t's not surprising that J.R.R. Tolkien's seminal work The Lord of the Rings
spawned merchandise spinoffs ranging from finger puppets to brass belt buckles.
The series is chock full of memorable characters that have been
immortalized in pewter, porcelain, tile, wedgewood, paint and paper. The latest
entry into this market is a new line of action figures from a company called Toy
Vault.
Toy Vault has plans for an extensive line of Rings figures that will
include main characters such as Frodo and the Lord Nazgul as well as lesser
players like the Barrow Wight. The series kicked off in August 1998 with the
introduction of Gandalf and the Balrog, two creations sculpted by fantasy artist
Daniel R. Horne. Each figure comes in a standard edition that's widely
available, plus three exclusive versions that are a bit harder to come by.
Rather than simply accessorizing the figures to create different editions just
to boost sales, Toy Vault turned to the pages of The Lord of the Rings when
designing its variants. For instance, the Gandalf figures include the standard
Gandalf the White, depicted as he appeared when he faced the Steward of Gondor.
Then there's Gandalf the Grey, an exclusive that portrays the mighty wizard as
he looked when he met the Balrog of Khazad-dum. Not only does each have different attire, but they sport different heads and staffs as well.
Unfortunately, Toy Vault wasn't quite as rigorous when it came to creating the
Balrog. There is the standard Balrog that fought Gandalf, as mentioned above,
but then there are also figures like the Forest and Earth Balrogs, which never
appeared in The Lord of the Rings. On its Web site, Toy Vault explains, "We
infer that besides the one in the Mines of Moria, there were others in isolated
parts of Middle-earth that were not relevant to the story that J.R.R. Tolkien
was telling in Lord of the Rings."
Wow! Ugh!
When folks first come across the Middle Earth action figures, they tend to have
the same reaction. They usually look at Gandalf and all his variants and gush
about what a great job Toy Vault has done. Then they look at the Balrog, and
their wonderment turns to horror.
It's hard to imagine how Toy Vault could have done something so right and so
wrong at the same time. On the positive side, the Gandalf figure should please
almost any Rings fan. One look at this work of art and there's no doubt that
this is what Gandalf looked like, down to his cape and pipe. The
variants are especially well done, and kudos should go to Toy Vault for the
ingenious staff included with Gandalf the Grey. It actually lights up!
On the negative side, there's the Balrog. This is a monster described in
Tolkien's words as "like a great shadow, in the middle of which was a dark form,
of man-shape maybe, yet greater; and a power and a terror seemed to be in it and
to go before it." But the Toy Vault version is anything but powerful, and if
there is any terror in the cartoonish face...well, then Bugs Bunny can pass for
Beelzebub.
Of course, it's to be expected that any new action figure line will have its
uneven moments, and hopefully Toy Vault has worked out most of the bugs with the
Balrog. The upcoming Frodo and Lord Nazgul seem like they will be on par with
the quality of Gandalf, which is particularly promising since it's rather
difficult to create a toy Hobbit that doesn't look like a toy.
