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Looks to be about 50% bigger than the Pegasus Dragon Slayer model...and 20 times more expensive...

Personally, I am still down with Tolkiens size for Smaug. People (in this case WETA and Jackson) seem to get caught up on this bigger, bigger, bigger thing. 20-25 meters is already impressively big. Twice as big as a 747 is idiotic, for the sake of being idiotic.

That said, the model isn't bad. The paint job sucks, the base sucks, the price sucks.

Yeah the price is interesting, considering they cast 2000 of them - and they already have the digital model, even. Then again, it's a nerdy movie collectable, people pay silly amounts of money for those.

 prowla wrote:
Yeah the price is interesting, considering they cast 2000 of them - and they already have the digital model, even. Then again, it's a nerdy movie collectable, people pay silly amounts of money for those.

Like I said. Got lots of 'em. This one's price stands out. And I'm comparing it to LotR, Alien, Marvel, Star Wars, Terminator, Predator franchise items. In other words, all the usual high-licence-fee nerdfests.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Sean_OBrien wrote:
Looks to be about 50% bigger than the Pegasus Dragon Slayer model...and 20 times more expensive...
Personally, I am still down with Tolkiens size for Smaug. People (in this case WETA and Jackson) seem to get caught up on this bigger, bigger, bigger thing. 20-25 meters is already impressively big. Twice as big as a 747 is idiotic, for the sake of being idiotic.

I disagree. In the context of the book and film, Smaug's size makes sense. As a beast that single-handedly took the lonely mountain, was capable of razing Lake-Town, and made (even Jackson's superman version of) Tolkien's elves say "actually, let's not bother here" - Smaug's size makes perfect sense.

Well it looks like a perfect rendition of Smaug from the movie. I mean even the missing scale is not there! $700 might be alot but without a scale it's hard to tell if it's going to a be a good table centerpiece or just a good table.

Cheers!
Dave

Wasn't GW supposedly doing one?

Meh.

I was looking for a dragon model, not a wyvern.

3...2...1......

For other reference, Andrea Miniatures, a much respected dealer in all things collectible for painters, produces a touch smaller dragon but at a high price:


-Link-

It's over $1,200 USD to have a painted one sent to you. Although, if it's painted like the picture, it's to a higher detail and includes a rider.

 Sean_OBrien wrote:
Personally, I am still down with Tolkiens size for Smaug. People (in this case WETA and Jackson) seem to get caught up on this bigger, bigger, bigger thing. 20-25 meters is already impressively big. Twice as big as a 747 is idiotic, for the sake of being idiotic.

Bear in mind that in the movies this far you have only seen him next to characters who are nominally 3-4 ft tall, in a dwelling designed for people 4 ft tall. So, he's going to look a little bigger.

To be fair, you pay that for a Forge World model that comes un assembled, with bent pieces, and unpainted.

 greyknight12 wrote:

 Sean_OBrien wrote:
Personally, I am still down with Tolkiens size for Smaug. People (in this case WETA and Jackson) seem to get caught up on this bigger, bigger, bigger thing. 20-25 meters is already impressively big. Twice as big as a 747 is idiotic, for the sake of being idiotic.

Bear in mind that in the movies this far you have only seen him next to characters who are nominally 3-4 ft tall, in a dwelling designed for people 4 ft tall. So, he's going to look a little bigger.

If you take a look at the LOTR wiki article, it explains how estimations of Smaug's length were derived from Tolkien's own drawings "This measurement corresponds with drawings by Tolkien in which Smaug seems to be around 25 meters (86 feet)." The film version has Smaug dramatically increased in size to be over 141 meters in length:

"In pre-publishing comments by Joe Letteri, the Oscar winning VFX supervisor from Weta digital, Smaug was said to be "twice as big as a Boeing 747", calculating over 141m in length."

Of course, if they are going to expand the book into three feature-length films, why not make the dragon five and a half times bigger? You've already jumped the shark...

 Azazelx wrote:
A someone who has a fair few collectables of this broad nature (Sideshow, Hot Toys, Hollywood Collectables, etc) it looks solidly overpriced.

Indeed. Mediocre sculpt, crap base, weak paint job. Sideshow does better for less. Their 3 foot tall Sauron statue is like $900 for comparison. Hell, their lifesize Salacious Cumb replica was only $350.

 SlaveToDorkness wrote:
Why the HELL is that $700?

I love when people who pay $30 for one 28mm miniature write things like this -- it cracks me up! :-)

 bugswarm wrote:

 SlaveToDorkness wrote:
Why the HELL is that $700?

I love when people who pay $30 for one 28mm miniature write things like this -- it cracks me up! :-)

I've never done that, but feel free to amuse yourself with whatever idiocy you dream up.

Bossk_Hogg wrote:
Sideshow does better for less. Their 3 foot tall Sauron statue is like $900 for comparison. .

Wasn't all of Sideshow's LotR stuff made by Weta?

 Paradigm wrote:
Fething awesome!

Still waiting on the GW version though, hopefully it will be (slightly) more afforadble!

Yeah sure why not, in finecast and all yours for 20,000 USD and it melts after reaching 30 degrees celcius.

 insaniak wrote:

Bossk_Hogg wrote:
Sideshow does better for less. Their 3 foot tall Sauron statue is like $900 for comparison. .

Wasn't all of Sideshow's LotR stuff made by Weta?

Nope.

Breaking......

WETA adopts GW pricing scheme. News at ten!

 Azazelx wrote:

 insaniak wrote:

Bossk_Hogg wrote:
Sideshow does better for less. Their 3 foot tall Sauron statue is like $900 for comparison. .

Wasn't all of Sideshow's LotR stuff made by Weta?

Nope.

The earlier stuff certainly was. It was all branded as 'Sideshow Weta' in a lot of places.

It sure was. But you were asking if all of it was.

Yes, because I wasn't sure... I haven't been following the Sideshow stuff much in recent years.

That... That's meant to be a pile of gold?
Even now someone's mentioned it, I can still see it as only sand.

Maybe if I adjust the monitor a little...

 SlaveToDorkness wrote:

 bugswarm wrote:

 SlaveToDorkness wrote:
Why the HELL is that $700?

I love when people who pay $30 for one 28mm miniature write things like this -- it cracks me up! :-)

I've never done that, but feel free to amuse yourself with whatever idiocy you dream up.

Ah, so you're not a GW gamer then? My mistake! You don't buy their models?

You are aware, aren't you, that one tiny bit of unpainted metal, like a Space Marine hero model, is $30? Some of the fairly small plastic kits they make go for $70+?

 bugswarm wrote:

 SlaveToDorkness wrote:

 bugswarm wrote:

 SlaveToDorkness wrote:
Why the HELL is that $700?

I love when people who pay $30 for one 28mm miniature write things like this -- it cracks me up! :-)

I've never done that, but feel free to amuse yourself with whatever idiocy you dream up.

Ah, so you're not a GW gamer then? My mistake! You don't buy their models?

You are aware, aren't you, that one tiny bit of unpainted metal, like a Space Marine hero model, is $30? Some of the fairly small plastic kits they make go for $70+?

Do bear in that there are several ways of playing GW games without the insane prices. To use your example, the SM captain can be converted from basically any kit in power armour, the cheapest of which comes in at £2.50 per model, the most expensive still a fraction of the cost of that mini at £6.00 per model.

That, and the fact that, given the various 3rd party sellers that offer a discount on GW and the wealth of alternate minis out there, and you can play 40k for far less those prices you mention. Doesn't stop the prices being insane, but you don't really need to pay them.

Its weta studios everything is expensive.
It looks amazing tho and I would buy it if I could. I want to know who owns the full sized gollum models haha

Gragga Da Krumpa wrote:
To be fair, you pay that for a Forge World model that comes un assembled, with bent pieces, and unpainted.

This is so spot on it hurts.

All I see is a bunch of hate, like you could make and paint a massive dragon to that standard.

It is beautiful. A lot of love went into this model.

 CREEEEEEEEED wrote:
All I see is a bunch of hate, like you could make and paint a massive dragon to that standard.

Two things:
1 - There is a world of difference between 'criticism' and 'hate'. 'Hate' is an incredibly over-used word on the internet, and seems to have become the fallback term for use when someone disagrees with any even vaguely negative opinion.

2 - Someone doesn't have to be able to do something themselves in order to dislike the way someone else has done it, or to understand where it could be improved. The fact that I've never made a movie in no way changes the validity of my opinion that Starship Troopers 2 was not exactly the best movie of its decade.

If you like this piece, that's great. Looking at the standard of this compared to a lot of other movie collectibles I suspect you'll be far from alone in that opinion. But that doesn't mean that people who aren't impressed by it are just mindless 'haters' or jealous of the artist.

This is purely directed at the movie fans and not the gamer or hobbyist. I personally would just buy one of those Monster Hunter dragon toys and use that

 KingCracker wrote:

Gragga Da Krumpa wrote:
To be fair, you pay that for a Forge World model that comes un assembled, with bent pieces, and unpainted.

This is so spot on it hurts.

Except with FW you are able to customize, experiment and set it to whatever standard you wish without having to mutilate it with a hobby saw and dunk it in an oceans worth of simple green.