@msword Oof! That hurts me to hear that a few random insanos aren't floating the line by buying multiples of army builders. But Moria Orcs and Uruks ain't Elves and Gondorians.. just sayin'. If i'm being honest though, if i HAD to choose between mains and army builders, I'd rather have mains. so, I get it.
I don't think the army-builders have been lighting up as much as you may think. Because they're not main characters, many collectors figure they can skip them. The customers buying multiples just about makes up for that. We do not currently have any planned, as far as I know, but once we've knocked out a few more main characters, anything is possible.
I get it. As much as I want to army build the heck out of these at $30 a pop and so many lines out there I just don’t have the space or the funds to justify it. I am embarrassed to say but back in the day I had huge armies from the ToyBoz days. The goal was to one day build a Helms Deep dio but life got in the way and kids came and eventually I had to let that dream go.
I don't think the army-builders have been lighting up as much as you may think. Because they're not main characters, many collectors figure they can skip them. The customers buying multiples just about makes up for that. We do not currently have any planned, as far as I know, but once we've knocked out a few more main characters, anything is possible.
that’s a real shame, people are missing out on the best figures in the line.
I hope we get a second age prologue elf someday.
We plan to keep going as long as sales remain strong, and I think with the next couple of waves sales will remain strong. Wave 11 has been started.
@msword maybe this is a bit too much inside baseball, but does the decision to make more characters from "The Hobbit" depend on how well Series 9 sells? Or is it all part of the line plan?
and series 11 already being developed!? Yes!
Making figures for The Hobbit seems so tough to me. I think many people would be excited to get all the dwarves from the party. But, I don't know if there is a big enough market for each of them, and, at least for me, getting just a few of the dwarves would be disappointing. I wouldn’t really want to start getting them unless there was some assurance they would all get made.
That said, Bilbo seems like a safe bet to sell decently. Thorin may be able to sell on his own without inclusion of the other dwarves. Personally, I'd prefer it be Bilbo and Gladriel. Maybe Bilbo and Radagast, though I'm not a fan of Radagast's design in the movies.
I'm hoping for Faramir and Arwen in wave 11. Awesome to hear the line is selling well enough for work to continue.
Not sure about the Hobbit question. I'm sure Series 9's success will play a role, but now I'm starting to worry about how they will be received, when I wasn't before. They are two major characters, and I think they'll look great with the Fellowship characters, since there is a fair amount of character crossover.
While I think Thorin would stand on his own were he to be made, we'll have to see if we would make all 13 dwarves.
I think a massive Deluxe Dwarf pack would be a great way to do it. I still have my ToyBiz Fellowship 9-pack on proud display and if DST were to re-offer their version of the Fellowship in a Deluxe pack, that might be what tips me over the edge to buying more than just Frodo and the female characters.
However, creating a big pack of the Hobbit dwarves - or even offering them as a year long program, where one is released every month, or something like that - with the assurance they are all coming, would be the way to do it. Or leave out Thorin, the "hot" one and his brother since they'll probably sell fine and put all the ones whose names never stuck in my head into such a release program.
Hmmm time for some speculation…
Two Hobbit figures, one presumably a female, one presumably not Thorin. A while back I was asking about a black gate Aragorn, and learned alternate character designs are not really on the table but there was one in development. I had assumed this was Witchking, but maybe DST did not see it that way. That means Legolas, Gandalf, and Gollum are possible options. Of those three Legolas makes the most sense as a do-over. But then would we really be getting our first wave without the titular Hobbit?
Galadriel / Legolas
Bilbo / Legolas
Galadriel / The Pale Orc
Bilbo / The Pale Orc
Sticking with my first guess of Bilbo/Galadriel still makes sense to me and lines up with info that has been shared, but it would break the pattern on hero/villain that is followed 80% of the time.
excited to see what they are though!
I'm a big fan of the Hobbit movies but I have no desire to have all 13 dwarves, it's too much. Most of them barely showed up in the movies anyways. Maybe if they'd cost $10 each, but of course that's impossible, so no, I don't think it would be wise to make them all. They're not very unique characters, unlike the fellowship.
From the Hobbit I would like Bilbo, Thorin, Galadriel, Pale Orc, a new Legolas would be nice, Thranduil would look cool, and that's basically it, and even then, most people probably wouldn't want all of them.
I do have to say, I hope we get Bilbo in something other than the red coat, since we already have multiple figures of that. The blue coat would be preferable. Or if he is in his red coat, at least I would like to see accessories we never got with the others, like his pipe, his walking stick, his backpack, the map, the contract, etc.
Has any toy line made all 13 dwarves from the Hobbit?
I really wish DST could make Dwarven Warriors of the Lonely Mountain.Their armor is so awesome.
MSWord's comment made me think Bard will be one of the S9 Hobbit figures.
Anyway, I think the dwarves should either be 2packs with limited accessories or limited articulation to keep the price the lowest it could be. Or make them paper cutouts included with Bilbo and Thorin.
Has any toy line made all 13 dwarves from the Hobbit?
Not even remotely. The Bridge Direct made Thorin, Kili, Fili, Dwalin, and Balin in their fairly terrible 3.75" line. In their 6" line, only Thorin. Kinckerbocker, Toy Vault, and Toy Biz made only LOTR figures (excepting Toy Biz's flasback version of Bilbo from The Hobbit) and so made none of Thorin's company.
I'm a big fan of the Hobbit movies but I have no desire to have all 13 dwarves, ...They're not very unique characters, unlike the fellowship.
When I read my kids The Hobbit, they laughed every time Bombur was mentioned because Tolkien couldn't write the guy's name without reminding you how very fat he was. That was his one characteristic. They don't remember any of the other dwarves.