Go back to Shop News Archives


November 01, 2005 - December 20, 2005

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

The Lord of the Rings - Evolution News - Xoanon @ 21:57 PST

 LOTR: Evolution Card Samples

The folks from TOPPS send along some more details of thier 'Lord of the Rings: Evolution' series. [Visit Topps.com]

* Similar to the Star Wars - Evolution set from 2001, this is an all-character series (a first for Lord of the Rings, as all 7 past sets have been story-based). It will be printed on silver-foil stock and will feature double-image front designs (a primary big image, and a secondary, smaller image). There will be 72 cards, which will be broken into Character, Races and Creatures subsets (plus a title/checklist card).

* There will also be rare Evolution A and Evolution B insert variants, showing some of the characters in different costumes for the secondary front image and back image. These are two different sets of insert cards. They are not a subset of the regular base cards. They are variants of those cards, but they are two different sets of chase. There are 20 Evolution As, at a ratio of 1:4, and 12 Evolution Bs, at a ratio of 1:12. They are both in the Hobby and Retail versions of the product.

* Perhaps of even greater interest to the Hobby, is that this product will include -- for the first time ever -- Lord of the Rings Sketch Cards. This will feature all new art created by 47 artists. Each card will again be a 1 of 1, unique card. The Star Wars Sketch Cards have proven tremendously popular, and we're confident Rings fans will be just as excited about these, as well. The list of artists participating in the sketch card program is attached in a Word document. These are in the Hobby only.

* Additional inserts include Stained Glass cards, featuring the Fellowship of the Ring plus Bilbo. There are 10 Stained Glass cards, at a ratio of 1:6. This is in both the Hobby and Retail versions of the product.

* The Retail product, instead of sketch cards, will have 9 new memorabilia cards. These are 9 all new relics, i.e., material we have NOT used before in any set. They are only in the Retail version of the product.

* The Relic Cards and Sketch Card ratios are still TBD at this time, however the goal we are aiming for is one per box. However, if you note that in the article, please also note that we can't guarantee those ratios at this time.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS – EVOLUTION SKETCH ARTIST LIST

Allison Sohn
Amy Pronovost
Brent Woodside
Brian Rood
Cat Staggs
Chris Eliopoulos
Christian Dalla Vecchia
Cynthia Cummens
Dan Norton
Dan Parsons
Dave Dorman
David Rabbitte
Davide Fabbri
Dennis Budd
Gabriel Hernandez
Grant Gould
Howard Shum
Jake Myler
James Hodgkins
Jan Duursema
Jeff Chandler
Jeff Zapata
Joe Corroney
John McCrea
Joseph Booth
Juan Carlos Ramos
Justin Chung
Mary Mitchell
Matt Busch
Michael Duron
Mike Lilly
Monte Moore
Otis Frampton
Paul Gutierrez
Rafael Kayanan
Randy Martinez
Ray Dillon
Renae De Liz
Rich Molinelli
Robert Teranishi
Russ Walks
Ryan Benjamin
Sarah Wilkinson
Scott Erwert
Thomas Hodges
Tom Mandrake
William O'Neill

Visit Topps.com

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring Complete Recordings Out Today! - Xoanon @ 09:23 PST
The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring Complete Recordings An epic film score receives epic treatment with The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring/Complete Recordings. Released for the first time on CD, the complete score for the first film in the Lord of the Rings trilogy contains more than 180 minutes of music on three CDs plus a DVD-Audio disc of the entire score in Surround Sound. Breathtaking and majestic, the 2001 Oscar and Grammy winning score compsted by Howard Shore also includes Enya's Oscar nominated "May It Be." For fans of any of The Lord of the Rings films, the Fellowship of the Ring/Complete Recordings is an essential experience.

Order on Amazon

Amazon.com
The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring - The Complete Recordings [BOX SET]

Amazon.ca
The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring - The Complete Recordings [BOX SET]

Amazon.uk
The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring - The Complete Recordings [BOX SET]

Amazon.de
The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring - The Complete Recordings [BOX SET]

Amazon.jp
The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring - The Complete Recordings [BOX SET]

Amazon.fr
The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring - The Complete Recordings [BOX SET]

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

DVD Tuesday: PJ's Frighteners Gets Directors Cut Redux - Xoanon @ 13:34 PST
The Frighteners (Unrated Director's Cut)

One movie lover's nightmare is another's raucous joyride, and this special effects-laden horror comedy is bound to split both camps right down the middle. (Or, as Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide puts it, "definitely not for all tastes but a wild time for those who get into it.") Michael J. Fox plays a psychic investigator who can actually see ghosts, and lives with a trio of undead spirits who scare people to promote Fox's ghost-busting business. In a town infamous for serial killings, a new series of deaths prompts Fox to induce his own out-of-body experience so he can battle death in a spirit-plagued netherworld where evil reigns supreme--or something like that. So much happens in this chaotic film that you might feel like you're watching several movies at once--a slasher pic, a supernatural thriller, and a black comedy all rolled into a nonstop showcase for grisly makeup and a dozen varieties of special effects. It's an odd but wildly inventive film from New Zealand director Peter Jackson, who earned critical acclaim for his previous film Heavenly Creatures and would later create the ingenious pseudo-documentary Forgotten Silver. [Order 'The Frighteners (Unrated Director's Cut)' on Amazon.com Today!]

Sunday, November 27, 2005

Ray Dillon Topps Sample Art - Xoanon @ 22:54 PST

Ray Dillon Art

Ray Dillon writes: I'm one of the sketch card artists for LOTR: Evolution and have some unofficial art that could be shown as teasers for the card series. If you're interested, let me know. And I have some other miscellaneous things that we might be able to use. Also, if you think it'd create some buzz, I could work up some more samples. RayDillon.com - LOTR.GoldenGoatStudios.comM - Topps.com

Monday, November 14, 2005

Cold Spring Press Presents: Seekers of Dreams - Xoanon @ 23:14 PST
Seekers of Dreams SEEKERS OF DREAMS, edited by Douglas A. Anderson. Cold Spring Press, trade paperback, $14.00, 1-59360-048-8. Original compilation. Cover by Daniel Govar. A collection of twenty stories, one play and one poem which exemplifies the diversity of fantasy, in style and in form. Authors represented include Jonathan Carroll, Lord Dunsany, Peter S. Beagle, Clark Ashton Smith, Clemence Housman, and L. Frank Baum. The Baum is a short story version of his famous novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, never before reprinted. Two of the stories will delight Tolkien fans-Andy Duncan's wicked "Senator Bilbo," which takes the real life, racist, diminutive Mississippi Senator Theodore Bilbo (1877-1947) and drops him into a town rather like Hobbiton, and Verlyn's Flieger's "Green Hill Country", published here for the first time, an exploration of oral tradition and how that might affect retellings of The Lord of the Rings.

Pre-Order 'Seekers of Dreams' on Amazon.com Today!

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Confirmed: No Toybiz 2006 Toyline - Xoanon @ 18:00 PST
I've been hearing about this for a few days from various webmasters around the action-figure world. It seems Toybiz will be ending their LOTR toy line in the new year. A reply to my email sent to the folks at toybiz confirmed the news 'At this time it appears that 2005 will be the last year for this line'. Time to hug your current toys and think happy thoughts!

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Pre-Order 'Fellowship of the Ring Complete Recording' - Xoanon @ 21:28 PST

The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring Complete Recordings

Tom writes: Just thought you'd like to know that Amazon.com has the artwork for the FOTR Complete Score online at its preoder listing, as well as a list of the tracks that will be on the CDs. The artwork looks like a continuation of the Extended Edition designs, so I imagine the CDs and DVDs will look nice together on a shelf. As far as the track list goes, two observations. 1) It looks as if (at least) some music from the Extended Edition will be on there, as one of the tracks is titled "Gilraen's Memorial". I'm sure others were too, but I was worried that only the music from the theatrical cut would be on the CDs. 2) The track list is probably not entirely accurate. Several titles seem suspicious, like "Flaming Red Hair" (???) and 2 tracks labeled "Keep It Secret" and "Keep It Safe". Also, if this indeed a complete score, I'd imagine either more tracks, or track titles that more accurately state the scenes that the music corresponds to (see the Ultimate Edition of SW: Episode 1 for an example of this). That being said, I sincerely hope the inclusion of "Gilraen's Memorial" (and hopefully all the Extended score) has not been falsely posted.

Pre-Order at Amazon
Amazon.com
Amazon.ca
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.de
Amazon.co.jp
Amazon.fr


Go back to Shop News Archives