Threezero - Game of Thrones - 1/6 Eddard (Ned) Stark Figure

karamazov80 · Sep 11, 2014

galactiboy said:
maybe a member of the Allman Brothers?

I seriously would love to have a nice, high end Duane Allman figure.

nexus · Sep 11, 2014

Sure the folks who approve the licenses shouldn't be expected to tell a good head sculpt from a poor one, but an art director should be. Someone is tasked with getting this figure produced, which means hiring either individuals or a company to handle the bodies, sculpts, tailoring, accessories, packaging, etc. That person should know his/her product and his/her customer. I doubt the issue is with Bean or HBO. They may not care as much, but I'm sure if this was shown to them (especially beside a HT or Enterbay figure) they'd probably say "hmmm, doesn't look that much like Ned" and then probably go back to whatever they were doing. Speaking as someone who's been an art director and a creative director for years, I just don't know how you can put something like this up in good conscience. This is just bad art direction, lacking in passion and not properly utilizing the resources available in the marketplace. Budget could certainly be a factor. Maybe they hired a sculptor, paid him/her, and ended up with a poor sculpt and no more budget dollars to hire someone else to fix it. Or if they outsourced it to a factory, there might already be a few thousand of these heads already cast, painted and waiting for assembly, which means no amount of photoshop tweaking in the world is going to change a single thing. Deadline could also be a factor because there are a lot of moving parts in production and the head sculpt train might have left the station a while back in order to meet schedule. All they can do at this point is figure that the popularity of the license, coupled with there being no other alternative, is going to bring this home. Which is probably what they are banking on.

That said, best case scenario is that this is still a WIP that can be salvaged.

Bucky Underbelly · Sep 11, 2014

Total agreement.

(I wasn't suggesting that we should just be happy with whatever figure the lawyers say is good enough. I was just agreeing that the licensors probably don't care so much about the stuff we care about.)

Absolutely. When it comes to the level of detail we collectors want, that's on ThreeZero - and nobody else - to recognize and decide whether to provide.

Now, if they can't provide it at the pricepoint they've agreed upon with HBO, like you said, that's a different issue.

But here's hoping that's not the issue and that they're not too far down the logistical rabbit hole on this figure. Hopefully there's still time for this sculpt to get reworked a bit.

I love the pricetag, but if that's holding this figure back, personally, I'd gladly pay a little more to get a little more.

Darklord Dave · Sep 11, 2014

nexus said:
Sure the folks who approve the licenses shouldn't be expected to tell a good head sculpt from a poor one, but an art director should be. Someone is tasked with getting this figure produced, which means hiring either individuals or a company to handle the bodies, sculpts, tailoring, accessories, packaging, etc. That person should know his/her product and his/her customer. I doubt the issue is with Bean or HBO. They may not care as much, but I'm sure if this was shown to them (especially beside a HT or Enterbay figure) they'd probably say "hmmm, doesn't look that much like Ned" and then probably go back to whatever they were doing. Speaking as someone who's been an art director and a creative director for years, I just don't know how you can put something like this up in good conscience. This is just bad art direction, lacking in passion and not properly utilizing the resources available in the marketplace. Budget could certainly be a factor. Maybe they hired a sculptor, paid him/her, and ended up with a poor sculpt and no more budget dollars to hire someone else to fix it. Or if they outsourced it to a factory, there might already be a few thousand of these heads already cast, painted and waiting for assembly, which means no amount of photoshop tweaking in the world is going to change a single thing. Deadline could also be a factor because there are a lot of moving parts in production and the head sculpt train might have left the station a while back in order to meet schedule. All they can do at this point is figure that the popularity of the license, coupled with there being no other alternative, is going to bring this home. Which is probably what they are banking on.

That said, best case scenario is that this is still a WIP that can be salvaged.

You are correct, that there are variable levels of approval from the licensor. It could be in the talent contract that they would get all approval or it could be the only approval is at the studio level and anything vaguely resembling the actor gets approved. If it goes to the talent there are various things that could affect the final product - the talent could allow their hair dresser final approval and that person could be completely out of touch of what a collectible is (I know this has happened). Or the talent could have an unrealistic idea of what they look like and keep requesting revisions until the final prototype only looks like them in their own mind's eye (based on a true story).

But the approval process is so tough and time consuming, once something IS approved - it ain't gonna change no matter how much belly aching we do.

Michael Crawford · Sep 12, 2014

Yep, I also know of instances where the actor took a great looking sculpt, and through their requested revisions, ended up with nothing that looked like them but they liked. How we see ourselves is rarely how we actually look.

levere · Sep 12, 2014

Delayed, according to their Facebook page. Hope they paid attention to the feedback.

threezero said:
We are postponing Game of Thrones Eddard Stark collectible pre-order, please follow us for the new date and full info, which we will announce as soon, as possible. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

evenflow · Sep 12, 2014

levere said:
Delayed, according to their Facebook page. Hope they paid attention to the feedback.

Probably a good idea, work on the head sculpt some more.

Darklord Dave · Sep 12, 2014

Well, most of us were going to buy this anyway. If they nail the headsculpt - think of how many more they'll sell?

WhoaItsJBot · Sep 12, 2014

Everything else looked good so if they devote time to the sculpt now this could be a great figure. It'd be my first non-HT 1/6 scale too.

SwedishHeat · Sep 12, 2014

Hopefully, they delay it, rework the head, include Ice with all orders and come up with a new exclusive.

I'm not going to pre-order based on their word that it's still a work in progress. Post it for pre-order when it's finished. The zombies came out just like they were photo'd, which is good and bad. threezero doesn't have enough rep to say "Trust us, we'll make it better"

DKA8976 · Sep 13, 2014

The exclusive accessory choice is bizarre. If I can't get the exclusive, I will not buy the figure, period. Exclusives should be neat add-ons, not essential parts of the character.

RED SHOES · Sep 13, 2014

I totally agree with DKA8976.

nexus · Sep 13, 2014

levere said:
Delayed, according to their Facebook page. Hope they paid attention to the feedback.

Good to hear. I'd rather have this done right as opposed to done fast. Take the time to get the head sculpt nailed and reconsider the exclusive. Also I still think the body looks too thin, but doing a body swap is a much easier fix.

The Ween · Sep 13, 2014

nexus said:
Good to hear. I'd rather have this done right as opposed to done fast. Take the time to get the head sculpt nailed and reconsider the exclusive. Also I still think the body looks too thin, but doing a body swap is a much easier fix.

He looks fine with all his cape and that on, but off his head look too big for his body.