IMG_3864Our friends from The Bridge Direct had another great showing at Comic-Con this year with more of their great figures for The Hobbit Trilogy. This year at their booth The Bridge Direct had almost every new figure we’re going to see in the fall when wave 2 of their line ships. We got new 6″ figures of Yazneg, Radagast the Brown, Bolg, and Azog. This Azog figure is different than the Comic-Con 2013 Exclusive Figure. The 3.75″ line of figures had the rest of the Dwarves which we did not get in wave one and Thranduil to complete what they had at the booth. The 3.75″ line is also getting a couple of new multi-packs one will have all of the Dwarves and the one at Comic-Con is a Mirkwood pack coming with Thranduil Tauriel, Legolas, Fili, and Kili. There is a Beorn figure coming but as of right now he will have to remain a mystery for just a little while longer. We also get to see a Legolas figure in the new packaging that we will see for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Overall, as I said The Bridge Direct had another great Comic-Con and I can’t wait to see wave 2 hit the shelves.

Today, we bring you part two of our coverage of Weta Workshop’s booth at Comic-Con 2013. In this part we have for you a little video of what was at the booth. Between the pictures and this video we hope it gives you an idea of just how cool the stuff Weta had this year. Weta has also given fans who couldn’t go to get one a chance to download their awesome Third Quarter Catalog, which has several of the products you could see at their Comic-Con booth.

Weta also had a major announcement at the Weta/Shadow and Flame party during Comic-Con this year. You will hear me mention it towards the end of the video. The announcement is that Weta Workshop will once again be doing 1:6th statues from The Lord of the Rings. So not only will we be getting great statues from The Hobbit Trilogy fans can now also get great statues with the Middle-earth map base we know and love from The Lord of the Rings.

Tim Launder who is the General Manager of Weta Limited has this for fans about this announcement:

It’s been several years since Weta last released a figure from our extensive range of 1/6th scale LOTR statues. For the last year and a half, we have been busy creating a new range for The Hobbit. But we think it is now time to also return to The Lord of The Rings and fill a few gaps. What do you think ?

Cheers

Tim

 

 

wetalogoLast night our friends at Weta Workshop sent out their latest newsletter jam packed with information on some of what you can expect to see at Comic-Con starting Wednesday night. They’re going to have tons of items from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit Trilogy on top of other licenses that Weta has. You’re also going to be able get plenty of autographs while at the booth from various artists, Richard Taylor himself, and the beautiful Evangeline Lilly. Over the next few days we here at TORn are going to show off the amazing collectibles that Weta will have for us.

Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – Weta Workshop Comic-Con 2013 Mega Update”

IMG_3220The Summer of Smaug is in full go, as we get closer to Comic-Con 2013. We have had the first teaser poster, first trailer, and the first of Sir Peter Jackson’s Vlogs for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Now, we get the first product for the second film capturing a key moment in the Traveling Party’s journey to Erebor. The moment captured in this mini-statue is one of the participants in the barrel escape. The first character to be done in this series of mini-barrel riders is our loveable Hobbit Bilbo Baggins. This statue is a pre-release before the movie and shows the awesomeness of the collectibles to come from what we will see in the second film.

PACKAGING

IMG_3226The overall graphic for this mini-statue box is the same as we’ve seen from other statues for The Hobbit be it smaller than say a normal 1:6th statue box. Per the format we’ve come to know the front of the box gives you a great shot of Bilbo, the title of the movie (now saying though The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug), a special wax looking stamp saying it’s a preview collectible, and of course the Weta logo. As we’ve seen before you get a couple of shots of the statue on one side of the box. However, the other side gives you information about the statue and how it’s tied to the second film. While the back of the box gives you a look at a couple of items that you can buy from Weta.

SCULPTING

IMG_3151Brigitte Wuest is a name many fans that have collected statues based on the characters of The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit should know quite well. Ms. Wuest is back with another amazing piece. Doing a statue of this size and its smaller than even some of the previous mini-statues you’ve seen reviewed here before is a challenge. Well, the job done to make this statue detailed and capture a likeness was a successful one. When you look at this piece you see Martin Freeman and at a full 1:6th scale that’s a great thing, but even more so when you look at the size of this statue. Ms. Wuest did a superb job of making sure that we are able to have a great likeness of Mr. Freeman as he plays Bilbo in this moment.

The outfit is also very well done and there is great amount of detail within what you do see with this statue. His jacket very much looks like its real cloth, as do his pants. His hair also has some great detail in it very much looking like the hair he has on his head as we see it on screen. The barrel Bilbo is holding on to is a very detailed piece with all the little bits and pieces we see in barrels here in the real world. You also get the rushing water of the river, which we will see all these barrels making their way through. There is quite a bit of detail here when you examine the statue seeing how it’s made to look as if the water is a treacherous ride for the company.

PAINT

IMG_3130The skin tone on this piece is well done as usual by the folks at Weta Workshop. You look at Bilbo and you see someone who very much looks healthy and alive, which is something you want in your collectibles. Aiding the sculpting detail of the clothing is the paint job, which puts the final touches to create the cloth look we expect. The barrel as I said has a great sculpting job done to give it the proper details, but the job to put the cherry on top comes with the paint job. This allows for the barrel to look like its truly made of wood and something you would see in the real world. Of course you have the water, which is, has a great blue paint job creating the illusion of water. However, the coolest aspect of the paint job is the clear lacquer that’s been applied to this statue. In order to give it the proper wet look Weta applied a clear lacquer to the Bilbo, the barrel, and the water. Weta did a fantastic job of doing this so it has the proper wet look but not something that looked slimy.

Overall

Bilbo retails for $65, which is a fantastic price along with something most collectors can fit into a tight budget. The price will also make it much easier for collectors to get all the members of the Traveling Party. As I said the sculpt and paint on this statue is really well done and even more so when you factor in the size of the piece. I want to add that with every release in this line Weta is just continuing to show how great they with these statues.

SPECIFICATIONS

Bilbo is the first in this series of mini-barrel rider statues. He is an open edition and can be purchased for just $65.

Dimensions:

2.7″ x 4.1″ x 4.1″ (H x W x D)
6.8 cm x 10.5 cm x 10.5 cm

Weight:

.7 lbs (320g)

PHOTOS

5902_10151432670307303_1296019511_nThis is the year of Smaug for fans of Middle-earth. We’ve already had a great trailer giving us a solid look at the head of the Dragon and cool teaser poster. Weta Workshop has produced another exclusive again  for this years Comic-Con and it follows the Dragon theme I previously mentioned. This year for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug they will have a T-Shirt with the title of the movie on the front and the eye of Smaug as we see it at the end of  The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The shirt will be limited to only 500 shirts and can be had at their booth 3513B.

 

This story is sponsored by Deep Into the Heart of the Rose - Now Available on Amazon Kindle!On June 12th Warner Brothers released the first official trailer for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. It can be viewed in its entirety at TheHobbit.com.

Staff here at TheOneRing.net have now – a week later – watched the trailer again and again… and again… We’ve also been poring over large screencaps, with a magnifying glass, to spot any tiny details which just might give us some further insight into what we will see when the movie comes out at the end of this year. Check out what we spotted, below!

The following screen caps and commentary are not confirmed and are only speculation by the staff at TheOneRing.net. We plan on providing additional updates and insights as staff chime in – so keep this page bookmarked!

If you would like to easily browse all high res imagery of the trailer, check out page 11.

We’d like to thank G.T. Denny, author of ‘Deep into the Heart of a Rose,’ for sponsoring this effort!

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!!!! And Click the images to see larger versions

Continue reading “Frame by Frame Analysis of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Trailer”