Last year during Comic-Con, our friends at Weta Workshop unveiled a pretty sick looking statue of the Cave Troll from the Mines of Moria sequence. Flash forward a few months later, it has arrived – and we’re going to take time to look over this awesome collectible. This thing is massive, detailed, and is a piece that folks will want to stop and look at in your collection. The folks at Weta absolutely nailed this one, and as a huge fan of that Moria sequence, I’m beyond happy to own this piece. As always, we hope you enjoy the review and the pictures of what will be a grail piece for fans of The Lord of the Rings.
Yesterday we got our first official image from Amazon’s billion-dollar TV series, along with confirmation of a launch date of September 2, 2022. (It’s interesting to note that Amazon has launched many of their other big series on Labor Day weekend, including The Boys with Karl Urban, Carnival Row with Orlando Bloom, and Jack Ryan.) Amazon have also confirmed that the episodes will be released weekly; so we’ll be back to Game of Thrones style ‘event’ television.
Today we can let you know that the image is in fact a shot from the first episode, directed by JA Bayona. Our staff have all be excitedly poring over the image, and wondering what exactly it reveals. Here are their reactions, below:
Our next review is going to take a look at the two most recently delivered figures from Iron Studio’s 1:10 The Lord of the Rings statue line. These awesome pieces capture the sequence we see at Balin’s tomb in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. So far fans can snag Legolas, Gimli, Boromir, Armored Orc, Swordsman Orc, Archer Orc, and of course the Cave Troll. As you will see in this review, they’ve done an excellent job of capturing Middle-earth’s odd couple, Legolas and Gimli, as well as creating a couple of great collectibles. If you’re a fan with limited space and budget, then these collectibles will be right up your ally. Currently, Legolas and Gimli are listed as in stock from our friends at Sideshow, for $140 each. The rest of the line set is currently on pre-order.
The incredibly secretive billion-dollar TV series release confirms a launch date of September 2, 2022, for what has been filming for nearly 18 months in New Zealand. Looks like post production, VFX work and more will take more than a year to complete.
First OFFICIAL photo: Amazon’s LOTR
Here is the first official pic of Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings, the biggest TV series in history, from showrunners Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne!
Curiously, the announcement begins with “yet-to-be titled”, which means the actual series may be called something new. Fandom has been split on this idea – The Lord of the Rings is the biggest selling book of the 20th century, and a well-known brand, familiar in all languages; and the Second Age story is of Sauron, who is the actual lord of the rings. On the other hand, casual viewers might be confused by naming the show the same as the feature films, where they might expect a reboot going in.
Our friends at Asmus Toys have launched a new line of collectibles that I believe fans are really going to love. Starting this Fall, fans will be able to acquire what Asmus is refering to as limited articulation figures. The first collectible that fans will be able to snag is the Balrog; which, as a fan of this character, makes me very happy. It’s really exceptional looking. If space is an issue don’t fret, because this statue is coming in at 11 inches tall with the wings. (Other figures Lurtz and the newly teased Azog will both be in the 8″ tall range.) You can get the Balrog right now at Sideshow for $110, which is a great price point for collectors. If you’re looking to get something that is cool, doesn’t take up a ton of shelf space, and has a price point that may enable you to collect them all, I think you’ll want to check this out.
Our friends at Weta Workshop had themselves one heck of a Comic-Con at Home 2021, with the goodies they’ve unveiled for us. We have a new Mini Epic, helms, a premium statue, a new master collection statue – and that’s just from Middle-earth! The new Mini Epic is this year’s Comic-Con Exclusive. It’s a variant of Saruman, but this time holding his staff and Gandalf’s staff as well. This piece comes in with a price tag of $49.99(US), and an edition size online of only 400 pieces.
If you’re a fan of the helm line then this Comic-Con was for you, as you got three new additions: two from The Hobbit Trilogy and one from The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. The two from The Hobbit represent helms we saw on the Ringwraiths during the Dol Guldur sequence. Fans can add the helm of the Ringwraiths Khand and Harad, with both pieces coming in at $79.99(US). The Lord of the Rings is being represented by the Uruk-hai Captain’s Helm, which also comes in at $79.99(US). The edition size of these three pieces will be set by the number of orders placed by August 5th.
This year’s premium statue is the Lord of the Rings himself, Sauron. This statue is a monster in size, and amazing in paint as well as detail. Fans who order him will get – for the first time ever – alternate weapons, with one of them being from a deleted scene! He also comes with a base which contains led lights, to give a glowing lava effect. Sauron comes in with a price tag of $999(US), and fans have time to save for this superb piece as he’s not shipping until 2nd quarter of next year. Like the helms, Sauron’s edition size is being set by orders received through August 5th.