JAC's Lament: The Bridge Direct and the Hobbit

The Bridge Direct, last year it was my favorite toy company, why? because it was making toys for The Hobbit. I love all the works of J.R.R Tolkien, from The Silmarillion to The Lord of the Rings. I don't claim to be an expert on Tolkien but I've been trying to read through as many of his works as possible and I can tell you some are harder to read than others. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy took me a whole year to get through, The Silmarillion I started reading in 2002, put it down and only finished it early in 2013.

What's the point I'm getting to? Well, it took me only a few days to read The Hobbit when I was in year 10. It was this book which made me fall in love with Middle Earth and made me want to know all about it! I was amazed when I found out Gloin was Gimli's father, even more so when I found out Legolas was Thranduil's son! The Necromancer a weakened Sauron and the idea that Saruman once led a white council against him.
I love the battle of the five armies Orcs, Goblins and Wargs vs Drarves vs Elves and even Eagles! the way that Bard shoots down Smaug the golden with a single black arrow! This book had everything! I like most of the stuff that Jackson has done, and like the original books there's somethings that work better than others. But I think that's something I should save for another post...

I love 3 3/4" so I was so excited when The Bridge Direct released their The Hobbit line. I wanted this scale when Toy Biz had their highly successful line. I had always wanted the toys based on Bakshi's film, but couldn't afford them. Then I wanted to get Toy Vault's Lord of the Rings figures based on the books, I couldn't find those anywhere and even if I had I couldn't have been able to afford them, this is similar to what happened to the Toy Biz figures, I have a lot of them, I don't have all of them. The Bridge Direct was going to offer me an opportunity I'd never had before, to collect an entire line of toys based on Tolkien's work. As you know I've been doing just that: I have every single figure they've released so far. Some of them in multiples, as you have noticed from my customs. I had to order the Goblin King and Thorin pack from England because I couldn't find it anywhere. I am currently in the process of finding all the 6" figures, just so I can have them all! Those I may keep in their original box. I have paid full price for all of them too by the way!

When I noticed that there were rumors of the line coming to an end, I began buying their other toys (The Bridge Direct), to give away as gifts etc, recommended Pinkie Cooper and their flying super hero stuff to friend of mine looking for gifts. I can't claim that I have much influence anywhere, but I must say that I am very disappointed in their post, which you can read at the start of this 'article'. It reveals a very disappointing line, particularly for the 3 3/4" figures, I know I will buy it, I can always use the others for more customs. Thranduil does need Elven Guards after all.

I can even say that if all they released this year was the remaining Dwarves, I would not have complained if the line ended after that, but they haven't done that, despite the fact that fans have been very vocal on facebook, the company seems to ignore us completely. They couldn't even release just the Dwarves... Keep in mind that when this line came out I could see entire armies on my shelf, along with all manner of monsters and Trolls not to mention Smaug himself! I had high hopes for this line. Now we'll be lucky if 'demand warrants' any more figures.

Now, we can all help by buying the figures at full price, I think however, that most serious collectors have already done that, so what is going on? I don't know and The Bridge Direct doesn't seem to want to enlighten us, so this makes matters very difficult. Anyways, this is essentially a rant, so if you've made it this far down, you deserve a prize of some sort. All I can offer is that I will post a review of the remaining Injustice toys over the next week.

JAC's Lament Update

Articulation Blues

Happy belated New Year! I figured I should post at least once before the end of the month. I'm just a little concerned about the poseability of the new Avengers figures. The images so far indicate that the figures are missing torso, ankle and wrist articulation. Similar to the deluxe Thor and Captain America figures. Now I am hoping that they are just prototype pictures. Really, really hoping that they are still prototype images!

My real concern is that instead of Mattel following Hasbro's example it's Vice Versa. The whole reason I refused to buy the Green Lantern figures was because of the pathetic amount of articulation. The new Hasbro figures aren't anywhere near that bad. But I have to admit one of my least favorite figures from the Thor line and one I was really looking forward to was Heimdall and he could hardly hold his two handed sword. I can tolerate vehicle drivers having poor articulation and the spring loaded missile launchers and crappy accessories but please do not deny me the articulation we've all come to expect.

And another thing: I'm really loving the Kreo battleship figures but I was really hoping that Hasbro would make some 4" scale figures and Ships maybe release the new U.S.S Flagg?

I remain a fan of Hasbro and have faith that they'll do what's best for both Kids and Collectors.

IS G.I.Joes' Golden age over?

Just saw some images of the upcoming Retaliation movie line figures. I was very excited, at first, then I began to notice the articulation. Or lack thereof, single jointed knees, no wrist or ankle articulation on some of the figures and finally 5 point articulation on the vehicle drivers!! (Why include a driver at all?) I am outraged! These figures look infinitely better than the ROC figures yet possess less articulation. How can older figures be better than the new ones? It;s been a very disappointing new year so far at least in the toy real.

I mean, I can deal with crappy Avengers figures with little articulation and, ugh, action features. But now Hasbro is messing with their best product. I mean I don't like G.I.Joe for any other reason than it's militarily themed and because of the articulation. I mean what else is there, oh yeah, the intriguing story lines!

Now that my rant is over just a few updates:

1. I will be running a competition some time this year, I have contacted the people at Slayer to see if we can arrange prizes but I've not heard from them. Just want to let you know that I have read your e-mails and that the competition will happen sometime this year and I will figure out the prizes. So keep sending in ideas and I'll let you know when It's all figured out

2. The Advanced version of the game is done, at least the first draft. It's in the play-testing stage and it will become available in some form.... some day.

3. Finished my Cobra NAVY themed figures. Just need to photograph them and post them on here.

Anyways,

Please continue to contact me on the following:

g.i.jac0001@gmail.com
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