Re: Sideshow takes a second crack at LOTR

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If I lived in a large mansion and had an unlimited supply of cash, I would consider this new collection, but as is I've already sunk around $10,000 into Sideshow Collectibles, Danbury Mint, United Cutlery, and Noble Collection stuff, I think my LOTR collectible days are fast coming to an end. My place is starting to look like a museum, and I have a feeling one day down the road I'm going to look at all this stuff and ask "why?" I wonder at times how many people have thought their collections through into the future. Will they simply try and sell it all one day? Pass it on to their children? What if they have no real appreciation for it? Would be a real shame to see it all go to waste, but I guess we may not always have control over such things.

Anyhow, it will be cool to see these, but I think I'm done. I have a mortgage to pay, a new car to buy next year, and much of the world still to see. Reading some of the replies to this announcement on the Sideshow website though does make me feel sorry for how many folks are going to go into serious debt and possible bankruptcy over this. :(

Re: Sideshow takes a second crack at LOTR

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I think my LOTR collecting days are certainly dwindling, though I will at least give the new Sideshow stuff a look when they start posting pix. I doubt I will buy any, as it sounds like it will even more e xp ensive than the line they already did. Quite frankly, I'm really surprised they're doing this; I thought LOTR merchandising was about over. Just about two days ago, I saw that Toybiz was ending their LOTR line. Sideshow apparently thinks that LOTR is going to have legs far beyond the days of the movies, like Star Wars does. Star Wars, however, had novels, as well as the promise of the eventual prequels to sustain it. LOTR does not. There may or may not be a Hobbit movie a few years down the road, but that's it.

Writing this, an awful fear entered my mind. Under US copyright law, you can only renew your copyright on novels and what not for so many years, and then it becomes public domain. The estate of Margaret Mitchell faced this a number of years ago. With the impending entry of Gone With The Wind into public domain, the estate authorized someone to write a sequel, figuring that they'd at least have some control while it was still under copyright. The result was an apparently lackluster book and lackluster mini-series that was twice as long as GWTW itself was! Anyway, you know where I'm going. Someday, the Tolkien estate may lose its copyright, we will be overwhelmed with horrible new Middle-earth books written by hacks, and Tolkien will spin endlessly in his grave.

Anyway, I doubt I will buy the new Sideshow stuff. I thought the paint job on most of their original line was crap, and I can't imagine the new stuff will be any better. {Sidebar: I saw some of the Sideshow LOTR figural pieces, such as Gandalf on Shadowfax and Eowyn in the gift shop at the LOTR exhibit in Indy last week, and they were quite well painted. I wonder if those were display pieces and not indicative of what you'd buy....}

I tried to be pretty selective in buying the LOTR pieces that I did. My house doesn't exactly look like a museum with them (though the guest room/computer room/library does, to an extent). My lust for these collectibles was greatly tempered by an awareness of how much money I was spending (no where near $10,000 ;) ) and the lack of space to display them. Also in the back of my mind was the thought that I might be kicking myself a few years down the road for spending such money on something so frivalous. (Well, maybe not. I have around $25,000 worth of CDs, and I don't regret those. Not most of them, anyway.) My pieces probably will end up in a landfill someday, as I am the last of my line and will not have anyone to pass them on to. But when I am gone, I guess I won't be thinking too much about my LOTR collection.
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

Re: Sideshow takes a second crack at LOTR

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I saw an announcement on this and was surprised. I agree with others in that I think the merchandising opportunities from the movies have largely run out. The only thing that could get it going again is if "The Hobbit" were made and that'll be at least a couple years if ever. I haven't heard of any deal being worked out between Jackson and New Line Edition over his lawsuit. Also, I haven't heard anything being sorted out between Sony who owns the distribution rights to "The Hobbit" and New Line who own the film rights.

I don't know if I'd buy any of their figures. I'm not really into those though it would be nice to have one of Aragorn. We'll see how they look when they come out and decide then.
10 months and counting till the release of The Hobbit.

Re: Sideshow takes a second crack at LOTR

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I hear a lot of folks saying that they are going to wait until they see these pieces before ordering, and while this is definitely the course of action I would normally choose for myself (were I planning to order any of these,) I would like to offer a word of caution and advice. Some of you will already be aware of this issue, but consider this a friendly reminder.

Sideshow has the unfortunate tendecy of taking pre-orders for these limited edition items long before any product photos are available for our viewing. With the low numbers that these editions are sure to have, this has the side effect of generating such a frenzy and speculation that an item ends up being sold out well before it is even seen.

Take the recent Sauron statue for example: arguably the most highly anticipated piece in this collection, this statue was first announced and pre-orders were taken nearly two years ago, with the entire 9500 edition run being sold out in about two months. However, it was not until well after more than a year had passed until we were even offered a glimpse of what this piece would look like, and many more months after that before it made its way into our homes.

Moral of the story: be wary of sitting on the fence too long with Sideshow. While I certainly am not trying to encourage people to indebt themselves further and rushing out to buy these out of fear, I just want everyone to be aware of what tends to happen a lot with these collectibles. Sideshow does offer the commendable option of placing your name on a wait list, but there are no guarantees, and only a few are lucky enough to get their stuff this way. From the current Sideshow LOTR line, I placed my name on the waiting list for ten different items over time, but was only ever contacted to order and purchase two of them. Just remember, you can always cancel afterward if you don't like what you see. Also, once you've seen the first couple, that should give you a fair idea of the rest of the collection.

I do agree however, that the LOTR-mania is losing steam, so it could be argued that people aren't going to be quite as crazy in snapping these up, and thus they can be ordered at a more leisurely pace. As was the case with the current line, I would hate to see genuine collectors get screwed out of owning something they really want for the sake of a bunch of greedy opportunists who buy these up and then sell them over the internet for ludicrously jacked-up prices.

Re: Sideshow takes a second crack at LOTR

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Side topic to something Olorin commented on:

From my own past observations of various legal wranglings involving both the Tolkien Estate and Tolkien Enterprises (two separate and independent entities,) I have gathered that the copyrights to Tolkien's works are guarded more tightly than Fort Knox. I think both Tolkien's family (Estate,) and the Saul Zaentz Company (Enterprises) are well aware of what they are sitting on, and chances are that vigilant zeal is going to remain ironclad at any cost.

At the very least, this one fan very much hopes so.

Re: Sideshow takes a second crack at LOTR

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Valkrist wrote:Side topic to something Olorin commented on:

From my own past observations of various legal wranglings involving both the Tolkien Estate and Tolkien Enterprises (two separate and independent entities,) I have gathered that the copyrights to Tolkien's works are guarded more tightly than Fort Knox. I think both Tolkien's family (Estate,) and the Saul Zaentz Company (Enterprises) are well aware of what they are sitting on, and chances are that vigilant zeal is going to remain ironclad at any cost.

At the very least, this one fan very much hopes so.
Amen to all that! Also, the fact that the thing was first published in the UK and would be initially copyrighted under its laws could be an added layer that would-be plunderers would have to unwrap prior to desecrating Middle-earth.
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."
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