During Toy Fair 2010, Sideshow Collectibles announced they would be going back to their roots in their The Lord of the Rings license by once again doing maquettes of the characters in Middle-earth. What Sideshow told us was that this line would give us different aspects of the characters we have grown to love. Also during the video (view it here) from Toy Fair we got a tease of the concept drawings of several early pieces in the line.

Then in December of last year, during the twelve days of Sideshow, we got a beautiful look at protos of the pieces to come. The image included: Aragorn as Strider, Gandalf The Grey, Arwen, Legolas, and a hidden character in the back. The hidden character was Gimli, Son of Gloin and shortly after we got a great preview video of the upcoming Boromir maquette. We’re now two pieces in hand for this line with Aragorn already in our collections and now Gandalf the Grey joins him.

Continue reading “Collecting The Precious: Sideshow Collectibles Gandalf the Grey Maquette Review”

Middle-earth Madness lived up to its name last night as hundreds of fans gathered at the Best Buy in Los Angeles, CA to celebrate the release of The Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Trilogy on Blu-Ray. Actors John Noble (Denethor) and Sala Baker (Sauron) signed copies of the Trilogy as fans snatched up the brand new high-def version of the films.

Nicole Roberts walked away with the Grand Prize trip to New Zealand with her inspired and creative ‘Showgirl Balrog’ costume. (pics below) As you will see in our photo gallery, the competition was challenging and we’d like to thank all of the contestants for their talented entries!  Nicole’s costume was judged as the best by Academy Award Winner Sir Richard Taylor of Weta Workshop with help from Lead Designer Daniel Falconer. (We recently interviewed Daniel here)

The LA wing of TheOneRing.net staff was out in full force, and for those of us who could not attend, we’d like to thank them for their tireless efforts to make everything go smoothly! These volunteers spent nearly 15 hours yesterday! So a special thanks to Quickbeam, Cathy, Josh, Suvi, Justin, Peter, Alyse, Catherine, Michael, Echo, Alex, David and Cat from Alleycatscratch.com!

We’d like to thank Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, Weta Workshop and Best Buy for making this event possible!

Click the ‘continue reading’ button to view all of the photos from the event as well as some videos. We’ll be updating them as more come in!

 

Continue reading “Middle-earth Madness – A Night to Remember!”

Want to win a massive, 15-disc Lord of the Rings box set to rule them all?

Punch in your expectations for Peter Jackson’s cinematic adaptation of The Hobbit in the comments section below for your chance at winning one of three Blu-ray copies of The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy (Extended Edition + Digital Copy).

Scores of makeshift Orcs and Halflings are expected to line up Monday night in Los Angeles for the Middle-Earth Midnight Madness event marking the $120 box set’s Tuesday release. On hand to sign copies for the first 150 fans in line: Actor John Noble, who creeped out viewers as The Return of the King’s Denethor (and currently stars as Walter Bishop in sci-fi show Fringe). Stuntman Sala Baker, who inhabited various Orcs and even the Dark Lord Sauron in the Rings movie trilogy, will be doing the same. More..

So we have a few more details to share with you concerning the Middle-earth Madness celebration taking place right now at the Best Buy in Los Angeles. (1301 W. Pico. Blvd) First off, we can confirm that John Noble (Denethor), Brad Dourif (Wormtongue) and Sala Baker (Sauron) will be attending this evening’s festivities! Secondly, there will be a Laser Light show and Fireworks starting at approximately 11:45. (How awesome is that?!) And of course, what Tolkien can be had in LA without a game of Goblin Ball! (You know, you knock the heads off Goblins for fun). We’ve also got loads of shirts, posters and other swag to hand out throughout the evening. And of course, we are streaming events live as they happen on our Stickam account. You can see it on the homepage of TORn, or through the following link. [Stickam] If you are following along on Twitter, our hashtag is #MEMadness, and of course, we’ll be posting pics on Facebook throughout the evening. If you want to have your chance at winning a Grand Prize trip to New Zealand, make sure you get to Best Buy BEFORE 7pm PT. And we can’t forget the whole reason we are throwing this party today…the release of The Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Trilogy on Blu-Ray is tonight at Midnight! The countdown continues!! [Live Stream] [Facebook] [Twitter] [Event Details] [WBshop.com]

Middle-earth Madness invades LA today and TheOneRing.net will be hosting the activities throughout the day!  For those of us not able to make the event in LA, we will be occasionally streaming live from the event as the more exciting events happen, and as our amateur internet connection allows. For those of you lucky enough to be attending at the West LA Best Buy, you’ll be competing for some great prizes with the LA TORn staff, including everyone’s favorite Tolkien emcee, Quickbeam! We also have late word that FRINGE star and LOTR vet John Noble, as well as Sauron himself, Sala Baker, will be in attendance. There are also rumors a few other cast members might just drop by for fun! Of course the real countdown will be to the midnight release of The Lord of the Rings Extended Edition on Blu-Ray and the awarding of the costuming Grand Prize – a trip to New Zealand! Follow along all day through Facebook, Twitter and our live stream at Stickam. [Live Stream] [Facebook] [Twitter] [Event Details]

John Noble
It’s an exciting time for Lord of the Rings fans. We’re just days away from the release of the fabled “Extended Editions” on gorgeous 1080p Blu-ray. The films are rendered in the highest definition, with do many new scenes across the trilogy it can be considered its own movie. There are enough bonus features to lay tracks from here to Rivendell and back, clocking in at (roughly) two-thousand four hundred and fifty-five hours.

For those of you living in the Los Angeles region, here’s something you can look forward to before a giant earthquake knocks you into the sea: an all-day-and-into-the-night LOTR event! Middle Earth Midnight Madness is happening at the Best Buy in West L.A. There’ll be a costume contest, trivia, lots of giveaways (including a trip to New Zealand), fireworks, lasers and a chance to meet Denethor, also known as John Noble. More..