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

BuggerBoy said:

I pre-ordered this with Kit in January 2023 and haven't got any update, just wondering if this is normal or any cause for concern?

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I ordered in January 2023 as well, and got mine a few weeks ago. But I'd think you'd at least get an arrival notice from Kit asking for the balance payment by now. Probably should check in. Maybe the email from Kit went to your spam folder.

BuggerBoy said:

I pre-ordered this with Kit in January 2023 and haven't got any update, just wondering if this is normal or any cause for concern?

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My dude, SO many of us are still waiting. At this rate they’ll be shipping out the first batches of Paul Atreides before they get everyone’s Gandalf out the door.

Thanks for the responses guys, I actually did email Kit and he just said there were no updates..

I definitely appreciate you guys giving me some reassurance though, so thanks

BuggerBoy said:

Thanks for the responses guys, I actually did email Kit and he just said there were no updates..

I definitely appreciate you guys giving me some reassurance though, so thanks

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Kit ships Gandalf (and all his product) in order of when people ordered them. If you look up your order confirmation, it will say an order number. That tells you your position in the queue.

On Feb 21st, Kit posted that all orders up until #96152 were invoiced. If your number is lower, you should have got an email to pay the remaining balance. If you're higher, you'll have to wait till he receives the next batch.

He also posted this overview recently:

• Order from #80xxx - 82xxx within original preorder window
• Order from #89xx - 90xxx placed in Oct 2022
• Order from #95xxx - 97xxx placed in Jan 2023
• Order from #10xxxx - 11xxx placed in March - August 2023

Okay great thanks, my order number is closely after that so that explains it. Hopefully I'll be in the coming batches. I appreciate the update, cheers

agonistes86 said:

He also posted this overview recently:

• Order from #80xxx - 82xxx within original preorder window
• Order from #89xx - 90xxx placed in Oct 2022
• Order from #95xxx - 97xxx placed in Jan 2023
• Order from #10xxxx - 11xxx placed in March - August 2023

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This is a very helpful chart. Hope he makes one for each of the InArt figures coming.

Mine finally came in and sorry to say I’m a bit disappointed. Few qc issues just like with joker. But especially the hair got butchered. This seems to be a trend with Inart very inconsistent in quality on batches.

How many order windows existed with Aragorn? I guess more ordered him on the first window than Gandalf (because the quality was unknown back then)

he-man said:

Mine finally came in and sorry to say I’m a bit disappointed. Few qc issues just like with joker. But especially the hair got butchered. This seems to be a trend with Inart very inconsistent in quality on batches.

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I need to review mine, but I rememvber I was also a bit dissapointed in the hair. MAybe it was becauce of the stuff in it, made them feel stiff and not lifelike. I probably need to spray some water on it...

he-man said:

Mine finally came in and sorry to say I’m a bit disappointed. Few qc issues just like with joker. But especially the hair got butchered. This seems to be a trend with Inart very inconsistent in quality on batches.

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Same. I’m still bothered that my left grip hand was ****** up and just falls out of the socket.

But unless inart starts offering direct sales for warranties you’re pretty much ******

he-man said:

Mine finally came in and sorry to say I’m a bit disappointed. Few qc issues just like with joker. But especially the hair got butchered. This seems to be a trend with Inart very inconsistent in quality on batches.

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WOW! the hair on yours looks significantly shorter than ones from previous batches. Most of the other ones have the hair coming over the shoulders and yours stops right at the shoulders. Not only that, it looks more uniformly cut like if someone just took scissors and cut straight across. If that was mine, I would contact whoever I needed to for a replacement.

he-man said:

Mine finally came in and sorry to say I’m a bit disappointed. Few qc issues just like with joker. But especially the hair got butchered. This seems to be a trend with Inart very inconsistent in quality on batches.

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Hmmmm....only one I've seen cut like this

Will reach out to the seller for a replacement. This is unacceptable!

Batch 12:

PizzaCake said:

Batch 12:

View attachment 693553

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Jokes aside, definitely agree that is an unacceptable deviation and I would definitely be reaching out to see if they can make it right…not only is it abnormally short, it looks like they gave him a bowl cut straight across the back. How odd. Hope they take care of you, he-man.

I know InArt mentioned hiring more rooted hair artists in 2024 to better handle future releases, but hopefully they’re placing an equal emphasis on beefing up their QC game. This inconsistency on the bigger releases is not a good look. Not that it would be an adequate excuse, but these are taking so long to roll out you can’t really even fall back on it being a rush job to meet demand either. Just sloppy. Makes me concerned for Aragorn…

Maybe I missed it, but what inconsistencies has Gandalf had between batches that I keep seeing mentioned? Just that strange case in the one post above?

Mogli said:

Maybe I missed it, but what inconsistencies has Gandalf had between batches? Just that strange case in the one post above?

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This is the first I’ve seen the hair issue (to this extent) on this forum (some complaints about the hair styling elsewhere though that could be corrected with water treatments), but you also have to factor in that this community is a small portion of the number of collectors getting these figures, so who knows how widespread any one issue is unless everyone who buys one is posting to the same forum.

I’ve seen a number of people mention eye issues with Gandalf, same as with the Joker. Also some issues with belts/scabbards arriving undone. Again, maybe not a big deal for those who are willing to tinker, but at this price point the figure should be stellar out of the box, so just saying if they are bringing on a bunch of new staff to work on figures, hopefully that means they’re also bringing on more QC folks to oversee.

It does seem like there are fewer issues with Gandalf compared to Joker, hopefully that upward trend continues.

PizzaCake said:

This is the first I’ve seen the hair issue (to this extent) on this forum (some complaints about the hair styling elsewhere though that could be corrected with water treatments), but you also have to factor in that this community is a small portion of the number of folks getting these figures, so who knows how widespread any one issue is unless everyone who buys one is posting to the same forum.

I’ve seen a number of people mention eye issues with Gandalf, same as with the Joker. Also some issues with belts/scabbards arriving undone. Again, maybe not a big deal for those who are willing to tinker, but at this price point the figure should be stellar out of the box, so just saying if they are bringing on a bunch of new staff to work on figures, hopefully that means they’re also bringing on more QC folks to oversee.

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Thanks for the info, that makes sense. I'm wary of some issues I see online since I seem to recall a few instances of supposed QC issues actually being mods or damage done by the owner (I'd have to search those posts again I might be wrong). But I do remember a lot of those issues you point out which were clearly INART's fault, I'd be so annoyed if any of those happened to me so I agree it'd be great to see them improve QC.

Mogli said:

Thanks for the info, that makes sense. I'm wary of some issues I see online since I seem to recall a few instances of supposed QC issues actually being mods or damage done by the owner (I'd have to search those posts again I might be wrong). But I do remember a lot of those issues you point out which were clearly INART's fault, I'd be so annoyed if any of those happened to me so I agree it'd be great to see them improve QC.

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Yeah to their credit it seems like InArt has been good about correcting mistakes/issuing replacements when it is on them, but it’s still a bummer to see fellow collectors have to go through the hassle of that after dropping half a grand.

I'm sorry but I'm just not buying that is how that hair arrived. Only way possible would to be is they have a rogue disgruntled factory employee that was inspecting and took it upon themselves to do that to the hair.

Otherwise, do I believe someone is crazy enough to actually order one and butcher the hair to try and tarnish InArt’s reputation? Absolutely I believe someone would. If they bought from a reputable seller, then I'm sure they were just planning to send it back and get their money back.

InArt has its shares of QC problems to work on, and I have mentioned some myself on here that I've had. This short hair is so far off the wall and doesn't add up. Maybe I'm wrong though since so many of you seem to be buying into it.