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NEWS RELEASE
DECIPHER TRADING CARD GAME STUDIO
THE LORD OF THE RINGS™ TRADING CARD GAME TO
FEATURE ORIGINAL IMAGES FROM WETA WORKSHOP
THE AWARD-WINNING STUDIO THAT CREATED SPECIAL EFFECTS
FOR THE FILM TRILOGY WILL DESIGN IMAGES OF CHARACTERS NOT YET SEEN EXCLUSIVELY
FOR THE TCG
(Norfolk, VA – March 8, 2004) – Decipher announced today that
Weta Workshop, the Academy Award-winning special effects studio responsible
for creating many props and special effects used in New Line Cinema's 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.
Under the terms of their agreement, Weta Workshop will cast, costume and
create character images that did not appear in the films for Decipher's
use in The Lord of the Rings TCG.
Current plans for character designs include: 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, Gandalf's
wizard peer; Glorfindel, the original elf who took Frodo to Rivendell; and
Elrohir and Elladan, sons of Elrond; among others.
"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, Director of Weta Workshop, said, "Weta Workshop is very
excited about the challenge of creating these wonderful new characters for
Decipher's The 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 first four cards to feature Weta's original images are bonus premium
cards from The Countdown Collection: Tom Bombadil, Goldberry, Radagast,
and Glorfindel. The Countdown Collection is a retail promotion that began
in August; the promotion offers players and collectors the opportunity to
earn 18 exclusive cards, a collector's binder designed to house the cards
earned through the promotion, and the four bonus cards bearing Weta's exclusive
designs that will ship this spring. The next Weta original image cards will
appear in the game in 2004.
Creating almost every aspect of Middle-earth, Weta Workshop designed and
produced over 1,200 hand-made suits of armor, 2,000 weapons, miniatures,
and prosthetic feet and ears that helped create the authenticity manifested
in the films. In addition, Weta was responsible for the creation of 12 major
creatures, including such computer-generated characters as Gollum and Treebeard.
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