And the sequel: I got a robocall from Visa that they declined the order, but I was able to override that, and Darren has confirmed that the order has now been processed.

Close call, Olorin! I want to see those pictures when they get here, you two.

Just got my email notice from Weta that my order was processed. Should show up in a week or so.

No problems with my credit card since I called them (twice!) to make sure the charge wouldn't be declined.

oooooooo... Rivendelll environment and MC Sting both showing up within days of each other!

Don't know if I can stand the suspense!

But the flip side is that I should have a requiem sung for my credit card

I'd like to see pics from all of you.
Specifically the area in question pointed out by N2D.

Mine is about to ship. E xp ected arrival, Jan 19. The countdown begins!

[quote=""Olorin""]Mine is about to ship. E xp ected arrival, Jan 19. The countdown begins![/quote]

One day ahead of you....mine has a "scheduled delivery date" of 18 Jan.

(Probably due to the fact that I am so much closer to the west coast warehouse.)

Dang it! I'm just up the coast too, but still no shipping notice. Must be all those fearsome polar bears we have guarding our border that are causing the delay.

I'm looking forward to seeing yours! Mine is one of the non-limited ones so I feel like I'm still going to be waiting for months...

The Last Homely House aka Imladris aka Rivendell arrived!

It's still bolted to the lower piece of board/styrofoam molding because I don't have anywhere to show it off at the moment and I don't want to handle it too much.

Sorry, no pics. My camera is ancient and doesn't do close -ups well.
Arwyniel's pics more than do justice to it.
I will post an overall "medium " close up of it maybe tomorrow.

The first thing I looked for was to see if it had the [N2Darkness] "base of the building" gap.
I couldn't see anything obvious so I went back to look at the photos N2 posted (to know exactly where to look) .

But the photos are gone/removed!?!?.

So before I go any further....N2, where are the photos you posted of Rivendell????

On examination of the rest of it, no [obvious] problems.

But I too am not happy the way the stream ends prior to the bridge.
It would have taken only a slightly bit more resin to complete it.
I wonder who makes those decisions at Weta? What an artistic doofus.

But for all that, it is a LOTR environment worth having, and so far, no [$400+] 'Buyer's remorse".

*Edit*: Serial# 255/300

*Edit #2*: forgot to mention ..the poster IS cheesey. I'll keep it only because it's part of a "numbered/serialized collectible". (But not in the basement...don't have a basement.)

I also received mine today, a day earlier than e xp ected. And I have to say, it is beyond spectacular (though smaller than I e xp ected...everyone's photos made it look bigger). Like Deimos, I see no trace of the gapping problem, but due to the smallness and the lack of N2's photos, I'm not sure I'm looking in exactly the right place. But hey, if it's obvious to me, I'm not going searching for it with a magnifying glass. The only issue, and I can choose to ignore it, is that the stream ends too soon, as everyone has mentioned. I have no idea why they chose to do that.

FWIW, and in case anyone is interested, mine was 299 out of 300. Oh and the art print? It will go right back in the carton and be stored in my basement. Not much of a bonus for ordering early....

I'm so glad that more people are receiving their Rivendells and they are happy with them!
Yeah, the stream/water abrupt ending is SO annoying.

Still no shipping notice for me.

They were quick enough to process my Visa, but I guess since I am in Canada and therefore considered to be a second-class citizen by some, I don't seem to be getting mine anytime soon. Whatever.

Glad to hear you guys are not noticing any major defects. That's encouraging, though that makes me feel even worse for N2 in the exchange.

I too am not happy the stream ends where it does in the photos I saw, but I may have an answer as to why this was done, though this requires looking at photos from Rivendell in the movie: I think the plane of the stream at the point in which it goes under the bridge is actually lower than the base on the sculpture, therefore if they were to have sculpted/painted the stream all the way past the bridge pillars, it would have been innaccurate with regards to relative height as it was depicted in the movie. So, to have the stream go all the way on the sculpture, they would have had to raise the height of the rock hill on which Rivendell sits. Makes sense?

[quote=""Valkrist""]Still no shipping notice for me. [/quote]

Don't worry too much about that. I didn't get a notice when mine shipped either. IIRC, it shipped the day after it posted on the credit card. When it wasn't here the day I was e xp ecting it, I emailed Weta for a tracking number and they sent it the next day. When I tracked it, it was out for delivery that day.

I guess that does make sense about the water...if they are trying to be completely true to things. I would not have minded the departure though.

[quote=""Valkrist""]Still no shipping notice for me.

They were quick enough to process my Visa, but I guess since I am in Canada and therefore considered to be a second-class citizen by some, I don't seem to be getting mine anytime soon. Whatever.[/quote]

Not starting to have a little bit of a persecution complex about that, are we?

[quote=""Valkrist""]I too am not happy the stream ends where it does in the photos I saw, but I may have an answer as to why this was done, though this requires looking at photos from Rivendell in the movie: I think the plane of the stream at the point in which it goes under the bridge is actually lower than the base on the sculpture, therefore if they were to have sculpted/painted the stream all the way past the bridge pillars, it would have been innaccurate with regards to relative height as it was depicted in the movie. So, to have the stream go all the way on the sculpture, they would have had to raise the height of the rock hill on which Rivendell sits. Makes sense? [/quote]

That is an excellent observation and given Weta's attention to detail, I'd say you are exactly right. I think there is one thing they could have done to have remedied this situation other than by increasing the height of the miniature and that would have been to decrease the thickness of the base under the stream channel. In other words, let the stream level drop below the plane defined by the top of the base elsewhere on the environment.

Still, knowing why it disappears as it does makes it more bearable.

Congrats to those who are going to received it.
I hope it will come soon for you Val.

Oh, you all make me laugh! (and it is kindly meant)

Need I remind you that Weta made a major departure when they rotated part of the house 90 degrees?
And THAT modification is very noticeable when compared to what is in the movie.

Why couldn't they have made a very minor mod to the stream?

The rotational modification makes sense from a size, and therefore, affordibility (read: marketing) consideration, and so I can accept it.

The stream situation is just aethestically annoying, and it didn't have to be.
I can't see any good reason for not having made it to flow under the bridge.

Sorry guys, I deleted the photo's from my Photobucket page as I was sick of looking at them. The whole Rivendell issue really left a bad taste in my mouth and I just want to move on to better things.

Don't worry too much about not getting a notice, "Second class citizen". I never got one! It just showed up one day.

Yes, and now this second-class citizen must bite his tongue!

I just arrived home from work to find a UPS delivery notice stuck to my door. Since I am not e xp ecting anything else, this has to be Rivendell, although I thought I was to get a shipping notice, but never did (and it seems this is common.)

On the annoying side, there is a COD brokerage charge of $89.95 payable to the sender (WETA?) and not UPS. I'm guessing it's because it had to cross the border, but it's highly disconcerting to be stuck with another fee after having paid for shipping and whatnot already.

[quote=""Deimos""]Oh, you all make me laugh! (and it is kindly meant)

Need I remind you that Weta made a major departure when they rotated part of the house 90 degrees? And THAT modification is very noticeable when compared to what is in the movie.[/quote]

I'm a bit too lazy to do enough screen to model comparisons to know what you're talking about, but can you describe it? Is there any plan diagram or anything online that shows what the layout of the complex was in the movie? I've been trying to find Aragorn and Arwen's bridge from the first movie and can only figure that it is not on there because it is too far upstream from the buildings.

[quote=""Olorin""]I'm a bit too lazy to do enough screen to model comparisons to know what you're talking about, but can you describe it? Is there any plan diagram or anything online that shows what the layout of the complex was in the movie? I've been trying to find Aragorn and Arwen's bridge from the first movie and can only figure that it is not on there because it is too far upstream from the buildings.[/quote]

Early on in this thread someone posted a link to an article about the making of the prototype for this environment. It actually showed an oversize model (it looked to be about 3 or 4 feet long) of Rivendell.
I don't know if it was one of the original "bigatures" used in the filming.

Anyway, the main building was pretty much aligned along one axis. And someone in the article mentioned how either one or both "ends" would have to be swung around 90 degrees (making it roughly U-shaped) so it could be made a manageable-sized enviro.

[You are not the only one who is lazy...I'm not inclined to go back and look at the thread. But I did go back to it last week and read that entry and looked at the picture of the original model].

Wow, an extra $90, Val? That bites. Is it an import fee?

[quote=""Fingolfin""]Wow, an extra $90, Val? That bites. Is it an import fee?[/quote]

Yeah, it's the stupid duties and taxes one has to pay for goods coming over the border. Everyone wants a piece of the pie, and the little guy is always the one that gets screwed in the end. With the fee, the shipping, and the item cost itself, Rivendell will be costing me over $550 CDN, which is about $545 US. It had better be worth it and free of defects.

Wheeeeeew. That's a heafty price. Everyone pray to the collectible gods that Vals environment comes through unscratched.

[quote=""Valkrist""]...With the fee, the shipping, and the item cost itself, Rivendell will be costing me over $550 CDN, which is about $545 US. It had better be worth it and free of defects. [/quote]

Wow. You are one dedicated collector, Val.

I can pretty well say that if the Riv enviro would have run me $545 I would have passed on it.

Please don't make me second-guess my purchase.

To be honest, I'd forgotten how e xp ensive it gets as the import fees scale up absurdly with the price of the item coming in. I think it's even worse when, even though the item is shipping from the US, it originates overseas. I order stuff frequently from the States and it's never this bad because it's not a $400 item, and a lot of times there are no fees. It almost seems kind of arbitrary what they apply them to and what they don't. Now that I recall the days of ordering from Sideshow/Weta Collectibles a few years ago, this is all seeming familiar in a bad way.

Luckily there's only Orthanc on the distant horizon now, and that's much cheaper than Rivendell.

Woot! It's finally here and I just finished unboxing it.

First, second, and third impressions are that this thing is absolutely gorgeous. The paint and the detail are awesome, and it really comes alive under proper lighting. Unlike how Olorin felt, it is every bit as big as I was e xp ecting it to be, and I'm glad it's not bigger because displaying it could have become an issue. I feel it's just right, and will make for a very impressive display once I set it up in my new home a few months down the road.

I've looked hard for any problems, specifically at the one building with the tall tower, which seems to be the main culprit for complaints. Here's what I found: there is indeed a visible seam where the building joins the base, but unlike the photos that N2 posted (sorry for the reminder, my friend ) there is no gap and joins up perfectly along its length to the left side of the archway. On the right side and under the two little gatehouse towers, there is the tiniest little bit of separation from the base, but it is not very noticeable at all and one really has to be looking for it to see it. Lastly, where that wing of the building joins the other part that faces forward on the sculpture, the mating of the two pieces is just short of perfect, leaving a tiny seam that would allow light to shine through if you placed one behind the sculpture. Again, you really have to look for it, and by comparison to the photos previously posted, this one is nowhere near that bad. In fact, I would say it is just about perfect.

As for the river paint issue, yeah... it seems even more silly in person and a missed opportunity to make this thing even more spectacular, but I just think of my e xp lanation about the river being lower at that point and let it go at that.

Unlike what I was beginning to feel last night, especially given the uncertainty of whether or not there might be defects, I am now happy and feel that it was worth every penny spent, import duties, taxes, and all. I have #237, and yes, the poster is indeed cheesy and will remain in its sleeve somewhere.

Looking forward to Orthanc, and seeing how beautiful Rivendell is, it really makes me wish they would redo Helm's Deep. Putting the two side by side, I see a very poor cousin waiting for a handout.

YaY!!!

[quote=""Valkrist""]....
I've looked hard for any problems, specifically at the one building with the tall tower, which seems to be the main culprit for complaints. Here's what I found: there is indeed a visible seam where the building joins the base, but unlike the photos that N2 posted (sorry for the reminder, my friend ) there is no gap and joins up perfectly along its length to the left side of the archway. On the right side and under the two little gatehouse towers, there is the tiniest little bit of separation from the base, but it is not very noticeable at all and one really has to be looking for it to see it. Lastly, where that wing of the building joins the other part that faces forward on the sculpture, the mating of the two pieces is just short of perfect, leaving a tiny seam that would allow light to shine through if you placed one behind the sculpture. Again, you really have to look for it, and by comparison to the photos previously posted, this one is nowhere near that bad. In fact, I would say it is just about perfect.
[/quote]

Congrats Val on getting your Rivendell.

And my post about the price you paid....all I meant was that I have a limit (admittedly arbitrary) of what I will spend on something.
And [arbitrarily] I decided I wouldn't spend more than $450 on Rivendell, and that would include taxes ,shipping etc.

Thanks very much for re-capping ...uhh...ummm.. a certain person's description of the flaws.
Glad for you that yours are minimal and barely noticeable.

But now I know specifically where to look , and I'm a little apprehensive.

(I'm typing this at work so I have to wait until I get home to check it out.)

To be honest, Deimos, if you had to read my description to tell yourself where to look, that in turn tells me that if there is an issue with yours in the same area, it is clearly negligible also because you obviously didn't spot anything amiss the first few times you've looked at the whole thing.

[quote=""Deimos""]Early on in this thread someone posted a link to an article about the making of the prototype for this environment. It actually showed an oversize model (it looked to be about 3 or 4 feet long) of Rivendell.
I don't know if it was one of the original "bigatures" used in the filming.

Anyway, the main building was pretty much aligned along one axis. And someone in the article mentioned how either one or both "ends" would have to be swung around 90 degrees (making it roughly U-shaped) so it could be made a manageable-sized enviro.[/quote]

I went back and looked at some of their posts about designing it. They said they discovered that Rivendell did not have a consistent layout in the movies. The model pieces were arranged somewhat different from one time to the next. They joked that since it is of Elven origin, it shouldn't be considered une xp ected or inappropriate for it to be that way (makes me think of the moving staircases in Harry Potter). What they opted to do was try to make it look as much like the long, establishing shots as they could.

If you look at this: http://wetanz.com/assets/Uploads/overviewlrg.jpg,
I think you will agree that our new Precious looks exactly like it. Thus, I think no one should fret if they spot a view in the movie that the miniature does not perfectly recreate.

However, I would still like to know where some of the pivotal scenes took place. I'd like think, based on the large porch with columned entry into the building, that the Council took place on the "front porch" of the separate house on the right side of the miniature. That's the only exterior, balcony-like space that seems plausible. Unfortunately, when Sam enters that scene, he seems to come from behind shrubs from just off the porch, and as we see on the miniature, just off the porch is a sheer drop-off. So I don't know.

Well, I just googled up some pictures and insofar as we can trust anything, I think the Council was definitely on a porch of the separate house, but on the back side of it. I base this on this picture: http://www.google.com/imgres?q=council+ ... ,r:11,s:66

Compare the nearby tower to the left and the other tower in the background to the model, and I think you'll see that it lines up right. Also, there is a tree in the middle of the carved out area (with green foliage), both in the model and the image. Unfortunately, on the model, there's really no porch or patio around the base of that tree, just rock.

Anyway, I have a hard time tearing my eyes off the miniature...it's that great. One of these days when I'm living in a cardboard box because I couldn't manage my money, maybe I won't think so, but in the mean time, I'm glad I got it.

I didn't buy one of these so I kind of feel out of place commenting, but here goes;

I've seen enough photos from here and the S&F to see that N2D got the worst with this gap issue.
What bothers me the most is the attitude of Weta with their, "Discrepancies from one to the next". I say this because there are other collectibles out there where this attitude is not tolerated.
Hummel, Precious Moments, and specifically LLadro, absolutely do not tolerate "Variations" from one to the next, to the degree I've seen with this Rivendell environment (and it's resin). It's a, "piss poor for the price", example of a collectible.

I say this with all due respect to those who bought one, and I do indeed think it's awesome, but when it comes to limited editions of such a collectible, you can put a LLadro next to another, and another, and another and variations just don't exist to the same extent as these.

I really feel for N2. I think he understands where I'm coming from here.
In closing, NONE of them look like what was marketed from what I can tell.

I don't think it's fair to compare it to Lladro...don't those things cost like a thousand dollars? Hummel I'm not familiar with except by name, but I am familiar with those wretched Precious Moments abominations, and I kid you not, whenever I walk past any in a store, I look the other way and often make a nasty sound (much like Dracula when he sees a cross). So you won't garner any points by mentioning them in this thread, kiddo! I also doubt any of the brands you mentioned have anywhere near the complexity of the Rivendell miniature.

Don't get me wrong. I don't blame N2 or anyone else for being disheartened by Weta's response. I also think they could have addressed this a little better. At the same time, though, I think most people will be satisfied with this product, even if it does have a few slight imperfections. I think N2 was just unfortunate and got the worst of the batch.

Getting back to Precious Moments.... The best thing I ever saw in the dealers' room of a Star Trek convention, back in the early 90s when I was going to a lot of them, was a Precious Moments knockoff. The dopey little Precious Moments guy was having an Alien chest-burster...and the chest-burster had the same dopey little grin. It was brilliant!

Olorin, myyy Precioussss, surely you meant to refer to those abominations as "Wretched Moments" ?

[quote=""Valkrist""]To be honest, Deimos, if you had to read my description to tell yourself where to look, that in turn tells me that if there is an issue with yours in the same area, it is clearly negligible also because you obviously didn't spot anything amiss the first few times you've looked at the whole thing. [/quote]

Pretty much, except that I didn't examine the towers and nothing very well from the back.

BUT (am home now) ....I am glad to report that, as your correctly surmised, mine has VERY minimal gaps. The only one I can say is obvious is the roof joint gap. But it's only noticeable because I knew to look right at it.

And I think Thrandy hit the nail on the head (not surprising for a Master cabinet maker ) about the need for consistent quality in collectibles.

It would be interesting to see some of the LOTR enviros by Danbury Mint put side by side to see how consistent they are in their manufactuing.

Indeed! Consistency in quality was may entire point Deimos.

And Olorin I agree about Precious moments making you cringe, they're actually a cheesy knock off of Lladro's work. It's true that Lladro's can sell for thousands, but they offer smaller versions that sell in the same price range as this Rivendell. It's not just their name that makes them valuable collectibles, but the quality of consistency.

Where complexity is concerned, some Lladro's are more complex than this environment by far, and because they are ceramic, they make a resin piece like this that much easier to manufacture.

I just think that for $400 quality control of consistency should have been far more important for these first 300.

[quote=""Deimos""]Olorin, myyy Precioussss, surely you meant to refer to those abominations as "Wretched Moments" ? [/quote]

Hah, I'd never thought of that one! Good one!

[quote=""Thranduil""]And Olorin I agree about Precious moments making you cringe, they're actually a cheesy knock off of Lladro's work. It's true that Lladro's can sell for thousands, but they offer smaller versions that sell in the same price range as this Rivendell. It's not just their name that makes them valuable collectibles, but the quality of consistency.

Where complexity is concerned, some Lladro's are more complex than this environment by far, and because they are ceramic, they make a resin piece like this that much easier to manufacture.

I just think that for $400 quality control of consistency should have been far more important for these first 300.[/quote]

I will bow to your superior knowledge of non-LOTR collectibles. I am just very glad to be happy with mine. I want to hug it but I'm afraid I'd break it.

Today, I received my Rivendell environment. I was impressed with the level of detail. Like others, I tried figuring out where they could've done the council scene. I wish they had put some small chairs at the platform where the scene was. Plus, they did a phenomenal job packing it so it wouldn't be damaged during shipping. Lastly, I was delighted to get one of the first 300. Mine is number 284. A very nice piece to add to my Lord of the Rings collection.

Congrats to all of you who bought and received the Rivendell Environment.
Pictures are more than welcome.
Enjoy it.

Glad to hear that everyone got a good copy of Rivendell! I'm definitely happy with mine.

[quote=""Olorin""]I went back and looked at some of their posts about designing it. They said they discovered that Rivendell did not have a consistent layout in the movies. The model pieces were arranged somewhat different from one time to the next. They joked that since it is of Elven origin, it shouldn't be considered une xp ected or inappropriate for it to be that way (makes me think of the moving staircases in Harry Potter). What they opted to do was try to make it look as much like the long, establishing shots as they could.

If you look at this: http://wetanz.com/assets/Uploads/overviewlrg.jpg,
I think you will agree that our new Precious looks exactly like it. Thus, I think no one should fret if they spot a view in the movie that the miniature does not perfectly recreate.

However, I would still like to know where some of the pivotal scenes took place. I'd like think, based on the large porch with columned entry into the building, that the Council took place on the "front porch" of the separate house on the right side of the miniature. That's the only exterior, balcony-like space that seems plausible. Unfortunately, when Sam enters that scene, he seems to come from behind shrubs from just off the porch, and as we see on the miniature, just off the porch is a sheer drop-off. So I don't know.

Well, I just googled up some pictures and insofar as we can trust anything, I think the Council was definitely on a porch of the separate house, but on the back side of it. I base this on this picture: http://www.google.com/imgres?q=council+ ... ,r:11,s:66

Compare the nearby tower to the left and the other tower in the background to the model, and I think you'll see that it lines up right. Also, there is a tree in the middle of the carved out area (with green foliage), both in the model and the image. Unfortunately, on the model, there's really no porch or patio around the base of that tree, just rock.

Anyway, I have a hard time tearing my eyes off the miniature...it's that great. One of these days when I'm living in a cardboard box because I couldn't manage my money, maybe I won't think so, but in the mean time, I'm glad I got it.[/quote]

Thank you for posting that link up!!! Some day I want to have a picture of Rivendell done up like a painting and have it framed. I've spent some time combing the web trying to find what I wanted... this shot evaded me!