Bilbo Baggins - The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Next month Peter Jackson is releasing the first movie in his new trilogy based on the books of J.R.R. Tolkien. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey opens on December 12 here in the United States and it is going to be huge. I am unabashedly a giant fan of Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, the Hobbit, and the Peter Jackson movies. Now a month before, we get the full marketing blitz including the first wave of toys! Hit the jump for an unexpected toy journey *groan*!

"I will give you a name," he said to it, "and I shall call you Sting!"

The company chosen for the Hobbit toys is a relative unknown named The Bridge Direct. TBD has done some plush Power Rangers and Justin Bieber dolls in the past. Don’t let that pedigree scare you away though, TBD brought the heat with these Hobbit toys. There are two toylines TBD is doing for The Hobbit. First, there is a 6 inch scale line that currently consists of Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf the Grey, Thorin Oakenshield, Legolas, and a new movie character, the female elf Tauriel. The other line is going to be the 3.75 scale figures. Think G.I. Joe sized more or less.

The 3.75 line is apparently going to be the more comprehensive of the two lines. I’m okay with that because it means cheaper prices for clearing out the waves. The 6 inch line will most likely cover the heroes of the movie. This will be one of the first 3.75 lines I’m committed to completing. I think they are that good.

 You can’t start reviewing characters from The Hobbit without beginning with, well...the hobbit. So today I am looking at Bilbo Baggins. Without spoiling too much, let’s just say that Bilbo is a respectable hobbit, content to live his quiet life in the Shire. Events conspire to bring this little hobbit out of his meek shell and into an adventure that has ramifications for the whole world. I hope that was vague enough! Of course, if you read the book you know what I’m talking about. 

Let’s check Bilbo’s vital toy statistics, he stands exactly 3 inches tall or 6.7 centimeters for the metrically inclined. Since I happen to have a handy dandy digital scale near me, he also weighs 0.6 ounces (17 grams). He is shoeless, since hobbits have tough, hairy, leathery feet. He wears knee length breeches, which is the fashion in the Shire. He also has on a green button down vest over his shirt and over that a red coat. Around his neck he has a jaunty yellow scarf. I like that this Bilbo figure wasn’t just one mold, the belt, shirt, jacket, and scarf are all molded individually and placed on the figure. It gives him great depth. Also, I want to note that Bilbo’s vest comes off if you pull it. I wonder if this might mean a future release will include an accessory to replicate Bilbo’s mithril shirt! For this adventure Bilbo has two ropes with a food bag and water bottles slung on them. Finally, he wears a small sword belt which holds the scabbard of his sword, Sting.

Accessory wise, Bilbo comes with the ropes holding his food and water. These can be criss-crossed across his chest and under his arms. He also comes with Sting, his famous sword. The elven blade that glows blue in the presence of his enemies can be held in either hand or kept safe in its sheath. Let me pause a second here to just say how much I love when companies make it so the toys have places to place their accessories. It’s just a really nice thing and I feel it shows that The Bridge Direct really thought out this toy.

Bilbo’s head is covered by a mop of brownish-orange hair. The face is okay, although I don’t think it quite captures the look of Martin Freeman, who plays Bilbo in the upcoming movie. Still, everything is sharp and the paint is not slopped on. Speaking of paint, Bilbo doesn’t have many, although they did a nice job of making his feet look hairy. He looks great though, despite his few paint applications. When I get to some of the other figures in this line, I think you will see how awesome TBD’s paint applications are. I’d say their paint jobs are the best I’ve seen at the 3.75 scale.

Let’s talk articulation. All the heads in this line are on ball joints. They seem to be pretty standard sized too, so head swapping for fun and profit (?) is possible. The head doesn’t have much up or down motion, but it goes from left to right well enough. The shoulders have joints that allow for up/down posing as well as 360 degrees of motion. The elbows bend, as elbows tend to do, to 90 degrees and they also can rotate. Finally, the wrists rotate, so all this means you can get a pretty good amount of posing from the arms. He can’t quite pull off a two handed holding pose, but that’s okay, not many 3.75 figs can. 

The knees bend well but there are no ankle joints. Also, the hips can rotate and go up and down, but in practice they are really only good for a neutral stance. This is something I hope TBD can improve on, but by no means am I hating on the hip joints. After all, every single figure from the Hobbit line I have has no problem standing on it’s own even laden with accessories. Some 3.75 toys can’t even do that *cough* Mattel *cough*. 

My final thoughts on this Bilbo Baggins figure are extremely positive. I really think The Bridge Direct has knocked it out of the park on this line so far (I already completed wave 1). My hope is that the movie and toys do really well and that TBD does figures from the Lord of the Rings as well. You people have no idea how I NEED a King Theoden and Snowmane 2-pack set. Call me batshit crazy, but I’d trade some pretty pricy items from my collection for a nice toy of the King of Rohan. BTW, I got Bilbo in a 2-pack with Gollum at Barnes & Noble for $14.99. Thanks for reading!