The Lord of the Rings

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The Countdown Collection Cards are Coming!

Academy Award-Winning Team Weta Workshop Charged With Project

Hot on the heels of the Academy Awards sweep by The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Decipher is proud to announce that Weta Workshop, the Academy Award-winning special effects studio responsible for creating the props and special effects used in the Lord of the Rings films, will create unique photographic images that will be featured on cards in The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game.

Many of you have wondered why the "book cards" from the Countdown Collection promotion have been delayed and now that the Academy Awards are over, we can finally tell you the exciting news from behind the scenes. Over the past few months, Weta Workshop has been casting actors and actresses, creating costumes and props, and setting scenery for the images of these cards. The photo shoots are done, and you'll very soon be able to see all four cards! Included in this set of four preview cards is Tom Bombadil, the enigmatic character who saved the Hobbits before they got to Bree in the first novel of the J.R.R. Tolkien epic; Goldberry, Tom Bombadil's wife; Radagast the Brown, Gandalf's wizard peer; and Glorfindel, the original elf who took Frodo to Rivendell.

"We are extremely honored to have Weta involved in bringing these characters to life through our trading card game," said Warren Holland, Decipher's Chief Executive Officer. "Richard Taylor and his team in New Zealand have created some of the most outstanding special effects in the history of film. We are looking forward to the wonders that they will create for our game, further extending Middle-earth for TCG players, as well as J.R.R. Tolkien fans and collectors."

Richard Taylor, Academy Award winner and Director of Weta Workshop, was directly responsible for this process. "Weta Workshop is very excited about the challenge of creating these wonderful new characters for Decipher's Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game. We wanted to create many of these characters for the films, but obviously the limitations of screen time prevented that from happening. These are characters the fans have been clamoring to see and now they can exclusively through Decipher's game." He continued, "Staying loyal to the words of J.R.R. Tolkien has been enormously important to us in everything that we have created for the film trilogy – and we intend to do the same with the images that we will create for Decipher." The "book cards" feature the Weta Workshop logo in honor of their involvement.

Customers who participated in the Countdown Collection program will be receiving their binders and preview cards this spring. And be sure to stay tuned to decipher.com for a series of interviews and articles about the making of The Lord of the Rings TCG "book cards" over the next few weeks.

March 1, 2004

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