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Update March 2015:
Amazon won't let me rate the DOS Extended edition w. collector barrel rider figure separately, so I am editing this review to say I am so happy with the quality of the sculpt of the barrel rider figure included with the Amazon Exclusive that I ordered a second one. IMO it's that good, and I noticed that the few sets available by WETA itself are now gone. Gary Hunt of WETA sculpted this work, and WETA has just released an outstanding sculpt of Faramir by this artist - e.g., at this scale, and for this barrel rider figure, the likeness of Thorin, Bilbo, and Kili is stellar, with unbelievable detail and nice paint job - the wrinkles of wet cloth, the expressions - even the tiny little noses and clothing are screen accurate. There's even water in the barrels. Plus there is kind of a vitality and energy about this little piece - I can only completely agree with YouTube reviewer Mark Rivera on the great quality of this collector piece. At this price point it's an amazing piece of work. I wasn't expecting much as these kind of figures are often blobby and poorly painted, with horrible expressions and so on - like cheap figure toys - but I just love this - pictures don't do it justice. Hate to say it, but I think this little Thorin looks more like Thorin, in its way, than the "real" WETA Thorin figure (different sculptors, so that's probably why). Figure seems to be of highly detailed resin - even the water looks real.
There's enough details about the DOS EE scenes that I won't say much, but the EE is WELL WORTH THE PRICE. Just seeing the dwarves LOL scuffle at Laketown was a delight, never mind more Beorn, more Mirkwood! IMO for the DOS EE, the Amazon barrel collector set is the way to go, if you like memorabilia. 10 stars + for the Amazon exclusive barrel rider set!
ORIGINAL review:
The Hobbit movies vaulted themselves into being my favorite movies of all time - personally love what PJ did, the richness of the costumes, sets, locations, the fleshing out of the original story. Most of all the strength of the performances by a stellar cast of actors, IMO lead by the fierce haunting performance by Richard Armitage as Thorin, and Martin Freeman's stellar Bilbo. So I couldn't wait to get my hands on the DOS BluRay.
As far as the BluRay, which is the only thing I've watched in this set so far along with the Special Features, on my Samsung TV couldn't be more delighted with the image quality - IMO the crispness, the nuances of color - of course I enjoyed the film in an IMAX theater (more than once) but it's also been wonderful to see so much detail, up close and personal. My only quibble is I wish like the European disks there would be movie scenes or artwork on the disks themselves - it just adds to the pleasure even if it "doesn't really matter since the disk is in a player". I can only assume the 3D version is equally good, when I have a system to watch it.
So for me hands down the BR and the movie gets a 10. Where the collector set falls off, unfortunately, for me, is the *bleep* bookends. Don't get me wrong, as a dwarf/Thorin fan, I REALLY wanted these bookends. A little piece of Erebor for a book lover!.
As a collectible, they don't suck, the design of the stone dwarf guards is accurate, and they are some sort of heavy resin plastic. But I ordered 2 different sets, thanks to Amazon's wonderful return policy ended up with three of this "limited edition" and every single one of them had a flaw of some kind. It's not Amazon's fault, as one of the sets was from another company.
These are sloppy production flaws, everything from blobby features from someone pulling a statue from a mold too fast, to the axes - which evidently are not part of the casting - just snapping off. One of the statues had a cheek guard snapped off. And I don't think this is the shipping, as the bookends are strapped in and encased in heavy, ecologically incorrect form-fitting plastic plus the whole thing was shipped padded. I think it's Noble co. trying to get away with a "good enough" job (I've bought their stuff before) using an indifferent Made in China! *sigh* manufacturer/packer. The painting/color of the figures is OK, I could see someone repainting for appeal tho - kind of an army khaki or something like that.
So much for the hype over a limited edition collectible - minus one, as of course one of my 3 sets is heading back to Amazon, who I hope returns to Noble. Well, OK, when I think about it, guess it's about $25 per figure, which is kind of reasonable. I guess. But this isn't one of the Hobbit pens or keychains (which are fine) or letter openers, I was hoping they'd be really nice. And the bookend details ARE very clean and sharp - as long as more care was used, which it wasn't. Overall unless you are a Hobbit movie junkie like me, I'd say just get the BluRay and save dollars and buy a pricey collectible from the "ultimate source" WETA, who did the costumes and sets for the movies themselves. Or wait for a big sale on this bookend edition.
As for Noble company, well, re Hobbit collectibles they seem to do a "good enough" job - for instance I have an Erebor key paperweight, but they used the same mold front and back, so you get mirror reverse runes on one side. And the diamond end of the key is just glued in, e.g. the whole thing wasn't cast, just put together for a "good enough" job. Unless you look hard. But what goes around - I was thinking of buying Thorin's sword "Deathless" which at the moment only Noble makes a replica of. And my bookend experience has decided me in NOT buying any expensive collectible from Noble like a sword replica (as opposed to the wonderful job United Cutlery did with the Orcrist replica). As it is, I'm going to handle my bookends carefully, including regluing the axe that had fallen off in the box. Which it wouldn't have if the manufacturing had been better - a shame.
| Additional Blu-ray options | Edition | Discs | Price | New from | Used from |
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Blu-ray
April 8, 2014 "Please retry" | Standard Edition | 3 | $7.15 | $1.99 |
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Louloute Par Interim
Un coffret pour un joyau.
Reviewed in France on November 8, 2014