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”
We revealed in July during HobbitCon 2012 that pre-sales for The Bridge Direct’s line of figures from Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy would begin in September. Well, today is the day fans can start pre-ordering for the figures representing the characters from the first film in the trilogy.
The figures in The Bridge Direct’s range will vary in scale from 3.75″ figures to 6″ figures, and come in two-packs, battle packs, and deluxe figures. Check out Amazon.Com, ToysRUS.com, and EntertainmentEarth.com to get your online orders in now.
DragonCon is nearly here, and here’s some news of a great giveaway which will be happening at TORn’s booth at the convention.
Those of you who have kids, take note! In addition to some big stars from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, DragonCon this year will also feature the little star authors of Nimpentoad, a children’s fantasy book. The furry bright-eyed little Nimpentoad is tired of being picked on by the bigger and meaner creatures of the ancient shadowy Grunwald Forest. He convinces his fellow Niblings to make the perilous journey to a castle where they hope to find refuge. Along the way, they are confronted by ravenous goblins, trolls, rhinotaurs, and other perils. But with teamwork and Nimpentoad’s leadership, the Niblings outwit these menaces.
I love Middle-earth. I also love collecting items representing that world. As you’ve probably noticed through the reviews here, I’ve got more than a few items in my collection. It helps bring the magic Tolkien created and Jackson adapted home along with smiles every time I look at my items.
Now, TORn, as part of our super-secret project, wants to showcase you and your collection!
Starting today, through to next Wednesday, we here at TORn will be collecting submissions in search of Ringer Super Collectors at large. What we need are three to four good pictures of you and your collection, along with a brief write-up about why you are a super collector (write-ups must be 500 words or less).
Email your pictures and write-up to Elessar@theonering.net. We’ll start going through the submissions and you never know — you just might see you and your collection posted soon!
-Gandalf to Bilbo as he introduces the Dwarves entering Bag End
Comic-Con 2012 brought us the first look at many things for this December’s release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. This was the first time fans have gotten a chance to see the tip of the ice berg of products we will get to buy starting in October. Companies like Weta even got to have exclusives to the show for the movie. The exclusive from Weta was the first statue in the 1:6th range of statues from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The character chosen to lead off the line up is the leader of the Dwarven Party Thorin Oakenshield himself.
At the end of the second week in September a cart came in through Bywater from the direction of Brandywine Bridge in broad daylight. An old man was driving it all alone. He wore a tall pointed blue hat, a long grey cloak, and a silver scarf. He had a long white beard and bushy eyebrows that stuck out beyond the brim of his hat. Small hobbit-children ran after the cart all through Hobbiton and right up the hill. It had a cargo of fireworks, as they rightly guessed. — From A Long-Expected Party, The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
In Peter Jackson’s LOTR film, the first moment of Gandalf arriving in Hobbiton and finding Frodo waiting on the trail were critical because it established two essential characters and the setting of Hobbiton. It also introduced audiences to the scale of Hobbits with human-sized characters including forced perspective of Frodo riding in Gandalf’s cart.
The meeting serves as the entry point for Lord of the Rings LEGO as well with set 9469 introducing important characters in an easy-to-build kit that is also easy to afford at $12.99 retail in the U.S. It will likely find itself as birthday present to and from friends many times over. Because it is recommended for ages eight to 14, I enlisted Logan (8) and Dresden (10), to assist with the build of the kit. Continue reading “Product review: LOTR LEGO ‘Gandalf Arrives’ set”
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.
I love Middle-earth. I also love collecting items representing that world. As you’ve probably noticed through the reviews here, I’ve got more than a few items in my collection. It helps bring the magic Tolkien created and Jackson adapted home along with smiles every time I look at my items.
