We all know the joke about characters played by Sean Bean in movies. Basically, don’t ever expect them to show up in the sequel. Naturally, in The Lord of the Rings, he’s the only one of the Fellowship to bite the dust before the first movie’s even over. Diamond Select‘s LOTR figure line finally got around to him and clearly knew that anyone who would play with a Boromir figure would probably kill him again and again. As such, he’s paired with his killer, Lurtz, the Uruk-hai, who was clearly marketed as if he were the next Darth Maul. (Narrator’s voice: “He wasn’t.”)
Lurtz dies too, of course, but nobody brings that up as much. That’s probably because actor Lawrence Makoare isn’t as well known, and even if he were, he’s not that recognizable under monster makeup. Lurtz is also a character basically invented for the movie, so hardcore Tolkien fans have less attachment to him. Fans of monstrous fantasy figures, however, ought to be quite happy with his brutish, snarling appearance in figure form.
Looking Lively
Diamond Select’s first few Lord of the Rings figures included build-a-figure parts to make Sauron; now, they just include extra gear. Some of it works, and some of it…not so much.
Let’s start with the good. The sculpts and paintwork on these are fantastic. They look like they’re supposed to, with Boromir resembling Bean, perhaps mildly caricatured, and Lurtz looking monstrous. Textures are well-defined so that Boromir’s cape, for example, looks like a different fabric than his tunic, and it’s clear which parts of Lurtz’s armor are meant to read as metal. Paint on accessories like the sword sheath is clean, and since most people buying these probably want them for display anyway, this is most of the battle.
The figures come sandwiched between two contoured plastic trays, held together by little plastic shirt-ties. If not for those, it would be pretty collector-friendly packaging. As is, you’ll need a nail clipper or scissors to cut them in order to free the figures.
Better Than One?
Lurtz comes with two heads — the alternate has a more open, snarly mouth and hair swept slightly to the side. Boromir includes gloved and ungloved hands, though they appear to be the same sculpt in different colors. They switch out fairly easily.
Harder to switch out, however, are weapons in their hands. The hands are made of pretty stiff plastic that requires either a forceful hand or the aid of heat to open properly and hold the items. And Boromir’s shield has a slender handle — in his case, it’s best to remove the hands, put the weapons in them separately, and then attach them.
Boromir also includes a sword with a sheath, although the sheath doesn’t seem to attach to his outfit anywhere, so it’s useless for display. He also has a small dagger with a sheath, but the sheath has no opening, so the dagger won’t go in it. The horn of Gondor comes with a string that can hang off a hook on the back of his belt. That’s just as well since his arm articulation won’t allow him to pose blowing it. His green cloak is solid plastic and really only looks good on him when he’s standing straight up. Unlike Marvel Legends with similar cloaks, there’s no peg to hold it in place. It just balances.
There Arrows, Such a Clatter
Lurtz comes with his longsword and shield, as well as a longbow with arrows. The sword and shield work best; the bow does at least have a proper string on it rather than just part of the plastic sculpt, as some toys do. Posing him firing an arrow, though, will require care and balance. He hasn’t really been sculpted and articulated to do that well. The arrows loosely fit into a pouch that sort of hooks on his belt, but not well.
The clothes are mostly stiff and restrictive — Boromir doesn’t do well at any pose that isn’t standing up. Both figures have ball-jointed shoulders, necks, and hips, with disc-and-pin elbows. Boromir, however, also has disc-and-pin knees, while Lurtz’s are double hinge. Boromir also has a cut waist in addition to the mid-torso ball they both have. Because of his robes, however, he’s ultimately less poseable despite being more articulated.
When it comes to Marvel figures, Diamond’s pretty good about balancing sculpt and articulation. The balance on these definitely teeters toward sculpt. And with many of the accessories not really designed to place well on the figure, they look better in package. It hasn’t harmed their popularity, though: Entertainment Earth, for one, is sold out of all but cases of six.
Boromir, for a Mere…
At $25 each, these seem more reasonable than they used to. Now that the average 6-inch figure goes for that much, Boromir and Lurtz are hugely competitive by being larger and having much more gear. If only the gear fit them a little better. They’ll display well with the others, but even more so than the rest, are probably not for kids to play with.
Take a look at some more angles in them below.
