Weta Coming Back To Middle Earth

[FrodoEyes]

the Gandalf cloaks are now up for pre-order....and a bargain at only $1250 US apiece

For a CLOAK????

 

[cstojano]

For a CLOAK????

Yeah Im shocked as well. 6k for the bronzes to me is fine and the guy at the booth explained to me the length of the process in making something out of bronze. But 1250 for a cloak seems really expensive but these are hand made and woven to order. Like I said in a previous post the material is very thin.

 

[WrathofSauron]

For a CLOAK????

Yep A Cloak!! And for that price it's a cloak you won't even wear!!

Well I wouldn't

That might be just me though.........

 

[GondorGirl]

Yep A Cloak!! And for that price it's a cloak you won't even wear!!

Well I wouldn't

That might be just me though.........

For that price I wouldn't dare wear it Might get snagged or something

 

[DannieDarKo]

At those prices, someone at Weta has been smoking too much LongBottom leaf.

This is ridiculous and I'm hoping Weta eventually goes out of business. PURE BULLS$%*T!

 

[woodsy]

C'mon guys! This is no mere cloak. This is the same wool, that came from the same farm, and woven on the same 19th century loom, as the one Gandalf himself wore. The wool was lovingly removed from only the purest of pure virgin lambs, and only during the 1st full moon, in the 2nd month of the 3rd quarter. Just a cloak!....I think not!!!!

 

[FrodoEyes]

At those prices, someone at Weta has been smoking too much LongBottom leaf.

This is ridiculous and I'm hoping Weta eventually goes out of business. PURE BULLS$%*T!

Bit extreme. If Weta went out of business, we'd get no Hobbit statues! Infact, if Weta went out of business, we'd get no Hobbit!!

 

[woodsy]

Bit extreme. If Weta went out of business, we'd get no Hobbit statues! Infact, if Weta went out of business, we'd get no Hobbit!!

I'm with FE on this one. I could care less if I ever see anything LOTR-related from Weta again, but they are a great movie company [CGI, creature design,costumes/props, etc....] and I do want to add some of their Hobbit statues and busts to my collection.

 

[-Super Hans-]

Weta, Coming Back To Middle Earth to ^^^^ on the little guy

 

[Darth Waller]

Weta, Coming Back To Middle Earth to ^^^^ on the little guy

 

[Darth Waller]

Those Weta rayguns are starting to look like a bargain now.

 

[DinoLast]

I "borrowed" this from the other thread. It looks really cool but I think I like Smaug better. I just wish I had the money...

Hmmm! why is it so expensive.
Oh, I see, edition size is only 30.
Weta you are the collecting equivalent of a prick tease

 

[the Doctor]

when sideshow do a $6000 boba/vader bronze i dont hear people say sideshow should go out of buiness!

anduril is well worth the money.if you can't afford something slagging off weta and people who can afford these extremely limited items is really lame.

 

[Sir Tristram]

when sideshow do a $6000 boba/vader bronze i dont hear people say sideshow should go out of buiness!

anduril is well worth the money.if you can't afford something slagging off weta and people who can afford these extremely limited items is really lame.

Sideshow has more licenses and many more options for collectors in the LOTR line. WETA does not and then they 'return' to the LOTR fold like this?
No. This was not collector friendly. This was a very strange business move. They should be made aware of collectors complaints.

 

[dfchang]

when sideshow do a $6000 boba/vader bronze i dont hear people say sideshow should go out of buiness!

anduril is well worth the money.if you can't afford something slagging off weta and people who can afford these extremely limited items is really lame.

The Lord of the Rings license is a huge one . . . on par with Star Wars, Star Trek, and Disney.

First it is a bit unfair to compare Sideshow with Weta. Sideshow is DOMINATING the collectibles market right now and has products for EVERYONE.

Weta has hardly anything and when they finally secure the Lord of the Rings license again, they take advantage of it by giving us 6000 dollar collectibles?

To be frank, it doesn't hurt us, the collectors, at all. We have so many choices for our collector dollars it is not even funny. But as a business decision, it is very, very poor. You don't become successful selling 6,000 dollar statues to 30 people or 10,000 swords to 10 people.

You become successful selling 400 dollar statues to 2000 people.

I'm beginning to suspect that this so-called return to Middle Earth has more licensing restrictions than we are led to believe else why the strange decisions.

A few crowns and the shields are nice and as a mini-helm completist I will be buying these but I'm not fooling myself into thinking I'm the norm.

It just seems Weta is really, really out of touch with the collecting community right now. They come back with collectibles that 99% of the population can't afford which is fine. As stated previously, Sideshow and every other company does the same thing with their bronze lines.

But the alternatives??? Sideshow has Vader in multiple incarnations for a variety of tastes and preferences. We have 12 inch figures, 1:4 scale Premium Formate, and a whole host of dioramas.

Where is the REGULAR edition of Smaug, painted golden like the cover of the Hobbit? That, after all, is the REAL accurate and iconic depiction right?

How about Eowyn and the Witch King? Bronze patinas are NOT done easily and this scene that is meant to contrast BLACK and WHITE in the painting is an ODD CHOICE for bronze work.

These should be made into high quality resin/polystone pieces with appropriate and accurate color applications.

Great artists are often terrible businessmen and John Howe and Weta may be showing some problems here in their judgement.

Right now, the vast majority of the collecting world are showing us that Sideshow's models are working well: high quality 1:4 scale PF statues and dioramas are the rage.

Instead we get the same tired old mini-helms and shields that excite only myself and about 500 or so other people and that's it.

Finally, proclaiming excitedly that the shields might be worn as "pins" to conventions is NOT the way to advertise this line. As a collector, I'm somewhat insulted. These are not TOYS to me, they are meant to be screen accurate, metal representations in miniature of some of my favorite armour of the movie. I don't appreciate it being marketed with this "gimmick." I am not accustomed to wearing my collectibles to Halloween parties and dressing up as weird characters at conventions. Again, a strange decision that shows a disconnect with the "pulse of the collecting community."

Weta used to be on top with a big Lord of the Rings license and Sideshow as partner. Now, they are on the outside looking in and unless they start making some smart business and design decisions, that is the way things will continue to be.

My two cents,

Dennis

 

[Sir Tristram]

Yeah....What Dennis said. True and True!

 

[Red]

Come the Hobbitt Weta will be back and everyone will have forgotten what they cant afford right now IMHO.

To be honest doesn't bother me in the slightest that i cant afford it as i just like seeing such great quality of course as long as there's someone like SS to still buy from.

Also SS whole business is collectibles whilst i'm sure Weta see films as their priority with collectibles spilling from that so you have to take that into account also.As far as i'm concerned both Weta and SS are great companies.

 

[Lembas Eater]

I'm holding on to the hope that they will release Polystone versions of the Bronze pieces.

And yes, it may be "just a fool's hope" but hope none the less!

 

[Radagaster]

Keep in mind that these are John Howe interpretations. So, not only is Weta selling the Howe name, but also requesting permission from Tolkien Enterprises. As a John Howe one off, I can see why these can command the prices. The decisions that Weta makes is not necessarily to make money. It's more appealing to the high-end collectors. I don't think people complain that Alex Ross' giclees cost so much right now, or even Jim Lee's. I believe we all know that John Howe's endorsement is a big name in the Tolkien World.

Suddenly I'm truly appreciating my $99 Orthanc, Minas Morgul SS/W pieces.

 

[woodsy]

when sideshow do a $6000 boba/vader bronze i dont hear people say sideshow should go out of buiness!

anduril is well worth the money.if you can't afford something slagging off weta and people who can afford these extremely limited items is really lame.

I have to disagree. The only thing here that's lame is your arguement. I really don't have to explain the difference between a $6000 SS Vader bronze and and $6000 Weta Smaug do I? I really don't have to explain the reason no one gets upset about a $6000 Vader bronze is because SS offers such a large variety of Vader item's that there's something for everyone, no matter how much or how little, they can afford to spend.

Concerning Weta, what exactly are the options available to statues collectors who can't afford, or refuse to spend 6K on a statue? If you said "nothing", then you are absolutely correct. I'm not interested in crowns and tiara's on chessy looking bases. I don't care for mini-shields that convert into lapel pins....good grief Perhaps Weta is having a hard time with the concept that collectible companies are supposed to be in the business of actually providing collectibles for their customers.....and not just the 2 dozen or so who can actually afford these item's.

You want to know what the biggest problem with Weta is? They are not a collectibles company. They are a hugely successful CGI movie company that occasionally dabbles in the collectibles industry. That is exactly why SS has exploded in the 4 years since the SSW split and Weta has pretty well disappeared off the map. Weta doesn't seem to have the slightest concept as to how to operate a collectibles company successfully. It's been one huge mistake after another with these guys starting with those obscene ES's they started springing on us around the time of ROTK to their decision to walk away from the SSW partnership a year later. And I really don't have to talk about the string of disasterous licencing decision's they've made since then, do I?
Quite frankly, Weta has been so out of tune with what collectors want for so long now I can't believe that anyone is actually surprised by Weta's new "feast or famine" lines of LOTR-related products. It's just par for the course for these guys.