Our HobbitCon (aka Comic-Con) recap continues with a look at the Sideshow Collectibles booth. Featured this year we many of the items that you have seen reviewed in this column as well as some great upcoming items to further your Middle-earth collection. The new items included the Ringwraith Statue (shipping in August), the Twilight Witch-King statue, and the imposing Ringwraith on Steed Premium Format. They also had two items that we know very little about: The Sauron Premium Format and the Frodo/Sam in Orc Armor statue. Both of these items ranked among the very best at their booth and are sure to be items that any The Lord of the Rings fans will want to add to their collection. As we get more information on these two collectibles you can count on TORn giving you the scoop on how you can add these to your collection. Follow the break for a video tour of the booth as well as our complete gallery! [Sideshow Collectibles]
Thanks to Ringer David H from Auckland NZ, we have this link to a wonderfully revealing and in-depth PDF from The Department of Welfare and Housing Te Tari Kaupapa Whare. The document is titled: Compliance of barriers to a bridge located on a former film set at 501 Buckland Road, Matamata. You see, the bridge made famous in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit was considered to be not complying with Clause F4 Safety from falling of the Building Code, and and as a result seemed to ultimately be required to make some adjustments to allow public use. However, after a lot of discussion, notes and analysis, you’ll see that Manager Determinations John Gardiner has reversed a previous decision and decided the bridge, in its current form, qualifies for code compliance! Hobbits of Hobbiton rejoice! The bridge will remain open! [PDF]
Part 2 (see Part 1) of our Weta Workshop Comic-Con 2012 coverage is an comprehensive video of their booth. This is an official booth tour given by Tim Launder, Business Manager of Weta Workshop. In the video below, you get a great explanation of the entire booth layout and the products that Weta featured, including items from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films. Thanks to WETA for providing this unique opportunity! [Weta Workshop]
As, we continue our HobbitCon coverage we have a two part experience at the Weta Workshop booth. With Part 1 you’re gonna seeall the pictures and a video of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey statues as well as The Lord of the Rings collectibles at the booth. The statues from The Hobbit looked off the charts great with so much detail, great likenesses, and a great touch by putting the Dwarven map on the elegant simple black base. The Lord of the Rings collectibles at the booth were equally as impressive including a couple items I was eagerly looking forward to seeing in person. The items I looked forward to seeing the most were the Barad-Dur environment and the Fellowship mini-statues. Barad-Dur is the coolest environment I’ve seen and it will absolutely catch the eye of anyone looking at your collection. So don’t miss out on this amazing piece when it goes up for Pre-Order July 31st. The other item or items that stood out to me from The Lord of the Rings section as the three part Fellowship statues which have already started Pre-Ordering. This set is something we’ve all waited a long time to order and seeing them all together in person was a highlight for me at the show. These are must have items if you’re a hardcore Ringer like me. Read the full story below for the video and gallery. [Weta Collectibles]
For those attending viewings of ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ this weekend, you may find yourself listening to the end of Howard Shore’s ‘The Bridge of Khazad Dum’ playing as part of the brand new ‘Man of Steel’ teasers. If you have seen The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, you know (SPOILERS) that when Gandalf falls at the bridge, we have an amazingly emotional and dramatic score to accompany this significant event. I get chills just thinking of the scene. Now, for better or worse, that same theme is used to build emotion for the next attempt to revive the Superman franchise. How do you feel about it? Share your thoughts in the comments, our forum and on Facebook! If you somehow managed to go through the last 10 years without owning Howard Shore’s award-winning score, we highly suggest you pick up today! (There are obviously many versions of the score to own, so browse around a bit) [LOTR:FOTR Score] [Kevin Costner Voiceover Teaser] [Russell Crowe Voiceover Teaser]
One can always count on Entertainment Weekly to compose some intriguing ‘Top’ lists. Their latest is the ‘Top 50 Most Vile Movie Villains,’ and sure enough, many classic villains are well represented. Among the top 50, only one Tolkien ‘villain‘ makes the list at No. 10:
He may only be a CGI character, but the conflicted, bipolar Gollum managed to be both cute and scary — a feat we hadn’t seen accomplished since Gremlins. Love him or hate him, you can’t deny that his tendency to break out into cheerful song in between ruthlessly chasing the ring of power was, well, precious. Plus, he bit off Frodo’s fingers. And that’s pretty bad-ass. —Kate Ward
This reporter never really saw Gollum as a ‘villain’ per se, but hey, to each their own! For the complete list, jump on over to EW.com today! [Read More]
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