Statue Weta Orthanc Black Tower of Isengard

[The Josh]

Re: Weta Orthanc Pre-Ruin Environment

Their quality is just fine IMO. My Rivendell, mini GTG, Argonath, Bag End, mini Gollum, and both shields are very very good. So I would have to totally disagree with you on this.

 

[FrodoEyes]

Re: Weta Orthanc Pre-Ruin Environment

Their paint is pretty bad imo, i got one of the dr gorbort gun & templar from hellgate both looked like crap. And the rivendell issues posted didnt help.

I like the stuff they make, but not their quality. Will wait for in hand reviews before buying anything from this company going forward, it's several tiers lower than sideshow, probably around dc direct level i think.

That's shocking! Weta are right up there with Sideshow. You DO realise the people who make the Weta collectibles design and make the creatures, maquettes, props, armour, weapons etc for actual movies don't you? Therefore being one of the most genuine and authentic people to make collectibles...? It's the nearest you can get to owning something from a movie other than buying the actual prop itself.

I've never had any issues with paintjobs, certainly not on the scale that Sideshow seem to have of late.

Who the hell are DC Direct?

 

[gagaliya]

Re: Weta Orthanc Pre-Ruin Environment





DC Direct is a company that makes well dc statues. The paint quality are usually ranked per below in my opinion, obviously there are exceptions and some people (like josh) just dont care too much about it. Which is fine.

Attakus -> Sideshow -> bowen / gentle giant -> kotobukiya (the fine art series) / dc direct / wetanz.

And i know weta are the prop makers for lotr, but that doesnt mean much when it comes to small scale statues...

 

[Adolfo]

Re: Weta Orthanc Pre-Ruin Environment

You obviously never saw the Hellgate or Narnia,or Zorro or Kong pieces...

 

[gagaliya]

Re: Weta Orthanc Pre-Ruin Environment

i have the hellgate & narnia pieces.... The narnia horse with peter looked fine for the price, hellgate did not.

 

[theguru1]

Re: Weta Orthanc Pre-Ruin Environment

The narnia horse with peter looked fine for the price, hellgate did not.

The game may have sucked, but the statue I got sure doesn't


Weta Female Templar by theguru1, on Flickr

 

[Boromir]

Re: Weta Orthanc Pre-Ruin Environment

The quality of Weta is okay but what I experienced when it comes to replacement pieces they are much worse than Sideshow. My Arwen heads were painted really bad and Sideshow sent me new ones without hesitation but when I bought Bag End from Weta which had strong colour flaws I only got offered a few bucks off if I keep it or a complete refund but no replacement. They allways have the same argument that those are handpainted pieces and the replacement could be non-satisfying, too. Pretty rediciulous if a statue has massive paint flaws. Sounds to me that their quality controlls are non-existing. So in my opinion Sideshow is way better than Weta. The only negative point is that they closed their EU-warehouse.

 

[The Josh]

Re: Weta Orthanc Pre-Ruin Environment

The only thing is one "bad" experience doesn't mean that they don't do good work. I would agree if either company had issues on ever piece everytime but that's not the case. I buy from both without hesitation.

 

[Moriaman]

Re: Weta Orthanc Pre-Ruin Environment

To judge a company on one piece is ridiculous if you ask me,i've been buying from SS and Weta for years and they are easily the same quality,if anything i'd say in my experience i've had better paint with my Weta pieces,but SS do produce a lot more stuff so its all relative

 

[Adolfo]

Re: Weta Orthanc Pre-Ruin Environment

To judge a company on one piece is ridiculous if you ask me,i've been buying from SS and Weta for years and they are easily the same quality,if anything i'd say in my experience i've had better paint with my Weta pieces,but SS do produce a lot more stuff so its all relative

amen to that...

 

[gagaliya]

Re: Weta Orthanc Pre-Ruin Environment

The game may have sucked, but the statue I got sure doesn't

please take a close look at the face paint of this exact statue.

 

[FrodoEyes]

Re: Weta Orthanc Pre-Ruin Environment

please take a close look at the face paint of this exact statue.

It's only a photo, but it looks fine to me. You're obviously very hard to please!

 

[gagaliya]

Re: Weta Orthanc Pre-Ruin Environment

It's only a photo, but it looks fine to me. You're obviously very hard to please!

that's what she said!

but in all seriousness the face paint is horrid if you look close, the easiest way to tell good vs bad paint is look at the hairline that meet the skin color and the eyes. I have this boxed up deep in my closet somewhere otherwise i would take some close up shots.

Got it for <$150 so it wasnt a big loss, but would never display such piece. Guess i can be a pain in the *** when it comes to paint.

 

[Adolfo]

Re: Weta Orthanc Pre-Ruin Environment

that's what she said!

but in all seriousness the face paint is horrid if you look close, the easiest way to tell good vs bad paint is look at the hairline that meet the skin color and the eyes. I have this boxed up deep in my closet somewhere otherwise i would take some close up shots.

Got it for <$150 so it wasnt a big loss, but would never display such piece. Guess i can be a pain in the *** when it comes to paint.

Unless I'm gonna make out with her I aint gonna be that close...Anybody who has seen these in my house just goes Gagaliya over em...LOL...and if I was Buzz or Woody when the family is out I'd be all over that ...Dangerous sword or not...LOL

 

[theguru1]

Re: Weta Orthanc Pre-Ruin Environment

but in all seriousness the face paint is horrid if you look close, the easiest way to tell good vs bad paint is look at the hairline that meet the skin color and the eyes. I have this boxed up deep in my closet somewhere otherwise i would take some close up shots.

I'm not sure what exactly the problem is, the face paint on mine looks great, she even has freckles. The hairline is fairly sharp and defined, given the scale we are looking at here. I guess it's possible you got a bad one, but there's nothing wrong with mine.

 

[Adolfo]

Re: Weta Orthanc Pre-Ruin Environment

He's just real particular...

 

[gagaliya]

Re: Weta Orthanc Pre-Ruin Environment

we just have different standards...can you guys honestly tell me with a straight face (no pun intended) the face paint of this templar compared to any average sideshow 1/5 statue say sue storm or vampirella, are on par? If you said yes then there really isnt much to discuss...

 

[Adolfo]

Re: Weta Orthanc Pre-Ruin Environment

we just have different standards...can you guys honestly tell me with a straight face (no pun intended) the face paint of this templar compared to any average sideshow 1/5 statue say sue storm or vampirella, are on par? If you said yes then there really isnt much to discuss...

Maybe not on par...If you want on Par paint it yourself or get a pro...When I buy these I've accepted certain things...to me there is more than one standard...for you its Par or nothing it seems...for me there is the top middle and bottom...plus what character, coolness and a few more traits when making a decision to buy or not...Paint is not everything..but then again all of us are different in the choices we make...I know you love the Attakus paint jobs...but if Attakus was at full retail value would you get them...I'm not knocking Attakus..they are great...

 

[Radagaster]

Re: Weta Orthanc Pre-Ruin Environment

I think gagaliya should show the pics of the ones he has so we have a better idea why the paint app on his is subpar. My Rivendell has a glue gob, but it's something I can overlook as the rest is outstanding.

No pics leaves everything up to conjecture.

 

[gagaliya]

Re: Weta Orthanc Pre-Ruin Environment

Paint is not everything

!!! paint is the foundation for everything, without excellent paint to begin with, the sculpt, pose, characters are all meaningless. I think we differ in that you can accept lower quality paint and still be happy with the statue, i cannot that's why I rarely buy bowen/dc direct or any of those brands. Just personal preferences, no right or wrong.

Regarding attakus, yes i have the highest regard for them, they are all made in france and every single piece i have received all perfect paint (there are some QC issues with ruboff from packaging but never sloppy paint), wish they made lotr. Would I pay full retail? depends on character of course. For vader etc.. hell yes and I have. For tusken raider? probably not

Will see if i can dig this out from my closet or storage unit, not sure where exactly it is. Anything looks good in photo under certain light/angle...found some closeup shots of the face off web...the sloppy hairline the way it's painted onto the face/ear, the monotone face color, eye lines etc...just not for me. Really have to see this statue in person to appreciate the paint difference..

Anyway I think i have sufficiently derailed this thread all the way to canada, so will stop here.