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The Morgul Lord Legendary Scale Bust
from Sideshow Collectibles


The being that no MAN can kill…brought to you by Sideshow Collectibles in 1/2 scale beauty! The Morgul Lord Legendary Bust is the inaugural piece in this new Lord of the Rings collectible format. The Legendary Scale Bust line is ½ scale (for the most part) busts of some of the best characters from the Tolkien trilogy. The Morgul Lord…riding his Fell Beast, faceless, and down-right evil, epitomizes the forces that Sauron has at his disposal. Arrogance, dominance, and everything in-between, the Morgul Lord wreaks havoc on the forces of good until his historical demise at the hands of the WOMAN, Eowyn, on the fields of Pelennor! We decided it was a good idea to get this Bust reviewed…so we could share in our excitement and awe of yet another friggin awesome collectible from Sideshow and their Lord of the Rings line:

“Long ago, the Dark Lord Sauron ensnared nine kings of Men with the gift of Rings. Magical rings these were — Rings of Power — seemingly granting their wearers great foresight and abilities beyond those of mortal Men. But in secret the Dark Lord had crafted a single Ruling Ring, the One Ring, which he kept for himself. Imbued with his own spirit, the One Ring was a tool of domination, and, upon his placing it upon his finger, all who wore the lesser Rings, including the Nine, became his slaves.

Now thralls of the Dark Lord, the nine kings have become Ringwraiths, withered, undead, immortal spirits, doomed to serve only the will of their master and bring terror and destruction to those under his power. Empty vassals, devoid of memory or hope, they are mere extensions of Sauron's own spirit, and under his control they scour the lands of Middle-earth, undertaking errands of evil and conquest.

Greatest of the Nine's bearers is one sorcerer king with many names, among them, the Witch-king and the Lord of the Nazgûl. He is the Morgul Lord, master of the fortress of Minas Morgul and Sauron's appointed captain in the field. During the War of the Ring the Dark Lord sends his second into battle at the head of his armies, striking terror in his foes. The scream of the Ringwraith, echoing in their skulls, is enough to send most running for their lives, but those that somehow muster their resolve and fight find themselves starring into an abyss of black beneath the tall-crowned helm of the Morgul Lord. Underneath the dark cowl and behind the iron mask, there is no human face to be reasoned with, no living eyes to appeal to for mercy, no soul to be found at all. In the pit that was once a man, there is now only death and emptiness, a shadow of a life sucked away, leaving only the indomitable will of the master behind, a weapon, just like the flail and sword he bears into battle, and the last thing his mortal enemies will ever see.”

The Morgul Lord is the inaugural character in Sideshow Collectibles' line of Legendary Scale Lord of the Rings busts. Larger than most men, the immortal Witch-king of Angmar stands twenty-two inches tall from the base bottom to the tip of his war-mask. The presence of the Morgul Lord will be felt in any room, his eyeless gaze will haunt those who behold him. This impressively large bust is cast in polystone and fiberglass, hand finished and painted to exacting standards. Each bust is packaged in a durable foam interior, and will arrive intact to menace your other Lord of the Rings collectibles.

 

Packaging..........


Packaging Internal/External: First off, this is a MASSIVE collectible, and an even BIGGER box than the Helm’s Deep Diorama. About 30 inches tall and about 24 inches square, the box is large, and also HEAVY! There is no mistaking that something cool is within the cardboard prison that Sideshow has made so beautiful, yet so darn time-consuming to open! HA!! Care must be taken when removing the inner Styrofoam packaging…you probably need a friend to lend a hand in getting everything removed without damage. All in all, this piece is packaged very well, with loads of tape holding the two clamshell halves in place, and nice wrapped foam pieces holding the individual parts within their clamshell homes. The external box art is awesome…very dark with loads of browns and shades of black and grey bringing out the true nature of the Morgul Lord! Be advised…little kids will shudder at the sight of the BOX…and head crying in the opposite direction! Packaged nicely, securely, and well protected, the Morgul Lord scores well!

 

Sculpt..........


The Overall Sculpt: The scupt and fiberglass work on this piece is excellent. The attention to details and capturing the overall look and feel of Mr. Dark Lord’s personal bodyguard is superbly done by artist Steve West and the team at Sideshow. The details on the mask and armor including the rivets, spikes, and overall look of AGE and WEAR bring out the true excellence of this piece. The coloring and aging effects within the sculpt alone are top notch. Sideshow paid special attention to the small details as well…including small rivets, holes, pits, and gouges where appropriate! They even included some nice scrollwork along the collar of the Witchking’s cloak!

The armor is well detailed and the likeness of the mask and armor are well done. The cloak is ratty, old, and weathered to perfect detail. By standing back, you definitely get the impression that this definitely is an age-old, never-dead, evil minion. The fact that these details are also present when CLOSELY inspecting the piece reveals Sideshow’s special care when it comes to all things Lord of the Rings! About the only drawback…and trust us when we say it is very minor, it the fact that a couple of the spikes and the large tall spike of the mask were slightly out of alignment. While this could be due to shipping, we had to dock a half-point for this minor, but obvious flaw.

The Display Base: The sculpt work on the very cool BASE is finely detailed and creates the rock-worn pillar-esque look to near perfection. The nameplate is nicely detailed and the font-work used to represent the Morgul Lord carried tones of evil as well. All in all, the sculpt work on the first-ever Legendary Scale Bust from the Lord of the Rings line is fantastic! Again…another great score for this one!

 

 

Paint Application......


The Paint Scheme: The paint application work on this piece is what truly makes is stand out. While the sculpt work brings enables the overall look and feel of the piece, the application of the paint brings it to LIFE. Had this piece been done in 1/1 scale…man oh man…probably would have given me nightmares! The paint on the armor really creates a aged, weathered, and rustic look. It even looks like the armor was once rusty, but attempts were made to clean it and polish it before facing the Gondorians at Pelennor! You can almost see the servant orcs of Mordor scurrying around the Witchking as he dawns his armor, trying to please him by scrubbing the remnants of rust from his armor.

The paint work on the mask again is well done bringing out the excruciating details from the sculpt. The weathered and worn look from the sculpt is superbly enhanced through washes and dry-brushing techniques that make the mask what it is…a covering for a faceless warrior hell-bent on destroying the world of man! There are loads of pits, gouges, and even a couple holes in the mask that are truly realistic when the paint is applied to the sculpt!

The painting used for the cloak and base again reveal the nice details taken into account by Sideshow creative team. The cloak sculptwork creates the overall weathered and tattered look, but the application of the black, grey, and brown paints to the cloak bring out the detail of an oft-worn, oft-dragged, oft-soiled cloak. You can almost determine that the Morgul Lord cares little for his appearance…only that he is covered so the world of man know who it is that is coming to destroy them. The base is painted to look like rock with a nice gold/copper colored nameplate. The washes and dry-brushing again create a very realistic rock formation and the appearance of a solid metal plaque imbedded within revealing who this evil character is!

 

 

OVERALL..........


The epitomy of EVIL…weathered, old, aged, and a down right ass-kickin bust of the Leiutenant of Sauron, the Morgul Lord, the Witchking of Angmar! If you are a Lord of the Rings fan, and this item is NOT in your collection…well, you have some explaining to do! This is an absolute treasure of a collectible…worth EVERY penny of the $250 price tag. If you DO happen to have this in your collection…congrats…along with the Sauron bust, this is likely the best evil has ever looked!