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The good things is at least getting out of darkage ! I wish you a lot of fun with Orthanc ... I'll have to wait at least 3 years to open the box with my oldest ... I donated my childhood legos to a friend who used them a lot, and have no nostalgia to have those sets back, so it was all good. But if you have some sets buried at your parents home, for sure go get them ! I think everybody agrees on the childish Castle theme, but for me that is no issue at all. I first buy for the kids, and they'll be happy with it. Then I do not think an adult can be really satifised with a Lego castle anyway, it would need to have a much higer piece count. The good thing is that you can easily accumulate a lot of grey / white / black pieces and make huge castles anyway. Life is good !

BrickSev > Thanks ! True to say it's my first MOC since I went 'out of darkage' but I used to built big pirates boats and stuff when I was a kid. Lots of fun. And I'm not passing on Orthanc, I bought it and it will be opened at some point latter in the future by one of the kids when they'll be old enough :) I have several modulars who will also wait for the little ones to be of age to see the light. It's a bit hard to resist, but when you think about the look on their faces ... I think Orthanc looks very good and obviously it was a big source of inspiration (thanks, online reviewers !). I just did not want to make something that looks too much like the iconic stuff in LotR, I wanted to get something out of my own imagination. I was indeed lucky with the no-fig cheap black gates, I won't complain. I am also lucky I went out of dark age just before LotR sets retiered, they have some gret figs and sets. Castle looks plain now, although the Kingdom Joust is fantastic. Overall I will only miss the Flagship from the Pirates, damm darkage ! notaromantic > yes rediscovering is fantastic, and it took me a while to gather some stock, but now I have to build, and it's not always easy with the kids being super full of energy. But the more they grow the more we're going to play together with it. Now they just want to be Duplo Matser Builders ... Now, I really gave a good tought to your idea of adding sides to make it more imposing. That is indeed a really good idea. The problem is that it won't make it more playable for the kids if it is only the front wall, and if I want at least 4/5 stud depth for playability, then the main part may be too deep and dark to play easily. So I'm trying different ideas in LDD to see how I can make that work along with the other redesign ideas I have for the main hall (who needs to be a little deeper, but I have trouble with the tower corner exterior design). I hope I'll find a way to make everything work well together. Venunder & Master_Data > thank you ! The v2 is slowly progressing in my head ! Once I solve the 1st floor issue, then the cave and upper part will be eeasier to make, as the general dimensions will be known. SerenityInFire > dam, that is a huge lot of excelent ideas ! Are you a wizzard or what ?! I'm taking good notes, and the details like buckets for poop are my favorite. I definitely need to integrate a luxury poop room for the wizard now ... I also want to add some heads in the trophy rooms, a bit like the Predator does, maybe with something that looks like glass jars ... I also absolutely need a Jar Jar for the torture bench. I don't want to by a set just for this donkey, so I'll probably get in on BL.

Nightstalker > Thanks ! Corpses, there will be ! I am partial about lava because in my mind this is on top of a very high mountain, I fear lava would be a bit too much over the top, as the tower itself should really stand out. I'll give it a try though, thanks for the idea. Lord Tyrus > Thank you too ! I'll make worst and even more evil with an appropriate interior. I need more ideas for traps and badies. I surely plan to redo the Troll cave and I currently have decided to make a torture room below that cave. I need a Jar-Jar Bink fig for the torture bench though (or just his head for a trofhy room), but I do not really want ot buy a set just for that. SO if anyone wants to send me one he can :) Durins Bane > I'm glad you like it ! Stay tuned for a meaner and actually properly finished v2 later this year !

When I have a proper v2 I'll look into posting there if you want to add it into the guild landscape :)

I have seen many actual japanese castles and this creation is an extremly good rendering. Congrats from Japan ! I second that you should submit to IDEAS, at least to promote more Japanese 'medieval' theme. Thanks for sharing !

Thanks all for the nice comments ! I am now brainstorming to make the v2 with proper interior, secret passage and related stuff, so if you have some ideas or good examples please don't hesitate to shoot. I will restart by rebuilding the approach and the mountain base / cave.

Thanks ! I am glad you like it. As described I want to do a v2 and solve the structural issues and design before I actually populate it. The current version has too many issues.

Thanks, I have reuploaded some lower res and put most of them inside the post, I hope it makes things easier to read :) Now I am all hears for your expert advices on how to correct my many mistakes ;)

Thanks ! Yes Kangaxx is from Baldur, I plan to use the headpiece of Inferno from Ultra Agent set 70162 to represent the evil demi-lich (one of the tought and smart fight). I'll try to add some pictures, they are big and I might need to resize them manually. This forum does not auto-resize, right ?

Hi everyone, First post here. My oldest kid got 4 and I went back to Lego with pleasure. This is my first try at a lego creation since many years. It has reached v1 now and I need some thinking and polishing, and especially more play features, before bringing it to a more final v2, so I'd like to have some constructive comments and example to help. I though the Black Gate set looked fantastic, and could get my hands on several (cheap, without figs), so I wanted to make and evil wizzard tower . A bit like Orthanc, but without being limited to an established universe. I started to make a door with the spikes, then built from there, and finished with the cave, and build from a relatively limited inventory, so there are a huge lot of newby mistakes around, such as the fat wooden floors. Here is an album of pictures in HD. (sorry for the poor lighting), but I also have linked the HD pictures below in the text. The structure (right, face, left) is as follow : - Outside is a bridge for access, a la indiana Jones. Brige is a tad smallish compared to the big gate. Lacks a trap mechanism to collapse the brige (like in Goblin King Batle). I mostly need ideas to improve the bottom 'pit' and make the fall look like more painful. - Tower is sitting on a rock mountain, I think the design is ok. I need to include a secret door, towards the Cave, or another cool idea if any. From the inside, this is a cave for the dungeon, and has ... a cave troll. I built the cave last and rushed it so the wall are just ugly. I need to make it much better and more like a torture / cell room. You fall into the cave by a trap in the hall, when you try to go upstairs. - Main level has the big spiky entrance, it can open fully (until blocked by the walls, so about 120 deg) I am pretty happy with it and the wall design (inspired by the Avignon Palais des Papes, France), except for the gate being asymetrical and weak for kids, but I do not think much can be done here. From the inside, this is a huge hall so the evil master can put his favorite pet inside, hoppefully up to a Dragon (I do not own one) and now it is a huge Rancor (impressive beast, love it). I got the Rancor after I finished the build, and it is a bit small for him, he is so tall ! Archers can stand on the upper part (shown here with Gate slightly open) and shoot at adventurers from windows or machicoulis at their feets, or inside the hall. I need some stuff to decorate the inside of the hall, like maybe some lights or weapons or something nicer. - You access the upper, living quarters (view from the bridge, then face view) by a rope ladder that can be retracted using a rope on the left. This makes it even harder for adventurers. The bottom of the ladder is trapped (towards the Cave). Externally there is only space for archers on the terrase, nothing big like a Balista will fit unfortunately. The inside is divided into 3 floors. I have not filled them yet. Unfortunately they are a bit too small, a fig hardly fit. Due to kids hands I'll probably need to turn that into 2 floors or do it higher (then I also need to make the Hall higher). I am thinking to add a secret stair into one of the floor, like Orthanc. Any other cool ideas for the rooms ? (the upper part, view front the outside bridge) - The top is a prison. Perfect prison for a princesses (or white wizzard) or up to a troll (but barely). Sorry for the wall of text. I'll love to hear critics and improvment ideas, please shoot !