It’s nearly November – the month of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey premiere is almost here. And news keeps coming out of Wellington of the preparation for the fun! This is the newest sculpture to pop up in the city – and these dwarves (and one hobbit!) are designed to be tough! Read all about it here.
Category: Events
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”
Here at TheOneRing.net we have a long history of ‘swamping’ polls – showcasing the full power of Ringers worldwide. Well, today we have a special poll from the folks at People’s Choice. They have come up with a list of 10 Nominees for a ‘Favorite Movie Fan Following’ category, and we ‘Ringers’ are among the choices. Sure those other fan bases are great and all, but we hope you hold a special place in your hearts for the Ringer community. (BTW – Anyone know the first use of Ringers to refer to the Tolkien fan community? We’d love to hear what you think in the comments) Jump over to their nominations page and cast your vote today! [Vote Ringers!]
A tired but jubilant Weta crew unveiled their new Gollum statue at a press function at Wellington Airport this morning. Working almost around the clock for three days, Gollum was hoisted up overnight to hover over diners at the airport’s main lounge. The 13m sculpture was designed and produced by Richard Taylor and Weta Workshop supervisors
Rob Gillies and Sarah Morris. Richard made a short speech to thank the team that made the incredibly realistic sculpture – a testament not only to their talent and hard work, but also to the technology and skills Weta has developed. He also thanked the “excellent” team at Wellington Airport, who have been a pleasure to work with in creating something that would bring delight to Wellington’s visitors. Airport CEO Steve Sanderson said the airport was proud to work with Weta and have such a magnificent sculpture on display. “Everyone will be amazed when they enter the terminal.”
We teased it last week, and now its time for action! The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey tickets go on sale Nov 7th, 2012 and that means millions of fans from around the globe will be securing tickets to the movie event of the year. It also means you – yes, you! – have an amazing opportunity to lead the charge in your local community by becoming an official TheOneRing.net Line Party Leader! As a Line Party Leader you will work with your local theater to arrange for special festivities surrounding the first screening of The Hobbit. We at TheOneRing.net will do our best to help you manage your party with our online tools, exclusive promotions, exclusive swag, and of course tips and tricks from our team of Line Party veterans.
How do you get started? First you will need to make sure you are signed up for a TheOnRing.net Fellowship account (upper right corner of the page). When you’ve completed your registration process, visit our Line Party landing page and click the ‘start a line party’ button. The most important information at this point is getting the correct address for the theater. Everything else can be adjusted at a later time. Further details from our staff will be happening in the coming weeks! [Line Party Landing Page]
“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
