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Toy Vault still retains its license to distribute action figures - Lord of the Rings news - J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings

June 18, 2000 at 02:00:08

Jon Huston of Toy Vault is not yet ready to make a public statement concerning the recent announcement of the awarding of the master license for toy development to Marvel Enterprises' Toy Biz division. However, he did confirm for us that Toy Vault's license is in no way legally affected by the Toy Biz contract.

A quick glance at Toy Vault's Web site shows that on June 14 they put up a note which reads: "Congratulations to Toy Biz for picking up the rights to produce figures based on the new LOTR movies. Toy Vault would just like to point out that this does not effect our license to produce figures based on the books. We will continue our line as planned with the release of Galadriel and the Barrow-wight this summer, then the release of, most likely, Aragorn and Legolas this winter. More figures will follow as our license isn't set to expire for another year. From that point we have right-of-first-refusal, meaning we have the right to match any competitors bid for the license when it does become available again."

To date Toy Vault has released 9 characters in its Middle-earth Toys line of action figures. Each character is issued in a set of several models, often depicting a different phase of Tolkien's story (such as "Frodo in Lorien" and "Frodo in the Shire").

Toy Vault has taken the unusual step of soliciting fan input on their sculptures well in advance of production. The practice, while widely praised, has sometimes resulted in controversial discussions and occasional disgreements with "purists". Toy Vault also contracted Xenite.Org's owner, Michael Martinez, to write extensive background essays for each character as its action figures were released. In February, with the release of the Lord of the Nazgul in a deluxe edition, the packaging included some of Martinez' notes.

In discussions across the Internet, many collectors and fans alike seem to be down on the Toy Biz decision. The general expectation seems to be that the design quality of the Toy Biz merchandise may be inferior. Fans are concerned that a large commercial operation will not pay attention to detail and may disregard much of the material in Tolkien's books.

Toy Vault's license was acquired directly from Tolkien Enterprises, a division of the Saul Zaentz Company. Zaentz acquired various rights associated with The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit in the 1970s and his company has taken out many trademarks on Tolkien names. They have licensed various kinds of games, card decks, toys, and related merchandise through the years.

The Toy Biz license was awarded by New Line Cinema, which is financing Peter Jackson's three-film adaptation of "The Lord of the Rings". The rights to produce the movies were also acquired from Tolkien Enterprises. Toy Biz's license is directly associated with the Peter Jackson films, and a New Zealand newspaper recently ran a cartoon implying there might even be a Peter Jackson action figure eventually.

Since Toy Vault's license exclused any future movies (from the date of the issuance of their license) they had to bid on the movie license along with Toy Biz and other companies. Huston told TheOneRing.Netin an interview published in September 1999 that they had entered into negotiations with New Line Cinema.