2014, happy New Years to everyone who passes this page on the internet in their spare time. Now on to the biscuits.
Low and behold the Desolation of Smaug figures showed up in Auckland,New Zealand at a Farmers store (a nation wide department store in my country). Only 2 new figures in this assortment, Azog and Radagast. The rest of the wave mates are repacks from 2012.
Azog is a beautifully sculpted figure. He's big and comes with his mace. The paint work is imaculate on mine, cast in a medium grey plastic and a light grey dry brush all over the skin, add to that the metal on the boots and right arm bands along with sculpted tattoos and scars that are also painted and you get a lot of wonderful detail in a smaller scale figure, Bridge Direct rivals Hasbro with the sculpting and paint.
He's just a hair shorter than his son Bolg, They have exactly the same articulation and I wish they had ankle joints but alas. Also the hips on all the Hobbit toys are annoying and drive me mad. Mad I say.
He can ride a Warg well enough, they did show a white Warg repaint last year but who knows if that will ever see the light of day, so unless you feel like customizing one of 2012's best made toys, Azog will have to ride a brown Warg for the time being.
Radagast is pretty neat, all lopsided with his outfit, two different shoes and his staff has a translucent Blue crystal in it. Sculpt work is outstanding though the underside is pretty blank. But he's not designed to have his coat off. I have one complaint and that is he has no ankle joints and his hips are annoying (though it is a little less annoying than it is on Orc figures).
He has a removable hat and bird poo, check!
So there you have it a brief look at these hard to find figures. I hope they sort it out for the 3rd film, the constant changes to the film have really messed up the toyline and it's not the early 00s any more. That Bolg figure was an early design apparently and was breifly seen pre-head ingury getting his head split in the Moria flash back in the first film. Now that design is totally changed for an average looking redesign done digitally in the 2nd film. Will we ever see a beautiful Smaug action figure toy? Will we see any Armoured Dwarf warriors or Elven Guard? What about those sweet Heavily armoured Orcs seen marching out of Dol Guldar and into the 3rd film?