Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Gandalf the Grey from LOTR by Sideshow

Sideshow's 1/6 scale 12" figure of Gandalf the Grey from "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" may be the last Middle-Earth figure they are producing. That means that the Fellowship will not be complete since we are missing two more hobbits, Merry and Pippin, and Gimli the Dwarf :( sad sad news indeed! Especially since they are getting really good with these figures.


Basic Gandalf out of box - reminded me a little of Moses, he who parted the Red Sea and received the Ten Commandments from GOD - LOL!

Under the wizard's long grey robe he actually wears a knitted long sleeve sweater and billowy, huge pants with intricate designs at the bottom, plus boots. He also has a small bag slung across his right shoulder (Sideshow listed it as a haversack).

Sir Ian McKellen portrayed Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy directed by Peter Jackson. He was also Magneto in the X-Men films. Gandalf's old and wise demeanor seems to have been well captured by Sideshow's sculptors.

Without his wizard hat, he really looks like Moses, especially with his robe and cloak

Sideshow Gandalf's accessories include his Glamdring sword with sheath and leather belt, another dark grey cloak, one staff with pipe and tobacco pouch attached and another darker staff with a crystal on top for illumination plus extra pair of hands

Close-up of the two staffs: you can make out the pipe well placed at the top, next to the tobacco pouch and the other staff with the crystal

The spare hand holding the pipe, removed from the staff

Gandalf the wizard wearing the darker cloak, much like the poncho we used to wear in the army (quite useless actually because you get wet anyway)

With his wizard's hat and staff, Gandalf the Grey looks complete. Notice that the sleeves of his knitted sweater is cut such that his thumb goes through it like a glove, albeit a rather long glove.

Close-up of Sideshow's Gandalf the Grey

I like how they sculpted his wizard's hat - very nice indeed!

Gandalf the Grey drawing his sword Glamdring, a sword that represented the unsurpassed workmanship of Elven weaponcraft.


Close-up of his woven belt with buckle (more like a rope tied around his waist) and his leather belt with sheath for his sword

Glamdring was a long two-handed sword but was so beautifully crafted that it could be wielded with one hand by Gandalf


Gandalf the Grey with his other staff, the one he used when the Fellowship was formed and began their journey to Mount Doom in the land of Mordor: the only place where the Ring can be destroyed.

His sword in sheath when not needed

Gandalf's regular cloak with hood

Gandalf utters the famous words "You shall not pass!" to the advancing Balrog at the Bridge of Khazad-dûm in the Mines of Moria, allowing the others to escape the subterranean realm, while he falls with the creature into the abyss below.

Likewise Sideshow's "The Lord of the Rings" line will fall into the abyss with Gandalf's release as it seems there won't be any more 1/6 scale Middle-Earth characters to be added.

Previously reviewed figures:

2008 Top Ten Fave Toy - No. 10

7 comments:

Little Plastic Man said...

Too bad Sideshow could not do all the characters in the Fellowship. I actually wished they did some of the soldiers of Middle Earth or main characters with their armor on!

alex teo said...

yeah adrian, after the Fellowship i was looking forward to the Ringwraiths, Orcs and Uruk-hai. Would've been nice to have the armored figures - SIGH!

Anonymous said...

If Sideshow produce some of the bad characters, I believe there will be a lot of collectors buy it. Anyway, I like this one, swee!!

Rockaholic said...

damn!! superbbbbb collection..
im still new in 1/6 scale..
envy wif ur collection bro...
thumbsup...
long live 1/6 scale..

alex teo said...

yeah desmond, if only sideshow will listen to us collectors, everyone will be happy. we will buy becoz it's what we want & they will be happy becoz they make $ BUT will they listen? SIGH!!

hey rockaholic, so cool! u live in Japan - the land of TOYS!!! keep on collecting 1/6 ;> U ROCK!

The Duke of Swann said...

I love Gandalf as a character and this is an amazing 1/6th scale version of him. We don't get any of these products standard in South Africa. here we have to order and pay duties etc, so I haven't been able to get many things i'd like. All in good time. Love your blog!!! joined it now.

alex teo said...

Thank you for visiting my humble blog and leaving your kind comments :) I never knew that buying a figure can be such a difficult thing in other countries such as yours :( Hope you'll be able to get what you want in good time. GOD bless!