O the many licensees to make collectibles for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey only one, The Bridge Direct, gets to make some of the coolest action figures you will find. For this review, I called upon my fellow collector and friend from our message board, Dwalin, for his insights. With the holidays fast approaching these items will make great choices for you to get your favorite fan of Middle-earth!

Full review after the break.

Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – The Bridge Direct’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey License”

Welcome to our collection of TORn’s hottest topics for the past week. If you’ve fallen behind on what’s happening on the Message Boards, here’s a great way to catch the highlights. Or if you’re new to TORn and want to enjoy some great conversations, just follow the links to some of our most popular discussions. Watch this space as every weekend we will spotlight the most popular buzz on TORn’s Message Boards. Everyone is welcome, so come on in and join in the fun!
Continue reading “TORn Message Boards Weekly Roundup – September 30, 2012”

As we reported earlier this week it appears that figures from The Bridge Direct for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey are starting to land in stores before their official October 1st release date. We showed you pictures of the Legolas and Tauriel figures which are part of wave 1. Today, rumors are starting to surface around the internet that Warner Bros. may be having these two figures pulled from this wave. Why? It would be a sign that these two characters will not be making an appearance in the first Hobbit film. If there’s any truth to the rumor, you may want to grab these two figures if you see them because their value on the secondary market could jump quiet high because they’ll be in the packaging for the first movie.

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.

Brick and Mortar stores will be have these awesome figures starting in October. Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – The Bridge Direct The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Figures Up For Pre-Order”

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!

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”