*Update – Saruman the White Collectible is now available to Pre-order*
Today, via their official site, our friends at Sideshow Collectibles released a full preview of their upcoming Saruman the White Premium Format. This Premium Format is going to be an outstanding addition to our Middle-earth collections with a fantastic likeness to Sir Christopher Lee in his role as Saruman the White. Fans will be able to Pre-Order this Premium Format this thursday in Sideshow’s weekly newsletter for a solid price of $399.99. If you’re into the exclusive options as I am, this collectible comes with switchable hands. One of these will have him holding the Palantir, which appears to light up and another with his hand stretched out. As soon as it goes up for order on Thursday we will let you know. Enjoy this little gallery below and if you want more pictures you can check out the full preview at Sideshow Collectibles.
It’s not very often that the statue of the year comes out so early in the year leaving all the rest to settle for the number two spot. But that is what has happened this year with the arrival last month of the Azog the Defiler on Warg by Weta Workshop. We got our first look at this beast of a statue during Comic-Con 2013. This was the jewel of the Weta booth last year with a steady stream of people drooling all over the glass at how amazing this looked..
A difficult time on the set of Bag End – or rather a duplicate green screen version – left Sir Ian McKellen to consider that perhaps he would rather not continue on with the shooting of The Hobbit Trilogy. However, what soon followed reacquainted him with the joy he had come to experience during his previous journey to Middle-earth. It was a reaffirmation that even with the massive scale of the production, and all the complicated technology used to craft these cinematic stories – at the end of the day, there was a family dynamic at work on this journey, as there so often has been on Peter Jackson’s many films.
For those who have not yet heard this tale on the Extended Edition release of An Unexpected Journey, it goes a bit like this (bring the kleenex). Director Peter Jackson and his crew had developed a new technique on this trilogy for showing the actors in different sizes. While the proportions for actor Martin Freeman and the dwarf actors worked well enough for them to act in the same room, Sir Ian was required to be in a completely different area for his part of the scenes. Continue reading “Hobbit Family Bands Together to Help McKellen Through Greenscreen Difficulties”
The Holiday shopping season is quickly approaching and its time to start thinking about what to get that special Tolkien lover in your life. We’re pleased to to help ease your journey in by narrowing down what we feel are the top 10 Middle-earth related collectibles that fans can easily swing on a holiday budget. You can get any of these amazing collectibles from our friends at Weta Workshop, Artist Jerry Vanderstelt, Sideshow Collectibles, and The Noble Collection. These collectibles range from mini-sword letter openers to giant premium formats all of which help cover any Tolkien Collector in your family.
As some of you remember a while back I decided to share my collection with you all. Now, I’d like to share a fellow Ringer’s collection who decided that he also wanted you all to see the passion he has for Middle-earth. I hope you all enjoy Eric’s collection and if you would like to share what you’ve gathered after years of collecting don’t be afraid to let us know.
Here’s how Eric describes his collection:
My name is Eric from Maryland, USA. I’ve always had a love for weapons growing up. And so when United Cutlery started making the The Lord of the Rings movie swords and props, I thought it would be a cool idea to one day club our basement and make a Middle-earth themed place to hang out. I started collecting them in 2003. Most of the purchases were made between 2003 – 2006, but it was only about 6 months ago that we finally finished our basement. Until then, my collection was mostly in boxes. When collecting, it was my goal to have a poster of each main character and to have their weapon right beside that poster. In the TV room, we have the “fellowship” section. It showcases the characters at the core of the fellowship, with whatever memorabilia I could collect to represent them. In the gaming section of the basement, I have some of the original theatrical posters as well as an Elven Warrior, Rohan and Sauron sections. Some sections are still a work in progress and I have some room to hopefully grow the collection a little over the next two years. After seeing Elessar’s collection, ( which we really enjoyed viewing ), he invited me to share our collection. I thought it would be a good idea to share how we have celebrated Middle-earth. I hope you enjoy what we’ve done.
Spawn by Todd McFarlane. Recently at the san Diego Comic-Con we had a brief chat with famed cartoonist Todd McFarlane and asked him whether he thought Tolkien’s work would work in comic book form.
Here’s what Todd had to say:
It’s an interesting question now… and here would be my answer: I think that Peter Jackson has now spoiled us. Right? So up until we actually got to see the movies — I thought in brilliant fashion — that we were just sort of imagining …
I mean there’d been hints … but nothing that had stuck globally. So we [only] had our imagination, and now that Peter’s put that imagination into a sort of footprint, that if you put into comic book [then] to some extent a lot of people would be measuring back up [against the films].
Check out the video below for the complete interview!
As some of you remember a while back I decided to share 
