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

[Sassafras]

I don’t know how you can forget having a timeless character on PO.

For one thing, I already own 2 ASMUS Legolas with very nice accessories, the Helm's Deep base.

This just isn't a brilliant release IMO. 2 cloaks that look completely unfinished and you don't even get the silver pin of the council cloak, 1 bow, no Hobbit Mirkwood armor, no interesting base with, say, a tree trunk or something to go with a "woodland elf" or even a bit of Amon Hen. Plastic boots. Not enough arrows IMO.

To be fair, more stuff probably would raise the cost even more.

Then, the release isn't due for months and who knows if it will be delayed. I might get more excited with the first in-hand pics. Or horrified .

Actually several months in, I'd say Aragorn is a more exciting figure if you have the Ranger cloak. Or not.

INART makes relevant power players. Designs that actually excite. If they had Disney licenses, they’d also do characters of similar nature and staying power. You know they’d finally give us Indiana Jones (no, not Dial of f*cking Destiny Indy), Jack Sparrow (again, no, not stupid-ass DMTNT or OST Jack), a Tobey Spider-Man figure worth it’s salt from the Raimi trilogy, Alien or Aliens Ellen Ripley, etc. I didn’t even mention the boatload of Star Wars or MCU classic/iconic designs they’d be able to do too.

Sorry, but the Ashoka line, or any other “flavor of the week” products, are forgettable and I think it’s head-scratching/comical when people liken figures from subpar IPs to actual power players that INART makes. They just don’t compare. Is it okay to like “crap”? Of course. I mean, I’m getting Romulus Rain and the Scorched alien but I know it’s nowhere near the level of Alien and Aliens (even Prometheus imo). I wish people in this community were more objective.

Do you mean "view collecting like I do?" As far as "relevant power players" nope, I don't own a Batman or Joker. Well, a few DC pieces as 1/10 Iron Studios to represent, that's it.

Depending, I've always liked logical world expansions, because of Hollywood desperately needing to rehash/sequalize, for one thing - tho I don't always object to sequels. The Hobbit expanding into the North (Mirkwood, Laketown, Erebor, Angmar) for me was exciting. The Outer Rim for SW - finally, because I was Sky-walkered out, and even then Luke got dragged back in. POTC expanding into different pirate strongholds.

E.g. the various renditions of these "power players" over time for me is just monotonous (even if a lot of them are &^%$ likenesses). So, you may think of Baylan Skoll as part of a "subpar IP" but as part of my collection he's 1) Beautiful fig and 2) an interesting aspect of Force Users. (At the moment he's standing next to Aragorn and you can't tell me which sculpt is better quality, Baylan is stunning. )

I'm Gandalf-ed out too. I own WETA statues, ASMUS, people keep making Gandalf. Am a lot more excited about getting a new Thranduil and IF InArt releases Thorin.

Or - MY shelves sort of loosely depict a created world, with diorama bases, accessories, droids, etc.
I don't WANT a lineup of "power players" who may not even be characters I am into, like Spiderman.
Am slowly bashing a "random female woodland elf" together right now to go with Thranduil, for a background character. Am happy ASMUS released some elf soldiers. Droids to go with SW displays.

Am sure InArt will produce, sooner or later, "relevant power players" or someone else will, and that's cool, but it's hard to get excited about the 73rd Iron Man or Gandalf #48 for me anyway.

 

[HyperDrive]

You realize you don’t need to buy all of these figures/SKUS these companies make right? That’s not what I was saying. Misconstruing as per usual. I don’t even do that, but I can still acknowledge what is a critically acclaimed and general “power player” loved and deemed popular by the masses.

 

[SwedishHeat]

INART makes relevant power players. Designs that actually excite. If they had Disney licenses, they’d also do characters of similar nature and staying power. You know they’d finally give us Indiana Jones (no, not Dial of f*cking Destiny Indy), Jack Sparrow (again, no, not stupid-ass DMTNT or OST Jack), a Tobey Spider-Man figure worth it’s salt from the Raimi trilogy, Alien or Aliens Ellen Ripley, etc. I didn’t even mention the boatload of Star Wars or MCU classic/iconic designs they’d be able to do too.

Sorry, but the Ashoka line, or any other “flavor of the week” products, are forgettable and I think it’s head-scratching/comical when people liken figures from subpar IPs to actual power players that INART makes. They just don’t compare. Is it okay to like “crap”? Of course. I mean, I’m getting Romulus Rain and the Scorched alien but I know it’s nowhere near the level of Alien and Aliens (even Prometheus imo). I wish people in this community were more objective.

The licensor has the final say in what characters are produced. If InArt had a Disney license, they would face the same struggles Hot Toys does.

 

[HyperDrive]

The licensor has the final say in what characters are produced. If InArt had a Disney license, they would face the same struggles Hot Toys does.

I bet it’s more of a mutual conversation within the contractual arrangement. It’s not like the licensor dictates what these companies produce 100%.

 

[Rzeznikk]

I bet it’s more of a mutual conversation within the contractual arrangement. It’s not like the licensor dictates what these companies produce 100%.

You'd be surprised.

 

[HyperDrive]

You'd be surprised.

We’ll agree to disagree. I think there’s more that goes into it than a simple “the licensor tells the company what to do all the time”.

Imo…. there’s probably tons of stipulations built into the contract which is mutually set up between both parties and looks to support both their interests/company vision and goals. Maybe the licensor has a statement outlined where they say: “needs to provide at least one SKU for x new property if it meets certain revenue/reception/because we feel like it” for example. And on the flip side, maybe there’s clauses with stipulations that states the company can exercise creative liberty in terms of selection (but will need to be reviewed by licensor). We don’t know. Just spitballing here, but I’ll never know why we as a collective seem to be under this impression that it’s more of a one way street, where only the licensor seemingly dictates everything and anything including selections. These contracts are extensive and have several clauses and stipulations built in.. IMO.

 

[HyperDrive]

The other thing I’ll add is that let’s speculatively say they did want to work together and allow INART to do Disney stuff, I think they’d need to mutually come to an understanding where it allows both companies to get that they want. For INART, it’s to add Disney licenses into their portfolio and develop SKUs in their pipeline. And I think INART would probably inform them that they’d like to make the MCs and the most iconic character designs, and they only have the production capacity to offer a few Disney characters a year. Or perhaps a wave of them starting in 2027 after they're done with the current WB “lines” they’ve started (per the livestreams last weekend).

Disney would need to understand/realize INART is a smaller scale company with a different approach than powerhouse Hot Toys and maybe Disney is like: “okay, you guys will deliver fewer SKUs but you need to provide the most relevant characters we have at our disposal at your level like you’re doing for these other licensor owned property lines.” Which would then lead to a planning and R&D stage.

OR MAYBE, both parties don’t reach a mutual agreement that benefits both of them in the way they want and either or both don’t agree to terms. Maybe Disney in this hypothetical absolutely detests the vision strategy INART has and prefers how Hot Toys operates and likes how they’re able to provide everyone and their mom from Star Wars in 1/6. I doubt that it’d be the reason why, but maybe. I myself like what INART is doing and if I was in that meeting, I think it’d be a very easy sell as to what INART can provide for Disney licensed characters in 1/6. These things would be built into the contract.

Just spitballing and speculating like most of us do here.

In the end, don’t worry guys, they’ll never get Disney licenses. I know most of y’all abhor the idea of INART landing them anyway. I’ve been told by so called “1/6 experts” (I’m not referring to anyone here on this site btw) that Hot Toys has the exclusive 1/6 Disney rights and in order for INART to grab a slice of the pie, it would mean Hot Toys needs to be involved to amend/breach whatever exclusive contract they have set up with Disney. And in my eyes, we all know Hot Toys aren’t going to harmoniously cooperate or play nice with INART. Or maybe it’s Disney who literally is good with Hot Toys taking on the work. Imo, INART would provide something more for them which is separate to Hot Toys, but alas.

I didn’t even get into the financials piece too lol..

Johnny with INART has said several times it’s a laboring and extensive process trying to nab licenses deals and with Disney it’s probably even more complex cause well, Hot Toys is involved and it’s the Mouse we’re talking about.