???????
I remain excited. I completely believe them that Thranduil is in production already. The company I can't get excited about is InArt since they show Thorin but there's nothing definite. Not that I don't own multiple ASMUS Thorins one of their finest figures.
The only products I can assume from InArt are Legolas and the Nazgul. And now Chinese New Year is coming which will probably slow things up.
That's not what I meant.
Asmus has their fans that will collect anything Middle Earth because they want Middle Earth stuff, sure. People like you and I. But let's be real, Asmus has a ton of detractors after many of their figures released with issues or major downgrades. All legitimate criticisms. They took a break from LOTR, which after the Gollum skin discoloration debacle and the Boromir 2.0 that ended up being a massive downgrade, was good because it gave people a break from having eyes on things they were doing wrong.
Now InArt is here. Gandalf and Aragorn were figures of the year for many. Now, I'm very wary of InArt and I'm not buying a rooted figure from them unless I absolutely have to, like Hermione. I avoided Legolas even though I'm still tempted, and likely won't buy Malfoy and Snape unless they come with sculpted options. Point being, they have their detractors too.
So now Asmus is making their LOTR return, right at a time where InArt has made some missteps on their LOTR line. Tons of Aragorn hair concerns, Legolas price increase and no Mirkwood bow, claiming no more LOTR after Frodo/Sam. This is the perfect time to Asmus to come in and show progress on Gil-Galad, put Saruman up for pre-order and announce another Crown figure, make a perfect Boromir figure and show people they can buy that to help complete their Fellowships. They're working on Frodo and Sam too - show pictures and beat InArt to the punch. Show perfect looking figures and say Merry and Pippin are coming too to help complete your Fellowship.
Just seems silly to me to not try and capture people's interest after InArt said they wouldn't finish the Fellowship. Perfect time for Asmus to come in and say "hey, we got you guys. Boromir, Pippin and Merry are coming, and they'll look great. We want your Fellowships to be complete and we don't want our figures to look out of place. Oh, and you don't want to finish the Fellowship? We have Crown Galadriel coming since InArt won't make her."
That's what I meant.