# Tolkien's consumer products...what you got?



## RangerStryder (Dec 22, 2008)

(If there's a previous topic like this...my bad.)
Do you want to share us your Tolkien Collection, pls do.

I would like to hear it from you if we do have the same thing/s and what is your opinion on that. 

This is also your chance to "brag" ...ermm I mean to show us what kind of Tolkien fan you are: on books, DVDs, collector items, maps...etc etc and other Middle Earth knick-knacks you've collected along this lifetime.

Give us some stories along the way if there's any "precious" (extra special) in your hoard


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## Mike (Dec 22, 2008)

I am not one to collect commercial items derived from Tolkien's work. since I generally don't think Tolkien himself would have approved of an Aragorn posable action figure.

This, then, is my "Tolkien" collection...

Books:
The Hobbit
The History of the Hobbit (Radcliffe)
The Lord of the Rings -- 3 volumes
The Silmarillion
Unfinished Tales
A Tolkien Reader (Farmer Giles of Ham, On Fairy Stories, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil etc.)
The Children of Hurin
Bored of the Rings (Don't know if that counts?)

Films:
The Hobbit (Rankin-Bass, DVD)
The Lord of the Rings (1978--Special "Fan" Edition DVD)
The Fellowship of the Ring (VHS, bought for $1 at a garage Sale)
The Two Towers (Same as above)
The Return of the King (VHS, $4)

Games:
The Lord of the Rings: Vol 1 (Interplay)
The Lord of the Rings: Vol 2 (Interplay)
Riders of Rohan (Konami)
The Hobbit - Text Adventure (Melbourne-House)
War in Middle Earth (Melbourne House; Comes on a single floppy, can't be played without a floppy drive)
The "Tolkien" trilogy -- Fellowship of the Rings, Shadows of Mordor, Crack of Doom (Mediocre text-adventures, the first one is terrible, the second quite good, the third in-between)

And that's about it.


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## Prince of Cats (Dec 22, 2008)

My most prized Tolkien-related stuffs are the Rob Inglis narrated unabridged audiobooks of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion  

As for books, I don't own any except for a silly looking paperback of the silmarillion and two paperback sets of The Lord of the Rings. When I want to read the Hobbit I go to the same library I did as a kid and read the same tattered illustrated version


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## RangerStryder (Dec 22, 2008)

Borders here in my place is selling their complete set of Rob Inglis LotR for $100 and I do have a 40% coupon (my patience is bein rewarded) so Im planning to get that tomorrow.

I already have the Sils. and a 1981 BBC Radio LotR.


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## Prince of Cats (Dec 22, 2008)

I really do love the LOTR audiobook. Rob Inglis is a great narrator and I enjoy most of the voice acting. The music, though, often leaves a lot to be desired unfortunately


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## Barliman Butterbur (Dec 23, 2008)

RangerStryder said:


> (If there's a previous topic like this...my bad.)
> Do you want to share us your Tolkien Collection, pls do.
> 
> I would like to hear it from you if we do have the same thing/s and what is your opinion on that.
> ...



Well lessee...I have PJ's movie on DVD, and a set of bookends (one has Bilbo answering the door on one bookend, Gandalf knocking on the other side of the door on the other); various old calendars, three or four copies of LOTR (including the deluxe anniversary issue). PJ poster of the movies on the wall. CD of Tolkien reading Tolkien. VCR of PJ at the Oscars. But nothing like a Sauron nutcracker or a Gimli corkscrew or a Smaug package of condoms or anything like that...

Barley


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## Aisteru (Dec 23, 2008)

Books:
The Illustrated Encyclopedia
Atlas of Middle-Earth
The Maps of Middle-Earth
Weapons and Warfare
There and Back Again: An Actor's Tale (sean astin's autobiography about LOTR)
The Tolkien Companion
The Hobbit (Art by Rankin/Bass)
The Silmarillion
The Hobbit
The Lord of the Rings
The Return of Shadow
The Treason of Isengard
Children of Hurin
The Book of Lost Tales (1&2)
The Location Guidebook (got it in New Zealand)
Walking With Frodo
The Language's of Tolkien's Middle-Earth
Rough Guide to The Lord of the Rings
The Lays of Beleriand
The Shaping of Middle Earth

Movies:
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Extended Edition)
"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" Beyond the Movie

Stuff:
Strider's Ranger Sword with Scabbard and Knife
Elven Cloak
The Ring of Barahir

Stuff I used to Have:
The One Ring


Now there's a story behind that last one as the category would suggest. I had the extreme fortune of going to New Zealand my 8th grade year. As you can imagine, I insisted that we take a Lord of the Rings tour while we were there. We toured to a few places the first day and we were scheduled to visit more places the next. During our 15 hour break, we came across a jeweler in town who sold LOTR liscensed stuff. I convinced my parents to buy me the One Ring. I was ecstatic. 
So, the next day, we continued our journey through Middle-Earth and we eventually came to the river that was used for the River Anduin. I think you can see where this is going. I (being just a boy of 15 at the time) began throwing rocks off the cliff edge into the river. Soon though, I was called back to the jeep in order to continue our trip. As I picked up a stone, I shifted it in my hand so as to make the last throw the farthest. I cocked back my arm and threw it as hard as I could. A quick glimmer in the air was all I needed to know that my ring was gone. I looked down with horror as I saw two twin splashes in the cool river. 
My ring was gone. Any pictures after that point in the tour feature a dour Aisteru. I was heartbroken; I had only had the ring for less than 24 hours and it was gone. My only consolation was in the fact that I had lost the One Ring in the River Anduin.


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## Aisteru (Dec 23, 2008)

Ah I also have the Argonath bookends that came with the ROTK set and a cool miniature Minas Tirith. And a signed picture of Elijah Wood. And I bought my mom the Evenstar for her birthday a few years ago. And the soundtracks.


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## RangerStryder (Dec 23, 2008)

Aisteru,

Wow...that was a great story. The 1 ring leaving you at the River Anduin.

I doubt anyone can top that.

If ever my kids are big enough for travel, I would like to visit New Zealand and I will take that tour.


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## Barliman Butterbur (Dec 23, 2008)

RangerStryder said:


> Aisteru,
> 
> Wow...that was a great story. The 1 ring leaving you at the River Anduin.
> 
> ...



Take some diving equipment — you might find the ring (but beware of its effects)!

Barley


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## Aisteru (Dec 24, 2008)

I was told that an effort to find it would be made by the tour company. So far, I have heard no word. I doubt they took diving gear though.


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## Prince of Cats (Dec 24, 2008)

Aisteru said:


> I was told that an effort to find it would be made by the tour company. So far, I have heard no word. I doubt they took diving gear though.



They don't need diving gear, they just need a Smeagol


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## Aisteru (Dec 24, 2008)

Yeah really, where's Yay when you need him?


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## Lady_of_Gondor (Feb 19, 2009)

Okay Barley, I seriously laughed for almost five minutes straight after I read 'Smaug package of Condoms.' If the proud owner ever got the chance to pull out that pack, I wonder what his/her date's reaction would be! I also hope that it is just the packaging that would be smaug themed, but you never know these days!

As for my own stuff:

Books:

*Paperback copy of The Lord of the Rings in three volumes. Each volume has been taped back together from its tattered state with super-strong packing tape.
*The Lord of the Rings single volume (Ballantine Books)
*The Silmarillion (Paperback)
*Unfinished Tales (Paperback - never read it)
*The Hobbit (Paperback)
*The Hobbit (Hardcover boxed edition illustrated by J.R.R. Tolkien)
*The Children of Hùrin (paperback, illustrated by Alan Lee, HarperCollins)
*The Return of the King (paperback, illustrated by Alan Lee, HarperCollins)
*A Tolkien Treasury (a little gift book a friend gave me for my 17th birthday)
*The Gospel According to Tolkien
*Another book of essays about Tolkien that I cannot locate right now

Stuff:

*The extended edition DVDs of all three films by Peter Jackson
*I used to have The Fellowship of the Ring on VHS
*A fold-out map of Middle Earth, drawn by Christopher Tolkien. It has been MIA for a while, though.
*(Oh, the shame!) Burger King collectable light up beer mugs of Frodo, Arwen, Aragorn, and Gandalf - from the movies.
*A giant poster of Orlando Bloom as Legolas
*An old Calendar (2002, maybe) with Ted Nasmith's illustrations
*Collectable Barnes & Noble bookmarks of Frodo, Gandalf, Legolas, Merry & Pippin, and Galadriel (from the movies)
*A book of puzzles (from the movies)

Ahh, so dorky! I don't need the help of those Smaug Condoms to solidify my reputation!


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## RangerStryder (Feb 20, 2009)

These are mine.

HARDCOVER:

The Lord of the Rings Box Set - Illus. by Alan Lee, pub. 2002
The Lord of the Rings 1 edition (blue) - Illus. by Alan Lee, pub. 1991
The Silmarillion 2nd Edition - Illus. by Ted Naismith, pub. 2004
The Children of Hurin - Illus. by Alan Lee, pub. 2007
The Hobbit (60th Illustrated Anniversary Edition) - Illus. by Alan Lee, pub 1997
The Annotated Hobbit - Edited by D.A. Anderson, pub. 2002





The History of Middle earth (HoME) 

Vol.1 The Book of Lost Tales - part1 (1984)
Vol.2 The Book of Lost Tales - part2 (1984)
Vol.3 The Lays of Beleriand (1985)
Vol.4 The Shaping of MIddle Earth (1984)
Vol.10 Morgoth's Ring - The Later Silmarillion part1 (1984)
Vol.11 The War of the Jewels - The Later Silmarillion part2 (1984)
Vol.12 The Peoples of MIddle Earth - (1996)
The Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle Earth (2001)
Myth and Magic: The Art of John Howe (2001)


PAPERBACK:




HoME - The History of The Lord of the Rings 

Vol.6 The Return of the Shadow (2000)
Vol.7 The Treason of Isengard (2000)
Vol.8 The War of the Ring (2000)
Vol.9 The End of the 3rd Age (2000)
The Atlas of MIddle Earth -rev. edition - by K.W. Fonstad (2001)
Maps of Tolkien's Middle Earth by Sibley, Tolkien, J. Howe (2003)
Characters from Middle Earth (A Bestiary) by David Day (2001)
The Complete Guide to Middle Earth by R. Foster (2001)
HoME in Ballentine edition (mass produce) Vol 1,2,3 and unfinished tales (2003)
The Lord of the Rings Box Set, houghton mifflin (2005) 
The Lord of the Rings, Collins (2001)
The Origins of Tolkien's Middle Earth - for Dummies by Greg Harvey (2003)

AUDIO CDs:

The Lord of the Rings (BBC Radio Dramatization) (2008)
The Lord of the Rings (Trilogy Gift Set), Unabridged (2002)
The Silmarillion, Unabridged (1998)
The Children of Hurin, (2007)

GAMES:

BFME Trilogy
PS2 TT, RotK
PS3 LotR: Conquest

MOVIES:

LotR trilogy movie edition
LotR trilogy extended edition
LotR trilogy - the combined edition (both movie and ext. edition)
LotR animated film by Ralph Bakshi
The Hobbit by Rankin-Bass
The Return of the King by Rankin-Bass


MISC. COLLECTIBLES:

Aragorn, Gandalf, Legolas 20" by Neca
Minas Tirith, Argonath, Smeagol statues
Maps
Posters
Callendars
More action figures.
Cards
The movie soundtracks
Prima strat. guides
The making of Gollum -DVD
The movie soundtrack symphony - DVD

WISH LIST:

Lifelike swords - But I can't for I have kids at home.
Balrog by Neca - to complement my other 20" heroes.
Aragorn premium fig. statue by Sideshow - cost is $300 - this can wait.



*And I just got this today; LotR 50th anniversary edition - leather bound (2004) the finest edition. Priced at $85 but I used a 40% coupon - Borders.


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## Firawyn (Feb 20, 2009)

Hummm, let me think...

*Books: *_(yes, I'm cheap, they're all paperback)_
Lord of the Rings
The Hobbit
Book of Lost Tales 1 & 2
The Silmarillian
The Unfinished Tales
Maps of Tolkien's Middle Earth (this might be more of a "stuff")
The Complete Guide to Middle Earth: Tolkien's World A to Z
The Letters of JRR Tolkien

*Movies:
*Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Rings, Extended Edition DVD
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Extended Edition DVD
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Extended Edition DVD
The Making of Gollum/Smeagol Featurette 

*Stuff:
*The Elven Broach, from the Noble Collection
A very large collection of Lord of the Rings Trading Cards (from decipher)

*Audio:
*All three Original Movie soundtracks
LotR: Fellowship of the Ring Audio Book
LotR: The Two Towers Audio Book
LotR: The Return of the King Audio Book
The Hobbit Audio Book



I think that's it. I'm poor.


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## Lady_of_Gondor (Feb 21, 2009)

Wow, RangerStrider, that is a really impressive collection. You own more Tolkien books than most bookstores have in stock!

I still wish I could afford a nice hardcover set of LotR. Maybe for my birthday this year since it will be the ten year anniversary of my discovery of J.R.R.Tolkien (my aunt sent me The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings for my 14th birthday).


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## Úlairi (Feb 21, 2009)

*PAPERBACK*

_The Lord of the Rings _(one paperback volume, published 1976, good condition but contacted for preservation)
_The Lord of the Rings_ (one paperback volume, published 1972, terrible condition)
Both cover illustrations by Pauline Baynes

_The Hobbit _(published 1979, tolerable condition but also contacted for preservation)
_The Lord of the Rings _Box Set, including _The Hobbit_ (published 1996-7, excellent condition)
_The Silmarillion_ (published 1999, decent condition)
_Unfinished Tales_ (published 1998, poor condition - _waning_)
_The Children of Húrin _(published 2008, virtually pristine condition)
_The Book of Lost Tales, Part One_ (published 2002, hasn't been touched)
_The Letters of JRR Tolkien_ (published 2000, decent condition but beginning to get a little old)
*HARDCOVER*

_The History of Middle-earth_ (published 2002, total cost $405) - all of them published in three volumes (or parts)
_Part One _(excellent condition with the exception of an annoying stain in which the price was reduced):
_The Book of Lost Tales, Part One_ (unread)
_The Book of Lost Tales, Part Two _(unread)
_The Lays of Beleriand _(unread)
_The Shaping of Middle-earth _(unread)
_The Lost Road and other Writings _(unread)

_Part Two _(pristine condition):
_The Return of the Shadow_ (unread)
_The Treason of Isengard_ (unread)
_The War of the Ring _(unread)
_Sauron Defeated_ (unread)

_Part Three_ (brilliant condition but not quite pristine):
_Morgoth's Ring_ (read half of it)
_The War of the Jewels _(unread)
_The Peoples of Middle-earth_ (virutally unread with the exception of some of _Last Writings_)


*MUSIC*

The Original Soundtracks from all three Peter Jackson movies (CD's and mp3)
*MOVIES*

_The Fellowship of the Ring _(burnt DVD)





_The Two Towers_ (burnt DVD)
_The Return of the King _(burnt DVD)
_The Fellowship of the Ring _(VHS)
_The Two Towers_ (VHS)
_The Return of the King_ (VHS)
And a few posters that have gone missing...

*Cheers,*

*Úlairi.*


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## Hobbit-GalRosie (Feb 22, 2009)

Prince of Cats said:


> My most prized Tolkien-related stuffs are the Rob Inglis narrated unabridged audiobooks of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion



As far as I know the only audiobook of the Sil was narrated by Martin Shaw; both he and Inglis do a great job, but Shaw is better with pronouncing the names than Inglis, though there were still a few not quite right.



Úlairi said:


> *PAPERBACK*
> 
> [/LIST]*HARDCOVER*
> 
> ...







Does unread mean that you actually haven't read such a large portion of HoME or does it only refer to these particular copies that you own? I find it passing strange that a learned debater such as yourself can be unfamiliar with so much of the vital information and brilliantly written material in these books.


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## Úlairi (Feb 23, 2009)

Hobbit-GalRosie said:


> Does unread mean that you actually haven't read such a large portion of HoME or does it only refer to these particular copies that you own? I find it passing strange that a learned debater such as yourself can be unfamiliar with so much of the vital information and brilliantly written material in these books.


 
No, I haven't read them at all. I just can't bring myself to go through things such as _The Cottage of Lost Play_.

*Cheers,*

*Úlairi.*


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## Hobbit-GalRosie (Feb 23, 2009)

Úlairi said:


> No, I haven't read them at all. I just can't bring myself to go through things such as _The Cottage of Lost Play_.
> 
> *Cheers,*
> 
> *Úlairi.*



Yeah, a lot of people are right there with you. There was a thread somewhere about how some people thought it was better to read the books in something like reverse order because of how different and off-putting (not to me but I understand why people would feel that way) the earlier material is. Some found it more approachable after seeing the logical progression back from the published works we know and love, but for some I imagine not even that helps. Of course there are also others that like BoLT better than the published Sil. That's one of the wonderful things about Tolkien, there's every kind of lover of his works under the sun...

And now there I go with the babbling again, and this is fairly off-topic.

Um, to answer the original question, I own:
The Hobbit (cheap but decent condition paperback from a library book sale)
LotR in three volumes (see above)
The Silmarillion (Hardcover, with the dust jacket with Maglor throwing the Silmaril into the sea, the first of the illustrated editions, was I ever mad at myself when the new one came out for wasting the money on it, now I'll never have the good one, and Nasmith is my favorite Tolkien artist)
El Hobbit (the Spanish translation is very good as far as I can tell, but for LotR it fell flat)
Unfinished Tales (hardcover, smaller than the one I usually see)
The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays (I didn't mean to own this but I lost it when I had it from the library and I'm kinda glad I did, it's a good book and I'm still only halfway through it)
The Green Knight, Pearl, and Sir Orfeo (paperback, probably pristine condition, I grabbed it as soon as I saw it at a Borders and I've barely touched it since, though I've read the introduction at least)

I need more of the books, and I definitely need a _good_ copy of The Hobbit and LotR, preferably the annotated one and the 50th anniversary edition of LotR which I heard from some collector was the best with correcting the majority of the errors that have crept into our poor beloved masterpiece over the years (I had assumed the 1994 Houghtin Mifflin edition was the most accurate, but it seems 'tis not so).

And the movies:
FotR on VHS (MINE)
FotR EE (bought used because it was not available new by the time we had a DVD player, paid for by myself and my brother Lomin...)
TT EE (given to Lomin... at Christmas because of FotR's unavailability)
RotK EE (given to me at next year's Christmas)
I don't know how we're going to divvy these up when one of us moves out...

Oh, and I found one of those Tolkien Quest books at a library booksale once too, that's on my shelf somewhere. 'Tis pretty neat.

And we have The Battle for Middle-earth: Anthology, containing the first and second game and the Rise of the Witch-king expansion for the second game, plus a making of DVD. Good stuff all.

I also really want a complete set of HoME, but I've noticed that sometimes in the library copies there is mention of a frontispiece which is not actually present, so I need to be able to inspect the books before I buy them, and I just haven't happened on any copies for sale anywhere just yet. 'Tis very frustrating.


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## Starbrow (Mar 3, 2009)

> My only consolation was in the fact that I had lost the One Ring in the River Anduin.


Aisteru: At least you weren't shot by orcs. I feel for you though; it would be heartbreaking to lose the One Ring.

My Tolkien stuff
My family had an easy time getting me Christmas gifts for a few years when the movies were coming out.


BOOKS
The Hobbit (PB)
The Annotated Hobbit (HC)
Bilbo's Last Song (HC)
The Lord of the Rings (PB & HC)
The Silmarillion (HC)
The Children of Hurin (HC)
Unfinished Tales (PB)
BoLT 1 (PB)
BoLT 2 (PB)
Lays of Beleriand (PB)
HOME, Vol. 4 - 12 (HC)
Roverandom (HC)
Tolkien Miscellany (HC)
Tolkien Reader (PB)
Father Christmas Letters (HC)
A Walk Through the Shire (a journal)

MOVIES
Fellowship of the Rings (EE)
The Two Towers (EE)
Return of the King (EE)
6 Commentary DVD's that came with the EE packages
3 Bonus DVD's 

MUSIC
FotR soundtrack

THINGS
Pillars of Argonath bookends
Gollum statue (My students love this)
Minas Tirith miniature
Frodo light-up glass (from Burger King)
Several Christmas Ornaments
"Not all who wander are lost" t-shirt

GAMES
War of the Rings
Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit
Fellowship of the Ring (PS2)
The Two Towers (PS2)
Return of the King (PS2)
The Third Age (PS2)

The one thing I really want I saw at someone else's house. It was life-size cutout of Aragorn. I could stare at him all day. My husband might not appreciate it, though.


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## Ares B (Dec 3, 2009)

Let's see...

Books:
Lord of the Rings, single volume Finnish edition
The Silmarillion, Finnish edition
Letters of JRRT

MOVIES
Fellowship of the Rings, Extended edition
The Two Towers, Extended edition
Return of the King, Extended edition

Games:
LotR Risk, Trilogy edition (great game)
The Hobbit, Xbox
Lord of the Rings Online + Mines of Moria, the special edition with the Ring, brooch and stuff

Stuff:
Nazgûl action figure
Some Mithril miniatures from my RPG days
A couple of old Tolkien calendars hidden somewhere


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## Firawyn (Dec 3, 2009)

Ares, you're new around these parts. Welcome! Looks like you have a good collection.


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## Ares B (Dec 4, 2009)

Firawyn said:


> Ares, you're new around these parts. Welcome! Looks like you have a good collection.



Thanks! New here but not to Tolkien. I used to have quite a lot of I.C.E.'s MERP stuff, but then I sold them when moving out of college town. I've regretted it, but on the other hand better they saw some use instead of gathering dust in my shelf. 

And at least I don't get flak for referring to them in the heated disputes in here, once I get in some... 

My 4-year-old son loves the Xbox Hobbit game. Inspired by it, he often plays Bilbo Baggins outside with a rucksack and a stick. I'm so proud.


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## Firawyn (Dec 4, 2009)

LOL that's awesome. Train them right, eh?

I myself got into the LotR TCG, build a huge collection, worth thousands at this point. I thought of getting rid of it when I moved from Pennsylvania to Arizona a year and a half ago, but decided to wait at least until the Hobbit movie comes out and the game get popular again. I'd get a much better price then.  On the other hand, I might just keep them, in another decade or so they'd really be worth a lot. I don't know. lol Knowing me I'll probably keep them forever...

SO, how long have you been a Tolkien fan, and pray tell how did you find out little niche? 


Fir-


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## Ares B (Dec 5, 2009)

Firawyn said:


> LOL that's awesome. Train them right, eh?



Certainly trying my best! We'll get the LotR books finished this weekend with my daughter (7), we're scourging the Shire now. We'll watch the movies when she can fluently read subtitles. 



> SO, how long have you been a Tolkien fan, and pray tell how did you find out little niche?



Oh, this takes me back... Guess I was in about ten when I got a Finnish youth novel for Christmas. In it, a group of kids are inspired by LotR and build a treehouse, while encountering a number of social problems in their neighborhood. Soon I was looking for this Tolkien person in my local library.

I don't remember much of my first reading, except the multitude of names was very confusing and the run through Rohan felt awfully long. But I kept re-reading it over the years, and every time there was something new to find and appreciate.

When I went to University, I joined a RPG group that played in Middle-Earth. The GM was a genuine fan with a keen eye to detail, and a great guy (though ruthless as a GM). He really could bring Middle-Earth into a living environment. My characters had rather short lifespans, but that didn't stop me from loving the world.

I found this niche simply by googling for a Tolkien forum, since I was looking for one.


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## Ares B (Jan 1, 2010)

I got us the Mines of Moria miniatures game for Christmas, fun game. My daughter loves it. Looks like she's going to turn into a commander of a wood elf army, once we're through the Moria goblins... 

How generous was Santa with Tolkien products to you?


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## Firawyn (Jan 1, 2010)

Only in the fact that Santa allowed me to move to a new apartment that includes internet so I now have total 24/7 free access to TTF.  That makes me really happy.


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