From the collector/consumer's side of things, being able to buy UC products at below retail is why I was able to collect the pieces I have today. I'm sure lots of other collectors could say the same. If I'd had to pay full retail for each piece, I would've been forced to be extremely selective of the pieces I chose to buy, which still cost no small amount of money, even at the prices I paid.
While I completely understand how difficult this made things for retailers, and in the end, for United Cutlery, it was an opportunity that was just too good to pass up at the time. I wasn't even aware it would cause such big problems later on. I hope this time around UC will have a better marketing strategy worked out beforehand, so that nobody will be left holding the short end of the stick.
As NASEDO said, interest in LOTR has cooled considerably and the demand for high-end collectibles such as replica weapons and so forth will probably be limited to dedicated LOTR collectors. I agree that a rehash of older pieces would not go over well, and that wasn't exactly what I had in mind. Actually, I was thinking more of special reissues of selected pieces, such as they did with the Museum Collection swords. They could be low edition, high-quality "real" swords, for example, that would likely attract some new collectors, as well as satisfy some of us who may have missed out before. What I'd really like to see most is some of the amazing pieces that were only suggested and were never produced. Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with the license after this.
Finally, when (not if) "The Hobbit" is made, there will no doubt be a whole new wave of interest in Middle-earth weaponry and armour, and UC should by then be in a very good position to get back into the thick of things.
