Well said, MSWord. I am loving this line since I discovered it after wave 2 released. The sculpts IMO are way better and more accurate than the old ToyBiz ones (which I had a lot of as a teenager). I'm very excited for Eowyn since she will actually be in scale with the others unlike the tiny ToyBiz Eowyn. Really excited who's coming for the Hobbit wave.
PS: I would love, love, love a Tauriel figure too! All the girls!
Not sure I need an unhelmeted version, but Gimli does look pretty darn good! Sculpting those long, beautiful locks couldn't have been easy, so props to all who had a hand! I'd definitely be tempted for the cloak, but maybe possibly hopefully we'll see a release of one for each of LAG down the road.
As for the other stuff, I'm of two sides about it. I can certainly get the frustration with spending your hard earned dime on things that don't meet your hopes and expectations. Happens to all of us as collectors, and I'm certainly guilty of complaining into the abyss on what should be done. That said, I've been trying to (and we all should) try to remember that we don't work at these companies, and what seems like super simple logic to us is probably a lot more complicated than it seems, especially for big, beloved properties like these. I'm sure there's plenty of rules and parameters that have to be followed just with the parent companies like New Line, LucasFilm, etc. Especially for a company like DST that's a little farther down the totem than Hasbro or Mattel, for them to give us as many unique sculpts as they do and keep the cost to a relative minimum, is quite impressive. And we also have to remember that plans change all the time. Everything could be going according to plan, and maybe the parent company nixes something at the last second, or sales in another line don't meet expectations, which effects the budget for another line. There's a million reasons why something wouldn't work out.
I greatly appreciate Zach and all he does (as I know most, if not all of us do). At the end of the day, he's just a mouthpiece for the company, and can only give as much info as he's been told himself, or is within his jurisdiction to say. He doesn't have to come on here and update us like he does; it's kinda rare these days for any company to have such a vocal member that updates the fans as much as he does. I also don't know many companies that listen to fans as much as DST does. They don't implement every request, as they shouldn't, but their transparency on things like Ask DST or on Zach's posts are really refreshing. Compare that to the stock corporate answers that we often get from Hasbro, which are void of any personality and sound overly rehearsed, it's a night and day difference.
We'll never know the inner workings of the company, and if they've found a way to do things easily and affordably for them, then we need to respect that. If it's what helps keep them going and giving us new figures, then so be it. I'm cool with cutting corners here and there. I'm of the "I'd rather have the thing, even if a little imperfect, than to not have it at all" camp. At the end of the day, "children's playthings" or not, they are just pieces of plastic. A lot of care and love goes into said plastic, granted, but that's all it really is. Like any media or product, not all of it is designed solely to please us the individual, and that can be tough to realize. It brings us joy, and that's awesome, and only we can choose whether it continues to give us joy or not.
I saw the updated pics on the official website. I'm glad DST made the cloak. I wish the previous Legolas would get re-released like this.
Gotta thank msword for always being so gracious, and despite some of most egregious forms of vitriol that's passed through the Diamond Select threads in the history of these forums, they continue to come back and engage with the community. 🤩
Will the ex Gimli be available at other retailers (Amazon) or only through the DST store?
@arondir Not sure about Amazon, but I believe Diamond Comics will be selling it to other online and brick & mortar retailers, yes. It is a Diamond Comics exclusive, not a DST exclusive, and will be at their booth, #2401. We made it for them AND will get some to sell online, but it is not ours and will not be at our booth.
Thanks for that info. Right now this, the TMNT video game minimates and the Once a Man Cobra Commander are the exclusives I really want to hunt down this year. Having Gimli and the minimates making it to the online stores is great great news so I don’t have to go to eBay.
Zach said we can expect series 9 to be on display at SDCC. 😀
I'm so hyped for whatever series 9 is. I'm super excited to finish off the Fellowship in the next month or so (hopefully!) and then possibly get Eowyn and Witchking by the end of the year. That means, right now 2025 is a total unknown, which is exciting. Series 9 has gotta be Bilbo and Galadriel, right? If all the hints and info nuggets are still accurate, then those two make sense. though, I'd love to see just about anyone from The Hobbit. I was hoping the first Hobbit figures would be Thorin and Azog.. but that's my own preference.
Azog is who I'd want the most from The Hobbit. Just a cool looking character that you know Diamond Select would sculpt well and make look menacing. He'd also fit in well with all the other Orcs, Uruk Hai, and Lurtz.
But whoever it is in Wave 9.....I'm ordering them!
....also, I'm on board with all the dwarves being made and will buy them all. I understand that I would be a minority in that. I like the idea mentioned earlier about minimally articulated versions that would stand as filler in the display if that were the only way we could get them all. I think they could easily get away with releasing Thorin as a single figure in a wave, leaving 12 other dwarves. Four 3-packs would solve that. I understand that DST bases production on preorders. Many of the dwarves kinda naturally fall into groups of 3 (Dori, Nori, Ori.. Bifur, Bofur, Bombur... Oin, Gloin, Fili... Kili, Balin, Dwalin). If these 3-packs (minimal accessories and as much base body reuse as reasonable) could be offered as a collector exclusive, offered online, and only produced based on preorder numbers, it may work. That could be reduced to three 3-packs if characters like Balin, Bofur and Kili are offered as single releases (which are some of the more popular dwarves).
I know this is super pie-in-the-sky and probably WAY out of the realm of possibility, but The Bridge Direct has given me PTSD about getting dwarves in my collection. I customized all of the dwarves to fit in with my 1/12 collection and it was a massive undertaking. I have no interest in doing it for 1/10...
collector exclusive
I get a cold sweat when I hear that phrase because it usually means exclusive to America and nowhere else in the world (without paying a fortune)
@ineffable_forces yeah... I gotta admit to not considering the logistics for international fans.
I customized all of the dwarves to fit in with my 1/12 collection and it was a massive undertaking. I have no interest in doing it for 1/10...
Photos! Photos!
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