JND Studios: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - 1:3 Harrison Ford and Sean Connery

[rowan1936]

What has the reaction to the production reveal been like over there? Are people as disappointed there too, or is it being "praised" as a masterpiece?
I feel sick to my stomach because stupidly, I sold lots of treasured items from my collection to be able to buy this assuming that they really would have "listened to the feedback" and given us the ultimate Indiana Jones collectible. Obviously, I'm not blaming JND for my blind hope that this was going to be any better than the prototype, but it's a real kick in the guts that they made no attempt to improve any of it. Their ego must be even bigger than their hyped up videos if they think that this couldn't be improved

Most of the replies are of disappointment. People agree that nothing has really been changed. Lots of comparisons to Scott Bakula. One person is concerned about the pants color not changing.

The only defender states that people can just cancel their orders if they don’t like it, negating the fact that people will lose large deposits.

It’s a fail and the community is rightly frustrated.

 

[rowan1936]

@cking is this your edit? It’s making the rounds on the boards. It looks better to me.

 

[cking]

No, I didn't do the one you posted. I haven't bothered doing an update on the final production photo since it's not going to change anything.
Here's the change that I made previously but both of our attempted adjustments show just how little they needed to change to improve it a lot. They chose to ignore us.

 

[Gipetto0812]

Looks better but not great. If this was ROTLA or ToD, I would've been more compelled to still order. I'll wait for one of those. It's only a matter of time.

 

[darth dennis]

Indiana Jones and the Quantum Leap.



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This is sooo close to good...but alas. I feel like it lacks the asymmetry that Ford's face has. I was never in for a 1/3 scale statue but have been watching this with interest as anything Harrison Ford has my attention...

 

[cking]

Yes, they did get VERY close. Adjustments to the eyes, eyebrows and hat (sculpting changes I mean) - that's all we asked for but they didn't even try to subtly improve it.

 

[rowan1936]

Yes, they did get VERY close. Eyes and eyebrows adjustment. That's all we asked for but they couldn't be bothered to try.

That comparison makes the flaws so glaring. Sad.

 

[Mandible]

Yup. Never noticed before but as Rowan said, the issues are more pronounced in these photos; chin is too big. Lips are overly sculpted - let alone everything else that has been discussed ad nauseam.

Literally the only thing they've made better is the skin color!

Last JND for me. They can go **** themselves with that level of ego.

 

[rowan1936]

Yup. Never noticed before but as Rowan said, the issues are more pronounced in these photos; chin is too big. Lips are overly sculpted - let alone everything else that has been discussed ad nauseam.

Literally the only thing they've made better is the skin color!

Last JND for me. They can go **** themselves with that level of ego.

I made a similar point on their FB site. They get my money now, but I won’t buy or recommend their products again.

 

[Gipetto0812]

While I don't believe it's the fault of anyone here given that it appeared that JND hinted or very much said that they would take the critiques seriously in the same way they did with Reeve, I think it's typically always best to be ok with whatever the prototype is as there's never a guarantee that a company will make changes for any number of reasons.

Same thing happened with InArt BvS Superman. Ppl thought that since "InArt listens unlike other companies" they would go back and make changes to him but nope, he turned out exactly like the proto, unfortunately.

There should really never be any expectations that changes will be made after a prototype is solicited. Given how difficult JND let on that Disney was to work with just to get The Last Crusade license, I wonder if any sort of resubmittal and approval of a new/updated proto would've been just as difficult? If that's true, maybe they decided to forgo that in the hopes of making a new Indy in the future

 

[cking]

I doubt we'll ever see another Indy from JND. They were only given The Last Crusade license. They certainly did say that the critiques had been heard and they were improving it. That clearly turned out to be BS.

 

[Mandible]

While I don't believe it's the fault of anyone here given that it appeared that JND hinted or very much said that they would take the critiques seriously in the same way they did with Reeve, I think it's typically always best to be ok with whatever the prototype is as there's never a guarantee that a company will make changes for any number of reasons.

Same thing happened with InArt BvS Superman. Ppl thought that since "InArt listens unlike other companies" they would go back and make changes to him but nope, he turned out exactly like the proto, unfortunately.

There should really never be any expectations that changes will be made after a prototype is solicited. Given how difficult JND let on that Disney was to work with just to get The Last Crusade license, I wonder if any sort of resubmittal and approval of a new/updated proto would've been just as difficult? If that's true, maybe they decided to forgo that in the hopes of making a new Indy in the future

Absolute 100% agree... but; in this case there was (apparently) feedback saying they would address things - like you said, like the Reeve.

If they didn't say that, I wouldn't have any expectation beyond the prototype. And if they never had any intentions to address anything, then just say that and I would accept it.

But don't say, and not do - particularly the pants after cking had the decency to reach out very early on and offer to them them an ACUTAL piece of the original costuming. If they had zero intentions of doing any adjustments they should have shut it down straight away and said, thanks but no thanks.

 

[Mandible]

That angle definitely feels more like Scott Bacula than Harrison Ford

 

[histrionics]

I feel like they've modelled Indy's likeness off the Drew Struzman poster art, so it's something of a three-dimensional artistic interpretation of a two-dimensional artistic interpretation, twice removed from the source, hence the cartoonish caricature quality. Harrison Ford's brows were not so lush in character - I believe they mostly bleached while he was out getting tanned during the hot Tunisian film shooting. If you look at the film or any stills again, he scarcely has eyebrows, however the Struzman art depicted some pretty thick brows and the quirky facial expression .

 

[cking]

What I find ridiculous (considering this is supposed to be a statue from The Last Crusade) is that they actually appear to have based the sculpt on photos from Temple of Doom and the Temple of Doom One Sheet poster. This is what happens when someone sculpts the portrait who wasn't even born when the movies were released. Those of us who were there from the start have got Ford's Indy face etched into our brains and we can see when it's off probably a lot quicker than someone who was just handed the project to sculpt without really being "in" to the subject matter. It's such a miss in so many different ways.

It looks even worse with the hat off as inexplicably, they've made his forehead really tall and the overall face is very elongated. Nothing like Ford's head / face proportions. So very. very disappointed.

 

[RJTVFX]

@cking is this your edit? It’s making the rounds on the boards. It looks better to me.

that's my edit, still doesn't look right though but I can't figure out what else needs changing

 

[cking]

that's my edit, still doesn't look right though but I can't figure out what else needs changing

His face is too long. Ford's face is shorter and wider than what they've given us. The eyebrows are too dark also.

 

[RJTVFX]

His face is too long. Ford's face is shorter and wider than what they've given us. The eyebrows are too dark also.

Tried another edit but still looks off. But you'd think their team would have it down by now, I know likeness portraits are very difficult but there are a lot of great fan created 3D models of actors/characters out there

 

[RJTVFX]

Like this free 3D file looks more accurate to me so you'd think JND with very talented artists would be able to beat this

 

[cking]

I just read over on statueforum that James stated in his livestream that Disney were restrictive on the changes that were allowed on the sculpt and even more baffling than that - they supplied JND with a colour chart for the pants which JND had to stick to. Someone should fire the person at Disney who put that colour chart together!

If I was just someone who was shouting about their color being wrong based on looking at the movie and photos alone, I wouldn't have much in my defence. However, I've got pieces of the ACTUAL fabric used to make Harrison's pants from Last Crusade, so I THINK that should be good enough provenance to know what I'm talking about. Oh well, it's far too late in the game to expect any improvements, so we're stuck with this horrible Disney controlled inaccurate version now.

I can't quite get my brain to grasp why Disney would want to restrict making the sculpt BETTER. Complete madness. Having now seen the head without the hat on, it's an absolute mess. WAY too elongated and thin and nothing like Ford's head / face proportions. So disappointing. (Unless the photo I saw suffered from horrendous lens distortion).