wallet is Aragorn and Batfleck on top of this might do us all in but let's all hope it's at least partially worth it

 

[GhostBeard]

TNSFigures also has this guy at $515 with $75 down.
Ordered mine yesterday and already am feeling how light my wallet is Aragorn and Batfleck on top of this might do us all in but let's all hope it's at least partially worth it

I take it you've had a good experience with TNSFigures before? I'm SO back and forth on this thing.

 

[Tolkien Nerd]

I take it you've had a good experience with TNSFigures before? I'm SO back and forth on this thing.

I`m exactly the same. Decisions need to be made by me on this Gandalf - clocks ticking!!

 

[GhostBeard]

I`m exactly the same. Decisions need to be made by me on this Gandalf - clocks ticking!!

I've ordered through KGHobby Toys before, who also have this up. Just wondered about TNS.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Has Kit confirmed the cut-off on this? Monday the 14th?

 

[SwedishHeat]

I cannot recommend KGHobby, I've used them a few times in the past and it's been fine. But they've been holding onto and order for months now, because I chose economy shipping when I ordered a year ago, and now economy shipping is apparently not available because of COVID restrictions. At the time they asked me to pay an extra $25 for EMS shipping, but I didn't want to do that. But now, I just want the figure, and am willing to pay extra, but they are no longer responding to my emails.

I'd imagine this is an edge case but, customer service is customer service.

 

[chrisstbh]

Has Kit confirmed the cut-off on this? Monday the 14th?

It says the 14th on the website

 

[Galacticat]

It's only $75 to secure it at OSK and it doesn't come out till about middle of next year at the earliest.

Even as a non LOTR collector, I contemplated it for a few minutes.

Seems like a small price to pay to have this secured next to the cost of a hot tub or even a glass of wine, depending on the wine.

You would probably have no issue selling your figure or your preorder spot if you change your mind.

I don't really see a downside to preordering if it's something you feel you might even remotely like to have.

I suppose if it is easy to sell extra figures to other people on forums/facebook groups, via "friends and family" you are right. But if you can't find a taker like that, you will sell on ebay- and as of this year if you sell more than $600 in stuffs (in the US) you will get a W-9 from Ebay (or paypal) who will report that income and you will have to pay taxes on it. (And even worse, figure out HOW to pay taxes on it).

Not the end of the world but still a major hassle. I don't even do my own taxes but I'm sure the guy who does will charge me extra for figuring out how to file my action figure/fashion doll taxes.

But for that issue, I'd buy this guy and wait and see if he is really as good as the prototype suggests. I guess what I should do is do some digging to see how well Inart typically matches up post production with prototype.