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Blog, Reviews and Responses

Review + Washing my LOTR Build-a-Bear!

December 12, 2022

Right after Thanksgiving, I caved into the soul-sucking pressures of Black Friday and got two LOTR Build-a-bears. They first came out in I think the summer of 2021? Not too sure…but according to this, I have a good feeling they came out in the beginning of June in 2021.

But they were finally around $40 with both bears, both outfits – the sound probably made them more than that. But still a far cry from the anticipated $66 for the regular price! I got the Frodo and Gandalf “gift sets” as they would have the sounds discounted too. However, eventually I’d like to collect them all!

I probably had a Build-a-bear when I was younger, but didn’t really remember too well. I saw a couple of reviews saying that they did the LOTR collections a bit better than the other ones though.

Table of Contents

  • Build-a-bear “Unboxing” and Review
  • Lines
    • Gandalf
    • Frodo
  • Build-a-bear Washing (for bears with voice boxes)

Build-a-bear “Unboxing” and Review

I asked them to dress it before shipping, which I didn’t really have to anyway with the voices. The voices were switched with the outfits and since they are already implanted I had to switch the outfits, which I was v happy to do! loooool (No extra charge either way, but funny how they got them mixed up.)

I actually liked the lines for both, though I knew some didn’t like the sounds, but preferred the aesthetics and looks of the Frodo bear. Some of them actually kinda go together like:

“I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish it wouldn’t have happened.” And “So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”

(FOTR, “The Shadow of the Past”)

The sounds were also kinda quiet compared to what I expected but still bearable in quieter locations. The Gandalf hat was a bit annoying at first as I had to make sure it stayed on, but after a while I finally learned how to put his hat on. After all, no one said I had to have the top layer of the beard on top of his nose! Though I figured if I wanted to, I could pin and/or sew it. But I don’t think I would now though.

And the best part of it all is…I don’t have to wonder how I look to them or ask if they want any of my food or “entertain” them against my will and nature to “return the favor” or “pay it forward,” whatever that means really. (I think it just means different to different people.) Loooool. And food just tastes better without the pressure!

(Surprisingly Sting never arrived. I don’t remember if I’ve ordered it or if they came with the gift set or not. Maybe it’s something I’d one day buy separately though but it is worth looking into.)

Lines

Now time for the spoilers…Lines! I heard you could hear them in the Build-A-Bear Website but I wasn’t too sure where to find them, so I waited until they came to know what they were. They probably resembled the movie scripts more closely than books though – but still stayed true to both of them in my opinion.

Gandalf

  • “A wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins. Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to!”
  • “So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”
  • “Fool of a Took!”
  • “YOU SHALL NOT PASS!”
  • “Fly you fools” (Can’t really tell if he was saying this quote or another one)

Frodo

  • “I will take the ring to Mordor…though…I do not know the way.”
  • “I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.”
  • “I know what I must do. It’s just…I’m afraid to do it.”
  • “Glad you’re with me.”
  • “Whatever you did, you’ve been officially labeled a disturber of the peace.”

Build-a-bear Washing (for bears with voice boxes)

I decided to wash them after a week of using them. I think it depends – I have them with me in bed so it might have to be more often than most people I guess. I looked through Build-a-bear, and they either said:

  • Use the bear stuff cleaner, but you’ll have to go into a store and it’s mainly reserved for stains and not regular cleaning, or:
  • Go into a store, have the voice boxes removed, and then run the bears into the washer and dryer before going back to the store and having the voice boxes reinstalled.

Yep, neither would have been very practical for the time being. So, I used this video to help me wash, except I skipped the mid and final sections where he seemed to be washing a stain on his pug, since I figured mine was just going to be a regular cleaning. I also washed the bear and clothes separately. But like Rick’s below, mine has a voice box that I didn’t want ruined by a washing machine.

When I got a pillow pet though, I find they took a day to dry so I figured if I’d handwash them in the morning I can “get them back” as they’d be dry that night. And now…until they’re dry, I’ll gonna subject them to my own recordings for the time being!

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