It promised to be ‘unexpected’, and it is, but considering Weta’s been such a prominent ambassador for satyrs, fauns and prawns for a good part of this past decade (see: the Narnia movies), it’s not without some relative sense that they are offering performer stilts aka Weta Legs.

Weta Legs are a unique, low profile, professional grade reverse leg stilt for creature and costume performances in movies, television, theatre, circus, street performances and other creative performances. Something previously reserved for commercial film and television projects, they are the first of their kind available commercially to the public.

Satisfy your digitigrade fix and see these things in action at the product page.

…is what collectors have said in light of Weta Collectibles’ announcement that their Prince Caspian endeavors will be severely downsized from downsized demand. Whilst the line will not be entirely cancelled, there will be a reduction of up to 80% in edition sizes by limiting all statues to 100.

The initial strong interest in the Prince Caspian statues therefore didn’t translate into the number of pre-orders we were expecting based on ranges in the past. In fact, the Halo range that was only launched a few weeks ago has already by far exceeded the Caspian range, just to put it in perspective.

It’s sort of bad news wrapped in a candy shell– as the lower edition sizes may increase interest even as the line’s been dealt a death knell. It certainly is a deserved reward to those already committed.

Stubbed entirely, is the line of helmets. Hopefully Weta doesn’t take this as a sign to again retire the miniature helm range in any future product lines.

Weta’s Narnia helm ambitions were made clear today with the pre-orders of five helmets from both Wardrobe and Caspian. That’s an impressively restrained edition size of a paltry 1250 for the entirety of their Narnia helm line, assuming this is all to be produced- which sounds like it to me from tone of the wording. Impressive.

Attractively priced at $55 a piece, the line-up includes:

• Peter’s Helmet
• Edmund’s Helmet
• Lord Miraz’s Helmet
• Centaur Helmet
• Faun Helmet

[[updated]] Weta has reassured us that the helms are indeed 1/4 scale like their LOTR brethren, and not 1/6 as the press release initially stated.

The work of sculpting these pieces was shared by Neil Schrader and Daniel Cockersell and the helmets are cast in metal and hand painted to make incredible replicas of the actual props that Weta made for the movies.

These helmets are available exclusively from the Weta website and selected shows. The edition of each helmet is limited to 250 worldwide, so get in now to make sure you get the helmets you want.

Just a day after Weta not so subtly teased us with a hint, comes the unveil for the Reepicheep statue in their Prince Caspian line. Sculpted by Greg Tozer and limited to 500 worldwide.

I love what Weta has done with their second go-round in Narnia, scaling back the scope, trimming the fat as it were, with the omission of static maquettes and a severe edition size revamp; 300-500 for Caspian as compared with the thousands of Wardrobe.

‘Listened to fans’, they’ve humbly suggested… I think that’s great fan service, but it wouldn’t surprise me that the decisions came internally as a more logical approach that makes more fiscal sense. In any case, what matters is that it’s resulted in a tighter lineup where every piece shines brighter.

Still, it’s not all peaches and cream in the state of the franchise. A too-long two and a half year gap and a bizarre summer slot amounted to major blunders on Disney’s part; A thumb-twiddling failure to capitalize on the massive momentum which amounted to a staggering lost of nearly half the audience. Caspian will end up grossing roughly 50% of what Wardrobe did, both domestically and internationally.

To say the least, this will not please many of those involved, least of all, the financiers. How much faith will Disney hold to Narnia?

• Reepicheep for pre-order at WetaNZ

Weta was kind enough to send along the press release today for their continuation of the Narnia range with Prince Caspian, along with a partial listing of confirmed collectibles to come. Although the first range (and film) ultimately did not grasp me, it’s hard to argue with how utterly stunning some of the pieces were. There is no mention yet of more maquettes (which I think is a good thing), and the addition of helms is always welcome.

Statues
-Prince Caspian
-Warrior Satyr
-Reepicheep

Mini-Bust
-Minotaur bust

Helmets
-1/4 scale helmets based on Prince Caspian and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

• Read the full press release at WetaNZ.com
• Preview the Warrior Satyr

On display: A petrified Tumnus sculpture (James McAvoy) and other K.N.B. effects group creatures from the motion picture, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

• See our other film prop galleries