Review of Gothmog - Lord of the Rings sixth scale action figure

Introduction

Sixth scale action figure collectors have long wanted to expand their Lord of the Rings display. A couple companies have gotten the ball rolling in the past, most notably Sideshow Collectibles, but no one has actually finished the Fellowship, or provided a wide range of villains.

Asmus Toys has stepped up to fill in some of the gaps. They have a 5 year plan to produce 20 figures, and have just released their second - Gothmog! The first figure was the Morgul Lord, which I reviewed here. Already announced is Gandalf the White, as well as another Orc, Goritz.

You'll pay around $160 for this guy, depending on the retailer. He's already shipping, but finding him can be a bit tricky.

Packaging - ***
Asmus is going with a shoe box style here, with several plastic trays inside holding the figure and accessories. There's some tape on the trays that's probably unnecessary, but otherwise it's completely collector friendly.

I do wish the exterior spoke a bit more to this specific character, rather than going with the simple overall license design.

Sculpting - ***1/2
If the Elephant Man had an uglier brother, his name would be Gothmog. This is a face only another Orc could love, and even that's pretty unlikely considering their temperament.

The skin texture is excellent, and I love the way the damaged head is proportioned and detailed. The teeth and eyes are amazing, with a realism and screen accuracy that they can be proud of. I love the little bit of tufted hair as well, just enough to be realistic, not enough to be overboard.

This attention to detail and texture extends to his funky left hand, with it's one huge finger and several other stumpy ones. It's not much for gripping, but you can get some cool gestures out of it.

Fully upright, he stands about 12' tall, as you'd expect. He'll fit in nicely with other Lord of the Rings releases, including those from Sideshow.

Paint - ***1/2
The terrific sculpt has an equally terrific paint job to back it up. He has a rather sickly skin tone, and they've put a gloss touch here and there to good effect.

This is nice work in both sculpt and paint, but remember - it's a creature. We all know they tend to be a little easier to capture than true human likenesses, and it will be very interesting to see if Asmus can pull off this same level of quality with their upcoming Gandalf.

Articulation - ***
The underlying body has a reasonable amount of articulation, as is now the norm for this market. Not all of it works as well as I'd like though, especially considering this particular character.

The joints were all tight, and he had no trouble supporting his weight or the weight of the weapons. None of the joints felt weak, or likely to break.

The neck is pretty restricted by the costume and sculpt, making it tough to tilt or lean the head in any significant way. It's not a huge deal on its own, but the armor also restricts the torso quite a bit, not allowing you to bend the upper body quite enough for deeper, hunched poses. Let's be honest - that's how this guy needs to be posed. He's definitely not a 'good posture' kind of character, and really needs to hunch at the ab-crunch, with some tilt in the neck. You can't really accomplish that, making the final result a bit disappointing.

Fortunately, the arms and legs make up for some of that, and I didn't have any trouble getting him to maintain some pretty standard stances.

Accessories - ***
Considering the price point, he's a bit lightweight in this category.

He comes with two very formidable weapons - a heavy spiked club, and a heavy, thick sword. Neither of these are delicate instruments with surgical precision - they are blunt force death. The sculpts are great, as is the paint work. The pommel can be removed on both, so that they can slide into the provided hand.

Speaking of that hand, it's sculpted in a solid grip, thus requiring the removal of said pommel. It's a very tight fit though, so you'll want to take some care.

The hand swaps pretty easily, but I wish they'd provided a couple extra wrists pegs just in case. I'd feel a lot safer swapping hands if there was a backup.

The one extra hand is it, and I was a bit surprised at that. There is also a severed torso of some poor unfortunate Gondorian soldier, which is very cool but somewhat out of place. The bloody stump of an arm, severed neck, and gaping wounds all look very realistic, both in paint and sculpt, and it's a heavy hunk of resin. But with the included sand and blood base, there really isn't any specific place to put it. Don't get me wrong - it's a cool add for the display, but you'll need to get creative on how best to use it.

Along with the sandy base, there's the usual basic black Asmus display stand as well. The same support can be used with either base. That's it though - two weapons, one hand, a torso and two simple bases - and I suspect folks will be expecting more at this price point.

Outfit - ***
The outfit consists of a number of thick iron like armor pieces, the fur cape, and the underlying pajamas.There's a belt too, which can be worn inside our outside the armor.

Said armor looks terrific, and is sculpted in nice, thick plastic with just the right hammered texture. It looks substantial, and you can believe it would do the job.

The fur cape is cool as well, giving him that wild, animalistic look. It sheds a bit, but overall looks like it should hold up fine to normal handling.

Ah, but then there's those PJ's. I call them that because that's what they look like, from the red color to the choice of fabric. I'm not really digging the look, although it's really only a big deal on the legs. The upper body is largely hidden by the armor and fur.

There are a few other touches that fall short as well - the leather straps are a bit thin and weak, and the boots have these weird rubber soles that look like normal boots - not weird for a modern military figure, but out of place on an Orc.

The quality of the armor and fur helps keep the score at a reasonable level, and on the shelf the outfit should look fine.

Fun Factor - ***
The overall quality of the figure allows for normal handling without fear of damage or breakage. You'll get some good poses out of him, and you'll be able to change it up once in awhile as well.

Value - **
Asmus is a small company, just getting their feet wet in the LOTR sixth scale market. They haven't published the production run size on these, but I'm betting it's relatively small. Small company plus small run means you end up paying a premium.

At $160, they're dipping into the low end of Hot Toys, and the same ball park as Sideshow these days. The quality of the figure is close, but it still has a little way to go to rank with the big boys.

If you're a Lord of the Rings fan though, this is really your only good option for adding to the sixth scale display, and in fact, these are a real improvement over the Sideshow figures of several years ago.

Things to Watch Out For -
Getting either weapon to fit inside the right hand isn't easy - it's a very tight fit, and I fear the paint will rub off over time. I'd pick either the sword or club and stick with it for awhile.

Overall - ***
After playing around with this guy for awhile, I think his biggest issues are the red pj's, and the restricted articulation of the torso. If I could get him into a better hunched pose, and if he didn't look like he was ready for a sleep over with Saruman, I'm betting my overall would be another half star higher.

He also has the issue of price, especially with the lack of accessories. But most collectors are going to be willing to overlook that one, since they are pretty desperate at this point for any sort of sixth scale LOTR product.

It will be very interesting to see what happens with Gandalf, the first human likeness they produce. Collectors really want Merry, Pippen, and the remaining Fellowship not produced by Sideshow in the past, and if the Gandalf likeness and paint turns out as good as Gothmog, they'll be calling for other characters to be revisited as well.

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

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
Check out their first release, the Morgul Lord, as well as their plans for the line at their website.

Other sixth scale figures include these by Sideshow - Gandalf, Sam and Frodo, Aragorn, Faramir, Boromir and Legolas.

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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