During Toy Fair 2010, Sideshow Collectibles announced they would be going back to their roots in their The Lord of the Rings license by once again doing maquettes of the characters in Middle-earth. What Sideshow told us was that this line would give us different aspects of the characters we have grown to love. Also during the video (view it here) from Toy Fair we got a tease of the concept drawings of several early pieces in the line.
Then in December of last year, during the twelve days of Sideshow, we got a beautiful look at protos of the pieces to come. The image included: Aragorn as Strider, Gandalf The Grey, Arwen, Legolas, and a hidden character in the back. The hidden character was Gimli, Son of Gloin and shortly after we got a great preview video of the upcoming Boromir maquette. We’re now two pieces in hand for this line with Aragorn already in our collections and now Gandalf the Grey joins him.
This week we have something a little different from previous articles you’ve seen with this column. Art Prints are a collectible I love adding to my collection especially when the subject is The Lord of the Rings. So, I wanted to take the time and get something set up with one of the leading artist out there working in Middle-earth.
The artist that I wanted to bring to your attention is the one and only Jerry Vanderstelt. You may recognize Jerry’s work from his The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Prints, ‘Clash of The Kings,’ ‘Fell Beast Print,’ or his most recent ‘Sauron’ Print. Not to mention Jerry has done many Star Wars pieces for ACME Archives. These art prints from Jerry are some of the best pieces in my collection, and only add to the amazing items we’ve seen from Weta and Sideshow Collectibles. Needless to say after seeing the print pictures in this article and reading the Q&A below, you need to go to Jerry Vanderstelt’s site and get your prints now!
Finally, I want to thank those that helped with some of the questions. Sending them in really aided me in getting this article finished. Click the ‘Continue’ button to read the interview.
Sideshow Collectibles has posted a teaser video of their upcoming Boromir statue. Based on the small tidbit we see in the video, it looks like this statue will recreate the scene of Boromir in Osgiliath. This is the latest piece to join the new statue line-up that already includes Gandalf, Aragorn as Strider, Gimli and Legolas. [Video]
If there was a time to stock up on your favorite LOTR related items, now is it! The WBShop.com, the official LOTR store online, is offering 20% Off from now until April 5th 2011 on most The Lord of the Rings items. That includes statues, prints, maps, drinkware, jewelry and more! The only items not on sale are the Blu-ray and DVDs, but we’re pretty sure you could find something else to collect! [WBShop.com]
Gimli may not be in The Hobbit, but we all know his father, Gloin, will be playing a big part! Continuing their series of The Lord of the Rings statues, Sideshow Collectibles has just starting taking pre-orders for both the exclusive and regular editions of Gimli, son of Gloin. The exclusive edition is limited to 500 pieces and features an additional ‘felled Orc’ base at no extra cost over the regular. The exclusive is only available for purchase through the SideshowCollectibles.com website. And from what we can tell, they still have quite a few other The Lord of the Rings items available to ship today, including the Aragorn as Strider Exclusive statue! [Pre-Order Exclusive] [Regular Edition] [LOTR Items]
Teased as a silohuette during their ’12 Days of Sideshow’ celebration, Sideshow Collectibles has now posted a ‘Production Peek’ at the upcoming Gimli Statue.