It’s that time of year, when fans from the world over gather in downtown Atlanta, for a weekend for well-mannered frivolity. Or crazed depravity. Or, most likely, some combination of the two. This year, alas, coronavirus means no in-person DragonCon, which is sad for all those who are missing seeing friends there. But it’s great new for anyone who has never been able to get to Atlanta, as this year you can join the fun online! And there is PLENTY going on for fans of Middle-earth. Let’s take a look…
Staffers deej and greendragon will be taking part as ever, and TheOneRing.net’s panel will be online at 11.30am ET on Saturday (5th). There, deej and greendragon will be joined by High Fantasy Track assistant director Madeye Gamgee, who was recently lured into joining the TORn staff. We’ll be looking back on the past 12 months of Tolkien fandom, and looking forward to see what we can be excited about in the year ahead. (Spoiler: there’s actually rather a lot!)
Before that, on Friday evening at 8.30pm ET we’ll be hosting a Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (EE) watch along. Set up your own device, and we’ll all hit play together at 9pm precisely; and text chat along as we watch. AND earlier on Friday, you can catch a panel with none other than Nori, Ori, Bombur and Bifur: Jed Brophy, Adam Brown, Stephen Hunter and William Kircher will be appearing together to chat all things dwarvish!
There are lots of other things happening which will be of interest to Tolkien fans. Here’s a list of highlights of the con weekend, beginning this evening:
Tolkien Come to Virtual Dragon Con High Fantasy Schedule 2020 (all times are Eastern Daylight)
Thursday, Sept. 3
9-10 pm
Sylvester McCoy (from 2011)
D*C Classics
10-11 pm
We Have Always Fought: Warrior Women in High Fantasy
D*C Fan Tracks
Friday, Sept. 4
10–11 am
Greg Hildebrandt Spotlight
D*C Main
5:30–6:30 pm
Dwarves on the Loose!(Jed Brophy, Adam Brown, Stephen Hunter, William Kircher)
D*C Main
8:30 pm onward
Watch-a-Thon! Fellowship of the Ring (hitting “play” together at 9 pm EDT)
And as if that weren’t enough… We are also excited to let you know that there WILL be TORn t-shirts available! You’ll be able to order them online, and we’ll be revealing the designs for 2020 in our panel on Saturday, 11.30am ET. So please join us then! We’ll also post links here for buying, after Saturday’s reveal.
It’s all happening at DragonCon 2020. We may not be able to gather in person, but we can still have merry meetings online; see you for panels, movie viewing, and more. Let the fun begin!
Big thanks to everyone who entered the contest run by our good friends at Oscha Slings, to come up with a new Middle-earth design! We hear there were many lovely entries, and it was very hard to make a choice; but we can now announce the winner. Here’s what the folks at Oscha tell us:
‘We’d like to thank everyone who entered the competition, it was wonderful to see the range of ideas and talents! The winner is *drumroll*….
‘Cari Johnston with her (yet unnamed) mirrored depiction of the journey to Lake-town and the Lonely Mountain, from The Hobbit. It’s such a clever design, with so many story-telling elements, that has been well executed to work as a baby sling.
‘We could see a lot of enthusiasm for designs that were already on our list, so hopefully you will eventually get something that you’ve been dreaming of, for instance horses, eagles, and Gandalf!
‘We hope you can agree that Cari is a worthy winner, and that you will look forward to seeing the design woven!’
Congratulations to Cari, and thanks to all who entered. Don’t forget to check out the many wonderful Middle-earth goodies (including face masks!) at Oscha Slings.
The awesome folks at Star Ace Toys have announced two new Middle-earth Defo-Real figures.
The first is the Dark Lord himself, Sauron, which can be pre-ordered right now at Sideshow Collectibles for $90. This figure, unlike others in the series, has a limited edition run of only 500 pieces.
The other new figure was announced during Sideshow Collectibles Comic-Con at Home. Fans can keep informed about this new figure, via an RSVP link, which will place them on a list to be notified when the Morgul Lord himself is available for order.
That’s not all! If you need an extra Balrog in your life, and who doesn’t, you can order the light-up version for $96 which will be shipped during the fourth quarter of this year.
Our friends at Weta Workshop have created a fun line of collectibles called “Figures of Fandom”. To date it has only included characters from other franchises and didn’t include any characters from Middle-earth. Today this has changed, and I think all of you will love these new collectibles.
This line takes Middle-earth and adds a fun twist on the collectibles we’ve previously seen from Weta. These collectibles are made of PVC and should be priced in a range of $100-$120. The first two Middle-earth characters from this line, that Fans will be able to add to their collections, are Gandalf the White and The Witch-king of Angmar, which are expected to become available later in 2020. Once we have more information, about the pre-order for these two collectibles, we will let you know. Edit: Our friends at Weta surprised us and these two are now up for pre-order at $120 and shipping in Jan 2021.
It has been 20 years since a Cave Troll statue was available for fans to purchase without having to search the secondary market. Today our friends at Weta Workshop have unveiled a brand new Cave Troll statue in conjunction with the 20th Anniversary of The Fellowship of the Ring. This statue is off the freaking charts awesome! If you’re like me, and had a Cave Troll sized hole in your collection, that problem is now solved.
Today’s artist corner video allows folks to get to know a pretty awesome guy, Leonard Ellis, who is the Collectibles Team Leader at Weta.
If you’re fond of the Mini Epic line of collectibles from our friends at Weta Workshop then today is your day. Fans can expect to see three new Mini Epics, which will be available to order in the next few months.
The second character from The Hobbit Trilogy will be Radagast the Brown with his friend Sebastian.
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy will be getting two new amazing epics characters today. Collectors can expect to add Eowyn and Arwen who, as you can see, both look awesome. As soon as we have firm pre-order dates we will let you know.
