Imagine for a moment, if you will, that you jump forward in time more than three months, ending up in the Spring of next year. You’ve joined fellow fans at the world premier of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in Wellington; you’ve had a great time at a local Line Party; you’ve seen the movie umpteen times; you even went to Los Angeles in February and had a spectacular time at An Unexpected Art Show and The One Expected Party with the folks from TORn. But now, March is drawing to an end and it’s months until San Diego ComicCon. What to do in the meantime?
Well, you could go to Germany and enjoy HobbitCon! The folks who bring you RingCon each year are holding a special event in Bonn next March 30th and April 1st, to celebrate the Hobbit movie. This event, called ‘There and Back Again – A Hobbit Convention’, will take place at the Hotel Maritim and will include Q&A, autograph and photo sessions. Excitingly, a good number of the movie’s cast are already signed up to attend; you can read more details here. Sounds like a fun way to spend a weekend! With events like these to keep us all occupied, The Desolation of Smaug will be here before we know it!
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For Sideshow Collectibles the month of October means their annual Spooktacular event. Now the event brings Ringers a chance to order the best Premium Format Sideshow has ever made. The Dark Lord Sauron has been turned into a massive 3 foot tall Premium Format figure. Sauron will cost you $900 and will not be shipping until July of 2013, so fans will have time to save those pennies or use Sideshow’s super friendly flex-pay plan (up to 8 payments for Sauron). As we saw at Comic-Con this past July, this piece is amazingly large and impressive – worthy of the centerpiece for any The Lord of the Rings collection. [Sauron]
Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – Sideshow Collectibles Sauron Premium Format”
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“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.”
– J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit
We got our first look at the young Bilbo Baggins statue at Comic-Con 2012. As was the case for Gandalf the Grey, and the non-exclusive version of Thorin Oakenshield, Bilbo Baggins went up for Pre-Order October 1st, 2012 and is an open edition which allows fans a solid chance at getting all three of these amazing statues.
Bilbo Baggins is a 50-year-old Hobbit, comfortable with living in Bag End and enjoying his daily life. On April 25th, 2941 of the Third Age, that would all change with a visit from the wizard, Gandalf the Grey. After an unexpected party, Bilbo was convinced to join Thorin and company on their adventure to Erebor, setting in motion events that would change his life, and the fortune of Middle-earth, forever.
PACKAGING
The graphics on the box for Bilbo are similar to those of the Gandalf statue, having a very Middle-earth-like look and feel to them. As with the Gandalf box, there’s a shot of the character, graphics for the title of the movie, Weta logo and the name of the character. The sides present a couple of different looks with one side showing great shots of Bilbo from different angles, and the other side showing some of the additional products that will be coming out for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The back of the box contains a great story on Bilbo and his importance to the events of The Hobbit. Unlike the Gandalf statue, you have to plug Bilbo into a base which is stored inside the box (the Thorin base was outside of the box).
SCULPTING
Brigitte Wuest is the sculptor of Bilbo, a name that fans of Middle-earth well know for her many amazing works like the Theoden Statue, Morgul Lord and Gandalf the White on Shadowfax. As with those statues, she nailed Martin Freeman’s look as a young Bilbo Baggins, which is to say fans will be getting an amazing likeness. The detailing of Bilbo’s outfit is really fantastic and the whole outfit gives off a very real vibe to it, looking like something worn by someone going through what Bilbo goes through. Two of the nicer small details with Bilbo are the embroidery work on Bilbo’s scarf and the hair on his feet. Another great thing is the detailing of Sting and Sting’s scabbard, both impeccably done. The pose of the statue is also awesome: we get to see Bilbo not just being the nice Hobbit we know he is, but we get to see him as the hero he becomes over the course of The Hobbit. From top to bottom this statue is a must have for any collector.
PAINT
The paintwork on Bilbo is simply fantastic. As with Gandalf, you have great, clean lines and the details are brought out even more so by the wonderful paint job. As good as the skin tones are on Gandalf and Thorin I think Weta really did a superb job with Bilbo, taking their work to another level. The paint work on the clothes look worn (obviously from a little later in his journey), but shows the proper wear of someone out on a long and perilous journey. I also love the paint work on Sting, and the scabbard with both items looking very much like their on screen counterparts with none of the sculpting details being lost in the paint job. I really can’t say enough good things about the paint job on this piece and just how impressed I was when I opened this amazing statue.
Overall
Bilbo retails for $200 on Weta’s website. As with Gandalf the Grey and Thorin, Weta was very successful in creating a fantastic statue capturing this little Hobbit as we will watch him grow on screen. I really just love everything about this statue from the little embroidery work on his scarf, wear of the clothes, likeness, paint work, detail, pose, etc. I love this statue more than I did when I saw it all those months ago at Comic-Con and having it in my collection brings a big smile to my face. There is nothing to not like about this statue and collectors are lucky that this statue is an open edition. Definitely two thumbs up!
SPECIFICATIONS
Bilbo is an open edition with a retail price of $200.
PHOTOS
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TORn staffers are just back from a busy weekend at New York ComicCon, where we had a wonderful time meeting and chatting with fellow fans. It was great to see so many folks at our party on Thursday night, and we loved seeing everyone who came by our booth at the convention. Thanks to all for your support! Tolkien fans really are amazing creatures… 🙂
Alas, we didn’t learn about this amazing art until we had all left the Big Apple! Never mind King Kong or Godzilla, giant dwarves are taking over Manhattan! If you’re in New York, go check it out – at the South East corner of 24th and Park. Thanks to ringer spy Debba521 for the heads up!
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Ringer-spy Rosie-with-the-ribbons sent us the following report from this years RingCon.
Last weekend there was another RingCon in Bonn, Germany, the 11th RingCon to be precise.
In the last few years more and more fandoms have been invited to attend. And this year we were very happy to greet a big number of Game of Thrones-stars and their beautifully costumed fans to the event. But I am going to focus on all the LOTR-stuff that happened.
Continue reading “RingCon 2012, what a wonderful time”
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The German fan site Herr-der-Ringe-Film has posted new pictures from The Hobbit movies that are currently on display at the Frankfurt Book Fair. The picture to the right depicts Lee Pace, as Thranduil. Thranduil is the king of the elves of Mirkwood, and father to Legolas. Here, we see him in an intricate silver costume with his head adorned by a silver crown entwined with leaves. Another new picture depicts Legolas aiming his bow and arrow towards the camera. There’s also a great picture of Elrond in armor, already revealed to be in the Hobbit movie calendar.
The Frankfurt Book Fair is billed as the largest book fair on the planet. It runs through tomorrow (Sunday, October 14), so if you’re lucky enough to be in the area, be sure to stop by. In the mean time, head on over to Herr-der-Ringe-Film and check out the pictures. Read More…
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Imagine for a moment, if you will, that you jump forward in time more than three months, ending up in the Spring of next year. You’ve joined fellow fans at the world premier of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in Wellington; you’ve had a great time at a local Line Party; you’ve seen the movie umpteen times; you even went to Los Angeles in February and had a spectacular time at An Unexpected Art Show and The One Expected Party with the folks from TORn. But now, March is drawing to an end and it’s months until San Diego ComicCon. What to do in the meantime?
