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Remember Me?
10-26-2017, 06:23 PM
It is up for PO.

https://www.wetanz.com/shop/figures/the-ringwraith-of-forod?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=v028%20-%20Krampus%20%20Ringwraith&utm_content=v028%20-%20Krampus%20%20Ringwraith+Version+A+CID_dfe4e9e9721f11dc3412493e0ba56f1e&utm_source=Weta%20Newsletter

67L88Stingray
10-26-2017, 06:50 PM
It's Forod not Frodo.:laugh:

Also, looks like we are at PF prices now for 1/6 stuff from weta. Not a good trend.

Remember Me?
10-26-2017, 06:55 PM
It's Forod not Frodo.:laugh:

Also, looks like we are at PF prices now for 1/6 stuff from weta. Not a good trend.

LOL! Oops...fixed it. Thanks!

Ricky Bobby
10-26-2017, 07:57 PM
That looks great,Weta is doing some terrific work,might have to bite as I want more Ringwraiths

Malvo
10-26-2017, 08:52 PM
This ones a real head scratcher. :confused: The Dol Guldur Witch King, at $350, is still available over a year after pre-ordering began. So they follow that one up with a secondary Ringwraith at $500 a pop? I think I'm going to hold off on this one until Weta's 2018 Black Friday sale when they're trying to get rid of these at 50% off.

67L88Stingray
10-27-2017, 08:34 AM
This ones a real head scratcher. :confused: The Dol Guldur Witch King, at $350, is still available over a year after pre-ordering began. So they follow that one up with a secondary Ringwraith at $500 a pop? I think I'm going to hold off on this one until Weta's 2018 Black Friday sale when they're trying to get rid of these at 50% off.

Weta is price drunk lately, increases are getting out of hand.

Malvo
10-27-2017, 08:46 AM
Weta is price drunk lately, increases are getting out of hand.

Agreed. Their prices have shot up by a good 30-35% in the last year alone.They were wise to recently add a flex pay option, but even that's not going to save them when they start charging $500 for 1/6 scale statues. :nuts:

Hellboy
10-27-2017, 05:58 PM
Keep in mind, while prices have escalated edition sizes have declined as interest wains the further we get away from the films. The alternative is likely nothing at all same as when the Sideshow/Weta partnership died after LOTR faded from memory. So while $499 is a lot I'll take that over the alternative.

I'd also add the quality seems to have gone up considerably. MoS for example is simply on another level, paint apps and likenesses have improved dramatically and the new product boxes are a work of art unto themselves.

PermaGrin
10-27-2017, 06:14 PM
Agreed. Was thinking that also. With the last movie being a while, havent heard much out in the public.

Wonder if they could do games like Shadow of War pieces.

Malvo
10-27-2017, 08:25 PM
Keep in mind, while prices have escalated edition sizes have declined as interest wains the further we get away from the films. The alternative is likely nothing at all same as when the Sideshow/Weta partnership died after LOTR faded from memory. So while $499 is a lot I'll take that over the alternative.

I'd also add the quality seems to have gone up considerably. MoS for example is simply on another level, paint apps and likenesses have improved dramatically and the new product boxes are a work of art unto themselves.

You forgot to mention the Eowyn statue whose dress Weta inexplicably painted a greyish/green instead of white. The Galadriel statue with a gap between the arm and body that rivals the Grand Canyon. The terrible paint app's on the armor featured on the Dain on Ironfoot statue, a paint job that didn't even remotely resemble that of the prototype. And nothing screams quality like my Elven Warrior, the hair on my Eowyn, or Azog's wrist.

No doubt, the intricacy/complexity of their statues has gone up. The prices have definitely gone up, to say the least. But the quality....not a chance from where I'm looking. And I am not a casual Weta/LOTR collector. I own every LOTR/Hobbit statue, environment, and bust they've produced since they re-acquired the LOTR licence and obtained the Hobbit licence, with the exception of 5 statues. And I don't think the quality is even remotely on par with what it was a few years ago.

As for Weta's new pricing, they can charge whatever they want and that's fine with me. I'll simply wait for statues like this one to bomb, and buy it when Weta inevitably puts it on sale for 50%, just like they've done with most of their statues in recent years. Which of course brings up another question....if costs have gone up so much in the past year or so, how is it that Weta doesn't seem to have a problem with slashing their prices in half during their monster sales? It's pretty scary to think what the mark up on these statues are when Weta can afford to slash the price by 50% and still make a ton money on them.

Hellboy
10-28-2017, 01:45 AM
As is the case with any statue company our experiences can differ dramatically I suppose. You seem to collect a lot more Weta product than I do.

Outside of the Elven Warrior, which I happen to love, I don’t own any of the pieces you’ve mentioned with issues. Everything I’ve purchased in the last few years I’ve been very pleased with. The Balrog, Smaug, Thorin Oakenshield, Yazneg, Faramir, to name but a few, have all been great.

I’ve only purchased one piece since the price hike, The Mouth of Sauron. Maybe it’s just the character design itself but the craftsmanship and detail are a step above what I’m used to. Other pieces at the new price point like Thorin on throne and the Orc Soldier seem to look better too though. Mind you I don’t have any of these and my observations are being made off pics from other collectors.

Malvo
10-28-2017, 02:16 PM
As is the case with any statue company our experiences can differ dramatically I suppose. You seem to collect a lot more Weta product than I do.

Outside of the Elven Warrior, which I happen to love, I don’t own any of the pieces you’ve mentioned with issues. Everything I’ve purchased in the last few years I’ve been very pleased with. The Balrog, Smaug, Thorin Oakenshield, Yazneg, Faramir, to name but a few, have all been great.

I’ve only purchased one piece since the price hike, The Mouth of Sauron. Maybe it’s just the character design itself but the craftsmanship and detail are a step above what I’m used to. Other pieces at the new price point like Thorin on throne and the Orc Soldier seem to look better too though. Mind you I don’t have any of these and my observations are being made off pics from other collectors.

You won't get any argument from me on the list of statues you mentioned. I too own them all and have nothing but praise for them. And aside from a few QC glitches along the way, I can say that about almost all the Weta statues I've bought in previous years prior to this one.

And sure, I can look at a lot of those QC issues I've had lately and put them down as isolated incidents, but everyone received a greenish-dressed Eowyn, everyone received a poorly painted Dain, and from what I've seen, everyone received a Galadriel with varying degrees of a gap between the arm and body due to poorly designed/fitting parts.

Now I'm only speculating, but the only rationale I can come up with concerning the recent drop in Weta's QC is perhaps they've changed factories. I say that with 0% certainly, but it's the only thing that makes sense to me at the moment. What doesn't make sense is Weta increasing their prices more than any other collectible company on the face of the earth at the same time their overall QC seems to be dropping. It's a recipe for disaster, and as a huge fan of Weta and their LOTR/Hobbit lines it's the last thing I want to see.

And again, you'll get no argument from me concerning the increased intricacy/complexity of their most recent statues. I own most of those as well [and hope to add a few more during the upcoming Black Friday event], but to me that still doesn't justify the skyrocketing price increases that some have estimated in the 40+% range in the last year alone. My only hope now is that Prime 1's acquisition of a 1/4 scale LOTR licence will result in some much needed competition within the realm of middle earth collectibles. Perhaps when Weta is no longer the 'only game in town' some of this pricing madness will end.

Hellboy
10-28-2017, 03:18 PM
I literally just made a post on another message board in the past hour concerning the price increase issue as complaints rolled in. QC issues aside, which I believe every company has to a certain extent, this was my post explaining my thoughts...

Prices have gone up across the board from all statue companies as production costs have increased at a dramatic rate. By comparison 1:4 scale pieces from companies like Sideshow, Iron Studios, XM have all doubled in price in the last few years ranging in price from $600 to well north of 1k.

The Hobbit/LOTR is not exactly in the spotlight anymore either and in order for Weta to keep producing M.E. pieces as interest declines prices MUST go up and edition sizes MUST go down. Statues that had 1000-1500 pieces available only a year ago are now being cut in half to 500-750. Nobody should be surprised by this as a lot of those 1000-1500 ES pieces have still yet to sell out after being available for over a year.

Whether we like it or not the hobby has changed and you can either adjust with it or get out. Unless you've got an insane amount of disposable income you're simply not going to be able to collect like we used to. As I've mentioned before in another thread the alternative is Weta stops producing product altogether the same as we experienced when when the Sideshow partnership dissolved after the LOTR trilogy faded from memory. I for one am glad they've found a way to continue doing business this time even if it forces me to be more selective.

Malvo
10-28-2017, 04:03 PM
I literally just made a post on another message board in the past hour concerning the price increase issue as complaints rolled in. QC issues aside, which I believe every company has to a certain extent, this was my post explaining my thoughts...

Prices have gone up across the board from all statue companies as production costs have increased at a dramatic rate. By comparison 1:4 scale pieces from companies like Sideshow, Iron Studios, XM have all doubled in price in the last few years ranging in price from $600 to well north of 1k.

The Hobbit/LOTR is not exactly in the spotlight anymore either and in order for Weta to keep producing M.E. pieces as interest declines prices MUST go up and edition sizes MUST go down. Statues that had 1000-1500 pieces available only a year ago are now being cut in half to 500-750. Nobody should be surprised by this as a lot of those 1000-1500 ES pieces have still yet to sell out after being available for over a year.

Whether we like it or not the hobby has changed and you can either adjust with it or get out. Unless you've got an insane amount of disposable income you're simply not going to be able to collect like we used to. As I've mentioned before in another thread the alternative is Weta stops producing product altogether the same as we experienced when when the Sideshow partnership dissolved after the LOTR trilogy faded from memory. I for one am glad they've found a way to continue doing business this time even if it forces me to be more selective.

Very true, and I think a lot of us have adjusted quite nicely. It's not always possible to wait, due to the popularity of certain characters/statues, but for the most part a lot of us are willing to wait for these lower ES statues [that Weta still can't sell because they're so overpriced] to go on sale during Weta's Black Friday and Chritmas events. I'm not quite sure how Weta having to sell 95% of their remaining stock of this Ringwraith statue at 50% off is ultimately going to help their bottom line, but they are going to make a lot of us happy all the same.

And for the record, the dissolving of the Sideshow Weta partnership had nothing to do with the popularity of LOTR fading into the sunset. As a matter of fact, the last year of the Sideshow Weta LOTR licence saw the highest ES's and fastest sell out rates during the entire run of that licence. Weta's artists, having spent 6-7 years working on nothing outside of LOTR-related collectibles, simply wanted to move on to other challenges. And as a result, when it came time to renew the LOTR licence, Weta opted out.

Now I cant say I'll be pleased if Weta does choose to price themselves out of existence, but Weta did walk away from the LOTR licence once, and the sun still rose the next day. And I'm sure should that happen again, there will be a Sideshow, a Prime 1, etc.....to come along and pick up the slack, just like the last time.

Arkenglaone
10-10-2018, 04:49 PM
Hi guys !

There is no more news about Forod, but I'm still waiting for the BF to buy it. Someone here have already bought it? Could you share photos / videos?
I really like the Ringwraiths of the Hobbit. My first statue was the Witch king at Dol Guldur, and I'm proud of it! It surprises me even that it is not more popular :/

Well, good for me! :P

Hellboy
10-10-2018, 10:26 PM
Welcome to the forum.

I’m still waiting for BF as well. In fact, I’m pretty much done paying retail for anything from Weta at this point. Will hold out for sales going forward and if I miss out... so be it!

Sandman585
02-04-2019, 06:31 PM
Does anyone know if they plan on doing all Nine Ringwraiths from this battle?

Mister H
02-04-2019, 07:15 PM
Does anyone know if they plan on doing all Nine Ringwraiths from this battle?

I’d be interested in that info as well. I’m a huge Tolkien fan but don’t have any statues or busts. I have a good amount of credit at BBTS so I may apply it to the Soldier of Rohan statue. It’s the same statue as the Gamling one just with a helmet and spear instead of the flag. Wish they would’ve made Gamling into a COH so you could display both ways.

tamaboy311
02-04-2019, 07:16 PM
Does anyone know if they plan on doing all Nine Ringwraiths from this battle?

don't think so. here's something to cheer you up.

Mister H
02-04-2019, 07:34 PM
don't think so. here's something to cheer you up.

That’s really nice. Can’t believe it’s $700 though.

Sandman585
02-04-2019, 10:42 PM
don't think so. here's something to cheer you up.

Was that confirmed that they aren't or are you just speculating? I love that statue. It is pricey for 1/6th.

tamaboy311
02-05-2019, 09:05 AM
Was that confirmed that they aren't or are you just speculating? I love that statue. It is pricey for 1/6th.

I'm speculating but really doubt it. they would lose a lot of time doing the same character with different poses and I'm pretty sure they have a lot of characters in the pipeline.

67L88Stingray
02-06-2019, 10:37 PM
Just sold out today

Hellboy
02-07-2019, 02:47 PM
Just sold out today

I’m assuming you’re referring to the Ringwraith “at the Ford” on Steed, as this is still in stock. ;)

67L88Stingray
02-07-2019, 04:24 PM
I’m assuming you’re referring to the Ringwraith “at the Ford” on Steed, as this is still in stock. ;)

Yes, saw the pic of it and didn't realize I was in the other thread

tamaboy311
02-08-2019, 10:40 AM
I’d be interested in that info as well. I’m a huge Tolkien fan but don’t have any statues or busts. I have a good amount of credit at BBTS so I may apply it to the Soldier of Rohan statue. It’s the same statue as the Gamling one just with a helmet and spear instead of the flag. Wish they would’ve made Gamling into a COH so you could display both ways.

damn it!!!! I have been in the wrong thread all this time. I'm sorry. it would be cool if they made all 9. can be possible.