NEW PRODUCT: POPTOYS: 1/6 EX21 Robin Hood Chivalrous Robin Hood - Double Head Carving & War Horse

shazzdan wrote:Got it. Looks like they based it off this one. Not a bad likeness.
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/23936

I thought so too. But we should really be discussing this in the Henry VIII new product page, I suppose.

GubernatorFan wrote:

shazzdan wrote:Got it. Looks like they based it off this one. Not a bad likeness.
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/23936

I thought so too. But we should really be discussing this in the Henry VIII new product page, I suppose.

Don't worry, won't be discussing anything anymore on this one or the other one.

lurpdog101 wrote:Don't worry, won't be discussing anything anymore on this one or the other one.

I'm not worried, just didn't want to "steal" discussion from the proper page -- now that we found the product. And this one (Robin Hood) has a lot to be said about it.

its ok...my post sounded bitchy and wasn't meant to lol

and yeah this Robin Hood is amazing....Russell Crowe likeness superb, and lovely costuming - as with the other ones.

lurpdog101 wrote:its ok...my post sounded bitchy and wasn't meant to lol

Happy to hear, and I hope my comment (about discussing Henry VIII on his page) didn't come off this way too -- sometimes tone is lost online.

It's ok! we all end up discussing 'other' subjects on posts like this, it just happens organically. But thanks guys for drawing my attention to the Henry VIII figure, as I'd missed it in the slew of new product announcements! The horses and their tack from these PopToys sets had already taken up most of my attention, lol.

And speaking of, I am so far really impressed by the quality on this one, at least from the pics. It makes me wish the characters from Kingdom of Heaven could have gotten such a nice treatment! While there were a couple of Balian figures done a while back, the headsculpts/likenesses on those were rather lacking, imo. What I would not give for a Liam Neeson from that movie, as well. Not to mention EVA GREEN. <3  

So, yeah.... this figure looks so nice that I got a bit envious on behalf of other characters and films. ;P

Great Figure and a fantastic likeness. An historycal english Longbow is round about 2 meters tall

Ephiane wrote:Great Figure and a fantastic likeness. An historycal english Longbow is round about 2 meters tall

Which is what  makes me wonder about the size of the longbow from this figure seems too short for me

The ones found on the Mary Rose varied between 6'2" and 6'11". The Society of Antiquaries reckons that an English warbow is 5 to 6 feet long. In 1388, Gaston III, Count of Foix, wrote that a longbow should be seventy inches long. The above bow is on the low side of the range but not too bad.

shazzdan wrote:The ones found on the Mary Rose varied between 6'2" and 6'11". The Society of Antiquaries reckons that an English warbow is 5 to 6 feet long. In 1388, Gaston III, Count of Foix, wrote that a longbow should be seventy inches long. The above bow is on the low side of the range but not too bad.

I don't know how much of a difference it makes, but since this comes up every time the shortness of Napoleon Bonaparte is mentioned, are Gaston of Foix's inches French or statute (or something else)? (The idea being that French inches were longer than what we mean by an inch today.)

that's interesting GF ….. see this forum is educational

GubernatorFan wrote:

shazzdan wrote:The ones found on the Mary Rose varied between 6'2" and 6'11". The Society of Antiquaries reckons that an English warbow is 5 to 6 feet long. In 1388, Gaston III, Count of Foix, wrote that a longbow should be seventy inches long. The above bow is on the low side of the range but not too bad.

I don't know how much of a difference it makes, but since this comes up every time the shortness of Napoleon Bonaparte is mentioned, are Gaston of Foix's inches French or statute (or something else)? (The idea being that French inches were longer than what we mean by an inch today.)

Gaston was Burgundian; the Duchy of Burgundy used English weapons and fought on the side of the English. The Society of Antiquaries is based in London, not France. The Mary Rose archers were the elite - part of Henry's personal retinue. They were bigger and stronger than typical archers and used bows that were longer and heavier than average.

shazzdan wrote:Gaston was Burgundian; the Duchy of Burgundy used English weapons and fought on the side of the English. The Society of Antiquaries is based in London, not France. The Mary Rose archers were the elite - part of Henry's personal retinue. They were bigger and stronger than typical archers and used bows that were longer and heavier than average.

Gaston III of Foix was an Occitan (or whatever the people of Foix-Bearn were), not a Burgundian, and being an enemy of the count of Armagnac doesn't make him one; similarly, whatever the (later) alliances of the Valois dukes of Burgundy, that does not automatically imply the use of the equivalent of statute inches. My comment had nothing to do with the Society of Antiquaries or the Mary Rose archers, merely with citing a measurement given by a southern French lord.

The likeness isn’t bad, though something seems off but I can’t put my finger on it. I love the clothing and accessories though!
The horse on the other hand...urgh.

Lynkhart wrote:
The horse on the other hand...urgh.

I know.... so unrealistic, especially at this scale! :/ And even more frustrating because these PopToys horses are some of the only 1/6 horses available at the moment. All the Mr. Z ones are totally sold out....I'm gutted.

From my experience, Mr. Z horses are not totally sold out, although they may be pricey and hard to find -- especially if you are trying to avoid the postal and customs extra costs. I have found that the Mr. Z Hanoverian horses not only look quite good (though I am by no means an actual horse expert), but are also not nearly as oversized as many other horses in sixth scale.

GubernatorFan wrote:From my experience, Mr. Z horses are not totally sold out, although they may be pricey and hard to find -- especially if you are trying to avoid the postal and customs extra costs. I have found that the Mr. Z Hanoverian horses not only look quite good (though I am by no means an actual horse expert), but are also not nearly as oversized as many other horses in sixth scale.

If you know of any legit links for any of the Mr. Z horses, please let me know! I can no longer find them on ebay, and sadly I have not been able to use sites like AliExpress at this present time, due to the fact that they do not accept PayPal.

The Hanoverian horses do indeed seem nice enough for what they are -- and are MUCH better than these PopToys ones. My two favourite horses from Mr. Z in recent times were the 'British Shire' horses, and the 'Ili'/Yili horses. While the pose on the Yili horses was perhaps a bit static, I found their heads/faces to be quite realistically rendered. My plan was to purchase some of those and re-hair them with mohair or some equivalent fiber.  The Shire horse I was going to use as-is for a very particular project I had in mind, but sadly the solid black version, which is the one I needed, went super fast and is now nowhere to be found ....probably cause everyone bought it for their Wonder Woman figures, sigh. :/

skywalkersaga wrote:If you know of any legit links for any of the Mr. Z horses, please let me know! I can no longer find them on ebay, and sadly I have not been able to use sites like AliExpress at this present time, due to the fact that they do not accept PayPal.

The Hanoverian horses do indeed seem nice enough for what they are -- and are MUCH better than these PopToys ones. My two favourite horses from Mr. Z in recent times were the 'British Shire' horses, and the 'Ili'/Yili horses. While the pose on the Yili horses was perhaps a bit static, I found their heads/faces to be quite realistically rendered. My plan was to purchase some of those and re-hair them with mohair or some equivalent fiber.  The Shire horse I was going to use as-is for a very particular project I had in mind, but sadly the solid black version, which is the one I needed, went super fast and is now nowhere to be found ....probably cause everyone bought it for their Wonder Woman figures, sigh. :/

You are right about the Ili horses -- they are nice but appear to be very difficult to get, except at ridiculous prices. I was able to find quite a few Hanoverians and "Mongolica" horses -- and unless you are collecting an entire herd, you can probably afford one or two -- it's bound to be a long-term investment. I sent you a bunch of links for the Hanoverians (and one very expensive Ili) in PM. By the way, a word of caution. There is a pretty inexpensive sixth-scale horse listed by numerous eBay sellers out there (about $40-60 USD), which is lined with an actual faux fur. It is not overly large, but still larger than Mr. Z's Hanoverians, and the although it looks ok from a distance, it's not nearly as nice up close. The main reason I bought one was that I thought it would be the smallest available sixth-scale option, but it isn't.

GubernatorFan wrote:

skywalkersaga wrote:If you know of any legit links for any of the Mr. Z horses, please let me know! I can no longer find them on ebay, and sadly I have not been able to use sites like AliExpress at this present time, due to the fact that they do not accept PayPal.

The Hanoverian horses do indeed seem nice enough for what they are -- and are MUCH better than these PopToys ones. My two favourite horses from Mr. Z in recent times were the 'British Shire' horses, and the 'Ili'/Yili horses. While the pose on the Yili horses was perhaps a bit static, I found their heads/faces to be quite realistically rendered. My plan was to purchase some of those and re-hair them with mohair or some equivalent fiber.  The Shire horse I was going to use as-is for a very particular project I had in mind, but sadly the solid black version, which is the one I needed, went super fast and is now nowhere to be found ....probably cause everyone bought it for their Wonder Woman figures, sigh. :/

You are right about the Ili horses -- they are nice but appear to be very difficult to get, except at ridiculous prices. I was able to find quite a few Hanoverians and "Mongolica" horses -- and unless you are collecting an entire herd, you can probably afford one or two -- it's bound to be a long-term investment. I sent you a bunch of links for the Hanoverians (and one very expensive Ili) in PM. By the way, a word of caution. There is a pretty inexpensive sixth-scale horse listed by numerous eBay sellers out there (about $40-60 USD), which is lined with an actual faux fur. It is not overly large, but still larger than Mr. Z's Hanoverians, and the although it looks ok from a distance, it's not nearly as nice up close. The main reason I bought one was that I thought it would be the smallest available sixth-scale option, but it isn't.

Thanks for the PM, and for the heads-up about the 'flocked' horses. Hopefully Mr. Z will put out some new models eventually!

And apologies for derailing the thread...

Both Robin and The Hollow Crown Henry V have released in Hong Kong.

There's a good review of them here:

http://bbs.bbicn.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=355100&extra=page%3D1


Robin turned out better, which works for me as he's the one I ordered.

The sculpts looked a bit off early on in the review, but it seems like it was just the lighting as they're better later on:










The only issue I can see is Robin's neck is a little too long. But that'll be an easy fix with a craft knife!


(Plus the bow is still a bit short).

Thanks for the update, Asta. I'm still a little on the fence about this one, but pretty nice figure anyway. The light does seem to make some difference.

I must admit I'm tempted I need a male 'lord' character for a scene I want to build and to be honest either of these will do , i'm not really bothered if they look like the actors unfortunately paying the licence is where the added cost comes in

I'm leaning more to the Henry figure I must admit.

The horse I'm still not sure of but i hate the nylon string on the tack especially the stirrup leathers, c'mon guys even if these are supposed to be rope, the same with the reins put a bit of effort in and make it look like twisted or woven rope.

Delanie wrote:I must admit I'm tempted I need a male 'lord' character for a scene I want to build and to be honest either of these will do , i'm not really bothered if they look like the actors unfortunately paying the licence is where the added cost comes in

These aren't actually licensed.

In fact Pop Toys have gone out of their way to make the design on Robin's armour different. They changed the lion and griffin to two griffins. Maybe it was to simplify production, since they only had to create one and flip it over to face the other.







But, like you, I'm not that interested in the fact that it's a recognisable actor. I liked the look of the figure regardless that it was the 2010 Robin Hood, and didn't actually want him to represent the character. My interest is a few hundred years later in the fifteenth century, and I wanted him to represent something along these lines:

Those illustrations not very accurate. I'm guessing that they come from one of the Osprey books. If you want historical accuracy, don't base it on those. The best book is European Armour by Claude Blair.

shazzdan wrote:Those illustrations not very accurate. I'm guessing that they come from one of the Osprey books. If you want historical accuracy, don't base it on those. The best book is European Armour by Claude Blair.

I don't intend to change anything on the figure, and it's close enough for what I want, which is just to put him in a later period.

My first concern was whether the hood was still in use like this in the fifteenth century, as worn by the mounted archer in the Osprey image.

This is a useful resource for contemporary images:

http://www.larsdatter.com/hoods.htm

e.g, 1432:





The armour is laminar style, rather than lamellar, as the plates are laced together overlapped. It's more of a middle eastern/far eastern style, as is the influence of the hilt on the knife. By the fifteenth century rivets would have been taking over from lacing.

As for the boots laced at the sides I don't know.



The figure itself arrived earlier and is really pretty good.

Tailoring and materials are great, and the sculpted parts are sharp in detail.

I consider Hot Toys as a benchmark for sculpts, and Pop Toys is right up there when looking at the details in the skin, the flesh tones and beard painting which picks out the individual hairs. In natural light there's a lot more detail and quality than was apparent in the BBICN review.

The boots have a very good design to allow them to be connected to the legs. Sometimes it can be awkward to push an ankle peg into the slot inside tall boots. Pop Toys have a solution: there a plastic cup over the ankle peg, similar to the cup that holds a neckless sculpt to a neck. This cup then slots easily into the larger hole in the boot without having to put any extra pressure on the boots to marry the two parts. It's the first time I've seen this technique.

The longbow measures just over 10.5", making it 5'3".

There's minimal assembly required. The fabric quiver needs tying to the belt at his back, and the lower belt needs unbuckling to slide the scabbard loop on. Therein lies the only issue with the figure: the loop is only attached to the scabbard at the bottom, and the metal blade is so heavy it makes the scabbard hang outwards. I had exactly the same problem with Kaustic Plastik's Celts.

The simple solution was to glue the loop along its complete length to the scabbard. It now sits snug to the body in spite of the weight of the knife.

These were taken with camera flash which make him look shinier than he actually is, and wash out some of the finer detail and paintwork:










The squinting, aiming sculpt is somewhat unusual!





I'm really pleased with the figure. It's tempting to move him from that shelf and have him be Robin Hood, but then I'd be tempted to buy twelfth century figures.

Thanks for the comments and photos, Asta! Looks quite good. I agree about these POP Toys products and their good quality. In fact, my Jeanne d'Arc (triumph version) just arrived yesterday. Not a very complex set in terms of additional accessories and alternate parts but certainly very nicely put together and an effective combination of materials (metal, plastic, etc.). I think most of the pieces except for some of the torso armor are identical to the charge version next to your Robin Hood. Which leads me to ask -- do you know what the extra lace and leather bits were for (apart from the belt)? Just spares in case something breaks? Also, loved that hood video!

GubernatorFan wrote:Thanks for the comments and photos, Asta! Looks quite good. I agree about these POP Toys products and their good quality. In fact, my Jeanne d'Arc (triumph version) just arrived yesterday. Not a very complex set in terms of additional accessories and alternate parts but certainly very nicely put together and an effective combination of materials (metal, plastic, etc.). I think most of the pieces except for some of the torso armor are identical to the charge version next to your Robin Hood. Which leads me to ask -- do you know what the extra lace and leather bits were for (apart from the belt)? Just spares in case something breaks? Also, loved that hood video!

Yes, those bags were spare straps, rivets and string. They were same with each version, and likely added because buyers in the far east don't expect pleather to last very long.