Review of Legolas - Lord of the Rings
'Luxury' Edition Sixth Scale Action Figure

Introduction

It's been years since the Lord of the Rings trilogy wrapped up, but it remains one of the best adapted series to ever hit the big screen. Trust me when I say adapting an epic series of novels can end in ruin, as any fan of the Dark Tower books can easily attest. What Jackson pulled off was a Herculean feat, and we should never take it for granted.

Apparently, creating sixth scale action figures of the beloved Middle Earth characters is just as difficult. Many have tried, but few have succeeded. Asmus Toys is the latest to give it their all, and the latest release in the series is Legolas, warrior elf and member of the Fellowship. He comes in two versions - a regular release, widely available through many retailers for around $200, and a deluxe 'luxury' version (I blame poor translation for the weird title) that includes a special diorama type base and will run you around $250 - $260, depending on the retailer.  I'm looking at the deluxe version in this review, but it's only the diorama piece that's different.

Packaging - ***
Nothing particularly unique here, but there's a nice shot of the character on the front of the shoe box lid. Inside is a cardboard tray cover with additional graphics, and underneath is the plastic trays that hold the figure and accessories safe. Everything is collector friendly of course, and even the plastic bags used to protect the hands, feet, and head in transit slip off without any cutting or fuss.

The large diorama - the head of a Cave Troll - comes in a separate cardboard box, and unfortunately, this one is packed with the cheaper, softer styrofoam eggshell trays. You'll be vacuuming up bits of foam for a week.

These two boxes are then put inside a larger black box for the 'luxury' release. It all works well enough, but I'm not a fan of that damn styrofoam.

Sculpting - **
This is a tough one, because I think the portrait is an extremely good Legolas - if you can ignore the hair. That's the secret - stop looking at the hair, at least for a moment.

Instead, focus on the face itself, the shape of the nose, the set of the jaw, the bone structure of the cheeks, even the placement of the eyes and shape of his pointy ears. The portrait is quite accurate to both Legolas and Orlando Bloom. I do think it's closer to the older Bloom that we see in the Hobbit movies, but I'm fine with that. I also like the slightly stoic, serious, determined expression, perfect for battle poses as well as relaxed stances. He's a serious elf, and the expression conveys that while avoiding a wax museum look.

Ah, but then there's that hair. That awful hair. Instead of going with rooted hair, which worked so well with Gandalf, Thranduil, and Sarumon, they took a step backward and went with sculpted hair. Adding insult to injury, it's a bad sculpt. It's tremendously soft, with very little detail in the strands or braids. They did try to use the softest material possible, so the longer locks wouldn't be completely immobile, but they still get in the way of posing the heads, thanks to the position of the quiver and sheaths on his back, not to mention his shoulders. I think it was a bad decision, and I'd love to see some of the excellent customizers out there give this guy rooted hair - I think it will really make the facial sculpt pop.

He's of average height, coming in at just a smidge over 12" tall. The various hands are sculpted to work with the accessories, particularly the bow and arrows, and while some are a little over sized, it's a minor nit.

Paint - ***
Asmus' production paint work isn't up to the level of the top manufacturers in the industry, but it's getting there.  Just like with the sculpt, you'll want to shield your eyes from the hair, and focus on the skin, eyes, eyebrows, and lips.

And when you do that, you'll see the quality of their work remains solid. The eyes, eyebrows, and lips have a realistic tone, and the eyes are particularly well done with little bleed or slop. The skin tone is even and consistent from face to body to hands, and provides a realistic canvas for the rest of the features.

And then there's that hair. The yellow blonde color is about the best they can do when you don't use rooted hair (blonde hair has a translucent quality that can't be captured with a painted surface), but it does nothing to improve the softness of the sculpt itself. The hair line is a little sloppy, and the thick, clumpy locks are much too consistent. The end result with the hair overall is largely the fault of the sculpt, but the paint plays its part.

It's worth noting some other nice touches though, to avoid overlooking them under the harsh glare of the hair.  There's some gold filigree work on the gauntlets and boots, and it's extremely clean and neat. The paint work on the accessories is quite nice as well, particularly his Elven fighting knives.

Articulation - ***1/2
One area of concern in the past has been the underlying body Asmus uses. I'm happy to report that I had no real issues this time around, and the figure was able to take natural, flowing poses pretty easily, along with deeper stances and fighting postures.

All's not perfect, thanks to that damn hair. It does restrict the movement of the head, making tilt and lean action all that tougher.

The rotating hinge shoulders, cut biceps, rotating hinge elbows, and rotating hinge wrists (I didn't strip him down, so I'm guessing on some of these based on movement) all allow for some great arm poses. One of the hardest poses for a sixth scale figure is a bow drawing stance, since the hand and elbow on the side drawing the string rarely make it high enough. As you can see in the very first photo, that was absolutely no problem here.

The torso turns and leans, but the clothing does tend to push it back to center.  The rotating hinge hips and knees, along with the ball ankles, allow for plenty of leg poses. Thanks to the two piece boot design, the feet exhibit excellent rocker movement, allowing them to remain flat even in deep stances.

One note of caution, while I didn't have any trouble with the ball in the wrist joint pulling apart (this has been an issue with various Asmus LOTR figures in the past), I was also VERY careful when swapping hands. Remembering the issue, I used a pair of needle nose pliers to hold the ball tightly while pulling off the hand, and things worked great.  They've also included a couple extra wrist pegs just in case.

Accessories - ***1/2
Legolas is nicely outfitted, with plenty of fire power.

He has a variety of hands, including a set of closed fists, a set of medium grips, a set of relaxed grips, two bowstring drawing hands (one designed to hold one arrow, the other designed to hold two), and two additional hands in generic grip poses. As I said earlier, these swap pretty easily, but there's a couple extra wrist pegs just in case.

Legolas has his trademark knives, and there is a pair of removable sheaths on his back in which they would normally reside. However, rather than go the standard route, they included a second set of just the hilts which can slip into the top of the sheath and look like the knives are in place. With the long, thin, curved blades, this was a smart idea.

His ornately carved bow has a sturdy nylon string, which should be able to hold poses long term without sagging or damage. There are a bunch of arrows, and they can all be held in the quiver on his back.

Both releases include the standard display base with crotch support. He stands great on his own thanks to the two piece boots, but having the stand is always a nice touch.

The 'luxury' version that I'm reviewing here includes one more very large extra - the head of a cave troll. Standing Legolas on this head and keeping him there would be no easy task, so they came up with a unique solution. They provide a second set of solid (in fact, they feel like polyresin) boots with pegs that fit inside holes on the back of the head and neck of the troll. This way you can pop off his two piece boots, pop these solid boots on, and position him climbing up the back of the beast.

Unfortunately, the troll's head is undersized. But it's still a cool display option, and one I think is worth the extra $50.

Outfit - ***
The outfit consists of his boots, tight pants, undershirt, outer shirt, gauntlets, and belt/harness that includes his sheaths and quiver.  There's also an Elven cape to go over everything.

I've already raved about the quality of the two piece boots, but it's worth mentioning again. Beyond the mobility they provide, the sculpt and paint work are great. The same is true with the hard plastic gauntlets on his arms.

The skin tight pants look good, although they can make his legs look a tad skinny. For those of you wearing skinny jeans right now - that's how you look. They could also be a smidge longer. With the regular boots it wasn't too much of an issue, but when he's wearing the special boots and has his knees bent up on the back of the troll, the pants have a hard time staying below the boot top.

Both shirts are made from a very high quality material, and are nicely tailored. The thin, soft outer shirt might feel a little cheap at first - it's so thin! - but that's necessary to keep it in scale. It's similar to the cape material used with the hobbits released earlier, and in fact, the included cape here uses the same soft material.

This cape has a slit in back to allow the quiver and sheaths to poke out. The hood is not intended to be worn over the long hair, but it does have a nifty wire in the outer edge so you can pose the hood down along the back and shoulders properly. The cape lays nicely over the shoulders, and even the leaf broach looks good.

Some of the best work is on the quiver, sheaths, belt, and harness, where there's lots of sculpted and painted detail. The belt and harness fit tightly, but I had no problems with adjusting it or worrying about breakage.

Fun Factor - ***
He's pretty mobile, at least when you're using the standard two piece boots. Add in the cool diorama, and you have plenty of nifty poses and stances at your disposal. You should have no problem posing and re-posing this guy, and he's a critical addition to your overall Fellowship set up.

Value - **
You can pick up the regular release for around $200 or so, and this 'luxury' version is in the $250 - $260 range. The extra $50 for the Cave Troll diorama is not out of the ordinary or exceptional, and is not unusually priced. The $200 base cost might be a bit more concerning, at least with the issues around the hair.

From every other aspect I'm good. The paint, at least on the face and accessories, is in line with other $200 figures. The outfit quality and complexity is also in line, as is the quality and quantity of the accessories.

Had they stuck with rooted hair here, I suspect another half star would have been a no brainer, and I might have even gone above average on the value. But with the weak sculpt and paint with the hair, I'm going to have to dock them in Value as well.

Things to Watch Out For -
While the wrists seemed a bit sturdier here, I would still take precautions when swapping hands. I like the option of using needle nose pliers to hold the ball tightly when pulling the hands off, but there are other ways to be equally careful. Just keep the two halves of the ball tight, and you should be good.

Overall - ***
I'm not sure why they went from rooted hair to sculpted hair with this release. I think it was a mistake, and one that will cause them some grief. There are no other major nits here, but it will be hard for buyers to overlook it and see the bigger picture.

Asmus is planning to release updated sculpts for Merry, Pippen, Sam, and Frodo, and while I commend them for it, I think only Frodo really needs it. Other recent releases are solid, like Gandalf, Sarumon, the Eye of Sauron, and Grishn'akh. And with the announcement of both Boromir and Gimli, you will finally be able to have the complete Fellowship from one company in one style in sixth scale on your shelf. It's been a long time coming, but it's almost here!

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - **
Paint - ***
Articulation - ***
Accessories - ***1/2
Outfit - ***
Fun Factor - ***
Value - **
Overall - ***

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth has the regular for $210, but they also have this deluxe version for $262, and both include free shipping!

- Sideshow has the regular for $200, and the deluxe 'Luxury' edition for $250 as well.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
Asmus has produced quite a large number of figures so far, including Thranduil,

Sam and Frodo, with other reviews of Grishn'akh, Gandalf the Gray, the Mouth of Sauron, Merry and Pippin, and the excellent Saruman the White. Asmus has also released Tauriel, Aragorn, Bard the Bowman, Eowyn, the Nazgul Steed, the Morgul Lord, Gandalf, Gothmog and Guritz.

Other sixth scale LOTR figures include these by Sideshow - Gandalf, Sam and Frodo, Aragorn, Faramir, Boromir and Legolas. And don't forget the Aragorn from ACI.

Toybiz produced some 12" figures as well, including Gimli, Aragorn, Galdriel, Gandalf, Arwen, and Frodo. Dragons in Dreams did several as well, including Gandalf, Aragorn, and Gimli.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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