Welcome to LOTR Collector Notes!

Welcome!

Although I started this blog in 2010, I have been collecting marketing materials and memorabilia from Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings film trilogy since 2001. What intrigued me most was the dedication shown to creating believable Middle-earthian cultures, by using real-world artisans and creative processes instead of just digital wizardry. As a student of cultural analysis and interpretation, I found this fascinating. All the behind-the-scenes and making-of materials gave glimpses into what made the trilogy work on so many levels.

Also, as a student of concrete media (i.e., toys, games, artwork) and multimedia, I found it amazing to see the variety of licensed tie-in products available – something for everyone to enjoy, regardless of their particular learning styles and interests. Action figures, tradeable miniatures, and board games for those who appreciate the cultures of movement. Soundtracks, music inspired by LOTR, audiobook, and live symphony performances with the film for those who appreciate the cultures of sound. Concept art, DVDs, photography, and multimedia for those who appreciate the cultures of sight. Holistic experiences of many kinds definitely are possible through immersion in Lord of the Rings media, engaging the mind, imagination, emotions, soul/reflection, and will.

With all that in mind, my main goals for this blog are:

• Bring together as much detail, description, and linkage as possible on various items, because that kind of fleeting information tends to disappear quickly otherwise.
• Every item tells a story about LOTR, and I hope to provide images wherever possible to show an item’s story. These images come from my own scans and photos, taken of items I have at one time owned. Any other photos that are used with permission of my collector friends are noted.
• Offer cultural analysis and other insights on The Lord of the Rings books and films, to show their place in contemporary culture.

The amount of detail here may be overwhelming … unless you happen to possess some of these items and are obsessed with finding out as much as you can about them. Hopefully, the sorts of primary source profiles and secondary references will help we who are collectors enhance our enjoyment of our Middle-earthian treasures. Also, I hope these LOTR Collector Notes will be of special help any who are interested in academic studies of The Lord of the Rings as a global phenomenon … their transcultural relevance to global audiences, their function as a source of inspiration to other artisans, their philosophical and theological influences, how to create a multiple media system from the same source material, etc.

Check out the Glossary page for help on basic terms for different kinds of collectibles (“What’s lenticulars, Preciousss?”) and the Partner/Product Index page so you can cross-reference what company produced what kinds of items. Later on – once I’ve processed through what items I’ve at one time possessed and indexed various source materials – I’ll produce some reference tools that I think will be of interest. But this is not that day ..

Since this site is a hobby, and not a business, I do this for fun. It’s a work in progress, and I add to it as I have time. I regret that I cannot respond to requests for information about the current value of items, as I don’t have time available for that kind of research.

Also, I make every effort to maintain the copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property rights of those who produced the memorabilia mentioned. If I’ve accidentally overstepped boundaries, or if you have corrections or additions to site information, please let me know through the Contact page, and I’ll take care of changes as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile … browse, muse, enjoy!

~ Brad Sargent, “futuristguy”

P.S. Please do not copy LOTR Collector Note material to any other websites, except where noted on the Notice to eBay Sellers page. I have posted a series of guidelines there for what items from this blog can and cannot be copied for use in eBay auctions, and on other websites. Thanks for respecting my work and my wishes.

Details added on Paper Press Kit for ROTK

I continue to add bits and pieces when I can to the text and photos on this site. Lately I’ve spent more time in doing prep work and scans. So, it will still be a while before those items get up on the site. Meanwhile, I have posted images and details for the paper press kit used to promote the release of the Theatrical edition DVDs for Return of the King. You find them at on the DVD 3 ROTK Marketing page.

Also, this paper press kit and the related Digital Assets Kit are on auction this week on eBay, ending Sunday June 12.

Lord of the Rings Trilogy Showing June 14-21-28

The Lord of the Rings EXTENDED Edition Trilogy will be showing at a limited number of theatres in the U.S. in June, leading up to the June 28th release of the Blu-ray LOTR extended edition. Check out this link for general information about the event, and this list of participating theatres to find the nearest one to you.

• June 14 (Fellowship of the Ring)
• June 21 (Two Towers)
• June 28 (Return of the King)

At last, at last … what an amazing opportunity!

Ev’body git your Elrond on!

What’s New and What’s Next? General Site Updates

What’s New?

The past few weeks I have been filling in bits and pieces of information all over this site, plus posting a large number of images. Mostly I’ve been working on the numbered pages (at the top of the right-hand navigation column) and the other pages from A, B, and C.

Any page title followed by an asterisk is as complete as I can make it for this first go-round. Once I have at least basic information and/or photos on all pages, then I’ll plan to go through a second time and add in whatever I can distill from hundreds of pages of related e-files I’ve been keeping from years of studying the media systems of LOTR. Probably the third go-round will be to create resource indexes to make it easier to cross-reference whatever sources address particular product items, promotions, or filming processes. Also, I may post sections of any analysis I have written on “mediating the stories of Middle-earth” and conclusions about adapting a literary work to multiple kinds of concrete, visual, and digital media.

One recent addition of special interest: Decipher RPG – I’ve added a large number of details on the roleplaying game products in Decipher’s series, along with photos or scans of almost all items. Another time, I’ll add the very few missing photos of the entire contents from several roleplaying box sets. So, this is now one of the most complete pages in the entire LOTR Collector Notes site, and it offers a mini-case study in what I hope to do with creating Collector Note pages.

What’s Next?

I’m looking forward to finishing two new pages on key artists who created props for The Lord of the Rings, and adding those in soon:

• Daniel Reeve was the official calligrapher and cartographer for the LOTR film trilogy. His maps appear in Decipher RPG maps, Decipher CCG cards featuring Tengwar (Elven) script, the Film New Zealand press kit, etc. His artisanship is astounding, and I’m looking forward to seeing his work again in the forthcoming Hobbit film duology.
• Jens Hansen Ringmaker currently gives an index to a brief video interview with Thorkild Hansen – Jens’ son – about their studio’s design and construction of various versions needed for The One Ring. It also includes their official website. I’ve got a couple of promotional print pieces from the Hansens’ studio to digest, photograph, and add.

Meanwhile, I’ll also continue “processing” other items in my collection to list sets and such on eBay, and also post materials here.

What’s on eBay?

This weekend through early next week, I have eBay listings for the remainder of my Middle-earth Roleplaying game (MERP) books, maps, and catalogs; some Decipher Roleplaying Game items; and several trading card sets (Buzzy/FOTR and Bassett/TTT). I’m also posting some exceptionally hard-to-find items from the LOTR Stage Musical productions from Toronto and London.

Purchase of my LOTR eBay items – and my listings from similar media/website projects on Harry Potter (forthcoming), Max Headroom, and other cultural icons – will help me “buy time” to create detailed resources and finish these virtual museum sites. (And I estimate that I am less than a third done with this LOTR site!)

Thanks for your interest, and P.S. a shout out happy 40th birthday today to Sean Astin!

What’s New and What’s Next? RPGs ~ Role Playing Games

What’s New?

After a fairly significant break, it looks like I’m back on track to begin processing and posting more about products based on Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. I’m pretty excited about the ramping-up of prep work on his duology of “The Hobbit,” which begins filming next month. Finally.

So, it’s a good time to be delving into my LOTR collection and, actually, selling parts of it on eBay as I finishing studying them. My tentative plan is to alternate among various card sets, games, promotional items, and press materials for a while. As I finish adding a new page or expanding an old one, I’ll likely add links here … or just subscribe and get the updates as they happen. (The “Subscribe me!” button is just below the search bar.)

I’m starting with Role Playing Games. See some introductory comments at the bottom of this post.

What’s Next?

Not quite sure yet. Possibly Decipher RPGs and CCGs, maybe LOTR chirashi – Japanese flyers, brochures, and programmes. Stay tuned …

What’s on eBay?

This weekend [Sunday 5:30-6:30 PM, PST], I’ll be listing a series of Iron Crown Enterprise “Middle-earth Role Playing” (MERP) boxed game sets and sourcebooks. Auctions will close the weekend of February 19-20, and you’ll find links to specific items on my Matrixman2 “Me” page.

~ Role Playing in Middle-earth ~

Licensing History of Middle-earth Role Playing Games

Although my LOTR Collector Notes site features products based on the Peter Jackson film trilogy of The Lord of the Rings, sometimes background on other sources and systems helps give the context in which these products were released. This is the case with Role Playing Games (RPGs) and Tradeable (or Trading) Card Games (TCG) / Collectible Card Games (CCG). (When the time comes, I’ll delve into other kinds of games/board games based on The Lord of the Rings.)

Iron Crown Enterprises (ICE) developed numerous resources in their Middle-earth Role Playing (MERP) gaming system from 1982-1999. They also published the Middle-earth Collectible Card Game (MECCG), starting in 1995. ICE lost the license to publish LOTR/Middle-earth products in 2000.

Decipher, Inc., was later licensed to create role playing game and CCG products based on The Lord of the Rings. They issued their first RPG components in their series in 2002 and the last one in 2006. The release for the first of Decipher’s CCG series (November 2001) coincided with final publicity for The Fellowship of the Ring, which was in theatres the next month. The last CCG series was released in June 2007. Both RPGs and CCGs from Decipher made extensive use of photography and artwork (such as line-drawing versions of LOTR characters) from the film trilogy.

Decipher’s licensing rights to LOTR expired in 2007, and the last vestiges of their online support for both product lines disappeared within the next few years. For the online version of the CCG, the servers finally shut down in June 2010. The Wikipedia article on Decipher links to the web archive of press release information on Decipher’s “Ending Long Run” with the LOTR TCG.

According to a January 2010 press release from Cubicle 7, the licensing for LOTR role playing games transferred to Cubicle 7 and Sophisticated Games, which are developing The One Ring RPG. It was due to be released in the second half of 2010 and there seem to be no progress reports available as of early 2011. Perhaps there will be more news after filming of “The Hobbit” begins in March 2011 …

More about MERP

From a 1993 Iron Crown Enterprises catalog:

ICE has seen to it that role players have been able to game in the world of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth® for over ten years – and what a journey it has been!

With our immensely popular Middle-earth Role Playing™ (MERP™) game, players are able to readventure in the greatest fantasy setting of all time. But MERP is only the beginning of ICE’s legacy in Middle-earth. Over the last decade, ICE has published over 50 adventure sourcebooks detailing specific areas in western and southern Middle-earth, making it the most heavily supported fantasy game universe in the industry. That’s a fact we’re very proud of.

ICE has produced ready-to-run adventures, campaign books, fortress modules, city sourcebooks, tomes of famous peoples, treasures and beasts, maps, and even an art book. Whatever you’re looking for in Middle-earth, ICE is bound to have something on it.

As always, all Middle-earth products are usable with either the MERP rules set, or our acclaimed Rolemaster game.

From a 1997 Iron Crown Enterprises catalog:

ICE’s Middle-earth Series is the best developed role playing world ever produced. Based on the richest environment in fantasy literature, this classic but ever-changing line is fifteen years old and now available in twelve different languages. The vast array of Middle-earth Role Playing™ (MERP™) products provides everything an adventure gamer needs and is also attractive to Tolkien fans and collectors. You can choose from game aids, sourcebooks, campaign aids, maps, and atlases! … Well supported and thoroughly documented by a wide array of products, Middle-earth remains the best choice in fantasy adventure game settings!

More about Decipher

Here’s my page with details on the Decipher RPG system.

Here’s my page with details on the Decipher CCG system.

What’s New and What’s Next? September 22, 2010

What’s New?

Happy birthday to Bilbo and Frodo Baggins!

It’s an appropriate day for the “go live” launch of this LOTR Collector Notes blog. I’ve been working toward this for over four months, and here we are at last. So, consider this a Hobbitlerish gift as if it were my birthday, too. And no mathum this is, I hope!

There are many pages that note details and/or images are still forthcoming. I’ve kept some of those otherwise blank pages posted so you’ll know that more material is on the way, as soon as I can get to it!  (There are many pages that are in draft form, so they won’t yet be posted, and those are longer-term projects.)

Thoughts – What’s in a Name? Part 2

As I mentioned in a previous What’s New and What’s Next? post, I almost named this site the Gaderung of Galador – but, like, who was gonna be able to remember that? So I settled for the functional, if bland, “Lord of the Rings Collector Notes,” and may use a similar approach for additional media collector note sites I develop.

Still, I really do like the subtitle of this blog: “Mediating the Stories of Middle-earth.” Part of what I’ve found so intriguing about Professor Tolkien is that he encouraged (and seems to have expected) others to take up the history and mythos of Middle-earth, and develop their own imaginative cultural products – i.e., media – from it. And so, sure enough, The Lord of the Rings has inspired artisans, mediators, and storyers in just about every conceivable direction.

Study the different theories of learning styles, for instance, and you’ll see that there is some kind of LOTR toy or game  or collectible that fits for someone with a particular learning style preference. Okay, so, take Multiple Intelligences from Howard Gardner. Those who are “word smart” would enjoy the books by Tolkien and print materials on various subjects related thereto. Those who are “picture smart” would enjoy the films, the coloring pages (they’re not just for “kids” yuh know!), the vivid artwork of the heroic Rohirrim banners. Those who are “body smart” might find themselves in the midst of live-action role-play games and maybe even board games. Those who are “people smart” might be fascinated with some of the Middle-earth Personality Type assessments that fans have created. And what kinds of other Tolkiniana might appeal to those who are music smart, nature (pattern) smart, logic (and math) smart, and self smart?

This amazing diversity of cultural production is one key reason I got involved with The Lord of the Rings universe in the first place, to create my own selected collection that illustrated different kinds of “smart.”

P.S. As my friend Kathy Koch of Celebrate Kids, Inc., notes, the important question is not “How smart am I?” but “How am I smart?“ When we know our unique learning style design, it can certainly make maturing in those gifts much, much easier … and who could’ve guessed that J.R.R. Tolkien provided a framework so vivid and so comprehensive that it could support cultural development in so many different directions?!

Back to the meanings of “mediating the stories of Middle-earth.” I’m sure there is much more to that concept, and how we as people carry … mediate … the storylines of what we become through our own epic interactions. Perhaps that’s a thought for the next “what’s new and what next?” post …

What’s Next?

I have begun the long-term process of cataloging and describing most of my cultural media collections. Originally, I had intended to start a “cultural studies center,” and so, in the early 1990s, I began bringing together books that I thought would be relevant to creating a core collection – everything from books about cultures, to materials from subcultures (think alt.culture and a few do-it-yourself Punk Rock fanzines), to films. I started searching on eBay in the late 1990s, and expanded the collection to other kinds of media – board games, simulations games, press kits, etc. – when I found something I thought would work well in training the “cultural geographers” of the future.

But sometimes dreams become transformed, even as they transform us. It isn’t that I’ve lost the interest in a cultural studies center, it’s just that it’s going virtual instead of IRL. That way, I’ll be freed up to travel as needed to mentor next generations of futurists, culturologists, activists, and ecologists.

So … onward and upward! First, The Lord of the Rings Collector Notes. Next, Max Headroom. And Harry Potter. And Captain Planet and the Planeteers. And …

What’s on eBay?

For links to LOTR items I have listed on auction this week, see my eBay About Me page. This week, I’ve posted:

Lord of the Rings Fan Club, Full Set of 18 Fan Club Magazines

Rare LOTR Lays-Tazo Miniature Trading Cards from Poland

Rare Neca “Mines of Moria” Pewter Goblet LOTR, Unused

Lord of the Rings ROTK Gollum Ceramic Tile, Sealed

Air New Zealand LOTR Poster-Postcard-Press Release Set

Perhaps you’ll find something of interest to add to your own concrete collection, or check the LOTR Collector Note site links to see my virtual collection!

What’s New and What’s Next? June 24, 2010

What’s New?

It’s been nearly a month since I set up the initial format for LOTR Collector Notes.  Each week since, I’ve filled in a few more details, added more pages, run more scans, and posted more images. Good to see things grown, even if ever-so-gradually.

Meanwhile, I’ve done enough experimenting to see what I do and don’t like, and there are definitely ways to improve this. I do like using some of the Middle-earth fonts – such as “Fellowship” for the blog header of “LOTR Collector Notes,” and others like “Party Business” for some of the page title displays. (Thanks to The Lord of the Rings Fonts for making these available! See other font sources on the Languages and Handwriting page.)

I like the overall format with all the page links on the right-hand side. You should’ve seen what they looked like when all the page tabs were at the top! This approach is a lot cleaner, and lets me put the indexes at the top of the list.

What’s Next?

Finally, I think it’s almost time to launch. Perhaps this weekend even! Well, perhaps not … before the official “go live and go public,” I still have loads of content to upload. So, will get to it and we’ll see there’s enough to warrant launching …

Thanks for dropping in …

Thoughts – What’s in a Name? Part 1

I almost named this blog “The Gaderung of Galador,” after the first Lord of Dol Amroth. Galador was a Númenórean, and Dol Amroth lay on the Bay of Belfalas. Gaderung is an Old English word used for a gathering together or a collection – usually of people, but then it makes sense that it could also be of items. It was a fun finding during a brainstorming session, but then, who would remember a blog title like that? So, the functional and more easily remembered – but slightly so-so – LOTR Collector Notes won out. But, I must say that as a trained linguist who enjoyed historical linguistics, Old Anglo-Saxon certainly has its charms.