Hitting our inbox today was word that some Hobbit toys are available for preorder. This will happen – a lot – over the next few months but this provides some concrete details about what we can expect in stores in the holiday season while we lead up to the first of the two films based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit in December. Unfortunately, no visuals, but thanks to ringerspies Iain and Stormcrow for the heads up. The listing provides some very broad clues, none of them surprises. Most interesting is the “Beast Pack Series”. The items are likely sold to outlets in packs to be sold individually at retail but that is speculation. It looks like these will be available in October.
The product list is as follows:
The Hobbit 3.75″ Beast Pack Series 01 – Case of 4 – $87.99
The Hobbit 3.75″ Collector Pack – $29.99
The Hobbit 3.75″ Figure Series 01 – Case of 6 – $59.99
The Hobbit 3.75″ Figure Two-Pack Series 01 – Case of 4 – $67.99
The Hobbit 3.75″ Goblin Battle Set – $44.99
The Hobbit 6″ Deluxe Collector Figure 01 – $21.99
The Hobbit 6″ Figure Series 01 – Case of 6 – $99.99
The Hobbit Deluxe Sting Sword – $21.99
The Hobbit Dwarven Battle Axe – $14.99
The Hobbit Role Play Sting Sword – $10.99
You can see the listing right here. This is starting to get fun!
Back in 2001, I wrote Glossopoeia for Fun and Profit (also reprinted in The People’s Guide to J.R.R. Tolkien), for our Green Books department, in which I discussed three examples of invented languages: Esperanto, Elvish, and Klingon. For those who found that necessarily brief article of interest, University of Indiana linguistics professor Michael Adams has now edited a new book, From Elvish to Klingon: Exploring Invented Languages (Oxford University Press, 2011), comprising eight essays (including his a general introductory essay by Adams) about linguistic invention, though not precisely the “invented languages” suggested by the book’s title, as we will see. Each essay is accompanied by an appendix by Adams that extends or clarifies some aspect of the essay.
Adams’s introductory chapter deals with the spectrum of linguistic invention, and considers the motivations for such inventions. He considers whether invented languages are an attempt to re-create “the language of Adam”, i.e., a perfected language as spoken by Adam before the fall (it appears that Adams takes the Biblical texts quite literally here), and considers slang and poetry as examples of human linguistic creativity; Adams is the author of Slang: The People’s Poetry(Oxford Press, 2009).
–Arwen to Strider during The Fellowship of the Ring
The fifth statue in Sideshow Collectibles The Lord of the Rings line and the first female statue has arrived. Which of the amazing female characters got the nod from Sideshow? Well, it’s none other than Arwen Evenstar.
As Strider is out looking for Kingsfoil while Frodo lay stabbed by the Witch King he is snuck up on by a certain female elf. Arwen would lightly give Strider grief for catching a Ranger off his guard before helping ride to Rivendell with an injured Frodo all while being chased by Ringwraiths. This statue of Arwen depicts her wearing this outfit while we assume she is out looking for Strider and the Hobbits.
PACKAGING
The graphics on the box for Arwen follow the same path that most of the statues in this line have followed. You have the front and back panels, which are black/green with The Lord of the Rings and Arwen done in a black/green mix. While the sides of the box you get an image of the statue from two different angles. Inside the box of course you have the protective foam with multiple areas for the many pieces that this statue comes with.
Time for another artist interview! This is one of my favorite sculptors creating items that I personally collect. The sculptor is none other than the massively talented Tim Miller of T.K. Miller Sculpting. This talent is one who folks most likely have an item or two within their The Lord of the Rings collections and for sure if they collect items from the MARVEL Universe. I wanted to take the time for you all to get to know a little more about this great talent, especially since he truly knows how to bring Middle-Earth to life.
As I said, you probably have items from sculpted by Mr. Miller within your collection of The Lord of the Rings. Tim has been responsible for bringing to life characters such as Gandalf the Grey, Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, and my personal favorite, dwarf Gimli, son of Gloin. These items range from Sideshow Collectibles 1:6th action figure line to the new statue line. The latest item from Mr. Miller is the Gimli, son of Gloin statue which we just reviewed recently and is a great example of Mr. Miller’s skill.
Saturday night via email Gentle Giant announced the first bust from The Hobbit if you sign up for their 2012 Premier Guild Memberships next week. The first character to be made into bust form will be the Dwarf Dwalin who joined Bilbo on the journey to the Lonely Mountain. The PGM program from Gentle Giant runs $60 and has many great things about it that allow collectors to get first cracks at must have items. So stay tuned to next week to get your PGM membership and a chance to add a Dwalin bust to your collection.
TheOneRing.net, along with 150 of our closest friends from the media and collector world, were granted access to a special Collector’s Party today at the International Toy Fare. Taking place at the Javits Center in New York City, this event showcased the entire 2012 line-up for LEGO, including their newly announced Marvel, DC and, of course, Lord of the Rings licenses. All we can tell you is…prepare for a hit on your bank account. Not because of cost, but simply because of the depth and breadth of the collection for Tolkien fans. Even more exciting…The Hobbit LEGOs have yet to be revealed!! Since we are reporting from NYC with limited time, I’m attaching the LEGO gallery below, and leaving you with some quick info. I’ll post a full report on each set later this week.
The Battle of Helm’s Deep and Attach at Weatherop sets mark the first time LEGO has created an articulated horse!
These sets will start hitting stores in June 2012
Hobbit sets/info will start hitting in the Fall with expected release of Nov/Dec 2012
Shelob Attacks is the first spider LEGO to feature a web function.
TheOneRing.net, along with 150 of our closest friends from the media and collector world, were granted access to a special Collector’s Party today at the International Toy Fare. Taking place at the Javits Center in New York City, this event showcased the entire 2012 line-up for LEGO, including their newly announced Marvel, DC and, of course, Lord of the Rings licenses. All we can tell you is…prepare for a hit on your bank account. Not because of cost, but simply because of the depth and breadth of the collection for Tolkien fans. Even more exciting…The Hobbit LEGOs have yet to be revealed!! Since we are reporting from NYC with limited time, I’m attaching the LEGO gallery below, and leaving you with some quick info. I’ll post a full report on each set later this week.