It is now just a little over 2 weeks from the start of San Diego Comic Con International, the biggest and most talked about Scifi/Fantasy convention on the geek calendar. We at TheOneRing.net have been busily planning for an epic week of Hobbity goodness to share with all of you, attendee and stay-at-home fans alike. This is your handy dandy little guide to when and where you can find us throughout the convention.
This year we will only be at one location on the Exhibit Hall floor, sharing space at the WETA booth #3613. We won’t have a huge amount of room in this booth, but then that is because WETA is pulling out all the stops for the final Hobbit film and ‘Bringing It’. You will want to make Booth #3613 a ‘must see’ location, even your non-Tolkien fan friends will want to visit WETA. So stop by the booth, say hello to TORn and WETA folks alike, buy some stuff, have your camera ready and enjoy the geekiness of all things Hobbit.
The full SDCC panel schedule will officially be announced beginning this Thursday, but here is advance notice of when our panel will take place.
An Unofficial look at the final Middle-Earth Film “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” Thursday, 7/24/14, 5:00p.m. – 6:00p.m., Room: Indigo Ballroom at the Hilton Bayfront
The Hilton Bayfront is next to the Convention Center down near Hall H, and the Indigo Ballroom is probably the biggest room we have yet had at SDCC, so don’t be late and risk missing our sneak peek at the final film in the series.
Edited to Add 7/8/14: Warner Bros. has announced their slate of films for SDCC and The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies will be among them. Their panel will be at 10am on Saturday, July 26 in Hall H. Peter Jackson was confirmed to be attending, and will be joined by Director George Miller with Mad Max Fury Road. Also mentioned was Jupiter Ascending and there will be a sneak peek screening of Richard Armitage’s Into the Storm on Wednesday, July 23 at 10pm at the Reading Gaslamp Theater, but no word yet on how to snag tickets for that.
Throughout the weekend TORn staffers will be tweeting, posting pics and videos to Facebook, posting stories here, live streaming, and giving you as much Hobbit news as we possibly can. This will include some of the new projects the actors are working on that are also at SDCC, such as “The Strain” with Sean Astin, “Legends” with Sean Bean and “Outlander” starring Graham McTavish. See the video below for a message from Graham regarding SDCC:
Graham McTavish has confirmed he will be at SDCC, so consider this your official invite to our Laketown Luau on Friday night, beginning at 7pm at the Kona Kai resort on Shelter Island. The SDCC website has finally posted the shuttle routes and we can now announce that the Kona Kai is on the Teal shuttle route. You can find the shuttle schedule here and remember to click on the PDF link at the bottom for the map of the hotels and route information. The Teal route is set to take about 30 minutes to get you between the convention center and the hotel, but if you have a car, the distance is only 6 miles away. 
You can only attend the Laketown Luau by purchasing a ticket at our Eventbrite page. With loads of games and a relaxed, outdoor environment, this will be a family friendly party, so bring the kids.
We will update this post or make a new one as soon as we have confirmation of what Warner Bros. might be doing for film previews, including “The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies” and whether PJ will put in an appearance. Same goes for confirmation on other film projects, such as Richard Armitage’s ‘Into the Storm” and Luke Evans’ “Dracula Untold”. We already know Outlander will have a premiere event during SDCC.
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We’re marching ever closer to Comic-Con 2014 and we now know what the exclusive item that our friends at Weta Workshop will be selling is. Just like last year fans that are going to the show will be able to snag one of their great shirts. This years fantastic limited edition shirt plays up on Smaug’s scales and especially a certain missing piece of those scales. Also like last year this shirt will sell out fast as it is being limited to only 500 pieces worldwide and comes in with a price tag of $40. So, if you’re going to the show make sure you grab this one ASAP as it’s sure to fly out fast.
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FantasyCon is about to take over the airwaves here on TORn, but before it takes over completely, here is your friendly reminder about the Lake-town Luau taking place in San Diego during comic con. We are planning a number of fun and rather unique games for you all, giving everyone multiple chances to win prizes. So here are your 5 reasons to attend the Lake-town Luau.
1) Golfimbul – For the fans in LA who attend the Baggins’ Birthday Bash, you are all familiar with this game, and for those who aren’t local, you might recognize the name from the first chapter of The Hobbit. Anyhow, this game involves a baseball bat, a goblin head and some rabbits, and remember, there are NO SPECTATORS, ONLY PARTICIPANTS!!!
2) Pin the Black Arrow on the Dragon – This is a Middle-earth twist on an old game, come try your luck and see if you have what it takes to Be Like Bard.
3) Last Fan Standing – This is a trivia contest that creates pandemonium when played, especially when more than half the field is eliminated in the first question or two. Are you brave enough to try and be the Last Fan Standing?
4) Costume Contest – Speaks for itself, but you can enhance your chances for a prize if you can also quote a line or two of the character you are dressed as. This one is for the Hams out there.
5) Hobbit Hula Dancing – Well, we won’t turn down Dwarves, Elves or Orcs doing the Hula either. This event is pending until we find out if we can get an A/V system to play a little Hawaiian music.
So now that you know what is going on at the Lake-town Luau on Friday, July 25, get yourself your tickets, the prices go up after July 10. Lake-town Luau ticketing page
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San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) 2014 will mark the final year that there will be a new Hobbit or Tolkien themed film, coming soon to a theater near you. This year, we have decided to add a party to properly celebrate all that is Middle-earth.
Tickets:
Lake-town Luau Eventbrite page
The past few years has seen a huge increase in ‘off site’ activities and we are jumping into the fray alongside Pirate themed parties, various geek comedy shows, the symphony, the zombie walk, and dozens of cosplay photo shoots, among so many more.
But why a Luau you ask? Well, that is dedicated to our lovely location, the Kona Kai Resort and Marina. They are allowing us to take over their lawn and patio area, complete with Tiki Bars. And if we increase in size beyond the capacity of the lawn area, we can move the party to their beach. Yes, this resort has its own beach area, so we have more than enough room for all you Hobbits, Dwarves, Wizards and Orcs, this will be an ‘all ages’ type of party.
Here are all the details and important points you will want to know.
Where is it:
Kona Kai Resort and Marina, 619-221-8000
1551 Shelter Island Dr, San Diego, CA 92106 – http://www.resortkonakai.com
When is it:
Friday, July 25 from 7pm till 10pm. The party officially ends at 10pm, but the hotel has a free concert scheduled inside the bar by a very popular local artist, so you are welcome to stick around for that.
How much does it cost:
$40 + $1.99 service fee from now until July 10, the price increases to $60 + $2.49 service fee from July 11-17. We must close the ticket sales by 9pm pst on Thursday, July 17 in order to give the hotel the final head count for the chef. We will post during the week of the con if we are granted permission to sell tickets at the door.
Food:
There will be Hors d’oeuvres served throughout the evening
Drink:
This will be a cash bar
Activities:
A Costume contest and some new and exciting games for the whole family to play and hopefully win some prizes.
Transportation:
Yes, the Kona Kai is on a shuttle route, and as soon as SDCC posts this year’s shuttle info we will announce which shuttle route to take. You can also drive to the hotel, we have negotiated the low parking rate of just $10 for the evening, the best deal you will get on parking during SDCC. Driving directions to follow shortly.
Why should you go:
This event is separate from SDCC, no con badge is required to attend. If you or some friends or family were unable to secure tickets to SDCC, never fear, you can mix and mingle with as many Tolkien and Middle-earth fans as we can fit into the party. There will be plenty of prizes, games, silliness and costumes. And it’s going to be family friendly, which is not the case with many of the other events going on around town. The fact that the Kona Kai is out on Shelter Island gets you a little ways away from the crazy hustle and bustle of Downtown, and the view is spectacular.
Terms and Condition:
Because of deposit requirements with the venue, tickets for this event are non-refundable, but you can change the name for who will be attending as long as you email me at garfeimao@TheOneRing.net and get a confirmation for the name change. This name change must be done no later than 8pm on Thursday, July 24. As mentioned, the hotel has said that if we oversell beyond the capacity of the lawn area for the party, we can move over to the beach area. The flip side is that if we don’t reach the minimum number for the space allocated to us, we will have to cancel. In case TheOneRing.net has to cancel the event, you will receive a full refund minus the Eventbrite service fees.
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I love Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins. He’s just simply been so outstanding in the role of Bilbo Baggins that jumping on a few collectibles of him playing this character was a no-brainer. Today, I have for you a review of the Mini-Bust by Gentle Giant of Bilbo from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
For me, this is a case of the production piece showing improvement over the pictures on the box, as well as what we saw of the prototype. You can still get this bust from Gentle Giant’s website for just $70, and with an edition size of just a little over 500 pieces, it won’t last for long.
Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – Gentle Giant’s Bilbo Baggins Mini-Bust Review”
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Depending on where you stand on these Hobbit films the character Azog the Defiler can be a point of excitement or irritation. For me I have to say I do like the character as a whole, so that’s why when Gentle Giant put the Azog Mini-Bust up for order I had to get it. As you’ll hear me say in the review I truly believe this bust to be one of their best items ever. As far as collectibles go this one is quite affordable coming in at $85 and he has an edition size of just 780 pieces, which is quite small in high-end collectibles.
Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – Gentle Giant’s Azog the Defiler Mini-Bust Review”
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