“Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love. Why Bilbo Baggins? I don’t know. Perhaps because I am afraid, and he gives me courage.”
-Gandalf to Galadriel during the meeting of the White Council
Gentle Giant since their last release has announced several Mini-Busts for their range of collectibles for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. One of those busts was of course a very familiar face to fans of Middle-earth in the character of Gandalf the Grey. Well, the wait is over and Gandalf has arrived on our doorsteps ready to be placed in our collections. Gandalf becomes the third bust in this series to go from Pre-Order to item we have, and I will say I think the wait was worth it.
The geek world is about to descend on San Diego for Comic Con International, and that includes a large contingent of TORn staffers and many of our dear friends, we hope you will all join us.
We just got a note from the team at Badali Jewelry, to give a sneak peek at some of their new Hobbit themed jewelry and remind us of some special promotions.
Hello TORn! Can’t wait to see you all next week. I just wanted to pass along our announcements for this years SDCC, which include the debut of 2 new Hobbit pieces! There may actually be a third, but we just have to wait and see if it will be ready when we leave on Wednesday. đ
Can’t wait to see what the third exclusive piece is, let’s hope it is ready by Wednesday. Badali will be hosting TORn at their booth #532/534, which will allow you to look at all their beautiful jewelry, and then look at all our pins, shirts and poster.
We will also be debuting 3 brand new Officially Licensed The Hobbit pieces; Sterling Silver Baggins Cuff Links as well as White and Yellow Bronze Khuzdul Dwarven Battle Axes, available as either a necklace or a key chain. The Battle Axe features the Khuzdul Battlecry etched into the blade: Baruk KhazĂąd! KhazĂąd ai-mĂȘnu! – “Axes of the Dwarves! The Dwarves are upon you!”
We are bringing back the Comic Con Preview Night Exclusive Sale for 2013. During Preview Night (Wednesday the 17th) all customers will receive 30% off their entire purchase. This is a chance to receive the lowest prices on our jewelry for the entire year. We will have a full inventory of Arkenstone Replicas, Bag End Door Necklaces/Key Chains, Thror’s Key Necklaces/Key Chains, Sterling Silver One Rings, Nenya’s, The Arkenstone Necklace, Smaug Ring’s and Gollum Gold One Ring Necklaces, as well as select sizes of Sterling Silver Narya’s, Vilya’s and Gollum Creature Rings. Sterling Silver One Rings will be marked down from $108.00 to $75.60. Sterling Silver Nenya’s will be marked down from $99.00 to $69.30. Sterling Silver Arkenstone Necklaces will be marked down from $39.00 to $27.30! These will be some of the absolute lowest prices on our Lord of The Ring’s Jewelry that can be found all year long.
We are even offering 30% off the regular retail price for any orders that are placed with us at our booth on Preview Night. This means that literally everything on our website will be available at the 30% discount, including all 10k. and 14k. gold items. 10k. Yellow Gold One Rings can be order on preview night for $646.80, that’s a savings of $277.20 off the regular retail price.
If you can’t make it to Preview Night be sure to check out our ad in the events guide for a money saving coupon that can be used for the remainder of the con and be sure to stop by the booth to see what items are on sale.
In addition to our Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit Jewelry we will have new products for our Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time line and Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive line. We will also have a full inventory of our Patrick Rothfuss’ Kingkiller Chronicle, Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn and Elantris, H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu and many of our other popular lines in stock.
And of course, we will be holding our annual Free Jewelry Drawing. This year you can choose from a Sterling Silver Thror’s Key Necklace, A Sterling Silver Eolian Talent Pipes Pin or Necklace from the Kingkiller Chronicle line or a Sterling Silver Lanfear’s Signet Ring from The Wheel of Time line. Entries will be taken through the entire convention and the drawing will be held on Sunday, July 21st at 1:00pm. Winner need not be present to win.
This Preview Night 30% discount really is one of the best deals you will find from Badali Jewelry, so peruse their website to see what you like and know the asking price, and then visit the booth on Wednesday and buy it on sale.
Hope to see you all this year and have a wonderful SDCC 2013!
As we get ready to go into Comic-Con we wanted to remind you all of a contest we’re doing with our friends at BUDK/United Cutlery. We’ve teamed up with them to give away one of their awesome Orcrist Replicas that you see Thorin use during The Hobbit: An Unexpeted Journey. There are only 17 days left in the contest and with all the excitement of what you’re going to see at Comic-Con we wanted to make sure you got your entries in before the end of the contest sneaks up on you.
If you have followed all the off-screen drama related to the film adaptation of “The Hobbit,” you know that teams of lawyers have been central to the nearly unbelievable plot. There is a history of legal maneuvering that stretches back around Middle-earth movies for decades.
In the current round of court battles the Tolkien Estate brought a lawsuit in Nov. 2012 against Warner Bros. for $80 million that centered on online slot machines and digital merchandise. By March, WB and the Middle-earth Enterprises (that owns the rights purchased from J.R.R. Tolkien and grants them to Warner Bros.) filed a counter-claim saying the lawsuit had damaged them and undermined rights to the property.
The Estate, and an entity called The Fourth Age Ltd. filed to dismiss the counter suit, saying it was simply a legal move to get rid of the original suit. The victory for Warners and Middle-earth Enterprises was judge Audrey Collins stamping a “denied” against the motion to dismiss, allowing the suit to go forward. As you might guess, it is far from settled and many lawyers will collect significant money yet hashing it all out. Most of our information comes from Deadline.com where you can read more details if you wish, including the six-page decision. Kudos to Deadline for its reporting but their decision to watermark this public document is a tad silly.
Deadline’s latest story can be found here. There are others, including by bizjournals.com, while Deadline’s story about the original suit can be read here.
The judge concludes with some clear language:
“For the foregoing reasons, Fourth Ageâs Motions to Dismiss Amended Counterclaims and Special Motions to Strike Amended Counterclaims (docket nos. 40, 41, 42, and 43) are DENIED
. IT IS SO ORDERED.“
Martin Freeman waves goodbye on his last day as Bilbo Baggins.Peter Jackson has shared on his Facebook page that Martin Freeman has finished his last shot as the film’s titular character Bilbo Baggins. The filming segment currently underway is a 10-week period that was always scheduled for pickups (shots that fill in the cracks once a rough edit of the film is assembled) and scenes for the massive Battle of Five Armies. Bilbo, as written in the book, has a relatively small part to play in the actual battle with his more significant role happening in the lead up to the massive conflict. (Knowing Peter Jackson, this will really be a spectacle!)
Jackson, who shares photos and videos on his Facebook page, captioned a photo of Bilbo waving goodbye:
“Tonight Martin Freeman finished his last shot as Bilbo Baggins. The end of an incredible two and a half years. I cannot imagine anyone else in this role – a character that Martin has nurtured and crafted with love and great skill.
We have said goodbye to our elves, humans, wizards and now the hobbit. We now enter our final 2 weeks of pick-ups, and it’s wall to wall dwarves. These pick-ups have been gruelling and intense, but I’m so happy with what we’ve been shooting. These next two movies are going to be pretty great!”
Martin Freeman as Bilbo with Benedict Cumberbatch.Soon after, Jackson followed up that post with a somewhat historical shot of Freeman as Bilbo with Benedict Cumberbatch, famously his partner in their Sherlock Holmes television series. The two also figure prominently together in the next Hobbit film as Cumberbatch performs the massive dragon Smaug from his performance capture suit and has a key exchange with Bilbo. When behind-the-scenes content rolls out after the film, there may be more of them together on the Hobbit films but little has been seen so far. With the performance capture role, there could be precious little of the two actors together in New Zealand.
All reports and word from Jackson indicates there will not be pickup shooting next year but Jackson had a period of these after ever LOTR film and it is tempting to suggest there will be more next year. But with such a large principal cast, such an effort might be impossible because of scheduling.
Still in Wellington are the Company of Dwarves which could mean a heavy dose of battle scenes as audiences will want to follow each of them in battle. The book plotting calls for ferocious and deadly action.
Luke Evans, playing the enigmatic Bard the Bowman in “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” also tweeted that his last day on the film is over. Evans’ Tweet suggests he is off to work as Dracula after a summer where his “Fast & Furious 6” did big business at the box office.
Graham McTavish also tweeted his farewells to Freeman.
Welcome to this months âGetting to know youâ Q&A, this month weâre talking to the lovely ladies from The Happy Hobbit, Kili and Fili.
