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"Middle Earth wizard painted as Saruman in his 'coat of many colours'; a vicious-looking man-orc; a rather stocky elf; axe-wielding dwarf, and of course, a hobbit. Dwarves are sold in strips of two, the second figure armed with a spear, hobbits in strips of three armed with sword, short sword and spear." - original caption |
In 1973, Miniature Figurines, perhaps better known as Minifigs, a British-based manufacturer of metal miniatures for wargames, began production on one of the first lines of fantasy miniatures. (Another very early line by Jack Scruby Miniatures is discussed in this recent article at Playing at the World.)
The line of 25 mm minis was called 'Mythical Earth' --- obviously inspired by Tolkien. The preview photo is from Airfix Magazine, August 1973, and shows some of the first figures in the line, including (from left to right) painted versions of ME4 Wizard, ME1 Man-Orc with Sword, ME2 Wood Elf with Bow, ME3 Dwarves (one of two figures) and ME6 Hobbits (one of thee). Chainmail was in existence at this time, but the publication of D&D in January 1974 was still a number of months away.
In the Playing at the World article linked above, Jon mentions that the "Mythical Earth" was not the original name for this line, but was a rebranding to avoid suit by the Tolkien Estate. This appears to be reflected in this preview as it only uses the name "Middle Earth" and not "Mythical Earth".
It's stunning to realize that when this article was first published, in August 1973, J.R.R. Tolkien was still alive, though not for long as he passed away the following month on September 2nd, 1973.
The preview was part of the "New kits and models" column in Airfix, author unlisted but probably Editor Bruce Quarrie or Editorial Director Darryl Reach:
"In their 25 mm range. Miniature Figurines have sent us the first samples in a new series of ‘Middle Earth' figures. Wargamers who are also addicted to Professor J. R. R. Tolkien's epic fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings will be delighted with these figures, which currently include a wizard, man-orc, dwarf, elf and hobbit, illustrated here. Future releases will include Riders of Rohan. Dunedain, and Nazgul mounted on pterodactyl-like winged beasts. Orcs and further examples both of the Free Peoples and Sauron's minions. Readers of Wargamers Newsletter will realise that there is considerable demand for fantasy figures of this type, and Miniature Figurines are to be congratulated on such an imaginative venture. The figures will undoubtedly be especially popular in America, where Tolkien is a great cult figure, and in this context it is worth noting that the firm are soon to be opening a factory in the States."Thanks to Shining Knight pointing out this article in this thread on the Dragonsfoot.
A pdf of the magazine can be found over on the Internet Archive.
A gallery of the entire Mythical Earth line can be seen on the Lost Minis wiki.
The line eventually grew to 101 figures. Despite the focus on Middle Earth, it had a few oddities, such as ME51 Frog Man (perhaps Gollum? But why avoid using his name when you already using Hobbit, Huorn, Rohan, Dunland and Harad?), ME100 Centaur, and the final figure ME101 Pan.
J. Eric Holmes owned minis from this line. I previously wrote about his Green-Painted ME58 Dragon and also about a ME4 Wizard in the photo from the Tales of Peril dust jacket.
(Article originally drafted in April 2018 but just revised & posted today)
Great article. Will share on Facebook.
ReplyDeleteSince this was a matter of recent discussion elsewhere, I'd note that the text below on that page says "Miniature Figurines have sent us the first samples in a new series of 'Middle Earth' figures." I take that to mean these were not production figures in August 1973; this article came out the same month as Featherstone's announcement in Wargamer's Newsletter that he had seen samples then of the forthcoming line.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, looking at the picture, the figures look a little different from the production ones, don't they? Like, the wizard's staff doesn't extend low enough.
Thanks for the further info, Jon. I did get the impression from the magazine text that these were not yet available for sale, so being pre-production samples make sense.
DeleteIt just looks like the staff was clipped immediately below the hand. If I remember right, it curved to join the base for casting reasons, and had to be clipped somewhere above the curve, with the curved part removed, to look right.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info. Doing a Google image search, I found another painted wizard where the staff is missing below the hand. The blogger says "The staff was both enormous and fragile".
DeleteMinifigs 25mm 'Mythical Earth' miniatures
Thanks for another fantastic article. Is there anyone making and selling re-casts of this line?
ReplyDeleteI was on holiday in the Isle of Wight say 1974 and saw these stamp collectors shop. I bought 3 - half orc, southron w spear and a dunlending with spear - though I didn’t have a clue what they were. A few weeks later a minifigs catalogue arrived and I was stunned to realise they were figures for LOTR. Some of the range was frankly rubbish, dealing with Minifigs by mail order a bit of an ordeal and as a 10 year old I didn’t have much spending power. A while later I played D&D in the local wargames club, when the Holmes Basic arrived I was made.
ReplyDeleteThese figures represent the real start of my wargaming and D&D playing.
You can get some of the figures from Caliver Books as they are releasing them slowly again
ReplyDeleteSorry! That’s still Miniature Figurines (I think they are now owned by Caliver?)
ReplyDeleteI recently came into ownership of about 150 of these old figures. I'll be sure to bring some to North Texas
ReplyDelete