Fandalf visits the heart of Tolkiendom in America - Houghton Mifflin's HQ, Boston
You may remember this story from summer of last year: ‘Fandalf’ the travelling Gandalf statue (well, two of him actually…) was making his way around America and around Europe, stopping with fans in many different places and posing with famous landmarks. With San Diego ComicCon 2012 being the final stop on Fandalf’s journey, he has just over a month to go; so we thought readers might like an update on his travels!
The statue (made by Sideshow/Weta) which is travelling around America made his way over to the East coast. He was recently in Atlanta, followed by a few stops in New England (Rhode Island, Boston and Concord). Right now he’s winging his way (courtesy of a friendly eagle!) over to Ohio. The European Fandalf has been to various places in Germany, Belgium, France and Italy. The wonderful pictures hosting fans have taken can be seen at flickr.com – search for images tagged ‘Gandalf World Tour’. Many thanks to all who have hosted Fandalf – it’s great to think of fans all over the world mooting with the Grey Wizard!
As we draw closer to the release of the first Hobbit movie, San Diego ComicCon promises to be full of excitement and Middle-earth goodness! Fandalf’s return from his travels and merry meetings with fans will be a wonderful part of these ‘Hobbit Eve’ celebrations.
In today’s Sideshow Collectible newsletter Ringers get a chance to view a preview of an upcoming Premium Format for The Lord of the Rings. The character or I should say characters making the jump into the 1:4 Premium Format line will be the Ringwraith on his very scary steed. Fans will be getting a chance to preview this item on May 29th and then pre-order what should be an amazing collectible on Thursday, May 31st. Once the preview goes up with more information we will let you know! [Click Here]
The WBShop.com is celebrating graduates and fathers with their ‘Dads and Grads Sale.’ The sale is quite extensive, featuring: $5 OFF the catalog of The Lord of the Rings (and Hobbit!) shirts, $5 OFF LOTR iPhone cases, 20% OFF LOTR keepsake boxes, 10% OFF LOTR jewelry, 50% OFF Blu-Ray, and 20% off canvas prints. Yup – sounds like a great time to build your LOTR collection. These specials are only available for a limited time, so we suggest checking out asap! [WBShop.com Dads and Grads Sale] [LOTR Shirts] [Official Hobbit Shirt]
The artisans at Weta have introduced a new range of collectibles from The Lord of the Rings trilogy. These new collectibles are some of the coolest magnets you can ever collect. The announced magnets so far are: Bag End Door, The Green Dragon Sign, The Prancing Pony Sign, Red Book, No Admittance Sign, Hobbit Feet, Sting/Scabbard, and of course the Dark Lord Sauron. You can buy each magnet individually for $15 or in two sets of four for $60 each (Set 1 and Set 2). These items are in-stock and should ship very soon after order. Time to start decorating your fridge with The Lord of the Rings!
…the most loathly shape that he had ever beheld…Most like a spider she was, but huger than the great hunting beasts…Great horns she had, and behind her short stalk-like neck was her huge swollen body, a vast bloated bag, swaying and sagging between her legs; its great bulk was black, blotched with livid marks, but the belly underneath was pale and luminous and gave forth a stench. Her legs were bent, with great knobbed joints high above her back, and hairs that stuck out like steel spines, and at each leg’s end there was a claw…
Shelob.
For every Tolkien fan, the name leaps from the pages (and screen) of Middle-earth to invade a commonly held fear in our everyday life – the fear of an impossibly large, eight-legged, creepy-crawly finding us in the dark. *shiver* According to Wikipedia, it is estimated that 55% of women and 18% of men are Arachnophobic. You can count me among those with a mild fear of spiders, which basically means I have to ‘act’ the role of father/husband when it comes disposing of them. I can’t very well unleash a high-pitched scream and run away now can I…
So when I first saw the ‘Shelob Attacks’ LEGO® Set at the 2012 Toy Fare, I have to admit…I was a bit creeped out. Yes, its LEGO® blocks, but the piece is still surprisingly life-like. In fact, one of the reporters getting the sneak peek at this set could not go within 5 feet of the display. Yes, he was that Arachnophobic!
Before we get to the meat of this review, I will warn you ahead of time, that I am in no way a LEGO® Set expert. To be honest, I haven’t touched the popular construction toys for possibly 10 years, so I’m a bit behind the times when it comes to the licensed themed sets. However, I can tell you, within 1 minute of opening the box, the wonderful memories of LEGO® set building came swooping back.
In preparation for a product review, I found myself last night eagerly unboxing one of two upcoming The Lord of the Rings LEGO® Sets. I was pleasantly surprised to find this mini-teaser in the back of the instruction pack for the ‘Shelob Attacks’ Set and thought I should share it quickly…so I posted it on our official TheOneRing.net Facebook. Well, it has gotten quite a stir over there, so I figured I should share it with you this morning. The ad confirms the long assumed notion that we would see a The Lord of the Rings LEGO® Video Game from long-time LEGO game producers Traveler’s Tales. So let this been 100% confirmation of the games existence, and I’d be willing to bet we’ll see a The Hobbit game in the future as well. As for my quickie review of the ‘Shelob Attacks’ LEGO Set: Building a gigantic realistic LEGO spider, complete with shooting string and eight extremely posable legs, was one of the most fun activities I’ve had in years! (Full review with pics will be coming soon!)
For every Tolkien fan, the name leaps from the pages (and screen) of Middle-earth to invade a commonly held fear in our everyday life – the fear of an impossibly large, eight-legged, creepy-crawly finding us in the dark. *shiver* According to 