The Bridge Direct's The Hobbit Line

[The Josh]

Yeah, I'm guessing that will be corrected web the production version ships.

 

[The Ween]

Sadly, the success of the movie and the BOGOHO sale at TRU has done little to move these figures. The 6" ones sell down well, but no one seems to be touching the 4" ones at my local TRUs.

They sell the 4" ones at Walmart and Meijer here, but I have yet to see the 6" ones anywhere.

 

[Red Metal]

Around here TRU has had the entire assortment and Barnes and Nobles has only had the 6" figures and the 4" figure 5-pack. Otherwise, I have seen these no where else - not even scalped up at local comic stores. I've checked all the Walmarts and Targets lately and have found nothing.

It's a shame, but I understand that TDB is sort of a gamble for most retail stores.

 

[cstojano]

Sadly, the success of the movie and the BOGOHO sale at TRU has done little to move these figures. The 6" ones sell down well, but no one seems to be touching the 4" ones at my local TRUs.

Honestly, the retail price on these is insane. TRU is the only store locally to have them and they are 9.99 for the smaller scale, and that's atrocious I think. Target and WM never got them here although I keep waiting for both to reset their toy aisles after Christmas. But honestly, I look at the boxes of opened and unopened Indiana Jones toys that I have and this is incentive enough to not bother.

 

[Red Metal]

Honestly, the retail price on these is insane. TRU is the only store locally to have them and they are 9.99 for the smaller scale, and that's atrocious I think. Target and WM never got them here although I keep waiting for both to reset their toy aisles after Christmas. But honestly, I look at the boxes of opened and unopened Indiana Jones toys that I have and this is incentive enough to not bother.

TBD prices are actually really fair by today's standard. Look at the prices on Star Wars and Joes 4" figures - basically within a dollar of where TBD 4" Hobbit figures are. The only savings here is if you buy the two-pack or five-pack. Then look at Matty DCUC or Hasbro ML and compare that to TDB 6" figures, again within about a dollar depending on where you shop. Sure, B&N going to $18.99 for the 6" figures is absurd, but they need to do anything to survive. And lastly, if you've seen the news of the upcoming Hasbro Star Wars 6" line of figures being at $19.99 and the recent hike on NECA figures that are now at $19.99 (or even the TMNT Classics at $19.99), then you have to know that it's only going to get alittle worse and TBD is actually right where they should be.

 

[The Ween]

Check Walmart online because they have some of them.

 

[JonWes]

Someone on another board wanted pics of BD Gandalf and normal Gandalf, so I thought I'd share in case anyone else wondered...

Here you go. I actually think the differences are a bit more pronounced than some people have made out, though it might vary from figure to figure. The Battle Damage figure has a brownish cast to the whole thing and a more detailed app on his scarf. That's the first picture. The second picture is how I display mine. I switched their scarf because I like the detail on the BD figure more. But you can really see the overall color difference there.

 

[Red Metal]

There's also bruising on the face of the BD Gandalf, too.

I'm still surpised that Bridge Direct has not changes the tape sticker on the Gandalf/Bolg packaging. Eveyer copy I see still has the tape sticker covering the words "battle damaged" just above Gandalf's name.

 

[Petrolos]

Interesting, thanks for the comparison shots JonWes! The battle damaged Gandalf actually looks more color accurate. The normal version could well be one of the long lost Blue Wizards!

 

[cstojano]

TBD prices are actually really fair by today's standard. Look at the prices on Star Wars and Joes 4" figures - basically within a dollar of where TBD 4" Hobbit figures are. The only savings here is if you buy the two-pack or five-pack. Then look at Matty DCUC or Hasbro ML and compare that to TDB 6" figures, again within about a dollar depending on where you shop. Sure, B&N going to $18.99 for the 6" figures is absurd, but they need to do anything to survive. And lastly, if you've seen the news of the upcoming Hasbro Star Wars 6" line of figures being at $19.99 and the recent hike on NECA figures that are now at $19.99 (or even the TMNT Classics at $19.99), then you have to know that it's only going to get alittle worse and TBD is actually right where they should be.

Well you may be right but I never see Neca or other adult collectibles as the market I am talking about. I dont think these figs are collector focused really, although I guess the 6 inch scale is more so. It is crazy that 10 bucks has become nothing to bother with though. 10 is the new 5.

 

[Red Metal]

Well you may be right but I never see Neca or other adult collectibles as the market I am talking about. I dont think these figs are collector focused really, although I guess the 6 inch scale is more so. It is crazy that 10 bucks has become nothing to bother with though. 10 is the new 5.

I think this is a unique situation. You're right that the figures aren't quite adult collector or niche market items, but at the same time they're so limited that they feel like. If these were to appear at Target or Walmart across the US, then I'd be more inclined to call them mass market. However with the limited availability and fairly limited run, it does feel like a different kind of figure line.

Yea, as someone who used to buy figures at the $5 price back in the day, it is pretty bad that $10 is the new norm. I used to collect $10 Transformer figures that are now in the $15-18 range.

 

[DiFabio]

 

[DarthNeil]

Lots there I'd love to pick up. So far I've only bought the Thorin 6".

 

[Red Metal]

I'm in for all the 3.75" ones, but if distribution does not improve, I may sit the 6" ones out. I don't want to start something that I can't finish.

 

[Khev]

What size are those?

 

[gideon]

What a HUGE disappointment this line has been compared to what we had during LOTR. This is really a downer.

 

[The Josh]

What size are those?

The first picture are 3.75" figures

Bottom are 6" figures

What a HUGE disappointment this line has been compared to what we had during LOTR. This is really a downer.

For you maybe. I can't say I agree with that.

 

[Khev]

Thanks Josh. What's disappointing gideon?

 

[The Josh]

No problem

 

[nonexistent]

I am into the 3.75 inch figures. Hope to see more orc figures at this scale, such as yazneg with his warg and other Orc figures. I read somewhere we are getting azog and his white warg in 3.75 inch. The bad guys are really outnumbered