12" Legolas Greenleaf
from Sideshow Collectibles

Once again...a huge thanks goes out to the folks at Sideshow Collectibles for producing an extremely stunning 12-Inch figure for their Lord of the Rings collectibles line! This 12-Inch Legolas Greenleaf figure is a true testament to their dedication to Lord of the Rings and their extruciating attention to details! Stunning likeness, superb costume...excellent in nearly all aspects...and we have Sideshow Collectibles and artist/sculptor Andy Bergholtz to thank!

The second Lord of the Rings 12-Inch figure from Sideshow Collectibles is an outstanding redition of the Elven Prince of Mirkwood from The Fellowship of the Ring. This 12-Inch Legolas Greenleaf figure...well, I am in AWE of it's awesomeness. The much debated production imagery for this figure, does this figure NO JUSTICE...you must have it IN HAND to see the amazing sculpt and likeness that Sideshow Collectibles was able to capture. Aside from the sculpt work, the costume is simply amazing...details, details, and more details...and that EXCLUSIVE ELVEN Cloak...perfect:

"Legolas' elven heritage and impressive reflexes give him an extreme advantage in battle. He is able to react long before most would even begin to perceive, and chooses his weapons and attacks as part of a dance, as he finishes one motion he fluidly begins the next. Legolas is also resourceful, using weapons inventively, as he does with his arrows. As part of his killing dance, Legolas draws an arrow from his quiver, stabbing an enemy too close to use the bow, but immediately flows into an archer stance, using the very same arrow to fire upon the next foe. The Sideshow Exclusive version of the 12-inch Legolas figure includes his Lothlorien cloak, complete with the elven broach, and a unique accessory available nowhere else, a unique hand sculpted to hold an arrow, ready to stab!

The 12-inch Legolas figure includes:

  • Fully articulated male body with 30+ points of articulation
  • Authentic likeness of Orlando Bloom as Legolas
  • Detailed costume including:
    • Undershirt
    • Mirkwood Tunic
    • Pants
    • Boots
    • SIDESHOW EXCLUSIVE - Lothlorien cloak with elven broach
  • Accessories including:
    • Mirkwood Bow
    • Mirkwood Arrows x 5
    • Mirkwood Quiver with knife sheathes
    • Mirkwood knives x 2
  • Interchangeable hands, including:
    • Bow grip left
    • Sword grip right
    • Arrow grip right
    • SIDESHOW EXCLUSIVE - arrow stabbing hand
  • 12-Inch Figure Display Base with The Lord of the Rings log

An Elf prince from the forest kingdom of Mirkwood, Legolas joined the Fellowship as a representative of his people, and vowed to protect Frodo in his quest through the power of his mighty bow. Legolas possesses the keen eyesight and sharp ears characteristic of his race. His endurance, keen sight, and fighting skills were of great help to the Fellowship, but his loyalty and friendship were even greater assets to his companions. Legolas grew fond of the Hobbits and he loved and supported Aragorn, but the strongest bond he formed was his unlikely friendship with Gimli the dwarf."

 

Packaging..........


Packaging: The double slapped 12-Inch packing box that encloses the Elf of Mirkwood is very highly detailed and fun to read and look at the pictures. The main drawback to this packaging (and this is a problem with any packaging that uses VELCRO) is that the velcro sometimes does not stay put on the cardboard backing. The durability of the velcro sometimes pulls the velcro pieces right off the cardboard backing.

Again, for the LOTR figures use a die-cut front flap scheme that has detailed imagery on the front with detailed descriptions of the character as well as his weapons of choice! Similar to the 12-Inch Aragorn box, the front cover has both a large picture of the figure itself and a subdued picture of the character from the movie. The brown/gold color scheme reminds me of Moria/ Helm's Deep color patterns and is a pretty sweet color scheme creating a nice presentation of the figure and his world. The inside flaps of the cover have detailed descriptions of both Legolas Greenleaf as well as a detailed descriptions of his most prized possessions...those daggers and the Mirkwood Bow! The main window box (in the center) reveals the figure and accessories. Again, the color patterns and artwork for the background of the Window Box behind the figure creates a fine display. Finally, the back of the packaging has the standard Balrog of Moria as well as more details about the Lord of the Rings line and a famous line from Legolas himself:

“A shadow and a threat have been growing in my mind.
Something draws near, I can feel it.”

Unpacking: The figure is packaged fairly simply …NO hard plastic twist ties and no stick-um or tape to be found (except the tape used to hold the clamshell prison together. The accessories stay in their places and the arrows are secured together with a small plastic tie, easily removed, but secure enough to keep them together. The figure is tightly placed in its tray and packed, in this case, with the EXCLUSIVE Magic Elven Cloak. All in all, the packaging is very comparable to the Star Wars packaging and the Aragorn 12-Inch packing…tight, snug, with everything secure! The only reason we have for dropping the score by a half point was the velcro issue mentioned above!

 

Sculpt/Costume..........

The Overall Sculpt: This sculpt is yet another masterpiece accomplished by renowned Sideshow Artist and Sculptor Andy Bergholtz...well known for his sculpt work on literally TONS of other Sideshow Collectibles items (PF Hulk, PF Punisher, 12-Inch Anakin, 12-Inch Mace Windu, PF Napolean, and TONS more)...you can go HERE to see all his work...very impressive! The likeness to Legolas is very close to perfection. The sculpt creates an slighly OLDER looking Legolas, but you can clearly see Orlando Bloom in the sculpt! The detail on the hair and facial coloring is very well done...creating that masculine/feminine blend that is so elvish! The EXCLUSIVE arrow gripping hand (used primarily during the attack at Amon Hen) is a fantastic accessory and holds the arrow very tightly while making it easy to insert and remove the arrows. The sculpt work and molding on the boots and forearm bracers is sweet to see...nice clean ridges and lines! Finally, the work on the knives, arrows, bow, and quiver is pretty darn spot on. One catch though...the quiver for the arrows looks like the one from EARLY in Fellowship of the Ring...and not the one given to Legolas by the Galadriel. Not a big deal, but the figure comes with the Elven Cloak...a slight error, but if you own the REGULAR edition of this figure...all is well! Perhaps that Helm's Deep version is coming!

 

The Costume: The Legolas Greenleaf costume is nearly spot on! If you are fortunate enough to have the EXCLUSIVE Edition, the Elven Cloak accessory is perfect. Great color, small details, and enough repeating patterns to create the illusion of flowing colors and such to recreate that magical look! The green Mirkwood Tunic is sweet...with the darker color being a nice stiff rubbery material and the lighter color being made from a nice leathery material. While a bit stiff, it does recreate that costume to near perfection. The leather strapping connecting the belt and the quiver is also detailed with elvish flowing script and connected with finely detailed buckles...the attention to detail here is amazing! The knives are VERY stiff and that Boz can shoot the arrows and then returns to its original shape...something to marvel at in my opinion...I even took a few shots to see how it worked...my kids thought I was wierd!

 

Display Base: This display base is a great added accessory for this figure. It is rapidly becoming a standard accessory for Sideshow’s 12-Inch figures as well. It is durable and steady enough to pose the figure with only the tip of a single boot touching the goround..see that image above with Legolas LEAPING to cut and slash the Uruks at Amon Hen! Because the Legolas costume is tighly fitting, the stand hold the figure best OUTSIDE the clothing. If you try to put it under the tunic, it tends to bulge in the back.

Summary on Sculpt and Costume: Nothing noticeable to dock anything from this figure as far as costume and sculpt! The sculpt and likeness are spot on (if a slightly older Legolas)! The costume is sweet and all the accessories very appropriate! Well done Sideshow!

 

Paint Application......

The Paint Scheme: The paint application on the face, hands, and clothing (boots and bracers) for the 12-Inch Legolas Greenleaf figure is top notch...the face has nice flat tones and no 'lipstick' look or shineness in any areas. The hair flows nicely and the eyes look clear with no lazy-eye syndrom and have a very determined elven penetrating look to them! Nice! Very Legolas! The only deduction for this figure in the paint scheme catagory comes from the knives and the quiver. The paint on these accessories is a bit sloppy. The elven bow is nicely done with no sloppiness or spillage with the raised elvish deco, but the knives and quiver have some paint slop on them that really detracts from their finely detailed sculpt work. The hands are nicely painted and match very well to the overall elvish appearance of the figure with nice even pale skin tone appearance!

 

The Accessories......

Load of Accessories: There are so many accessories for this figure that is took hours to get all the photos to show them in cool action poses. The image above with Legolas making a DOUBLE bow shot was fun to create...thanks for those extra arrows! The Quiver and knife scabbards are finely detailed and those scabbards fit very well into the quiver slots. Here is where Sideshow got a bit creative. The scabbards are very well sculpted and very well SCALED to the figure. Here in lies the problem. Had they sculpted them to FIT the knives, they would have been too FAT and bulbous. So instead, they created some slamm knife hilts that fit into ONLY THE END of their sculpted scabbards,,,creating the appearance that the knives are in there! A creative way to make the scabbards very realistic while still giving us the KNIVES! Many folks have already voiced their opinion thsat they would rather have been able to pu the FULL knives in the scabbard though...so a slight deduction here! All in all, the accessories are friggin cool...top notch sturdy arrows and knives...very USABLE bow and arrows (especially with that bow firing hand)!

One note...attaching the Quiver is a bit tricky. The left ARM of the figure goes through belt LOOP and the belt STRAP goes under the right arm and attaches to the back of the quiver with a VERY SMALL little metal hook on the back of the quiver. It can be tough to find...but it is small and very unnoticable, which is a good thing!

For over 50 images of this TOP-NOTCH figure, check out the new 12-Inch Legolas Greenleaf archive pages located HERE!

 

OVERALL..........

This is very close to the BEST 12-Inch figure to date from the Sideshow Collectibles folks. There was very much talk in recent weeks on several forums about the new production imagery on the Sideshow Collectibles website. However, having this figure IN HAND makes a WORLD of difference. The sculpt likeness and details are overwhelmingly good. Asides from some very minor paint drwbacks and some packaging issues, this is a sweet Exclusive 12-Inch Legolas Greenleaf figure that you just gotta have in your collection! Can’t wait for that Boromir figure!