Lake-town LuauSan 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.

IMG_9712I 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”

IMG_8431Depending 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”

IMG_8412Ever since seeing The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey I’ve been waiting to go to Goblin Town via the various collectibles I collect. Comic-Con 2013 finally brought me and many collectors a chance to finally snag one of those nasty looking Goblins. The first Goblin character to get the high-end collectibles treatment is the Goblin King himself. If you ordered directly from Gentle Giant you were lucky enough to snag the little Goblin Scribe for a pretty sweet little set of Goblins. This little set was limited to just 100 pieces worldwide, which made for one of the rarer collectibles so far for The Hobbit Trilogy.

Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – Gentle Giant’s Goblin King with Scribe Mini-Bust Review”

RA B&WWith the Home Video release of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (which becomes available this week in Australia, Brazil and parts of Europe), Richard Armitage has been busy giving interviews, as we’ve been posting over the past week or so. He found time to sit down again with staffer greendragon, and they chatted about finding Thorin’s voice one last time, what he’s working on now, and what it was like to fill (literally!) those mighty dwarven boots… Here’s what he had to say:

Continue reading “EXCLUSIVE – Richard Armitage chats with TheOneRing.net”

hobbitconlogoThe convention season is about to start in a big way with TheOneRing.net appearing at shows across the U.S. and even at a special event in Europe. HobbitCon in Bonn, Germany, is packed full of Hobbit and Tolkien guests, including our own MrCere (Larry D. Curtis) who will present several panels about, as you might guess, The Hobbit.

Joining him is an amazing collection of 12 star guests that includes actors from The Hobbit film and Royd Tolkien, great-grandson of J.R.R. Tolkien. The lineup of special guests includes Sir Richard Taylor, some fan films and other prominent figures from the world-wide Tolkien community. Tickets are no longer on sale online but day or weekend tickets can be purchased directly from the event at the Maritim Hotel If you are in Europe this is an event without peer.

WONDERCON

Wondercon logoFrom the same folks who stage the world-famous San Diego Comic-Con, comes WonderCon in Anaheim, with a pretty incredible lineup that also includes TheOneRing.net staff previewing the last movie from Peter Jackson about Middle-earth, “The Hobbit: There and Back Again.” That can’t-miss panel takes place Saturday, April 19 at 5:30 p.m., in room 300DE.

We also will have a table on the sales floor to get exclusive TORn t-shirts and talk to staffers about all things Middle-earth. Our all-volunteer staff has an abundant representation in Los Angeles, making this a way to meet our friends.

MORE CONVENTIONS

CALGARY EXPO: April 24-27, Calgary. Staffers greendragon and Deej join a powerful Middle-earth lineup of guests that includes Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, Jed Brophy, Manu Bennett, and Dean O’Gorman. Also featured is Weta’s incomparable Richard Taylor. TORn will sell our exclusive convention shirts and meet fans and friends face-to-face!

FANTASYCON July 3 – 5, Salt Lake City. This show, focused on fantasy, has a heavy Middle-earth influence with celebrity guests and rumor has it they will add several others to a lineup that includes Sean Astin, John Rhys-Davies, Sylvester McCoy, Ken Stott and Graham McTavish. TheOneRing.net is partnering with the show and will be present at the celebration of all things fantasy with a booth, panels and some surprises.

SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON The grandaddy of pop-culture events in the world will once again feature Hobbit content from Warner Bros. and TORn. Director Peter Jackson is a likely candidate to be here and as well as a list of celebrities from the film to make their “Hall H” appearance. Plan to wait or camp in line. Our own panel is also in high demand and while nobody can camp overnight, we fill any room the SDCC hands us. This is Mecca for pop-culture. See you there!

DRAGON CON The annual event in Atlanta, Georgia is something of a home for all things Tolkien with the Tolkien Track of programming that definitely features TheOneRing.net and always includes some celebrities from the film world. This focuses on books, film, pop-culture, costuming, dancing, music and everything else you can think of. TORn staffers attending include greendragon, Deej, MrCere, Thorongil, often Quickbeam and usually a few more.

More conventions are likely including the New York Comic Con so expect lots more convention updates.