New Lotr Figure Campaign (1 Viewer)

[maloyalo]

I wrote this on a Lotr forum today and wanted to toss the idea out here as well. We have a few Armies of Middle Earth (The best Toy Soldier series ever made ! OK, imo) collectors, and perhaps collectors of the many other Lotr lines, here in the tree with the frog. Where did that logo come from ? Well, here it is:

"Something Gideon [edit: different Gideon] said about any future Lotr figure maker, not waiting till the films are ending to start production prompted this thread.

I think it safe to assume the Hobbit, if not two more Lotr films will be started within a few years. It is practically certain action figures will be made based on the new film(s). What we don't know, is who will make them (will win the licenses) and what type and scale of figures will be made.

I am thinking now is a good time for the little voices to speak and start putting bugs in makers ears. I am convinced, that the vast majority of consumers never contact makers, and just the few that do, can sometimes have a surprizingly large effect. Now is the calm before the storm as far as being heard goes, I think.

Anyone interested in forming the Fellowship of the Bugs, brainstorming, sharing contact info, and taking the bugs all the way to Mordor (New Line?) if we have to ?

It is not only about what figure scale to make, but also about if they should make accessories and what would be good ideas. These makers turn out to be surprizingly out of touch with that. I will be campaigning for the 3" scale, which probably has the biggest hurdles. The 6" has good chances and to lesser extent 12", but nothing is certain, and even if your scale is made, it could easily be mismanaged, the opportunity lost, and it will likely be the last big Lotr manufacturing phase, for a long time."

Originally posted on Lordoftheringsguide.com
What do you think Lotr-fans ? Comment here or PM me if you like.

 

[modwalls]

I don't think big shots care really what the general population think. New Line is going to do what they want, after the Play Along disappointment, I don't feel anything matters to them, but money. I wish someone with half a brain would have bought out the rights of those figs, and kept them going. There was tons of money to be made on them. A lot of people did not even know about them. Now it will cost you a small fortune to try and build a descent army. Today everything is about hording and reselling. The original price retail for the batter ram sets was suppose to be $5.00. Two weeks after there release, you could not find them anywhere for under $15.00 dollars. I later at the end found them in a local Big Lots for the original $5.00 a set. Needless to say, I bought everyone they had. I think it stinks for little kids, they never had a chance to get their hands on those toys. I have little if no faith the way the current market operates. The big company will make a little profit, then cut off the line after they have made a comfortable amount. Don't be surprised to see these figs kicking around for the next ten years. I feel hundreds of vendors horded them for future sales. Mike

 

[maloyalo]

That is the situation pretty much. When lines start up, you may hear company reps say things like 'we are big fans too' and 'we are there to provide the products our customers want'.

But then odd things happen, like they do not listen to a single word the fans say, and make the wrong stuff, and it sits, and the chains clearence them right out of the box & the company gets hit for bills for 'clearenced items'. And when you are talking about Target or Walmart, that can be expensive. There is also corporate business philosophy to contend with. New theorys gain wide acceptance & all follow suit. At the time of the Aome & Toybiz production, one such theory was for movie tie-ins to follow a planned life cycle. All toy lines based on the film should end by 2 years after the movie releases. With Aome, this was complicated by Play along being bought by Jakks Pacific, in 2004. They said they were not going to mess with a good thing & would continue to produce the line as planned. It was collasping by the end of 2004 & was fini by mid 2005. No orc landing craft, no PEW, no Lurtz, or Mount Doom with Eagle, or Mounted Gamling, etc....boo hoo

I like to vent a bit too! But I am kind of reminded of the scene in the rohan camp, the night before the Battle of Pelennor Fields, after Aragorn left. Gamling said to Thoden something like 'we do not have enough men to beat them' Theoden said 'that is right, but we will meet them nevertheless'.

There are already others talking about it, and that will grow in time. The thing is to try and get above the ground clutter and somehow get the messages thru to the managers and desigers. How, we do not know yet, but we have all done some digging, and have between us some small contacts.

 

[modwalls]

Maloyalo, the only hope for the AOME line to ever reappear, would be to get Peter Jackson to collect them. I think those figures are excellent, but I have a feeling, the next time they appear, they will be bigger,smaller, and for certain of less quality. I'm glad I bought as many as I did, I feel they are some of the finest plastic soldiers ever made. I'm sure in time they will become very sought after. I would like to see some toy soldier companies come out with plastic painted soldiers with moving body parts like them. Even if they just made 12 different fixed lower body parts, and put movable arms wrist waist and head swivels on them. The paint jobs were great on the AOME figs. I do hope to find them in yard sales or Toy Soldier shows, for reasonable prices. They are easy to convert, and easy to repaint. Mike

 

[maloyalo]

Maloyalo, the only hope for the AOME line to ever reappear, would be to get Peter Jackson to collect them. I think those figures are excellent, but I have a feeling, the next time they appear, they will be bigger,smaller, and for certain of less quality. I'm glad I bought as many as I did, I feel they are some of the finest plastic soldiers ever made.
They are easy to convert, and easy to repaint. Mike

I also think the chances are against us that Aome will continue in the same form and scale. I just see it not as remote a chance.

The main reason, is unlike the first time around with Lotr, all companies, with the resources will be eyeing the licenses as soon as the movie deal is signed, literally a year or two before it is even made. This is because Lotr was such a success last time. There are only so many scales, and so far only one company gets the 6" scale, etc, & there will be many more then one company interested. The Hobbit & possibly a 2nd film being considered are viewed rather well as far as potential profit goes. So it does make sense to me, rather then miss out on the boat completely, some will be seriously looking at the 3" (Aome) scale, to see if they think they can make a profit.

So, perhaps we can prompt some of them to look at it, and let them know the series has its fans, and (here is where 'pipe dream' fits in) attempt to give them our ideas to make it successful. We do not know business, likely as not, but we know a lot about what we would buy, and what collectors (older particulary) like about them, and what we didn't like about them last time.

Myself, I disliked the early single foot bases (someone called them 'cowpies') although they improved by the end. I thought they made too many static type displays, and repeated characters (like the 6-7 different Frodos). Many even at the time, wanted more army builders and accessories you could play with essentially. Things like the Nazgul stuck to the building just didn't work, except as a stick on the shelf piece. Wrong for kids, wrong for us. That turns out to have been due to another company only, having the right to make the larger size free-standing figures (Toybiz). Aome tried to deal with it by fixing them to the base. That was a very harmful oversight and pretty ridiculous. If someone gets the 3" license this time, it has got to be the scale of the average figure (man) and all else allowed in proper scale to that.