![]() To do so, Toy Biz partnered with Gentle Giant Ltd., a 3D scanning and modeling company, to get three dimensional scans of all the Lord of the Rings actors, one of the earliest uses of this new technology. ![]() For Lord of the Rings, Toy Biz aimed to set new standards for scope, detail, and articulation, all at once. Others, like Toy Biz’s own WCW wrestling line, were making strides in articulation but lagged behind in realistic detail, with obtrusive ball joints and painted-on costumes. Some, like McFarlane Toys, with lines based on Akira and Spawn, had impressive detail but poor articulation. Many manufacturers were moving to a six inch scale because of these shortcomings, with mixed results. The biggest line in terms of sheer scope was Hasbro’s Star Wars toys, but the small 3.75 inch figures offered little in the way of detail or articulation. The company had also developed a good relationship with New Line when they made action figures for the Blade movie franchise, so despite strong competition from other toy manufacturers, Toy Biz won the rights to capture the “depth, spectacle and appeal” of Tolkien’s world.Įveryone at Toy Biz took these words to heart, and embarked on a journey that many in the company would later call “the highlights of our careers.” As development began in 2000, the action figure industry was in a state of flux. New Line Cinema, according to a news release at the time, wanted an innovative toy line for their “incredible range of highly-unique fantasy characters,” and Toy Biz had the necessary experience. Handling Marvel’s sizable catalog of characters proved to be an asset for Toy Biz when they pursued the Lord of the Rings license. ![]() Toy Biz served as Marvel’s in-house action figure manufacturer from then on. The two companies were closely connected, with Toy Biz owner Ike Perlmutter serving on Marvel’s board of directors, and when Marvel faced bankruptcy in 1997, Perlmutter and his business partner Avi Arad kept the publisher afloat by merging the companies into Marvel Enterprises. Shadow of the pastīefore landing the Lord of the Rings movie license, Toy Biz was best known for superhero action figures, crafting some DC Comics toys in the late 1980s before entering into a long-term agreement with Marvel Comics in 1993. The story of Toy Biz and the Lord of the Rings has DC Comics on one end, Marvel Studios on the other, and a middle filled with lasers. Yet today, the company is gone, having shuttered years before The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey graced screens in 2012 and the new trilogy’s toy license fell to a competitor. That’s right: Lord of the Rings toys even taught Star Wars a thing or two about action figures. Those 13 Frodos redefined the action figure just in time for a new crop of toyetic blockbusters to dominate the minds of collectors and kids alike. This is Polygon's Year of the Ring.īut that was very much the point. So each Wednesday throughout the year, we'll go there and back again, examining how and why the films have endured as modern classics. 2021 marks The Lord of the Rings movies' 20th anniversary, and we couldn't imagine exploring the trilogy in just one story. ![]()
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