Last Friday we announced a contest in conjuction with the folks at Weta for three copies of their amazing Collector’s Guide. As I said in the article this book came out during Comic-Con this year and the books first 147 pages cover their work on The Lord of the Rings line of collectibles. The contest ended this past Thursday at midnight PST and after receiving several entries I am proud to announce the winners: Tom F. of Visalia, CA, Alex G. of Australia, and the final winner Mike S. of England. We want to thank everyone for your entries!! If you would like to check out the review you can check it out my thoughts of the Collector’s Edition and buy your own copy from Weta.
The artisans at Weta as most folks know are some of the kings when it comes to the special effects world. We know their work from films such as; District 9, King Kong, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, The Lovely Bones, The Adventures of Tintin, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and of course both of The Hobbit films. In other words some of your favorite films and mine have been worked on or touched by some truly skillful folks.
However, these fine artists are also some of the masters behind many of you Ringers favorite collectibles. That’s why I’m writing about this particular item because it shows the amazing work that the creators working at Weta have made over the last ten years. The item I will be writing a bit about is the brand new released at Comic-Con 2011 Weta: The Collectors Guide. This amazing book captures the work Weta has done over the last ten years into one of the best reference books and coffee table books I’ve had the pleasure to own. Just a couple of the reasons I love this book are the amount of pictures taken of the items ranging from The Lord of the Rings to Halo. They’re all beautifully done and show off just how great the work coming from Weta has been over the last ten years. The other being the amount of information in the book not just on the collectibles, but the people behind the scenes the artists themselves will give collectors a real insight into who made these pieces. Finally, a nice addition is quotes and pictures from collectors who own many of these pieces. It’s nice to see people who I call friends pictures or quote from people who say what I’ve felt when looking at these items. Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – Weta: The Collector’s Guide”
From WETA’s latest Newsletter: From Monday 22 August and for the next three months, we’re delighted to have a special Weta Cave at SKYCITY in Auckland. At the very root of Auckland’s impressive Skytower (when we say ‘you can’t miss it’ – we really mean it), the cave doors will open and we’re looking forward to seeing all you Aucklanders and other visitors. skycityauckland.co.nz
Alright, Ringers today is the day! The Orthanc Pre-Ruin environment has gone up for Pre-Order! Orthanc of course is the 
newest environment to join the environment line with amazing pieces like Bag End and Rivendell. The price of this Orthanc is $250 and for the first 400 orders you will get a 24k gold Sauron Eye pin as well as a numbered piece. After this the piece will be an open edition but don’t wait too long as this will be a piece you will be kicking yourself if you never add it to your collection. Don’t forget after you order to enter what you want the official name of this piece to be when it ships. The contest ends August 5th at 5pm PST! [Orthanc naming contest]
The awesome folks at Weta have a brand new The Lord of the Rings collectible for us today! Gandalf the Grey is going to be thenext item coming from Weta in a line of statues of characters from The Lord of the Rings. As many of you know the first statue done in this line by Weta was the Gollum statue which had two versions. One with the Weta Cave logo can only be bought at the Weta Cave in New Zealand and Gandalf will be the same here. However, there is a second version for those of us not able to make the trip to the Weta Cave and purchase the version with the logo on it.
Gandalf the Grey will come with a price tag of $69 US or $99 NZ and will be like Gollum an open edition size. That does not mean he will be around forever and with a piece that has such an amazing likeness to Sir Ian McKellen I implore my fellow Ringers to get this piece before its gone. Also, Gandalf the Grey will be making an appearance at Comic-Con starting next week along with yet another surprise from Middle-earth! [Order Today]
With Peter Jackson’s release of the second production video from The Hobbit on Facebook, we found ourselves with a lot of new visuals from the upcoming films. Among the highlights are Hugo Weaving as Elrond, a peek at Legolas’s costuming, Goblin-town and more! We are taking a look at each picture individually and have offered our comments and suggestions. Like you, we are purely speculating! Each pic has a number associated with it, and you can click on it for the super high res version. We’d love to hear your thoughts and opinions – just comment on this post, on Facebook and in our Forums! Reference the number when you comment, as we plan on updating this post with your thoughts as well. Oh yea, there be SPOILERS ahead!
Continue reading “Frame by Frame: Production Video Number 2”
