future MS releases (for members eyes only)

I like this one very much, would buy for sure. xD

…and yes queen Merien looks very nice… I wonder if she has something in her hands….

Agreed! Queen Merien doesn’t ring any bell as a Tolkien character plus the design is just a repose of an old one, and then it is pricey. Posing is a bit static as usual but it seems to fit this miniature, sculpting is great, but concept is lacking.

Just googling for inspiration you may find tons of images, with different clothing and hair styles: Linky, Linky2, Linky3

Of course, they are two pair of shoes.
But if you want to possess that “simplicity of some of Chris sculpts”-as you call it Master Elf- you have to pay a quiet bunch of coiny things.
Of course- that is the company ho is to blamed and NOT Mr. Tubb. And I blame the company.
BUT that is not the only point. The figure is well done, no doubt- but very similar indeed to Arwen. So- I will NOT buy this figure, because I already have that Arwen figure.
So there is a kind of “circle” beginning . . .

The face seems nicely sculpted and the pose and the clothing are different from the other picture shown above.

Well spoken indeed, Master Milo. It could have been just from out of my mind.

I don’t know where this Queen Meriel comes from. If she is a Gondorian Queen of Late Third Age, you could argue Gondorian clothes are like that. Of course that unlikely because Gondor was ruled by Stewards in Late Third Age and, unlike Elves, some change is expected in Mannish cultures over the centuries (even if Middle-earth slow development is well known).

Speaking about homogenity, I’d rather would have appreciated Aragorn keeping the same height, as the Helm’s Deep version is significant smaller than very first one (which has the right height according to the books, by the way).

I understand you are hardcore fans of Mr. Tubb work and I respect that, but I think some Fellowship miniatures would appeal to a wider range of customers if:

– You can recognise it as a Middle-earth miniature. I think generic things like the Haradrim belly-dancer or woman feeding chickens would be great for Phaeton miniatures instead (and cheaper!). I’d add that as a condition for any Fellowship miniature suggestion.

– Mr Tubb thinks carefully the miniature outfit. Uniformity is great for Napoleonic armies, but in a “Dark Ages Fantasy” setting such Middle-earth it’s quite out of place (Trolls from Mirkwoof Battle range come to mind…). If it means to make some changes to the original design suggested by the winner, so be it. I may be wrong but I think a miniature company is about selling miniatures the more the better, so better please a wider number of customers rather than just one (or few). Then, checking the books for consistency would be awesome.

– Pose works as a single miniature. I mean the Silvan Elf may work if surrounded by trees and the Dwarf King would make sense if addressing a crowd, but they are single miniatures and they look odd.

Indeed, I can second Master Arthadan wholeheartedly. Uniformity is good for recognition, but once it becomes dogma in spite of better evidence, it begins to be a problem. I can remember older discussions on that topic, where the answer (IIRC from Mr. Tubb by proxy) was that the “erroneous” trappings and design features are consciously kept to maintain uniformity within the line. IMO this is an argument understandable from an artistic point of view but not at all from an Middle-earth aficionado’s one.

The plate armour thing comes to mind as the most obvious one, but also the differing heights for different mannish races (Dúnedain and Elves should be mostly markedly taller than “normal” men) or the troll design (remember the “scalish” hide at the Battle before the Morannon or toeless feet for the Troll in Moria) are worth mentioning.

Cheers
Tolwen

Style is one thing and important. What I personally (no longer) tolerate for a – pricey – Middle-earth miniature line are things that aren’t fixed even if the book/s upon which the line is supposedly based (OK a bit polemic but it needs to be said) definitely are at variance with the miniature design. Keeping this latter only “because we have always done it that way” is the point where I as someone looking for Middle-earth miniatures feel not serviced at all (and one could use other more direct terms also…).

That’s one of the reasons I stopped voting for minis (and especially buying them) that are likely to have all these annoying (at least for me) features that Mithril unfortunately still expresses after so many years.

IMO, if the claim to produce a *Middle-earth* line is taken seriously, such topics of the artist’s individual fulfilment should take second place.

Well, at least my 2c.

Cheers
Tolwen