The Hobbit toys are out.
Saw 3 3/4" singles, 3 3/4" two-packs, a couple 3 3/4" scale box sets, and the 6" figures at Toys R Us in Yonkers, NY today.
I have to say, I was quite impressed. The sculpts and likenesses are pretty fantastic across the board. The likeness on both Gandalfs are particularly great. The 3 3/4" Gollum likeness is better than any ToyBiz take on the character.
I didn't intend to get anything from this line, but I almost walked out with 6" Bilbo and Gandalf.
The 6" figures should work pretty seamlessly with the ToyBiz LOTR line, I would think.
Everything was absurdly priced, but that's toys these days, especially in New York, where we pay You Live In New York So It's More Because You Live In New York And That's Why It's More prices.
-JJJ
Thank you, I'm excited for these. The prices are insane; I haven't bought figures for some time but it seems this is the new normal... However, I am impressed with these as first offerings and am pleased that the 6" scale figures look to work well with Toy Biz's substantial output. They fall considerably short of Toy Biz's later waves in terms of paint, sculpt, and articulation, but they compare favorably to Toy Biz's first Fellowship wave. And The Bridge Direct is nailing it in terms of accurate accessories and sheaths on the figures in which to store them.
I was disappointed at first that it seems the focus will be on the 3.75" line, but this may be a blessing in disguise. Several of the figures nominally from that scale (I think) work better scaled to the 6" line. Scaled to the 3.75" line, the Great Goblin is ridiculously oversized, more like a troll than a goblin. And the goblin grunt is larger than a man. Tolkien described Gollum throttling these when they came for a fish in his pond from time to time so I don't think they should be much larger than hobbits or dwarves. I am also convincing myself that the excellent Warg figure works well enough as a wolf for the 6" line. Also, the smaller scale line may facilitate production of a Smaug figure, who may not otherwise be released if only a 6" line were produced. Of course, such a Smaug would be underscale with respect to the 6" line (like Toy Biz's Shelob and Fell Beast) but I don't mind - after Neca's Balrog, my apartment can't manage another in-scale beast.
I saw them today as well and was impressed as well.
Heads up As I saw them in a Saturday matinee store as well as Toys "R" Us.
The 3 inch figure fail for one important reason. They do not have figure stand holes in the feet. I'm not sure how a collector can display his collection proudly without them. I was looking at the one 6 inch figure, but could not tell if there were figure stand holes in the feet or not. Leads me to believe that this company is not filled with a bunch of Toybiz people.... because all the LOTR Figures had figure stand holes in the feet.
My initial reaction based on what I had seen is that the figures look cheap. I really miss Toybiz... and now I'm looking more towards Gentle Giants to fulfill my need of having all 13 dwarves in Mini-bust format... I'm not sure I will buy any of the 6 inch figures... so many other licenses out there to compete for my hard earned cash.
J