Epic Trilogy Wave 2: Eowyn, Witchking, Legolas and Mordor Orc Lieutenant!

[shagrat]

Just finished off my set of Epic Trilogy Wave 2 with the remaining figures from Epic Trilogy Wave 2 courtesy of AriseSirToy ( I already have the Eowyn). Not a great wave to be honest - Wave 1 is certainly better. I'll do the reviews individually, except for this first post.

Morgul Lord Witchking

Exactly the same figure, bar of course the flaming sword accessory, which is very well done and supremely cool. The figure was already great so if this was a brand new release he'd easily be the best of the wave.

Eowyn

Good figure, nothing too exciting, but a nice addition nonetheless. Ball jointed shoulders, bicep swivels, double-jointed elbows and jointed wrists with swivels make up comprehensive upper body articulation. Below are ankle joints, and toe joints as well. The skirt of course restricts lower body movement but I believe there's thigh swivels, double-jointed knees and ball jointed hips. Good likeness, nice paint job, movie accurate - a sound figure.

The scabbard is a very well done accessory, and the sword is suitably weathered too.

[shagrat]

Legolas

Urgh, ToyBiz botched this one. Once you set him up he looks great - the first arrow firing Legolas. But there are many negatvies with this figure. I'll do it using the good points and bad points method.

PROS

- The first 'proper' Legolas as we see him for most of the film with a 'decent' level of articulation.
- Aesthetically pleasing. Good paintjob plus great new headsculpt.
- Can fire arrows with the aid of a new bow with a handlegrip, like the Elven Archer.

CONS

- Far from SP. Ball jointed shoulders and elbow joints are the ONLY arm articulation, with the right arm ball joint being hampered by the pull back arrow firing action. Ball-jointed head and swivel waist complete the top half. Lower body is good however - ball jointed hips with leg swivel, double jointed knees, ankle joints and toe articulation. Therefore not the definitive Legolas.
- His knives seem to be stuck permanently into their sheaths. I can't get them out for love nor money. I'll ask Earendil but I really don't think they're removable. Almost unforgivable if this is the case.
- Arrows are the big clunky ones with no flights.

As you can see, those hoping for a definitive SP Legolas will be disappointed. It wouldn't surprise me if this was the one in Epic Trilogy Wave 3 but SP, with all accessories and no action feature. But it should have been like that in the first place ToyBiz!

[shagrat]

Mordor Orc Lieutenant

Due to the relatively poor quality of this wave this first-time release was always going to be the winner but he's an excellent figure in his own right. Articulation is good, a little bit short of SP though. Ball-jointed head (good for Mordor Orc customs), ball-jointed shoulders with swivels, double elbow joints (although due to the armour design they may as well be single), mid-torso joint, waist swivel, ball-jointed hips with swivel, double jointed knees (again a slight moot point - see the elbows) and ankle joints. No finger joints is good, although again like the Legolas the lack of wrist swivels is very annoying.

Again he looks great. Superb detail on his face and armour, complete with the signature skull trophy on top of his helmet. The red under garments are especially well done, meaning this body will make a great template for Mordor Orc customs. One bad point is the green face - it was more light brown in the film, but this is easily overlooked. Another slight disappointment was the change in armour design from the prototype. Note the way the chest and shoulder armour align correctly here:

Press Pic

Now check out Earendil's cared pic of the final figure:

Carded

The chest armour is a duller colour than the shoulders, and no longer aligns with it. Again a small moan but one has to question the transition from the press photo to the final product.

Anyway I don't want to end on a bad point with this cool figure, as all the gripes are minute really. His sword is new, and like Gothmog's is huge. It'd be great if he has a scythe like the film but this will do nicely. He's very tall too, probably about the same height as Gothmog straight legged. All in all, a great addition to your Mordor army and IMO easily the best figure of this wave.

[shagrat]

Sorry I just wanted to add that the Mordor Orc is nowhere near as tall as Gothmog - with the skull is probably only about an inch taller than Gorbag.

[hollano]

Thanks for the reviews! I'm looking forward to these figures immensely! From the packaged pics that I've seen though, I'm a little disappointed by the Mordor Orc. He just doesn't seem right to me somehow. Obviously I'll reserve judgement until I have him in my hand but he doesn't look as good as I'd hoped.

[Pippin]

ditto. he looks wierd now.

[jamtrax]

once again thanks for the review shaggy!

[dr40oz44]

Great reviews!!! Hope it hits retail soon!

[Uruk Hai Slayer]

Thanks for the detailed reviews.

[Irmo]

The only ones I will get in this series are Eowyn and the Orc. Orc sounds pretty cool, not as good as I was hopping for but I'm not that picky to start with so its not a big deal to me. Like you said Eowyn isn't really anything amazing by the looks of her, but nice to have her in a new dress. Thank ya for the really cool review.

[anduril33]

i held off getting the other "meduseld" eowyn cuz that figure looked cheap as hell. this new eowyn looks like a BIG improvement over that one.

also, what are the chances up epic trilogy wave 1 and 2 hitting retail, like TRU and stuff??

[Fellowship]

Originally Posted by Irmo

The only ones I will get in this series are Eowyn and the Orc. Orc sounds pretty cool, not as good as I was hopping for but I'm not that picky to start with so its not a big deal to me. Like you said Eowyn isn't really anything amazing by the looks of her, but nice to have her in a new dress. Thank ya for the really cool review.

I agree. The only ones I will get are Eowyn and the Orc. The other two are more or less rehashes in my opinion.

B.
fellowship

[Gandalf8]

Shagrat could you post some pictures of the legolas toy?

[Proy33]

Hey ... look at the witchking ... he have two swords !!! One flaming and one normal ... what the heck with Toybiz !