I feel it in the water… I smell it in the air. The beast has emerged from its lair, and DragonCon is here again! Here’s what you can expect from Middle-earth fandom, and from TheOneRing.net, this weekend:
We’ll have our usual ‘fan table’ in our normal spot, in the Hyatt hotel opposite the entrance to the Art Show. There we’ll have buttons and shirts for sale; here’s a glimpse of our merchandise for this year:
We’ll also have other goodies for you to look at, maybe a few giveaways, and we’ll be happy as ever to chat with our fellow fans!
The High Fantasy track will be in L401-403 in the Marriott, and there are various panels which will be of interest to Tolkien fans; such as a discussion about The Inklings (Saturday 2.30pm), ‘Valar-ous Women of Middle-earth’ (Sunday 5.30pm), and TORn’s own ‘They’re taking the Hobbits to Amazon!’ panel (Sunday 4pm, in a bigger room – Marriott A601-602).
Then of course Friday night is the EVENING AT BREE! From 8.30pm in the Grand Salon West (Hilton), join us for music and revelry! Bands Toucan Dubh and Landloch’d will play, the Elf Choir will sing, and we’ll have the ever popular costume contest – possibly with a celebrity host or two…
(Don’t forget, if you want to sign up for the costume contest, you need to do it IN ADVANCE of the ‘Evening at Bree’. Go to the High Fantasy Track Room (Marriott L401-403) or visit the TORn fan table before 6pm on Friday to sign up to participate.)
Middle-earth celebrity guests this year are Graham McTavish (Dwalin), John Noble (Denethor), Dean O’Gorman (Fili), and Craig Parker (Haldir). On Sunday morning, 11.30am in the Marriott Imperial Ballroom, TORn staffer greendragon will be hosting these gentlemen in the ‘Heroes of Middle-earth’ session.
In addition to all that, there will be lots of Tolkien characters marching in the Parade on Saturday morning, and there will be all the usual opportunities to spend far too short a time among such excellent and admirable fans! Hope to see you there – let the fun begin!
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One of my favorite pieces from Comic-Con 2018 was the amazing Balrog bust that showed up Saturday of the show. I got to see this piece up close both as what you can order now and a pre-prototype. I have to say that I very much prefer what fans will be able to order. The clear resin flames that light up are so freaking cool and well done. Our friends at Weta Workshop have done a superb job of using the right paints to make sure these look just right, which is tough when you go for the clear resin on flames. Jamie Beswarick as usual knocks the overall sculpt of the Balrog out of the park and as a fan of the character I love his work on this creature. Fans can order this piece right now for $699 and with an edition size of 888 he won’t be around too long. As a bonus fans won’t have to wait too long to get him as he’s due to ship in November of this year.
Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – Weta Workshop’s Balrog, Flame of Udun Bust Pre-Order”
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One of the new Mini Epics revealed at Comic-Con 2018 last month was my favorite creature within Middle-earth The Balrog. This guy has had me mesmerized ever since I saw it on the big screen, when I first saw The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. I’ve got several collectibles of him in my collection and when it was pointed out that they had this one for sale at the show, I had to have him.
You can get the Balrog for $99 and depending on where you have him shipped from, can get him shipped right now. He’s a massive piece, quite heavy, and super well done. Added with the very cool anime style of this line, its another great piece from our friends at Weta Workshop. Also joining the review as a special guest, is a Mini Epic of the Ring-bearer himself. Frodo Baggins.
Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – Weta Workshop’s Balrog Mini Epic Review”
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Comic-Con 2018 is in the books, and if you followed us on Social Media you had a chance to see us share what was going on at our friends at Weta Workshop’s booth. Now that I’m back, I wanted to share all the pics I took of the wonderful things I saw at their booth. They had the jaw dropping (watch a recap of the Weta live video when they unveiled the new pieces) Master Collection Treebeard, new Balrog Bust, and the stunning Arwen on Asfaloth. All of these pieces were absolutely awesome and all may end up in my collection! The one piece we can all add right now is the Arwen on Asfaloth statue. She comes in with a price tag of $699 and an edition size of 750. However, fans will have to be patient until early 2019 to get her. In the meantime please enjoy the booth tour and various shots of what amazingness was at the Weta booth.
Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – Weta Workshop’s Comic-Con 2018 Recap”
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Easily one of the show stealing pieces last year at SDCC, Thranduil on Elk just drew you in when you visited the Weta Workshop booth. This had fans online chattering at just how amazing it looked through the pictures posted by TORn and other collectors at SDCC. Needless to say, all of us were looking forward to his arrival. There were some snags on the production version, making this a somewhat controversial piece within the fanbase. It’s still a super impressive and overall good looking piece and one that will look good in your collection. As always here are my thoughts on Thranduil on Elk.
Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – Weta Workshop’s Thranduil on Elk Review”
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If you were lucky enough to be at Emerald City Comic Con, you got to see our friend Jerry Vanderstelt paint a large version of this at the Weta Workshop booth. Now fans can add a giclee version of this image to their collections. This fantastic piece gives you a great portrait look at The Balrog, one of the coolest creatures in all of Middle-earth.
Do not wait too long to order this, as it is limited to only 2000 pieces worldwide. As always, Jerry’s work is available in multiple options, such as a paper giclee at $80, canvas giclee for $225, and the canvas giclee with gallery wrapped for $325. No matter what option you go with, this is yet another outstanding work of art from Vanderstelt Studio.
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