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Indeed.
One of the things that strikes me about the list is it reminds me greatly of the Star Wars figures I had as a kid. Back in the day, when Empire Strikes Back came out, they brought out toys for all the important ships, figures and vehicles. Then they brought out a bunch of other things which, I suppose, you'd call them "thematic" releases. I like to imagine some of them were based on production drawings, but really, they were just extra cruft to make you buy things. They also had odd playsets which had absolutely nothing to do with the story of the movie, but everything to do with the idea of the intellectual-property-as-merchandise. I was a bit of a canon-freak, even back then. What is that, I wondered. Why is it there? Later, I'd come across the same thing in arcade style Star Wars computer games.
Which brings us right back to The List. The List included things that were not in the public domain at the time of its release. Things people complained about on The List have been alluded to or confirmed: Dain's boars, for example. Whoever made it had some deeper idea of what the movies might involved. I do suspect that the List might be a bunch of leaked test products: as in the production team mapped out ideas they would like to explore, and then that was leaked.
That being said, I suspect this movie cycle will see a lot more "intellectual-property-as-merchandise" and more ruthlessly exploited this time around. As I've said for years, the LOTR merchandise phenomenon walked off a cliff a few months after the Return of the King extended edition came out. Suddenly, bargain bins were full of LOTR stuff. (Not, alas, figures, RPGs or cards, though) Anyone buying merchandising licenses this time is going to want to hit the ground running, hit hard, hit fast and spam every possible thing before the market dries up. Which means, I suspect, more "thematic" releases. Hell, GW did just this with its first boxed set. Last Alliance elves and men squared off against Goblins. Never mind that The Last Alliance was a minute or two of screen time in a long movie. Never mind that the four big heroes of the scene appear for mere seconds (Gil Galad and Elendil's extra moments were cut). Never mind that we see Elrond in armour for just that moment, but we see him for longer dressed otherwise.
We were expected to play our first battles Last Alliance vs Goblins. Towards the end of the first Fellowship rulebook there was a perfect "Thematic" scene, in which the Fellowship, some Wood Elves and Haldir take on a horde of Moria Goblins and Nazgul. Never happened in the book or movie, but its a splendid photo nonetheless. GW and other license holders will probably use a lot more "thematic" elements this time around. They have already paid for the rights to make licenses of the characters, so why not have mini fight games (like the new LOTR video game)? Adventure boxes?
If the figures are any good, though, they'll make excellent conversion material, if nothing else.
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Dreaming of getting back to painting...any month now.
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"Leave Sauron to me."
