Asmus Toys Lord of the Ring Gandalf Gray

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Asmus, make another HS without pers and sell it separately. Practically Everyone will buy it.

It's a good idea but it's not really practical. The problem is the rooted hair. I would bet most of the production time on this figure was dedicated to the rooted hair. They were individually rooting each piece of hair on the figure, that's why it looks so good. To get this kind of quality again would take forever and probably delay other projects, not to mention you'd be paying $300 minimum for just the head. I don't think it makes sense for them to do it.

Asmus - just please don't do the PERS eyes again. Completely unnecessary and no one needs it.
 
Just got my Gandalf the Grey... I had no time to take pics but I'm blown away. The hat is a problem, the eyes are a bit overshadowed by the upper eyelid at very close disatance, everything else is amazing.
:)
 
Asmus, make another HS without pers and sell it separately. Practically Everyone will buy it.

I agree - I was all in until the eyes. I cancelled mine. Despite all of the kudos from the folks who love it, which I appreciate, I just can't get past something with them. Sorry, Asmus. It's off enough from the promotional photos that I just can't bring myself to do it. Not a hater, but not able to pull the trigger now. It looks exceptional otherwise.
 
Man, I keep going back and forth on if I want to keep my PO..

Yeah it's a tough one. If you're good at futzing and don't mind keeping the eyes hidden in shadow and only viewing from a distance, the figure can look quite good. But it's still clearly a big downgrade from the proto and even with the rooted hair no longer really seems worth the $350 price tag.

In the end it probably just comes down to how badly you want a Gandalf figure in your collection. For me he's such an iconic character that I'm willing to put up with it being a very imperfect figure, especially since it's the best one we'll likely ever get.
 
I agree - I was all in until the eyes. I cancelled mine. Despite all of the kudos from the folks who love it, which I appreciate, I just can't get past something with them. Sorry, Asmus. It's off enough from the promotional photos that I just can't bring myself to do it. Not a hater, but not able to pull the trigger now. It looks exceptional otherwise.

I can understand the feeling, I have this Gandalf, the previous one from Asmus and the sideshow version. This new one is absolutely a massive leap forward in terms of the sculpt, but the eyes are definitely problematic. They do not look as bad in hand as they do in pictures though. They do however have way too much gloss, which is very visible.

My biggest gripe is actually with the stand. The posts do not sit very flush into the stand and the mailbox doesn’t stay standing at all. I love the concept of it, but the execution is a bit flawed. I ended up putting mine right back in the box.

The hat is also really bad, which has been well covered here. I tried futzing and water treatment and simply gave up on it.

Buyer apprehension makes sense and it warranted here...however this is likely as good as it is going to get without making a fully customized head, which would cost much more.
 
The PERS eyes were honestly not needed for this figure.

To be honest, very few figures utilizing the PERs system benefit from it. I may be wrong but I think only the DX15 Jack Sparrow was successfully implemented.

I still haven't set up my Crown Gandalf yet, as I need to clear up some display space for it, but I'm looking forward to seeing it on display, as he is a must-have for my collection.
 
Honestly I still think this release is a massive hit. Unfortunately it is not 100% perfect, but if you've been in this hobby long enough you'll know that those type of releases are extremely rare. There is almost ALWAYS something. I'll see when I eventually get one in hand, but the eyes don't bother me too much. I think PERS are really cool and add to the premium feel though in this case I would have been okay without them if it brought the price down.

I also still haven't completely written off the hat. Yes, out of the box the hat is not great. I'm still betting I can mod it to look decent instead of full on replacing it.

Really outside of the hat everything else is exactly what I'd want with a release like this. Premium packaging, a super cool diorama base, multiple accessories, even a mini book with full on printed pages throughout. I think Gandalf is going to look great next to my DX15 Jack.
 
The PERS eyes were honestly not needed for this figure.

To be honest, very few figures utilizing the PERs system benefit from it. I may be wrong but I think only the DX15 Jack Sparrow was successfully implemented.

I still haven't set up my Crown Gandalf yet, as I need to clear up some display space for it, but I'm looking forward to seeing it on display, as he is a must-have for my collection.

It looks good on Jack Sparrow and both versions of Maul, they already have black around their eyes too so any gap would be made less noticeable.
 
The PERS eyes were honestly not needed for this figure.

The PERS honestly aren't needed for any figure.

Of the figures that have them like Jack Sparrow, how many people do you think actually use them? If I had to guess, I'd say 90% of people never used the feature more than once, and 98% of people probably haven't used the feature except for the rare display change. It's just unnecessary unless you're taking constant photos of your figure, which most of us aren't.

There's more that can go wrong than right with the PERS system. It's an unnecessary feature. Hopefully Asmus stays away from them for all future releases. They're just now starting to break out as a top of the line capable producer. No need to dabble in complex and unneeded things like moveable eyes on a sixth scale figure.
 
It looks good on Jack Sparrow and both versions of Maul, they already have black around their eyes too so any gap would be made less noticeable.

Ah, I forgot about Maul and you nailed it. They all have the black around their eyes which make any gaps less noticeable. Good point.



The PERS honestly aren't needed for any figure.

Of the figures that have them like Jack Sparrow, how many people do you think actually use them? If I had to guess, I'd say 90% of people never used the feature more than once, and 98% of people probably haven't used the feature except for the rare display change. It's just unnecessary unless you're taking constant photos of your figure, which most of us aren't.

There's more that can go wrong than right with the PERS system. It's an unnecessary feature. Hopefully Asmus stays away from them for all future releases. They're just now starting to break out as a top of the line capable producer. No need to dabble in complex and unneeded things like moveable eyes on a sixth scale figure.

I agree. There are a select few figures that would benefit from different eye views (such as Jack Sparrow) but for the most part, not really a big enough plus.
 
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