Always a grand tradition at fan conventions, especially Comic-Con, these unique buttons are made with true-blue fans of Tolkien in mind!

Whether you’re in the mood for a spiky dragon-infused political conversation or you really want the world to know you SQUEE for “Hot Dwarves” — these are the buttons for you!  For our fellow Potter-phile friends in the U.K. we should say these are the *badges* for you!
Continue reading “TheOneRing.net EXCLUSIVE Comic-Con 2012 Buttons/Badges”

Movie news website Comingsoon has posted a gallery of sneak-peek images from this year’s Comic-Con. It seems that set-up is well under-way.

And stuff from WB’s much-anticipated Hobbit set?

Well, in addition to a high-resolution download of the poster of Gandalf near Bag End that we collectively drooled over a few days ago, there’s a brand-new photo of three massive trolls in a huddle. Go check them out!

High-res trolls! | High-res poster!

UPDATE: Bleedingcool has a different photo from the reverse-angle! Go look!

Comic-Con 2012 kicks off on Thursday and is expected to attract more than 125,000 people. Elijah Wood, reprising his Frodo Baggins for The Hobbit, will be back there this year — a decade after he accompanied director Peter Jackson to promote Fellowship of the Ring.

Wood told Reuters: “The scale of The Hobbit is larger, the anticipation is potentially greater, everything feels a little bit bigger. For so long, people didn’t think there would be a film, so the fact that there is finally, people have been anticipating this for a long time.”

Reuters says the studio will finally show extended film clips [my emphasis] at Comic-Con. Jackson is expected to turn out to meet fans and answer questions. Thanks to Ringer Elpidha for the heads-up on the article.

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Weta concept designers and illustratorsIn this article, The New Zealand Herald’s Helen Frances speaks to Weta concept designers and illustrators Ben Wootten and Paul Tobin about how they got their starts in the industry.

Wootten joined Weta in 1996, and has worked on King Kong, The Lord of the Rings and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. His knowledge of animal anatomy and behavior (he studied zoology at university) was key to creating the dinosaurs for King Kong.

Paul Tobin began his career at Weta Workshop in 2003 when the first Narnia film and King Kong were underway. Tobin says he was “lousy at drawing dinosaurs” so he stayed with Narnian fantasy. His background in ancient history and archaeology proved the inspiration for concept designs for Peter and Edmund’s armour and weapons and Susan’s horn.

Read more here. Photo by Steve Unwin.

How do you put together a grand tour of The Shire? Where do you take Ringer fans who want to see the REAL Middle-earth?  Be sure to catch our innovative *LIVE WEBCAST* TORn TUESDAY — In a few minutes our delightful friends from the LOTR filming locations tour company “Red Carpet Tours” will be on via Skype from New Zealand! You can be part of the show and bring your questions to Vic & Julie James, who are busy preparing our wonderful HOBBIT MOVIE PREMIERE TOUR in late November 2012, alongside the premiere events in Wellington! You should join us in NZ too! Come join host Clifford Broadway *live* via Stickam (account “theoneringnet”) using your own Skype login or come join us via our Live Event Page with our unique Barliman’s chat embedded in the show! Tune into our webcast at 5:00pm PDT (that’s Los Angeles time folks), and just click to our Live Event page.

The highly anticipated San Diego Comic-Con will feature appearances from many of the major stars of the upcoming Hobbit movies. Fans of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit who have kids, take note! In addition to the big stars of The Hobbit, San Diego Comic-Con will also feature the little stars of Nimpentoad, a children’s fantasy book (www.nimpentoad.com).

The furry bright-eyed little Nimpentoad is tired of being picked on by the bigger and meaner creatures of the ancient shadowy Grunwald Forest. He convinces his fellow Niblings to make the perilous journey to a castle where they hope to find refuge. Along the way, they are confronted by ravenous goblins, trolls, rhinotaurs and other perils. But with teamwork and Nimpentoad’s leadership, the Niblings outwit these menaces. Continue reading “TORn to give away “The Hobbit with Training Wheels” at Comic-Con”