Mighty Squid writes: I was overjoyed to hear about the Lord of the Rings props display at Toys R Us in Times Square NYC. Thank you TORn!
I must admit the prospect of going to Times Square this time of year is a bit daunting. Going to Toys R Us felt a bit like Mordor. The line to get into the store wrapped around the block. Luckily my husband is large person and we were able to bulldoze the tourists out of the way. We asked the first employee we saw how to get to the third floor where the exhibit is suppose to be. He told us one floor up by the dinosaur. Found the dinosaur and LOTRs merchandise but no movie props. So the search was on. The promotion also included buying LOTR games for a shot at meeting Andy Serkis (more on that in a sec) so I figured it would be by the games. I picked up a LOTR Risk game and asked the nearest employee about the props display. She informed me that it had closed quite some time ago. I was not happy. So I had my husband wait in the huge check out line while I scouted around. Craning my neck near the elevators, glass cases with LOTR logos were clearly seen on the floor above. So far two employees had no idea about the display. So I impatiently waited for my husband, made sure he had his receipt and waited for the elevator. The elevator operator didn’t want to bring us to the third floor since it seemed obvious that we weren’t the people who had “personal shoppers”. I told her we were looking for the LOTR display. She finally agreed to bring us. Unhelpful employee number three.
Finally I got to see the display. Displayed was the weaponry of the Heroes of Middle Earth. Gimli’s axe, Leggy’s bow and EVERYONE’s sword. Very cool. There was also an entry form to win Wormtongue’s dagger. I filled quite a few out.
Now for stage two. I brought the game receipt to the Personal Shopping desk expecting the same blank stares and lack of information I had gotten so far. I was pleasantly surprised. Away from the mob of tourists and scream of children people have kept their sanity. They knew exactly what I was talking about. They made a photocopy of my receipt, took down my name and phone number, and handed me a ticket to meet Andy Serkis at the private signing. I was stunned. I did not expect there to be any tickets left. After failing to get Trilogy Tuesday and PJ at Lincoln Center tickets I just couldn’t believe I would get tickets to anything. So not only will I be able to at last see the final installment of this history making trilogy but I will celebrate the day by meeting Gollum himself!
If anyone is in the New York City area, get over to Toys R Us! I was only number 55 of a possible 700!
