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Initially, I was quite sceptical about this, because what would be the point of re-releasing the same stuff? And then I remembered that GW's designs were largely dictated to by what was in the films. In other words, GW were copying Peter Jackson's vision for orcs/elves/men etc etc

This new licence may actually allow GW to do their own versions of Orcs and whatever else, rather than copying weta work's designs.

Could be interesting...

GW was allowed to do at least some of their own designs when it came to the Lord of the Rings. That's how we got this model for the Necromancer.

Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:Initially, I was quite sceptical about this, because what would be the point of re-releasing the same stuff? And then I remembered that GW's designs were largely dictated to by what was in the films. In other words, GW were copying Peter Jackson's vision for orcs/elves/men etc etc

This new licence may actually allow GW to do their own versions of Orcs and whatever else, rather than copying weta work's designs.

Could be interesting...

Ghaz wrote:GW was allowed to do at least some of their own designs when it came to the Lord of the Rings. That's how we got this model for the Necromancer.

Per the last bit of info that was going around about 9 months ago GW renewed for 3 years.

Gw had a license with new line which is why everything was per the movies and everything had to be approved by them. The stuff they didn't show in the movies gw had free run but still had to have it approved.

Case in point the bottom quote

 Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:
This new licence may actually allow GW to do their own versions of Orcs and whatever else, rather than copying weta work's designs.

They did that already, didn't they?

Joking aside, it's an interesting thought. It doesn't disappoint that they won't be as tightly shackled to PJ's version (like War and Peace made by Michael Bay) though whether GW can bring a more nuanced feel to it is another matter.

I imagine they'll stick pretty close to the existing visual designs. After all, as a licensed intellectual property I would imagine New Line Cinema and the Tolkien Estate have final say on any new designs.

Even if they move the management of the line over to the same staff that run Forge World, I can't imagine that the Tolkien kits will sell any better. They'd have to cut the prices across the board, which is basically unfeasible. And with the movies finished, I honestly don't know how much buzz they'll be able to generate.

 Ghaz wrote:
I would imagine New Line Cinema and the Tolkien Estate have final say on any new designs.

Weren't the movies made despite the Tolkien Estate's wishes? I think I remember reading somewhere NLC getting the rights because Tolkien sold the rights when he was alive to somebody and they ended up with NLC in the end. The Tolkien Estate (who have control over everything else: the books and other, non movie based, licenses) not being okay with that and also getting no/minimal royalties or something like that.

Essentially anything licensed from NLC is not related to the Tolkien Estate (so no Silmarillion movies) and if I remember correctly they (Tolkien Estate) could also sell a license to a toy manufacturer just not with the NLC visual aesthetic but something completely separate (a bit like how the Marvel cinematic universe doesn't include the fantastic four, spider man, and the x-men because of existing licensing deals).

 Iron_Captain wrote:

 Ghaz wrote:

General Hobbs wrote:


Well...apparently they are being moved to Specialist Games. This is a relief, though if the license expires.....

You did see the job postings for Middle Earth Product Manager, Middle Earth Writer and Middle Earth Model Designer?

They still offer those jobs? Then I don't think they will end it soon. That would make no sense.

There's nothing to say how long those jobs will last for though; they could get rid of them in a year.