| D6 Junkie | 16 Sep 2019 7:11 p.m. PST |
With the new Lord of the Rings series coming out eventually from Amazon, is there any chance Games Workshop may do some miniatures for the 1st age ? |
 Editor in Chief Bill   | 16 Sep 2019 8:50 p.m. PST |
Maybe they will wait to see how popular the new series is? |
YogiBearMinis  | 17 Sep 2019 4:08 a.m. PST |
I had said this elsewhere, but I cannot imagine that the rights to produce such figures would be given to anyone else—the contract between GW and the Tolkien estate assuredly precludes giving some other miniature manufacturer the right to produce "wargaming scale" figures for sale, though obviously other licensing deals would be okay. At worst, GW likely has a right of first refusal to do figures on any such project like the Amazon series or any other LOTR-based movie or TV show. |
| Timbo W | 17 Sep 2019 4:26 a.m. PST |
I thought it was the second age? |
| Brennus | 17 Sep 2019 4:40 a.m. PST |
@YogiBearMinis How come Mithril can produce an independent LOTR range. Does GW have an exclusive licence for minis based on the Peter Jackson Movies and Mithril a generic licence with the Tolkien estate? Seems to me that Mithril could do a First/Second Age range if it so pleased them? |
| mrwigglesworth | 17 Sep 2019 5:40 a.m. PST |
Maybe it's a coming of age story.
😁 |
| Patrick R | 17 Sep 2019 6:18 a.m. PST |
I believe that GW has a deal with Saul Zaentz to produce works based on his film licenses. Whereas this new series is directly licensed from the Tolkien estate (though Zaentz still get their cut) Mithril has a deal with the Tolkien Estate as they don't license from films or anything similar, which means they are fairly immune, though I suspect that Zaentz did try to C&D them at some point. My guess is that the license could be picked up by Fantasy Flight or Hasbro as GW hasn't really done anything with their license since the Hobbit movies. |
| Morning Scout | 17 Sep 2019 6:35 a.m. PST |
Mithril's license goes back to like 1987 and covers characters and settings relating to the written books The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Mithril's license comes directly from the Saul Zaentz Company (technically Middle-Earth Enterprises) who has owned the licensing rights going back to the mid 70s. Those rights I think originally only covered the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Nor sure if all Tolkien related books are included? I would think you would need rights to the "The Silmarillion" to produce 1st Age related figures. Those rights may still be held directly by the Tolkien Estate. Who knows what the actual licensing agreements say about the specifics. |
| Brennus | 17 Sep 2019 7:33 a.m. PST |
Thanks for the clarifications. It's complicated! |
| Kropotkin303 | 17 Sep 2019 2:09 p.m. PST |
The Lord Eru Illuvata giveth and taketh away. Here is a link to licenced/unlicenced Tolkien figures. It can change a lot. TMP link Just out of interest I wonder what people think would make good proxies of Edain from the 1st Age. GW seems to have moved away from Middle Earth. Great figures mind. |
| GonerGonerGoner | 17 Sep 2019 3:06 p.m. PST |
GW are still producing new Middle Earth figures through Forgeworld. They made stringent efforts to keep the licence when it was up for renewal so no other manufacturer got hold of it. |
| YogiBearMinis | 17 Sep 2019 4:50 p.m. PST |
LOTR is strongly supported on the main GW website, and they have redone all the rules and army books plus repackaged many of the figures as well as made almost all OOP metal figures available again at least for a time. New figures are being done through Forgeworld so far, but I have heard rumors that new figures are in the works in plastic. |
