ACI Toys: 1/6 ARAGORN (Improved Production Copy updated!)

[lurpdog101]

the elven cloak with mine is heavily weathered too, as is the jacket etc

 

[Remy]

Haha. Glad to hear it worked out and you secured one, Remy!

Thanks man.
I'm really blown away by the final production piece.
I haven't been paying attention to the thread much so I didn't know aci lost the license and this turned out to be a lot more limited run.
I didn't order quickly cause since it was mass produced, I put it off thinking I'll have all the time in the world to order it.
But, now that the prices are spiking...I don't mind paying a little bit more cause I know I'll regret it if I don't get this figure, and I want the exclusive version.
I'm looking forward to get this figure.

 

[Invictus Sol]

Yeah, the low ES really lit a fire under me to grab some Wraiths while they're still around. Have to admit, the evil Gollum part of my nature is happy to have two LE Wraiths, though I don't think they'll spike like Aragorn, anyway. Aragorn is really tempting, too, but I'm kinda tapped out for collectibles spending and I don't want to get too deep into LOTR. Pretty neat how everything turned around for ACI, though. I seem to recall them getting a pretty hard time, in the beginning, and Aragorn especially being ridiculed and now everyone's scrambling to get one.

 

[Remy]

Yeah, the low ES really lit a fire under me to grab some Wraiths while they're still around. Have to admit, the evil Gollum part of my nature is happy to have two LE Wraiths, though I don't think they'll spike like Aragorn, anyway. Aragorn is really tempting, too, but I'm kinda tapped out for collectibles spending and I don't want to get too deep into LOTR. Pretty neat how everything turned around for ACI, though. I seem to recall them getting a pretty hard time, in the beginning, and Aragorn especially being ridiculed and now everyone's scrambling to get one.

Grats on your aci wraiths. They are really cool.

As for them getting ridiculed in the beginning, it was rightfully so.
That's why I didn't pay a lot of attention to the thread much until not too long ago.
To me, The initial proto looked like one of those tonner dolls.
But I just thought I'd keep checking the thread every once in awhile in case it gets better. That's why I missed a Lot of info.

Big pat on the back for aci to come here and listen to the feed backs.
Indeed it was neat how they turned things around.
The final production piece looks stunning!!!

Now to look at more videos though and learn how to cut hair.

 

[mpchi]

Aren't elven cloaks magically clean?
Mine is so weathered it looks more like it's been vomited on...

Mine is really bad. It doesn't even look like weathered, but some painter used it to clean their dirty brushes, wipe a car's wheel well, then fling some more paint on it just for fun. Its so bad to a point I am suggesting my wife to custom make a new one, and just reuse the nice Elven broach. What a shame...

My jacket looks fine for the most part, except the shoulder/neck area where it has too much lighter brown paint splat.

Inner vest has one big stain on the left chest and shoulder, then quite clean everywhere else.

Black pants are really dirty, but it kind of works with all the layered clothing.

Aragorn's main sword got a blunt/melted tip on the blade. (My wife said it must be from all the fighting he did LOL)

Very inconsistent weathering overall, as stated in my previous post. Almost like a trade-off of getting a good face/haircut, and getting sucky weathered costumes in return.

 

[mpchi]

Guys, good news. For those that has a cloak too heavily/sloppily weathered, the weathered paint can be cleaned with alcohol. My wife spent some time today experiment with it, and now we got a very nice and clean pretty cloak. Here is what she did:

- Have some 70% alcohol, some Q-tips, and cotton balls.
- Work on the cloak small section at a time, by placing the cloak on your open palm. For spots that are very dark or have heavy paint, clean it very gently with alchohol soaked Q-tip, while gently rub lightly painted areas with a alcohol soaked cotton ball. The key is be really gentle on the rubbing. You don't want to ruin the texture on the cloak fabric. Also, avoid contact between alcohol and the green leafy elven broach. Don't want to ruin the broach's paintjob by accident.
- Once you cleaned up the stains you want to get rid of, wash the cloak in a small washing bin with a teaspoon of "clear-n-free" washing detergent (a very gentle detergent with no perfume, no dye, no bleach) and fill it with enough warm water to cover the whole cloak. Gently submerge the cloak and very lightly rub the cloak just a little bit, to clean off the stains the alcohol loosened up. Take it out after a minute or so, and rinse it with cold water. If you need it to be extra clean, you can repeat the cleaning & rinsing a couple more times.
- Do not twist the cloak trying to dry it. Just gently squeeze the water out by folding it a couple times and press with your hands, and let air dry (no direct sunlight, no blow dryer). You can press it against some paper towel to soak up more water from it so it can air dry faster.
- By now, you should have a much cleaner cloak, and you can weather the cloak the way you want it, with some very diluted acrylic paint in colors of your liking.

Hope that helps! And thanks to my wife, now we have a very pretty cloak for Aragorn.

 

[Remy]

Guys, good news. For those that has a cloak too heavily/sloppily weathered, the weathered paint can be cleaned with alcohol. My wife spent some time today experiment with it, and now we got a very nice and clean pretty cloak. Here is what she did:

- Have some 70% alcohol, some Q-tips, and cotton balls.
- Work on the cloak small section at a time, by placing the cloak on your open palm. For spots that are very dark or have heavy paint, clean it very gently with alchohol soaked Q-tip, while gently rub lightly painted areas with a alcohol soaked cotton ball. The key is be really gentle on the rubbing. You don't want to ruin the texture on the cloak fabric. Also, avoid contact between alcohol and the green leafy elven broach. Don't want to ruin the broach's paintjob by accident.
- Once you cleaned up the stains you want to get rid of, wash the cloak in a small washing bin with a teaspoon of "clear-n-free" washing detergent (a very gentle detergent with no perfume, no dye, no bleach) and fill it with enough warm water to cover the whole cloak. Gently submerge the cloak and very lightly rub the cloak just a little bit, to clean off the stains the alcohol loosened up. Take it out after a minute or so, and rinse it with cold water. If you need it to be extra clean, you can repeat the cleaning & rinsing a couple more times.
- Do not twist the cloak trying to dry it. Just gently squeeze the water out by folding it a couple times and press with your hands, and let air dry (no direct sunlight, no blow dryer). You can press it against some paper towel to soak up more water from it so it can air dry faster.
- By now, you should have a much cleaner cloak, and you can weather the cloak the way you want it, with some very diluted acrylic paint in colors of your liking.

Hope that helps! And thanks to my wife, now we have a very pretty cloak for Aragorn.

Great, so not only do we have to get his hair cut, we have to do his laundry too?!!!
Suddenly This figure is making me feel like a mom.

 

[mpchi]

Great, so not only do we have to get his hair cut, we have to do his laundry too?!!!
Suddenly This figure is making me feel like a mom.

LOL. Though haircut is not necessary, unless yours' hair is really bad. My wife just used some water and baby oil to tame the hair. It sits quite nicely now with no trimming. Just make sure you don't comb the hair so you don't lose all the gel bonding or straighten out the curls by mistake. Just use your fingers to work the hair to your liking.

 

[Remy]

LOL. Though haircut is not necessary, unless yours' hair is really bad. My wife just used some water and baby oil to tame the hair. It sits quite nicely now with no trimming. Just make sure you don't comb the hair so you don't lose all the gel bonding or straighten out the curls by mistake. Just use your fingers to work the hair to your liking.

Thanks for the hair and cloak tips man.
And that is really cool that your wife helps you out on your hobby.

 

[Darkseed]

Random question. I've order many items from overseas retailers that come thru Chicago (customs) which generally take a couple days to process. Aragorn been sitting there 10 days.....it isn't standard however, does that sound like something I need to follow up on or wait it out? Ringwraith arrived yesterday so I am hoping I don't play this exercise twice....ugh.

Thanks..

 

[bigpig]

Shipping notice!!!

 

[fbang]

I'm supposed to receive it today. I really hope the hair comes out ok out of the box (with some futzing)

 

[Eamon]

Got my Lord of the Rings comps today. Very proud to have done art and packaging design on such highly desired high-end figures.

 

[nexus]

Nice design work. Did you cut the hair on the Aragorn or is that out of the box? Looks good. Waiting on mine from BBTS. I should get a Ringwraith as well.

 

[mpchi]

Thanks for the hair and cloak tips man.
And that is really cool that your wife helps you out on your hobby.

No problem. My wife has her own collection of girly dolls, and often style their rooted hair or rerooting them if need fixing. So Aragorn's is fairly easy for her to tame. She is also a LOTR fan and like Aragorn quite a bit. So this figure purchase is partly hers too. And she love the fact that it has rooted hair just like her dolls, compare to most of my other Hot Toys, which is something she appreciate the likeness and details of, but never really play with. But she is enjoying this Aragorn for sure.

Hope yours arrive soon enough and have a great time with yours.

 

[WolfBoy]

The boxes are very nicely designed.

 

[CREG Customs]

Got my Lord of the Rings comps today. Very proud to have done art and packaging design on such highly desired high-end figures.

Great work man! I got my comp on Friday and was blown away by how well done the whole thing was. Classy box design man - well done!

 

[denrep-lilium]

Eamon and CREG Customs thank you for making this cool figure even cooler!
It is so nice to have fellow freaks as a part of a production team.

P.S.: ACI also has way superior to Asmus sculpt paint work, and it is so striking in hand. Really hope they will re-obtain the license one day.

 

[Invictus Sol]

I echo denrep's sentiments. Really cool to have two known quantities from the forum heavily involved with these figures.

Out of curiosity, anyone know why they weren't allowed to renew the license?

 

[Travis Baumann]

I agree hole-heartedly that these two did an amazing job and that this release turned out insanely better than any of the pre and in production images lead us to believe. I cannot wait to get mine (in LA so thinking its stuck in the Port backlog) but I also hate to see "sides" taken. Yes, I wish ACI still had the license to keep producing the Goods but at the same time, I am super happy that Asmus has the license as well and we have seen some cool characters made already that many a company would not consider and I think they are only rising. I, at first was on the fence about Aragorn as what both companies showed at the early stages were not too encouraging... but when I saw the first in-hand pictures on this thread followed by ACI's professionally released publicity photos, I was like holy S*$ !For some odd reason, though I would never pose him this way on the shelf, the picture of him sitting at a table with his hood up, smoking his pipe.. I was like, is this is a custom? does he really come with that stuff? I looked at the full gear load out and saw the pipe... pre-ordered. That is a nice touch, an accessory not suited to combat action and is totally dedicated to character.
I love it.