DragonOnShirtAnd so is TORn. Wondercon runs all three days of the Easter weekend here in Anaheim, California, just across the street from Disneyland. In fact, everyone outside was treated to Disneyland’s nightly fireworks celebration, Gandalf would have been proud. If you are coming to Anaheim this weekend for Wondercon, please remember to stop by our booth #1504, we nearly sold out of today’s supply of our Exclusive WonderCon Dragon shirt. More are coming on Saturday, don’t miss out, these shirts will never be sold anywhere else.

There have been some very last minute surprise guests announced from the big studios, three of which are of much interest to TheOneRing.net.

seanSean Bean was the first announced a few days ago to promote his new show “Legends” coming to TNT for a 10 episode run this summer. The panel will be at 2:30pm in room 300DE where they will show clips and have a Q&A with cast and creative team members. This looks like a really good spy-thriller series, so if you are attending Wondercon on Saturday, make sure to stop by. There is no indication if there will be a signing anywhere, but we will tweet @theoneringnet if that news becomes available.

 

Twentieth Century Fox just announced that “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” will be featured in their panel in the Anaheim Convention Center Arena on Saturday at 12:45pm. Andy Serkis will be a part of that presentation, followed AndyApedirectly afterwards with an Autograph signing session at the Boom! Studios booth #319. You have to buy the limited-edition Wondercon exclusive “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” print illustrated by Garry Brown. The autograph session begins at 2:30pm, but since this will be a ticketed event, stop by the booth in the morning.

And finally the Warner Brothers presentation, also in the Anaheim Convention Center Arena starting at 11am, will feature Richard Armitage as part of the cast presenting “Into the Storm” Not sure if he will drop in any references to “The Hobbit: There and Back Again” or not, but it would not be surprising if someone asked him a question about it. This looks like INTO THE STORMone heck of a natural disaster flick, should be a good panel. There is no indication if any of the films in the Warner Brothers track will be doing autographs, so again, watch our twitter feed at @theoneringnet.

And finally, at the end of the day at 5:30pm, TheOneRing.net will be hosting a panel of our own in room 300DE to talk about all things The Hobbit and Tolkien. This is the same room hosting Sean Bean’s presentation on “Legends”, and our own panel is sandwiched between the TV Guide’s Showrunners panel and the TV Writers Room panel, arrive early to guarantee you get a seat. We will try to post about the other panels mentioned here, but as you can see from the timing, it might be a wrap up post at the end of the night, since all of these run one right after the other. Please do remember to come visit us at our booth #1504 and get your TORn boothWonderCon Dragon shirt, the Free Bard shirt of the TORn Book club shirt, along with a Tauriel poster. We do have a few random bits of swag tucked away too, just to make things fun, especially for families (Hobbit activity books for the kids).

On Sunday, Sarumann will be hosting a special episode of the TORn Book Club from our booth, and then taking it out onto the exhibit hall floor. Barring any technical glitches, this will be taking place on Sunday at Noon, Pacific Time. It may be loud, mad and chaotic, but for those of you who have stuck through our SDCC live feeds already understands that. Hope to see many of you at the booth over the next two days, even if it’s just to drop by to say hello.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

peter hambletonTORn staffer greendragon says: Continuing my ‘Inside the Middle-earth Actor’s Studio’ series of interviews, I recently had the great pleasure of a phone conversation with Peter Hambleton, who plays Gloin in The Hobbit movies. What a charming, erudite, intelligent and modest chap he is! He has nothing but praise for his fellow cast members, and for director Peter Jackson; I’d wonder if he was perhaps being too generous in his kind words, were it not for the fact that ALL the cast talk about each other, and their experiences on set, in such glowing terms. It’s really no surprise that all the cast talk about having a great time making The Hobbit movies; they’re all such nice people!

Hambleton and I talked for an hour, and covered topics such as what he’s working on now, how he prepares for a role, what he thinks of Middle-earth fandom, and just why Peter Jackson is a brilliant director of actors. He also gives a little hint of something we might see in the third Hobbit movie, and spills the beans about another movie he’d love to do with PJ…

Continue reading “EXCLUSIVE – Peter Hambleton (Gloin) chats with TheOneRing.net”

IMG_7333 copyAsmus Toys has been churning out lots of figures in their 1:6th action figure line for The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. We’re pleased to share the next awesome figure that you can find for pre-order right now from various retailers. The latest figure – or I should say figures – Middle-earth fans can add to their collection is one of Sauron’s most trusted servants, the Nazgul. If that’s not enough for you, fans can also order a 1:6th scale Nazgul Steed that your Ringwraith can fit on, to recreate the methodical tracking down of Frodo and The One Ring. The Ringwraith comes in at a price of $130 by itself, Horse $150 by itself, and if you want both, deals can be had for $250. All of these items will be out by quarter four of this year, and we will update this post as we find deals for Middle-earth fans.

Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – Asmus Toys Nazgul and Steed Figures”

memadness2014-champion-fb The results are in! After three weeks of intense competition we can finally crown a winner! In the end, Thranduil — the Sindarin king of the Woodland Realm — has taken the crown in our 2014 Middle-earth March Madness contest!

We received more than 20,000 votes in the final, and Thranduil (Thrandy to his nearest and dearest?) soundly defeated his worthy opponent Legolas (aka Leggy) with 64.18% of those votes! I guess it is good to be king!

We’d like to thank you all for participating in this year’s event and hope you had a fun time discussing the finer points of your favourite Middle-earth characters and objects, regardless of whether you viewed the contests as a physical battle, a game of wits, or a popularity contest (all valid ways to vote!). It’s also a neat way to explore what makes these characters such interesting and vital parts of Tolkien’s Middle-earth.

Continue reading “Congratulations to our 2014 Middle-earth March Madness champion: Thranduil!”

DoSThorin01 Chairman Tobias M. Eckrich of the German Tolkien Society (Deutsche Tolkien Gesellschaft) recently chatted with Richard Armitage about his time on the Hobbit set. What he says about the Erebor interior scenes in the confrontation with Smaug being shot inside nothing but a great green box is interesting — one wonders whether a theatre background helps with the adjustment to such an absence of visual cues.

Don’t forget to follow the link at the bottom for the complete interview. You can find the English transcript immediately below the German translation.

Continue reading “Richard Armitage chats with the German Tolkien Society”

If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d like to share, then send it to poetry@theonering.net. One poem per person may be submitted each month. Please make sure to proofread your work before sending it in. TheOneRing.net is not responsible for poems posting with spelling or grammatical errors.