June 2008 1st Round Vote is CLOSED.

[Michael O'Brien]

Chris has selected 9 glorious ideas this month from your suggestions and now it's your turn to support your favourite.
This vote is blind, in other words, you cannot see the current state of the vote until AFTER you vote.
This vote ends on the 25th of June at 16.00 BST so hurry. One vote per member.

The 2nd round starts on the 26th of June.

[Wendy]

The title King Dain in war gear sounds a lot like the M series figure. Just to clarify, the subject is Dain as King in the War of the Ring so he is very old (with very long beard tucked in his belt) and very hardy and dressed in kingly armor and such. The idea is he would be a compliment to King Brand as King Dain single handedly guarded the body of King Brand in the battle and died from the wounds received.

[Axe99]

Great suggestions guys

[ddaines]

Ellessar and the infant - these are the types of unique designs that makes Mithril collecting all the more pleasurable, so he gets my vote. ;D

[estel]

seems, that for the first time even an Orc has a chance to win.


Bilbo smoking pipe would be a nice Mithril-birthday-celebration- miniature!


NAMARIE
estel

[Shadyt]

The half-troll looks like he is going to the 2nd round!

[Gildor]

I noticed that once you vote, you can see the result now (and still retract from the vote during the 1st round).... If you can see the result after voting, and retract... then it is no more blind voting

Maybe an error appeared in this month's vote? Last months you could not see the results at this stage of the vote

Also, I am deeply interested in the Elessar with Eldarion infant but I must admit that - I have nothing against you twrich - a female assassin in Dol Amroth feels too odd and so far from the Tolkien "canon" that it would feel really strange to see it come to reality. That would be like... I don't know... a Dunadan Spy in the plains of Gorgoroth? (I mean, as far as I can't imagine some "stealthed good guy" in the lands of evil, I can't imagine a stealthed evil woman in a haven of peace....
Not to mention that a WOMAN assassin would be an abomination in JRRT way of thinking (if you take a closer look at the role of women in Tolkien way of thinking and universe, for example, Tolkien would never have given Arwen the role PJ give her in his movie... Eowyn is to be the sole exception)
Ok I was off topic but I thought I needed to say that
Once again , nothing personnal twrich... I just find the idea quite odd and too far from Tolkien canon , that's all.

[twrich]

Hello Gildor,

I certainly don't take it personal that you don't like my suggestion. Of course everyone has the right to their opinion and can vote accordingly.

Remember that Mithril was established some 20 years ago now to produce miniatures to be used in Middle-earth Roleplaying Adventures, not to produce only figures within a strict interpretation of a "Tolkien canon." This is what sustained Mithril in the early years, and many of the old fans of Mithril like me are now collectors and FG members (although probably most are not as vocal as I am). So if we vote for more named characters such as Aragorn, Eomer, Dain, etc., I will buy them--especially the ones that have never been made.

But for me, just because there is no mention in the finished publications about a female assassin of Dol Amroth doesn't mean she couldn't/didn't exist in his numerous unpublished notes and draft writings. Or that the reader couldn't wonder what Dol Amroth was really like, and imagine what variety of people must have lived there in Tolkien's world. JRR Tolkien himself wrote in a letter circa 1951 to his friend Milton Waldman: "I would draw some of the great tales in fullness, and leave many only placed in the scheme, and sketched. The cycles should be linked to a majestic whole, and yet leave scope for other minds and hands, wielding paint and music and drama..."

By Tolkien's own words we are not to limit ourselves only to what happened to make the final printings of the Books. And I also take this to include going beyond an idealized version of women, as Eowyn is a perfect example of the opposite view, and perhaps isn't the "sole exception," just the only one to make it into the final printed version of the Lord of the Rings. Remember also that Tolkien is on record several times as saying the only criticism of this work that he entirely agreed with was that it was too short!!! What other adventures might have been included if this was a five, seven, or even ten volume set?

So, as a member of a group, I understand, and even can agree with sometimes, those who would prefer to keep Chris busy with characters that are actually named in the books; but then again, how would a Half-Troll standard bearer (which I'd like to see some day) be any more canonical than an assassin from a large teeming metropolis like Dol Amroth who happens to be a female? These are the two highest vote getters so far. And a Dunadan spy in Gorgoroth, Gildor--why not? Especially in the days before Sauron was at full strength. This would be a good suggestion in the future. We know that the Kings of Minas Tirith watched over the lands of Mordor after Sauron's defeat, and that would obviously entail sending spies onto the Plains of Gorgoroth. Aragorn himself could qualify as a "Dunadan Spy"--he went by the name Thorongil, and when he left Gondor after leading the ambush that destroyed the fleet of Umbar, he crossed over the Anduin and was last seen "facing the Mountains of Shadow" (Appendix A, ROTK). He has been suggested for production by other FG members. The entire work of Tolkien is about the unreal, the unlikely!

So I say "Go Female Assassin of Dol Amroth!" And let the FG members decide what is produced this month!

[barliman]

Let the membership decide by all means - that's what the Fellowship is all about - but I'm with Gildor 100% on this one. Female assassins in JRRT's world? I don't imagine the possibility even flickered through his mind! And it need hardly be said that a lack of evidence to the contrary is no proof that something necessarily existed - though, admittedly, it does leave the door wide open for our imaginations to wander far and free. No, for me, steely-eyed knife-toting ladies belong to Sword and Sorcery pulp fiction, not to Middle-earth. I shall now withdraw to the cellar in The Pony and earnestly hope that none come looking for me...

[Gildor]

vote will tell but I agree, anybody is free to suggest what he desires

I will buy it anyway since I collect them all but I honestly don't see where an "assassin" would fit in Middle earth universe.... Now for sure I could use the figurine for a female human rogue in my Dungeons & dragons parties certainly not for tolkien

[Michael O'Brien]

Jun 23, 2008 14:25:30 GMT Gildor said:

I noticed that once you vote, you can see the result now (and still retract from the vote during the 1st round).... If you can see the result after voting, and retract... then it is no more blind voting

A mistake on my part, I must have clicked the option of retracting voting by mistake somehow. Sorry. I will try to avoid that in future. Unfortunately I cannot fix it. So this month the option exists but all you need to do is not use it.