Asmus Toys Lord of the Ring Gandalf Gray

[Rzeznikk]

Awesome. Thanks for sharing

No problem! This thread needed more pics. And get back on track!

Man, I can't wait to get this one. Futzer's Paradise!

Looks like the sword belt may be damaged on this one, but damn, this is gonna be amazing in hand.

I don't think it sunk in for me until this moment but the boots seem to be fabric with real laces? Nice.

Yeah the V1 had soft goods boots too.

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[Bucky Underbelly]

Yeah the V1 had soft goods boots too.

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Huh. I'd forgotten all about that. I picked up V1 but never ended up displaying him. Never quite liked the sculpt.

 

[hoodonit00]

Huh. I'd forgotten all about that. I picked up V1 but never ended up displaying him. Never quite liked the sculpt.

yup mine is still in box

 

[Rzeznikk]

More unboxing. Same collector!

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[FlyAndFight]

This one is already a grail and it hasn't even been shipped out, for the most part.

SO looking forward to it in hand. It is that head sculpt that I want to check out the most and see how it came out.

 

[Bucky Underbelly]

I know it doesn't actually make any difference, but I love the foam trays in the box. So classy.

Gonna be a long month to wait!

 

[Rzeznikk]

This one is already a grail and it hasn't even been shipped out, for the most part.

SO looking forward to it in hand. It is that head sculpt that I want to check out the most and see how it came out.

I'd have to agree. I just looked on ebay at sold listing and they are already going for way over the retail [emoji38]

I know it doesn't actually make any difference, but I love the foam trays in the box. So classy.

Gonna be a long month to wait!

I'm with you. Always like the DX releases. Gives it another level of quality repaint imo.

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[TurdFurgusonsHat]

I'm impressed with the look of the figure and the presentation. Nice to see the extra money paid was put to work. I have to wait for BBTS. At this point I'm most curious about seeing the paint apps in hand and how the stack up against HT. I'm a little concerned about getting the hat looking good, my wizards wear hats!

 

[Rzeznikk]

I'm impressed with the look of the figure and the presentation. Nice to see the extra money paid was put to work. I have to wait for BBTS. At this point I'm most curious about seeing the paint apps in hand and how the stack up against HT. I'm a little concerned about getting the hat looking good, my wizards wear hats!

Here's a pic I posted a bit back I was amazed at the level of detail in the paint work. This is from Asmus Page showing "Final Product" images.

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[TurdFurgusonsHat]

Here's a pic I posted a bit back I was amazed at the level of detail in the paint work. This is from Asmus Page showing "Final Product" images. View attachment 506020

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Looks really good there. Hopefully they all look like that!

 

[ObiGlennKenobi]

Just seeing that headsculpt in the foam tray there has me giddy.
It looks REALLY good.
The wait is long but looks to be worth it.
Bye Hot toys!!

 

[ShadowGuardian]

It seriously is a game changer. But now Asmus has raised the bar for both themselves and every other 1/6 company. Good for the consumer, but also every figure that isn't up to par with this beast is going to feel more disappointing.

 

[Knightstalker]

Hopefully BBTS won't be too far out with this guy arriving. Looks so good.

 

[Bucky Underbelly]

I actually feel a little bad for every figure they put out after this one and Galadriel. We're going to get the Elven Archer and Swordsman and be like ... they're fine, I guess.

 

[Sixth Scale Man]

Man, I can't wait to get this one. Futzer's Paradise!

Looks like the sword belt may be damaged on this one, but damn, this is gonna be amazing in hand.

I don't think it sunk in for me until this moment but the boots seem to be fabric with real laces? Nice.

Yep, it's looking pretty good in these pics and I reckon with some attentive futzing and posing, it will look great. Looking forward to seeing more pics as the weeks go on

 

[TurdFurgusonsHat]

It seriously is a game changer. But now Asmus has raised the bar for both themselves and every other 1/6 company. Good for the consumer, but also every figure that isn't up to par with this beast is going to feel more disappointing.

I think it's important not to go too far. HT has been making the best 1/6 sculpts/figures for awhile. Everytime something like this comes out that looks good it never fails, people always make premature comments throwing dirt on HT grave. It's happened with Blitzway, Molecule One, now Asmus, and I'm sure others. This is the first real HT level figure I have seen from Asmus, I say nice work, well done, and congratulations. Now let's see them keep this up for years.

 

[aldta914]

This is the first real HT level figure I have seen from Asmus...

I don?t recall seeing a Hot Toy with such detail as a rooted hair AND beard AND moving eyes all in ONE figure.
A lot of Hot Toys rooted hair is just plopped on and not even styled the way this is

They also no longer use ?PERS? I believe it?s called... they now just come with different eye sets for certain characters.

I hardly see metal weapons on Hot Toys
I have a few ... all plastic.
I can only think of DeadPool at the moment but maybe there are others I don?t know about.

So while Asmus may not be delivering a coup de gras to Hot Toys, this figure in particular is above a Hot Toys figure.
Give credit to where credit is due.

 

[warlock664]

This is the first real HT level figure I have seen from Asmus

I’m guessing you’ve never seen Gimli ? Or Elrond ? Or Mouth of Sauron ? Or Thorin ? Or ...

 

[TurdFurgusonsHat]

I don?t recall seeing a Hot Toy with such detail as a rooted hair AND beard AND moving eyes all in ONE figure.
A lot of Hot Toys rooted hair is just plopped on and not even styled the way this is

They also no longer use ?PERS? I believe it?s called... they now just come with different eye sets for certain characters.

I hardly see metal weapons on Hot Toys
I have a few ... all plastic.
I can only think of DeadPool at the moment but maybe there are others I don?t know about.

So while Asmus may not be delivering a coup de gras to Hot Toys, this figure in particular is above a Hot Toys figure.
Give credit to where credit is due.

Off the top of my head I can't really come up with the best example of a haired sculpt that HT have done. Frankly I am probably the wrong collector to discuss that subject with because I typically prefer sculpted hair. I would agree with you that I don't recall seeing a HT sculpt with rooted hair/beard looking this good. The Gandalf sculpt does appear to suffer a bit from the same issue as the earlier HT DX eye systems though.

Hot Toys has recently been going backwards a bit as a company in my opinion but they have done some truly remarkable stuff and frankly have revolutionized hyper realistic head sculpts and the entire high end toy industry over the years. They have made some amazing stuff: 1/6 scale vehicles like the DeLorean, diecast Iron Man figures with absolutely insane detail, figures once thought to be impossible like a Chewbacca with fur, etc etc, and generally speaking even their figures that are misses are better than other toy companies best work 90% of the time.

All this being said, I take nothing away from this Gandalf as it looks like an excellent figure. I just don't think it's fair to make comments suggesting that HT has been dethroned on the basis of one figure that mind you almost nobody has in hand. If you want to compare Asmus to HT they better do stuff like this consistently and start doing other things like creatures and dios on a grand scale.

 

[Sassafras]

Off the top of my head I can't really come up with the best example of a haired sculpt that HT have done. Frankly I am probably the wrong collector to discuss that subject with because I typically prefer sculpted hair. I would agree with you that I don't recall seeing a HT sculpt with rooted hair/beard looking this good. The Gandalf sculpt does appear to suffer a bit from the same issue as the earlier HT DX eye systems though.

Hot Toys has recently been going backwards a bit as a company in my opinion but they have done some truly remarkable stuff and frankly have revolutionized hyper realistic head sculpts and the entire high end toy industry over the years. They have made some amazing stuff: 1/6 scale vehicles like the DeLorean, diecast Iron Man figures with absolutely insane detail, figures once thought to be impossible like a Chewbacca with fur, etc etc, and generally speaking even their figures that are misses are better than other toy companies best work 90% of the time.

All this being said, I take nothing away from this Gandalf as it looks like an excellent figure. I just don't think it's fair to make comments suggesting that HT has been dethroned on the basis of one figure that mind you almost nobody has in hand. If you want to compare Asmus to HT they better do stuff like this consistently and start doing other things like creatures and dios on a grand scale.

IMO both companies have their place - kudos to both for carving out a place in the industry; and working to improve - although, TBH, and it may not be HT's fault completely - or even ASMUS' at times - HT does seem to have fallen off a bit; think the complaints are pretty well known - uneven sculpts or no sculpts at all; reduced or no accessories (including hands!); folks feel like prices went up but u are not getting ur monies worth all the time. But HT can be unbeatable when they want to be.

BUT - I think both ASMUS and HT are facing customers who want top quality without the custom price tag; and since everything from shipping to production has gone up, not sure that is possible without raising prices. At the same time a lot of their customers just can't afford 400-500$ figs on any regular basis.

No real answers there but appreciate ASMUS is taking the risk with this Crown series release. Now I'm just waiting on that Thranduil on Throne limited release.