Anne C. Petty, a notable J.R.R. Tolkien scholar, writer, editor, publisher and friend died from cancer on July 21. Petty lived in Florida and is survived by her daughter. She is perhaps best known for her book “One Ring to Bind Them: Tolkien’s Mythology,” but those who knew her will remember her best for her fun and down-to-earth nature.
TheOneRing.net had the honor of calling her friend via several of our staffers. She was invited to and spoke at our own One Ring Celebration (ORC) and was a frequent Tolkien guest at Dragon Con in Atlanta where we had the pleasure of knowing her on a more personal level. Although she was a scholar with all the academic credentials (Ph.D. in English, Florida State University) she never thought any other Tolkien fan or their opinion or feelings were any less important than her own.
Anne loved anime and she showed up at Dragon Con’s annual Middle-earth party night in her head-to-toe fox costume, making a point to greet those of us who knew her, despite our inability to recognize her at all. She would alert us to her costume the following day if we didn’t catch on at the event. She also had a taste for the darker parts of entertainment, a characteristic she wasn’t afraid to share.
Petty delivered interesting Tolkien themed lectures frequently at DragonCon and was always willing to listen to audience questions and responses. She wrote “Tolkien in the Land of Heroes: Discovering the Human Spirit,” and “Dragons of Fantasy: Scaly Villains & Heroes of Modern Fantasy Literature,” that included a section on Tolkien’s dragons that TORn favorably reviewed.
We featured at least two longer interviews with her in our own Green Books. Please see Part One and Part Two.
After repeated exposure to Anne at Dragon Con and other conventions, she evolved into a personal friend of several of our staffers including our own Balin/Greg, who also died of cancer and for whom we always buy a drink at the annual celebration of popular culture. I had the chance to know Anne on a deeper level and even met and chatted with her daughter who visited the convention one year. I wrote the following about her in 2005 as part of the summary of the whole Tolkien part of the convention:
Dr. Anne “Just Anne” Petty was also part of the Tolkien track and was kind enough to join a group of us for dinner at the Hard Rock Café after the convention was winding down. I admit I was a bit chagrined that we were taking somebody I considered of grandmother age and who deserved respect as a genuine Tolkien scholar to such an undignified and loud joint. A short time into the meal it was discovered she is a closet hard rock / heavy metal fan who has toured around with Yngwie Malmsteen http://www.yngwie.org/ and considers herself a surrogate grandmother to the Swedish guitar virtuoso. She is extremely fond of Danzig, System of a Down, Ramstien and a gaggle of other just-as-unlikely bands. I joked that she probably knew Norweigen death-metal bands and she proceeded to name one that she likes. Consider her officially outed and look for her name in the “thank yous” on the Malmsteen disc. Those present urged her to use “Metal Mamma” as her TORn board and chat room handle.
In successive years we shared more con-meals and our mutual love for Tolkien and the most unlikely of music made us comfortable friends. It is with some shame that I can’t claim to have kept in better touch and I didn’t realize her time was so limited. She last updated her personal blog on May 22 with a headline of “Staying Alive,” and I am confident the irony of that would tickle her now.
While we have lost our friend, the whole of the Tolkien community has lost one its voices and much more importantly one of its spectacular people. We at TheOneRing.net wish her family and friends peace.
After Bombur fans were left in limbo as to who would be the next Dwarven statue released by Weta Workshop. Just before Comic-Con 2013 we got the answer to this question. One half of Thorin’s Company version of Happy Hobbit has gone up for order and reached our shelves. The member of the company who is landing now is none other than Kili. This is the second Dwarven statue to be a limited edition piece with only 1000 pieces worldwide.
PACKAGING
The overall graphic layout for Kili’s box stays the same as we’ve seen with previous entries in the line. Per the format we’ve come to know the front of the box gives you a great shot of Kili, graphic work for the title of the movie, and of course the Weta logo. The sides of the box for Kili also present a familiar format with different looks at the statue. While the other side of the box presents some of the various products you can get for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey line of collectibles. The back of the box contains a great story on Kili as well as information regarding details of the character and statue. The Styrofoam on the inside is typical with what we’ve come used to getting with these statues.
SCULPTING
Lindsey Crummett was given the task of sculpting Kili in order for him to make it to our collection. This is the second statue Ms. Crummett has completed in this line with her first being the superbly well-done Balin. She is also responsible for the Bofur statue, which we will be reviewing soon as well as the uber awesome Azog the Defiler on Warg we saw during Comic-Con 2013. Much like with Balin this statue is very well done and is a fantastic representation of the character Kili.
There’s been quite a bit of debate on various message boards in regards to the likeness of Kili. After having received mine I can say without a doubt that it looks very much like Aidan Turner. I love the fierce yet focused look of Kili has, as he is about to take out an Orc or Goblin in his way. Unlike Bombur Kili gets back to the Dwarves wearing lots of leather and once again its done in a way that creates the look of real leather. For me with the outfit its all the little detail you have within the costume that really shows off the skill in this statue. Kili’s vembraces have great little detail in the tiny triangles with circles in the middle, his sleeves of his jacket has a great design sculpted, and sculpted fur at the edge of the sleeves. He also has some great detail in his main outfit with fantastic weaved design as well as great metal and leather work in in the strap for his sheath/arrow case.
Kili of course comes ready for battle with his fantastic bow with arrow ready to take out any crossing Orc, Goblin, or Warg. The detail in the bow is really superb! You have fantastic sculpting giving it amazing wooden detail. The handle also has some great detailing giving it a very intricate wooden sculpt. On his back you have Kili’s sword and arrow case with arrows in it. His sword you can only see the handle area but it’s got some super tiny detail sculpted in it. It does such a great job of matching the sword you saw used in the movie. The arrows are also well done with the one full arrow being the one he’s about the shoot. Similar to Gollum statue Kili also has a bit of environment with this statue. He has a small rock which he is resting his foot before he unleashes that arrow. It’s a nice touch and adds a bit of spice to an already awesome statue. All in all the sculpting job done on Kili just continues to keep the ball rolling on this awesome line.
PAINT
Kili continues the streak of very well painted statues from Weta Workshop. The skin tones use the proper paint mixture to not only make the statue look like a shrunken Dwarf. The challenge with this statue is making the outfit and weapons not lose those amazing details. The leatherwork that has been sculpted has been enhanced by the paint job on this statue. When looking at it you very much get the sense the outfit is being worn in Middle-earth. The most impressive paint job of his weapons has to be the bow. Between the sculpt on it and the paint you can almost swear it’s a real wooden bow he’s holding. Its one of the best 1:6th weapons I’ve seen on any statue in my years of collecting.
Overall
Kili retails for $249, which is in line with most of the statues so far in the line. Kili is a character I’ve grown to like more with each viewing and I’m very happy to have this statue within my collection. He looks great and helps create a really great looking Hobbit display. I want to add that with every release in this line Weta is just continuing to show how great they with these statues.
SPECIFICATIONS
Kili is limited to just 1000 pieces worldwide and in-stock ready to purchase. Get your order in now before he sells out.
Dimensions:
9.3″ x 9.1″ x 5.9″ (H x W x D)
23.5 cm x 23 cm x 15 cm
During Comic-Con this year you heard me mention a couple of times that Weta Workshop would be coming back to do 1:6th statues for The Lord of the Rings. Tim Launder General Manager of Weta Limited last night via The Shadow and Flame Forum announced who had been selected as the first character in the line. This character was one of the characters not done in statue form during original The Lord of the Rings statue line so fans are going to be pleased with this announcement. After years of waiting fans are finally going to be able to add a Faramir statue to their collections. Now, the question becomes will we see the Ranger Faramir or Faramir in his Gondorian Armor? As details come along from Weta we will let you know and maybe before the end of the year we might even get a good look at what is sure to be an awesome statue.
Everyone gather round for our weekly live webcast TORnTUESDAY! We have some great footage from our livestream at San Diego Comic-Con and above all we have coverage of the final days of shooting THE HOBBIT films down in New Zealand. They just completed all their photography a couple of days ago.
We will have lots of mischief today — so please bring your questions and comments to the chat!
We launch TORn TUESDAY every week at 5:00PM Pacific: brought to you by host Clifford “Quickbeam” Broadway and producer Justin “I Make Damn Good Shirts” Sewell — Our innovative live show includes worldwide fans who join us on the Live Event page with a built-in IRC chat (affectionately known as Barliman’s Chat room). Be part of the fun and mischief every week as we broadcast *live* from Meltdown Comics in the heart of Hollywood, U.S.A.!
And yes our YouTube channel will have this archived later. You can find us on www.youtube.com/the1nering
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Spider named Cetenus monaghani after Dominic Monaghan.
Dr. Peter Jäger, expert consultant to the nature television show “Wild Things with Dominic Monaghan,” discovered a new spider and named it after “Lord of the Rings” actor Monaghan. As most readers of TORn will already know, Monaghan was Merry in Peter Jackson’s adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel and also stars on the TV show Jäger is a consultant for (Monaghan was also narrator for our very own documentary feature RINGERS: Lord of the Fans). In a story reported by Science 2.0, the scientist explains his naming choice:
“He places nature in the foreground in a very special manner,” says Jäger, when explaining the dedication of the new spider species. The spider expert also appeared in front of the camera with the actor in a river cave when Monaghan got to meet his eight-legged namesake in its natural habitat.
As the scientist who discovered the creature, he is given the honor of naming it and he gave Monaghan the honor of lending his last name to its official scientific denotation (you’ll remember this ‘binomial nomenclature’ from your High School Science class), Ctenus monaghani, with Ctenus as the species genus with monaghani denoting Monaghan’s passion for species that may be less popular among humans. Thanks to spy Fritzi-M for bringing this to our attention.
The official citation provided by the story:
Citation: JÄGER, P. (2013) Ctenus monaghani spec. nov., a nocturnal hunter from the forest floor in Laos (Araneae: Ctenidae) — Zootaxa 3670 (1): 091–093 dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3670.1
Piggybacking on the great post earlier with the video of the Badali Jewelry booth during Comic-Con, we have news that a few of these new items are available for order. The Khuzdul Dwarven Battle Axe and the Baggins Cuff Links are two amazing items which were shown in the video, and which can be purchased right now. You can get the Baggins Cuff Links in sterling silver for an amazing price of only $119, and the Khuzdul Dwarven Battle Axe can be purchased as a necklace for $39. You can also get the Khuzdul Dwarven Battle Axe as a keychain for $39, with both the necklace and keychain coming in white or yellow bronze.
Today, via their Facebook Page, the awesome folks at Badali Jewelry announced another new piece: The Mirkwood Elven Necklace, which holds the emeralds of Girion the last lord of Dale, is available for purchase! This stunning necklace comes in sterling silver with beautiful green emerald encased within the leaves of Mirkwood. You can get this piece ordered today for a great price of $75. If you order now through the end of the month, using the coupon code SMAUG you can take 15% off your order, allowing you to get an even better price on these beautiful pieces.
Today is the day and he’s up for Pre-Order! Azog the Defiler on Warg is ready to be purchased by 500 fans of Middle-earth, who are looking to add this fantastic collectible to their collections. This massive piece comes in at 17 inches tall, 2 feet long, and 35lbs (with steel structure inside to help the piece stay sturdy). So prepare your collection to get something that is going to be an eye-popping piece when anyone checks out your trophies! To give you an idea of scale – if you own the amazing Barad-dur environment, Azog is both bigger and taller than this collectible, and that’s saying something! Azog comes in at a price tag of $699 and an edition size of ONLY 500 pieces world-wide, guaranteeing he won’t last long. You do have time to save for Azog as he won’t be shipping until the first quarter of next year. So get your order in now, start saving, and be prepared to be amazed.
The coverage and content of Comic Con keeps on coming to those who didn’t make it and even for those who did but couldn’t be everywhere at once. We will continue to release videos from our night and day experiences and we are starting out with a tour of Badali Jewelry’s booth which they were kind enough to share with us! Not only are they good friends to the site and Tolkien fandom, they make some pretty incredible Middle-earth stuff and through the end of July they are offering a discount to TORn readers and viewers. With coupon code SMAUG you can get 15 percent off your entire order. This video allows you to meet the down-to-earth team there as they show and chat about their amazing merchandise.
The booth folks at Comic Con are the same people working back at home as tradespeople and Tolkien fans and they were behind this year’s excellent poster. They also made the “Good Luck” pins worn by the folks from the LOTR and Hobbit productions that were nominated for academy awards. They make a lovely One Ring too — obviously! They financially sponsored our Live Stream this year from Con so we are always in their debt. Here is their website so enjoy!
Get a feel for what a day at San Diego Comic-Con is like, and meet the friendly staff of Weta and TORn while you take a look around at their merchandise! [Happy Hobbit Goes to SDCC: A Taste of the Con]
We’re proud to bring you part three of our coverage of the amazing items that Weta Workshop had at San Diego Comic-Con 2013. This update comes from the most recent newsletter that landed in many of our in-boxes, bringing information regarding the pre-order for the Azog on Warg statue, as well as details on when all the items that were at Comic-Con will go up for order. Starting next Monday, July 29th in the US/Europe and Tuesday, July 30th in Australia/New Zealand, those interested in adding Azog will be able to do so. Azog is going to be limited 500 pieces world-wide and comes in with a price tag of $699. Do not wait to order this statue, as he’s going to be the most limited one so far in The Hobbit line! As you saw from the Comic-Con coverage in Part 1 and Part 2, Azog is no small statue. He’s going to come in at 2 feet long, 17 inches tall, and an amazing 35 lbs with a steel structure on the inside to ensure he can hold the pose.
This newsletter also gave information on when to look for many of the new items that did not go up for order during Comic-Con. If you’re waiting on Radagast, Thranduil, Tauriel, Gloin, etc then you will need the following information to plan out your spending:
Watch out for these items during the following months:
Gentle Giant brought a few of their Mini-Busts for The Hobbit Trilogy to this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. Fans got a chance to see their Azog, Goblin King with Scribe, Bilbo Baggins, Gollum, and the 2013 PGM Exclusive Dwalin Bust. It was pretty awesome getting a chance to check out all of these busts, but I particularly liked Azog and the Goblin King with Scribe. Both of these busts are massive and looked superb! They are currently available right now from Gentle Giant. So make sure to get your orders in, so you can add these fantastic items to your collection.
Yesterday was the last day of principal photography for The Hobbit films. Peter Jackson live blogged the event, and earlier today we asked fans to send us videos of their thanks to PJ and the entire Crew. The response was overwhelming! (in fact, we will have a Part II video posted later) Enjoy!
Anne C. Petty, a notable J.R.R. Tolkien scholar, writer, editor, publisher and friend died from cancer on July 21. Petty lived in Florida and is survived by her daughter. She is perhaps best known for her book “One Ring to Bind Them: Tolkien’s Mythology,” but those who knew her will remember her best for her fun and down-to-earth nature.
After repeated exposure to Anne at Dragon Con and other conventions, she evolved into a personal friend of several of our staffers including our own Balin/Greg, who also died of cancer and for whom we always buy a drink at the annual celebration of popular culture. I had the chance to know Anne on a deeper level and even met and chatted with her daughter who visited the convention one year. I wrote the following about her in 2005 as part of the summary of the whole Tolkien part of the convention:
