Diamond Select Toys: Gandalf Action Figure, Multicolor

I love the Diamond Select action figures. This version of Gandalf is very nice. It was for a teen so it wasn't meant to be a collectable, though I'm sure this would be great addition to a collection. As a toy, when Galdalfs sword was pulled out, a small piece of the swords handle broke off. I will continue buying Diamond Select figures though!

Bought this as a gift. Now I want my own...

Great figure. Looks much bigger in reality than the pic. The hat doesn't stay on the head as I wish it would but overall highly reccomand!. The paint and the face expresion is good. Very nice accsessories. Value for money.

the figure seems resilient unlike the more rubbery marvel legends for instance. but poseability is lacking. the main issue is the robed hands, because the robe itself is hard plastic, it is only possible to have gandalf hold the staff or sword in limited poses. also, to get the bag in place i had to dunk the head in hot water to be able to pull it out. don't know why it wasn't on him out of the box...but even so, i am quite fond of the figure. the amount of detail is great, and it is able to get some nice poses and just looks great on display.

La figura viene en una caja muy bonita. El personaje tiene muy buenos detalles. Me faltaba para completar la comunidad del anillo. Tal como se ve en la imagen.

To start, this figure is impressive. DST has been steadily improving over time, and this line is where that seems to be coming to a head. Fantastic paint over an even better sculpt renders this a fantastic recreation of Gandalf's look in Fellowship. That being said, there are downsides.For starters, the sleeves are a big issue that DST is aware of, and has corrected in their Saruman figure releasing next year. They are sculpted hard plastic, meaning that Gandalf has a lot of trouble actually holding any of his accessories, but you can fudge them into a loose grip by only putting the wrist pegs in halfway instead of all the way. Why even mention it if you can easily fix it then? Well, plainly, DST's weapons are often VERY brittle, including the sword Gandalf comes with. If you want him to hold his sword properly, you are running the risk of snapping the cross guards off, as they are supremely delicate and thin.The second big problem is a classic DST problem: the paint on the face. For the most part, it is a FANTASTIC likeness of Sir Ian McKellen. If you can excuse some very rough paintjobs, many of DST's face sculpts have been fantastic. In fact, just like most of their releases based on actor likenesses, the underlying sculpt is great, but the paint lets it down. All the sculpted wrinkles and delicate paint are much appreciated and make him feel so much more alive, but I'm sure you spotted the issue right away when looking at photos of the figure; the eyes are far too light, so light blue that it teeters into a milky white, causing him to look almost blind. Now the eye color is technically accurate to the actor, but since this figure is only 7 inches tall, there are some certain subtleties that you just can't portray in figure form without it looking off. If they had used just a slightly darker paint for his eyes, I think this would be one of their best human face sculpts, but the eyes let it down so much for me, personally. It was very easy to fix, if you have any experience with painting eyes on figures, and I've since corrected it myself by simply painting a small blot of a darker blue over the eyes, but if this isn't something you're willing to do, you'll just have to deal with Gandalf looking more like Theodin when he was under Saruman's spell.Articulation is something DST fans aren't spoiled for, and this figure is no different. You can technically move him in all the ways you should be able to on any figure, but the outfit hinders that quite a bit. His legs are nearly useless, due to the hard plastic cloak surrounding them, but this isn't really an issue that could be fixed without completely altering the original design, so I'm quite forgiving of that. The real issue circles back to the sleeves, which don't allow you to pull off Gandalf's most famous pose, the iconic "You shall not pass" pose. He can technically get into the pose once you've removed his cape by popping off his head, but because of the sleeves, you'll spend entirely too long trying to maneuver his hands into place. Even when you do get him into the pose, it still won't look right, as the sleeves will be defying gravity instead of falling down around his arm.A much, much more minor nitpick is just a personal gripe with figures of this nature. I think that for particularly Gandalf the Grey, there should be a much more pleasant facial expression. In Fellowship, we first see Gandalf as a sweet gentle old man, and I'm not sure that personality is reflected at all in his expression here. He looks quite grim, and somewhat bored. This isn't so much a problem as it is just a missed opportunity, but if you're a fan of your figures looking like they have some personality and life to them, it may be a letdown. While I have attempted to give him some personality with paint, I think the sculpt is just too specific and detailed to be able to add a smirk or some joy to his eyes, or anything of that sort.With all of this being said, I can say that this is worth a purchase, but it does have some age old Diamond Select shortcomings. You really have to take the good with the bad with this line, and this figure is really no different. Would highly recommend, but it is worth noting that it is not a perfect figure, and will not necessarily scratch every itch you have in a good action figure unless you're willing to do a bit of work to figure out how best to deal with it's problems

My son collects figures and we did return this only because he changed his mind. It look great and is a good likeness of Gandalf. Anyone who is a fan should love this toy figure.

My son loves LOTR and has been collecting all the characters slowly. This came quickly in a box, without any damage and the quality is impressive! Such a good rendering of GANDALF. I've got one happy kid!