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wallace_trustNot having a lot of disposable funds, but wanting to continue my fun hobbit collecting spree, I recently purchased the Deluxe Poseable action figures made by Toybiz. They came as a set, each new in his box, for $20 inclusive of shipping. The cheap price and the fact these are still easy to find allowed me to immediately remove them from the constriction of their packages and turn them loose to play! :D
To my delight, the sculpts on these figures are very good, closely resembling the movie characters, and both figures are heavy, robust and capable of standing up to a lot of use.
According to Figurerealm.com, 52 different versions of Frodo (!) have been produced so far by various manufacturers, but as 'action figures' go this must surely be one of the best. He has fine, discerning brows, large blue eyes and painted hair. His molded-on shirt is a lovely, very pale peach, with tiny pearlized buttons and lots of silky wrinkles. He comes with Sting, a heavy-duty plastic cloak and jacket, and, oddly enough, a removable cloth weskit.
The weskit is the only part of his outfit I don't like. The decorative stitching is too large and the texture of the material too coarse, giving it a cheap, tacked-together feel quite at odds with what we know about Frodo Baggins' fine wardrobe. But the situation is easily remedied, as it is removable to expose the lovely plastic shirt beneath.
The Sam figure was manufactured with the same amount of care and attention to detail. He comes with a sword and a small axe. I do notice that Sam's head sculpt is on a slightly smaller scale than Frodo's, but not enough to be objectionable. His open-collar, molded gray work shirt is finely detailed down to suspenders, seams, placket and minute buttons, and his large pack is molded onto his cloak as a single unit.
The only flaw with these figures that gave me real pause is that Sam has a 'spraddle' problem. I don't know how they didn't catch this in the R & D phase of manufacture, but for whatever reason, poor Sam is stuck forever in a spreadeagled position! (I would love to say something mischevious about this, but will refrain ;D) He can only take a wide-stance pose, as if bracing for battle, and to sit him down properly, one leg has to be folded across his body. Frodo has a similar problem but it is much less pronounced and he can stand fairly normally. Also, while their wrists rotate, these do not possess hinge joints.
Both cloaks have an interesting problem. They are fastened loosely on the two figures and were quite obviously originally intended to be removable. I spent some time wrestling with their delicate leaf brooches thinking they fastened using a peg system, only to realize both sides of these brooches had been permanently glued down. The collar openings of the cloaks are not quite large enough to permit being pulled over the little heads of their respective wearers, but the cloaks themselves are so heavy duty that they need to be removable to increase the figures' versatility.
My solution: Since these dolls are cheap and common, a little surgery was in order. This type of rubbery plastic tends to retain its shape when cut, so I simply snipped a half-inch slit in the back of the neck opening of both cloaks, being careful to cut right along the molded seam. This enables the cloaks to be pulled on and off over the heads of the figures, but once on, the plastic snaps back into shape, with the cut virtually invisible!
All in all, despite their flaws, both of these figures deserve an A+ for loving attention to detail, very sturdy construction, and loads of articulation. Their joints have not become loose despite my having posed them over and over again. They have survived several falls from their desktop perch on my computer, where they usually sit and criticize my work as I write and paint. (I tend to reach up and squeeze Sam's toes on occasion ^_^; ) They are cat-resistant as well, though of course they shouldn't be chewed on! And as an added bonus, Frodo's left hand fits together quite well with Sam's right one for some adorable hand-in hand friendship poses! *squee* *bliss* In closing, if you want some inexpensive hobbit dolls that are not too fragile to actually play with, these two will fit the bill excellently! :D
Below: Sam is tired :)
To my delight, the sculpts on these figures are very good, closely resembling the movie characters, and both figures are heavy, robust and capable of standing up to a lot of use.
According to Figurerealm.com, 52 different versions of Frodo (!) have been produced so far by various manufacturers, but as 'action figures' go this must surely be one of the best. He has fine, discerning brows, large blue eyes and painted hair. His molded-on shirt is a lovely, very pale peach, with tiny pearlized buttons and lots of silky wrinkles. He comes with Sting, a heavy-duty plastic cloak and jacket, and, oddly enough, a removable cloth weskit.
The weskit is the only part of his outfit I don't like. The decorative stitching is too large and the texture of the material too coarse, giving it a cheap, tacked-together feel quite at odds with what we know about Frodo Baggins' fine wardrobe. But the situation is easily remedied, as it is removable to expose the lovely plastic shirt beneath.
The Sam figure was manufactured with the same amount of care and attention to detail. He comes with a sword and a small axe. I do notice that Sam's head sculpt is on a slightly smaller scale than Frodo's, but not enough to be objectionable. His open-collar, molded gray work shirt is finely detailed down to suspenders, seams, placket and minute buttons, and his large pack is molded onto his cloak as a single unit.
The only flaw with these figures that gave me real pause is that Sam has a 'spraddle' problem. I don't know how they didn't catch this in the R & D phase of manufacture, but for whatever reason, poor Sam is stuck forever in a spreadeagled position! (I would love to say something mischevious about this, but will refrain ;D) He can only take a wide-stance pose, as if bracing for battle, and to sit him down properly, one leg has to be folded across his body. Frodo has a similar problem but it is much less pronounced and he can stand fairly normally. Also, while their wrists rotate, these do not possess hinge joints.
Both cloaks have an interesting problem. They are fastened loosely on the two figures and were quite obviously originally intended to be removable. I spent some time wrestling with their delicate leaf brooches thinking they fastened using a peg system, only to realize both sides of these brooches had been permanently glued down. The collar openings of the cloaks are not quite large enough to permit being pulled over the little heads of their respective wearers, but the cloaks themselves are so heavy duty that they need to be removable to increase the figures' versatility.
My solution: Since these dolls are cheap and common, a little surgery was in order. This type of rubbery plastic tends to retain its shape when cut, so I simply snipped a half-inch slit in the back of the neck opening of both cloaks, being careful to cut right along the molded seam. This enables the cloaks to be pulled on and off over the heads of the figures, but once on, the plastic snaps back into shape, with the cut virtually invisible!
All in all, despite their flaws, both of these figures deserve an A+ for loving attention to detail, very sturdy construction, and loads of articulation. Their joints have not become loose despite my having posed them over and over again. They have survived several falls from their desktop perch on my computer, where they usually sit and criticize my work as I write and paint. (I tend to reach up and squeeze Sam's toes on occasion ^_^; ) They are cat-resistant as well, though of course they shouldn't be chewed on! And as an added bonus, Frodo's left hand fits together quite well with Sam's right one for some adorable hand-in hand friendship poses! *squee* *bliss* In closing, if you want some inexpensive hobbit dolls that are not too fragile to actually play with, these two will fit the bill excellently! :D
Below: Sam is tired :)
no subject
Date: 2017-06-03 07:06 pm (UTC)When I bought mine they weren't sold as a set, but individually. I agree about Sam. Some of the smaller Sam action figures are bow-legged as well, especially the Mount Doom Sam figure. Must have been a kink of the designer. ;-P I hadn't thought of bending only one of Sam's legs to sit him down. Thanks for the tip.
no subject
Date: 2017-06-04 04:38 am (UTC)There are many other figures in this set, and based on my good experience with these I may branch out. There is Gandalf, a very lovely looking Eomer, and Shelob too!
I wonder why Sam is so consistently bowlegged across editions. Maybe the manufacturers are trying to indicate that he is carrying a heavy load? It's really strange when I think about it. After all, these aren't the first action figures ever made; they knew what they were doing. *scratches head* o_O;
no subject
Date: 2017-06-03 08:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-06-04 04:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-06-03 09:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-06-04 04:49 am (UTC)