The awesome folks at Asmus Toys sent us the very cool Gollum and Smeagol Luxury Edition 2-figure set to check out.
This set gives you multiple arms, legs, hands, and goodies so that you can create the way you want your two figures to look when displaying them. That to me is just the cherry on top of things when it comes to this set because the Gollum and Smeagol figures are so well done. You can get this set from Asmus Toys directly or from our Friends at Sideshow Collectibles.
Our friends at DST have been very busy themselves with new items and new lines of items for Middle-earth fans.
The first two items we saw on display last year during Comic-Con, and they’re part of the Deluxe Action Figure Set line. These superb-looking figures of Boromir and Lurtz are now available to purchase individually at $24.99 or as a set at $49.98. As I’ve said before if you loved your Toy Biz line these are great additions to that scale. I am very much looking forward to adding these to my collection.
DST are also adding a larger-scale Diorama line of statue collectibles. The first in this line is Aragorn as we see him at Helm’s Deep. Aragorn with sword will be roughly 12 inches tall and will be available with a price tag of $59. You can expect to see him towards the end of 2023.
Our friends at Weta Workshop have been very busy since the start of 2023 with several new collectible items, both big and small, coming up for release. Today we’re going to talk about the collectibles coming from the 1:6th line of statues in both the limited and classic series line.
As you are aware the Last Alliance sequence has been getting some love with the amazing Sauron and Elendil collectible that is available for fans to purchase. Now we can add the fantastic-looking Gil-Galad collectible to the list of must have LOTR collectibles.
Weta has announced that Collectors can place their pre-order for Gil-Galad right now till July 5th at 2 pm PDT. This collectible of Gil-Galad, like many other items from Weta, will be a timed pre-order. You can pre-order this awesome-looking Elf for $699 with an estimated shipping date of quarter one of 2024.
If you’re a fan of the classic series of statues then you have two great options to place a pre-order for. As long time collectors would be aware, the classic series are 1:6 statues, but they’re open editions, so these will be available for a little longer so fans can make sure they have their funds ready.
The two new additions both come from the Amon-Hen sequence of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. The first is a beautiful Frodo Baggins statue, where he is standing, hand open with the The One Ring lying on it, before he gets in the boat to leave The Fellowship. You can snag Frodo right now for $349 with an expected release date of 2024.
The other classic series collectible also from the same sequence in the film is Lurtz in that menacing walk we see him doing. Lurtz is a little more expensive than Frodo at $399 and has a release date of the end of this year.
Earlier this year we sat down with Leonard Ellis of Weta Workshop to talk about the process of creating Middle-earth collectibles. Leonard was very generous with his time and shared with us what it’s like to take something we saw on screen and then turn it into something, that we, as collectors, would love to purchase. We mainly focus on the process of dealing with different environments and items that are already available for purchase.
We hope you enjoy hearing all the wonderful information that Leonard shares with us during this episode.
Please note that there are occasional audio issues and we apologise for these.
In 2024, Worldcon – the World Science Fiction Convention – will be taking place in Glasgow (August 8-12). In anticipation of this exciting event, the Glasgow organisers have scheduled various online events for this summer – and we here at TORn are delighted to be joining them for an online panel!
Staffers Tookish, Madeye Gamgee and greendragon will be joined by our good friend KnewBettaDoBetta, as well as staffers from Glasgow 2024, to discuss the perennial appeal of the Professor’s works. Just what is it about Middle-earth which keeps us coming back, again and again? What is it about Tolkien’s work which inspires so many ‘subcreations’ from such a wide variety of artists, performers and readers?
Sign up at Eventbrite – free!
The panel will begin at 7pm (BST – that’s UK time!) on Thursday 8th June, and will run for an hour and a half. There will be time for questions; if you’d like to be able to ask a question, you’ll need to join the Webinar audience; you can sign up for free Eventbrite tickets here.
Back in 2022 we told you about composer and sound engineer Jordan Rannells’ amazing project – to create ‘an immersive audio soundscape‘ of music and ambient sounds, to be listened to whilst reading The Lord of the Rings.
For Tolkien Reading Day (March 25th) this year, Rannells teamed with the folks from ArdaCraft to create a live stream event, where parts of The Fellowship of the Ring were read over the corresponding chapters of Rannell’s A Long-Expected Soundscape.
The Towers Collection
Now, The Towers Collection (for The Two Towers) is available – and we have some promo codes for TORn’s followers! Read on below to find out more…
The Long-expected Soundscape is designed to be listened to whilst reading Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (and is timed specifically to sync up with the Andy Serkis audiobook recording). It is created with Dolby Atmos for full 3D immersion in headphones, and includes an original score, ambient nature and environment sounds, and designed and recorded sound effects. The soundtrack is downloadable at https://jordanrannells.com/ – and can also be accessed very easily through all usual podcast apps.
Ways to listen
Rannells suggests various ways to enjoy his creation:
1. Simply experience the atmosphere alone, without the books
2. While reading Tolkien’s works (yes you might read a bit faster, but all you have to do is wait and enjoy the music and sound effects for a bit until you hear the next significant sound or cue, and then keep reading)
3. Synced up (perfectly!) with Andy Serkis’ audiobook so you can enjoy them together (step by step process on how to do that on Discord)
4. Just as background for DnD, Lotro and so on…
Exclusive promo codes
If you’d like to get your hands on this wonderful soundscape, you can use the code TORN25 (for a discount on the whole collection), or TORN10 (for a discount on an individual book). These promo codes are good only until June 10th, so don’t delay!
Once you’ve experienced this beautiful aural world, you’re definitely going to want more! So you’ll be glad to know that Rannells has plans for The Hobbit and The Silmarillion soundscapes! He’ll be launching a Kickstarter for these, this coming December; if you’re interested in getting involved, and perhaps even having a small voice or performance role on one of those projects, join the Long-expected Discord. Happy listening!
The awesome folks at Asmus Toys sent us the very cool Gollum and Smeagol Luxury Edition 2-figure set to check out.
