Lord of the Rings figures

[JediTricks]

You guys dream big! Saruman's plantir is a very cool accessory, but it'd have to be his only one to fit the pricepoint even remotely. I remember the misery of Indiana Jones' arabian horse accessory from back in the day, that mofo cost a hundred more than the very expensive figure itself and it wasn't even articulated.

[RooJay]

You guys dream big! Saruman's plantir is a very cool accessory, but it'd have to be his only one to fit the pricepoint even remotely. I remember the misery of Indiana Jones' arabian horse accessory from back in the day, that mofo cost a hundred more than the very expensive figure itself and it wasn't even articulated.

You do realize that thing would be no bigger than a large marble right? I mean, it's nowhere near the size of a Sith Infiltrator.
Seriously, I know he kept it on a pretty big pedestal in the movie, but the actual Palantir refers to the black sphere that was only about the size of a small bowling ball.

[JediTricks]

For some reason, I couldn't picture it without the pedestal.

[JediTricks]

I got Sideshow 12" Aragorn yesterday... wow! That is an amazing figure, even the box is special, everything about that presentation floored me. The likeness isn't perfect, the eyes are a little off, but from the front slightly above or below and from the right it's a very good interpretation. The costume is stunning work, even weathered the right way, I'm glad I'm not one of those collectors who feels compelled to strip it down and redress it, I can't imagine how some of that stuff is going to come off. And the accessories are unbelievable, so much to see, it's all so amazing. I wasn't sure about this set right up until I opened the box, I couldn't afford it and I didn't want to get stuck collecting something else, but this entry floored me.

[Hellboy]

Wow thats some high praise JT. Did you get the regular or the Exclusive?

I usually get my Sideshow merchandise pretty quickly but my Exclusive didn't ship until today. Really looking forward to this figure.

[RooJay]

Gots mine yesterday, too! Oh man, am I ever so happy with this figure!!! Yes, the likeness is a bit off, but aren't they all? He's still instantly recognizeable as Viggo. The outfit if truly frikkin' amazing! So much detail, and so much quality. All in all, he was well worth the price as far as I'm concerned. I really, really can't wait for Legolas and Boromir to ship so I can add them to my display. My only regret is that I didn't manage to get to a computer early enough to order the exclusive. I'm hoping to figure out how to sew me a quality custom knock-off using the cloak from my Exclusive Legolas as a guide.

On a side note - I wonder JT, did your Aragorn's belt come knotted on the wrong side like mine did? I had to undo the knot over the buckle and re-tie it; the excess was hanging over the top rather than from below.

[JediTricks]

Wow thats some high praise JT. Did you get the regular or the Exclusive?

This is my first Sideshow figure that isn't Star Wars, maybe they're all this good, but I was way more impressed than I ever expected.

I missed out on the exclusive, didn't even know it had come out until someone posted in THIS thread about it and by then the SEs were gone - I really wanted that cloak too. Now that I have it in person though, I don't actually mind not having the cloak as much, the rest of the figure is very good.

On a side note - I wonder JT, did your Aragorn's belt come knotted on the wrong side like mine did? I had to undo the knot over the buckle and re-tie it; the excess was hanging over the top rather than from below.

Yeah, damnit. I doubt I would have ever noticed that if you hadn't mentioned it.

[JediTricks]

Got my 12" Sideshow-exclusive Legolas the other day, just now finally got a chance to check it out. Not as good overall as Strider, but better than the SW figures I have from SSC. The head sculpt is odd, from some angles it's too hard-edged a sculpt (like the brow) but from other angles it's dead-on - this is the sculptor's dillema I suppose, though I got the feeling that this was sculpted from 2d still images from various angles and interpolated in between. The sculpted hair is a bit thick for turning the head too much, which is too bad since those are the poses that I think work best. The body itself has tight joints and works pretty well with the outfit, unlike the hair.

The outfit is nice, the boots seem like they're on backwards but they let the ankles move alright. The gauntlets are a bit troublesome as they're a bit thick for plastic and don't work well with the undershirt or the wrist joint from a lot of angles, but they do slip off to let you fix the undershirt sleeve. The left tunic sleeve on mine isn't sewn at all, not even an attempt was made that I can see, there's even a big thing of unused thread halfway down the side of the seam of the body section, dunno what that's about - it's not in the preview photos - but I suspect he's going back over it.

The accessories are pretty good, but they used dummied sheathes instead of working ones (the dummy knife handles look good, I pulled one out and there's a half inch of fake blade, no way to insert the real knife inside) which is a let-down. The quiver has a lot of real rawhide, the detail is good but it smells quite strongly of leather at first (vegetarians beware). They made a faux knot for the main strap, it's got a hidden metal staple-looking thing which corresponds to the main strap with a tiny hole near the end (this feels like a recipe for disaster, moreso on mine since it's off-center) and the staple can let go pretty easy. The leather holster for the bow isn't run right on mine so the right side threads through only 1 slot instead of the 2, and the holster won't hold the bow at all. The bow is nice but mine is noticably bent. There are 5 arrows, nicely done and straight, I do wish there were more though. The set comes with 3 extra hands, I honestly am not sure which one is which, and the flesh tone is a little off, but they're definitely not generic hands - one of them is an exclusive. The exclusive cloak looks pretty nice, it has a good pattern and is cut well, the hood is a little uncooperative and I haven't tried it with the quiver yet due to my lack of faith in that strap.

All in all, I feel like this is a B+ set which is ok, even for the price, but it's another Sideshow piece I am not entirely confident in, and the sleeve means it's likely to go back.

[jonthejedi]

I cancelled Legolas in favor of more $$$ to spend on Medicom & Koto. I was less than impressed with Aragorn.

[Darth Cruel]

I am finally setting up my Sideshow Stuff. Aragorn and Legolas will be displayed soon. I can say that even with the imperfections...I am more than pleased with both of these figures and I feel stupid that I completely forgot to get in on the PPO for Faramir. I am on the wait list, though. And I think I got on soon enough to expect to get one.