Following in the steps of the Smaug the Golden, which is selling very well according to Weta, comes the Éowyn and the Nazgûl statue in faux bronze form.

The vital stats are mirrored here, with the same 300 piece edition size along with the $430 USD price point.

Fans of the line should be very pleased to hear there is “more to come” in the Art of John Howe line as well.

If you haven’t noticed, it’s an amazing time to be a Weta collector right now. Bonus points if you’re also a LOTR fan. With shields, ‘characters’ and environments coming down the pipeline, it’s hard not to get caught up in the excitement. Daniel Falconer is in the process of designing a Bag End environment! Nuff said! In the meantime Weta’s got a few possible existing pieces at the plate, and a major one has just become reality– The Argonath, complete in its original form. A genuine lost and found story, with pretty much no one to think it a possibility— it’s now up for pre-order at Weta’s site for $200. And a fairly low edition size of 500.

Be sure to keep up on the latest Weta happenings at Weta’s new forums at The Shadow and Flame!

Weta has hit the ground running with its newly minted miniature shield line. Now officially a reality, all three initial pieces are now up for pre-ordering at $35 a piece.

• Gil-Galad miniature shield
• Numenorean miniature shield
• Easterling miniature shield

The most interesting bit to me of this Battle of the Last Alliance diorama is the unfortunate party of Numenoreans before Sauron. I particularly appreciate the fact that they’ve crammed not two, not even three, but four soldiers (there’s a goner on the floor) into the piece which is as good as you could’ve asked for. The backturned soldier is a very smart logistics solution indeed as it allows you to see at least one face from Sauron’s front side. For top dollar price ($300), this justifies a much stronger case than the equally priced Star Wars Vader vs. Obi-Wan diorama.

Sauron himself is well done. Although there is some debate over his pose, it recalls his almost robotic nature from the film just fine. It could look very good indeed had the pose been frozen instead at the apex of his swing, but it could be splitting hairs at this point.

For even more images of the Sideshow Sauron vs. Numenoreans diorama, don’t neglect to peruse our Comic-Con 2009 Gallery!

• See more In-Depth features from Comic-Con 09

Weta was kind enough to drop this exclusive bit of post-Comic-Con news on our laps: Faux bronze versions of the John Howe Middle Earth sculptures will be coming!

Read their pre-announcement here.

The details are still as yet unclear– whether it will be a comprehensive option for every piece (currently only Smaug the Golden and Eowyn and the Nazgul have been announced), undergo any changes in scale, retain the wooden bases etc. But one can make a pretty educated assumption that this decision will put the sculptures within reach for a lot more collectors.

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Curious as to how the Weta’s new Lord of the Rings Master Swordsmith Collection looks? We take you up close and personal with the blades in our gallery. Click through to behold Strider’s Sword, Anduril, Sting, and Glamdring, as handcrafted by Peter Lyon himself.

Do also check out the utterly fascinating video of the swordsmith in action on Weta’s site.

For even more show floor images of Weta’s latest, don’t neglect to peruse our Comic-Con 2009 Gallery!

• See more In-Depth features from Comic-Con 09

SSW fans, take partial credit: We longed for those shields only briefly glimpsed so long ago and now Weta is making them happen. In what I’d peg for the most unlikely collectibles announcement to come out of this year’s Comic-Con, Miniature LOTR Shields are coming, and boy is it welcome. Presumably in 1/6 scale, and cast in metal, the shields can be removed from the display stand (!)

This looks like a homerun from any angle, well done Weta.

SDCC shocker! Weta has again obtained the LOTR license!

And they’ve got a handful of products ready to prove it. A definite ‘megaton’ announcement, in particular for the old Sideshow Weta faithful. As their press release reads, this new foray into The Lord of the Rings “covers a wide range of new product categories”. One of the first debut items is this life-size Gollum Bronze statue, based on the 1:1 display piece that we’ve seen appear at conventions in the past. We’re not sure which product category this falls into (lifesize bronze statues?), and regardless of which, it’ll undoubtedly take a life-size bite out of your wallet. Perhaps to address your distress, they’ve also announced that a faux-bronze fiberglass version will be produced. How much more affordable will it be? We’ll find out soon.

Just in time to kick off Comic-Con, comes the Battle of the Last Alliance diorama, featuring Sauron and a few hapless Numenorean soldiers. As always we’ll have pics straight from the show floor!

Forum member Darth Rage has got the first in-hand photos of United Cutlery’s Sword of Isildur replica.

Click through for his photos!

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