Epic Trilogy Wave 1: Gandalf, Frodo, Aragorn, and the Gondorian Soldier!

White Ranger · 08-17-2005, 10:12 PM

Ok folks, I got my case of the first wave of Epic figures. The assortment included the figures I'm about to review as well as a repacked Legolas with sound base (looks like Pellenor Fields Leggy), Gothmog, and the Eye of Sauron.

But on to the new figures. I'll start off with Gandalf Stormcrow.
This *ahem* new figure is pretty much the old Gandalf the White figure with the same staff extending action. Same points of articulation, same paint apps. The new parts of this figure include a new sculpted soft plastic gray cloak and a new headsculpt. The cloak is nice and is easy to take off and put on with two pegs in the back of the cloak holding it together. It provides a nice pose of Gandalf in the Golden Hall cloaked in gray ready to reveal the white beneath, but other than that, its nothing special.

The headsculpt though is very impressive. The absolute best Gandalf headsculpt I've ever seen. Even better than the original TTT Gandalf. It is simply a work of art.

Me, I'm probably going to do a headswap to put it onto the more poseable upper torso of the Horse&Rider Gandalf and will then put that onto the lower torso of a better articulated GTW.

More reviews soon!

White Ranger · 08-17-2005, 10:30 PM

Ok, here comes the Council Aragorn review!
This figure is really cool. He's super articulated on the Marvel Legends level. Here's the breakdown: toes, double ankle, boot cut, double knee, the ML ball hips, waist cut, balled shoulders and upper biceps, double elbow, wrist cuts, left hand finger articulation, base of the neck, and double head=31 poa.

What is odd is that the upper torso of this figure is very different from other LOTR figures. Rather than a base torso covered by plastic clothing, the whole upper torso is molded.

The headsculpt is decent. I think the hair may be throwing it off, much like the SP Helms Deep Aragorn (if you compare it to the superior Weathertop Strider head they are actually identical with the exception of the hair- hair makes a difference!).
The paint apps are a little odd as well. His boots are a more blueish color rather than the gray it normally is and also different from the brown boots in the press photos.

Another thing to note is the right hand which isn't articulated. Rather it has a small peg that fits into a hole in both his ranger sword and the hilt of Narsil. Narsil is packaged separately though the rest of the shards are permanantly fixed to the elven shiled. The shield itself is very nicely painted with amazing detail showing the contrast between the effects of decay and time on the shield in comparison to the pristine condition of the blade fragments.

Other accessories notes: there is a small knife that fits into the scabbard just like the TTT5 sword slashing Aragorn.
The scabbard is not removable, although even the most amateur customizers can take care of that.

Overall an impressive Aragorn, but still not the definitive one I'm waiting for. Hell, I'm getting sick of waiting, I may just make it lol!

More coming!

White Ranger · 08-17-2005, 10:34 PM

Onto Frodo:
Not much to say about this figure. I mean the sculpt is (I think) entirely new with lots of added ML style articulation. The figure just doesn't impress me though. I think the head is throwing me off. The headsculpt is kind of attrocious. The one on the SP Frodo is much better IMO. The journal is cool though. Other than that, nothin' special.

dr40oz44 · 08-17-2005, 10:57 PM

Thanks for the reviews!

White Ranger · 08-17-2005, 11:06 PM

Ok, onto what even I've been waiting for: The Gondorian Swordsman!

This figure is amazing. The ariculation is more or less super poseable: double knee, elbow, ankle, and neck; wrist cuts, toe articulation, ML ball shoulders and biceps, cut waist, hinge waist with mid-thigh cuts, calf cuts, and no, thank goodness, NO hand articulation. Unfortunately the skirt is a harder plastic, made harder by the armor on top of it, and restricts the leg articulation quite a bit.

The detail is amazing. The chainmail sleeves and pants is so carefully detailed, much better than armored Faramir's. The breastplate is beautiful. I don't think words can accurately describe it. Its just fantastic. The armor overall is just so absolutely amazing with sculpt and detail. I do have one grievance though: its kinda chunky. The bracers and glaves are sculpted right on and the articulation is actually in them (ankle joints in the bottom of the glaves, 2nd set of the double elbow in the bracers). This means that unlike Elendil and Isildur, the glaves are not coming off the shins. This isn't new however. Armored Faramir and Pellenor Aragorn were the same but they never seemed so clunky.
The bracers are another story. They're huge, which confuses me because the ones on the Fountain Guard are the same style but don't look clunky or obtrusive at all.
The thing that adds to the clunkiness of the figure is the pauldrons and lames. They are massive. They may be designed to be detail accurate, but they are just so big that when the figure has its arm up to hold the bow, the bottom lame is resting on one of the leather straps of the bracers! The pauldrons are attached to the body armor similar to Theodred's pauldrons but are much lower on the shoulder which adds to the odd look.
I think the problem is the headsculpt. Theodred had pauldrons too but managed to say up higher because of the way his hair was pushed back. On this figure the hair is allowed to drape forward, most likely to offset the *ahem* roundness of the head. The headsculpt itself is not terrible, but it is rather large and a little cartoonish. Its not that i couldn't live with it. I could. But I'd rather not.
For me my solution is probably going to be pop the head, replace with more suitable one with better hair, and reshape and reset the pauldrons and lames to sit higher on the shoulders. I can live with clunky bracers.

Overall, I think its a great figure. A few minor grievances (well, minor for me; maybe major for others but for me its not too bad and not unfixable) but I really like this figure and am very impressed by the quality of figure that Toy Biz is producing these days. Hope for the rest of the line is more than kindled. Keep up the good work Jesse and the TB gang and I hope to see more and more great figures!

Keep the liscence alive!
-WR

White Ranger · 08-17-2005, 11:09 PM

Oh, another note about the Gondorian's accessories: The bow is short but very nice, the arrows are rather large and imposing but not terrible, the helmet is possibly the coolest accessory ever, the sword is a thicker version of the Fountain Guard sword, and the shield is really cool except I thought the shields were black with a white tree. This shield is silver with a white tree. Really cool battle-wear detail on the shield though!

**shagrat** · 08-18-2005, 03:59 AM

Great reviews. Does the Gondorian have bicep swivels, and can he hold his bow in an arrow firing position? Thanks.

White Ranger · 08-18-2005, 10:42 AM

He can hold his bow in an arrow firing position and has the ML style balled bicep like Council Aragorn rather than a cut swivel like Armored Faramir.
Only problem with the bow is that it can be held in one hand with the string held in the other but if left like this it may mishape the bow. That started to happen with one of Gondorians last night but I took it out of his hands and reshaped it before any permanent damage was done. Just be warned it doesn't hold up as well as the Lurtz bow, the Elven Archer bows, or TTT Faramir's bow.

**shagrat** · 08-18-2005, 10:58 AM

Thanks again. You swapped any heads yet for the Gondorian? Does the helmet fit well on any other figures you've tried so far?

jamtrax · 08-18-2005, 12:18 PM

thanks for the great review white ranger!

am really looking forward to seeing them up close....soon

Imrahil · 08-18-2005, 12:46 PM

Firstly, thanks for the reviews. Nice to finally hear some thoughts on this series.

Re: Gondorian Swordsman

Well that does sound really positive. Sure, the clunkiness concerns me but you seem to be happy with it.

A few questions though

1) how tall is he?

2) if one had a mind to, could they strip all his armour off bar the bracers and greeves/glaves? (rather like one could remove Faramir's armour for instance)

3) Does the helmet fit well on most heads, or is it designed with only fathead in mind?

White Ranger · 08-18-2005, 01:38 PM

Shagrat:
I haven't had too much time to experiment with swapping yet but I do have some ideas of which ones will work best. One idea I've had for a long time was to take the hair off Denethor and add Armored Faramir's hair. I think it would look really cool. Another idea was to use the original Eomer head with the new Boromir hair. I've looked at it and thought it was cool but haven't committed to it yet.

The helmet is nice. Its made of ver soft plastic and seems to conform really well to other heads and looks especially good on thinner heads.

Imrahil:

1) He's in scale with Faramir, Boromir, and the other men of Gondor.

2) The breast and back plates, pauldrons and lames, and the armor on the skrt (can't believe I can't remember the terminology for that) are all removable (just like Armored Faramir).

3) Like I said before, the helmet tends to fit most heads well. Since the original figure has a larger head, smaller heads with more hair still manage to fit relatively well. However for cstomizers, the key to the perfect fit is swapping not jst heads but also hair. You'll find the right combination.

Hope this helps!
WR

Imrahil · 08-18-2005, 02:14 PM

Thanks very much for that White Ranger. Pictures of the Gondorian show him to be pint-sized, so it's nice to hear that he's in scale with Denethor's sons. From what you've said so far, he's reasonably customisable too.

White Ranger · 08-18-2005, 02:42 PM

Hold on a sec, Imrahil. I think I've made a mistake. I was comparing the Gondorian with a few others who were ot and just realized that just like the Fountain Guard he is a bit short. Looks like he ma have a similar if not identical base torso underneath the armor which leaves him a bit undersized.

So he looks fine standing next to Fountain Guards but is a bit shorter than say Armored Faramir. A little distressing, but not terrible. Plus if you think about it the Rohirrim army builders were shorter as well. With the helmet on its not entirely noticeable, but for purists who had issues with the Fountain Guard's scale, it may tick you off.

Any customizers work with making height fixes with figures with shorter torsos? Fountain guards? Or swap parts with Isildur (which also had a shorter torso)?

anduril33 · 08-19-2005, 10:20 AM

thanks for the reviews! im a little worried about getting the council aragorn. i mean, wtf is up with his scabbard???! why cant you remove it? he didnt wear his scabbard in the movie, why would they add it in there anyways? why didnt he have the sabbard on in the press shots? grrr......i dont ussally "break" my figures, but i may have to just remove the scabbard if it comes down to it. i want that aragorn especially to be movie accurate, not TB adding a scabbard to make it look "cooler", he wasnt wearing it in that scene! why didnt they just give council legolas his bow and scabbard as well?

oh well, as long as i can remove the scabbard without ruining the fig, ill be happy.