The Hobbit Tauriel 6″ Review + Gallery

We are less than three months away and the wait is getting agonizing to see the first installment of Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy.  It looks like the toy blitz will be on in the coming weeks, but luckily I was able to find a whole collection of Bridge Direct’s Hobbit line at a local Toys “R” Us.  I hadn’t seen any pictures yet, so I was surprised to see a six-inch version of Tauriel who will be played by Evangeline Lilly.  Yes that is also Kate from LOST, and we can also only hope that the Hobbit does not turn into a “Kate episode.”

Bridge Direct The Hobbit Tauriel Review
Kate?

Tauriel was in a case I found joined by Gandalf, Thorin, Bilbo, and Legolas.  I grabbed myself a Tauriel (obviously), Thorin, and Bilbo to get a decent sampling of the first wave.  I didn’t grab Gandalf or Legolas mostly because I have a ton of them already so I was not in a hurry to obtain them.  The figures rang up $14.99 each which is about the norm for a six-inch figure … I was expecting $20 at Toys “R” Us so that was a pleasant surprise.

Bridge Direct The Hobbit Tauriel Review

So the first thing you will notice when you pull out Tauriel is she is REALLY short.  I’m not sure if she is supposed to be this short, but she is about the same height as Thorin, maybe slightly taller for reference.  She is also dwarfed by a regular sized six-inch Marvel Legend.  I can’t imagine she should be this short, because she just looks odd standing next to any other figure.  I’m now sort of tempted to get a Legolas to see how he scales to her, but that would require me dropping $15 on a  Legolas that I don’t think looks as good as the Toybiz one.

Bridge Direct The Hobbit Tauriel Review
Bridge Direct vs Toy Biz Scale Comparison

Past the scale, they armed her with a good amount of accessories … to compensate for the height obviously!  She has two blades, a quiver with arrows, and a bow that does not have a string.  It’s been years since I have gotten a bow with string so this must be a semi-new safety issue.  The quiver has individual arrows sticking out of it, and it makes you almost think you can pull them out but you can’t.  I’m fine with that because I would hate to have those arrows spill all over the place, especially if her bow can’t even fire them.  The quiver also has a peg that plugs into her back.  It is a bit hard to get it in there as her hair covers it up, and makes posing a little bit more limited when the quiver is on her back.

Bridge Direct The Hobbit Tauriel Review

The likeness is actually pretty good.  Tauriel definitely looks like Evangeline Lilly.  The skin tone may be a little bit strong, and the detail is soft but I think it works out in the figure’s favor.  Mine has a few marks on the face, but if you are searching out the best paint in a store it might be easier for you.  The paint and detail of the armor is a major plus for all these figures.  They did a really good job with the costume detail.

Bridge Direct The Hobbit Tauriel Review

The figures have limited articulation.  It is to expected with the extravagant costumes they wear, but I think they could have done a little more to open it up for her.  The legs are almost worthless to pose, and this causes some problems with balance.  I think they could have added some slits to the side of her dress to open up the range of motion in her legs.  With her swords I think she could have also benefited from having double elbows to give her arms a little more movement as well.  The neck is a ball joint but the hair is so long that she can mostly just look side to side.

Bridge Direct The Hobbit Tauriel Review

All-in-all Tauriel is a decent but flawed first impression of the Hobbit line.  She has great detail and a very close resemblance to Evangeline Lilly.  However she also is grossly under scale and her articulation is very limited.  I would make the blanket statement that this happens to female figures a lot, but we don’t get nearly as many female figures so we just notice problems more when they happen.

When I found these figures I also got a peek at the four-inch line.  I opened a case of Fimbul and Warg two-pack and it looks REALLY good.  The four-inch line is well worth looking into, but could get expensive because Fimbul rang up as $20.

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