Gentle Giant has released the next bust up for pre-order in their “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” mini-bust line: none other than Gollum himself. Gollum will be priced at $65 regular price and $58.50 for collectors who are members of Gentle Giant’s PGM program. No edition size has been set yet for Gollum but one should be set before the projected ship-date of the first quarter of 2013.
Category: Collectibles
“They were by far the most powerful of his servants, and the most suitable for such a mission, since they were entirely enslaved to their Nine Rings, which he now himself held.”
— Unfinished Tales, p. 338
One of Sauron’s most powerful servants is the seventh statue from Sideshow’s growing and spectacular The Lord of the Rings statue line. This awesome statue captures of one the darker characters in the whole trilogy and illustrates one of a key scene: the moment when the Witch King stabs Frodo one Weathertop.
This statue is crafted to show the point-of-view of anyone other than Frodo (Frodo sees something very different because he is wearing the Ring.) Sideshow is expected to release the other half of this scene early next year. Continue reading “Collecting The Precious: Sideshow Collectibles Ringwraith statue review”
Yet another fun, and interesting, thing for Hobbit fans to collect – this just in from the New Zealand Post: New Zealand Post is set to produce stamps and commemorative coins featuring some of the unique characters of Middle-earth later in the year. In an agreement with Warner Bros. Consumer Products, Warner Bros. Pictures, and the filmmakers, New Zealand Post also has exclusive rights to produce legal tender commemorative coins that celebrate Sir Peter Jackson’s trilogy of films based on The Hobbit, productions of New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios. New Zealand Post has revealed one of the stamps to give fans a sneak peek at what they can expect in November. We are the only country in the world with the rights to produce legal tender commemorative coins, featuring characters from The Hobbit Trilogy, and we are delighted to be involved and show support for the New Zealand Film Industry,” said Ivor Masters, Head of Stamps and Coins at New Zealand Post. Read More…
Some cool news for sword-replica fans. Sword and knife retailer BUDK tells us they will be the exclusive premier dealer for United Cutlery’s licensed movie replicas of weapons used in The Hobbit movie trilogy.
The Hobbit line will consist of dwarven and elven weapons and arms replicas, along with iconic items such as the staff of Gandalf, Sting, and the sword of Thorin Oakenshield, Orcrist.
Each collectible will be replicated from the actual film props created by Weta Workshop for the film production. Sting and Orcrist swords and scabbards, and the new Gandalf Staff will debut in late 2012. Continue reading “Replica swords from Hobbit trilogy coming soon”
Since the Hobbit film trilogy began shooting principal photography 18 months ago, the production has played its very cards close to its chest, and Stone Street Studios has proved more leak-proof than the White House.
In light of this, speculation on the films — whether pertaining to structure or content — has the hallmark of paleolithic archaeology: not only are large inferences having to be made from an extremely small amount of evidence, but the legitimacy and relevance of the evidence itself is by no means certain.
With all this in mind, I’ll try and draw some tentative conclusions about the trilogy’s plot and structure — with particular attention to any evidence of departures from the book — from what we understand to be official biographical notes that will accompany the character figurines from The Hobbit.
While it is impossible to confirm that the descriptive information released with these figurines accurately reflects the film-makers vision, they are detailed and idiosyncratic enough to suggest there is a high degree of alignment.
Note that some of the biographies (Kili, Fili, Gloin and Dwalin, for example) are left out here. Where this occurs this is because, in my view, they offered no insight on the trilogy plot, structure, or departures from the source material. And if spoilers and speculation aren’t your thing, best to stop reading now. Continue reading “Playing Sherlock: a few Hobbit plot deductions from the figurine character biographies”
“May the hair on his toes never fall off!”
-Thorin talking about their burglar Bilbo Baggins
Comic-Con 2012 brought us the first look at many things for this December’s release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. This was a chance for a company like Gentle Giant to show off just some of the items they will be bringing to collectors. The exclusive from Gentle Giant was the second mini-bust in the 1:6th range of busts from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The character chosen to represent the bust line at Comic-Con was the leader of the Dwarven party: Thorin Oakenshield.
Thorin was one of many dwarves of the Lonely Mountain driven into exile by the dragon Smaug in the year 2770 of the Third Age. During the Battle of Azanulbizar, Thorin had his shield shattered. He grabbed a large oak branch as a replacement — the source of the name “Oakenshield”. Later, a chance encounter in Bree with Gandalf The Grey eventually led to Thorin and his company visiting the hobbit Bilbo Baggins. There, they began a long, arduous quest to reclaim the Lonely Mountain. The mountain was ultimately reclaimed, but not without cost. Continue reading “Collecting The Precious: Gentle Giant Thorin Oakenshield mini-bust review”