Now that the Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is finally out in theaters we have some more figures! Up for review I have The Hobbit Goblin King and Thorin Oakenshield Figures.
I actually saw the movie last night and I would have to say it is exactly like the LOTR all over again. (Not saying it’s a bad thing, I just don’t think it needed 3 movies). This first Hobbit movie is like the Fellowship of the Ring. I don’t want to say too much but I can say that I can pretty much predict the plot for Hobbit 2 and 3 based off the LOTR.
These guys arrived the other day in the mail and I immediately wanted to take pictures of the box so that I could get them out and play with them. They are a lot of fun.
I have reviewed Thorin Oakenshield in 6 inch scale before and it’s nice to see him in 3 3/4 inch scale to compare the differences. Let’s take a look.
Packaging
The packaging that the figures come in is a standard window box packaging. There are windows on both the left and right sides of the box along with the front and top. It is really nice and allows you to see the figures inside the box nicely. I do really like the graphics and colors that are used on the box. These were obviously dictated by the licensor, but they are very well done. The box suggests that the toys inside are high quality.
On the back of the box there is a synopsis of the movie and bios for both the Goblin King and Thorin Oakenshield. The bios are both very in-depth and cover the characters back stories perfectly. You also get a giant image of both of the figures.
Overall I absolutely love the packaging, it was just a little hard to get the figures out due to the number of twist ties and rubber bands.
Sculpt
The sculpting on both of these figures is pretty fantastic. The Goblin King has a pretty gruesome facial expression and Thorin actually has human likeness, something that is hard to pull off in a small-scale line.
The Goblin King doesn’t really look like the sexiest thing you have ever seen with boobs. This guy has warts and sores sculpted all over his body. He has fat rolls and blubber. He is just flat-out disgusting. Most of the details sculpted on him are in his head region. He has a very good facial expression and doesn’t really look like he wants to be your friend. There is some hair sculpted on the back of his head and some nasty overgrown toe nails too.
Thorin Oakenshield on the other hand looks like a normal dwarf. Now compared to the 6 inch version of this figure, this guy is missing A LOT of details.
His is completely missing his fur that goes around his neck. It is understandable that it is not there because of the scale though. He is also missing some of the buckles and also the details in the boots. Mainly the details in general just aren’t as defined in this smaller scale figure.
The 3 3/4 inch version of Thorin Oakenshield is still pretty detailed though. There is still quite a bit of detail sculpted into his costume/armor. In his hair you can see the strands and you can also see some of the braids. He is missing some of the details from the movie, but you can definitely tell that it is Thorin.
Accessories
The figures come with some pretty good accessories. The Goblin King has his crown and his staff. The crown sits on his head and stays on due to a nice post. The staff could use a little bit more detail on the post, but the skull part on the top is well done. I love the top part of the staff.
Thorin has 2 swords and his oak shield for his arm. The oak shield stays on his arm by a post like the Goblin King crown. His longer sword attaches to his back in the sheath.
All of the accessories are painted very well, possibly better than the figures themselves.
Paint
The paint on these guys is alright, I have seen better. The Goblin King pretty much has a constant skin tone throughout his entire body. There is some pink color on parts, but I am not really a fan of that, especially on his stomach. They tried to do some sort of a wash on his hair and it looks like a solid line around his neck.
You really only notice the imperfections in bright light and only if you are trying to find them. From a distance this figure looks great. Like when he was in the package, I just had to have him.
Thorin’s skin tone is just one flat skin color and is rather boring. It does look better than his 6 inch counterpart, but it could be done better. Actually most of the paint apps are better than his 6 inch counterpart. He is missing a few of the extra details than the bigger figure has, but the paint is applied better on this figure.
Articulation
Thorin’s articulation isn’t that bad it is just restricted by his outfit and his hair. His head can move side to side and that’s about it. He has ball joint shoulders and hips. Both are limited by his costume. He also has swivel wrists and swivel/hinge elbows and knees, both of which work very well. If Thorin’s robe was made of a little bit thinner plastic then I don’t think you would have much problems posing him.
As for the Goblin King, he’s a little bit limited with his range of movement due to his gigantic size and man-boobs. He has normal shoulders, swivel/hinge elbows, swivel wrists, ball joints torso, T joint hips, and swivel/hinge knees.
His arms function normally as you would expect though there is some restriction in the elbow joint. They tried to hide the joint with the sculpt and the articulation suffered. The ball joint in the torso functions surprisingly well. There is a ton of mobility in there even given the bulky sculpt of the figure. He just has T joint hips, though the swivel/hinge knees half way make up for that.
Overall the articulation is pretty good on both of the figures, it would have been nice to have a little more articulation in the Goblin King’s arms and possibly his neck.
Overall
When I saw this in the store I just had to have it. The Goblin King just looks way too cool to just leave in the store. I think the paint apps may be suffering a little bit but everything else that you could want is here. Thorin in my opinion is a pretty quality figure, it’s just a shame that his articulation is so restricted by his costume. If you are going to be collecting the Hobbit line then you are going to have to pick up this 2 pack because it is the only way you are going to be able to get the Goblin King.
Thank you Bridge Direct for providing these figures for review!
Ordering Options
UPDATE: eBay is your best bet for finding this figure.
Click this link to: search eBay for this Bridge Direct Goblin King and Thorin Oakenshield action figure set.
