“Well, thief! I smell you and I feel your air. I hear your breath. Come along! Help yourself again, there is plenty and to spare!”
O Smaug, the Magnificent — Peter Jackson gave you (SPOILER!) a fond farewell in The Battle of the Five Armies, the final addition to his Tolkien saga. I am giant Middle Earth mark, so while I don’t love the Hobbit films quite as much as their predecessors (I could write a month’s worth of columns on that alone), I have had a lot of fun on this ride. So while I might wince with the lack of dwarven character development, I will be one of the first to say that I found Jackson’s Smaug truly magnificent and most certainly the greatest of calamities. Well, almost the greatest of calamities.
See, as I am sure you can guess,aside from being a big Tolkien fan, I am also a big action figure collector. So, when two of my favorite things have the change to combine forces, I am pretty ecstatic. However, when it comes to action figure offerings for the Hobbit, to say that I am disappointed would be an understatement; in fact, I am really sad about the whole affair and now at the end of all things (in terms of Hobbit film releases), I am left with a collection more sparse than that for the putrid old Fantastic Four flick. Ugh.
The Hobbit line from The Bridge Direct started off so promising, too: there were figures in two scales, multi-packs, exclusives, the whole shebang. Then after the initial product offering, there has been, for all intents and purposes, nothing. Now, while I am a 6-inch action figure collector, I was willing to go all in at the 1:18 scale as well because I love the property so much, but I was not given an opportunity to even try. Heck, I sit here with less than half of Thorin and Company and I really numb over that fact. You can talk about demand and changes to the movies and while some of that might be valid, but in the end, an action figure line can be successful despite those challenges. For such a huge property with years-long potential, The Bridge just has not been able to pull it through, and that is just really, really sad, especially to think of what could have been.
So, in what was a likely requirement by Warner Brothers, The Bridge released a final figure in the form of Smaug, and for what he is, he is our feature. I will be honest, I was going to write this article last week when I received this figure in the mail, but once I opened the box, I was so deflated that I just could not muster the nerve to write. I pre-ordered this figure way back in August, so I was still excited to get it, but then when I saw what I paid $70.00 for, I simply thought, “Well, this is certainly going out with a whimper.”
I will be completely frank: size of the figure and thus, the value offered for the price is what sinks this figure. By that, I mean, it completely sinks this figure because I just cannot justify recommending this piece for the price that is being charged for it. The boasted 22″ wing span is a stretch at best, and most of the figure’s size comes from the tail, and that is pretty defeating. It would be easy to just dismiss this figure entirely if the sculpt and other things weren’t there, but Smaug does have a few things working for him, but NOTHING so exceptional that it justifies the price tag.
Smaug was sculpted by Gentle Giant, the company that has been used for the deign and sculpt (pre-production) for the entire Hobbit line. Now, while things did not always come through production perfectly, GG has been doing good things, but we never really got to see much of it. So, the sculpt of Smaug is actually pretty nice, but I am sure it lost a bit in production. The likeness is good, too, and he is pretty on-model with the movie, though his head seems a little small.
The articulation is decent as well, at least in terms of points. The wings are articulated in two places, his legs move at the hip and his bendable tail twists as well. His neck is the big winner, though with four separate points from shoulders to head, and his jaw can open and close to help achieve a variety of pretty expressive looks. The issues with the articulation is that he cannot stand without help and the ratchet joints on the left wing on my figure broke on the first move. That means that wing is now very limited in terms of movement and his gone pretty floppy. At 70 bucks, that is pretty unacceptable.
There is some subtly airbrushing on the wings and body to add a bit of paint depth, but the detail work leaves something to be desired. Smaug’s intricate details offer a playground for paint details, but TBD did not really take advantage of this and it hurts the figure most in the detail on the head. The paint is not terrible there, but there are a lot of spots where more applications could really enhance the likeness. Again, this is something that should just be expected in a $70.00 figure.
Oh, and the figure includes a TINY Bard figure with a wind lance and Black Arrow. This is such an afterthought, and an inaccurate one at that (see the movie). The worst part is that Smaug is not even big enough to be in scale with a figure that is smaller than a Lego mini-figure.
So that is really it. And by “it” I mean the Hobbit line from the Bridge Direct. I had such high hopes and nothing really materialized, but I think that is because the line was not managed to what people were wanting from the property, especially the collectors. I think there is still a lot of life left in The Hobbit (and LotR) from a collector standpoint, so I hope a company like Funko will sweep in and make a great collector line. Get me some dwarves, and Thranduil and Beorn, and at a scale that will fit in with my AMAZING Toy Biz figures. That sounds like a great idea for another article…
For Smaug though, unless you have the disposable income and are a HUGE fan of the property, you should probably just skip this. By this point, TBD did not create a line that sold for them so this feels like it was approached with “let’s get this over with” attitude, and that is such a shame. I was surprised when I leaned the acquired the line, while I was hopeful, I was scared they might have been out of their depth, and ultimately, it looks like they were. Smaug is a tiny figure and huge disappointment. Sigh, let’s look to the future and maybe better things are in store for us fans of Middle-Earth.
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Pretty shocking how this turned out. I’m so glad I didn’t order one. I’m sure most people probably assume for the price that this was supposed to be in scale with the smaller figures.
a good figure that goes bad I’m very disappointed!
what a waste
I’m just as disappointed in the lackluster coverage of this line by the collector media as I am with The Bridge Direct. On the rare occasion there was actually something to report from The Bridge Direct, one would think it would warrant SOME sort of commentary. Yet the offering was often a mere straightforward sentence or two, or just some pics tossed up. Few sites claimed to speak with The Bridge Direct or offered any quotes, and did ANYONE try for an actual interview?
VeeBee told us here on the Fwoosh boards that he had time with TBD at Toy Fair 2014 back in February…and then not a word about it since. I asked twice on the boards if anything came of it, and I can only assume my questions were ignored. Maybe he didn’t have a chance to speak with them, maybe it fell through, maybe he was under embargo. Any sort of follow-up or explanation would have been appreciated, but we were left to wonder. Just as TBD left us to wonder for so long.
I would like to know more about Smaug being required by WB as well. This is the first I’ve heard of that. Has VeeBee finally spoken with TBD? Hopefully the questions here in the comments won’t go unanswered as well.
It’s unfortunate that we didn’t get the same quality in the Hobbit figures as we did with the Lord of the Rings figures. Some of those were amazing and they are still up on my shelf. I took one look at the fist wave of Hobbit figures and knew they were something I was going to pass on. It’s really a shame because the character designs in the Hobbit trilogy were amazing. I loved seeing the dwarf warriors, the various orcs, Elrond, the nine, and the elf warriors because their designs were great and would have been awesome to see in action figure form. Maybe NECA will get their hands on this license and we’ll see something awesome one day.
I am curious also…is bridge direct owned by WB?
I feel so sorry for guys spending money on this. They took some people s hard earned money and gave junk.
Requirement by Warner Brothers? Can you elaborate on that? How do you know this? Is the Hobbit line really done? Any other information you can share? Sorry for all the questions, but I’m desperate for info on this line, as we all are!
sad to see smaug wound coming up short by bd finaly getting his plastic due espically when they could have even used the azog mold and made him a bigger size. guess i will pass on him.
I too was ripped off and said so on bridge directs Facebook and when I contacted WB store,
the silence is definitely deafening from Bridge Direct. they know they insulted the fans and potentially committed fraud… what is also forgotten was the REALLY big SMAUG boxes they had displayed at NY toy fair. and the original description said 21 TALL not 19 inch long (mostly tail) when they first put up pre-orders…Don’t believe me? look at the description on BBTS and Entertainment Earth. they have the original descriptions…this was a straight up fraud. Why else did they hide the figures in those Boxes and didm’t show any prototypes SCALED against any of their other toy lines…They knew what they did and are laughing the way to the bank. May “Bridge Direct” NEVER be allowed near any good licenses again.
These Pictures below is what was promised..versus what was delivered…mull that over and then wonder if they didn’t do a “mini con on its customers”
I too was ripped off and said so on bridge directs Facebook and when I contacted WB store,
the silence is definitely deafening from Bridge Direct. they know they insulted the fans and potentially committed fraud… what is also forgotten was the REALLY big SMAUG boxes they had displayed at NY toy fair. and the original description said 21 TALL not 19 inch long (mostly tail) when they first put up pre-orders…Don’t believe me? look at the description on BBTS and Entertainment Earth. they have the original descriptions…this was a straight up fraud. Why else did they hide the figures in those Boxes and didm’t show any prototypes SCALED against any of their other toy lines…They knew what they did and are laughing the way to the bank. May “Bridge Direct” NEVER be allowed near any good licenses again.
It’s literally a smaller version of my Fell-Beast. With these offerings, why would any new collectors start to collect. The industry is destroying their own market again by not reaching for greatness.
I agree about NECA and Mezco is trying…..but for 10 years we have literally seen ZERO innovation….in fact it had gone backwards. Now great paint detailing, no bases, nothing that blows our minds imo.
I see DC Collectible but they are trying, but still where is the stuff that makes you go wow? Perhaps we should expect weapons and unnecessary accessories instead of being surprised by a batarang?
I had fun collecting Toy Biz, and being SURPRISED by a figure having a hidden articulation point such as an arm pit. Looking at all the arrows and weapons that came with Legalos, the details on it from the Toy Biz days…it really seems the companies have reverted back to the 80’s offerings except with better sculpts and more articulation. Can the golden era of action figures be that gone in America that the Bridge Direct is passed off as decent?
I agree tge Japanese market is doing things the American market isn’t but sad to see Hasbro and Mettel never strive for greatness.
That explain why names like Bandai-Tamashii, Takara, Max Factory-Figma are eating american market. They offer high quality and innovation with prices that not even double their american counterparts.
I can see how some might come to that conclusion looking at the big american toy companies (namely hasbro and mattel; as you mentioned) but there are still companies like neca and DC collectibles churning out good product. Sure you have to go out of your way a little to find them but it’s a little hyperbolic to write off the entire industry because of a few bad eggs.
This is so sad…this is the toy industry in a nut sell. Nothing innovative or even accurate is attempted. Look at Hasbro legends, everything is always out of scale…Iron Monger…baf lacks size and fans just accept without criticizing.
Why were action figures better 15 years ago than today’s offerings. FWOOSH is my favourite site bc of well written articles. This is an atrocity. The Toy Biz LOTR might even be better than the Toy Biz legends.
I am a huge LOTR fan as loved the Toy Biz line. But Bridge looked shoddy. I saw minimal effort and they almost accepted they did not want to top the Toy Biz line. Smaug looks awful and tiny and no one should be robbed. You pre-order and expect something worth your hard earned cash.
The industry is in a study of de evolution. No one wants to strive for greatness, only strive for slightly disappointing and yes, Hasbro and Mattel are the culprits. Where is the leap forward in figure evolution?
Well balls. I pre-ordered this as well. Maybe I can off it on eBay or locally and make my money back.
That’s too bad. : (