One of the new figures Asmus Toys had at Comic-Con this year was the solo version of the Mouth of Sauron. This piece allows fans who just want the Mouth of Sauron minus his horse a chance to get him into their collections. As you can see, this one turned out pretty solid with some incredible details on the different versions of his mouth piece. While this one is labeled as a ‘slim’ version, with all the stuff you get and how nice it looks there is nothing slim about him! You can get him right now for $145 and he is due to ship first part of next year.
This is a follow up to the story announcing Amazon’s release of the LOTR series creative team (see link below), with a breakdown on what this announcement means for the future of the show. Afterwards, there will be a ‘reaction’ story from a Tom Shippey interview that occurred on the same day as the video was released.
Justin, the producer of our TORn Tuesday live streaming series breaks down the Amazon creative team announcement:
“This Creative Team has something for everyone that it almost feels generated by an algorithm to appeal so perfectly to all fan groups. Howe & Shippey lock in the core book, art & film fans.
Amazon got what it explicitly wanted day one — the next Game of Thrones — with 2 of the key people from HBO’s Thrones now on LOTR. Amazon is also following in the (successful) footsteps of Thrones by handing the show to a couple guys who have never produced anything, similar to HBO letting Benioff & Weiss run Thrones with zero producing experience.
JA Bayona is an inspired choice as he is Guillermo del Toro’s protege in dark storytelling. GDT financed Bayona’s first few projects and helped put Bayona on the map. With Amazon, fans may finally get something akin to what The Hobbit was shaping up to be under del Toro. Some Weta folk felt that the costume & prosthetic orc work they did under Guillermo del Toro was the best the workshop had ever done, so it would be wonderful to bring forth some of that practical creativity under GDT’s heir apparent Juan Antonio Bayona.
“Peak TV” fans will appreciate the writers room of people who wrote some of the best episodes of Westworld, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Hannibal. Those are all somewhat dark & twisted fantasies which LOTR second age also is.
Amazon’s corporate development team along with this LOTR writers room and production team is probably the most diverse multi-lingual creative group ever to work in Middle-earth. Tolkien wrote that LOTR is “fundamentally linguistic in inspiration… “ so it is wonderful to have a global group of filmmakers bringing in the next chapter of Tolkien’s legacy.”
Author Tom Shippey
Shortly after the video was released by Amazon, Tom Shippey did an exclusive interview with the folks at Tolkien Gesellschaft and he let a few very interesting tidbits out of the bag.
Shippey confirms this map is from the Second Age, but then also admits we don’t know a lot of detail about the Second Age, and that the end of the Second Age on a map looks much like the beginning of the Third Age. Of course, with Numenor on the Map, that puts us closer to the early or middle part of the Second Age. He stresses that you have to be clear where in Middle-earth history the story will begin so that it matches what this map is hinting at.
Another really important fact is that Shippey clears up a lot about what sort of filming rights Amazon has, and how much freedom they do and don’t have when filling in the empty spots in their stories. Amazon must follow the history that Tolkien did write, such as Sauron invading Eriador, being forced back by a Numenorean force, his return to Numenor and seducing them to break the ban with the Valar. So, they have a road map, but they get to choose the route and fill in all the things seen and encountered on that road.
Shippey doesn’t know much detail on when and where filming will begin, but we previously announced that New Zealand looks to be where the bulk of filming will be. He also mentioned that a Brian Miller was supposed to be the overall director, but since he didn’t feature in the video he surmises that things changed. It is interesting that Shippey seems to share our desire that more news was forthcoming. Yes, all these little teases arouse curiosity, but sooner or later you have to satisfy that curiosity.
Read the article to learn more details from Tom Shippey.
So every so often I get asked whether I would entertain reviewing one of the old Sideshow/Weta pieces. So, I decided to go ahead and review one, which turned out to be quite a bit of fun. I decided to take a look-back at the Theoden statue, one of my favorites from the original line. Theoden came out in 2003 and has an edition size of 2000 pieces. During that time you cold get Theoden brand new for $125. Obviously this piece is sold out now, but you can track him down on eBay. Watch my review now for loads of information on this classic piece. Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – Sideshow/Weta Theoden Statue Review”
At Comic-Con this year I got a chance to see two brand new figures from Asmus Toys. First is a special version of Gandalf the Grey coming in their Crown Series. This Gandalf includes a boat-load of items including a awesome base with the gate and party-sign leading into Bag End. You can get this extremely awesome version of Gandalf for $350 and he’s due to ship between January and March of next year.
The other new item is a great looking version of Theoden. The detailing of the armor itself is incredible and he also comes with a load of extras such as Herugrim with sheath belt, and forearm and calf pieces. Fans can grab Theoden for $190 and for those who hate to wait, this piece will be available between August and October of this year. Both of these figures will look awesome in any collection and give lucky fans plenty of display options.
Comic-Con 2019 has come and gone. However that doesn’t mean our coverage of the show is done. Today we have our booth tour coverage of all the goodies that our friends at Weta Workshop brought with them to Comic-Con 2019.
Minas Morgul, Dark Galadriel, and Gandalf and Frodo riding on Gandalf’s cart are not available for order yet. But once they are, you can count on us to let you know. Hope you all enjoy the booth tour and corresponding pictures.
Today sees the Digital Release of Dome Karukoski’s biopic “Tolkien”. Available now on all the usual digital platforms, the film is also set to be released on Blu-ray & DVD on August 6.
If you purchase the digital release from iTunes, you will own the film in both High Definition and 4K Ultra HD (although you will need an Apple TV device and a compatible 4K television to watch it in the latter format), along with all the bonus features that will also be available on the Blu-ray.
These include an Audio Commentary by director Dome Karukoski, a First Look Featurette, Photo Gallery and Deleted Scenes with Commentary by Karukoski.
One of the new figures Asmus Toys had at Comic-Con this year was the solo version of the Mouth of Sauron. This piece allows fans who just want the Mouth of Sauron minus his horse a chance to get him into their collections. As you can see, this one turned out pretty solid with some incredible details on the different versions of his mouth piece. While this one is labeled as a ‘slim’ version, with all the stuff you get and how nice it looks there is nothing slim about him! You can get him right now for $145 and he is due to ship first part of next year.
