User:Roguegeek/Articles/Corgi International Limited

Corgi International Limited

Founded	1956
Founder	Michael Cookson
Headquarters	Walnut Creek, CA , USA
Products	movie prop replicas collectibles
Parent	Corgi International
Website	http://www.masterreplicas.com/

Corgi Internation Limited (formerly knowns as Zindart International Limited) is a company with three distinct brands that manufacture different products such as movie prop replicas, die-cast collectibles, and gift and toy products. Corgi International also distributes trading cards and movie memorabilia through a separate brand.

History

Corgi was originally founded in 1956 in England and is one of the oldest marketers of collectible die-cast models of trucks, buses, cars and airplanes in the world with its principal markets of its products in the United Kingdom and Northern Europe. In July 1977, Corgi International Limited was incorporated in Hong Kong as a limited company under the Hong Kong Companies Ordinance initially to operate a manufacturing facility. In February 1997, the company’s ADSs were listed on the NASDAQ Global Market and the Company acquired Corgi in July 1999. In December 2006, Corgi International Limited sold their Zindart Manufacturing division. Corgi also operated a book and paper division, Hua Yang, which Corgi acquired in February 1998 and had sold in May 2004. In December 2006, Corgi acquired Cards Inc. and merged with Master Replicas.

After acquisitions, Corgi began the process of reclassifying product categories and channels of distribution to be more closely aligned with our strategic direction and organization structure of the company. Products are now grouped into three primary product categories: movie prop replicas are handled by the Master Replicas brand, die-cast collectibles are produced by Corgi, and gift and toy products are produced by PopCo. Corgi also distributes trading cards and movie memorabilia through the Cards Inc. brand.

Master Replicas

The Master Replicas brand (also known as MR) produce movie prop replicas and high end collectibles. Based in Walnut Creek, CA, the company was founded in 2003 by Michael Cookson. Cookson has served as Chairman of Master Replicas since it was founded and chief executive officer since August 2004. Historically, Master Replicas has sold its products principally to customers in the United States.

Master Replicas manufacture licensed product for brands and companies such Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, Disney, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Chronicles of Narnia, Marvel Comics, Muppets, and Stargate. Previous to January 2008, the company manufactured and sold product under the Star Wars brand before the license had expired. While many of their items are props at full-scale (particularly weapons like lightsabers, phasers, and swords), they also make many scale model items, like spaceships, and characters.

Master Replicas has also been commissioned to make items for corporations to resell on their own. For example, MR made a 1/6 scale Master Sword and Hylian Shield for Nintendo and Target Stores to coincide with the release of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

Force FX

Master Replicas is known for their Force FX product line which recreates various lightsabers used in the Star Wars movies. Examples include:

• Anakin Skywalker's blue lightsaber from Attack of the Clones
• Anakin Skywalker's blue lightsaber from Revenge of the Sith
• Darth Maul's red double-bladed lightsaber from The Phantom Menace
• Darth Maul's red battle damaged single-bladed lightsaber from The Phantom Menace
• Darth Vader's red lightsaber from A New Hope
• Darth Vader's red lightsaber from The Empire Strikes Back
• Luke Skywalker's blue lightsaber from A New Hope
• Luke Skywalker's blue lightsaber from The Empire Strikes Back
• Luke Skywalker's green lightsaber from Return of the Jedi
• Mace Windu's purple lightsaber from Revenge of the Sith
• Obi-Wan Kenobi's blue lightsaber from Revenge of the Sith
• Yoda's green lightsaber from Attack of the Clones

Cards Inc.

Cards Inc., based in Watford, England, was founded by Darren Epstein in 1989 and is a distributor of trading cards and pop culture memorabilia principally in the [[United Kingdom and Europe.