This just arrived from a contact in Wellington:

“Not sure if this is anything too important, but just so you know how many different toys they’re making, I know Ted Sandyman (played by Brian Sergeant) has been made into a toy – and he seems to be a very small character… can we expect to see similar small characters, maybe some other minor Hobbits?”

My thought was, well, yes, maybe. But on the other hand,without including the Scouring of the Shire in the movie, Ted’s character has a miniscule presence in the story. Would they take things to that extreme? Or, as others have speculated, has Ted Sandyman’s role expanded to take on more of the mischief-making in the Shire, seeing as how Saruman ends up impaled on a spike at Isengard (and I’m fairly sure of my facts here)? My bet’s on the latter.