The Latest Comic Con Updates

We will update this page daily (well, almost daily) with announcements / updates about the upcoming show at San Diego Comic Con on 21-25 July

27 July

Wow ! What a great convention it was. Thank you so much to everyone who visited the Weta booth and came to chat with us. It was wonderful to see you all and share in our love for creativity. Huge thanks to all those many people who helped us run the booth over the weekend, and helped with the pack-up on Sunday night (we broke our record by finishing an hour and a half earlier at 10pm !)

It was great to see all the "Flamers" from the Shadow and Flame forum.

And special mention to Deej, Quickbeam and MrCere from TheOneRing.net for their kind support.  

25 July

More photos uploaded! 

23 July

The District 9 Exosuit opens for pre-orders ! Plus, if you are in San Diego there is a Comic Con Show special of US$499, which is US$100 off for orders exclusively made at the Weta booth.

A manic day at the Weta booth. Tomorrow, Richard Taylor and Ray Griggs will be appearing at the Weta booth in the afternoon to talk with media about The Wind in the Willows.

22 July

Wow ! What a first night. Lots of new reveals made :

• The Pomson 6000 (IT has arrived !) - Several have been ordered already, including edition #1. So far the most popular colour is copper.
• The ONE Ring from The Lord of the Rings
• District 9 - Assault Rifle (full scale)
• The Wind in the Willows Bookends (on a Comic Con Show Special of US$249, which is US$150 off)
• District 9 - Exosuit (opening for pre-orders very shortly)

In the first 3 hours of the show :

• The Flamers invaded the booth. Lots of pictures coming from Charles Song shortly
• The remaining Arc Generators sold out
• TheOneRing.net joined us with their new T-shirt designs
• The Iron Tiger was sold

21 July

The Weta booth (#2615) is taking shape. We have already been assailed by other Exhibitors wanting to procure the limited number of Arc Generators and the Argonath. Luckily the Earth Elite Forces have held steadfast and kept the stocks intact until opening night.

Today is the day ! Don't forget our Comic Con SUPER SPECIAL offers. We are not carrying a lot of stock at the booth, so if you want to save on shipping costs, then get in early.

There will be lots of excitement online for people not visiting San Diego. Watch out for new announcements today.

Thunderbirds are GO !

20 July

The first troop of Weta crew has invaded San Diego, despite missing the plane from Los Angeles, despite their taxi breaking down and hurdling a motorway barrier, and despite Dave Tremont's baggage being engulfed by shards of glass. Ha! just another day in the life of these hardy adventurers ! Fortunately, our packages passed through Customs without a hitch (except for the young officer who tried to open the heavy, wooden crate, poor lad... may he RIP....)

Big reveals coming in the next 2 days !

19 July

We are on the way to San Diego, hand-carrying one more yet to be announced District 9 sculpture, the level of detail is incredible, designed by Greg Broadmore, model made by David Tremont. Watch out for this one....

17 July

The Wind in the Willows comes to Comic Con ! Ray Griggs will be joining us at the Weta booth on Friday 23 July. Will Toad, Badger or friends be there ?

16 July

The Weta team starts flying out to San Diego on Monday (NZ time). We travel further than any other other booth to be there !! Who's coming ? Richard Taylor, Greg Broadmore, David Tremont, Ri Streeter, Kate McCormick and Tim Launder. See you there !

And we've just been instructed by Dr Grordbort himself to carry a large, heavy wooden crate with us on the plane. It's nailed shut and we are not allowed to open it. We can just see shimmers of red between the cracks. Something very powerful inside. How will we get IT through Customs ? Gulp !

15 July

Only 1 week to go !!! And more announcements to announce, than days left to go !! Hold on, it's gonna be a bumpy ride ...

There can only be ONE Ring to rule them all : The most authentic, the most valuable, the most beautiful, ONE Ring from The Lord of the Rings is coming to Comic Con. Only at the Weta booth.

Photos of the 3 one-of-a-kind custom painted Dr Grordbort's rayguns are now up for viewing. Exclusive to Comic Con, first come, first served (but to remain on display until Sunday)

And what's this ? news of a new license to be announced in the coming days !!????

13 July

Halo is available on Comic Con special offer at the Weta booth. Come check out the collectibles crafted by the same artists who worked on the Halo movie shorts and built the full size working Warthog

• Master Chief and Arbiter - 30% off 
• Master Chief and Flood - 30% off
• Cortana - 30% off

Plus our range of cast metal Halo helmets are in stock at the booth

The Weta crew will be flying out of New Zealand to San Diego on Monday the 19th. We can't wait !

12 July

Comc Con Exclusive - Watch out for 3 one-of-a-kind custom painted Dr Grordbort's ManMelter rayguns at the Weta booth :

• The Iron Tiger
• The Divine Ray
• Der Adler

11 July   

We'd like to welcome friends and fans that post on forums.

The Shadow and Flame (the official forum for Weta Collectors) - We look forward to catching up with Charles Song and the Flamers once again

The One Ring.net - Mr Cere, Quickbeam and Deej will all be hanging out at the Weta booth. And Weta will be selling T-shirts on behalf of TORn (all profits going to TORn), one of them especially designed by LOTR designer Daniel Falconer.

The Replica Prop Forum - We can't wait to meet Art Andrews and all the prop builders on therpf.com. Stop by and chat with Weta's Senior Model maker, Dave Tremont.

And a big welcome to the many more collectors on sites like The Green Dragon, Sideshow Collectors, Statue Forum. and others.

Please drop by and tell us what forum YOU post on !

10 July  

Less than 2 weeks to go and the power is being amped up a few more notches with the release of the District 9 Arc Generator Miniature version.  

Check out the just released list of COMIC CON SUPER SPECIALS here !

And speaking of power, the most powerful are still to come. The countdown continues ....

9 July

There can only be One to rule them all

8 July

Last year, Dr Grordbort's The Righteous Bison and the Universal Gun Stand prototypes got plenty of attention at Comic Con. This year, we will have the final products available for purchase at the booth for the first time. Get US$10 off, and a free Goliathon pin, for every Righteous Bison purchased (while stocks last)

7 July 

Purchase all 3 of the Lord of the Rings miniature shields at the Weta booth (while stocks last) for US$99 (save $18) 

• Numenorean
• Gil-Galad
• Easterling

5 July

Dr Grordbort's full range of miniature rayguns will be on display. The miniature Pearce Atom makes it's first appearance at Comic Con. And what's more, purchase any 2 miniature rayguns at the Weta booth and get US$20 off ! 

3 July  

We will have a limited amount of the sold out The Lord of the Rings Argonath Environments available for sale at the Weta booth (booth #2615) at Comic Con.

And as mentioned before, a limited amount of sold out District 9 Arc Generator artist proofs.

One per customer. First come, first served.

We will be announcing more details soon, as well as announcing our Comic Con Special Deals

2 July

Christopher Johnson won't be alone ....   he has a friend !

1 July

Aarrgghh ! Only 20 days to go !  Time to move into PANIC mode ! The 3rd Venusian bug from Dr Grordbort's is now crawling around the Workshop. Quick somebody stomp on it and try and sell it's carcass at Comic Con ....

Xenodefugio Subtiltus

28 June  

Prancing Pony, Pomson Pin, Prawns, gas Projectors, Pearce Atom and Pillocks all begin with P ! What else could there P ? Well, those ingenious scientists from Grordbort's Laboratories have one more P up their sleeves, er... labcoats !

27 June  

Smaug the Golden, will be shipping from our US warehouse by the time of Comic Con. This incredibly detailed sculpture comes with a collectors book written by John Howe, Richard Taylor and the artists involved. The Art of John Howe - Sculptures from Middle-earth, available in faux bronze and bronze. Order yours at the show.

25 June

Weta Workshop's senior model maker, David Tremont, will be at the Weta booth. Feel free to come and ask him any questions about how we make our movie props and collectibles. 

24 June

Christopher Johnson is coming to Comic Con ! CJ will be part of the full District 9 display at Weta's booth, created by the original artists who worked on the movie. Check out the Work in Progress sculpt in the latest Weta newsletter 

23 June

Our new Lord of the Rings Bag End environments will make their first public apearance (outside of the Weta Cave) at Comic Con, where they will be joined by their friends the Argonath and the Prancing Pony (which has just opened for pre-orders !)

20 June

The Weta booth will be crawling with bugs. At the request of our friends on The Shadow and Flame Forum, we will be bringing a batch of copper wire Weta bugs for sale at Comic Con. These wiry little fellows are normally sold in the Weta Cave, where they feel most at home. And they won't be the only creepy crawlies there. They will be joined by the Blue Sacked Pillock, the Nandy Duke and a 3rd Venusian insect, recently made extinct by Dr Grordbort's hunting elite.

16 June

Greg Broadmore will be attending Comic Con this year. Greg is the creator of the universe of Dr Grordbort's. He will be signing copies of his books, VICTORY and Dr Grordbort's Contrapulatronic Dingus Directory at the Weta booth. Greg was also lead conceptual designer on the District 9 movie, for which he designed the weapons, vehicles, the exosuit and the spaceship. Come and have a chat with him.  

15 June

Prancing Pony begins with P (two of them)! And Weta will be displaying the paint master of The Lord of the Rings, Prancing Pony Environment at Comic Con. But will there be any left by then? (The Argonath sold out in quick time) It opens for pre-orders on our website this week ...

Weta's booth number at Comic Con is 2615 (we are sharing with Dark Horse Comics). Please come and say Hi 

14 June

Oh, and we forgot to mention, Weta will be offering a limited number of the "sold out" District 9 full scale Arc Generator weapons for sale at our Comic Con booth. First come - first served. More details coming soon.

By the way, what happened to all the cat food ? It keeps disappearing ...

13 June  

The District 9 full scale alien weapons will be on display for the first time in the US. The Arc Generator and the Gas Projector will be available for viewing. Projector starts with a P !

Plus a third full scale alien weapon will be revealed at Comic Con.

11 June

Any Hobbits coming to Comic Con ? We've got what you need ... Hobbit Ears !  Weta will have totally authentic Hobbit Ears at our booth. Hand made at Weta Workshop by Frances Hawker and the team, from the same molds used by Frodo and Sam in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. These are the real thing, hand made by the original artists. They are also available for order on our website here

We're announcing over 15 new products between now and the start of Comic Con. Things are really starting to heat up. 

10 June

Aaaarrgghh ! Our Website Manager, Magnus, has accidentally posted this photo on the page. We are not supposed to show anyone this sculpture yet. Quick, take it off ! Curses ! #%$# ! 

And it doesn't begin with P either ...

7 June

Newly knighted, Sir Richard Taylor, will be leading the Weta team to Comic Con. Richard will be at the Weta booth off and on during the show. So feel free to come and say Hi, and get an autograph and a smile ! (He is usually very popular, so you may need to wait in line for a bit)

6 June

We will be launching the next shield in the Lord of the Rings range of miniature shields. The first 3 shields launched last year were the Numenorean Shield, Gil-Galad's shield and the Easterling Shield. We would love to see people wearing their shields to the show. 

What will the 4th shield be ?

5 June 

In order to get all our items to Comic Con for our Weta display this year, we have shipments coming from 4 different locations; New Zealand, Hong Kong, Los Angeles and Oregon. They will all converge on San Diego in late July (hopefully!). Oh, and there seem to be a lot of things starting with "P" this year....

Weta has the unfortunate (or maybe fortunate) record of building some of the most complicated displays at Comic Con. For the last 2 years we have set the record for being the last booth to pack up and leave on Sunday night. The security guards start trying to kick us out at 10pm, but we normally finish around 11.30pm, long after everyone else has gone home !

4 June  

At Comic Con, we will display the first sample of the new "Art of District 9" book which will be released at the end of the year. This is a must for any District 9 fan. Created by the same Weta Workshop team that helped create the movie, the book tells the inside story of how the art was conceptualised and developed in to the final versions you saw in the movie. We were fortunate to have Director Neill Blomkamp fully involved in the creation of the book, contributing his own art and writing the Foreword. The book is authored by Weta designer Daniel Falconer, who has been heavily involved in our earlier books "The Crafting of Narnia" and "The World of Kong".

3 June

The crates are packed - all the goodies we're displaying at the show have been sealed into a 40ft container. Well, not quite all - true to form, we are still perfecting a few last minute surprises... quite a few in fact... What we can tell from the packing area in the workshop, there will be more custom rayguns, more District 9 collectibles, more... A hint? The whole place reeked of Dendrobranchiata...

14 May

San Diego Comic Con 2010 is approaching fast. Weta will of course be there, cohabiting as usual with our friends at Dark Horse Comics. The planning has already been going on for months in the workshop and there are rumours of BIG things happening.