InArt: The Lord of the Rings - Gandalf 1:6

Last month all of my figures survived a lengthy 3.4 earthquake, thanks to crotch grabbers.

I imagine the magnitude you have to deal with is higher.

DDani said:

We did not speak about their choice though. Why Gandalf? Which is amongst the top of the Asmus line and has been recently released, so many people won't justify getting a new one, in contrast to releasing it e.g. 3 years from now. Why not Frodo or other characters from the fellowship that are sold out, or have room for improvement? I think most of the people were pulled in with the Asmus Gandalf missing the older figures (incl me . Looks too bad choice to me that can surely lower the quantities sold.

Click to expand...

I've been a little surprised in this thread how many people said they were more interested in Aragorn than Gandalf, as to me Gandalf has always been the most iconic character from the franchise. He's a main character in both LOTR and the Hobbit, and he has such a timeless, archetypal design. He's definitely who I'd pick as the "face" of the franchise as a whole.

But the actual answer is probably that he's somebody on the team's favorite character. They outright said they made Joker first because he's the team leader's favorite character, so I think we can assume that the next handful of characters were all chosen, at least in the this order, by the team themselves.

vaanrose said:

I've been a little surprised in this thread how many people said they were more interested in Aragorn than Gandalf, as to me Gandalf has always been the most iconic character from the franchise. He's a main character in both LOTR and the Hobbit, and he has such a timeless, archetypal design. He's definitely who I'd pick as the "face" of the franchise as a whole.

But the actual answer is probably that he's somebody on the team's favorite character. They outright said they made Joker first because he's the team leader's favorite character, so I think we can assume that the next handle of characters were all chosen, at least in the this order, by the team themselves.

Click to expand...

Most people are interested in Aragorn because his likeness is so hard to nail and there hasn’t been a great release of him before. So that’s why he’s top of many peoples list.

Beyond Gandalf I'm really just interested in Fellowship Aragorn and Frodo.

A great Gandalf and Aragorn would be nice.

Legolas I'm a little less enamored with, but perhaps he'll be decked out with his shoulder armor to make his tights more interesting.

The trio would certainly make an amazing LOTR display.

InArt vs Asmus is probably going to turn into Hot Toys vs Sideshow Star Wars. Some Sideshow pieces you get because you never expect Hot Toys to get around to it. Some figures you get the best of both worlds through a kitbash of the two releases. Some Sideshow pieces start to crater in value because Hot Toys finally does get around to it. And once in a blue moon, Hot Toys does an Amber in the bed and your reviled Sideshow piece suddenly shoots up in value (Jawas).

This is assuming QS/IA really does care about trying to be a top end contender in this market and isn‘t just pulling a loud publicity stunt. On the flip side, EXO-6 very quietly starts pumping out new 1/6 Trek and starts making what will probably be a lot of people’s future grails right off the bat.

Like most, I’ll be tossing down those NRDs on the LOTR stuff as a safety bet. Because InArt does not have US licensing rights, State side companies will not have the extra ‘shelf’ stock to relieve demand for any sudden FOMO buying upon release.

dantes2501 said:

Magnetic bases would only be good for plain museum poses.

Click to expand...

That's the aimed market. These are meant to be high quality art pieces. Not hot "toys".

Rzeznikk said:

That's the aimed market. These are meant to be high quality art pieces. Not hot "toys".

Click to expand...

They are not statues either, and one can dare to pose them while performing simple “actions”, like simulating a step. The classic Mando walking pose would be impossible with the “innovative” magnetic base.

Magnetic bases is a marketing gimmick. It feels like a high quality feature even though it offers legitimately no actual benefit. It only works with characters already capable of standing under their own weight without the need for a stand in the first place.

dantes2501 said:

They are not statues either, and one can dare to pose them while performing simple “actions”, like simulating a step. The classic Mando walking pose would be impossible with the “innovative” magnetic base.

Click to expand...

We'll see. I don't have any figures with the magnetic bases yet though I will with Kaustiks Wayne and Dracula this year. As for the "walking" pose you should easily be able to achieve that with the assistance of one foot magnetically on the stand. You can achieve that walking pose without any stand already.

I dont have Mando, but here's a walking pose I have my Ledger Joker in right now. Just took him off the base. Free stands fine. Now imagine it with the magnetic base.

Wor-Gar said:

View attachment 577962


The staff color does jump out at me now...

Click to expand...

And the robe could be more faded and washed out.

dantes2501 said:

They are not statues either, and one can dare to pose them while performing simple “actions”, like simulating a step. The classic Mando walking pose would be impossible with the “innovative” magnetic base.

Click to expand...

I think someone had a magnetic base for their custom Joker 2019 where he was balancing on one foot while kicking. Magnets work well for that.

I think stands are ugly, no matter what name plate you use to uniform them.

I’m the opposite. I’ve always liked display stands and think figures look weird when just standing on shelf. They look a bit more toy ish to me like a department store figure when they have no base to stand on. Not so much the waist or crotch grabbers, but a decent sized display stand with some sort of environment I’ve always thought was cool as well as the use of a nameplate. Has more of a higher end collectible and statue type feel to me

Gipetto0812 said:

I’m the opposite. I’ve always liked display stands and think figures look weird when just standing on shelf. They look a bit more toy ish to me like a department store figure when they have no base to stand on. Not so much the waist or crotch grabbers, but a decent sized display stand with some sort of environment I’ve always thought was cool as well as the use of a nameplate. Has more of a higher end collectible and statue type feel to me

Click to expand...

I'm in your camp. I prefer somewhat of a diorama base that works to complement the figure as a whole.

Bought

Wor-Gar said:

I think someone had a magnetic base for their custom Joker 2019 where he was balancing on one foot while kicking. Magnets work well for that.

I think stands are ugly, no matter what name plate you use to uniform them.

Click to expand...

Stands can be fine but crotch grabbers or the bendy grabbers used for flying poses are ugly, and epitomise the notion of a toy

Is part of the reason I switched to statues as they will always stand without help

Also I think hot toys stood by themselves on a shelf can look really good, but there is always the danger of falling. The magnetic base is the best of both worlds IMO

dantes2501 said:

Not so sure that scrawny head magnet is the future of the industry…

Click to expand...

It’s a prototype. Have you seen HT prototypes? Some of them are barely held together by bits if wood and blu-tack.

chrisstruthers said:

It’s a prototype. Have you seen HT prototypes? Some of them are barely held together by bits if wood and blu-tack.

Click to expand...

Absolutely, but if you are a new company that’s preaching to the collectors to be the next big thing that will bring much needed innovation like magnets instead of pegs, and then you show a flimsy 3mm wide magnet to hold in place a 500$ sculpt, well you are not reassuring collectors!

I dont think the issue will be the size of the magnet but the type of glue they use to hold the magnet. HT glue never fails to detach the magnet on their sculpts with swap out hair pieces etc with their DX figures.

You don't want super strong magnets then you'll be fighting with pulling the parts apart. My Prime 1s Big Game Jungle Hunter has some really strong magnets (thankfully for a statue that size) but whenever I want to swap out parts you really need to put some force into pulling. That's not really something I want to have to do on a delicate haired head sculpt.

Hopefully Queen knows this, which is probably why the smaller magnet.

A lot of these custom artists use magnets on their haired pieces. I have faith they know what they are doing. And if the Art department is being run by Viper I think it's a safe bet he is knowledgeable in the custom world being a great custom artist himself.

dantes2501 said:

They are not statues either, and one can dare to pose them while performing simple “actions”, like simulating a step. The classic Mando walking pose would be impossible with the “innovative” magnetic base.

Click to expand...

That's a very big assumption