Just out of curiosity (and because I don't use ebay) but what is the Argonath going for these days?

The bookends sell from $15-$30 for the pair. Right now there is a guy trying to get $470 right now. I offered him $300 but he wouldn't take it lol. I hope no one buys it from him and he takes my offer soon

Yeah, I have the bookends, but I'm kicking myself for not getting the full statue version.

I cry myself to sleep every night because I have neither...

Yeah, I feel the same way about missing the Argonath full sculpt and the small Minas Morgul that you send away for with the special code when ROTK EE was released. I really hope Weta does a bigger scale Minas Morgul one day.

[quote=""Valkrist""] I really hope Weta does a bigger scale Minas Morgul one day.[/quote]
That's looking very likely Val. Fingolfin would be the one to ask, I know there's a voting poll in the S&F for what people want to see, but I'm not into the polystone thing like others. I'm a member there as a fellow artist, unbelievable talent in that forum.

BTW, is there an e xp iration date on that offer that came with RotK? And was it exclusive to the RotK that came with Minus Tirith?

There was not so much a time limit on the Minas Morgul miniature as there was an production run limit, so you really had to be quick on the trigger. Basically, when you bought the ROTD EE DVD which came with the little Minas Tirith, you were given a code to go to Sideshow Weta's website, enter it, and be automatically eligible to receive the Minas Morgul companion miniature. When I got my DVD, I was so excited about watching it that I put the code aside and completely forgot it for all of two days. When I did remember, I rushed to my computer and sent the number in, but it was too late, they were all spoken for.

Sounds the same for everything Weta puts out, Pre-order rush on Rivendell, pre-ruin Orthanc.....
Can you imagine what the world economy would be like if all businesses were doing as well?
Who'd of thunk Tolkien would change the face of New Zealand so dramatically?

So I just found out that I won a giveaway over in the S&F!
I've never won anything so I'm really thrilled!
I'll post pics when the items arrive, in the meantime:
--SSW LOTR Arms of the Nazgul (previously displayed)
--LOTR The Argonath waterglobe with cool sparkley glitter effect (previously displayed)
--Gentle Giant Harry Potter Dementor bust (never displayed)

Is that not COOL or what?

[quote=""Thranduil""]So I just found out that I won a giveaway over in the S&F!
I've never won anything so I'm really thrilled!
I'll post pics when the items arrive, in the meantime:
--SSW LOTR Arms of the Nazgul (previously displayed)
--LOTR The Argonath waterglobe with cool sparkley glitter effect (previously displayed)
--Gentle Giant Harry Potter Dementor bust (never displayed)

Is that not COOL or what? [/quote]

That is very cool! Congratulations!

Seems like I missed some stuff in here!

The Argonath goes from anywhere to $375 to $450 these days on ebay, and they're in shorter and shorter supply lately. People are hanging on to them. Toytracker has it listed at $415 right now.

As for Minas Morgul, you're probably going to see it next year. As of now, our environment poll on S&F (which Weta takes very seriously and so far has stuck to with all their releases) has Barad-dur next, and Tim from Weta hinted at some news on new environments around Christmas. After that come Grond and Minas Morgul with Minas Tirith just behind. I'm going to put up two new polls on their in the near future however, so stay tuned. One is a full environment list and one is for "smaller" envrios, that Weta could release in between big ticket items. That's the problem with polls; there may be a lot of interest in some smaller ones, but everyone wants the big ticket items even more, so the smaller ones get overshadowed.

[quote=""Fingolfin""]... After that come Grond and Minas Morgul with Minas Tirith just behind. ....[/quote]

ooooo, Minas Tirith...we wants Minas Tirith verrrry much, yes we do, precious.

And we thanks the Master of the Weta News, good Master!

Wonder how Weta will scale MT....Orthanc is over 500ft high and MT over 700 ft.

Weta made [pre-ruin] Orthanc almost 17 inches tall. If they keep to that scale for MT it would be close to 24 inches high.

Now that would be cool!

But unfortunately not very affordable, so I'm guessing it will not be made to the same scale as Orthanc.
But I would think that they would make both MT and Minas Morgul on the same scale.

Two feets of Minas Tirith would be big indeed, precious. Me thinks they must makes it smaller.....otherwise, there's no way I'm going to be able to afford it lol!

I really like the two art prints from the Fellowship of the Ring that Weta is selling. I'd like to get them both and they aren't that e xp ensive. My favourite is 'Disturber of the Peace' by Ben Wootten.

http://www.wetanz.com/art-print-disturber-of-the-peace/

I think I may buy that one when I have some more money, would look cool up on the wall as part of a display. I wonder if they'll do art prints from the hobbit when it's released. That would be awesome! (< never used that word before)

those are nice... LotR needs some collectibles that doesn't need wall space!!! I am running out

[quote=""BladeCollector""]those are nice... LotR needs some collectibles that doesn't need wall space!!! I am running out[/quote]

Buy some polystone and put it on shelves, fool! You know you want to!


Got my Rivendell shipping notice on Monday, I'm in the first 60 in the U.S. so I'll be getting mine next week! I'm so vamped for this!

[quote=""Fingolfin""]Got my Rivendell shipping notice on Monday, I'm in the first 60 in the U.S. so I'll be getting mine next week! I'm so vamped for this! [/quote]

*thump*

That's the sound my credit card just made as it fainted and hit the floor. Wonder when I'll be getting mine.

Please post a photo or two when you get it. Always nice to see a comparison shot to the prototype they display on their site.

I had to do a quick salvage operation yesterday to ensure that I still get mine. The card I had preordered it with, I subsequently had to cancel due to fraud. Thus, I had to contact Weta to give them a new card number. You can't change it through the website, so their customer service told me I could email or fax the new one to them. They made the suggestion of breaking the card number up into several emails, so that's what I did, and further, I omitted the first four numbers and told them they would be the same as the previous card. I hope I don't end up w/another stolen card but this was so much simpler and cheaper than calling NZ! That might have been interesting to do, but I wasn't sure we'd be able to understand each other's accents, LOL.

[quote=""Valkrist""]*thump*

That's the sound my credit card just made as it fainted and hit the floor. Wonder when I'll be getting mine.
[/quote]


I think my credit card lives on the floor, haha. Especially after these last few weeks of college applications and transcript fees, etc. When I first read Fingolfin's post I didn't read Rivendell and just read now shipping, my heart leaped, I thought of my Orthanc being shipped already, and I was like, no no no not before Christmas I have presents to buy, its not supposed to ship for 5-6 months!

Lucky for you, Orthanc isn't coming out for a good long while. No need to panic there, and that one will certainly be worth the wait. I passed on it unfortunately, but maybe somewhere down the road I'll get it. I bet they'll have a sale on it next Christmas, what with it being open edition. Heck, did you see this year's Christmas sales? Absolutely nuts!

But next week is gonna be a great week, both my guitar and my Rivendell are inbound! I'll take some new pictures of my display when it gets here. Mr. and Mr. Gandalf, the Grey and the White, respectively, are gonna have to find new homes amongst my shelves to make room.

Apparently Weta did a "Christmas special" the other day, wherein they had limited quantities of some "sold out" things, like the Argonath. Missed out on that one! I'm sad but my wallet is happy.

Speaking of wallets, has everyone who ordered Rivendell had their card charged yet? I have not, and since I had to give them a different card number recently, I'm a little concerned.

They said they weren't suppose to start shipping till the Monday 28th.

[quote=""Olorin""]Apparently Weta did a "Christmas special" the other day, wherein they had limited quantities of some "sold out" things, like the Argonath. Missed out on that one! I'm sad but my wallet is happy.

Speaking of wallets, has everyone who ordered Rivendell had their card charged yet? I have not, and since I had to give them a different card number recently, I'm a little concerned.[/quote]

Rats and other unprintable words. I really want the Argonath. Again, I say "Rats."

I had a similar situation with my CC....stolen number. But it happened some time after I had ordered both Rivendell and Orthanc, such that I completely spaced on contacting Weta to give them the new number.

It wasn't until you mentioned it that it occured to me that I was in the same boat, and then I panicked that I might be too late in contacting them and that they canceled my Riv. order for lack of a valid CC number.

When I contacted them, they assured me that I was "in time" and that my order was still good. They are just now preparing to fill/ship the first of the Riv. orders that came in. They told me mine likely wouldn't ship until early January.

You can check on your order on the Weta website. Mine still showed a "Pre-ordered" status, not "Canceled". You can always contact them, of course. They responded immediately to my email about the CC number problem.

[quote=""Deimos""]I had a similar situation with my CC....stolen number. But it happened some time after I had ordered both Rivendell and Orthanc, such that I completely spaced on contacting Weta to give them the new number.

It wasn't until you mentioned it that it occured to me that I was in the same boat, and then I panicked that I might be too late in contacting them and that they canceled my Riv. order for lack of a valid CC number.[/quote]

I am glad that my post alerted you to contact them!

[quote=""Olorin""]I am glad that my post alerted you to contact them! [/quote]

You and me both!

I like the way we "Forumites" (oh, Jamanticus, Jamanticus!) watch out for one another

I haven't been charged yet, although I e xp ect to be tonight or tomorrow. I can't wait for this to get here!

I missed out on the Argonath twice now? That's bogus!

Why didn't they send out a newsletter to people that are registered customers on their website? How else were you supposed to know about this?

You didn't get the newsletters, Val? I get all of them, and got both of the Christmas Sale ones. That's very strange, maybe you have to register for the newsletter to get it. If it makes you feel any better, the remaining Argonaths were in the NZ warehouse and the shipping to Europe and North America was astronomical, or so I hear. Like around $70 I think.

After sorting out a credit card mishap(s) this evening, my Rivendell order was finally proccessed! When Weta says give us five days, that usually means two or three. I can't wait for this to get here!

Yeah, that may e xp lain it. I tend to opt out of receiving email updates/newsletters in most sites I have to register because it just turns into endless spam after a while. I don't recall opting out of one for Weta but it's entirely possible I did.

Just the same, the shipping wouldn't have bothered me much as I don't think that's much higher than what we have to pay for this regular stuff as it is. Doesn't it all come from NZ anyway? I thought it was only when they were partnered with Sideshow Collectibles that the statues shipped from California...

I thought I definitely remembered something that said that these would ship from a warehouse in California. In fact, it's right on their site:

We ship to you from one of our 3 local warehouses in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand (where stock is available)

Yeah they have three warehouses, and we get stuff from the West Coast warehouse. It doesn't cost near the amount it does to ship it from NZ.

Also, I suggest that you sign up for Weta's newsletter, Val. They don't spam you, you only get a couple every month. They usually have good stuff in them too, I always look forward to it.

Well, Weta is going to do a Barad-dur environment: http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2012/06 ... vironment/

The Danbury Mint one was so good that the only way I can imagine that Weta could outdo them would be to make it bigger.

Olorin, you erroneously posted this in Weta's Master Swordsmith thread. I have moved it here.

Wow.. ever since I got Orthanc, I have wanted the other of the two towers, but now I am scared of the price!

Yeah, I must say...this is probably the most excited I've ever been for something I know I won't be buying. This thing is going to be big, which is a common theme with Weta these days. But, we asked for it, and let's face it: Barad-dur has to be big. It must be done justice. It's the home of Sauron for pete's sake! I just hope Weta will do something smaller and more affordable next in the enviro line. Doors of Durin, anyone? Or how about the Green Dragon and the Bywater Bridge? Just food for thought.

[quote=""Fingolfin""]Yeah, I must say...this is probably the most excited I've ever been for something I know I won't be buying...... [/quote]

HAHAHA! What a great schizophrenic thought .

Well, I'm curious about it for sure.
If they get the detail right it will really be impressive.

But...IT'S EVIL! "It's the home of Sauron for pete's sake!"
And that is precisely why I won't be buying it.

I'm scared of the price too, but I don't think I will be able to pass it up. This would be the crown jewel in anyone's collection. I can just see it displayed next to my Sauron Helm, Gauntlet, and Ring. Now if only UC had released that mace...

Well, on the contrary, my crown Jewel is Rivendell, displayed next to Gil-Galad, Elrond, the High Elven Infantryman, and High Elven Warrior Helm and Sword. So I'll take that over the dark tower any day. Although, for me, I can definitely break my "no baddies" rule for certain pieces. For instance, Orthanc. Definitely getting it someday. Saruman and Grima, the busts and statues, I must have. And there are other evil enviros I could go for. But Barad-dur is just going to be too e xp ensive and take up too much space for me, especially when I have a list that reaches the Pacific Ocean of things I want more than Barad-dur. So it's probably a pass for me.

Why won't you buy evil things?

[quote=""Deimos""]HAHAHA! What a great schizophrenic thought .

Well, I'm curious about it for sure.
If they get the detail right it will really be impressive.

But...IT'S EVIL! "It's the home of Sauron for pete's sake!"
And that is precisely why I won't be buying it.[/quote]

I have to say I am the same way. I owned the Ringwraith sword for 3 days and then quickly sold it for double what I paid. I don't really have the "It's evil oh no" attitude but I never liked the very jagged edges of many fantasy like swords. And when I pick up a sword, I want to feel a hero not a villain. That is just me though, although I know some people think me weird to collect the swords I do, I can imagine what they would think if a bunch of "evil" things were hanging on the walls.

As long its going about swords from LOTR made by UC i like them both,the goodies and the evil ones.

[quote=""Aragorn""]Why won't you buy evil things?[/quote]

Welllll…“Evil” by definition is the absence of good.

So if you think about all the good things in LOTR – honor, courage, friendship, love, generosity, self-sacrifice, beauty both natural and man-made (think Rivendell) , harmony (music), happiness and hope – and then contrast all of those things you get the opposite, the absence of them --- treachery, cowardice, isolation, hate, selfishness, ugliness and destruction, cacophonic shrieking din, pain and despair.

When I look at my collection of good-guy pieces, I think and see and feel all those good and great and worthwhile traits and virtues of the elves and men and dwarves and hobbits (and Istari) who wielded those weapons . It is uplifting and even inspiring.

When I see the “evil” related stuff I think about all the bad traits and vicious actions and the enslavement and horrors that Sauron planned for all of Middle Earth should he [re]possess the Ring.

There is enough real, tangible evil in the present world, and more than enough. ….I don’t need to be reminded of it in my home too.

Savvy?

Fair enough. So it isn't superstition & religious belief?

I know of some people who do not wish to glorify the occult in their household so they do not buy any collectibles of demons/monsters etc.

[quote=""Deimos""]

Welllll…“Evil” by definition is the absence of good.

So if you think about all the good things in LOTR – honor, courage, friendship, love, generosity, self-sacrifice, beauty both natural and man-made (think Rivendell) , harmony (music), happiness and hope – and then contrast all of those things you get the opposite, the absence of them --- treachery, cowardice, isolation, hate, selfishness, ugliness and destruction, cacophonic shrieking din, pain and despair.

When I look at my collection of good-guy pieces, I think and see and feel all those good and great and worthwhile traits and virtues of the elves and men and dwarves and hobbits (and Istari) who wielded those weapons . It is uplifting and even inspiring.

When I see the “evil” related stuff I think about all the bad traits and vicious actions and the enslavement and horrors that Sauron planned for all of Middle Earth should he [re]possess the Ring.

There is enough real, tangible evil in the present world, and more than enough. ….I don’t need to be reminded of it in my home too.

Savvy? [/quote]

Religious beliefs or superstition? They would be damming Gandalf and his sorcery along with everything else.

I am with "Aragorn" here. There is enough of those negative connotations in the real world, I like my house, although filled with sharp metal objects, to be peaceful and remind me of good qualities.

Logical and fair arguments by the "good guys."

Here's my take: there is no inherent evil in these objects, therefore it does not bother me the least bit to have them in my home. A polystone representation of the dark tower or a piece of steel in the shape of the Witchking's sword are merely artistic interpretations of men and women like you and I who have given shape to something written about in a book. They are no more evil than the gun and bullet that could take someone's life. It is the hand behind that gun that commits the deed, not the tool used. It's just an object.

I'm sure arguments could be made on behalf of the One Ring, which was said to contain Sauron's very own malice. If it were the real thing, I may very well consider not having it in my home, but again, it's just a replica, and of something which does not exist. I appreciate it for the art that it is, and it pleases the collector within me to own it as part of the body of work that I love. Of course I don't approve of Sauron or what he had planned, but without him, there would be no objects like Anduril to collect. Every coin has two sides, and I like to see symmetry in my collection, to see next to the good things, the evil ones that give them reason for existence. I like the Lord of the Rings books and movies in all of their elements, and it would be silly for me to cast aside the 'evil' bits because then I would love less than a whole work.

Tim Curry as Darkness said it best in the movie Legend: "What is Light without Dark? What are you without me? I am a part of you all. You can never defeat me, we are brothers eternal."

How can the measure of a good man truly be taken without evil beside him with which to take said measure? It's when you ignore that evil and choose to conceal its existence from your eyes that you truly give it power.

Just my two cents.

Aragorn, I would encourage you to restore your response. Be sure that I find nothing wrong with your arguments, though I would like to disagree if you would give me an opportunity to do so.

However, I will respect your wishes if you want to leave your post deleted. Also, I really don't wish for this to become a theological debate on the nature of good versus evil, I was merely trying to e xp lain why I don't mind collecting replicas of things that others seem to perceive as evil, or remind them too much of evil at the very least. Honestly, I don't think these things are even in the same realm.

A statue of Sauron? A fictional character in fantasy book.

Nazi paraphernalia (example)? True and real symbol of the evil that men do.

Big difference, and I think it's important not to lose perspective here, but again, maybe that's just me.

[quote=""Valkrist""]Tim Curry as Darkness said it best in the movie Legend: "What is Light without Dark? What are you without me? I am a part of you all. You can never defeat me, we are brothers eternal." [/quote]
I understand the avoidance of making this a theological debate, but want to point out the essence of the lie in this statement.
Tim Curry's Darkness was a representation of Satans argument.

When something is pure it is not contaminated with anything, that's the very reason it's pure. Pure light cannot contain any darkness, and pure darkness cannot contain any light. When darkness has some light in it, or light has some darkness in it, neither are pure. This is the very reason God separated the light from the darkness, so that His Kingdom of Light would be pure. The word Holy means pure.

I think Deimos understands this, and I believe it's why nothing that represents the darkness (or evil) is in the collection, so it remains "pure", and represents only good.

Here it is:

A man's goodness is not measured using evil as a yardstick.

Goodness is the only scale by which all else is measured.

Darkness is dependent on the absence of light and not the other way around.

This is of course a very Christian perspective.

Where there is light, darkness will be extinguished. Where there is no light, that's when darkness comes.



[quote=""Valkrist""]Aragorn, I would encourage you to restore your response. Be sure that I find nothing wrong with your arguments, though I would like to disagree if you would give me an opportunity to do so.

However, I will respect your wishes if you want to leave your post deleted. Also, I really don't wish for this to become a theological debate on the nature of good versus evil, I was merely trying to e xp lain why I don't mind collecting replicas of things that others seem to perceive as evil, or remind them too much of evil at the very least. Honestly, I don't think these things are even in the same realm.

A statue of Sauron? A fictional character in fantasy book.

Nazi paraphernalia (example)? True and real symbol of the evil that men do.

Big difference, and I think it's important not to lose perspective here, but again, maybe that's just me. [/quote]

[quote=""Aragorn""]Here it is:

A man's goodness is not measured using evil as a yardstick.

Goodness is the only scale by which all else is measured.

Darkness is dependent on the absence of light and not the other way around.

This is of course a very Christian perspective.

Where there is light, darkness will be extinguished. Where there is no light, that's when darkness comes.[/quote]

You pretty well nailed it, Aragorn