Remember this stunning 7 and a half foot tall Tower of Orthanc built entirely out of LEGO bricks? Featured on Wired, CNN and countless other websites including TheOneRing.net, this LEGO creation premiered at BrickCon in Seattle back in November 2011. Complete with an 8 foot diameter base consisting of over 25 Ents and 100 Orcs battling, ‘The Last March of the Ents’ by OneLug will be on display at TheOneRing.net’s ‘An Unexpected Art Show’.
‘The Last March of the Ents’ LEGO model recreates the epic storming of Saruman’s stronghold depicted in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and directly inspired by the artwork of Alan Lee. The base of the model contains many details familiar to fans of the movie including an ent on fire, water flooding Isengard, and Treebeard leading the charge with Merry and Pippin holding on tight.
This is likely to be the last time this creation will be on display publicly. There will also be some new original LEGO creations on display from the members of OneLug, in addition to ‘The Last March of the Ents’. If you don’t want to miss seeing this incredible work of art in person or any of the other wonderful artwork that will be on display, buy a ticket to the art show today!
Join TheOneRing.net for ‘An Unexpected Art Show’ in Los Angeles, California on Friday, February 22, from 7 PM to 1 AM. All ages are welcome to attend. Celebrating The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth, ‘An Unexpected Art Show’ will feature inspired art pieces — from paintings, drawings, and illustrations to prints — from a variety of artists. A limited number of tickets are available for $15 online and $20 at the door. ‘An Unexpected Art Show’ will be held at Lot 613, a blank-canvas special events space in the Historic Arts District of Downtown Los Angeles, located at 613 Imperial Street.
If you’re a fan of the Eaglemoss Company you know they do some of the coolest figures in 1:25 scale. During The Lord of the Rings trilogy, they produced numerous figures representing some of the many characters we saw in Peter Jackson’s adaptation. Now, Eaglemoss is back to produce the same high level figures for Jackson’s adaptation of The Hobbit; right now on their website you can get a look at the first six figures in this series. Currently shown on the Eaglemoss site are: Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo Baggins, Thorin Oakenshield, Dwalin, Bolg, and Gollum. If you order now, there is a free gift offer which includes a larger figurine of Bert – one of the three trolls – as well as a stand to place your figures on. These figures cost 7 pound sterling, and come with a special magazine based on each character. As of now these figures are only available in the UK; hopefully those of us in the US can get our hands on these from EagleMoss soon.
“Beyond Bree” has created a new calendar for 2013, a special limited edition featuring amazing artists! There are only a *very few* remaining, so here is your last chance to get a great Tolkien calendar and also support the J.R.R. Tolkien Special Interest Group of American Mensa: BEYOND BREE. *UPDATE: These calendars have all sold out as of 10 January 2013!
It is time to shine a light on the dark creatures of Tolkien’s world with this breathtaking collection of international art featuring: Anke Eissmann, Sylvia Hunnewell, Tim Kirk, Octo Kwan, Nancy Martsch, Jef Murray, Ted Nasmith, Colin Williams, Maciej Wygnanski, Patrick H. Wynne and more!
The calendar contains both colour and black & white works and has both Middle-earth dates and real world holidays. It will be 11 x 8 1/2 inches, opening to 11 x 17 inches.
THERE ARE LESS THAN TEN QUANTITY LEFT – so now is the time to get yourself a lovely calendar!
Pricing: $20 plus shipping – USA $2.00, the rest of the world $5.00.
For PayPal orders please add $1.00.
Send PayPal payments (in USD) to: beyondbree (at) yahoo (dot) com
Send check or postal money order (in USD drawn on a US bank) to:
Nancy Martsch, PO Box 55372, Sherman Oaks, CA 91413, USA.
Or send currency (at your own risk, in a sturdy envelope).
For more details, please e-mail: beyondbree (at) yahoo (dot) com
UPDATE: These calendars have all sold out as of 10 January 2013!
TheOneRing.net is excited to announce that among the over 30 artists contributing work to ‘An Unexpected Art Show’, award-winning fantasy artist Donato Giancolawill be in attendance! Celebrating The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth, ‘An Unexpected Art Show’ will feature inspired art pieces — from paintings, drawings, and illustrations to prints — from a variety of artists.
Donato creates truly stunning oil paintings blending Renaissance craftsmanship with the inspiring world of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth. As John Howe himself said in 2010,
“There’s more to Donato Giancola’s art than just a pretty face. Underneath the incredibly meticulous surface of his paintings is concealed a love of perspective and form, an intimate understanding of the human body, a historian’s knowledge of costume and armour, an infallible sense of implicit narrative, visual storytelling and mythical history. It’s just that you’re so rapt gazing at all the mind-blowingly pretty bits that you tend to miss it. Look again. There’s a lot more to see.”
Donato will be on hand with limited edition giclée prints available including his newest commission, an incredibly detailed portrait of J.R.R. Tolkien himself.
Join us for ‘An Unexpected Art Show’ in Los Angeles, California on Friday, February 22, from 7 PM to 1 AM. All ages are welcome to attend. A limited number of tickets are available for $15 online and $20 at the door. ‘An Unexpected Art Show’ will be held at Lot 613, a blank-canvas special events space in the Historic Arts District of Downtown Los Angeles, located at 613 Imperial Street. It’s all part of our Oscar Celebration weekend culminating with ‘The One Expected Party‘!
“By my beard! You are shorter and wider than last we met.”
-Dwalin to Balin as they meet up for the meeting at Bag End
Yet another one of the statues we saw at Comic-Con 2012 for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was for the character Dwalin. Dwalin joined Thorin, Gandalf, Bilbo, Balin, and Bombur (not yet released). Dwalin went up for sale the same day as his brother Balin, making them the fourth and fifth statues released.
In Peter Jackson’s adaptation of The Hobbit, Dwalin was one of the many dwarves of the Lonely Mountain driven into exile by the dragon in the Third Age. Dwalin would join his brother Balin and Thrain in a group who would try to take back Erebor in 2841 of the Third Age. Dwalin would be one of the company who, one hundred years later, joined Thorin in trying to retake Erebor, and was successful in doing so. After the mountain was retaken, Dwalin would go on to be very successful with his brother Balin, and would live to be one of the oldest Dwarfs on record.
PACKAGING
The graphics on the box follow the same pattern we’ve seen with both Thorin and Balin, keeping the now familiar Dwarven design. Per the format we’ve come to know, the front of the box gives you a great shot of Dwalin, graphic work for the title of the movie, and of course the Weta logo. The sides of the box for Dwalin also present a familiar format with different looks at the statue on one side, while the other side of the box presents some of the various products you can get for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, such as the Balin statue, Thorin’s Map, Key to Erebor, and Bilbo’s Contract. The back of the box contains a great story on Dwalin, as well as information regarding details of the character and statue. The styrofoam on the inside is typical with what we’ve come used to getting with these statues, but does have a special compartment for his arms holding his axes.
SCULPTING
Greg Tozer is a name fans of Middle-earth collecting should know, if they own a certain statue of a Dark Lord of Mordor. That’s correct – the massive and awesome statue of Sauron from The Lord of the Rings statue line was created by Greg Tozer and David Tremont (who worked on Barad-Dûr). Dwalin is my favorite looking Dwarf design from The Hobbit, so I was super excited to get this into my collection. As is the case with his brother Balin, the likeness to Graham McTavish’s portrayal of Dwalin is fantastic. Not to be outdone is the work on the outfit of Dwalin; Mr. Tozer did a superb job of sculpting the fine details of the cloth part of his outfit with all the little lines in their place, and the fur of the outfit also wonderfully matches its onscreen counterpart. The leatherwork on the Dwalin statue is also exceptional. You have great detailed work in his chest guard and his belt, which lead into his sheath holding his knife. Dwalin, like any warrior, must have weapons which he takes into battle, and this warrior carries two nasty looking axes. These axes, named Ukhlat and Umraz, have all the Dwarven detail you see on the larger props in the movie, including the names carved into the axes. Any warrior must protect his hands, and Dwalin takes every precaution with two metal guards, which in the right situation could also be used as weapons. Finally, on his back, Dwalin has two holders for his axes, which are also sculpted very well.
PAINT
Dwalin continues the streak of very well painted statues from Weta Workshop. The skin tones use the proper paint mixture to not only make the statue look like a miniature Dwarf but also very like the character appeared on screen. The painting on Dwalin’s outfit is equally good. All the pieces of cloth, fur, and leather look as they should and as they did when we saw them in the movie. One of the great things about the cloth aspects of the paint is the proper green tint, giving homage to the green hood he wears in the book. As with both Thorin and Balin, the metal paint look to his axes makes them very much like used versions of something he’d carry if the statue were real. Much like with those two Dwarves, the Dwarven details of his axes are still there for the world to see. Finally, Dwalin has tattoos in support of his Dwarven heritage. These tattoos are decals, allowing fans to get great clean lines and show no blurring at all on the statue (both his head and on his hands).
Overall
Dwalin retails for $249, and while he is more expensive than his brother Balin, he is still a good deal. As I said earlier in this review, I love the design of Dwalin, from the tattoos and weapons, to just his overall look; he’s freaking cool! So for me, the $249 was easy for that reason alone. He looks great with the other four statues and if you can add him to your collection, I say go for it! Dwalin, like the other statues so far, is an open edition.
SPECIFICATIONS
Dwalin is an open edition statue with a retail price of $249. He’s also instock as of right now, so don’t delay.
Dimensions:
9.8″ x 9.1″ x 5.9″ (H x W x D)
25 cm x 23 cm x 15 cm
“Then at last his gaze was held: wall upon wall, battlement upon battlement, black tower of adamant, he saw it: Barad-Dûr, Fortress of Sauron. All hope left him.”
—The Fellowship of the Ring
How do you follow-up one of the coolest environments you’ve ever produced? Well, you go ahead and produce one of the next most coolest environments of course! Shortly after Comic-Con 2011 senior model maker David Tremont began the momentous task of transforming the original model of Barad-Dûr for The Lord of the Rings into a collectible we could all own. Finally, after a year of slaving, fans of Middle-earth got to see the result at Comic-Con 2012 when Barad-Dûr was unveiled to the world.
Sauron began work on Barad-Dûr during Middle-earth’s Second Age, when he chose Mordor as the place his dominion over Middle-earth would begin. Barad-Dûr was finished in the year 1600 of the Second Age and during that period Sauron would go on to create The One Ring, which would only help to make the fortress even stronger. During the War of the Last Alliance fortress was destroyed with the exception of the foundations as they could not be destroyed as long as The Ring was around. In 2951 of the Third Age Barad-Dûr’s reconstruction was started, but it would not last when Gollum fell into the lava of Mt. Doom destroying the Ring and the fortress.
PACKAGING
The graphics on the front of the box for Barad-Dûr have kept virtually the same design we’ve seen with previous environments from Weta. On the front of the box a screencap of Mordor with an image of Barad-Dûr completes the scene. Of course, you also have the beautiful The Lord of the Rings logo in the upper right-hand corner with the name of the environment under the picture of Barad-Dûr. One side of the box contains images of Barad-Dûr while the other side features images of other Weta Workshop products. The back of the box contains a great picture of the environment along with a background story about the collectible.
SCULPTING
Over 1,500 hours were put into Barad-Dûr to ensure the collectible on your shelf matches what you saw during The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I believe fans, once they have a chance to see the detail in this piece, will agree all of those hours paid off in spades. David Tremont and his team made very sure every window, spike, tower, ledge, bridge, and rock is included on this piece. Gazing upon this collectible, you can almost imagine Sauron or any number of his minions looking out upon Mordor from any of the many ledges and balconies. It truly is a great representation of the model we saw on film. What’s even more amazing is because of the material used it allowed these details to be captured and safely arrive to our homes. Rivendell had its beautiful river running through it and Barad-Dûr has something similar with its lava river flowing from Mt. Doom into the cavern surrounding the fortress. Even the rock areas of Barad-Dûr are exceptionally realized with the plains of Gorgoth looking like a place you don’t ever want to visit. Like Rivendell, this collectible is an achievement for Weta in showing off the amazing talent of their artists.
PAINT
The paintwork on Barad-Dûr is fairly simple compared to say Rivendell, and much more in-line with that of Orthanc. It’s all black and the shading for the different levels in different places are all really well done. The color of the tower does not match the color of the rock within the piece. That was going to be the toughest part of the paint I think and they were able to create the proper level of separation. The lava looks really good and stands out like lava would with an all-black world of Mordor.
Overall
Barad-Dûr costs $700 but the level of detail you get and the size of this piece allows you to truly get value for money. This piece is a limited edition piece with only 1,000 of the fortress being produced. Barad-Dûr does not come with a flaming eye but if that is a potential issue for you all you have to do is download the iPhone or iPad app. Then you will have the eye of Sauron. Finally, I cannot implore you enough if you are a The Lord of the Rings collector to find a way to get this piece into your collection.
Also, if you’re truly interested in what it took to bring this collectible to life check out the three articles by David Tremont. In these articles he explains the ups and downs of making sure we got one of the best environments ever created.
Remember this stunning 7 and a half foot tall Tower of Orthanc built entirely out of LEGO bricks? Featured on Wired, CNN and countless other websites including TheOneRing.net, this LEGO creation premiered at BrickCon in Seattle back in November 2011. Complete with an 8 foot diameter base consisting of over 25 Ents and 100 Orcs battling, ‘The Last March of the Ents’ by OneLug will be on display at TheOneRing.net’s ‘An Unexpected Art Show’.
Join TheOneRing.net for ‘An Unexpected Art Show’ in Los Angeles, California on Friday, February 22, from 7 PM to 1 AM. All ages are welcome to attend. Celebrating The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth, ‘An Unexpected Art Show’ will feature inspired art pieces — from paintings, drawings, and illustrations to prints — from a variety of artists. A limited number of tickets are available for $15 online and $20 at the door. ‘An Unexpected Art Show’ will be held at Lot 613, a blank-canvas special events space in the Historic Arts District of Downtown Los Angeles, located at 613 Imperial Street.
