First, we want to thank all of you who have joined TheOneRing.net Collectors Club and shared some of your very cool Middle-earth related collectibles. This has been so much fun having you all involved with Collecting The Precious.
As you all are aware we ran a contest with our friends at Gemr until the end of June. The winners have been picked, confirmed, and items have been mailed.
We want to congratulate the following members of the club: Congratulations @gabe.meek98 ! Who won a larger than life bus stop poster for The Hobbit: Battle of Five Armies! We hope you have a wall big enough for this bad boy. Congratulations @madeyegamgee ! Who won Weta Mini Ringwraith Statue! It’s pocket-sized evil! Congratulations @feerthedragon ! Who won an XL Treebeard Funko Pop! It’s bigger than other Pops but a LOT smaller than the real Treebeard — so it will actually fit on a shelf!
As you will recall, late in May we announced the TORn Collectors Club, and we announced it with a contest for new and current members. We wanted to remind you, if you haven’t joined yet and you want to win a pretty cool prize, that the contest ends tomorrow at midnight PST. So do not hesitate to come and join if you want to chat with some amazing folks about something so precious to us as fans of Middle-earth. You’ll discover over 3000 people you can chat with, share your collectibles with, review items, buy/sell/trade, etc. There is no shortage of fun going on in the club and we can’t wait for you to join us. So come on and show us how you Collect The Precious.
When TheOneRing.net marked its 10th anniversary in 2009, we celebrated in style. We had such a good time, we decided to celebrate every year on April 26, the date when TORn was established.
It’s been an interesting couple of weeks… Since March 19, characters from Middle-earth, and other roles played by the same actors, have been battling it out to claim the title Champion of Middle-earth March Madness 2018. We started with four brackets comprising roles from The Lord of the Rings movies, other roles by those same actors, roles from The Hobbit movies, and alter-egos for those cast members. The brackets were mixed, to give actors a chance of coming up against ‘themselves’ – and indeed in Round 3 we did see Christopher Lee’s Saruman go up against his Count Dooku, and Lee Pace’s Ronan face his majestically-eyebrowed Thranduil.
Boromir fell in the first round, defeated by Gimli, but Sean Bean’s Eddard Stark did make it all the way to Round 3, where he was conquered by eventual semi-finalist Samwise Gamgee. Sam made it the furthest of all the hobbits; Merry and Pippin both went out in Round 1, and Frodo fell to Aragorn in Round 2. Both Martin Freeman’s and Ian Holm’s Bilbos were knocked out back in Round 1; they had tough battles, being drawn against Gandalf and Faramir respectively.
The elves fared rather better, with Galadriel, Elrond and Thranduil all getting through to the Elite Eight (though Legolas, alas, could not get past Aragorn in Round 1). Wizards Saruman and Gandalf joined the elves in Round 4; but poor Radagast was beaten by Dwalin way back in the first round. In the world of men, only Aragorn managed to get as far as the Elite Eight; Dr John Watson, Sherlock Holmes, Dr ‘Bones’ McCoy, Rudy, and Carl from Van Helsing all joined Eddard Stark in being vanquished in the Sweet Sixteen round.
The Hollywood Reporter has published a new article detailing how Amazon beat out Netflix for the rights to produce a new television series based on ‘The Lord of the Rings’. They are committed to producing at least 5 seasons at an estimated cost of $1 billion US. While there is still no start date, the article does say that -per Amazon’s contract- they must start production within 2 years. There is also no news yet on cast, scripts, or filming locations – stay tuned to TheOneRing.net for more information!
Do you have a casting suggestion, or a storyline that you’d like to see the new show take on? Please let us know in the comments section, or visit our message boards to discuss!
Last two standing – here we are at the Middle-earth March Madness FINAL for 2018. Two – well, not men… – enter, one leaves; who will be Champion this year?
In the Final Four, we saw Samwise Gamgee take on Gollum, and Gandalf face Elrond Half-elven. Both Sam and Gandalf have been Middle-earth March Madness Champions before – twice, in the wizard’s case – but for the other two, the heady heights for the Final Four are new.
The contests were tight; Sam took an early lead in his duel, but by the second day, old Stinker had pulled ahead. Gollum finally went on to win that battle convincingly, claiming over 60% of the vote.
In the second pairing, it was neck and neck right down to the wire, with less than 1% in it at times. In the end, however, elvish power triumphed over Maiar magic, and Half-elven came home with 54.35% of the vote, to Gandalf’s 45.65%.
So this year will definitely see a NEW Champion crowned! Gollum faces Elrond in a fight to the finish. Can tricksssy deviousness overcome the power of a high elf? Will Smeagol help out, making it two against one? You decide!
The Final voting is open NOW. Polls close at 10pm EST on Thursday 5th April; only two days to vote for the Champion, so don’t delay! Last chance to play along with Middle-earth March Madness this year; and don’t forget to check out the ‘exit polls’ on Facebook. Whom do you want to see crowned…? VOTE NOW! [The Final] [Final Four] [Elite Eight] [Round 3 Bracket] [Round 2 Bracket] [Round 1 Bracket]
First, we want to thank all of you who have joined TheOneRing.net Collectors Club and shared some of your very cool Middle-earth related collectibles. This has been so much fun having you all involved with Collecting The Precious.
