Weta doesn’t just create props and VFX for the movies—they also create awesome collectibles. Including this beauty, which was the hottest item at New York Comic Con. Behold the official bust of Smaug from The Hobbit, made by the same artists and technicians who worked on the films.
The Smaug bust sold out at NYCC in a heartbeat, but it’s also available for pre-order at Weta Workshop. The above video shows pretty much every angle and vantage point of this proud creature, which is totally screen-accurate and lovely.
According to Weta’s Mike Gonzales, the bust was “a combination of the digital model directly from the film and our physical sculptor, Sam Gao adapting the digital model to get the pose and detail to work as a mountable bust.” This is pretty similar to the process they use to create physical maquettes for the film, except that it was prepared for manufacture.
Weta is creating small batches, but they’re going to keep the product line open “to make sure fans could get their hands on these big beauties down the road,” says Gonzales.
And Weta will give one of these beautiful Smaug busts to one lucky io9 reader. All you have to do to enter is to subscribe to the io9 YouTube channel, and post a screencap of your subscription notice in the comments—then we’ll pick one winner, who will be added to the pre-order list for the bust when it ships in December or January.
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