Archive for the ‘WETA Workshop’ Category
July 23, 2013 at 12:16 am by elessar
Comic-Con 2013 may be over but the coverage of their booth is not. The folks at Weta Workshop brought their “A” game with the items fans could check out multiple times as I did. The great thing about this years items is that Weta covered the bases with Dwarfs, Orcs, Wizards, Trolls, Elves, and environments. Some of these items are in-stock right now and some of them will be available as the year goes on. Right now you can purchase Kili, Bofur, Tom the Troll, Bombur Barrel Rider, and the White Council Chamber. The amazing items we have to look forward to are; Azog on Warg, Radagast the Brown, Gloin the Dwarf, Thranduil, Tauriel, William the Troll, Bert the Troll, and a mini Arwen Statue. Another item not at the show but also up for order is the first art book for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. You can order this right now and get a signed copy by the artists for only $39.
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Posted in Collectibles, Collectibles, ComicCon, Conventions, Hobbit Movie, Lord of the Rings, LotR Movies, Merchandise, Movie Fellowship of the Ring, Movie Return of the King, Movie The Two Towers, Shop, The Hobbit, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, The Hobbit: There and Back Again, Weta Collectibles, WETA Workshop
July 15, 2013 at 11:10 pm by elessar
Last night our friends at Weta Workshop sent out their latest newsletter jam packed with information on some of what you can expect to see at Comic-Con starting Wednesday night. They’re going to have tons of items from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit Trilogy on top of other licenses that Weta has. You’re also going to be able get plenty of autographs while at the booth from various artists, Richard Taylor himself, and the beautiful Evangeline Lilly. Over the next few days we here at TORn are going to show off the amazing collectibles that Weta will have for us.
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Posted in Collectibles, Collectibles, ComicCon, Conventions, Hobbit Movie, Lord of the Rings, LotR Movies, Merchandise, Movie Fellowship of the Ring, Movie Return of the King, Movie The Two Towers, Shop, The Hobbit, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, The Hobbit: There and Back Again, Weta Collectibles, WETA Workshop
July 10, 2013 at 1:44 am by elessar
Weta Workshop has a couple of really neat items for you with their latest releases. These items are fantastic and they allow you to stretch that collecting budget all at the same time. The two newest collectibles from Weta are a very cool prop replica of Bilbo’s Acorn Buttons and a pin celebrating Durin’s Day. The buttons are an exact replica of the buttons used on the jacket by Martin Freeman. You can order one of these buttons for $11 or you can order them as a set of 5 for $45. The Durin’s Day pin celebrates the day that will be of the utmost importance to Thorin and company for getting into Erebor. The pin has some great looking Dwarvish script and a Thrush on it. Fans can order this pin from Weta’s website right now for $11. All of these items are in-stock right now and will be shipping from the New Zealand warehouse.
Posted in Collectibles, Collectibles, Merchandise, Shop, Weta Collectibles, WETA Workshop
July 4, 2013 at 9:37 pm by elessar
The Summer of Smaug is in full go, as we get closer to Comic-Con 2013. We have had the first teaser poster, first trailer, and the first of Sir Peter Jackson’s Vlogs for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Now, we get the first product for the second film capturing a key moment in the Traveling Party’s journey to Erebor. The moment captured in this mini-statue is one of the participants in the barrel escape. The first character to be done in this series of mini-barrel riders is our loveable Hobbit Bilbo Baggins. This statue is a pre-release before the movie and shows the awesomeness of the collectibles to come from what we will see in the second film.
PACKAGING
The overall graphic for this mini-statue box is the same as we’ve seen from other statues for The Hobbit be it smaller than say a normal 1:6th statue box. Per the format we’ve come to know the front of the box gives you a great shot of Bilbo, the title of the movie (now saying though The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug), a special wax looking stamp saying it’s a preview collectible, and of course the Weta logo. As we’ve seen before you get a couple of shots of the statue on one side of the box. However, the other side gives you information about the statue and how it’s tied to the second film. While the back of the box gives you a look at a couple of items that you can buy from Weta.
SCULPTING
Brigitte Wuest is a name many fans that have collected statues based on the characters of The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit should know quite well. Ms. Wuest is back with another amazing piece. Doing a statue of this size and its smaller than even some of the previous mini-statues you’ve seen reviewed here before is a challenge. Well, the job done to make this statue detailed and capture a likeness was a successful one. When you look at this piece you see Martin Freeman and at a full 1:6th scale that’s a great thing, but even more so when you look at the size of this statue. Ms. Wuest did a superb job of making sure that we are able to have a great likeness of Mr. Freeman as he plays Bilbo in this moment.
The outfit is also very well done and there is great amount of detail within what you do see with this statue. His jacket very much looks like its real cloth, as do his pants. His hair also has some great detail in it very much looking like the hair he has on his head as we see it on screen. The barrel Bilbo is holding on to is a very detailed piece with all the little bits and pieces we see in barrels here in the real world. You also get the rushing water of the river, which we will see all these barrels making their way through. There is quite a bit of detail here when you examine the statue seeing how it’s made to look as if the water is a treacherous ride for the company.
PAINT
The skin tone on this piece is well done as usual by the folks at Weta Workshop. You look at Bilbo and you see someone who very much looks healthy and alive, which is something you want in your collectibles. Aiding the sculpting detail of the clothing is the paint job, which puts the final touches to create the cloth look we expect. The barrel as I said has a great sculpting job done to give it the proper details, but the job to put the cherry on top comes with the paint job. This allows for the barrel to look like its truly made of wood and something you would see in the real world. Of course you have the water, which is, has a great blue paint job creating the illusion of water. However, the coolest aspect of the paint job is the clear lacquer that’s been applied to this statue. In order to give it the proper wet look Weta applied a clear lacquer to the Bilbo, the barrel, and the water. Weta did a fantastic job of doing this so it has the proper wet look but not something that looked slimy.
Overall
Bilbo retails for $65, which is a fantastic price along with something most collectors can fit into a tight budget. The price will also make it much easier for collectors to get all the members of the Traveling Party. As I said the sculpt and paint on this statue is really well done and even more so when you factor in the size of the piece. I want to add that with every release in this line Weta is just continuing to show how great they with these statues.
SPECIFICATIONS
Bilbo is the first in this series of mini-barrel rider statues. He is an open edition and can be purchased for just $65.
Dimensions:
2.7″ x 4.1″ x 4.1″ (H x W x D)
6.8 cm x 10.5 cm x 10.5 cm
Weight:
.7 lbs (320g)
PHOTOS
Posted in Collectibles, Collectibles, Hobbit Book, Hobbit Movie, Martin Freeman, Merchandise, Shop, The Hobbit, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, The Hobbit: There and Back Again, Weta Collectibles, WETA Workshop
July 1, 2013 at 1:32 am by elessar
As we move ever so much closer to Comic-Con 2013 later this month we’re going to start seeing a few of the new products that fans will be able to order. Well, our friends at Weta Workshop have put up the next statue which fans can order right now to add to their growing Middle-earth collection. The next statue up for grabs is Kili who becomes the 8th statue released for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Though there are sure to be just a few more that make an appearance in a few weeks at Comic-Con 2013. Kili comes in at a price tag of $250 and will be shipping to fans around the world starting towards the end of July or first of August. So make sure to get your soon so you can be one of the first to receive this Dwarf.
Posted in Aidan Turner, Collectibles, Collectibles, Hobbit Movie, Merchandise, Shop, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, The Hobbit: There and Back Again, Weta Collectibles, WETA Workshop
June 24, 2013 at 10:31 pm by elessar
Have you ever wanted to visit Hobbiton? How about owning a place to live in Hobbiton? Well, our friends at Weta Workshop are going to give collectors just that chance with a series of highly detailed Hobbit Holes. 1 Bagshot Row will be the first Hobbit Hole in this series allowing fans to bring Hobbiton itself into their collections. This Hobbit Hole is the former home of Samwise Gamgee and Rosie Cotton before their eventual move to Bag End. You can get your Pre-Order in now for this piece which will be shipping towards the end of July to early August and can be bought for a great price of $40.
Posted in Collectibles, Collectibles, Hobbit Movie, Lord of the Rings, LotR Movies, Merchandise, Movie Fellowship of the Ring, Movie Return of the King, Movie The Two Towers, Shop, The Hobbit, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, The Hobbit: There and Back Again, Weta Collectibles, WETA Workshop
June 24, 2013 at 8:20 pm by elessar
This is the year of Smaug for fans of Middle-earth. We’ve already had a great trailer giving us a solid look at the head of the Dragon and cool teaser poster. Weta Workshop has produced another exclusive again for this years Comic-Con and it follows the Dragon theme I previously mentioned. This year for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug they will have a T-Shirt with the title of the movie on the front and the eye of Smaug as we see it at the end of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The shirt will be limited to only 500 shirts and can be had at their booth 3513B.
Posted in Clothing, Clothing, Collectibles, Collectibles, ComicCon, Conventions, Hobbit Movie, Merchandise, Shop, The Hobbit, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, The Hobbit: There and Back Again, Weta Collectibles, WETA Workshop
June 17, 2013 at 12:53 am by elessar
The Fellowship of the Ring is now complete. As you may know from following our news and reviews of this set, Weta Workshop created a three piece set of The Fellowship as they crest the hill from that memorable scene in The Fellowship of the Ring. You can still order Set 1 and Set 2 from Weta’s website. Tonight, we get to complete the trio of pieces with Set 3 going up for Pre-Order with this piece of the trio containing Samwise, Aragorn, and of course Bill the Pony. This set comes in at $200 like the other two sets and will be shipping in September/October of this year. Make sure to get your order in now to get yours in the Fall.
Posted in Collectibles, Collectibles, ComicCon, Conventions, Lord of the Rings, LotR Movies, Merchandise, Movie Fellowship of the Ring, Movie Return of the King, Movie The Two Towers, Sean Astin, Shop, Viggo Mortensen, Weta Collectibles, WETA Workshop
June 12, 2013 at 7:19 am by elessar
Today, is a huge day! We’ve already gotten the first poster for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and of course today we got the first trailer for the movie.
Well, that’s not the only thing for the new movie that has made an appearance on this very special day.
Weta has just released the first product and it’s a special preview product for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug with this mini barrel-riding Bilbo Baggins statue. This statue fits in line with the mini-statues you’ve seen us review here from The Lord of the Rings. It’s the very first mini-statue for The Hobbit trilogy. This will also be the first in a line of barrel-riding pieces leading up to the release of the film in December. Bilbo is in-stock for $65 so get you order in now to enter for a chance to win 65 Weta dollars and add this amazing Bilbo statue to your collection.
Posted in Collectibles, Collectibles, Hobbit Movie, Martin Freeman, Merchandise, Shop, The Hobbit, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Weta Collectibles, WETA Workshop
June 9, 2013 at 8:05 pm by elessar
This thing all things devour:
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stone to meal;
Slays kings, ruins towns,
And beats high mountains down.
- Gollum to Bilbo
The Hobbit – Riddles in the Dark
We’ve now reached the “we haven’t seen this before” phase of reveals for statues from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The first statue to make the scene in this phase is a familiar face to fans of Middle-earth. That’s right! Gollum our lovely precious Gollum as we saw him in the Riddles in the Dark sequence from the movie. This is also the first time we’ve gotten Gollum in traditional 1:6th scale as a regular release in a line of statues based on Middle-earth.
PACKAGING
The overall graphic layout for Gollum’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 Gollum, graphic work for the title of the movie, and of course the Weta logo. The sides of the box for Gollum 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 Gollum as well as information regarding details of the character and statue. The Styrofoam on the inside is typical with what we’ve become used to getting with these statues.
SCULPTING
Greg Tozer is back at it on this piece and he got some help from Ben Mauro for bringing this version of Gollum to life. Gollum has been quite the achievement for Weta from the time we first got a great look at him in The Two Towers and ten years later he is even better looking with the new technology. This statue I think captures that improvement in how Gollum looks. The likeness is as good as you’re going to see and the rage Gollum has in realizing he’s lost his precious to Bilbo comes through quite clearly. On his face you get great definition in the wrinkles with how his face squishes together allowing the anger to come through. The body gives you great definition in the rib cage showing how malnourished Gollum is from lingering due to the ring. Two final features on the body that I found very cool are the lack of scars on Gollum’s back and the blood vessels on his arms. The lack of scars of course comes from this being 60 years before The Lord of the Rings and not being tortured by Sauron. While the blood vessels are subtle but a nice attention to detail by Weta.
Gollum really doesn’t have a traditional outfit as we’ve seen with previous releases in this line. He has a simple loincloth with little pouch that he keeps his precious in. The sculpt job done on these are really well done in giving them the look of real leather. Gollum is also the first statue to come with an addition to the base. He’s jumping off a rock deep within the Misty Mountains that makes up his little home area, and it very much comes across sculpt wise looking like the rocks we saw on screen.
PAINT
Gollum does not have the traditional skin tone we’ve seen with the other statues within this line so far. He’s been under the mountain for years with no sunlight so he has a bit lighter look to his skin tone. Weta has of course been able to do this successfully and it once again looks like the Gollum we’ve seen on screen. He even has the nice pinker tone around the eyes you see on screen giving the appearance of someone who gets little sleep. Another success of the skin tone is making sure you don’t lose the wrinkle detail or boney nature of the rib area. One area I mentioned earlier that could have been lost easily is the blood vessels, but they’re really enhanced I believe with the subtle job done by Weta.
Finally, going back to his clothes or lack there of with the loincloth. The paint job does a solid job working with the wrinkles in the sculpt to create the leather look of the loincloth. His rock area has a great worn looking pain job to it with a great lighter tone around the bottom.
Overall
Gollum retails for $249, which is in line with most of the statues so far in the line. Gollum just looks great and works well with the Bilbo statue creating a great scene on your shelf. Weta also did a fantastic job with Gollum making sure he’s able to hold the post by inserting a rod into his leg that goes into the rock. Helping give this statue a great look and feel of that moment in the dark.
PS: The answer to the riddle: Time
SPECIFICATIONS
Gollum is an open edition piece and can be ordered right now from Weta Workshop.
Dimensions:
9.1″ x 14.2″ x 5.9″ (H x W x D)
23 cm x 36 cm x 15 cm
Weight:
2.2 lbs (980g)
PHOTOS
Posted in Andy Serkis, Collectibles, Collectibles, Hobbit Movie, Merchandise, Shop, The Hobbit, Weta Collectibles, WETA Workshop
June 4, 2013 at 10:42 am by kristin
Of the three trips I took to New Zealand in 2003 and 2004 to conduct interviews for my book, only the first happened before the release of The Return of the King. I didn’t go thinking that I would suddenly be privy to spoilers and secrets. Shooting was over, I assumed (wrongly), and I figured my interviewees would not tell or show me anything confidential.
But at times they did. In my previous installment of this series, “Places Full of Magic,” I wrote about the facilities I visited. Now it’s time to reveal a few things I learned there—and kept quiet about. (more…)
Posted in Daniel Falconer, Movie Return of the King, Other production, Wellington, WETA Digital, WETA Workshop
May 21, 2013 at 8:52 pm by elessar
The Weta World Tour continues in June with Supernova. Starting June 22nd-23rd in Sydney and June 29th-30 in Perth, fans will get a chance to come together to celebrate what they love about the pop culture. The team from Weta will also be making the trip to both places bringing their magical work creating Middle-earth with them. While at their booth make sure you grab one of their Weta Treasure cards, which is good for discounts or prizes via the Weta website. That’s not all! If you happen to be going to either of these locations you will get to meet cast members of both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. So make sure to get your ticket to the show before it sells out!
Check out the Full article on Weta’s appearance: WETA TO ATTEND SUPANOVA SYDNEY AND PERTH IN JUNE
List of Middle-earth celebs making an apperance:
- John Callen – Oin the Dwarf
- Adam Brown – Ori the Dwarf
- Jed Brophy – Nori the Dwarf
- Karl Urban – Éomer
- Mark Ferguson – Gil-galad
Posted in Adam Brown, Conventions, Hobbit Movie, Jed Brophy, John Callen, Karl Urban, Movie Fellowship of the Ring, Movie Return of the King, Movie The Two Towers, WETA Digital, WETA Workshop
Comic-Con 2013 may be over but the coverage of their booth is not. The folks at Weta Workshop brought their “A” game with the items fans could check out multiple times as I did. The great thing about this years items is that Weta covered the bases with Dwarfs, Orcs, Wizards, Trolls, Elves, and environments. Some of these items are in-stock right now and some of them will be available as the year goes on. Right now you can purchase Kili, Bofur, Tom the Troll, Bombur Barrel Rider, and the White Council Chamber. The amazing items we have to look forward to are; Azog on Warg, Radagast the Brown, Gloin the Dwarf, Thranduil, Tauriel, William the Troll, Bert the Troll, and a mini Arwen Statue. Another item not at the show but also up for order is the first art book for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. You can order this right now and get a signed copy by the artists for only $39.
