As we work our way through the 20th anniversary period of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, we can at the same time celebrate the 10th anniversaries of The Hobbit Trilogy. Our friends at Weta Workshop currently have a timed pre-order going for an amazing-looking Smaug statue from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. This timed pre-order runs until July 6th, which is just next week! However many fans order this by that cut off date will set the edition size of this collectible. You can snag Smaug right now for $1,299 (USD), or $187.50 a month on a payment plan – allowing you more easily to acquire this piece. If you decide to do the full payment plan you have time to save, with this stunning Smaug not arriving until quarter one of next year.
The awesome folks at Diamond Select Toys have some cool new The Lord of the Rings collectibles for fans to add to their displays: their D-Formz figures (Series 1). These 2-3 inch tall figures of Aragorn, Gandalf the Grey, Frodo, Gimli, Legolas, Smeagol, and Gollum come individually blind-boxed for $8.99. If you would like, you can order a set of 12 blind boxes – thus at least increasing your chance to get all of the figures – for $107.88. These are in pre-order right now, but are due to ship in October; not too much of a wait to add this cool twist on The Lord of the Rings Trilogy to your collection.
Prime Video has announced that that they will be bringing The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series to San Diego Comic-Con in July.
Showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay will take the Hall H stage along with as-yet unnamed cast members to brings fan an “exclusive early look” at the series.
Whether that means a trailer, or something similar to the showreel footage that a number of Tolkien aficionados recently were able to view, we’re not entirely sure. We’ll keep you up to date as we find out more.
TheOneRing.net staff will be there, too. We’ll be trying our be to get a word or two from the Rings of Power showrunners and bring you all the details from the presentation in the San Diego Convention Center’s cavernous Hall H, which will be a difficult place to get into despite the 6,500 seats at a convention attended by around 140,000 unique visitors.
Last month we had the awesome privilege of sitting down with Daniel Falconer of Weta Workshop. We talked about the last 20 years of collecting Middle-earth, and how things have changed over those years. We also chatted about current stuff like the new Strider Statue; the things to come; and the hopes for items we may see in the next 20 years. You all are going to love this lengthy conversation, as we pick Daniel’s brain and get into all the stuff he’s seen over the last 20 years at Weta Workshop. We at TORn thank Daniel for his time, and Weta Workshop for lending him to us for a couple of hours!
Our friends at Diamond Select Toys are announcing the next two figures in their The Lord of the Rings action figure line. Fans can start looking forward to adding Aragorn and a Moria Orc to their Middle-earth action figure collections. These figures, like the previous, will have multiple points of articulation, detailed sculpting, and paint applications. Aragorn includes a torch, his ranger sword and the sword Anduril, while the orc includes a sword, a spear, an alternate helmeted head, and removable shoulder armor, so you can customize different orcs! These two figures will come in with a price tag of $29.99 like the rest of the line – and, like those earlier figures, they include parts which can be assembled to build your own Sauron!
Our friends over at BudK have an absolutely fantastic new version of Anduril that fans can order right now. This Museum Collection edition of Anduril features a 1060 high carbon steel blade, with (their website tells us) several improvements over the standard version of the sword, to more accurately replicate the hero filming props. The surface polish is finer, the engraved blade runes are more accurately shaped and detailed, and the fuller grooves are now the correct length. Each sword is individually serial numbered on the blade and includes a certificate of authenticity.
A 14 1/8” wooden wall display offers an intricately detailed gold-plated metal crest and gold-plated sword mounting arms, and also includes a Gondorian themed blue cloth banner to be hung behind the display. The display and banner feature the ancient heraldry of the Kingdom of Gondor: a flowering white tree of Gondor, the seven stars of Elendil, and a winged crown above them, the symbol of the king. The Museum Collection Anduril is considered the ultimate piece of the United Cutlery Museum Collection to most The Lord of the Ring collectors. Pre-order yours today to ensure you’re first in line for this long-awaited treasure. Anduril comes in with a price tag of $449, and fans can expect to have it around the end of November this year.
