Frodo (Barrow Downs) Lord of the Rings Action Figure
Name: Frodo (Barrow Downs)
Series: Lord of the Rings (Middle Earth)
Subseries: Basic Figures
Manufacturer: Toy Vault
Manufacturer #: ME014
Year Released: 1998
Height: 3.50 inches
An EXTREMELY RARE item! Previews Exclusive Variant. Not sold in any mass market retail outlet.
FIGURE´S NAME: Frodo in the Barrow Downs
COMPLEMENT: Frodo as he may have been redressed by the Barrow-wight
ACCESSORIES: clothing, cape, barrow sword and hexagon
HEIGHT: 3'6¨
AGE: 50 (when leaving the Shire)
RACE: Hobbit (Halfling)
NICKNAMES: Ring-bearer, Frodo of the Nine Fingers, Nine-fingered Frodo
AFFILIATIONS: Member of the Fellowship of the Ring.
BACKGROUND: The second of three major characters in The Lord of the Rings. He agreed to carry the One Ring to Mordor, to be destroyed in the Crack of Doom. He was short, but strong in body and will. He lasted long under the burden of the Ring, though greatly troubled in spirit.
PLUS INFORMATION:
- Matches written description in the book
Frodo Baggins is the main protagonist of the story in LOTR and is also the cousin of Bilbo Baggins, the protagonist from The Hobbit. He's just a fun-loving hobbit until Gandalf recruits him to take the magic ring that Bilbo found in The Hobbit and destroy it in Mount Doom in Mordor. Throughout the tale he changes from an innocent to someone who has probably seen too much, but shows his strength of character throughout the adventure.
This version of Frodo is how he appeared when the Barrow Wights captured him in FOTR. He has white clothing in this variant, with a white shirt, pants and white cloth belt. He has a dual-tone cape with white on the outside and gold for the interior. He had a barrow sword and hexagonal stand and was sold exclusively through Diamond Comics. He uses the bare-chested version of Frodo.
The History of Middle Earth Toys
Lord of the Rings has been a literary staple for decades but had been a relatively untouched property as far as toys go. The only real effort at LOTR toys was made by Knickerbocker in 1979 to go with the animated film of the prior year. This dearth of toy coverage was an appealing point to the fledgling Toy Vault in 1998. So the company approached Tolkien Enterprises with the idea of making toys from the three books that comprise the Lord of the Rings trilogy (The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King). As luck would have it the timing seemed perfect for all concerned and Tolkien Enterprises accepted their offer and Toy Vault was now in business with Middle Earth Toys.
The goal for Toy Vault with the Middle Earth figures, according to Jon Huston, is 'to produce toys that are realistic, conform to the licenses, and are fun'. Toy Vault was keenly aware that these are toys and built as much play value into them as possible
One of the significant differences between Middle Earth Toys and both the prior Knickerbocker line and the following Toy Biz one was that the other two were based on a motion picture while Toy Vault was based on the literary work. The other two lines had the benefit of a large group of people with access to a large budget to be used to design the look of Middle Earth from the ground up. Toy Vault was in the position of creating a vision of Middle Earth by itself.
To aid this ambitious effort noted fantasy artist Daniel Horne was recruited. Horne has a long history of fantasy art, working for TSR (the creator of the Dungeons and Dragons game) in the seventies and producing a plethora of book covers in the genre. While primarily a painter, Horne saw this as an opportunity to branch into sculpting (which he had taken up only eight months earlier) and agreed to help. Horne would work up the line drawings of the figures and build up a sculpture (complete with articulation) from there. He continued his work on the toys by sculpting the lion's share of the Middle Earth figures, including Gollum (who was a personal favorite).
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