IMG_3242The next fantastic Weta item we’re going to be taking a look at made its debut at Comic-Con 2014. King Thror on Throne was a surprise to fans like myself, but it is not surprise that Weta has once again shown the ability to rip what we see on screen and put that right into our collections. The piece has amazing details, including the symbol of the Arkenstone on the back of the throne and the rings on Thror’s hands. Despite his all-to-short screen time, I would highly suggest adding this beautiful piece depicting the great king of the Dwarves, Thror, to your collection.

HobbitDosBeornsHousea2The newest environment to from Weta Workshop has landed as an in-stock purchase. The House of Beorn from The Hobbit: The Desolation Smaug joins the other amazing places that are part of so many collections. Beorn’s house  comes in with an edition size of only 750 pieces world wide and is priced at $279. If you are in the UK it is back-ordered until June.

Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – Weta Workshop’s House of Beorn and Bolg Order Information”

Mel is gone.

Chris Mel KernIt has been weeks now and this isn’t news. I have felt the loss personally and thought about the loss for so many.

Melissa Theresa Petrey Kern, 42, is gone. In her real traditional obituary, it says she was of Lawrenceville, Georgia. Respectfully, I disagree, or I want to state on the record, that while that may be true, it isn’t the whole truth.

More of the truth would say that Melissa Theresa Petrey Kern, 42, a notable figure in the Tolkien Community, died March 8, 2015, after a long battle with ALS. She lived among us, the fan community, and was our neighbor and shared her life with us and is missed by us, as she is missed in Lawrenceville. You could write about more places she lived and is missed too.

I remember, fortunately a few conversations we shared that didn’t seem especially significant at the time, but feel pretty lucky now. We talked about an artist that visited Georgia. We talked about the Tolkien Community in Atlanta. We even talked about specific people she wanted good things for. We talked about fandom, that included her own early love for the books of J.R.R. Tolkien. We shared some moments and I value them, as part of the beautiful experience of our community and they are just a tiny sample of many such moments she shared with many people.

More memorable than the things she said were the people she influenced. The Georgia costuming community, I think it is fair to say, wouldn’t have been so organized or so unified if not for Mel. The Arms of Middle-earth might not have existed at all without Mel, but I don’t pretend to know the reality of that claim. We can safely and accurately say, she was at the heart of the community.

There is a photo, I am sure dozens of people have it, where a significant number of Tolkien costumers were all gathered together in an impressive array of characters from “The Lord of the Rings.” It was during Dragon Con in Atlanta, before the convention had matured to quite the level it has now. Groups of costumers were less frequent and large numbers of themed costumes were rare. There, in that spot, was organized and gathered an outstanding display of fans, living their passions and forming a genuine fellowship. It was a very fine cosplay effort but it was a transcendent community effort. Continue reading “Tolkien community loses Melissa Petrey Kern”

HobbitBlackArrowa2Fans got their first glimpse of this prop during NYCC and now you can order this in-stock collectible to add to your collection.

Replicating The Black Arrow that Bard uses to kill Smaug in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is made from metal reinforced fibreglass with a urethane head and vinyl fletching and comes with two urethane hooks for horizontal display, in pride of place, on your wall.

This 1:1 collectibles is limited to just 1500 pieces worldwide and a great price of $199.00

LOTRFaramir2Yesterday our friends at Weta Workshop had a nice surprise for us. The second statue in the relaunched The Lord of the Rings statue line is now available for order.

As you may recall from Comic-Con last year, The Balrog -Demon of Shadow and Flame, as well as Faramir, were on display.

Faramir, a character so many of us have been waiting for, can now be yours to order for $249 at an edition size of only 1000 pieces worldwide.

If you hate waiting like me, then you’ll love that this is also in-stock and ready to ship now!

The likeness and detail on this statue are some of Weta’s best work. Having a chance to add Faramir to your collections will be one you won’t want to miss.

Gandalf & Saruman at SLCC 2013
Gandalf & Saruman at SLCC 2013

SALT LAKE CITY — It isn’t traditional convention season but Salt Lake City, that hotbed of nerddom, has invited TheOneRing.net to present a HOBBIT panel Friday at the Fan Xperience. The official title is: Behind the Scenes of The Hobbit: A Look at Hobbiton :: Room 250A but who knows what might happen? Friends may call, secrets may be revealed, photos might be shown and generally Tolkien mayhem is bound to happen.

We will take a deep look at the book and movie versions of Tolkien’s pastoral Hobbiton. They placed us in a pretty decent sized room so support is much appreciated.