Our friends over at Sideshow don’t only produce incredible collectibles – they also make some very entertaining videos! One of their shows is a sixth scale figure posing contest, ‘Strike a Pose’.

Often featuring celebrity guests, the show is hosted by ‘Pose Master General’ Terry Smith. Three contestants have a short period of time in which to pose a figure (shipped to them by Sideshow – the show is filmed remotely in these Covid-concious times, which opens it up for participation from people all over the world). Smith then judges the poses; and the best one wins kudos and glory! It’s really all about the banter and fun – check out an episode from a couple of years ago, when actor David Dastmalchian relived one of his earliest movie appearances, in The Dark Knight.

Today Sideshow have let us know about a very exciting episode, coming up later this month, which fans of Middle-earth will not want to miss: Oin, Bombur and Bifur will be taking part! Actors John Callen, Stephen Hunter and William Kircher competed with an entirely suitable figure; here’s a glimpse of the fun in store, in this trailer Sideshow have exclusively shared with TORn:

July 23 is when the episode will air, during San Diego Comic-Con. Our friends at Sideshow will be at the con – if you’re there, be sure to stop by and visit them at Booth #1929. They always have an incredible display; you won’t want to miss it! (After you visit TORN at Booth #1202, of course!) And if you aren’t one of the fortunate folks visiting Comic-Con, why not entertain yourself by watching past episodes of ‘Strike a Pose’? And then catch up with our dwarven friends, and see how they got on when grappling with Gandalf the Grey!

It’s that time of year again, when the Brisbane Tolkien Fellowship hosts it’s wonderful “Evening in Middle-earth”.

This year there is a special treat for everyone, with an extra day, so fans can enjoy Two Evenings in Middle-earth.  Along with the extra day, there is an extra special treat in store for the fans.

Continue reading “An Evening in Middle-earth”

hobbitoina2This past week has brought us another of Thorin’s company from our friends at Weta Workshop.  This time we get our dear old Oin the Dwarf holding his hearing aid trying to figure out what’s being said in the heat of battle.

Oin comes in with a price tag of price tag of $249 and an edition size of only 1000 pieces worldwide. Oin is an in-stock purchase ready to ship once you place your order.

You’ve seen the dwarven cast members of The Hobbit without make-up. And you’ve seen them all kitted out as well. But have you seen each side-by-side: actor versus character, before versus after?

I hadn’t, not all at once, which was why I thought I’d share these images that I stumbled on, out there in the wild reaches of the internet (okay, Imgur, to be precise). Looking at them as a group, it struck me quite forcefully how they crew had chosen to work with the facial structure of each actor, rather than create something entirely new. Jed Brophy and Mark Hadlow are probably the most striking examples. Anyway, enjoy! Continue reading “The Hobbit’s dwarves: before make-up, and after”

A cool new infographic for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has just become available. This one details each of the key characters from the film, along with a succinct line that gives an insight into the personality of each character.

Still, I must nitpick. Galadriel is not “the oldest of all the Elves in Middle-earth”. At the time of the Third Age, the oldest of the Eldar still in Middle-earth (that we know of), is the Telerin elf, and Lord of the Grey Havens, Cirdan the Shipwright. And we do see Cirdan briefly in the film adaptations of The Lord of the Rings — initially in the prologue sequence where the Three Rings are distributed by Celebrimbor (see here) and then at the end of The Return of the King when he greets the departing Frodo, Gandalf and co as they take ship for Valinor (see that one here). So Cirdan the Shipwright certainly exists in the movie universe.

You can read a little about speculation about the age of Cirdan in this old Greenbooks post by Staffer Turgon. Basically, Cirdan undertook The Great Journey (but stayed in Middle-earth); Galadriel was born in Valinor after the Vanyar, Noldor and some of the Telerin elves finished The Great Journey and reached Aman. Ergo Cirdan is the older of the two.

Anyway, arguments over canon aside, this is cool. Enjoy!

Continue reading “The Hobbit: new ‘company of characters’ info-graphic!”

I simply couldn’t do justice to the wit and warmth of this press conference with the cast playing Bilbo and the thirteen dwarves. Luckily, TV3 have now posted their video of the entire conference – a much longer clip than the one I posted before. ENJOY!!!