- Magnets

Magnets

Magnets are kind of an iffy prospect. There were some clearly licensed magnets, notably those produced by Attaboy in Mexico, for the US market. But there were also a whole schlew of magnets from Thailand. The first few batches seemed legit, appearing to be special prodcutions for some of the Thai theatres to lure moviegoers into seats, but the further into the trilogy we got, the more questionnable the magnets became, until they were pretty obviously just fan-made productions, churned out for a quick buck on Ebay. I've tried to pinpoint them as best I could, but some of these are just guesses.

USA Attaboy extensive series of fridge magnets, made in Mexico, and sold at Spencer's and other gift shops
USA Attaboy magnet sets, made in Mexico, sold in USA
Epson Corp promo magnets
USA Starz Cable Network promo magnet
New Zealand Hobbiton Film Site
France DVD release magnet set
USA New Line Cinema
USA Wal-Mart ROTK DVD release magnets, given out the first day of release. Center oval pops out, creating a picture frame with the remaining magnet.
Thailand Licensed Theatre magnets These were given to ticket buyers in Thailand, as a premium to sell tickets. These were often slipcovered in plastic pouchs, which had theatre chain stickers or other markings. Licensed Thai items had clear trademarks on the face of the magnet.
Thailand After seeing how much money magnets were fetching on Ebay, there was a rush to produce homemade magnet sets. Some sellers boldly tried to pass them off as licensed, others skirted the issue by not saying anything one way or the other. The easiest way to spot a bootleg magnet is when there is no licensing info. New Line was (naturally) very particular about having their trademark on everything. Another red flag is series of a single character, like these Legolas magnets. Poor quality, or fuzzy trademark line is also an indicator.
China Bootleg magnet
Thailand Questionnable Sets Could be licensed, but more than likely are bootleg
Thailand probably licensed
Thailand Looks good, but poor quality, and fuzzy trademark indicate bootleg