The Lord of the Rings by Toy Biz: a retrospective.
First of all, I must thank all at Toy Biz for such a great toyline. Who would have thought that in this day and age, a line of six-inch action figures could have gone on this long, especially when the said line is based on a movie (or in this case, a trilogy.)
I remember the first time I saw these at TRU in August 2001 in their big green half-moon boxes. I had never seen such well-executed toys. They had everything- great sculpts and actor likenesses, spot-on paint, and they even had action features! This line was clearly being marketed towards older collectors and kids who wanted cool toys.
I bought the first two waves, except Strider whom I wouldn’t find until the next year.
As I looked at them, I was just thinking “man, this trilogy is going to kick ass.”
I was right about that. When the movie opened, lord help you to find these things at retail. Well, you could probably find stinkers like Newborn Lurtz and Orc Overseer pretty easily, but to hell with finding Frodo, Legolas, or Strider. (Funny thing- now that terrible Newborn Lurtz figure is one of the most expensive figures on the secondary market.)
I thought these two waves would be it for “The Fellowship of The Ring”. But there was one more wave of basic figures, plus another wave of two-packs for FOTR. A new Aragorn, Orc Warrior, Elrond, and Bilbo made up that third wave. Elrond and Bilbo would prove to be hard-to-find since most retailers skimped on wave 3. I think when they were supposed to order these from Toy Biz, the retailers had no idea how popular the line would prove to be. They remained difficult to find, even after Bilbo was put in a red Two Towers package and shipped with some of those assortments. Elrond became easier to find in early 2004 when TB switched to the slim packages.
One of the two-packs in this later series featured an armored Gimli, which Toy Biz used throughout the rest of the line. I guess they figured they found perfection here, and never improved on him.
The first deluxe packages came out here- a Cave Troll, Arwen with her horse, Asfaloth, a Ringwraith with his steed, and a nine-pack of the Fellowship. There’s an extremely rare version of this set with fabric cloaks around the figures’ necks, meant to simulate the cloaks given to them by the Elves. It’s an extremely rare find, and it’ll cost you a bundle to buy one should you ever find one.
When it came time for the next movie in the series, The Two Towers, the interest in the line was almost at a fever pitch. The first wave consisted of a Gondorian Ranger, Legolas in Rohan Armor, Faramir, and an Easterling. Legolas was reissued several times until the end of the line, but the remaining three are difficult to find and still fetch a pretty hefty price.
Three more waves followed this, releasing several characters quite integral to the story, and a few FOTR figures that weren’t ready in time for the green boxes. Those figures were Galadriel, Prologue Elven Warrior, and Twilight Ringwraith. This series wasn’t very easy to find, plus certain fans thought it would be fun to build an army with the Elf.
The next wave featured Gollum. The fans were excited to own him at last. Even though he was packed 8 per case (and a case only holds twelve figures) he sold well initially. His casemates, a new Legolas, King Theoden in Armor, and Sam in Mordor, proved to be difficult to obtain, especially Sam. Later, a kind-faced version was issued, named Smeagol. Both of these figures really started to sit around eventually, and were reissued twice, which is likely the reason the retailers eventually soured on the line.
This line also had its share of deluxe stuff- a two-foot tall Treebard (which has to be the neatest thing in the entire line), Aragorn with Brego, Gandalf and Shadowfax, and Sauron, who finally was released with the Two Towers toys. There was also a reissue of the Fellowship 9-pack, this time in a red box and no cloth cloaks for the heroes. It’s also the easiest version to acquire, should you choose to. I have one, and it’s a great looking piece.
The Two Towers line proved to be the line with the widest scope. Things started to get goofy with the Return of the King line.
Just like the previous two years, the first wave started showing up the August before the movie opened. The first wave consisted of Sam and Frodo in Orc Armor, and a Ceremonial Eomer, all from the last act of the film. Kind of strange for a first wave, but people were frothing at the mouth for LOTR toys, and nobody paid any attention to that part.
Wave two had another Gollum, but this one was better packed, plus it was different, using TB’s renowned super poseability instead of the bendy body used in the first figure. He still sat around. Most fans were far more interested in the rest of the wave, which had a Pelennor Fields Aragorn, Gandalf the White, and the first Eowyn figure, a holdover from the TTT line. Gandalf and Eowyn were packed at one per case, showing the fact that TB didn’t really know which characters people really wanted to buy, a symptom that started in the TTT line and continued until the end.
The last wave featured a reissue of the bendy Gollum, Eowyn in armor, an 8-inch tall Treebeard, and a Prologue Bilbo. Eowyn and Bilbo were the shortpacks, but eventually became easier to find. Odds are, if you ran a search on ebay looking for an Eowyn or Bilbo figure, these would likely be the least expensive and most plentiful versions on the site right now.
This line had some of the neater deluxe stuff. There was the Pelennor Fields Aragorn with an armored Brego, Legolas with Arod, and Sharku with a Warg beast, which is a neat piece. The Cave Troll was also modified and released as the Armored Troll, one of the beasts seen in TTT opening the Black Gate of Mordor. I never saw this particular Troll, but considering that my Cave Troll’s face is starting to disintegrate, I doubt I’ll worry about owning this piece.
Toy Biz also issued a Battle Troll in their rotocast figure line that started about this same time. This Troll is the only piece most people cared to own from the rotocast line, and sure enough, Toy Biz never offered enough, making it quite a rare find until the holiday season 2005 when Wal-Marts nationwide had an exclusive boxed set with this Troll inside.
There was also yet another reissue of the Fellowship 9-pack that was only available overseas, this time in a blue box. Toy Biz sure loved that idea, didn’t they?
In early 2004, Toy Biz relaunched the line as the Trilogy Collection. It was a mix of brand-new and reissued figures. It was a time where Toy Biz started doing their best work. They issued figures I never thought would have a chance to be made (King Elendil, Gil-Galad, 111th Birthday Bilbo, Smeagol as a hobbit, Hama, Theodred, Dark Galadriel, if you can think of it, odds are it was made in this line.)
Sadly, most of this fine work is difficult to find, since the retailers just weren’t on board with it. Which is tragic, since there was still a fair amount of demand for them, but big box retailers really don’t give two shits about a toyline whose movies had come and gone from theaters and were already on DVD.
Toy Biz again tried to reboot the line with two more series of figures under the Epic Trilogy banner. The first wave featured some excellent renditions of Aragorn and Frodo plus the Gondorian Soldier fans had been asking for since ROTK hit theaters. Too bad he ended up looking like a sex offender.
Wave 2 will not be coming to the United States, which really does suck. The only two figures worth owning from this series fetch an extremely high price on ebay, if you find them. I figured that I can live without these two, (a redone Eowyn and an Orc Commander with a skull on his helmet) since I have several Eowyn figures already, and Orcs pretty much all look the same.
For such a great line, it’s painful to see it go out with such a whimper. But they had a great run. The only two characters I can think of that Toy Biz didn’t make are Deagol (Smeagol’s cousin) and the Balrog, he whom NECA is making a figure-scale version of this year that will likely satisfy fan requests for this demon in toy form.
As much as I dislike the fact that I won’t be able to totally complete my collection, I’m happy to own a great line of figures that have become equally as classic as the films they were based on.
If you have any Epic Trilogy wave 2 figures for sale, please LMK. I can reward handsomely. :)
I remember the first time I saw these at TRU in August 2001 in their big green half-moon boxes. I had never seen such well-executed toys. They had everything- great sculpts and actor likenesses, spot-on paint, and they even had action features! This line was clearly being marketed towards older collectors and kids who wanted cool toys.
I bought the first two waves, except Strider whom I wouldn’t find until the next year.
As I looked at them, I was just thinking “man, this trilogy is going to kick ass.”
I was right about that. When the movie opened, lord help you to find these things at retail. Well, you could probably find stinkers like Newborn Lurtz and Orc Overseer pretty easily, but to hell with finding Frodo, Legolas, or Strider. (Funny thing- now that terrible Newborn Lurtz figure is one of the most expensive figures on the secondary market.)
I thought these two waves would be it for “The Fellowship of The Ring”. But there was one more wave of basic figures, plus another wave of two-packs for FOTR. A new Aragorn, Orc Warrior, Elrond, and Bilbo made up that third wave. Elrond and Bilbo would prove to be hard-to-find since most retailers skimped on wave 3. I think when they were supposed to order these from Toy Biz, the retailers had no idea how popular the line would prove to be. They remained difficult to find, even after Bilbo was put in a red Two Towers package and shipped with some of those assortments. Elrond became easier to find in early 2004 when TB switched to the slim packages.
One of the two-packs in this later series featured an armored Gimli, which Toy Biz used throughout the rest of the line. I guess they figured they found perfection here, and never improved on him.
The first deluxe packages came out here- a Cave Troll, Arwen with her horse, Asfaloth, a Ringwraith with his steed, and a nine-pack of the Fellowship. There’s an extremely rare version of this set with fabric cloaks around the figures’ necks, meant to simulate the cloaks given to them by the Elves. It’s an extremely rare find, and it’ll cost you a bundle to buy one should you ever find one.
When it came time for the next movie in the series, The Two Towers, the interest in the line was almost at a fever pitch. The first wave consisted of a Gondorian Ranger, Legolas in Rohan Armor, Faramir, and an Easterling. Legolas was reissued several times until the end of the line, but the remaining three are difficult to find and still fetch a pretty hefty price.
Three more waves followed this, releasing several characters quite integral to the story, and a few FOTR figures that weren’t ready in time for the green boxes. Those figures were Galadriel, Prologue Elven Warrior, and Twilight Ringwraith. This series wasn’t very easy to find, plus certain fans thought it would be fun to build an army with the Elf.
The next wave featured Gollum. The fans were excited to own him at last. Even though he was packed 8 per case (and a case only holds twelve figures) he sold well initially. His casemates, a new Legolas, King Theoden in Armor, and Sam in Mordor, proved to be difficult to obtain, especially Sam. Later, a kind-faced version was issued, named Smeagol. Both of these figures really started to sit around eventually, and were reissued twice, which is likely the reason the retailers eventually soured on the line.
This line also had its share of deluxe stuff- a two-foot tall Treebard (which has to be the neatest thing in the entire line), Aragorn with Brego, Gandalf and Shadowfax, and Sauron, who finally was released with the Two Towers toys. There was also a reissue of the Fellowship 9-pack, this time in a red box and no cloth cloaks for the heroes. It’s also the easiest version to acquire, should you choose to. I have one, and it’s a great looking piece.
The Two Towers line proved to be the line with the widest scope. Things started to get goofy with the Return of the King line.
Just like the previous two years, the first wave started showing up the August before the movie opened. The first wave consisted of Sam and Frodo in Orc Armor, and a Ceremonial Eomer, all from the last act of the film. Kind of strange for a first wave, but people were frothing at the mouth for LOTR toys, and nobody paid any attention to that part.
Wave two had another Gollum, but this one was better packed, plus it was different, using TB’s renowned super poseability instead of the bendy body used in the first figure. He still sat around. Most fans were far more interested in the rest of the wave, which had a Pelennor Fields Aragorn, Gandalf the White, and the first Eowyn figure, a holdover from the TTT line. Gandalf and Eowyn were packed at one per case, showing the fact that TB didn’t really know which characters people really wanted to buy, a symptom that started in the TTT line and continued until the end.
The last wave featured a reissue of the bendy Gollum, Eowyn in armor, an 8-inch tall Treebeard, and a Prologue Bilbo. Eowyn and Bilbo were the shortpacks, but eventually became easier to find. Odds are, if you ran a search on ebay looking for an Eowyn or Bilbo figure, these would likely be the least expensive and most plentiful versions on the site right now.
This line had some of the neater deluxe stuff. There was the Pelennor Fields Aragorn with an armored Brego, Legolas with Arod, and Sharku with a Warg beast, which is a neat piece. The Cave Troll was also modified and released as the Armored Troll, one of the beasts seen in TTT opening the Black Gate of Mordor. I never saw this particular Troll, but considering that my Cave Troll’s face is starting to disintegrate, I doubt I’ll worry about owning this piece.
Toy Biz also issued a Battle Troll in their rotocast figure line that started about this same time. This Troll is the only piece most people cared to own from the rotocast line, and sure enough, Toy Biz never offered enough, making it quite a rare find until the holiday season 2005 when Wal-Marts nationwide had an exclusive boxed set with this Troll inside.
There was also yet another reissue of the Fellowship 9-pack that was only available overseas, this time in a blue box. Toy Biz sure loved that idea, didn’t they?
In early 2004, Toy Biz relaunched the line as the Trilogy Collection. It was a mix of brand-new and reissued figures. It was a time where Toy Biz started doing their best work. They issued figures I never thought would have a chance to be made (King Elendil, Gil-Galad, 111th Birthday Bilbo, Smeagol as a hobbit, Hama, Theodred, Dark Galadriel, if you can think of it, odds are it was made in this line.)
Sadly, most of this fine work is difficult to find, since the retailers just weren’t on board with it. Which is tragic, since there was still a fair amount of demand for them, but big box retailers really don’t give two shits about a toyline whose movies had come and gone from theaters and were already on DVD.
Toy Biz again tried to reboot the line with two more series of figures under the Epic Trilogy banner. The first wave featured some excellent renditions of Aragorn and Frodo plus the Gondorian Soldier fans had been asking for since ROTK hit theaters. Too bad he ended up looking like a sex offender.
Wave 2 will not be coming to the United States, which really does suck. The only two figures worth owning from this series fetch an extremely high price on ebay, if you find them. I figured that I can live without these two, (a redone Eowyn and an Orc Commander with a skull on his helmet) since I have several Eowyn figures already, and Orcs pretty much all look the same.
For such a great line, it’s painful to see it go out with such a whimper. But they had a great run. The only two characters I can think of that Toy Biz didn’t make are Deagol (Smeagol’s cousin) and the Balrog, he whom NECA is making a figure-scale version of this year that will likely satisfy fan requests for this demon in toy form.
As much as I dislike the fact that I won’t be able to totally complete my collection, I’m happy to own a great line of figures that have become equally as classic as the films they were based on.
If you have any Epic Trilogy wave 2 figures for sale, please LMK. I can reward handsomely. :)
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BloodRock