Product Review: ‘Shelob Attacks’ LEGO® Set

May 14th, 2012 by Calisuri | Source: LEGO® | No Comments »

…the most loathly shape that he had ever beheld…Most like a spider she was, but huger than the great hunting beasts…Great horns she had, and behind her short stalk-like neck was her huge swollen body, a vast bloated bag, swaying and sagging between her legs; its great bulk was black, blotched with livid marks, but the belly underneath was pale and luminous and gave forth a stench. Her legs were bent, with great knobbed joints high above her back, and hairs that stuck out like steel spines, and at each leg’s end there was a claw…

Shelob.

For every Tolkien fan, the name leaps from the pages (and screen) of Middle-earth to invade a commonly held fear in our everyday life – the fear of an impossibly large, eight-legged, creepy-crawly finding us in the dark. *shiver* According to Wikipedia, it is estimated that 55% of women and 18% of men are Arachnophobic. You can count me among those with a mild fear of spiders, which basically means I have to ‘act’ the role of father/husband when it comes disposing of them. I can’t very well unleash a high-pitched scream and run away now can I…

So when I first saw the ‘Shelob Attacks’ LEGO® Set at the 2012 Toy Fare, I have to admit…I was a bit creeped out. Yes, its LEGO® blocks, but the piece is still surprisingly life-like. In fact, one of the reporters getting the sneak peek at this set could not go within 5 feet of the display. Yes, he was that Arachnophobic!

Before we get to the meat of this review, I will warn you ahead of time, that I am in no way a LEGO® Set expert. To be honest, I haven’t touched the popular construction toys for possibly 10 years, so I’m a bit behind the times when it comes to the licensed themed sets. However, I can tell you, within 1 minute of opening the box, the wonderful memories of LEGO® set building came swooping back.

Middle-earth Mothers – Silmarillion Style

May 13th, 2012 by newsfrombree | No Comments »

Elwing by moon-blossom

Today is Mother’s Day in the US – and here at TheOneRing.net we’d like to take a moment to reflect on the importance mothers and motherhood play in our everyday lives. We honor those maternal bonds that are everlasting – bonds that time and distance can never truly break. To this end, we thought it might be a bit geeky to list out the names of the highlighted Mother’s from the Silmarillion, Index of Names. If you have not read the Silmarillion, or are not familiar with Middle-earth history, there will be some spoilers ahead!

Elwing – Daughter of Dior, who escaping from Doriath with the Silmaril wedded Earendil at the Mouths of Sirion and went with him to Vali-nor; mother of Elrond and Elros. The name means ‘Star-spray’ ; see Lanthir Lamath. [Elwing by Moon-blossom]

Emeldir – Called the Man-hearted; wife of Barahir and mother of Beren; led the women and children of the House of Beor from Dorthonion after the Dagor Bragollach. (She was herself also a descendant of Beor the Old, and her father’s name was Beren; this is not stated in the text.)

While unboxing the Shelob Attacks LEGO® Set…

May 11th, 2012 by Calisuri | No Comments »

In preparation for a product review, I found myself last night eagerly unboxing one of two upcoming The Lord of the Rings LEGO® Sets. I was pleasantly surprised to find this mini-teaser in the back of the instruction pack for the ‘Shelob Attacks’ Set and thought I should share it quickly…so I posted it on our official TheOneRing.net Facebook. Well, it has gotten quite a stir over there, so I figured I should share it with you this morning. The ad confirms the long assumed notion that we would see a The Lord of the Rings LEGO® Video Game from long-time LEGO game producers Traveler’s Tales.  So let this been 100% confirmation of the games existence, and I’d be willing to bet we’ll see a The Hobbit game in the future as well. As for my quickie review of the ‘Shelob Attacks’ LEGO Set: Building a gigantic realistic LEGO spider, complete with shooting string and eight extremely posable legs, was one of the most fun activities I’ve had in years! (Full review with pics will be coming soon!)

Help Recover LOTR Prop-maker’s Stolen Memorabilia

May 9th, 2012 by Altaira | Source: Stuff.co.nz | No Comments »

Ringers unite! A grievous wrong has been done to Dallas Poll, jeweler and prop-maker for the Lord of the Rings movies. On international Star Wars Day (May 4) thieves made off with thousands of dollars of movie memorabilia from his home in Paraparaumu, New Zeeland, including a replica sword he wielded while acting as an Aragorn double, and his precious stormtrooper outfit.

According to stuff.co.nz: Mr Poll, a jeweller, spent seven years in the police but over the past decade has worked mostly as a prop maker on The Lord of the Rings, King Kong, the Narnia films and Avatar. “We have been well and truly done over,” Mr Poll said yesterday. “They seemed to know what they were looking for.”

Please read the stuff.co.nz article and if you come across any suspicious collectibles for sale, email the New Zeeland police.  Read More…

Special Guest stars from “FELLOWSHIP! The Musical” on TORn TUESDAYS Live Webcast Today 5pm PDT!

May 8th, 2012 by Quickbeam | No Comments »

The stars are aligned for today’s *live* webcast TORn TUESDAY, where viewers can be part of the show and ask questions directly to our celebrity guests!  Today we are joined by the creative team behind the wildly popular “FELLOWSHIP! The Musical” — an award winning stage production that rips on the first book of Tolkien’s trilogy!  I’ve seen it a few times and it’s  hysterically good (check out TORn’s previous podcast interview here).  Our special guests today include Comedy Central’s RENO 911! star CEDRIC YARBROUGH (who plays Gandalf) and composer ALLEN SIMPSON!  There will be mischief aplenty as we also turn our attention to WETA Costume Contest winner NICOLE ROBERTS, who recently completed her trip to New Zealand and has great stories and surprise photos to share.  Tune into our show TORn TUESDAY, hosted by Clifford Broadway (Quickbeam), by clicking to our Live Event page.  As always, you can participate starting at 5:00pm PDT — There’s a built-in Barliman’s chat room or come in via Skype in TheOneRing.net’s Stickam page. Check out our LIVE Event section right here every week! [LIVE Event Area] (See All Times)

Coffee with Figwit

May 8th, 2012 by Tehanu | No Comments »

Flight of the Conchords’ Bret McKenzie, better known here as Figwit, is offering the chance to meet him for a Fair Trade coffee and a chat in this auction run by Oxfam. The winning bidder gets to have coffee with McKenzie and will receive a guitar signed by McKenzie and his Conchords partner Jemaine Clement.
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Top 20 Quotes From “The Lord of the Rings”

May 8th, 2012 by Earl | Discuss | | No Comments »

It’s been more than a decade since the first of the films in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy was released, and although fans are now eagerly anticipating a return to Middle-earth with his upcoming Hobbit films, well, one does NOT simply walk away from where it all began.

Today, we feature an article written for TheOneRing.net by guest author Leslie Martinka, Marketing Manager at Hark.com, the world’s largest platform for pop culture quotes and images, on the phenomenon that is Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, and the top 20 quotes from Peter Jackson’s films:

“My Precious“, says Gollum through missing rotted teeth. His emaciated body is evidence of his life in Middle-earth as a slave to the One Ring. For the past 60 years, people have devoured the pages of The Lord of the Rings reading about characters such as Gollum, Frodo and Gandalf. Fans of the trilogy have made it one of the most beloved literary works of all time.

Discuss »

More about Fans, Fellowship of the Ring, Lord of the Rings, LotR Movies, Movie Fellowship of the Ring, Movie Return of the King, Movie The Two Towers, Peter Jackson, Return of the King, The Two Towers, Uncategorized

Sir Ian McKellen performs live in Stratford

May 8th, 2012 by MrCere | Discuss | | No Comments »

From our own message boards comes this excellent report of Ian McKellen’s one-man show that is raising money for a theater damaged by the devastating earthquake in Christchurch. The actor is (of course) in New Zealand for filming of both parts of “The Hobbit,” a Peter Jackson adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s book. Thanks to del girl for sharing her experience on our boards and sending it to our Spymaster@TheOneRing.net adress. She also provided links to another report of the show.

“I have just come back from seeing the first one-man show in Sir Ian’s tour of New Zealand, which is a fundraiser for repairing the earthquake-damaged Isaac Theatre Royal in Christchurch (were he last played Waiting for Godot).

How do I sum up more than two hours of Sir Ian on stage?

Discuss »

More about Events, Ian McKellen, LotR Movies, Other Events, Stage Productions, The Hobbit

Radagast and the Magic Treehouse

May 7th, 2012 by Alatar | Discuss | | No Comments »

Radagast’s house by Angus McBride, card art for Middle-earth Collectible Card Game

Rhosgobel. The very word conjures images of poorly named bovines or countrified female pups. We’re told it means “russet village”, “walled house” or “brown town”, which is fitting since it was the last known dwelling of the mysteriously ineffective Radagast the Brown.

The fourth of the Istari to be sent by the Valar to aid Middle-earth in the fight against Sauron, Radagast essentially became a hippie, eschewing contact with Elves and Men and preferring the company of the birds and the beasts for whom he was named. (‘…which is in the tongue of Númenor of old, and signifies, it is said, “tender of beasts”.’) No word on whether he was as avid a fan of Longbottom Leaf as at least one of his fellow Wizards, but I’m guessing so.

Where he lived, exactly, has oft been debated – albeit not very hotly.

Discuss »

More about Hobbit Book, Hobbit Movie, Locations Sets, Lord of the Rings, LotR Books, Sylvester McCoy, The Hobbit

Collecting The Precious – Weta Workshop’s Strider Statue

May 4th, 2012 by elessar | No Comments »

Tonight, the artisans from Weta released the latest statue in their mini-statue line. The character chosen to join the line-up, accompanying Gollum and Gandalf the Grey, is none other than the future King of Gondor, Strider. This adaptation of the character, features Strider as we first see him in Bree. This is the first time we’ve seen Strider captured in this pose and looks to be a must own The Lord of the Rings collectible. This statue will cost $75 and will be shipping sometime in September/October.

Anime star VIC MIGNOGNA talks “Todd of the Rings” parody on TORn TUESDAY *live* today 5pm Pacific

May 1st, 2012 by Quickbeam | No Comments »

In the wake of THE HOBBIT 10-minute presentation at CinemaCon last week, fans’ excitement/ nerves/ energy level has grown apace!  On top of that, a remarkable team of Hollywood talent has created a parody film of the LOTR Trilogy, to satisfy one of the longest-running “friendly rivalries” in the history of anime (a somewhat related field of fandom). Ringers just recently got their first look at the mini-epic “The Todd of the Rings,” available exclusively on YouTube.  We are quite thrilled to be joined *live* by voiceover star VIC MIGNOGNA (“Fullmetal Alchemist” & “Naruto”) to discuss the creation of his special parody on today’s webcast TORn TUESDAY, hosted by Clifford Broadway (Quickbeam).  The role of Gandalf was coincidentally played by your humble host, and many award-winning costumes were donated by Tolkien fans from across the country for the making of this comedic tour-de-force!  Come join our live chat show and be part of the fun, Vic is eager to answer fans’ questions.  As always, you can participate starting at 5:00pm PDT — There’s a built-in Barliman’s chat room or come in via Skype in TheOneRing.net’s Stickam page. Check out our LIVE Event section right here every week! [LIVE Event Area] (See All Times)

*WATCH* the new epic LOTR parody short film “The Todd of the Rings”!

April 30th, 2012 by Quickbeam | No Comments »

Anime fans are already in-the-know, but now Ringer fans have gotten their first look at a funny, impressively detailed parody of The Lord of the  Rings Trilogy!  Animation voiceover star Vic Mignogna, familiar from shows like FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST, DRAGON BALL Z, BLEACH and NARUTO, has been playfully embroiled in a video tribute challenge with fellow voice actor and friend Todd Haberkorn.  The resulting comedy videos between them have become progressively more detailed and complex (and hysterical).  This newly forged “Rings” parody looks amazing; and features a familiar personality from TheOneRing.net.  Our very own Clifford Broadway (Quickbeam), host of the weekly webcast TORn TUESDAY, plays Gandalf the Grey!  This playful mini-epic was presented at Anime Central just a few days ago in Chicago, and showcases some epic talent both in front of and behind the camera! Ringer friend Nicole Roberts (recent WETA contest winner) helped secure a bevy of prize-winning costumes for this parody ‘Fellowship.’  What was the genesis of this remarkable 23-minute parody?  Mignogna states: “What started out as a simple tribute video rivalry among friends, has ultimately culminated in this epic production.”  Filled with anime in-jokes and high end production value, this “Todd of the Rings” is the send-up to rule them all.  View it exclusively on YouTube here.