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MmM

Lord of The Rings Moria Goblin Archer Rabble preview

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This is a preview of a 'Lord of The Rings: The Third Age' Moria Goblin Archer Rabble action figure that I started sculpting/painting on Wednesday (3/28/07). This is how far the figure has progressed after two days of work (I made the head Wednesday and the body yesterday). Obviously, the legs and arms are missing, and I also need to make a bow and a quiver full of arrows. The neck is articulated (although the ponytail and spikes on his back don't make moving the head terribly practical), but the body has no joints. The jacket isn't attached at this point, but it's molded to fit the body, so it stay on just fine on its own. I'm debating on whether or not I want to dirty the figure up with some paint washes; right now, I'm digging the solid colors.




For comparison purposes, below is a close-up screenshot of a Moria Goblin Archer Rabble, preparing to fire an arrow, taken from the 'Lord of The Rings: The Third Age' Playstation 2 video game:

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Its design physical is great, but isn't it too green? The color makes it look like Green Goblin from the Spiderman comic.

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Nice work!
The colors are fine, although I think especially the cloth could look somewhat dirtier...
Btw, I don't recall there being any Goblins in LotR (I'm talking about the books, not the movies!)... were they added in the computer game?

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The word goblin was used for the orcs in The Hobbit.

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Oh, I've never read this one... the name possibly was changed in the german translation anyway.

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I'm no Tolkien scholar, but myk is right, the orcs were referred to as goblins in the Hobbit. In the game I'm basing this figure on, in a cut scene, Gandalf explains that goblins are a smaller breed of Orc (I need to crack my copy of The Fellowship of The Ring and see if Tolkien wrote that or not). In the movie trilogy/game goblins are only found in Moria.

And yes, he was too green, I initially liked the look though, because it was toy-like. Anyway, he took a bath in raw sewage (black paint wash) and now looks more appropriately scummy and grimy.

Here's some more process photos. I completed the figure and made the quiver and seven arrows yesterday, but it was late when I finished and I didn't take any pictures. All I need to do now is make the bow, and possibly a couple of optional accessories (Dwarven Ale and Rusts of Moria, two items you can steal from them in the video game).


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that looks fantanstic. the face and armor are top notch. can't wait to see the complete figure.

BTW, the goblin is the same as orc. goblin is a direct translation of the elvish word yrch and orc is the numenorean version of the elvish. like myk said goblin was what they were called in the hobbit and orc was used in LotR. In the movies they made three classification of orc. the goblin, which were smaller, thinner and very bowlegged, like the orcs from moria. the regular orc, not quite as tall as man, ape like arms, and bowlegged as well. then there is the uruk-hai, or high orc, as tall as or taller than a man, walks upright, strong and bred for fighting.

there are two types of uruk, mordor uruks and sarumans uruks. sarumans uruks are believed to be a blending of man and orc (how that happened I don't want to know) where as the mordor uruks were selectively bred in the black land. sarumans uruks were completely immune to sunlight whereas all of the orcs and trolls in the black lands were only immune so long as sauron's power lasted (which is why that troll that was kickin aragorn's ass booked after the tower fell).

ok now, is that geek enough for you guys?

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Finally finished; I wrapped things up Tuesday night.

Materials:

(Moria Goblin Archer Rabble) Kleenex, newsprint, white/hot glue, wire twist ties, and acrylic paint.

(3rd Age Moria Goblin Shortbow) Newsprint, thin cardboard from a cereal box, white/hot glue, fishing line, and acrylic paint.

(Arrows x 7) Newsprint, manilla folder stock, white/hot glue, toothpicks, green paper, and acrylic paint.

(Quiver) Newsprint, thin cardboard from a cereal box, white/hot glue, a wire twist tie, and acrylic paint.

(Dwarven Ale) Newsprint, thin cardboard from a cereal box, white/hot glue, a wire twist tie, part of a sucker stem, ink, pencil, and acrylic paint.

(Rusts of Moria) Plastic Clingwrap, newsprint, white glue, and wax crayon shavings.

Dimensions*:

(*The dimensions of this figure are variable, depending on how the articulated limbs are positioned. The numbers given below are for the figure posed standing as straight as possible with the arms hanging at its' sides and without the accessories attached.)
20.5 cm/8.1 in. x 8.3 cm/3.3 in. (highest point x widest point)

Articulation:

Thirteen points. The neck can move in any direction where it connects to the skull, although the ponytail and the spikes on the goblin's back restrict the movement to a large extent. The shoulders rotate in their sockets. The areas just above the elbows on the arms move up and down a little and rotate. The wrists move in any direction. The hips move in and out and rotate around. The knees move in any direction. The ankles move in any direction.

Time:

Approximately six days. Construction ran from 3/28/07 to 4/3/07. I made and painted the head on the 28th. I modeled and painted the body, including the vest and its' shoulder pads/spikes, on the 29th and also attached the head to it. I took a break on the 30th and didn't do any work on the figure. I made and painted the legs on the 31st, but they remained unassembled. On the 1st, I applied a black paint wash to everything I had made up to that point and assembled the legs and attached them to the body. On the 2nd, I made and painted the arms and attached them to the body, completing the figure proper. I also made the quiver and seven arrows and cut a slit in the back of the vest to accommodate the tab on said quiver. On the 3rd of April, the final day, I made the 3rd Age Moria Goblin Shortbow, bottle of Dwarven Ale, and bag of 'Rusts of Moria'.


Rotating animation:



Completed figure:




Accessory detail:



Webpage with tons more info:

http://kramwartap.fortunecity.com/moria_goblin_archer.html

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Looks great! Man, I want some Dwarven ale, now...

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very nice looking. the accesories are fantastic. the bow and arrows are great. I like the fact that you made em functional. I have one question about the legs though. the way the moria goblins were designed in the movies they kinda have this wide, squatting, and stooped stance, like the action figure viewed here. I'm not sure how they are in the game cuz I haven't played it. Is the figure able to achieve such a stance? just curious about that.

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Damn, why didn't you post that pic before? I really could have used that as a reference image instead of sketching him from my TV screen for the few seconds of close-up you get when they shoot an arrow. I had no idea that Toy Biz even made a figure of these guys till now.

As for the crouching pose, that's pretty much how they are in the game too. I don't know if my figure could stand in quite that deep of a stance, but it should be able to approximate something close to it as the required joints (ankle, hip, and knee) are there. . . whether it would be able to balance in the pose, I don't know. I've done slightly bowed knees poses with him standing, but not any deep ones.

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heh... sorry, didn't think about it till I saw the completed work. toy-biz made figures of just about every character in almost every outfit they wore. they are all pretty much in scale to boot. I have a pretty decent collection of them and so does my brother. between the two of us I think we got about 90% of them. If your planing on making any more LotR figures let me know. I might have a figure of it that you can use as reference.

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I have a small number of Toy Biz LOTR figures myself (I bought the 'Elves of Middle Earth' six-figure boxed set a while back) but I don't have any of the bad guys--like I said, I had no idea they even made any Moria Goblin Archers, I thought they only made 'important' baddies like Lurtz, the Witch King, Sauron, etc. I don't have any plans to make anymore LOTR figures, but I'll remember your offer if I do.

Anyhoo, I tried to put my figure in that pose, and, as I guessed in my previous post, it didn't work out that well. The knees don't bend deeply enough to sit that low, and even with the range they do have, too much weight is centered towards the rear of the figure in that posture and he tips over. I'd have to flatten out the back of the thighs, adjacent to the knee, to get them to bend farther back like that--something to keep in mind for future figures.

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