The Great Goblin - The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Well that's a face that only a mother could love no one ever could love. Today I have the Great Goblin from the upcoming film version of The Hobbit to share! Make no bones about it, this is a gross looking toy. That's never stopped Getter Newtype Reviews before and I'll be damned if it stops me now! I'm diving in! Hit the jump to join me!
The Great Goblin is a goblin, although his greatness is debatable. Great in size, certainly, great as in classical ideals of aesthetic beauty, not so much. I digress though, this guy is ugly by design. The Bridge Direct (TBD) definitely went out of their way to lovingly sculpt every flabby fold of fat, every cankerous lump, every patch of rashy skin.

The Great Goblin is the leader of the goblins of the Misty Mountains, a mountain range Thorin and Company must cross in order to reach Erebor, the Lonely Mountain. He is far larger than the average goblin, dwarf, human or elf. His great bulk runs to fat although he is still a formidable foe. He is easily the size of a troll, although his features are those of the goblins, considered lesser versions of orcs. Some fans on the internet have speculated that the Great Goblin could actually be a Maiar spirit, in order to explain his great bulk and control over a massive number of goblins. This is only speculation however, because the other known Maiar of Middle-Earth seem to be of higher orders of power, namely Sauron, Gandalf, Saruman and the Balrog of Moria.

The battle between the dwarves and the Great Goblin's forces is something I am very much looking forward to in the upcoming movie. It is a pitched running skirmish under the mountain that should be very exciting. With all that out of the way, let's take a look at the figure. This version of the Great Goblin stands 7.5 inches tall and 8 inches to the tip of his crown when he's wearing it.

The Great Goblin is molded in a sickly greyish flesh tone. He has paint apps that include pinkish parts to depict his raw exposed skin as well as what appears to be a darker wash to really make him look dirty and dingy. All in all the paint job is totally appropriate for a big fat gross monster that lives underground in filthy tunnels. His head sculpt is expressive with his many chins spilling over his chest. Of particular grossness to me is his mouth. He's huge, yet he has this tiny little mouth filled with nasty little brown teeth. It's very disconcerting and another great detail put in by TBD.

What little hair he has is stringy and sparse on his scalpt. TBD did a good job on capturing the movie look of this guy. His ears are pointy and also afflicted with the redness that must come from just a totally gross amount of rubbing and scratching. His eyes may look slightly derpy, but I think it works for this character. Sure he might have the googly eye, but they still have a malevolence about them I find impressive at this scale.

 For his size he has a good bit of articulation that looks good. Because of his fat neck there is no neck joint, but he does have a joint in his torso that allows for rotation. Shoulders and elbows can bend and swivel and his wrists have swivel joints.

Under his dirty, much too small for comfort, loin cloth he has hip joints that go back and forward and joints at the knees. No ankle joints although in the Great Goblin's case it'd be cankle joints. Overall, articulation is well thought out for the size and enough to be interesting and get the job done.

Sculpted back fat. What a time to be alive.

The Great Goblin comes with 2 accessories, a small, crude crown that pegs into his head and a war club/totem. I love the crown, it looks like bones strapped to a nasty leather strap. It stays in place with no problems, so kudos to TBD on that.

Side view of the crown, also sideboob. You can never unsee it.

His war club is awesome as well. It's got a large animal skull on it with stringy bits of vine and rope hanging from it. Underneath that are what appear to be shrunken heads! Awesome details. He can only hold the club in his left hand, as the right is sculpted in more of a relaxed, open pose.

The loincloth is well done and the details are sharp. It really looks like individual strips of leather. Thank god it doesn't reveal anything!

 My final thoughts on this figure are once again positive. The range of scales with the 3.75 line really have me psyched. G.I. Joe is great and I enjoy it, but everybody is the same height! The variety in this line is interesting to me and the bigger characters like the Great Goblin here make me happy because they are huge, yet in scale. I really think TBD have a winner here and I hope this line does well for them. I think the Great Goblin figure itself has some value as a generic enemy for other lines, ever 6 inch scale or MOTUC sized action figures. If you like The Hobbit and toys and (hopefully) the new movie, there's no reason to not get the Great Goblin. There have been very few duds in the first wave of Hobbit figures from TBD. The Great Goblin comes in a 2-pack along with Thorin Oakenshield for 29.99.

Finally, perhaps the grossest thing I encountered while snapping pictures of the Great Goblin for your edification were his toenails. YUCK! Just looking at them makes me think of rank, pungent cheese stink wafting through the air. Nasty!