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Bilbo Baggins (6 inch)

March 28, 2014 | By Errex More

About a year ago, I was pretty excited about the offerings from The Bridge Direct based on the movie The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

In fact, one of the things I was looking forward the most in 2013 was to see a fuller range of figures before the second movie premiered at year’s end.

However, not only there were no more figures at stores, but The Bridge Direct decided to push back the release of the second wave of merchandise, releasing only a couple of box sets mostly full of repackaged characters.

So, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug came and went and I was left with the desire to acquire more merchandise and pretty much nothing to appease the beast. Except for a few of the 6-inch scale figures I had passed on in the previous year.

Of course, the first character I wanted a figure of, was the titular hero of the film, Mr. Bilbo Baggins, played by actor Martin Freeman.

Construction on the 6-inch Bilbo is very similar to that of his smaller version, but the larger scale Bilbo has some very evident advantages. For starters, the facial likeness is better. Not perfect, but better. Also, the rubber hairpiece on the large Bilbo sits more naturally over the head.

The clothes still lack any type of texture, but the folds and creases sculpted on them look fairly natural. The torso of his jacket is a separate rubber piece, but the green vest underneath is actually the sculpted torso of Bilbo, with the scarf around his neck glued in place.

Bilbo also wears a rubber belt with a scabbard, but this piece is not removable, as it seems to have been put in place at the factory when the figure was being assembled.

Articulation is almost the same as it was on the smaller version, with only a couple more joints added into the mix. Bilbo Baggins has:

• Barbell mounted head.

• Pegged hinge shoulders.

• Pegged hinge elbows.

• Swivel wrists.

• Swivel waist.

• Pegged hinge hips.

• Pegged hinge knees.

• Pegged hinge ankles.

The more functionally relevant difference found in the 6-in. Bilbo is the addition of ankle joints, which allow better stability in the more dynamic poses. The rest of the articulation works well, although I have to point out that Bilbo is nowhere near as poseable as the Toy Biz-made hobbits.

Another difference with the Toy Biz product is that the paintjob is less complex. The face was painted a flat flesh tone, with no shading nor highlights, which sometimes makes it difficult to differentiate Bilbo’s facial features, although the eyes are painted very neatly.

The clothes were molded essentially in the appropriate color of plastic, but all pieces received a slight shading wash that helps in tying together their appearance. The buttons on Bilbo’s vest were decorated in bright gold paint, and his scarf displays a painted stripe pattern. The hair was painted light brown with also a shading wash applied over it.

Bilbo comes with the same accessories as the 4-inch one: a couple of bottles tied to a cord, a traveling pack and the elven blade Sting. All of these accessories display painted decoration and fit perfectly either on Bilbo’s hands or his body. Sting in particular was made from a harder plastic that is immune to warping in the scabbard.

The overall figure design strikes a nice balance between the amount of detail Toy Biz used to produce and the solid construction of a Hasbro figure. As a whole, this Bilbo Baggins impresses me favorably, even if the novelty isn’t quite there anymore.