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I was looking through the original GW Lord of the Rings miniatures (not the Hobbit) the other day, and some of their kits are missing. It's also possible that other kits are missing that I just happened to not notice.

Mahud Warriors with Blowpipes
Foot Knights of Dol Amroth
Old Radagast miniature/some of the old White Council miniatures
Dunlending Warriors with bows, spears/shields, two handed weapons

So... it seems like these kits have permanently gone. Is it likely that anything else will go away like this? Hell, I've heard a lot of people saying that LotR will go away forever at some point. Is this likely, and when would it go away?

There are a lot of others.

Realistically once the final film is out there's only a limited time money will be made from the models, then it'll just disappear

ahzek wrote:
There are a lot of others.

Realistically once the final film is out there's only a limited time money will be made from the models, then it'll just disappear

Except they didn't drop the line after The Return of The King, before the announcement of the Hobbit trilogy of films, so there is no way of saying one way or the other for sure.

The removal of those figures might be part of the move to metal. To be honest, I won't be worrying until the plastic kits start disappearing.

 Ghaz wrote:

ahzek wrote:
There are a lot of others.

Realistically once the final film is out there's only a limited time money will be made from the models, then it'll just disappear

Except they didn't drop the line after The Return of The King, before the announcement of the Hobbit trilogy of films, so there is no way of saying one way or the other for sure.

True but there was always the potential of more films, now there won't be,

As a former employee I'm quite aware of the 'respect' with which Lotr is viewed

Never say never. There's probably like 20 potential films in the Silmarillion.

 jasper76 wrote:
Never say never. There's probably like 20 potential films in the Silmarillion.

The Silmarillion 9- Middle Earth as you've never seen it before!

Featurings 600% more Balrogs than any other film!
A Dark Lord 10000x Worse than the last one!
MOAR Legolas*



*I know he's not in it, but they'll find a way...

Right?

In the beginning Legolas, the One, who in the New Zealand tongue is named Orlando, made the Ainur of his debonair yet unoffensive looks; and they made a Great Bow +6 before him.

 Paradigm wrote:

 jasper76 wrote:
Never say never. There's probably like 20 potential films in the Silmarillion.

The Silmarillion 9- Middle Earth as you've never seen it before!

Featurings 600% more Balrogs than any other film!
A Dark Lord 10000x Worse than the last one!
MOAR Legolas*



*I know he's not in it, but they'll find a way...

I would go see this movie

 jasper76 wrote:
Never say never. There's probably like 20 potential films in the Silmarillion.

Except the Silmarillion is still owned by the Tolkien estate, which has declared that they're not selling the rights to Peter Jackson regardless how much money he offers them.

That's why the blue wizards aren't referred to by name.

ahzek wrote:
As a former employee I'm quite aware of the 'respect' with which Lotr is viewed

I'd love to hear more about that.

 Paradigm wrote:
To be honest, I won't be worrying until the plastic kits start disappearing.

That's true. Most of the kits were metal, and a few of the missing kits were Finecast. None were plastic.

 Mysterious Pants wrote:

 jasper76 wrote:
Never say never. There's probably like 20 potential films in the Silmarillion.

Except the Silmarillion is still owned by the Tolkien estate, which has declared that they're not selling the rights to Peter Jackson regardless how much money he offers them.

Peter Jackson isnt the only director in the world. Plus, the way he's fethed up the Hobbit, I wouldn't want to see him do another Tolkien-based movie.

ahzek wrote:

 Ghaz wrote:

ahzek wrote:
There are a lot of others.

Realistically once the final film is out there's only a limited time money will be made from the models, then it'll just disappear

Except they didn't drop the line after The Return of The King, before the announcement of the Hobbit trilogy of films, so there is no way of saying one way or the other for sure.

True but there was always the potential of more films, now there won't be,

As a former employee I'm quite aware of the 'respect' with which Lotr is viewed

Why not? They have the Silmarillion, twelve volumes of the History of Middle-earth and a few other novels as potential movies. Plus they can do what they did in after Return of The King and produce their own products 'inspired' by the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.

And those 'inspired' models came from a lot of legal wrangling and stress, with no real sales success from them (partly down to some awful finecast sculpts)

The design team specifically hate doing lord of the rings (more of an issue now the perrys are gone) because new line and the Tolkien estate are too nitpicky about details and accuracy. "This needs to be longer" "that's too yellow"
It's an issue given the investment that goes into creating new models.

I'm not saying it's going to go away overnight, but it'll slowly dwindle and be less and less supported (you could argue it's not really supported now) and more and more boxes will go direct before it become a direct only range in it's entirety.
At that point it's anyone's guess, I suppose the plastics at least might be maintained, but it'll be like the specialist games

 Ghaz wrote:

Why not? They have the Silmarillion, twelve volumes of the History of Middle-earth and a few other novels as potential movies.

Give us Children of Hurin as a movie and I'll be a happy man.

 Paradigm wrote:

 Ghaz wrote:

Why not? They have the Silmarillion, twelve volumes of the History of Middle-earth and a few other novels as potential movies.

Give us Children of Hurin as a movie and I'll be a happy man.

I second and third this statement. Along with minatures to follow..........

ahzek wrote:
And those 'inspired' models came from a lot of legal wrangling and stress, with no real sales success from them (partly down to some awful finecast sculpts)

The design team specifically hate doing lord of the rings (more of an issue now the perrys are gone) because new line and the Tolkien estate are too nitpicky about details and accuracy. "This needs to be longer" "that's too yellow"
It's an issue given the investment that goes into creating new models.

I'm not saying it's going to go away overnight, but it'll slowly dwindle and be less and less supported (you could argue it's not really supported now) and more and more boxes will go direct before it become a direct only range in it's entirety.
At that point it's anyone's guess, I suppose the plastics at least might be maintained, but it'll be like the specialist games

None of those statements can be proven by you. There is no proof of 'legal wrangling', no proof of the design team 'hating' to work on Lord of The Rings.

Plus all of the 'inspired' models you put down because of 'awful finecast sculpts' were metal models.

Great beast of gorgoroth being a nasty resin kit, as well as others

Otherwise you're correct, I have only my discussions with the appropriate people in the appropriate departments as a basis of my statements. It could well be hearsay, but who knows

Lord of the Rings models are being discontinued as they run out of stock as they have stopped transferring metal to Finecast for the line.

Many of the models released for War of the Ring are now gone, as well.

Even some Finecast models have been discontinued.

Off the top of my head;
Lurtz with Bow
Feral Uruk Hai
Foot knights of Dol Amroth (these were made into Finecast and now even the Finecast set is discontinued)
Harad Serpent Riders
Harad Serpent Guard
Mahud Warriors w/ blowpipes
Mahud King
Khandish King
Khandish cavalry
corsair Bosun
Corsair Fleetmaster
all Dunlending warriors
Mauhur's Marauders command
everything for Arnor except spearmen
and tons more, just tons. Many of the above packs are going for over $100 on ebay.

It's basically impossible to play Arnor or the Fiefdoms.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Here's a master list of everything that has been discontinued so far (more things are discontinued every week, I just missed getting the Hasharin resculpt for my Harad army) - http://www.one-ring.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=26609

Numenor too

Plus a lot of the variant casts of heros- a lot of that's probably down to new versions appearing (gandalf etc)

 judgedoug wrote:
Lord of the Rings models are being discontinued as they run out of stock as they have stopped transferring metal to Finecast for the line.

Many of the models released for War of the Ring are now gone, as well.

Even some Finecast models have been discontinued.

Off the top of my head;
Lurtz with Bow
Feral Uruk Hai
Foot knights of Dol Amroth (these were made into Finecast and now even the Finecast set is discontinued)
Harad Serpent Riders
Harad Serpent Guard
Mahud Warriors w/ blowpipes
Mahud King
Khandish King...

...Here's a master list of everything that has been discontinued so far (more things are discontinued every week, I just missed getting the Hasharin resculpt for my Harad army) - http://www.one-ring.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=26609

Wow, had no idea how many sets were gone. No wonder the LotR section looked a little sparse!

Seems even more likely now that GW is abandoning LotR at some point in the future. That list you linked to is especially useful.

I think we'll see all but hobbit specific models and plastics disappear, then Lotr will be allowed to drop off over time

It kinda made sense that the metals would go away, as they did with all the Specialist Games.

But what's been blowing my mind is that Finecast models are being discontinued! The foot knights of Dol Amroth are especially a big one, as they were converted from metals to Finecast and then discontinued.

As soon as the contract with new line ends the stuff will be moved out of the stores first to direct only then as stock shrinks slowly over time it will just be abandoned entirely.

The way of the dodo.

I am not really overly upset about this as i have come to terms with my favorite game dying off but what i cant stand is being broke as feth so that i cant afford to buy all of these in the last min for my collections sake..........i would LOVE to collect and paint one of everything but i just cant

 Ghaz wrote:

ahzek wrote:

 Ghaz wrote:

ahzek wrote:
There are a lot of others.

Realistically once the final film is out there's only a limited time money will be made from the models, then it'll just disappear

Except they didn't drop the line after The Return of The King, before the announcement of the Hobbit trilogy of films, so there is no way of saying one way or the other for sure.

True but there was always the potential of more films, now there won't be,

As a former employee I'm quite aware of the 'respect' with which Lotr is viewed

Why not? They have the Silmarillion, twelve volumes of the History of Middle-earth and a few other novels as potential movies. Plus they can do what they did in after Return of The King and produce their own products 'inspired' by the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.

The motivation has to be there to do that though. If the Hobbit stuff hasn't made as much money as expected (I think this was probably what prompted a new version of 40k), and most likely represented a significant expenditure on GW's part, they are far less likely to pick up the rights to a sequel now.

I don't think it would benefit GW to drop LotR completely. They may sell few kits, but most aren't found in most high street stores anyway and so don't take up space. The films are still popular, and they will sell a few kits.

No Silmarillion movies will be made because Christopher Tolkien won't license it.

With all the GW metals and even finecast LOTR being discontinued, as well as War of the Ring books, that'd leave basically only the plastic kits remaining. And one plastic kit has already been discontinued (Ruins of Middle Earth, leaving only Osgiliath Ruins remaining, and that keeps going out of stock)

Thankfully I just snagged a Mauhur's Marauders blister on ebay so that pretty much completes what I need.

Christopher Tolkien is 89 years old. Within a few years, the property will be either licensed out as needed, or possibly even sold off wholesale to Disney.

I don't really understand it. GW says no one buys LOTR but the OOP kits sell for INSANE prices on ebay.

I would love to get Mauhur's Marauders command but the only one on ebay right now is $135 + $10 shipping (looked at his 6 sold and they were something else and not his price gouging on the marauder command)
The real kicker there is that the only OOP mini of the 2 mini blister is the scout with banner. The drummer can still be had in the current command box.

My main forces are Uruk-Hai as evil and i have a large Gondor and Rohan army for good. I have almost everything I need for them but im really feeling pressured to just buy up everything needed while it can still be had. I would love to do up a small force of each army and boost my Uruk-Hai, rohan and maybe gondor up to war of the ring levels.

my list of favorite games is LOTR, Legends of the Old West and Blood Bowl... at least there are some good 3rd party minis for cowboys and fantasy football minis.

Took me ages to find Mauhur's Marauders command but I snagged one for about 30 bucks a few weeks ago. Just gotta keep an eye out.

I too have a huge Isengard army (250+ uruks, 32 crossbows, 50-some scouts, 24 berzerkers, 4 trolls, 4 ballista, 4 rams, 30 warg riders) but in order to field the larger scout formations such as the Scouts of Isengard in Battlehosts for WotR I needed Mauhur + command... but now I also need more plastic scouts, lol)

I have an outrageous backstock of metal LOTR models still in blister.

Makes me sad that they sit there since I love WotR oh so very much and thing it's one of the best things to come out of GW in a very long time.

But its just too freaking expensive as a game, especially considering how OOP some things are.

Apparently they no longer make infantry movement trays for WotR, which isnt a huge deal as they really arent needed. And the cav trays are now pushing $7. The book isnt even available anymore. Damn... just one more sign of it fading slowly away. Love WotR or hate it, but sales for WotR certainly helped folks who love the skirmish game keep their line afloat.

I'll poke around my box for folks and see what various things I have lined up to get rid of without gouging folks on prices. I am literally sitting on nearly $5k of sealed product... and those were prices from a decade ago.