Asmus Toys Tauriel

[batsheva]

I agree with you, cillafcollector. It's a bummer.

I said it again, if I can cancel this I would. For me the heavy make up is not the issue. It can always be repainted.
It's the likeness issue that bothers me. There's no way I can do something to alter the sculpt.

Asmus needs to do something with the sculpt. Because this is not just Tauriel figure, this is supposed to be Evangeline Lilly as Tauriel figure that we're getting.

I am stating my disappointment with this figure, again, and not just talking, I backed it up with proofs.

If Asmus decided to make it right by making a better headsculpt and send it to the buyer, I'm sure nobody will say no to that. Evangeline Lilly is a beautiful girl, her face is unique and a good likeness is all this figure need.

 

[CanadianBrandon]

Hi guys, just sharing my thoughts after 2 days of playing with Tauriel and the Bard. I actually like both figures and glad to have them in my collections. Hopefully more people can post their pictures and share their thoughts. I was sad and surprise by the heavy eye liner too when final product pics first appeared. Major issue for me is the eye liner. But overall the figure still gives me the LOTR feel.... cheers

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! How do you find the clothing? Does it seem too thick in person?

 

[Adamchua]

Hi brandon.. i feel that the clothing is ok but the chest armour is slightly not in shape. It can be pressed but i dunno how to shape it.

 

[superdoug]

I am actually liking her more and more right now. Getting on the putter cloak thing is not easy but I did get it on. I will do my best to post something this weekend.

Having her set up now really makes me want Asmus to hurry up and make some dwarfs and hobbits. A zig would be fun too. Of course I would still prefer Lord of the Rings characters more than Hobbit characters but now I definenty am in for both.

 

[superdoug]

Hi brandon.. i feel the clothing is ok but the chest armour is slightly not in shape. It's can be pressed but i dunno how to shape it.

The putter cloak hides the chest armor too.

 

[Adamchua]

Thanks superdoug, haven't try the cloak yet... Tried heating the armour with Hair dryer and press on it but doesn't show much difference.. waiting for your pics.. Cheers

 

[TripleCP]

I thought the cloak was meant to be worn in place of the armor, not over it.

 

[CanadianBrandon]

The putter cloak hides the chest armor too.

Personally I was always a fan of the leather armour look in the movie so being able to hide it with the cloak won't help me. I feel like it looks too bulky with the cloak. She is a very slender woman and even with the three layers of clothing she looks slender.
I guess that's a never ending problem with 1/6 scale and layers though...
How do you find the fabric thickness in person superdoug?

 

[CanadianBrandon]

I thought the cloak was meant to be worn in place of the armor, not over it.

In the film she wears the cloak over the leather.

 

[cillafcollector]

well, that's the magic of having a high end figure, everytime I'm not really impressed with a product, put it out from the box, put on the accessories, pose it in cool pose, and the figure will look better

actually, Asmus is kinda upgrading her leggings, on the prototype they're fully flexible cloth, now it's half cloth and half pleather, that bugger headsculpt really makes my attention only focused on that

 

[batsheva]

^ I actually have no complaint at all regarding the body and accessories. The boots restricted the articulation, but I'm ok with that, I get it.
The headsculpt, though.. it's bad enough that they don't get the likeness.. it's also look like it's melting.

Still waiting for Asmus to do something here.

 

[cillafcollector]

we'll see about that, I got a feeling that Asmus themselves weren't so confident about this product,
for example, for Bard and Eowyn, they post an update up until the mass product hs, but on this, they went silent for some time and suddenly, there she is

 

[batsheva]

I think you're right, cillafcollector. I never noticed that.

 

[Bucky Underbelly]

Another batch of e-mails from Sideshow pushing back all the Asmus figures again. Saruman & Aragorn to "Jan-Feb" and Bard, Tauriel and Mouth to "Feb-Mar".

 

[batsheva]

I hope they fixed the next batch. And by fix, I mean not just erasing the heavy eyeshadows, but refine the sculpt as well, the melting issue and improving the likeness.

 

[batsheva]

I'm quoting Michael Crawford's review here, about Tauriel's sculpt.. apparently he shares the same opinion with me. And I'm glad because he's a professional collector and reviewer:

Sculpting - **
When Asmus did their Gandalf, something happened. What started out as a pretty good sculpt was mangled in the production process, stretching out the portrait to cartoony proportions. But with releases like Aragorn and Bard, it seemed like realism - and quality production - was back in place.

Unfortunately, something happened to poor Tauriel as well. I'm thinking it's another situation with the production process, because it seems highly unlikely that the sculptor created something quite like this. If you look closely, you'll notice that her jawline is not even. It appears as though she has her lower jaw cocked towards her left - your right in the photo below. In fact, the entire left side of her face seems slightly lower, pulled downward in a slack expression. It's most noticeable at the jaw (and believe me, it's obvious in hand as well - this isn't a macro photo only problem), but if you place your hand below her nose, you can see that the cheek and eye also appear slightly lower.

This twisted, uneven look hurts what might have been a much better sculpt. If you look past this issue, you can see a very fine skin texture, something that makes her less doll-like than Asmus' previous female figure (Eowyn), and I really like the blending of the sculpted and rooted hair. I think we'll see something like this with the upcoming 'ball gown' Hermione from Star Ace, and with this type of hair style it's an excellent choice.

So they lose big on the realistic points, but make up for it a bit on the life-like points. Sadly, the accuracy points take another dip. Here's a useful screen shot of Tauriel - here's another.

Obviously, the twisted face doesn't help here either, since even if it was a perfect Lilly as Tauriel likeness, it would still look like she had suffered a mild stroke. But take away the weird shape and you still don't get a great reproduction of the actress or character. The cheeks are too pronounced, or you can say the eyes are too deep set. Either way, the result is the same. The eyes end up too deep, the chin too far forward. Likewise, the down turned mouth makes her sad, not determined, and the end result is a miss in the third category as well.

It is close enough though to make you wonder what might have been. Had the face not gotten warped in manufacturing, would this have been a much better portrait all around?

BTW, scale is about where you'd expect it, with Tauriel coming in at just under 11 1/2".

Here's the complete review of Tauriel: Review and photos of Asmus Toys The Hobbit Tauriel sixth scale action figure

 

[galactiboy]

Thanks superdoug, haven't try the cloak yet... Tried heating the armour with Hair dryer and press on it but doesn't show much difference.. waiting for your pics.. Cheers

I know I'm late in posting this... but the best way I've found to reshape accessories and armor is to first submerge them in very hot (near boiling) water let it sit until it becomes pliable. Then get it into the desired shape and while holding that shape quickly submerge the item in ice water.

Usually this will result in the new shape being held... I've done it a number of times from weapons, to jawlines to armor and the shape stays even years after I've done it. Just be patient to let the item get really soft and don't be afraid to redo it a few times until you get the right look.

 

[rjszar]

Hair dryer works really well too. That's what I'm going to do when mine arrives.

 

[DeltaForceChung]

Any company that can't learn from their previous screw up earns to suffer unless it's HOT TOYS because regardless of any short comings by them there will always be cult customers who'll continue to support them.

IMHO, Asmus took an inferior approach with regards to the final production of Tauriel considering the major backlash they experienced previously.

That tells me they didn't fully comprehend, learn, or respect the mindset and response of their customer base.

If you want a good example of this, look at what happened to Triad Toys.

Right now, I have no sympathy for Asmus. The fact that they're listening and offering a revised head sculpt is the least they can do for the screw up.

They're simply responding to the fact they got caught again by believing they could get away with another inferior head sculpt for a figure that was highly anticipated.

It is positive that they're listening, but what happened should never have happened because it already happened previously. This is pointing to more problematic issues within Asmus.

 

[superdoug]

I don't know I have never really seen companies try to fix the mess ups other than the Witch King body, Bard wrists and Nazgul body. Look at Sideshow and their Drake figure. If you ever wanted to argue that a company did a bait and switch that would be the example I would use. Sideshow has improved a lot since then but they never tried to compensate the collectors that shelled out for the figure.

I do wish they could get the paint on females as well as they did for Bard and Aragorn and get to consistently sturdy bodies. Hoping Aragorn is their new normal mine has been real sturdy so far.

My expectations have probably permanently been lowered and damaged after I got my DX Indy so I am not as critical as most on here.