Gandalf Legendary Scale Bust

Some quick pics of my new pick-up before I head off to work..... might post better pics later on.

As far as I'm concerned, I really love this piece... the paintjob is fantastic.

Collectibles....

A couple of new releases I'd love to get my hands on....

Newest LOTR 12" Teaser

Although I don't collect this line at all, it's pretty exciting to see Sideshow has finally made some hobbits... and for once they've made a preview image that doesn't suck ass... poor Sam looks like he's got the whole fellowship's baggage, poor wittle hobbit

Bad Sculpted Likenesses 4 : Gandalf

Here's something a bit different, Sideshow is releasing 2 Gandalf products....

As you can see... the Gandalf the Grey bust is pretty spot on, not quite an accurate likeness, but it captures the character extremely well. It mightn't quite be Ian McKellen, but it is definately Gandalf the Grey as portrayed in both the movies and the books.

Now... then there's The Gandalf the White PF... now admittedly the movie version wasn't quite what I was expecting (especially if you've seen the promo shot where you can see his knee high boots), but Ian made you believe in the character, especially since he didn't have any props like that hat or pipe to work with. With Gandalf the Grey, you can slap the hat and pipe on any old man with a beard and you end up with the iconic image of the wizard. The White Wizard depends a lot on the subtleties.


So Sideshow came up with this as a preview..... after waiting over a year since the last LOTR PF announcement.

Not only does it not look like Ian... it doesn't even capture the character. The face is ok... what really lets it down is the beard and hair. I've got the Luke and Yoda PF... and Sideshow went to special lengths to try out a new technique for the hair.... it has loads more detail than this effort. There is no where near enough detail, its way to clumpy. And why is the beard in perfect little waves!!!

In Sideshow's defence... it really is a bad pic to use as a preview. Not only does the photo cut off his forehead, which makes his face look longer, but in attempt to get detail in his hair his skin has turned out really dark in contrast. So it's really a combination of bad lighting and cropping.

I really hope I can update this with waaaaaay better pics when its on display at comic-con.

Rohan Project Completed

Finally finished the project.... made a frame, glued the pieces on a backing board and then stressed and waxed the wooden frame. Didn't turn out too shabby if I do say so myself.

The Children of Hurin

This is an extended version of chapter XXI of The Silmarillion, a work that tells the stories of the world before Lord of the Rings. I'm looking forward to getting this soon. I wonder who will get the movie rights.... here's the trailer:

Rohan Project Part 1

I had an idea awhile ago.... partly because of that photo of all the SSW LOTR shields that were displayed, but never produced. I had always wanted to display shields separately with my collection, similar to the helms. Unfortunately, the only example of a shield was the Rohan one, the one on the Rohirrim Bust was exactly the thing I had in mind.

It was getting to a stage where I was seriously contemplating buying an extra and hacking it off
What I eventually wanted to do was display the shield and the RRG Helm in a box frame, maybe with the Rohan flag in the background.

Anyway, I wasn't keen on destroying a collectible just for my benefit... that's when I remembered my tin of latex.....

So by carefully painted on thin layers of latex, letting them dry between each and progressively getting thicker with each layer, I ended up with molds of the shield and the helm.

This is the amount of detail I managed to capture with the latex... and it didn't damage the paint of either.... I must point out at this stage I had never done this before and was just going on instinct. If I was doing it again, I'd use a water-based lubricant/release agent to ensure an easier release from the object being cast.... I did find that the deepest detail did stick a little. I wasn't after a perfect cast anyway, so I didn't care that much really

Because latex is flexible, I needed something to keep the latex in the right shape... especially the helm, otherwise it would flatten and let the plaster run out when I poured the mould.... the cheapest and easiest thing I could find was Playdoh .... and yes, it just happened to be fluro red
Anyway, I went ahead and poured them with plaster... and if I did it again, I would've spent more time with the edges of the mold and made them nice and neat, 'cause it took me ages to file back the excess plaster.

After filing them back (even I was quite suprised at the amount of detail I got), they were ready for an undercoat.

I was a bit scared of painting.... but after studying the originals... and especially the helm, they have deceptively simple paintjobs. The helm really consists of two different colours for each metallic area and then a subtle highlight on the horse hair.

So heres the finished pics....





To Be Continued...........

Box Fort War - Simpsons vs LOTR

Extremely funny piss-take of the many battles of LOTR.... love the Fell-beast!!

Bad Sculpted Likenesses 3 : Frodo

Just by looking at Elijah, you'd think Frodo wouldn't be too hard to sculpt, but.....

The SSW statue proves that wrong... the mouth, nose and eyes are all wrong... and they're the main features that make up a likeness. I know his eyes are blue, but making that blue too bright or pale just leaves the sculpt looking like he just shit his pants..... yes Frodo was scared, but that's taking it too far.


The bust is alot better.... least its pleasing to look at. Does it look like Elijah though?? I think the eyes are waaaaaaay off, and the jawline doesn't help things either..... but its better than....


... the Premium Format Sculpt, which is a huge shame, 'cause I was going to get this. The main culprit here is the mouth... Elijah has a wide mouth, this has a cutesy baby-doll mouth. Coupled with the eyes (which are better, but far too cute), reminds me of a baby doll that pukes up after you feed it. I hate how that just because its a hobbit, the sculpt can't have any defined angles in it... especially in the jaw.... do they realise the actors who played these characters were actually.... umm.. err... MALE!!!


That brings us to the new diorama, with Frodo and Gollum struggling.

Yay!!!! we finally have a likeness worth producing!!!! And the scary thing is that this is the smallest piece of them all, yet the one that actually captures Elijah the best. Yes, he's angry, but I'd rather have a sculpt with a bit of emotion than any sort of cutesy, la la la little, itty bitty hobbitsy-wobbitsy, oops-I-shit-my-pants version any day....

.....tho the PF does have an awesome costume....

Bad Sculpted Likenesses 2 :Aragorn

Another example of terrible likenesses.... introducing Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn....

Here he is as the dirty ranger....

... which looks nothing like the portrait on Sideshow's statue... the statue looks like some random guy with a beard... nothing even close to Viggo.

The bust from Sideshow has alot to be desired as well... it looks a little like Viggo, but what's with the sad, hang-dog expression. Strider never really looked sad in the entire trilogy really, it looks like he's lost a pet warg or something.

At last we have a "manly" portrait, where he doesn't look like his about to cry.... he looks like he could whoop some ass... but does it look like Viggo.... nup.

The is Aragorn going thru his "Fat Elvis" peroid.... yay, we've conquered the baddies, now I can eat shitloads and lounge around my courtyard. I've seen gay guys that look like this after too many years going out on the "scene" and have since settled down. Did Aragorn do too many 'party' drugs out in the wilderness?? And those little beady eyes make him look pretty suspect.

Back in ranger garb, this time made of plastic. You can just imagine him saying, "God, I'm sooooo depressed, will they ever get me to look anything like Viggo?"

Rumour has it that Viggo refused to have his likeness sculpted on these collectibles... still that's no excuse to offer us a random guy, Mr Depression 1981 and a fat gay guy as substitutes.

More to follow....

New Years Wishes

Gandalf says, "Now comes a year of new days... may they be blessed."

Hope you all have a happy and peaceful new year!!!!

Iraq=LOTR

Senator Rick Santorum compares Iraq to "Lord of the Rings":

As the hobbits are going up Mount Doom, the Eye of Mordor is being drawn somewhere else. (...) It's being drawn to Iraq and it's not being drawn to the U.S. You know what? I want to keep it on Iraq. I don't want the Eye to come back here to the United States.

In the LOTR, to draw the Eye away from Mordor, Gandalf and Aragorn led the army of Gondor to the Gates of Mordor to draw out Sauron's army and let Frodo sneak past them. This, they knew, was a suicidal move. As Gandalf said: "We must make ourselves the bait .... We must walk open-eyed into that trap, with courage, but small hope for ourselves." (Chapter IX, 'The Last Debate')

So the Senator is saying the US soldiers in Iraq are bait. They're there to die, just to keep terrorists' attention away from the US for a while.

New LOTR DVD Releases

For more information, click HERE

Rest In Peace Tim Hildebrandt

If you are a geek, the Brothers Hildebrandt have influenced your life. Before Alan Lee and John Howe, Tim and Greg Hildebrandt were the go-to guys for Tolkien artwork. Their fantasy work was very childlike and innocent, which fit with many of Tolkien's themes.

Tim Hildebrandt died Sunday of complications due to diabetes at the age of 67. The Bros' official site is here, if you wish to look over their art. I've found some of my favorite pieces they've done and will post them below. Tim's eye for colors and design will be missed.

Arwen

Bought the lovely Arwen to add to my Gondorian display... she complements King Elessar perfectly.

The shop girl actually dropped the statue while it was in its box, luckily there was another there if it was broken. Amazingly tho, it was whole, not a scratch on her..... got a $40 discount too :)

I have been working on my display of my collection lately and I should have display platforms for my statues and busts completed in the next week or so. I'm really proud of my displays and the pieces I have, nearly time to start slowing down. I want to hopefully put a few finishing touches on later this year in the form of banners and the like. For now tho, enjoy pics of Arwen :)

New LOTR Helms!

Finally got the two Rohan helms from Lord of the Rings that have elluded me for so long, Theoden's helm (top) and the Royal Rohan Guard helm. This completes the collection of five Rohan helms: Theoden's, Eomer's, Eowyn's, Merry's and the Royal Rohan Guard. I missed out when these were still available to order, but I found a great Aussie chick who was willing to part with hers. The detailling in these are fantastic, especially seeing tho they are only a couple of inches high, and very heavy as well.
Getting new poly always put me in the mood to take photos, here is my fave of the lot. Liked it so much I even entered it in a competition at Weta NZ's website. Wish me luck :)