Asmus Toys Lord of the Ring Gandalf Gray

[cbulas1]

My Gandalf is scheduled to be delivered to me today, and based off of pictures of this figure I've seen in this thread, I would love to be able to change out my figure's hat and eyes.

So add me to the list of people who hope they are made available to purchase separately. If I like the GtG figure as much as I'm expecting to, I will potentially be purchasing Asmus' Gollum or Smeagol figure, so it'd be nice it the hat and eyes could be included with those figures too (not just Bilbo).

 

[Kalkylen]

Hey @Asmus can you confirm that Bilbo will come with both the hat and the eyes? It would be frustrating to get just the hat with him then have to buy another head later down the line to get the eyeballs too...

 

[denrep-lilium]

Hey @Asmus can you confirm that Bilbo will come with both the hat and the eyes? It would be frustrating to get just the hat with him then have to buy another head later down the line to get the eyeballs too...

They haven't produced eyes yet. But hats are ready.
Eyes and the hat will be available with the Crown head at some point.

 

[DakRen]

Why only Bilbo? I don't have him on order but I do have Gollum on order with you guys. Couldn't you just ship my hat with him instead, whenever he gets released?

I’m in the same boat!

 

[satanatos]

Jeez.. I dont want that angry ol' Bilbo only for the hat. And I ordered my Crown GtG from KGHobby. Dont want Golum/Smeagol as there is no one to pair him with (plan on getting Aragorn and Legolas). Bummer. Guess will wait and see when/if I can procure a molded hat.

 

[Alatar]

So just trying to take in what's been posted for the last half dozen or so pages...

• If you order Bilbo Baggins (Old) for $195 then you'll receive the molded replacement hat for "free."
• If you do not order Bilbo then there will eventually be a plan implemented for getting the hat, but presumably it will cost something. It will not just be mailed out at no cost or with no strings.
• There will eventually be an updated replacement Crown Gandalf the Gray head sculpt with improved eyes. That will probably cost something as well.
• Outside of ordering Bilbo for the hat, we don't know yet what the ways of getting the molded hat or replacement head sculpt will be. Maybe it will be similar to bundling with another figure(s) other Bilbo? (I would imagine depending on how successful it appears the plan to bundle Bilbo + GtG molded hat is.) We don't know.

So fine regarding the hat if you're already interested in old Bilbo.

I understand the push to try to incentivize people to buy certain figures. But hopefully at the very end of the process there will be the option to simply buy the hat and the new head sculpt!

Personally I only plan to buy one more figure, Crown Gandalf the White. I've assembled the nine member fellowship of the Ring which was my original goal with this collection. I'm not looking to build the collection beyond that.

If it ends up being a situation where bundling these items with figures I don't want is the only way to get them, I'll have to move on to QS for a proper GtG and GtW. For GtG I'll just have the eyeballs professionally repainted and leave him hatless.

 

[vaanrose]

Build-a-figure is why I left the smaller scales.

 

[Landry]

Our ultimate goal is to give ALL our Gandalf buyers a free hat, but it is not we cannot give it away, it is about shipping and spread it to all the corners. We tried to give away items like this to the distributors or dealers before, unfortunately, it happens from time to time, the item will be "lost" before reaching to the collectors.

We cannot mail to all the buyers, because shipping has been a problem to us since the pandemic, it will cost more than 20 dollars to just ship one hat to USA. We cant really afford the man power and extra spending this may cost.


So what our first plan for the hat is :

ALL the copies of old Bilbo Baggins will include a Gandalf hat for free,

Since Bilbo is a minor character compare to Gandalf, it is safe to say whoever has bought a Bilbo, has a pretty high chance owning a GtG. So, if we can cover the buyers of Bilbo, we can cover a good portion of the buyers of Gandalf.

There will be more plan to give away the hat, and we will see how it goes as we are.

It is also why we hold back the sell of the head for now, but once it starts (selling the head), we will make sure a hat and a pair of eyeball are included in the package.

Wait... What? I have ZERO interest in purchasing a Bilbo figure. I already spent hundreds of dollars on Gandalf that should have shipped with a hat that wasn't obviously defective. On one hand, I get the "we can't afford to ship hats to everyone" argument. But you already charged everyone who purchased this figure hundreds of dollars. The burden of making this right should NOT be on the consumer. Offer a reasonable fix please. Because this idea is VERY poor.

 

[pixletwin]

 

[rjszar]

So just trying to take in what's been posted for the last half dozen or so pages...

• If you order Bilbo Baggins (Old) for $195 then you'll receive the molded replacement hat for "free."
• If you do not order Bilbo then there will eventually be a plan implemented for getting the hat, but presumably it will cost something. It will not just be mailed out at no cost or with no strings.
• There will eventually be an updated replacement Crown Gandalf the Gray head sculpt with improved eyes. That will probably cost something as well.
• Outside of ordering Bilbo for the hat, we don't know yet what the ways of getting the molded hat or replacement head sculpt will be. Maybe it will be similar to bundling with another figure(s) other Bilbo? (I would imagine depending on how successful it appears the plan to bundle Bilbo + GtG molded hat is.) We don't know.

So fine regarding the hat if you're already interested in old Bilbo.

I understand the push to try to incentivize people to buy certain figures. But hopefully at the very end of the process there will be the option to simply buy the hat and the new head sculpt!

Personally I only plan to buy one more figure, Crown Gandalf the White. I've assembled the nine member fellowship of the Ring which was my original goal with this collection. I'm not looking to build the collection beyond that.

If it ends up being a situation where bundling these items with figures I don't want is the only way to get them, I'll have to move on to QS for a proper GtG and GtW. For GtG I'll just have the eyeballs professionally repainted and leave him hatless.

You neglected to mention this option already announced.

2. From 19th of June to 2nd of July, all purchase related to The Lord of the Rings / The Hobbit items @ Asmus Toys online store will be getting a wizard hat for free. One hat per checkout, regardless the check out total.

 

[satanatos]

So time for me to look at what LOTR/Hobbit related thing I can buy to get the hat?

 

[WolfBoy]

Build-a-figure is why I left the smaller scales.

Exactly lol.

It’s so ridiculous that this is even happening. The amount of apologists this company gets is just weird. People really are happy to be taken for a ride.

The hats should be made CORRECTLY, and be sold (a cost that covers shipping) as a one off for those who want them. Not free with an entirely different figure that costs hundreds of dollars.
Show proof of your Gandalf purchase with a barcode number (they would have a record of all barcodes generated)/or the order number if you bought from Asmus, that’s it.
If that’s too tricky, then just sell the hats for the price it cost to remake them and be done with it.
If they can’t manage that, then they shouldn’t be in business.

The truth is, they cant be bothered doing that and want to make a quicker buck selling a separate expensive item to provide the hat.

Asmus genuinly thinks their customers are morons. They may be right for a majority tbh.

 

[Big Dee Pr]

If only Ace Ventura received this kind of effort.......

 

[DakRen]

You neglected to mention this option already announced.

2. From 19th of June to 2nd of July, all purchase related to The Lord of the Rings / The Hobbit items @ Asmus Toys online store will be getting a wizard hat for free. One hat per checkout, regardless the check out total.

So you could purchase a cheaper item like the Balrog or Uruk smaller scale or one of those chibi looking cosbabies nendoroid things?

 

[Rzeznikk]

If only Ace Ventura received this kind of effort.......

And Ash Williams.

 

[WolfBoy]

And Ash Williams.

And Deluxe Arwen.

 

[satanatos]

This quickly went down the drain. The more I read their post the more I got disgusted. Personal opinion. Now the way I see Asmus as a company has completely changed. I will not be giving them any more money.
They could have played it quite differently - asking the community how they want this handled and putting a vote, then deciding on the top choices.
Instead they went ahead with the public announcement, stating anyone who does not order anything from them, or does not have Bilbo on preorder is screwed for the time being. Yes, the time being as god knows when and if they will release the hat and eyes as a stand-alone or two-pack offer.
Good luck to all who preordered grumpy Bilbo.

 

[Xman1990]

I preordered Gollum and bilbo so I’m glad I’ll get a hat.

but whats this about the eyes ? Did I miss something?

I have the crown version of Gandalf and my brother has the v1 Gandalf and is desperate for a head update.

 

[Asmus]

We are giving out with Bilbo because it is the nearest LOTR release.

We make no promise to others like Ringhwraith or Gollum because there will be an additional thousands of hats to make, we cannot be sure if there is enough time.

We don't want to sell the hat as an individual piece, because there will be more unhappy customers if we try to sell this for money.

Gift with a purchase is only a quick way we can give to you for free, not forcing you to buy more things.

Please everyone, be understanding, there is no profit in this, we are not doing this to promote anything, only intention is to improve the Gandalf in your hand.

 

[Landry]

We are giving out with Bilbo because it is the nearest LOTR release.

We make no promise to others like Ringhwraith or Gollum because there will be an additional thousands of hats to make, we cannot be sure if there is enough time.

We don't want to sell the hat as an individual piece, because there will be more unhappy customers if we try to sell this for money.

Gift with a purchase is only a quick way we can give to you for free, not forcing you to buy more things.

Please everyone, be understanding, there is no profit in this, we are not doing this to promote anything, only intention is to improve the Gandalf in your hand.

You are absolutely forcing people to buy more things. I cannot afford to buy Bilbo just to get a hat.

Just offer it up for sale inexpensively - cost of shipping. Set up that cost as a redeemable discount on a item from your site if need be. Then it can be applied to whatever item people want - assuming they want anything. And then you don't have to ship a thousand hats with Bilbo - many of which will go to people who don't even own Gandalf.

This "Bilbo" plan is terrible. Don't do it.