Tauriel After the worldwide Fan Event the other day, Evangeline Lilly stuck around to chat with Entertainment Weekly moderator Anthony Breznican and answer a few more questions from fans at The Grove in Los Angeles. Even if you watched the live event online, you won’t have caught this before.

Lilly had a few interesting things to say, and went into a little more depth about the background of her character Tauriel, and what motivates her. I guess that some of this might be considered background/character movie spoilers so highlight the space below to read a couple of excerpts. Continue reading “Evangeline Lilly reveals the background of Tauriel”

Legolas in vlog #8 courtesy of DarkJackal It seems even Hollywood elves get worried about packing on the weight over the years!

When Orlando Bloom was asked how it felt to portray Legolas in The Hobbit trilogy after a decade, knowing he’s 60 years younger than he was in Lord of the Rings, he was justifiably anxious.

“The first thing I did when I got to New Zealand was try on my old Legolas costume, because I wanted to see if it would still fit,” the 36-year-old joked at yesterday’s live Hobbit global fan event. Continue reading “Orlando Bloom worried he wouldn’t fit into old Lord of the Rings elf costume after 10 years”

It’s time to announce November’s Rewrite Tolkien contest, where you, the fans, can rewrite your favorite passages or scenes in the style of a classic author.  We will select a theme each month, and then it’s up to you to put your spin on it!

The theme for the month of November is:

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The Hobbit as written by J.K. Rowling/ The Harry Potter series

Using characters from ‘The Hobbit’, come up with a poem or short story in the style of J.K. Rowling – Gandalf’s early years at Hogwarts…Beorn vs. Fluffy…Dobby the house elf paying his cousins in Mirkwood a visit- It’s up to you!

Our judges will read through all of your submissions, and choose the best of the bunch.  The Grand Prize Winner will get their entry read live by our own Quickbeam on the first TORn Tuesday of December, as well as having it published here on TheOneRing.net.  Two runners-up will have their stories posted here on TORn.

The contest deadline is 12:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on Monday, November 25th.   Please be sure to read all of the submission guidelines below and submit your entry to rewrite_tolkien_contest@theonering.net.
 
 
 
Good luck!
 
 
 
****Submission Guidelines****
 
 
 
  • Contest is open to individuals worldwide, age 13 and up at the time of entry.
  • To avoid duplicate submissions, please include your name and location on all entries.
  • To qualify, submissions must be a minimum of 500 words and maximum of 2000 words, feature characters from The Hobbit and be in the style of the author/genre for that month’s contest.
  • All submissions should be emailed to mailto: rewrite_tolkien_contest@theonering.net with the entry in the body of the email.  No attachments.
  • No posting your entry on the message boards or TORn’s Facebook page.
  • No profanity. We realize that some authors’ styles require it, so if you MUST use profanity, please censor it with asterisks.
  • By submitting, you are giving TORn permission to reproduce your entry on our website or other formats (Twitter, Facebook, etc…)
  • Only one entry per person, and each entry may not be submitted more than once.
  • Contestants are only eligible to win once in a 12 month period.
  • Entries that do not follow these submission guidelines will not be considered for the contest.

*Illustration by Mary GrandPre

IMG_6523We’ve started to see more and more products announced and launched tying into The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. One of the companies turning out some pretty cool stuff for film two is our friends at The Bridge Direct. The collectible we’re covering today is Radagast the Brown, from their 6” line of figures. After seeing this piece at San Diego Comic-Con this past summer, I was quite excited to get this; and I have to say this figure lived up to my expectations.

PACKAGING

The layout for the box design for Radagast is exactly the same as we saw with wave one of the figures, for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The new figures differ in the graphics, as well as the coloring of the box. The images show the company climbing what I would assume is the Lonely Mountain, with another view of that same Mountain in the background. You also have a blue tone to the coloring, which suggests the darker turn the movie will take, compared to how wave one and movie one matched up.

On the bottom of the box you have a cardboard slip with the character’s name and a picture of the character all rendered in the same coloring. The back of the box has a great little breakdown of the second movie. They not only do this in English but also in French, which I have to say I really got a kick out of. You also get a look at the three 6” figures in wave two: Radagast, Legolas, and Azog.

IMG_6497Accessories/Articulation

Radagast is simple when it comes to the number of items you get with him; he comes with his hat and his staff. However, this matches exactly what we see him with during the movie, so you get to create the exact look of what we saw.

The articulation on this figure as a whole is really good. You have great movement in the hands, elbows, shoulders, and ankles. The only area which I found had any kind of limited movement is the head, but that is due to his beard. Overall, you can have some real fun with this figure, creating some of the craziness we could imagine Radagast getting into.

SCULPTING

I love the sculpting job on Radagast. I really think the likeness on this figure is pretty darn close to a dead ringer for what we saw on screen. Within the facial likeness, the little bird’s nest is also there and can be shown or not depending on if you have him wear his hat. The detailing doesn’t stop there, as his outfit has some amazing fine points in it, even with little things I didn’t notice in the movie when I’ve seen it several times. Radagast comes with a couple of extras, which are the hat I just mentioned, and his trusty staff with the blue crystal that he uses to save Sebastian the hedgehog.

PAINT

As I’ve said before in other reviews, the paint can make or break the sculpting work. I really think The Bridge Direct nailed the paintwork on Radagast, giving the character the proper ‘on screen’ look. The skin tone looks like his movie counter part and has a nice natural, alive tone to it. His hair has the proper brown and grey mix as we saw on screen. That’s not my favorite part, though, of what was done to his hair. One of the things I don’t care for with Radagast is the bird poop in his hair – it’s just something I really wish they had left out. Luckily, the way it’s painted on the figure it just looks like a large area of grey hair, and I love it. Much better than what we actually got! His outfit is also painted very nicely, allowing for all the sculpted details to come screaming through.

IMG_6615Overall

Radagast is a fantastic figure. You get a great sized figure and tons of detail. You can get Radagast exclusively at Toys R’ Us for $14.99, along with Azog, Legolas, and the Mirkwood 5-Pack. We want to thank The Bridge Direct for this chance to give our readers a look at this pretty cool figure.

 

SPECIFICATIONS

Radagast costs $14.99.

PHOTOS

Desolation  of Smaug soundtrack special edition As you probably know by now, the closing credits song for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is a tune entitled I See Fire by English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran.

At yesterday’s Fan Event, Peter Jackson said Sheeran became involved in the production after his daughter Katie introduced the artist to her parents after attending one of his shows back in March/April.

“She said that I just had to listen to him, and that he could be the perfect fit for the end of the film… and she was right.”

They noted at the time that Sheeran had a “great voice” and “great sensitivity”, then put it on the back-burner for a few months.

As Peter told fans in Wellington, the musicians always see the film before they write and record their tune. Inevitably that means it occurs late in the production process. Continue reading “Listen to and buy The Desolation of Smaug closing credits song I See Fire on iTunes!”