Someone on the boards was looking for the MRL Lord of the Rings costumes recently, but I couldn't find the thread so I decided to started a new one. These are long out of production but I stumbled across them today at maskworld.com, and they have most of these items in stock.

Mask World is located in Germany, but I have personally ordered from them and they were easy to deal with and charged reasonable shipping rates. If you visit the site, you can find most of the LOTR items under "medieval" or "fantasy". Here's a quick rundown of how Mask World labeled the costumes, and what that equates to in LOTR terms:

Hero = Boromir
Prince = Aragorn
Wizard = Gandalf the Grey
Halfling = Frodo
Elven Queen = Arwen's Blue Dress
Elven Wedding Dress = Arwen's Coronation Gown

In most cases they sell complete costumes, as well as separating out the items by piece. I also saw a few of the Legolas items listed as "Elven", but they didn't seem to have that complete costume.

I've ordered KOH tunics from Mask World and they were all officially licensed items. I just ordered an L/XL Boromir surcoat today, and I'm confident it is the official MRL product.

For anyone hoping to acquire these, I hope this helps.

Nice heads up Moon!

Could you link the page with all this stuff on it? I'm not too good on reading German.


EDIT: Never mind! Got it in english now.

I have Aragorns red shirt ($60) and cotehardie ($90) available for sale if anyone is interested, and for much cheaper than the german site.

[quote=""Fingolfin""]Could you link the page with all this stuff on it? I'm not too good on reading German.

EDIT: Never mind! Got it in english now. [/quote]

Yeah, there is a toggle for Deutsch or English. Should have mentioned that. I don't speak or read German either.

For anyone thinking of buying "complete" costumes, watch the specific contents. They don't include everything. And the prices are not cheap, but I haven't found these still available anywhere else, except occasionally on ebay.

Boromir:
http://www.maskworld.com/english/produc ... ro--104474

Aragorn:
http://www.maskworld.com/english/produc ... t--MR-K010

Gandalf:
http://www.maskworld.com/english/produc ... e--MR-K002

Frodo:
http://www.maskworld.com/english/produc ... s--MR-K001

Legolas:
http://www.maskworld.com/english/produc ... t--MR-K003

Arwen Blue:
http://www.maskworld.com/english/produc ... -MR-100538

Arwen Green:
http://www.maskworld.com/english/produc ... -MR-100454

My disclaimer: I have no affiliation with this website at all, other than having purchased from them in the past. Only posting this as a means to help other collectors find something that is otherwise pretty tough to track down.

I'm kinda interested in that Aragorn Tunic...gotta save my money right now though. Story of my life

[quote=""Arwyniel""]I have Aragorns red shirt ($60) and cotehardie ($90) available for sale if anyone is interested, and for much cheaper than the german site.[/quote]

do you still have the red shirt? what size is it?

Yes, it's a S/M. (I had originally bought it for my husband to wear - he's 5'10", 180 pounds. It fit him perfectly when he tried it on, but that's the only time it was worn.)

I have a question, I am myself an 5'11 and 173 lbs, those costumes only come in S/M and L/XL, which of the two would suit me better?? because I already have the legolas blue shirt and overtunic, and Aragorn leather surcoat and cotehardie and they feel a little bit big, but not to much

Hey Juan

Buddy, if you are 5-11 and almost 175 lb I'd say you are at least a Large(L), most definitely.

ALways buy larger -- you can have a tailor/seamstress alter it to fit better, but they can't alter it from being too small to a larger size.

Not a tailor myself, and just my humble opinion, but that is how I've seen it done.

Thanks deimos, that was the logic I applied when I bought those costumes, but still I had the doubt if the s/m would fit better, but as you said, it's to risky if it's to small

i am 5' 10" 160 pounds - i have the museum replica legolas shirt and the red aragorn shirt, both are sm/med and are plenty large on me

[quote=""rick cottontree""]i am 5' 10" 160 pounds - i have the museum replica legolas shirt and the red aragorn shirt, both are sm/med and are plenty large on me[/quote]

Roll the dice, Juan, and take your pick....S/M or L/XL.

It's too bad the place selling these doesn't give the chest size of the clothing (whether in cm or inches). It would eliminate any guesswork.
Or do they? Maybe it's worth an email. Someone over there should be able to answer that...it's a pretty basic question when it comes to clothes buying.

I am 5'10" @ 165 lbs and own most of the MRL LOTR costumes as well as some MRL KOH tunics. I have generally preferred S/M. The chest size is supposed to be somewhere around 40-42 inches, which is my chest size.

However, the Boromir tunic is an example of a S/M item that I had to "squeeze" into. I ended up buying it in L/XL so that it would fit over a thicker under-tunic and chain mail, but now the L/XL feels really big.

Would have been great if MRL made 3 sizes instead of 2. They have covered small guys and big guys, but those of us in the average / middle seem to be stuck between sizes.

Hello every body

I up this topic if anyone is interested because I have ordered and received my products from MaskWorld.
I confirm they are all officially licensed items.

I orderder the Aragorn royal dress:
- Red shirt (Prince shirt on MW)
- Prince Cotehardie
- Prince Leather Surcoat
- Prince Belt (I know this one is not the Aragorn Belt but it's nice too with the Gondor's tree on it)

About the product size, I orderder always the smaller one (I'm 1m78 / 73 Kgs sorry for metrics mesures....) and it fits perfectly

PROs and CONs:

+
Very good quality product
well packaged
very fair shipping price

-
The belt looks a little cheap
Prices are high!

- - -
Maskworld doesn't apply the discussed discount!!!


To e xp lain: before ordering my product I sent some mails to discuss with them. They are very friendly and answered each time very well.
When I asked if they do some discount if we order multiple items, the answer was YES (for my particular purchase) but then they didn't apply the discount when I really do the order.
And now I don't have any answer to my mails till this time.


this last point is not to discourage from buying from this shop, as I said the product are good, but don't trust them for the discount....

=> After some weeks they find my mails and proceed to the payback, thanks to them!!

That's the kind of feedback people need to hear.
Thanks for pointing it all out

Hello again!!!

Last news about my order to Maskworld: They have finally find my last mail about the discount discussed.
With apologies they have done the payback to my creditcard!

Very good to hear- sad that they didn't do the discount to start off with, but excellent that they did end up giving you the discount eventually

Glad to hear you got the problem solved. I'm jealous!

It's really disappointing to see that their inventory is deceivingly out of stock now. I really wish that Windlass/Museum replicas would do a re-run. I was e xp ecting it with the hobbit movies, but I guess not.

Good to see you around, Brandalf. I also would have loved to have seen some rereleases from MR. You'd think they would, with the excitement of The Hobbit and the demand for LotR stuff. I would've especially liked a re-release of their pieces of Aragorn's armor.

I posted this just a bit ago on the Kropserkl thread, so I'll copy and paste here:

Someone may have asked about the availability of the bracers and pauldrons that MR had once sold. I remember checking several sources back when (2010) I purchased several pieces of Aragorns Black Gate outfit , one in the UK and one from Germany, surprisingly the one in Berlin still lists a number of items (although in admittedly low supply). They still have: Aragorns Ranger duster, his Black Gate surcoat & cape and cotehardie, the Black Gate vambraces and pauldrons. To find the clothing items, type "prince coat" in the search box. The items are not listed with any reference to LOTR.

Edit: The site does not allow direct linking to their English pages, so.......log on to the German homepage, http://www.maskworld.com/ , click the English version in the upper right corner. In the search box type "vambraces" or for the pauldrons type "shoulder armour". Use similar search methods for the clothing pieces, using "prince coat".

Tolman, those links don't appear to be working.

[quote=""Fingolfin""]Tolman, those links don't appear to be working. [/quote]

They work...at least the first one does...didn't check out the second one.

When the page comes up (in German) with the error message go to the top of the page and click on the English/Stars and Stripes icon.
Page will change to English without the error message .
Then type in Prince Coat or Prince Vambraces in the search window.

Fin, you're going to need a third summer job....lots of Euros for those vambraces and pauldrons.

[quote=""Deimos""]
Fin, you're going to need a third summer job....[/quote]
...and fourth, and fifth

Valkrist, the price is *extremely* high... but did you see the LOTR backgammon set?
http://www.maskworld.com/english/produc ... on--116337

Keep in mind the current exchange rate: $1.39 to one Euro! E xp ensive indeed.

[quote=""TolmanJr""]Keep in mind the current exchange rate: $1.39 to one Euro! E xp ensive indeed.[/quote]

Yup, I ran the conversion and it made my jaw drop...

[quote=""Buckeye""]Valkrist, the price is *extremely* high... but did you see the LOTR backgammon set?... I ran the conversion and it made my jaw drop...[/quote]

As our own noble and solemn Elf-King Fingolfin might say: "Pffff!"

Val paid about the same price for the Barad-dûr environment.
He should have no trouble dropping that much (plus shipping?) on the Backgammon Set.

And….and….at least that collectible is not “altogether evil!”

lol... Thanks, guys, for looking out for me. Polyphemus and Nerdanel also alerted me to one that is on eBay right now for $1200, so the price on this one is not far off from that.

To answer the burning question on everyone's mind, yes, that it too much, and no, I won't be buying it at that price. As much as I want that set, it makes me ill when I think of the amount of money people want for it, and how many other collectibles I could get for that amount alone.

Sadly, the search continues.

However, those pauldrons and vambraces do look a wee bit more affordable...

Val, I wondered why the hell you wanted to buy a backgammon set. More importantly, why was said Backgammon set so rare and pricey?


Well, now I know.

That is a real beauty, I hope you can get it at some point!


As for those pauldrons and vambraces...I want, but no can do at that price, not with the exchange rate! That's unfortunate. Although, I have secured myself at least one secondary source of income for the summer, and thrown in my hat for a bigger job, so I'm working hard at getting myself working.

Are the pauldrons and vambraces listed on that site definitely the Museum Replicas ones? I'm tempted by them but for that high price, I'm wary enough to think twice. After all these years, I have to wonder of they are still in good shape. I thought there was an issue with the leather rotting? Can some one help refresh my memory?

Sure would be nice if they did another run of these! But with shipping within the US though.

Unless they ripped off the pictures and are selling something else, those are indeed MR versions.

The rotting leather issue came about because apparently some had been stored in high humidity conditions. When they were opened, it was revealed that the leather was suffering pretty badly. I don't think this issue was pervasive to all the stock so there's a good chance these will be fine. If they are reputable, they wouldn't be selling a clearly defective product, but then that presumes knowing the exact condition of what's inside the box.

Hopefully Polyphemus will chime in as I think he has these as part of his Aragorn costume.

One thing that is confusing me is the description on the website. Is the listed price for a pair or a single pauldron or vambrace? Seems odd that these would not be sold in pairs, but there's enough confusion in the wording to make me wonder. Would hate to order them and then only receive one of each!

There was another condition issue when I purchased mine (pauldrons). Got mine back when MR seemed to clearing them out for quite a reasonable price.
While in transport (from factory to MR) or in storage at MR the brass rivets started to corrode/react to chemicals in the leather. I returned them to MR and got an acceptable replacement. Even so, the last time I examined them, some of the rivets have begun to show similar symptoms.

I'm not sure who actually manufactured the items, as I've seem them listed at both the UK and German site I mentioned previously. (the same goes for the clothing items). The only identification on mine is a "Made in India" tag.
So I would assume there would only have been one manufacturer, and that these sellers all have/had the same product.

I would have to say the listings are for pairs, as that's how they are packaged.

On another note, I'd like to know who modeled for them. (Must have been "Tall Paul") The actual shoulder pieces are far too large for a normal sized person to wear. Joining upper and lower sections together makes it impossible to wear the vambraces, they (the two pauldron pcs) come half way down my forearm. If you look at the photo of the Black Gate outfit, you'll notice the model is not wearing those shoulder sections, only the upper arm sections.

Forgive me, TJr, you are here so rarely that I had forgotten you had these.

Well, that's good information to have. They either skipped some protective coating on the rivets/leather; they got e xp osed to something they shouldn't have; or they used two materials that are incompatible over time.

As for the size issue, I wasn't really planning on wearing them but it's good to know there is a size issue ahead of time. Also good to know you are confident they come in pairs. It would make no sense otherwise, but a retailer is free to break up a product if they wish.

Val, no problem.

I don't post very often but I do visit several times a day.

I picked up a pair of the vambraces when MR was clearing them out for $50 pr.

1) I can't imagine the price they are selling for on the German website is for [one] each.
That would be exorbitant.

2) Mine had no mold or mildew problems, and all the metal had a thin coating of oil on it.
Metal is still in good shape too (see below)

Tangential observation: Since I live in Phoenix it's not like I have to worry about any of my metal collectibles rusting. However, that same dry climate that is so ideal for metal can do some serious destruction to leather if you don't keep it treated (which I do).

Thanks for info all! I think I'd skip on the pauldrons, but the bracers are certainly tempting. They aren't the highest priority for me right now though. If I do go for them someday, I would be sorely disappointed to discover they had been stored improperly. Val, if you take the plunge, you know we want to hear about it and see pictures!

[quote=""Valkrist""]Hopefully Polyphemus will chime in as I think he has these as part of his Aragorn costume.

One thing that is confusing me is the description on the website. Is the listed price for a pair or a single pauldron or vambrace? Seems odd that these would not be sold in pairs, but there's enough confusion in the wording to make me wonder. Would hate to order them and then only receive one of each! [/quote]

Hi Val, et al.

Indeed, I can chime in here. I got my official Aragorn hooded cape from Maskworld via their domestic (USA) partner at that time (2008). I don't recall the name of the company that imported the cape for me, but it was the original MR product. However, please note that Maskworld had removed the tag indicating as much. It was clearly there originally, but had been deliberately cut off. Additionally, I note they do not use the official LOTR naming conventions on their stock. Hence, "Prince" this or that or "Hero" this or that in the case of Boromir. So, in short, I would trust that the products you order from Maskworld would be the genuine MR articles, but lack the tagging as such. Perhaps they were not extended the use of the licensed names or bought their stock directly from MR with the understanding it would not be in direct competition while the licensed line was still being sold by MR directly. Who knows...?

Licensed tags, however, are not an issue with the armor elements as they bore no tags. I actually have 2 complete sets of the Black Gate gear (another duplicated item in my collection). In the case of both sets of my pauldrons and vambraces, they were in pristine new condition. Well oiled and securely packaged for the long term. So, I do think the rotting issues were limited to the stock MR had improperly stored. I really like the MR costumes. I have as much (or more?) interest in the costumes as I do the weapons. In fact, the collecting of the former precipitated the collecting of the latter as I was completing my Halloween costume for 2008. I also discovered the Noble Collection jewelry items during that quest. The upshot is, I ended up discovering all that was available and became obsessed with collecting all of it I could find.

So, if any of you are really interested in acquiring the Aragorn vambraces and pauldrons and are willing to pay those prices, I don't think you would go wrong dealing with Maskworld. Bear in mind, however, that I never dealt with them directly. They were very cooperative with their domestic partner at that time and allowed me to tweak my order as well as return some items I decided against purchasing. My overall customer e xp erience with them (albeit through an intermediary) was excellent.

EDIT: The Masworld website page for the vambraces lists them for 169 euros for "1 pair". Likewise, their page for the pauldrons lists them at 249 euros for "Shoulder armor, 4-piece set" (the shoulder armor sets include a set of upper arm pieces that buckle on to the pauldron segments).
EDIT 2: As to their manufacturers, I am fairly certain all the LOTR armor elements and costumery were produced in India by Windlass for Museum Replicas.

[quote=""polyphemus""]

So, in short, I would trust that the products you order from Maskworld would be the genuine MR articles, but lack the tagging as such. Perhaps they were not extended the use of the licensed names or bought their stock directly from MR with the understanding it would not be in direct competition while the licensed line was still being sold by MR directly. Who knows...?

EDIT 2: As to their manufacturers, I am fairly certain all the LOTR armor elements and costumery were produced in India by Windlass for Museum Replicas.[/quote]


I agree. There are no LOTR licensing tags on my items, however the clothing items had both a hanging paper tag and sewn in labels identifying they were made by Windlass.

And I thought I was crazy for having duplicates of just the weaponry for my costumes!

Interesting enough, I managed to talk windlass into doing a special order of the Gandalf the grey costume for me. I didn't think it would work out but they were pretty open to putting together a fresh one for me.

That's really cool Brandalf, congrats! What does the costume include? I wonder if this means they could be begged to consider rebooting other LOTR items...?

Windlass's Customer service is decent. The only problem is, when you buy direct from them their shipping prices are absolutely horrible direct from India. So If your desperate to get your hands one of their older items, it can't hurt to email them about it. I'm surprised they didn't bring back their lord of the rings lines with an update for the hobbit. I was e xp ecting them to.

[quote=""BrandalftheBlue""]Windlass's Customer service is decent. The only problem is, when you buy direct from them their shipping prices are absolutely horrible direct from India. So If your desperate to get your hands one of their older items, it can't hurt to email them about it. I'm surprised they didn't bring back their lord of the rings lines with an update for the hobbit. I was e xp ecting them to.[/quote]

I was really hoping they would reboot some of the LOTR pieces too.

Does anyone know what the ballpark original retail prices for some of these items were? MRL made all the licensed bracers, pauldrons, belts, etc., correct? I'd be really interested in those if they'd consider a special run, but those are more tooling intensive than keeping fabrics on hand.

Interesting enough, they special ordered the fabric in just for my Order. I received the original Gandalf costume price of 230. I know the legolas price was around 579.
These links have a couple of the original Catalog listings.
http://scrapbook.theonering.net/scrapbo ... /view/9682
http://scrapbook.theonering.net/scrapbo ... /view/9683

Wow Brandalf, I'm relly impressed that they're going to do that for you! Very cool. I've never seen some of those pictures in the catalog links, the gandalf costume especially looks killer!

That's fantastic, and thanks for the links Brandalf! I'd never seen those catalogues or images before. Might be worth checking into. Did you contact Windlass directly, or MRL first?

Please post some pictures when your items arrive!

[quote=""Nerdanel""]That's fantastic, and thanks for the links Brandalf! I'd never seen those catalogues or images before. Might be worth checking into. Did you contact Windlass directly, or MRL first?

Please post some pictures when your items arrive! [/quote]
Yes , please do post pics Brandalf

I'm surprised that they were even willing to take on a private order, since windlass normally deals to distributors. I just started looking into their discontinued item and they have a note that if you contact them they could possibly do a custom order. I'll get pics up as soon as I get it. I know I'm going to have to do some modifications to the hat though cause it lacks a brim to keep it's shape. I might see if I can get a hold of some of their other old LOTR items.
Nedanel: I contacted windlass directly, as Museum Replica's just told me they were discontinued and will not be getting them back in stock.

Very interesting Brandalf. Where did you find their old inventory? And was that only for costumes or do you think they'd to a custom order of armor?