Statue Weta Announces Barad-Dur

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Welcome back WrathofSauron :wave...missed you man. :hi5:

Don't worry BB Santa will be coming quite soon...he might bring you that Iphone5...if you have been really good this year. :wink1:



:duff
Bill
 

you sure? have a think about it ;)

Welcome back WrathofSauron :wave...missed you man. :hi5:

Don't worry BB Santa will be coming quite soon...he might bring you that Iphone5...if you have been really good this year. :wink1:



:duff
Bill

i've never owned any of those I thingy's not even an Ipod. my phone is 4 years old.
maybe i should look at older Iphone modals :exactly:
 
Found that on the weta's site this morning. Looks like the orders are going well for barad dur after all. Wandering what is the number of the first production run? Maybe 500??


"Pre-order now! Our first production run has sold out (shipping in Dec). Any new pre-orders received from 8 Oct onwards will be shipping in late Jan"
 
I saw that. I figure is half or bear half anyways and I'm hoping for say an early December release.
 
If they sold 500 of these already at $700 each I would consider that great sales...when the Hobbit comes out add at least another 250 sold too maybe...... hey maybe even sellout the whole 1000 sometime in 2013...
 
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Dave Tremont has just posted this: The making of Barad-Dur.

https://store.blurb.com/ebooks/352357-barad-dur-fortress-of-sauron-the-making-of-a-collectible

And he says:

Magnus is also going to upload it onto the web site for people that can’t view this. Hopefully this will work properly... I have never done this before. I downloaded it to my ipad without any problem and, I believe it should download to computers as well. Unfortunately, the program to do this is a bit hockey and completely messed up the layout so I had to redo the entire book to fix a few problems. It is still a bit dodgy and I had to fix a few more things but it is readable. The version Magnus will get to will be PDF and much more viewable. Anyway, this is free and a thank you for the support and kindness you have all given to me. It is not designed to be a ‘how to make a model’ but more as a ‘how we built this particular model’ as there are many ways to sculpt and model make and people should develop their own techniques through experience and, hopefully this book inspires people, to give it a try. Every model has its own unique set of problems and techniques should be adjusted and adapted to solve them and not limit a build to a set technique. So with this, the book is a guide not an absolute.

Enjoy.
 
It would be nice if they gave this book with Barad-dur like the did with JH Eowyn-Nazgul and Smaug Faux Bronze pieces
 
I absolutely love the last page comparing the SSW Sauron with Barad-dur piece...nice book lots of photos...I like how they showed the making of the large full scale version they used for the filming...excellent book
 
The merchandising machine has really cranked up over the past few months and shows no signs of abating. Particularly in regard to expensive items (though not solely) a number of threads, both here and on the Flamers boards have expressed assorted grumblings and at varying degrees of intensity.

Time for a reality check.

Sideshow, Weta, Noble, United Cutlery, Jerry Vanderstelt, Peter Jackson....etc...etc are not Tolkien, and New Zealand, despite the best efforts of the New Zealand Tourist Board, most definitely is not Middle-earth. All of these corporate entities and individuals offer their own interpretation of the source material for their own reasons (usually financial) but that is all they are - an interpretation. Tolkien has got nothing to do with it, and much of what has transpired in the nearly four decades since his death he probably would not have approved of anyway (see 'The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien' - 1981) .

If you are looking to buy something that doesn't appeal directly to your own sense of the Tolkien world, then just don't buy it, no matter who makes it or how much it costs. For everything that one person likes or loves there will be dozens with contrary opinions, and vice versa - it is what appeals to you that matters, not other collectors. Admittedly things get muddied when fans of the films critique movie memorabilia rather than things that Tolkien actually drew/painted or described in detail himself, but even then the appeal remains largely subjective. The only truly objective opinion could only ever come from one man - and he died in 1973.

The true legacy of Tolkien, no matter which medium you are a fan of, is to learn to use your own imagination.

Sean.
 
You tell everyone time for a reality check which IMO comes across as if you're talking down to them. I cannot tell you how much I hate that. I'm no Tolkien scholar but I've spent a lot of time the last eleven years making his world a big part of my life. So I have a pretty good understanding of all these things.

I agree that what Jackson did and the items created are interpretations of the text left by Tolkien. However, a lot of what has been created matches fairly closely to his text. They also I think capture the essence of what Tolkien created. I also think that Tolkien would like what has been created. What he was talking about at that time was some of the things coming out then that IMO did not capture his works all that well. This in the end is my reality based in my time in Middle-earth these last several years. :peace:
 
You seem to have missed my point entirely Josh.

I was not offering any personal opinion regarding the merchandising of Tolkien - I own and purchase quite a lot myself, where it appeals to my own aesthetic of Middle-earth (derived mainly the original texts, some from the films). But I was saying that a lot of the recent moaning & groaning (this thread, and others) is largely a rather fruitless exercise, as interpretations of Tolkien are always going to be subjective (personal) opinions, by both the manufacturer and the customer - Tolkien himself has got nothing to do with it. We're entering an area now where people are critiquing interpretations of interpretations of interpretations (Sideshow Sauron > Jerry Vanderstelt Sauron > Peter Jackson Sauron > Tolkien Sauron) which is just silly.

Regarding what the man would think of what is going on now, we will never know. But given that he was not overly enamoured by obsessive fans of his work while he was still alive, it's not hard to imagine what his attitude might be to corporate Tolkien plc © ® ™
Personally I think he might welcome a scouring of the Shire and a rebuilding of the Old Mill.
 
Sideshow, Weta, Noble, United Cutlery, Jerry Vanderstelt, Peter Jackson....etc...etc are not Tolkien, and New Zealand, despite the best efforts of the New Zealand Tourist Board, most definitely is not Middle-earth. All of these corporate entities and individuals offer their own interpretation of the source material for their own reasons (usually financial)

So..... you're saying PJ came up with the idea of filming LOTR because he thought "Wow, i need to make loads of money," and not, "Wow, how great would it be to do a live-action film of LOTR?"

I hate this kind of negativity, this total rejection of creative talent, because it always HAS to be about money, doesn't it? Yeah, they didn't do it for the love of it.

Sure, loads of people and loads of companies have milked it like an over-large cow and got rich off it, but i certainly believe Peter Jacksons intentions were honourable, as they are now. I don't believe he's doing The Hobbit because he's running out of money.

ANYWAY what the hell is this discussion doing in a thread about a collectible of Barad-Dur??
 
Well number one I cant believe the first batch of Barad-Durs might come to us in about a month...and second it's fact that PJ did it for the love of the Story as well as love of the money ....so there
 
I really hope that the first batch sold was the first 500
 
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