Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Gandalf the Wizard - Knickerbocker Toys Lord of the Rings movie figure


My first exposure to the world of J.R.R. Tolkein and Middle Earth was an animated movie of The Hobbit, produced in the late 1970's by (I think) Xerox and Rankin/Bass. I adored that movie and even still have the small vinyl record and storybook combo (though I don't have anything to play the record on any longer). Shortly thereafter (I'm guessing somewhere around 1979?) I remember going to the theater to see the animated Ralph Bakshi epic animated Lord of the Rings. I was a bit less enamored with that film, as I was around 8 years old at the time and it was much slower, much more difficult to follow, and ended abruptly after the battle of Helm's Deep (the climax of The Two Towers), with very little in the way of explanation. Later, RankinBass did release an animated Return of the King film, but it was stylistically drastically different from the Bakshi film and hugely different in tone from The Hobbit. So, Middle Earth was quite a hodgepodge that didn't get properly re-done until Peter Jackson came along 20 years later. 

Knickerbocker released a set of action figures to go along with the Bakshi film, and I had most of them. But amongst them all, my favorite was Gandalf. Nearly 45 years later, and a little worse for wear, he's still with me, sans staff and sword. I do still have the hat (no idea how that managed to say along for the ride!). Gandalf only has 2 points of articulation: swivels at the shoulders, but I couldn't care less. He's the coolest character ever and he was a huge piece of my childhood adventures. The figure is actually pretty close to how he appeared in the film, blue robes and hat and all...














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