bbbINVITE YOUR FRIENDS! SPREAD THE WORD! BRING FOOD & DRINK!

Southern California Tolkien fans are invited to join in the merriment of TORN’s Annual Baggins Birthday Bash, which will take place on Saturday, Sept 24, 2016 starting at noon in El Dorado Park in Long Beach, the Arbor Day Grove. Because this is a Regional Park, there is a $7 entrance fee, for parking. The advantage, there really is a lot of parking, the disadvantage, no in/out privileges so you may want to carpool.

Map and Directions Added Below!!!

We will be celebrating the Birthday of both Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, and rejoicing in each other’s fellowship. THIS IS NOT A POTLUCK ANYMORE. Bring food and drink for yourself and your party. If you wish to share something, no one will turn it down and it will go on a public table.

Costumes are encouraged, and we may have a prize or two for the most beautifully or most creatively attired lads and ladies. There will also be fun and games, as usual, depending on who wishes to participate.

Schedule – to be posted closer to the event on our Facebook Event Page.

Birthday Cake – A Creative Middle-earth Cake decorating contest open to anyone. So get creative, bake a cake or cupcakes and have fun decorating it in whatever Middle-earth style you prefer. This will actually be a Juried event with a prize for the Cake or Cupcakes deemed the most creative. Please know that heat may play havoc with your cake, so make plans for that eventuality. We will know better the week of the party. We will begin the Cake judging at 2pm to avoid the melting problem of last year.

RSVP by leaving a note on our Facebook Event Page, or send an email to Garfeimao@theonering.net.
Standard things everyone may want to bring to the picnic include: picnic blanket, lawn chairs, hat and sunscreen and a smile. Maybe a pop up tent as well, shade is always at a premium, although there are a lot more trees at this park.

We are no longer hosting this as a “Potluck”, but rather as a Bring your Own picnic, anything you wish to share, you can, but do make sure you have enough for your party.

There are a few items that would be nice to bring that could be shared, including the following:

Beverages, Ice and ice chests, Supplies – packs of paper plates, plastic cups, boxes of mixed flatware (plastic knives, forks and spoons), napkins, trash bags and table covers. Repeating Ice Chests and Ice.

PLEASE BE SURE TO POST WHAT YOU’RE BRINGING TO SHARE ON THE FACEBOOK WALL SO THAT EVERYBODY KNOWS WHAT’S BEING BROUGHT AND WHAT STILL NEEDS TO BE BROUGHT.

DIRECTIONS:

The official address given by the park is 7550 E. Spring Street, Long Beach CA 90815, but this is actually the address of the Nature Center that is across the street from the park. The park entrance is on the same side of the street as the Dog Park and the El Dorado Archers. It is at the corner of E. Spring Street and El Dorado Park Road. There is a guard gate just as you turn off Spring Street where you have to pay an entrance fee of $7.00 per car – CASH ONLY. This includes being able to park in the lot near the picnic site. Make sure you enter the Park NOT the Nature Center.
 
Please check your favorite Map app to confirm correct directions from your location. There are not enough Rangers to spare to send out search parties for lost picnic-goers 🙂
 
From the North taking the 405 South.
Take Exit 24 Studebaker Road in Long Beach.
Take a sharp left onto N. Studebaker Road.
Continue on N. Studebaker Road 1.8 miles.
Turn Right on E. Spring St. and drive .08 miles.
Turn LEFT into El Dorado Park
 
From the North taking the 605 South
Take Exit 2B and merge onto E Spring Street.
Destination is on your right
 
From the South take 405 North to the 605 North.
Exit 1B off the 605 toward Willow Street..
Continue on E. Willow St. .09 miles
Turn Right on N. Studebaker Rd. Drive .05 miles
Turn Right onto E. Spring St. Drive .08 miles
Turn LEFT into park
 
MAP (click for hi-res version)
bagginsbirthdaymap3

IMG_6960New items are landing from our friends at Weta Workshop for Pre-Order.

We have the return of the 1:4 helm line that fans have been begging to have back. The new line leads off with the helm of Skully the Orc, who you may recall from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. This piece looked absolutely fantastic at Comic-Con, with the skull looking like the real bones from some poor soul. Skully’s helm can be had for $79 and is due to ship in quarter one of next year. Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – Weta Workhop’s Skully Helm and 1:30 Scale Figure Pre-Orders”

image Greetings — Quickbeam here.

The forthcoming “Ultimate Collector’s Edition” 6-film Blu-ray set of both LOTR and HOBBIT has caused much consternation among Ringers, eliciting strong reactions across the board.  Several of our Staff have published their excellent viewpoints (my op-ed is here) and our community feels energized like it was 15 years ago. Continue reading “EXCLUSIVE: Peter Jackson not “involved in this release””

g3If you’re into 1:6 figures of your favorite Middle-earth characters then Asmus Toys has you covered. Their latest figure is Gandalf the Grey and the fantastic thing about this figure is that it covers both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. How is that? This figure comes with all the staffs Gandalf uses over the course of all six films. The thing that blows me away the most in the pictures of this figure is how well done the clothes look. They really look movie screen quality. I also like the blend of sculpted hair in the beard and real hair on the top of his head. The final thing that really impressed me was if you want to recreate the bridge scene from The Fellowship of the Ring. Gandalf comes in with a price tag of $199 and comes with an insane amount of stuff.

Gandalf the Grey Specs:

Authentic and detailed fully realized likeness of Gandalf the Grey from The Lord of the Ring trilogy and the Hobbit trilogy.

Asmus Toys KP01A+ male body

Approximately 30 cm tall

Over 36 points of articulation

Features :

An authentic likeness of the actor from the film.

  • One pair of relaxed posture hand
  • One pair of weapon holding hand
  • One pipe holding hand

Special features on Clothing:

  • One signature grey wizard hat
  • One pair of brown long sleeved inner shirt
  • One dark grey robe
  • One dark grey hooded cloak
  • One brown woven belt
  • One printed blue belt plus sheath holder
  • One pair of brown leather boots
  • One traveling bag

Special features in weapons:

  • One wizard staff, used in the first entry of the movie.
  • One wizard staff, used to defeat Balrog
  • One elvish sword
  • One sword sheath
  • A pipe

Accessories:

  • One interractive cutom base of the broken bridge in Moira
  • One Asmus Toys figure stand
  • One display base of Asmus.

PRE-ORDER ONLY:  One wizard staff, used in the Hobbit movie

IMG_7806One of my favorite things to do at Comic-Con is to do a booth tour video of many of the collectibles that you can find at the Weta Workshop booth. As you’ve seen from my previous post, Weta has some really superb items this year, like the new Lurtz at Amon Hen, Boromir at Amon Hen, Saruman the White at Dol Guldur, Lady Eowyn of Rohan, and the Elven Warrior. Those are just the items you can order right now. There are also amazing items like Galadriel at Dol Guldur, Grond, War Troll, Skully Helm, and the 1:30 line which were being previewed at this years Comic-Con. Hope you all enjoy this look at all these great items!
Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – Weta Workshop Comic-Con 2016 Booth Tour”

IMG_7814Comic-Con 2016 has come to and end. However, I’m here to let you know that we’re just getting started with the excitement over what we saw during last week’s event. In this article, we bring you pictures of the many items that could be found at the Weta Workshop booth. Weta had so many new items this year, and they were all amazing. I can’t wait to get so many of these into my collection. The new items making the show this year that fans can pre-order right now are: Lurtz at Amon Hen, Boromir at Amon Hen, Saruman the White at Dol Guldur, Elven Warrior, and Lady Eowyn of Rohan. Fans also have these superb items to look forward to Galadriel at Dol Guldur, War Troll, Skully Helm, Grond, Gimli at Helm’s Deep, The Witch King at Dol Guldur, and the 1:30 Dol Guldur Environment/mini-figures. Below you will find details of these statues with edition sizes and the names of the talented artist who bring you these collectibles. You will also find pictures taken during Comic-Con. I hope they bring you the excitement of event the way I saw it as I was drooling over these collectibles.

Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – Weta Workshop Comic-Con Booth Coverage Part 1”