Shinji
rare
nai

It is as good a reason as I can think of.me_in_japan wrote:are they doing it on purpose, do you think? I mean, maybe they got tied in to a contract with New Line, and now HAVE to make a Hobbit range. Having consulted their lawyers, they have decided to let loose their trainee sculptors on the range, because hey, a bit o practice never did anybody any harm. Likewise the crazy prices. Some bean counter somewhere suggested it, and the management said "hey, why not? Let's see, just out of curiosity, how far we can push people."
Seriously, though - they have got to be targeting a different demographic with this range. The new 40k really seemed to tick a lot of boxes amongst the more experienced gamers, and the DV box also went down very well (and having seen the box badruck very kindly brought over and allowed me to unwrap, heh) I can vouch for them being absolutely superb sculpts. This new hobbit crap, though, just seems to be a quick buck from the newbies kinda product. I dunno, it's pure speculation, but I get the impression that there isnt going to be much long term support for the range. Get the punters in, sell em overpriced junk, and if they can cream off 1 in 10 over to fantasy/40k, then all to the good.