This report will be a very positive report. I will not go over the negative aspects of the event, as enough has been said and written about that already. If you don’t know anything about Collectormania and the storm of complaints that followed its mismanagement, please go to the C4 forums and read the recent threads…
On Saturday the 4th October, I got up at 4am to catch a plane from Edinburgh to Luton. I arrived at the Centre in Milton Keynes at about 9.45am, and had a wee look around Middleton Hall while waiting for Sky (Roxane from London). The set-up seemed good, lots of stalls to spend money at, and a clear layout of the guests’ “booths”.
After Sky arrived, we made our way to the place where Sala Baker (Sauron) and Lawrence Makaore (Lurtz) were signing autographs. We noticed that there were very few people queueing for Sala, so we started there. I introduced myself and the Scottish Fellowship to him, and explained about the dvd parties and auctions for the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust. He was delighted when I gave him his honorary membership card and immediately asked Lawrence (who was sitting only a few feet away) if he had got one too! Sala signed my Argonath glossy photo with a personal mention, and also signed a superb photo of him as Sauron for our auctions. We took a photo, and finally as no one was waiting behind us, I asked him if he would record a short message for the new Scottish Fellowship website on my digital voice recorder. He duly accepted! By this time I was shaking like a leaf, but delighted at how friendly and approachable he was. Sky got her LOTR book signed and we were done.
A great start!
We then started queueing for Lawrence Makaore, but the queue was quite long already. We were given tickets to come back an hour and a quarter later. Sky and I decided then to go for second breakfast 😉
After food and a well needed dose of caffeine for me, we had a look at where Brent McIntyre (The WitchKing) was, among many other stars (The Matrix Twins, Honor Blackman and many more), and realised that there was no queue at all for him! We actually couldn’t see him either, and after asking a member of staff we waited and were first to see him when he reappeared a few minutes later. As he only charged £10 for his signed photos, I bought 2 for the auctions. He was very nice and friendly too, and is a rather striking looking person: very, very tall (well over 6ft I’m sure), with no hair but ginger sideburns, striking eyes, and a pale complexion, I could see why he had been cast as the WitchKing!!! LOL!!! He was “honoured” to be asked to join the Scottish Fellowship, he said, and was very happy to sign everything I put in front of him. I gave him his card, a leaflet and a member of staff took a photo of him and me, and finally he also accepted to record a message, yay!!!
Later we came back and queued again for Lawrence. He was very nice too, and very patient as I explained once again about who I was and what the SF is, and just like Sala, he was very pleased to sign a great photo of him as Lurtz, and sign my Argonath photo, as well as accept the membership card, and he recorded a rather long “short message” for the website! He also signed Sky’s LOTR book. He is one very cool guy! Once again, we took some great photos J All the photos I have of the day will be posted on the new website…
As we had managed to see all LOTR actors present that day, it was then time for some serious LOTR shopping! I bought some great FotR Toy-Biz action figures to add to my collection, as well as a great Saruman Figure by Applause for the auction (got a bargain price on it!) and best of all I found, after a lot of shopping around for the best price, a set of Helm’s Deep action figures including the very sought-after Haldir figure, at 2 thirds of the price Forbidden Planet charge for it 😉 It ended up being a lot of stuff to carry around but I’m glad I waited til the end of the afternoon to spend my money…
After dropping the shopping at the hotel, it was then time to go to the Xscape complex for the screening of “The Two Towers” and the Q&A session beforehand. Nobody had any idea about which actors would attend which Q&A session, so we were all very excited. We got into the cinema at 5.40pm and at 6.30pm they appeared: Brent McIntyre, Lawrence Makaore, Sala Baker and….. DOMINIC MONAGHAN!!! You can imagine the kind of reception he got!!!
The Q&A session was very good, despite some silly questions from some “fans”… Dom was very entertaining, Lawrence and Sala were a great comedy double-act!!!
At the end the guys left and the screening of The Two Towers started. As it had been a loooooooooong day for me, after 15 minutes I gave up and Sky and I went back to the hotel for a well earned rest!
Sunday 5th October: After a relatively light sleep, Sky and I got ready to return to C4. We were very excited, and wanted to be there early enough. We met up with The Flying Gribble (Dave from Horsham) and together we walked back to Middleton Hall. As we got close we could see the crowds… by the time we reached C4, the place was absolutely mobbed. We tried to get tickets but realised that all tickets had already been issued for Elijah Wood, Dominic Monaghan and Sean Astin. I only managed to get a ticket for Andy Serkis. I was absolutely devastated. I would have cried if I hadn’t been angry, very, very angry. The rest of the day was spent waiting around for at least a glimpse of the Hobbits, and I just about managed to take a photo of each of them. At about 4pm it was my turn to queue for Andy Serkis. He was absolutely charming! We had a quick chat, he signed my Argonath photo, and the 2 photos I bought for the auctions, I gave him his membership card and explained to him that I had some cards for the other 3 actors but didn’t get tickets to see them. To this Andy replied that he “could do something to help”. He took the other cards, passed one to Sean Astin’s minder who was sitting right next to him, and he promised he would pass on the other cards to Elijah Wood and Dominic Monaghan!!! What a great guy J We took a photo, and it was all over!
An hour later I was in a bus, on the way back to Luton airport, and a couple of hours after that I was back in Scotland, exhausted, and half ecstatic, half disappointed…
However, to finish up on a positive note, thanks to The Flying Gribble and Pippin’s Cat, who were at C4 on Monday, and saw the Hobbits, we will have great reports to read about meeting them, getting autographs, for me as well as for the SF auctions J!!!!!
Just a reminder for TORn and LA area ringers and beyond that the ambitious “Hobbit” stageplay at the Canyon Theatre Guild in Santa Clarita, CA is up and running! It was announced at the Bilbo Baggins birthday bash a few weeks back, and everyone is encouraged to come and see middle-Earth. In fact, Quickbeam arrived with a crew last week to film it as part of an upcoming special documentary on “The Hobbit” literary-mythology, so look for it down the road.
The play is directed by Jymn Magon, a multiple Grammy and Emmy-nominated producer and former Disney employee, who even produced the old record LP of the 1977 Rankin/Bass TV version of “The Hobbit”. Directions to the theatre can be found through mapquest.com, and their website is canyontheatre.org for the address…
The show runs Sat. and Sun. at 2pm through Nov. 2. See you there!
Lots and lots of people have been writing us with their two cents about Collectormania 4 which took place in Milton Keynes, England last weekend. Some have been positive, some have been negative I’m sure most of you have read them by now. I was also present at this event and here’s my view on what happened and what didn’t.
First of all I will have to spend a few minutes complaining about the location, bear with me. The people who organise the Collectormania-events have chosen to do so in the centre of a huge shopping mall. This is actually quite a good move because it opens the event up to people who otherwise probably wouldn’t have attended or even known about it. The reason why they choose to hold it in Milton Keynes is beyond me though. The place can best be described as a barren wasteland riddled with roundabouts, concrete and huge carparcs making it not only very easy to get disorientated but also very, well, boring. Other reasons to visit Milton Keynes than to attend Collectormania are just not available and you’d think that if you are organising an event that doesn’t really offer any form of entertainment save for a few hands full of stalls, a lot of lines to stand in and a few panels at night where most people couldn’t get in anyway you could have picked a more interesting location. Anyway, that was not the case and I will not annoy you all with the troubles I went through to get there. Let’s just hope that in feature years they pick a shopping mall somewhere in London or at least someplace vivid.
Enough about that though. On to the event itself. I have to admit that I was not planning on attending Collectormania at all. Having covered the opening of the Lord of the Rings-exhibition in London a few weeks ago and with Ring*Con on the agenda for next month I was running short on cash, otherwise I might have considered it. For those who might not know this: TheOneRing.net does not pay for all the things I do for the website, as they shouldn’t have to. I am a fan like everyone else here and I love doing these things and feel quite fortunate to be able to write about it for the website. On previous occasions I paid everything myself and will do so if I really want to attend a convention of some sort. After all for me this website is just a hobby. Collectormania was different though. I did attend and the website did pay for it and that’s because we got a very interesting offer from the folks who organised it: they asked us (we did not ask them) if we wanted to attend and if we wanted to interview the Lord of the Rings-cast present at this event. I will now copy/paste some passages from emails I received from them about this event, just so I can lay all my cards open:
We’re really excited to have Elijah, Sean, Dom and Andy as guests at the show and we thought TORn would like to interview them while they’re with us.
[…]
Naturally, Showmasters would like to be as accommodating as possible to TORn and would like to hear any thought you have.
[…]
As for interviews, we will certainly arrange that for you. […] As I am sure you can imagine, Elijah, Sean and Dom will be massively busy on Sunday and Monday, so at the moment I am not quite sure exactly when this will be or how it will work, but I assure you that come the day it will! […] Please be assured though, we are very grateful for the coverage that The One Ring Net has given us in the past, and we will certainly make sure that the interviews happen for you. You guys do a great job, and reach more LOTR fans around the world than anyone else, and so if anyone deserves their time it is you.
That being said I guess you probably could have seen this coming: these (promised) interviews did not happen. What we got instead was a informal press-meeting where all of the press that actually stayed on Sunday night (some 8 people altogether) got about 30 minutes to talk to all the actors present which I don’t feel is what these quotes above meant. Look for some small interviews with some of the actors present later this week!
Obviously this is just a personal grief. I mean I am not ‘professional’ press so I’m glad with anything I can get really and I realise this is more then most people got at the event. I do however feel that we (I say we because my good friend Irascian and the lovely Victoria Barrett from the Observer were with me for the better part of the event and experienced the same kind of grieves) were not treated as press might expect from an organisation like Showmasters on an event like Collectormania. I would have expected that if they can manage to get stars like the ‘Rings’-actors they could have certainly managed to set up some kind of ‘press-system’.
I also agree with what a lot of people have been saying over the last few days; it was a very hectic and disorganised event altogether. Things like the ticket sales were badly organised and poorly communicated to the event. On multiple occasions I have heard Collectormania-people tell fans that they could get tickets from 8am and onwards were in all honestly they started handing them out earlier then that. The stories of people camping overnight, all tickets being gone at 9.30am and just the general state of panic that seemed to be going around on Sunday made it clear to me at least that the organisers were not at all prepared for what was going to happen and the day seemed to be like a charging Oliphaunt with everyone desperately trying to hang on and make the best of it. In all honesty: if you say beforehand you are expecting thousands of visitors and you know that the actors can not possibly sign more then a few hundred autographs a day a simple calculation will tell you that you have a potential few thousand disappointed people on your event. This is not the actor’s fault because they were signing like crazy in order to please as many fans as was possible on one day. Complaints about how people were driven through like cattle are perhaps true but it is not something I feel people who actually got an autograph should complain about. Think about it this way: at least you got one and there were plenty of people out there who were not that fortunate. And of course I know that nowhere does it state that signatures are guaranteed but people do not fly halfway over the globe to leave empty-handed so to say. This happened though, I have heard and read the stories and there are probably lots of people who have such a story of their own and haven’t bothered to email it in.
All of that being said the event was not a total loss. Monday (or Hobbit-Monday) was much quieter then Sunday. It was not as hectic and most people that were there seemed to have gotten their money’s worth of autographs. Lines were smaller, it was easier to get around without tripping over the great hordes of screaming fangirls that seem to be appearing more and more at event like these (why I wonder). The only place that looked exactly like Sunday was the area around the booth where Elijah Wood and Dominic Monaghan were signing. Even on their bathroom-breaks they were followed around by great crowds and that must have slightly annoyed them (as it would me if I were in their shoes). They handled it very nice though so kudos to all of them for being very patient all through the event, keeping the smiles on their faces and generally being the nice guys that we all know they really are. This of course is not just for Elijah and Dominic but for Andy, Sean, Brent McIntyre, Sala Baker and Lawrence Makoare too. That last three might not have had such a busy weekend as the ‘bigger’ names they made up for that by spending a lot of time with their fans, posing tirelessly for pictures, signing whatever it was that landed on their booth and really leaving an excellent impression behind on everyone they talked to. Awesome job guys!
Because the Monday was so much quieter I got a good chance to talk to a lot of people, both visitors and people helping out at the event (I mean it was not like I had anything better to do anyway) and I have to say that I do see their point of view. I do realise that they were about fifty people understaffed on Sunday and that they had to make the best of it under the given circumstances. But I also heard some of them point out that they had not been given any kind of introduction to the event and that they didn’t know what it was exactly that they had to do during the event. From what I saw people with Collectormania-tshirts seemed to be moved here and there to do stuff as someone seemed fit. All of this in my humble opinion boils down to the fact that the whole event was somewhat poorly organised, like I said before.
The positive things about the event; the informal press-meeting, the panels at night (about which Irascian has written a lot that I won’t need to repeat here, I really do agree with him there), the quiet Monday that was spent largely by hanging out in Sala and Lawrence’s booth chatting to very nice people (Nick the pirate, the girl with the Gollum-tattoo, Erwin from EchoBase.nl and many more; sorry I’m quite bad at remembering names), they all were overshadowed by the fact that I have had a very unproductive weekend and that the whole event was not as much fun as I had hoped it would be and it might have been. Collectormania 4 left a somewhat bad taste in my mouth and I will think twice about going back there in May for their fifth event.
Last but not least a very special thanks will go out to the above mentioned Ian Smith (Irascian) and Victoria Barrett who were excellent company throughout the weekend and all the members of the Dark Side Forums who were there. I had great fun with you guys, both during and after convention hours and it made a bad weekend very enjoyable and something I will not soon forget!
Quite a few people have sent along their experiences at the latest Collectormania. More than a few of them have been negative, and if you include the tales of woe from TORN pal Irascian and even TORN’s own Leo (review coming soon), it seems not all is well in the Collectormania PTB’s.
Sorne
This was my first time at a Collectormania event, and ‘mania’ is a good description. People had queued since 4am to get tickets for ‘the Hobbits’ and the crush was so bad, that you could not even glimpse them without one. My friend managed to see Elijah and Dom by accompanying another (ticket bearing) friend in order to take photos. The only person I had wanted to meet was Lawrence Makoare, and fortunately I only had to queue for about an hour. It was worth every minute of the wait. What an incredibly charming man he is. Despite having been meeting people and signing autographs all day, he still had smiles and warm handshakes for everybody. He asked everyone’s name, sent messages to those who couldn’t make it and posed happily for endless photos. I have met a few actors in my time and I know that the reality is often a disappointment over the expectation. Not this time. Not only was Lawrence friendly, sincere and endlessly patient, he was also a man of very great physical presence. I consider myself to be pretty level-headed but I have to confess a hug from Lawrence had me in a bit of a tiz!
Norma
I would just like to say how much I agree with the comments of irascian about collectomania 4. Although I myself had the chance to talk to Sean Astin and Andy Serkis on Monday, and they were great, My daughter had a different experience when meeting Elijah wood and Dominic Monahan, the stars themselves were very pleasant ,but the organizers seemed to be rushing everyone through like branding cattle.My daughter got the impression that the guests themselves were fed up with it and on occasion slowed things down themselves as a protest.Plus it would have helped to have been forewarned about the prices of autographs , many people ran out of cash and went to the cashpoints to find them empty.However saying all that it was an experience I’ll never forget.
Steve
I and a large group of my friends attended Collectormania 4 in Milton Keynes expecting to have a great time, we have attended one previously barring a few complaints about there staff the event was ok, we decided to give it another go.
We have been following the posts on there message boards regarding tickets and so on and followed there instructions, expecting tickets for the Lord Of The Rings guests to be made available from 10am, which was fine and gave everyone a fair crack of the whip, but when we found that all of the tickets had been made available from 6.30am in the morning and by the time we got there they were all gone, we were to say the least not impressed, we stayed at the event but it became ridiculous, the amount of upset children that were there just trying to get a glimpse of Frodo, but when anyone got near there area they were pushed physically away by the show masters security, no asking them if they could move but shoving them away.
The show masters staff were very abusive along with one of the organizers who we have now found to be named ‘Mark’ something or other!
There is no surprise that one of the parents of a child decided to hit one of them, as there total attitude towards fans was totally out of order!
We knew that a lot of people would be at the event, so accept that, we did not go there with any preconceptions, but the total attitude that was portrayed towards fans was very bad, the whole experience was both upsetting and something that neither myself or any of my friends will endure again.
we go to these events as general autograph hunters with no one in particular to get, we also heard the numerous rumors that Orlando Bloom was at the event walking around in disguise! This was overheard being said by one of the organizers, what a way to start a frenzy! Then to start telling people that both Viggo & Orlando were going to Collectormania 5 was an out right lie, as we have contacted his agent and they deny it totally.
Whilst looking at there message board during the event the organizer Mark had his mother post on there apologizing to fans and attendees alike, saying that they were not doing the event for the money, what total rot, we all know they do it for the money, not just to benefit the fan, but we will not go into that.
It is fine people making money if they run a business but be honest about it, also have the courage to answer questions themselves instead of grown adults having there mothers post on a message board for them!
I felt so strongly about this negative experience that I felt the need to share it and we will never be attending another Show masters events or Collectormania as there was no organization, total lies and abusive staff,
I know this post is very controversial, but lets for once be honest about things for once and warn any future fans and if Orlando or Viggo did attend any o there vents in future I am sure that after everyone has written to there agents telling of the negative experiences they will thanks twice.
TORnados, we, like you, are in a tizzy planning and deciding what to do for Trilogy Tuesday. Can I get work/school/life off? Can I stay awake for ROTK after eight hours of Extended Edition goodness? Will I see the shows in the weeks prior of their limited release? When will they announce the rumoured Canada and Europe showings?
So, we are franticly collecting information from TORnados and theaters all over the place and will compile much of that information for you ASAP. However, there are some tasty tidbits to tide you over.
One you have found a city (or not) near you, you can see if there is an established TORn Line Party right here!
Just search through our world-wide database, find your city and click on the line. WARNING: We are cleaning this whole section up and there are a few dead lines here. If the line in your city hasn’t been updated since it announced the “Fellowship Of The Ring,” chances are it is dead. There is a possibility of technical difficulties as well with some lines and some surprising theater choice by New Line have left some lines scrambling to make new contacts and plans. We suggest poking around a bit in all of your city’s lines.
“The Maps of Tolkien’s Middle-Earth” by Brian Sibley & John Howe
Thorongil reports: After getting my hands on “The Maps of Tolkien’s Middle-Earth” I couldn’t help but be impressed with the beautiful artwork that adorns the outside of the boxed slip cover. You are peering out of Bilbo’s front door, looking at his beloved Shire.
“The Maps of Tolkien’s Middle-Earth”, is Houghton Mifflin’s latest Tolkien offering. As the title implies, it is a collection of four maps of Middle Earth beautifuly painted by John Howe and an accompanying 80 page hardcover book by Tolkien expert Brian Sibley. The Sibley book consists of four separate chapters; Wilderland, Middle Earth, Beleriand, and Numenor, each describing how the maps were originated by Tolkien. Sibley also gives us insightful information on how “The Hobbit”,” The Lord of the Rings,” and “The Silmarillion” came to be. There are wonderful full color and black and white illustrations by John Howe to go along with descriptive accounts of each name that appears on the maps.
Each map is 28″ in length and 28″ in width. The borders of these maps include some of Howe’s best Tolkien artwork. I will most likely frame them, but you can use it to follow along with Frodo and Gandalf as they travel in Middle Earth or you can see where Turgon’s hidden realm of Gondolin is located as you read the Silmarillion. Whichever way you use the maps, it is a fine addition to any Tolkien collection! I am glad I have one and if you are a big Tolkien collector like myself, you will want to go grab yours now too, or put it on your Holiday wish list!!!!
