“A wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins. Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.”
-Gandalf to Frodo while entering into Hobbiton for Bilbo’s 111th Birthday
During Comic-Con 2011 fans of The Lord of the Rings got a chance to see the second statue from Weta’s character statue line. The character fans can now get their hands on is none other than Gandalf the Grey. This version of Gandalf captures the Wizard while thinking which route is the right route to take during their trip through Moria.
The importance that Gandalf plays to the events that happen in Middle-Earth from the time of The Hobbit through the events of The Lord of the Rings is huge. Without the leadership that Mithrandir Sauron may just come to power and events in Middle-Earth play out much differently. Leadership is what comes through loud and clear when you look at this statue.
Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – Weta Workshop’s Gandalf the Grey Statue and Giveaway!”
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“Strangers from distant lands. Friends of old. You’ve been summoned here to answer the threat of Mordor. Middle-Earth stands upon the brink of destruction. None can escape it. You will unite or you will fall. Each race is bound to this fate, this one doom. Bring forth the Ring, Frodo.“
-Elrond at the start of the Council of Elrond October 25th, 3018 TA
Rivendell was one of the most demanded places in Middle-Earth to be made into polystone and now the long wait for this to happen as finally come to an end. Now, that it has ended and collectors are starting to receive this item, we are finally seeing why this might be one of the most difficult items ever made representing The Lord of the Rings. The folks at Weta, specifically Daniel Falconer and David Tremont, did an amazing job of capturing all that is special about Rivendell allowing collectors to own a piece of that.
Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – Weta Workshop’s Rivendell Review”
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Our story so far: Peter Jackson made three Middle-earth movies and people loved them. Now he is making two more and people already love them too. MrCere, Senior Staff, Writer and Photographer at TheOneRing.net (around since 1999) went to NZ to see what he could see. Landed in Queenstown, found lots of LOTR stuff, drove north to see the people of the ring, visited Hobbiton visited Wellington, center of NZ’s cinematic empire, and will soon leave NZ. However, much more content will follow.
I haven’t seen an insect weta before in my travels (until this trip, but not this story) but I have plenty of experience with the folks who run and work at the special effects shop who identify themselves as “wetas”. Several Comic-Cons, (including the 2011 edition in San Diego) lots of emails and various TORn functions have made the crew at Weta Workshop friendly acquaintances if not just plain old friends.
My time in Wellington would need to include a visit of some kind with the very busy people who are working on The Hobbit, but as I have often joked (even though it is at least partially true) Weta’s second best talent is making special effects for movies. What they are really best at is keeping secrets from TheOneRing.net. I had no illusions that anybody was going to tour me around the workshop (I asked anyway, just in case) during the height of The Hobbit production, but they were kind enough to invite me along to a group they were hosting from a cruise ship that included one of our own message board members. (Her identity is her own to reveal.) Continue reading “Weta Cave big part of movie tourism in Wellington”
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QUEENSTOWN, NEW ZEALAND — Queenstown has a powerful international flavor. Stop and listen on the streets and you are as likely to hear a language from Europe or Asia as English and even that comes in several flavors: Kiwi, Aussie, British with the occasional Yank thrown in.
It is a city of tourists that include backpackers and couples in retirement years soaking up all the world has to offer including the incredible scenery of the amazing Queenstown by Lake Wakatipu. This is great of course, but young travelers and those in the golden years aren’t the best demographics for movie collectibles.
So it might surprise some to find Hugh Clark and Sarah Dobson carving out a niche with high-end items made by the likes of Weta Workshop and Sideshow Collectibles at their Reel Collectibles shop. But there they are in the Queenstown Mall on Beach St., selling superhero items, Lord of the Rings stuff (a given in that part of the world) and Star Wars swag. Expect an avalanche of Hobbit stuff when the films hit the world a year from now. Continue reading “Reel Collectibles keeps fandom alive in Queenstown”
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“Frodo, the Argonath! Long have I desired to look upon the kings of old. My kin.“
– Aragorn to Frodo while sailing down the Anduin February 25th, 3019 TA
As we approach the Christmas Holiday the truly awesome folks at Weta have given fans a chance to get items that they may have missed. One of the items was the Argonath environment, which came back as part of their first Christmas Special last week. This was great for someone like me who had missed it before and was kicking myself for not ordering it.
The Argonath, which portray Isildur and Elendil, relatives of Aragorn, marked and guarded the northern boundary of Gondor. This was inform strangers they could not come south of the Argonath without permission. As the power of Gondor declined these imposing figures could no longer be enforced. As the Fellowship came upon the Argonath, Frodo would notice that Strider no longer was sitting beside him, but instead it was Aragorn, son of Arathorn, a King who was returning from exile.
Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – Weta Workshop ‘The Argonath’ Review”
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How awesome are the folks at Weta? They’ve not only given fans one Christmas special already but are now giving us a second chance to grab some really amazing items. There are a couple of deals Ringers will want to make sure they take advantage of before they sail into the west with this special. The Prancing Pony environment is back with just a few pieces left for collectors around the world to get their hands on, and Ringers if you’ve been eying those fantastic shields now is your chance to get a great deal on them. The special on the shields is if you order the set of four right now the first ten orders will get a free Collector’s Guide book. We reviewed the Collector’s Guide book if you recall right after Comic-Con 2011. Finally, make sure to check out Weta’s specials page and Christmas Guide 2011 page for all your collecting needs!
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