Sorry to hear that a lot of u do not like the faces. Mainly based towards the Orc and Goblin. They are both sculpted off of a single picture sent to me by WB. I made different ones that I personally like better but was asked to change them and was given exact changes that WB wanted to the Orc and Goblin. Once the changes where made to what WB wanted it was approved it. As stated by Jack "WB has the final say", I don't always agree with it but I do what I am asked.

A good thing to keep in mind is that fact that these are small, just like the troll head they do look different/better in the game rather then flat out on a white background. People will see them soon in the game and I feel that might change some opinions on it.

As to the detail and the over all look, again we did have to make them according to what WB was looking to see in the characters but there are several mechanical reasons why they look the way they do. For instance the Orc would not have ears on his head at the depth he is made. In real live that character would have ears on the side of his temple. But if u remove the ears he looks like mr potato head minus ears So u have to make changes that work in one way but not another. Also there are exact sizes that need to be there in height and width, this again plays with the shape of the face (to some degree) and then there is a mech that goes inside it, this of course means room needs to be added under the head. All these this add up to making the face not look exactly as it would if I was told "hears a face sculpt what u see exactly but only make it an inch tall"

There are lots of things that go into making a toy and making it an interactive toy. Even the front of the face had to be watch as to how far out features stick out like noses, teeth, chins and so on. The Warg was a challenge to make something that sticks out so far work with the game and not interfere in a negative way with the ball. Not to mention keeping the faces more on the flat side mattered more in Hobbit then MM as 2 of the faces are wayyyyy closer then the trolls and take a harder hit. The Warg really had no choice, and needed to stick out that far to even look correct, which is IMO why he looks the best. But the others we had to play with some to make sure there wouldn't be any problems.

These are some of the things that go into making these faces, not a simple as sculpt a awesome face and just pop it in and hit it with a ball. Lots of things affect how that piece will look. The witch even has a long story to it and why it looks that way (but that's for another day).

Oh and that clown wig from WOZ was never going in the game it was a quick vac form I did over a block of clay and letters to get spacing for the light board. Just a mock up

On another note Smaug is looking really amazing. I am super proud of him and all the detail he has in the face. I really feel very confident that when everyone sees him they will be happy.

The hole that is covered by the gold pile is where the ball falls into once the magnet drops it off the ramp. The other hole more to the left is behind the "W" drop down target and feeds into the VUK.

Teeth are still in the works just did not have them done for Iappa

I am the one making them

Also don't know if anyone had noticed but I had the new goblin and orc on the game at expo. So the faces have been redone as well.

I am sure we will be having a meeting with Jack and crew through out this week and after Iappa to make final of whats all what and what was suggested. So at the moment to my knowledge this is a possibility.

Here u go, keep in mind they look different in the machine, there is just white behind then and that doesnt give u the best idea of how they look in the game with the cover and the pf and lighting of the game. The ones on the bottom are the new ones. Old ones did not get a great reaction but more importantly I made them to large and they did not fit in the mech. So it was very clear for 2 big reasons they had to change

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Yep tongue and teeth is what I have started on for it, just tweaking fitting all the things in it and the light up eyes the mech and then the wires, lots to fit into that area. Mainly focused on the bottom row of teeth, will have to see on the tops and how it closes together with all things in it. But working on it as we speak.

No room for the gates, the original "rock" as it was called was going to be part of the mountain. Meaning that it would not look like the lonely rock but rather a section of the mountain that turned revealing smaug. The rock and the interesting shape that it was had to look like that to clear the ramps, opto's, gold piles, wires and everything else around it. It did not look so out of place had the rest of the mountain taken over that corner as planned. But with all those things to clear there was no room to make the gates design on it without making smaug smaller. Currently the back of him is the piles of gold going up the sides and the back of his head/ body. Kinda hard to explain but once a video get's posted it should make sense.

yes they are columns and or pillars just like in the pic u posted. The color was still being discussed as there are both brown and green in the movie. If u look on the ramp u can see that decals where made to add the look of more columns in the area and to dress up the ramp. here is another pic of the main column that covers the diverter mech.

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Here is a pic of the back column/pillar also all the gold pieces.
***Fun nerdy fact I put in over 2400 individual coins in this game...lol ***
And yes I like the smaller ones on smaug too, but man that was a lot more coins, lol

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Hobbit PF video from Jesse @ Pincades, He will post game play video tomorrow for sure

What White Orc? I didn't get to sculpt the white orc.

Glad to hear that people are digging the updated look to the parts. Long hard road with all the requirements by WB and the can and can not's. But we have a finished product that I am happy with and glad to hear you guys like it too.

Thanks