“Forty-two? Oh, that’s not bad for a pointy-eared elvish princeling. Hmph! I myself am sitting pretty on forty-THREE..”
-Gimli to Legolas just after The Battle for Helm’s Deep
The last of the three hunters has finally arrived from Sideshow Collectibles. Gimli, Son of Gloin is the fourth statue from Sideshow’s growing and spectacular The Lord of the Rings statue line. As with the other statues in this line we don’t get an exact screen capture but this moment reminds me of something that could have happened in Moria.
Before the Fellowship sets of from Rivendell Gimli is chosen to represent the race of Dwarves as the venture to destroy the One Ring. Gimli would prove to be very loyal to all involved in the Fellowship and especially so to what would become his friend the Elf Legolas Greenleaf. In the Dwarf would be a great addition to the Fellowship and why he’s one of my favorite characters from Middle-Earth.
PACKAGING
The graphics on the box for Gimli follow the same path that was done with the Gandalf and Legolas statues. You have the front and black panels, which are black with The Lord of the Rings and Gimli done in two separate shades of Gold. While the sides of the box you get an image of the statue from two different angles. Inside the box of course you have the protective foam with multiple areas for the many pieces that this statue comes with.
SCULPTING
Tim Miller is the man responsible for bringing this fantastic character to life. Mr. Miller has brought several characters from Middle-Earth to life such as Frodo, Sam, and Gandalf the Grey in their respective 1:6th figure forms so Gimli was in very capable hands. The detail on the Gimli statue is by far the most complex of anything we’ve seen so far in this line of statues. The armor part of the statue alone is really something to marvel at with the effort it would take to make the chainmail look like it does. The pieces of chainmail are sculpted individually in order to give it the real look you get with this statue. Not to be outdone are the boots on Gimli where these have amazing detail all the way down to the actual tread on the bottom of the boot. The rest of the armor from his helm, braces around the arms, and even his belt buckle are all done with such detail. You can tell many hours were put into this statue in order to bring to life the great character of Gimli.
The leatherwork on this piece or the sculpting to make it look like leatherwork is also superbly done. There is a lot of fine detail in order to make the polystone look as if you have leather pieces crossing each other or distressed from being worn. Gimli is know to carry more than a couple of axes, and each one of them is captured very well with the Dwarven runes each is adorned with or the Orc blood on the main axe Gimli is swinging. Last but certnaly not least with the Gimli statue is the head sculpt. The job done in order to capture John Rhys-Davies portrayal, as Gimli is the best I’ve seen on any collectible of this character. Despite not being from a screen capture of the movie Mr. Miller’s work looks as if it was taken straight from the movie. It appears every wrinkle is in 
that look of determination that Gimli has as some Orc is about to get taken out.
Finally, I want to talk about the base of this statue. As with the other statues the base does its part if giving life to the piece with how superb the rocks and chain are done. If you purchased the exclusive you got one of the coolest additions to a piece ever. The extra is a switch out dead Orc where you can place a small set of rocks. Now, the dead Orc is just really well done! The armor, clothing, and the Orc itself (which you can see its spinal cord) all look like they’re decaying and rotting away. It also has a great little axe that has been sitting in its chest for several years based on how the Orc looks.
PAINT
The paintwork on Gimli is as exceptional as the sculpt work. It’s the effort of the paint that truly puts the cherry on top of the sculpt work done by Tim Miller. The skin tone really brings the facial sculpt to life and very much captures the looks of the make up done during the films. As I said already there is tons of intricate work throughout Gimli’s outfit, which of course makes painting this statue a difficult task. The job done to make sure the little runes, chainmail, etc really make this statue pop. Then you have the job done on the base to make the rocks look like aged rock is really well done. Again, though the dead Orc shines through on the base. The paint job on this extra piece really allows for the rotting and decomposing aspects of the dead Orc to shine through.
Overall
Gimli costs $250 from Sideshow Collectibles for both the exclusive and regular versions of the statue. There is currently a wait list for the exclusive but the regular version is in stock either version is a must have purchase. Do not let a piece as well done as this one slip by so go to Sideshow’s site right now and purchase this statue!
SPECIFICATIONS
Gimli has an edition size of 500 pieces for the exclusive and 1000 pieces world wide for the regular. The specifications for Gimli are as follows: 17″ x 8″ x 8″ (H x W x D)
[Buy at SideshowCollectibles.com]
PHOTOS
