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This new featurette for Thor: Love and Thunder is more exciting than all of its trailers combined. Which is saying something: the trailers for Taika Waititi’s latest, starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tessa Thompson, and Christian Bale, have been excellent. There’s just something about seeing all that footage cut with the actors and filmmaker gushing over it that gives a whole new level of energy.

Thor: Love and Thunder opens July 8 and it picks up where Avengers: Endgame left off. Thor (Hemsworth) has left Asgard under the protection of Valkyrie (Thompson) and set back off into space with the Guardians of the Galaxy. For the first time in his life, he has nothing he has to do. But that will change when a villain named Gorr the God Butcher (Bale) emerges to kill the Gods, which brings the Mighty Thor, Jane Foster (Portman), back into Thor’s world.

Below, watch a few of the actors and Waititi talk up this installment with infectious enthusiasm. Or maybe that’s just the Guns ‘N Roses talking.

While I haven’t seen every TV spot released for Thor: Love and Thunder, I do believe there’s some new footage in there too. The characters reacting to Thor’s very Peter Quill outfit. Footage of goats Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr, who are important enough to get their own character posters, and of course that final shot of Thor vs. Gorr… hey that rhymed!

Either way, it’s an awesome featurette for what we hope is an equally awesome movie. It will have to be, to top what the team achieved with Thor: Ragnarok. Thor: Love and Thunder opens July 8, though the first reactions from early screenings will begin this week.

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Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel and Star Wars releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about House of the Dragon and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

IGN has revealed a series of photos from the new Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, this time showing off the “new and unimproved” Orcs of this age. And for once, worse is actually better here.

In an interview with Jamie Wilson, head of the prosthetics department on The Rings of Power, and Lindsey Weber, an executive producer for the series, we get more details on how the forces of evil will operate in this period of Tolkien’s vast fantasy saga. “We spent a lot of time talking about what it would mean to be an Orc in the Second Age. It felt appropriate that their look would be different, part of a wilder, more raw, Second Age, Middle-earth, closer to where the First Age ends.” Weber said, describing the more desiccated, haunted look of the orcs that we see in the preview images that IGN has been given. “As we meet them, they’re not yet organized into armies, they’re a little more scattered and they’ve been scavenging. So it’s just a different time in their total story.”

Wilson is what’s known as a “Sevener” on set. This means that he’s worked on all the filmed Lord of the Rings productions: the original Peter Jackson trilogy, the Hobbit trilogy, and now The Rings of Power. He’s been around these specific prosthetics and makeup for decades, and has spent a lot of time thinking about how orcs look on screen… and how to make them look that way.

“Time has changed a lot,” Wilson told IGN. “You go back 20 years and we used a basically foam latex, which is like a porous-y kind of rubbery, spongy material with a smooth or whatever textured surface. It was great at the time.”

He mentions that silicon was only in use during the original trilogy towards the end, when they were able to make some pieces for John Rhys-Davies as Gimli. Times, he said, have changed dramatically. “All the ears, noses, Orcs pieces are all made in encapsulated silicon, which is basically two layers of silicon with a moveable piece of silicon in the middle, so when it’s applied to the actor’s face, they can move and it works,” he explained. “It also gets the same temperature as their skin. And you can see the translucency and then you gently paint on the top of it, a bit like doing makeup on a human rather than having to seal and heavily paint like we did in the old days.”

Both Wilson and Weber also noted that while the prosthetics and practical makeup are incredibly advanced, there is still a lot of CGI in Rings of Power. The show, Weber explains, is simply not reliant on it to make the orcs look good—a lot of the digital enhancements will occur in larger ensemble shots. Close up, you’ll get to see the orcs in all their garish, practically-designed glory.

Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power debuts September 2 on Prime Video.

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Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel and Star Wars releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about House of the Dragon and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

by Dean Rieck

As of Monday, June 13, 2022, it is legal for "qualifying adults" to carry a concealed handgun in Ohio without a license.

Attorney General Dave Yost has issued an updated manual summarizing Ohio’s concealed carry laws and explaining the two ways you may now carry in the state, with or without a license.

Click here to view or download the manual as a PDF.

Whether you plan to carry with a license or without one, I highly recommend you read this manual, which covers a number of important topics, including:

• Two Ways to Carry Concealed
• A Crucial Difference Between CHL Holders and Permitless Carriers
• Other Changes in Ohio’s Concealed-Carry Law
• Training and Educational Requirements for a Concealed-Handgun License
• Special Considerations for Members of the Armed Forces
• Forbidden-Carry Zones
• Transporting in Motor Vehicles
• Traffic Stops and Other Law Enforcement Encounters
• Private Property and the Workplace
• Reciprocity
• Open Carry
• Deadly Force
• Criminal Issues
• Civil Liability
• Self-Defense
• No Duty to Retreat
• Castle Doctrine
• Burden of Proof
• Defense of Others
• Defense of Property
• Dispute Resolution

In addition to reading this manual, I urge you to take a concealed carry class from an experienced and competent instructor, even if you do not plan to apply for a license. It is vital that you are familiar with Ohio self-defense law to help you make better decisions and act legally.

You can search for classes on OhioGunClass.org, a website we host for instructors in Ohio.

Dean Rieck is Executive Director of Buckeye Firearms Association, a former competitive shooter, NRA Patron Member, #1 NRA Recruiter for 2013, business owner and partner with Second Call Defense.