At the Prancing Pony in The Fellowship of the Ring, Viggo Mortensen’s Aragorn barely has to move to get Frodo’s attention. He sits in the dark, smokes his pipe, and lets the hobbits wonder why a man who looks like he’s been sleeping outdoors is suddenly so interested in their table. It takes most of the trilogy to get that man into a crown. Even then, there’s a reason so many of us still picture him in the muddy ranger clothes.
Jamie Dornan is going back to those ranger years in The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, which takes place before the Fellowship sets out for Mordor. And while there’s plenty of curiosity about what a different actor will do with Strider, there’s another take on the character that goes in a much stranger direction. It keeps Mortensen’s shaggy hair and stubble and gives his permanent look of disapproval a lot more room to work.
Asmus Collectibles has turned Aragorn into a four-inch cartoon warrior for its first Lord of the Rings QBitz set. His head is almost as big as the rest of him, his sword is already drawn, and his enormous eyes make him look personally offended that anyone would pick a fight with him at this size. He’s one of five figures in the set, which Asmus lists for preorder at $120.
What Comes With the ‘Lord of the Rings’ Aragorn QBitz Figure?
The set includes Aragorn, Arwen, Gimli, Lurtz, and a Nazgûl. Putting Arwen and a Ringwraith in the same box makes it tempting to stage a little flight to the Ford, while Lurtz gives Aragorn somebody to square off against at Amon Hen. Each figure comes in its own box with a display base and roughly two to four points of articulation. Lurtz also has movable eyeballs, so if you put him next to Gimli, you can make sure he’s looking down at him.
Asmus has made a realistic sixth-scale Aragorn before, complete with Mortensen’s likeness and a detailed costume. The QBitz figure gets away with doing much less. The dark cloak and layered ranger gear put him squarely in his Strider days, and that scowl could belong to the guy who just found out Merry and Pippin lit a fire on Weathertop. Of all the versions of Aragorn you could shrink to four inches, the one who spends half of Fellowship trying to keep four hobbits out of trouble is an especially good fit.
Asmus lists the five figures together, with a $20 nonrefundable deposit and a limit of three sets per customer. The company says it will email buyers when the set is ready so they can pay the remaining balance. The preorder page currently does not list a shipping date.
