Dragon Toy - The Dark Ruler 1/6 Scale

[Bucky Underbelly]

That price is making this very hard to ignore. But I'm trying very hard to stay strong ...

 

[hoodonit00]

Gun damit?

How did this go from $444 to $237?

This. This is in the realm of, if it’s too good to be true it probably is.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Yeah, what are other retailers selling it for? I find it hard to believe Kit is gouging that much.

 

[xvsopx]

Just chiming in to say Gundamit and the sister site Showzstore are 100 percent legit. They tend to always sell things cheaper than most, but the $200 plus difference is wild. I put in a preorder for it just to see if they adjust the total price later.

 

[Nagoya]

Highly doubt they’d change the price of something unless it’s a major error, especially since you can pay in full already. I think they can sometimes be slow to post final prices on product pages, but never seen them change a price of something

 

[Nagoya]

Interesting, on another forum someone posted the full information and this section struck me:

Dragon Play 1/6 The Dark Ruler High - 58CM Mobile Model dp001
Brand: Dragon Play
Product Name: Dark Ruler
Number: dp001
Size: Height 58.8CM
Deadline: September 10, 2023
Shipping time: Q1 2024
Official price: 1580 yuan

I don’t know where they pulled the info list from. But as a comment there pointed out, 1580 yuan is 215 USD

 

[Raleig.h]

my friend @Kit Chen , any idea why there's such a large difference in price?

 

[Hologram AI]

This. This is in the realm of, if it’s too good to be true it probably is.

Doubt it. I've bought a good amount of stuff from Gundamit/Showz before. They're a well known retailer. A lot of Transformer figures are sold through them and a bunch of other figures/brands as well. People have bought a bunch of GameToys 1/6 figures from them through the Final Fantasy thread here as well.

 

[Kit Chen]

my friend @Kit Chen , any idea why there's such a large difference in price

We added inart joker double pack shipping costs on top, the size should be similar

 

[Kit Chen]

Maybe Gundamit know this brand better, we just can’t risk to under estimate shipping cost with a “new brand” 60cm height figure, shipper box should be 75cm at least

If anyone preordered from us, you can email us cancelling the PO before the cut-off date

 

[rivera2171]

Makes sense to me.

 

[rivera2171]

Quality of materials is my main concern with this...

 

[Chopper Face]

First thought I after seeing that price difference- Kit’s terrified of getting boned on shipping again like with InArt Joker, so anything likely to be large and heavy will get a $200 mark-up to cover the potential for high shipping.

One of the biggest downside of the ‘free’ shipping approach imo is the sheer guess-work approach to shipping costs.

Kit’s made a logical, risk mitigating decision, nonetheless, but if other companies don’t follow suit, you end up pricing yourself out of consideration.

This company would be smart to at least remove the head and shoulder pauldrons, and pack them next to the body for shipping to reduce the package length.

I’ve had some pretty hefty TFs sent to me from Show Z (the sister company of Gundammit) seemingly for free or very cheap shipping so, maybe they do have some special arrangement with shipping companies?

This thing suddenly became ever so slightly tempting, but I still don’t see it competing with my statue even if I put in a load of work to improve it. The head is simply unsalvageable at the moment.

 

[nexus]

May pick this up. Scale is a consideration, but pull out the crown spikes and he’s around 21” or roughly 10-1/2’ so not terrible. The overall design looks good to me, although I’m not a huge stickler for screen accuracy. Yes the chain mail is oversized, but in certain respects it actually looks more intimidating, and I’m sure folks will be swapping them out. Will see how retailers price these out. Right now I’m trying to find a rooted hair InArt Aragorn.

I still have the OG SS Sauron that I’m planning to sell soon.

 

[Wor-Gar]

At $444 I wouldn't consider this... but at $237...

I just don't have the room for something this big and it is too tall to stand atop the detolfs (where over-sized figs usually go).

 

[lordnastrond]

At this reduced price this becomes tempting.
I too have the old "1/6" Weta statue and it IS excellent.... so I don't really NEED this.... but a posable Sauron in roughly the right scale has been the dream for some time now.

This figure has a lot of things going for/against it - its very much a case of YMMV.
For example, the large chainmail doesn't bother me - if anything I like it better, it gives Lord Sauron a more brutal design
But I hate the blue and white string you can see holding the chainmail in place....
The scroll-work on the armor is well detailed and brought out nicely in the paintjob.
I don't mind the paint-work overall, true I would like it to look slightly more metallic, but saying that its hardly like it shined in the original movies with it being so grimy and blackened by volcanic dust/soot/ash.

The head does seem a undersized and that is a rather bigger problem.
Does @Kit Chen or anyone else know how to contact this company? Do they have Facebook? Some way we can express to them that the head needs upsizing?

But at this price it goes from "pretty neat but not this time" to "pretty tempting, dare I?"

 

[Raleig.h]

Maybe Gundamit know this brand better, we just can’t risk to under estimate shipping cost with a “new brand” 60cm height figure, shipper box should be 75cm at least

If anyone preordered from us, you can email us cancelling the PO before the cut-off date

Very fair, you must protect yourself.

 

[Kit Chen]

The head does seem a undersized and that is a rather bigger problem.
Does @Kit Chen or anyone else know how to contact this company? Do they have Facebook? Some way we can express to them that the head needs upsizing?

Nope, i don't know this brand or who's behind it, we just got the offer from a distributor

 

[Antarion]

I asked weta about the size of their Sauron statues. Here is the answer i got:

"I've asked around in the office and talked to people who were actually part of the filming to answer this questions for you.
It seems like the Sauron in the films was actually a regular human sized costume worn by a tall performer that was used for most shots.
There are only a handful of shots in which he is seen next to other people. In these cases it was a case of forced perspective. In the shot where Sauron steps and breaks Elendils sword they constructed a special oversize armored foot at a larger scale. Our 1:6 scale Saurons are based on that oversized boot. So Unfortunately, there is no actual size that Sauron has in the films as the director tweaked his scale depending on aesthetic preferences."

So I think we dont have a real size for him, just many forced prespective shots. They went with the boot (and maybe weapon size) to calculate the height. I think all the screenshot discussion are rather void. There isnt a right or wrong size here. Nobody has a definitive measurement.

 

[Mondragon]

In the shot where Sauron steps and breaks Elendils sword they constructed a special oversize armored foot at a larger scale. Our 1:6 scale Saurons are based on that oversized boot.

Prologue fight foot

vs

Deleted Black Gate fight
Foeced perspective

vs On set

vs story-board concept

It seems like the Sauron in the films was actually a regular human sized costume worn by a tall performer that was used for most shots.
There are only a handful of shots in which he is seen next to other people. In these cases it was a case of forced perspective.