Saturday, December 14, 2013

More Hobbits


Tolkien writes that hobbits are between two and four feet in height, a fact that is echoed in this Warner infographic. But then, counter to depicting Bilbo as an everyman hobbit, Peter Jackson makes him a heroic 4' 2", almost as tall as his legendary great granduncle Bandobras Took.

I believe that most sources however, would agree that Bilbo was just average height at best.

WARNING! Not suitable for all audiences.


The hobbits from the Lord of the Rings HeroClix CMG are about two-thirds the height of a human-sized HeroClix. They can't be used as hobbits in 1/72 scale, but they are perfect as normal humans.



For miniatures that are more suitable as hobbits, we have to the left, four halflings from the Ral Partha Fantasy Collector Series. These are all taller hobbits that can be used to represent Fallohides. To the right is a Heritage hobbit from the Little People set (Fantasy 1311), and the R-Kiiv Merry Hibbot now produced by Center Stage Miniatures as a Halfling Adventurer (FEP-003).


The R-Kiiv Hibbot reminds me of the Ducreux self portrait used for the Archaic Rap meme, and seems even more appropriate given that he seems to hold a sack of coins in his hand.

Unfortunately, this is the best I could do...

Smaller hobbits include the Essex 15mm halflings, which seem to be scaled down versions of their 25mm line. To me they seem to be a bit undernourished, and don't quite have that chubby look that I like to see in a hobbit.



Last are some Irregular halfings. I know that I made fun of their 10mm halflings, but the 15mm halflings are actually quite nice. They are a bit on the short side, but are nicely rounded as hobbits should be.


I now have more hobbits than I know what to do with...

(Or try this link if you cannot access the video.)


3 comments:

Lobo said...

Your posts are always very interesting... 1/72 is not much used but is indeed an uinteresting scale for both Sci Fi and fantasy gaming. I'd love to see more about these settings from producers.

EY said...

Hi Lobo,

I couldn't agree more. 15mm has gained so much traction with manufacturers recently, but "20mm" is almost completely ignored.

Lobo said...

Yes... and I really can't figure out the reason. I love 1/72 plastic figures and I think they are just full of potential. I can't understand why you can find 1000 different historical periods and, when it comes to fantasy/sci-Fi, just very sets.
1/72 plastics has a great level of detail (more than most 15mm), cost nothing and help saving space compared to 28m.. I really cannot understand why no Companies invest in this scale.