Yikes. The first two figures aren't terrible, but I wouldn't call them good. The last two figures look like something a third grader brings home from pottery class. Please go back to the drawing board with these. They are not up to par for JJP standards. If other companies can make cheap action figure toys look good, you guys can make these look good. See what I mean?

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As much as I like what JJP did with WoZ and TH I have to agree these "figures" aren't anything exceptional. While they aren't horrible I would like to think with all the technology that is out there they could be better! As someone that has put in for TH I would like to see these improved upon!

do we know who did the TWD models?

these suck!

I'm sorry, maybe a little too critical, they may go great right on the PLASTIC dashboard of a Bentley!

Yes. Gregory Nicotero. He's an old school zombie special effects master, and a director on TWD even. Stern really chose an excellent person to do the work.

The guy was brought up by Tom Savini and George A. Romero, you really can't ask for much of a better pedigree than that when it comes to special effects and zombies.

Hold on a sec, I gotta ask on behalf of the curious and the ignorant, are we sure these are the models?

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super cool! he made those models.
The documentary "Nightmare Factory" was on netflix a while back really cool watching the crew build all those creatures.

Come on guys, don't make them so bad. They are bash toys and symbols for what is happening on the LCD and in that combination they will work. It's the same with the witch in WOZ. I think it could work here too.

But the dragon will be more prominent and way bigger. They have to nail the dragon like others here said!

And I think it's time for a bigger update! I have a hobbit on preorder and already fully paid. They want to start with the production in three month. So they must have way more to show now.

I'm sorry this is 7,500.00 US dollars. I prefer the trolls on my MM to these! Come on guys how hard is it to get a decent bash toy. If Hallmark can make them...........

I don't think it's necessary to be overly negative, but I also don't think it helps to pretend to like something. Just be honest about what you think in a constructive way. I'm not feeling these. They don't look good to me, maybe that doesn't matter to you, it does to me.

I know what you mean. The warg I think looks pretty good, the spider a little better but the other two...My first reaction was "really?". I say that not as an insult as there are many other things good about the game. They look ok but I was expecting more detail / polish. If Smaug is on the same level of detail as these I likely won't go forward with my order. I hope I'm wrong. After owning a WOZ I expected the same quality on the TH in terms of attention to detail.

The rest of TH looks amazing and you can see that in the playfield, ramps, cabinet, lcd animations, etc. However, the look of these models in their current state detracts from what is already good about the game. I would expect the models to look at least as detailed as the MM trolls but that is not the case.

They were posted in JJP's official "The last WOZLE is done!" Newsletter…so yeah, they're real.

I agree the dragon is the most important. However, you do know it's the same person making Smaug, right? Consider all of the character toys/sculptures this person has made. The wicked witch in WOZ. Toto for WOZ. These 4 popup heads. How does one go from doing work like these to creating some truely "kick ass" and "nailing it" on something as complex as Smaug? I just don't think sculpting characters in particular is his talent. Aside from just "not looking right", the characters have blank looks/expression, the colors do not pop at all, and the detail is lacking. No fun factor in these.

I was pleading with JJP on the Google forumn starting 2 years ago when Hobbit was announced to use someone else for creating the character toys in Hobbit. I suggested (strongly) to use the guys at Gentle Giant. Their custom figures are amazing.

I'd be shocked if these wind up on the game as is, given this backlash.

You just slammed me (to put it mildly) on the other Hobbit thread for "insulting Matt", literally no more than a few days ago. Now you're criticizing his work and threatening to possibly not go forward with your order? Okay. At least you're being honest now I guess.

the hobbit is a game i'm looking forward to, i just hope these are not final, if so... i'd be very disappointed.

damn i hope not!

remember the witch...

And just how fast do you think they could get a new artist to do 4 of these characters (much less capable of creating thousands of copies for all games AND at a price they can live with), and get the artwork approved by the studio? They've had almost 2 years up to this point to reveal these.

If only they had looked for feeback earlier ...

Jack did change the lumpy afro wig to a plastic after a collective "WTF"…so - you never know.

But he had a couple of years of time to do that ... and in the end, they scrapped it altogether. I don't think they can just scrap 4 pop-up characters at this point.

The feedback I provided wasn't rude unlike yours from previous threads. Actually I complemented the first two figures. You came off as condescending and repeatedly brought up your rather rude witch model comments over and over again. Matt has done some fantastic work on WOZ. I think that the barrel models for The Hobbit look great and that the warg bash target looks good. However, I'm not thrilled with the other 3 and expected more after seeing what is in WOZ and some of the earlier Hobbit reveals.

I'm a JJP supporter, but I think these are not what I was expecting. I hope they can pull a rabbit out of their hat at the last minute. Production is not too far away, and to go get someone to sculpt something new, get approved by Warner brothers, pass testing (bashing), then get sent out for producing, and get back in time for a late December production line, is going to be a real miracle.

Good point.

Please show me any comment I made that was any more rude or condescending than the dozens of others posts ABOVE that provided feedback on his work.

These are in the game. Deal with it lol

Fucking bash toys hidden most of the time...no one has a issue with his pop
Bumper caps. Everyone loves those.. Get over it already. If u remember the wolf had set of led eyes in a early picture. Shows that it can be moded. Do u really care about how detailed they are once u led them all? I don't, be happy they come with the game and u don't have to pay extra for them as a mod lol

Just my 2 cents as a hobbit buyer

look number one Panzer and CraZ do not hijack this thread with your childish arguing, I'm pretty sure almost everyone has had enough, number two lets get back to what matters change at least two of these for figures please!!! I dont need to mention which two!

and I do know how to spell four......power typing!

Here is the deal. The Hobbits primary antagonist is the dragon, and is at the center of the movie. Now JJP decided to make Smaug the focus of their game and allocate a lot of real estate in the game (good idea). BUT, but, you have to get the toy damn near showcase material to pull it off. It should have been fine tuned, critiqued, re-done (over and over if necessary), practically perfected over and over again until it was damn near perfect starting from development day 1. There is a lot riding on this toy - more so than in any other game I can think of. If they don't have it, they have time to reach out to someone else and get it corrected. They have to get this right. While I am at it, they have time to correct the rest of the toys as well - they have time. But this needs to be a major red flag, all hands on deck, moment to keep this game a winner.

As a Hobbit buyer I disagree! As it has been posted several times, even in this post, JJP reads these threads and takes into consideration as to what people like and dislike. Although some on here obviously have an agenda with JJP I for one think its good to post your opinions as if enough people post agreeing or disagreeing this can result in JJP making an update to the game. So far more people have posted that the figures could/should be better so maybe Jack takes this into consideration and ask the designer to alter them!

On a side note.....will the LED mods to light up the 4 -figures eyes come out before or after TH is released???

I like his skulls that I put on my MetLE and I think TOTO for WOZ was a realy great sculpture. And I still think that these could work too. But is this realy all they can show us? These are not bad but nothing I would say that could convince people to preorder this game. And I thought this will be a BIG update, with something awesome to show us.

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I'd agree but hopefully in completed game they'll look better! I was definitely disappointed at first glance but trying to keep an open mind on them. Bash toys not too big of a deal for me but the main toys need to be amazing for me to stay in for sure!

Wow. That actually don't look that great up close. Then again they are not viewed that close in MM.

After taking a second look at the 4 Hobbit pop ups I think that the first two look pretty good. The Orc and Goblin though need some work in my opinion.

Oh, now i get it, thanks for the post! I was wondering where Spike appeared in The Hobbit when first seeing the toys.

The guy next to the dog has the exact same mouth as Butthead, by the way.

Look at the troll...it looks terrible there, but pretty good in the game. I think we will see the same effect here. While the goblin and Orc could use some serious work, they won't look that bad in the game popping up at that distance IMO. Time will tell and this is the bad part about releasing info bit by bit...gets REALLY analyzed and torn apart. Smaug better be up to snuff!!

You make a somewhat good point. I think all four of these figures will look fairly good once people mod them with menacing LED eyes. The eyes will give them that dark aura that may be missing, particularly with the spider, goblin and Orc(?). To me the Warg looks good anyway.

I also agree with Pimp above, the toys always look better when in the game. They are not meant to be stand alone toys. They are not action figures or models.

I think the troll still looks nicer with more detail and an actual expression on his face. Heck, show me these 4 pop-ups in a closeup like the troll. And the excuses that "oh, these pop up so fast" and "if you mod them with glowing eyes .." seems a bit strange to me to dismiss the quality of the work simply because it won't be seen much or can be hidden or dressed up with lit eyes (or put in a phone booth a'la the witch in WOZ??)

I think people's biggest concern right now is that the same artist will be doing Smaug and if JJP is willing to let this quality of work go by, what will Smaug look like?

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I would say that the detail is similar between the MM troll and the Hobbit bash toys, only that Hobbit is a dark ruddy theme and the characters are consistent with the theme. MM has bright colors and comedy thus the bright green goofy troll goes with that theme.

Take a look at that spider and tell me that will not look awesome with six red LED eyes.

Good point, but it doesn't resolve things for me artistically.

As I scan these, my brain says:

1. wolf
2. spider-monster
3. no idea?
4. upset feral cat with cleft lip?

So the attention to detail on 3 and 4 isn't answering, "What the heck is that?"

Bear in mind, I've never seen the movie...
-mof

Just like the artwork on the playfield, it usually comes together once populated with plastics etc, I am sure these will look fine. Who knows what kind of limitations were given to them from Warner Brothers or changes they may have been forced to make? I think these are probably what maybe 1" or 1-1/8" in size since they are part of the pop up mech's., hard to compare details to something twice its size or even 4-6 times it size in some cases.

These look pretty good though and have a lot of detail..............

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Yes, was just trying a different perspective. I've been quite excited for this machine and am still very optimistic with it, not wrongfully I hope! Agree with you on info released bit by bit. Almost torturing imo!

You have to keep in mind these figures are fairly small. This Goblin looks pretty darn close if you ask me:

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If you think that constitutes "pretty darn close", may I suggest a visit to your optometrist?

Thanks for posting this, now I get it !!! Ok, it's not a feral cat.

DROP THE EARS. Rotate em down a hair, and drop 'em on the head 1/4 of the way down, and it will appear more "human" than "feral"

thanks,
mof

That Goblin looks like a cat.

Yikes!

There's not enough time to go back and redesign these for a shipping date by Christmas and prototypes before that... Honestly just plan on led modding them if u want. Personally I think they look fine better then a decal like the xmen above

And he hit a home run on the pop bumpers by the way

So what you are saying is that all toys based on characters should be 3-D CAD drawn and made by machines then.
No human, that a pinball company can afford, is going to make them like the LOTR figures where you can see the actors likenesses despite them being 2 inches tall.