Lord of the Rings Ongoing Discussion

[Balrogofmorgoth]

5 minutes ago, Black Falcon said:

Bag End would definitely be a good choice, though I am not sure if they would do an Hobbit Set. LOTR seems to be way more popular. I could see them doing a set based both actually - but then again it might just be to many minifigures needed for that.

I also could see them doing The golden Hall of Edoras, which would actually benefit from the Viking Village already bringing back the 4x1 tile that was in both the old Edoras and Viking set. Though most recommended likely would be Minas Tirith - which likely would be only doable as microscale - or would be just the white tower and surroundings such as the white tree.

Personally, I would be interested getting the Mines of Moria, though that doesn´t seem to be the most likely set to get.

All of the above are EXCELLENT D2C options. Bag End could include things like party tents and banners and tables and things of that sort (if LOTR based), Moria could easily have different areas based on different scenes (Hollin Gate with Watcher, Chamber of Mazarbul with Cave Troll, Bridge of Khazad-Dûm with Balrog, etc. and the golden hall of Meduseld is my most wanted D2C after Barad-Dûr and Minas Tirith

[Gorilla94]

52 minutes ago, Balrogofmorgoth said:

I think a new and bigger Bag End set would be phenomenal. However, I also disagree that it should be made before Barad-Dûr. Barad-Dûr is definitely a set that will mostly attract hardcore fans and not the casual collector as much, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be made. Rivendell was always going to be the most attractive looking LOTR set they could make, and it was very smart to start there. But if they only ever make sets with bright colors and all good guys, then they will only ever scratch the surface of LOTR. Barad-Dûr always needed to be done as well, being the fortress of the story’s main antagonist, and more personally, as always been at the top of my most wanted list alongside Meduseld

I don't say it will be a bad set. The Kwik-E-Mart was objecively better than the Simpsons house in terms of the easter egg amount and detail. With Snake it even had an exclusive character. It still sold less great than the house of course. I mean it was the house with the whole Simpsons family. I just worry that Lego's buisness people without any connection to the toy or licence are not smart enough to not end the line as soon as a set is less successfull than Rivendell.

In fact I am pretty surprised we did not get smaller sets. There is a Ninjago dragon with perfect Balrog horns.

Edited November 20, 2023 by Gorilla94

[NoOneOfImportance]

41 minutes ago, Balrogofmorgoth said:

All of the above are EXCELLENT D2C options. Bag End could include things like party tents and banners and tables and things of that sort (if LOTR based), Moria could easily have different areas based on different scenes (Hollin Gate with Watcher, Chamber of Mazarbul with Cave Troll, Bridge of Khazad-Dûm with Balrog, etc. and the golden hall of Meduseld is my most wanted D2C after Barad-Dûr and Minas Tirith

The hardest part of Moria is making all of the individual scenes into a cohesive set. While there are a lot of good areas, a big set (even $500 USD), would have to connect the areas weirdly to include them all (I personally don't want an Assault on Hoth situation for a LOTR D2C). 

Sets like Bag End for $300 or a microscale Minas Tirith for $470 would be great, but in either case, they are singular, connected locations rather than a bunch of scenes that happen to be in the same place. 

Edited November 20, 2023 by NoOneOfImportance

[Black Falcon]

10 minutes ago, Gorilla94 said:

I don't say it will be a bad set. The Kwik-E-Mart was objecively better than the Simpsons house in terms of the easter egg amount and detail. With Snake it even had an exclusive character. It still sold less great than the house of course. I mean it was the house with the whole Simpsons family. I just worry that Lego's buisness people without any connection to the toy or licence are not smart enough to not end the line as soon as a set is less successfull than Rivendell.

I agree with you that I think that Barad-Dûr will have less buyers/interest than Rivendell had, but I wouldn´t worry that they won´t make more sets like that because it would sell bad. 

[RichardGoring]

Bag End is surely a consideration for a set. Although there is already an excellent model, LEGO has a much larger market penetration and awareness amongst adults now, and it's the opportunity to sell another lovely looking 'decor' set, compared to something like the mines of Moria, which might end up being like the Batman shadowbox, limiting it's mass market appeal.

[Altair1]

If they continue after Barad Dur, I would love to see in priority:

1. Minas Tirith

2. Edoras Golden Hall

3. Khazad Dum and Balrog

4. Lothlorien

[Shroffy123]

33 minutes ago, Altair1 said:

If they continue after Barad Dur, I would love to see in priority:

1. Minas Tirith

2. Edoras Golden Hall

3. Khazad Dum and Balrog

4. Lothlorien

I like your list. minas tirith a must. I'm still upset lego never produced gondorian soliders. 

[Balrogofmorgoth]

2 hours ago, Altair1 said:

If they continue after Barad Dur, I would love to see in priority:

1. Minas Tirith

2. Edoras Golden Hall

3. Khazad Dum and Balrog

4. Lothlorien

Great list. Lothlorien as a large scale set would look great. I would add Bag End to the list to round it out and that really would be the meat of large scale sets I want to see. After that it would be things like an Orthanc remake and Helm’s Deep D2C. And that’s not even mentioning the untapped wealth of potential for all kinds of play scale sets and battle packs

[Shroffy123]

Anyone recall how soon before Rivendell's release did we get official pictures? I am wondering when we will see pictures of the barad dur set

[zoth33]

7 hours ago, Black Falcon said:

Bag End would definitely be a good choice, though I am not sure if they would do an Hobbit Set. LOTR seems to be way more popular. I could see them doing a set based both actually - but then again it might just be to many minifigures needed for that.

I also could see them doing The golden Hall of Edoras, which would actually benefit from the Viking Village already bringing back the 4x1 tile that was in both the old Edoras and Viking set. Though most recommended likely would be Minas Tirith - which likely would be only doable as microscale - or would be just the white tower and surroundings such as the white tree.

Personally, I would be interested getting the Mines of Moria, though that doesn´t seem to be the most likely set to get.

You do realize that Bag End is in LOTR right?  It's the same world so yes it's in the Hobbit but it's also featured in LOTR.  They could do Minas Tirith as a scaled down version there are a few out there that look good.  They could also make Lothlorien, the prancing pony, Osgiliath, any part of Moria, the dead marshes, and many other locations.  

[RichardGoring]

I wonder if LEGO is allowed to use the IKEA boxes, which would be a great way to build a sturdy base for Minas Tirith with only a couple of pieces!

[MAB]

5 hours ago, zoth33 said:

You do realize that Bag End is in LOTR right?  It's the same world so yes it's in the Hobbit but it's also featured in LOTR.  

Bag End is The Hobbit and not LOTR if it comes with Thorin's company as it was suggested. A LOTR version of Bag End would be a little boring when it comes to minifigures, as we have already had the four hobbits in shire clothes, plenty of Gandalf, and hobbit hair is on PAB so generic hobbits are easy to make. It would have to be a very good model if the figure selection is repetitive. Whereas other locations with relatively new figures (even if repeated from the original sets) would be more attractive. Of course, other locations should also be good builds and not just minifigs with poor builds.

[wesker]

2 hours ago, MAB said:

Bag End is The Hobbit and not LOTR if it comes with Thorin's company as it was suggested. A LOTR version of Bag End would be a little boring when it comes to minifigures, as we have already had the four hobbits in shire clothes, plenty of Gandalf, and hobbit hair is on PAB so generic hobbits are easy to make. It would have to be a very good model if the figure selection is repetitive. Whereas other locations with relatively new figures (even if repeated from the original sets) would be more attractive. Of course, other locations should also be good builds and not just minifigs with poor builds.

The simple solution would be to just have the set cover both films. Its not like it hasn't been done before with the Death Star, Sanctum Sanctorum and Avengers Tower.

[Balrogofmorgoth]

2 hours ago, wesker said:

The simple solution would be to just have the set cover both films. Its not like it hasn't been done before with the Death Star, Sanctum Sanctorum and Avengers Tower.

I would really like this solution. The problem is that Gandalf plus Bilbo plus Thorin’s Company already make 15 figures. I doubt there would be room for old Bilbo, Frodo, Sam, and maybe characters like the Gaffer, Rosie Cotton, etc.

[BrickBob Studpants]

18 hours ago, Balrogofmorgoth said:

Barad-Dûr always needed to be done as well, being the fortress of the story’s main antagonist, and more personally, as always been at the top of my most wanted list alongside Meduseld

Barad-dûr has been on the top of my wishlist too! I wouldn’t be so sure about it not being as appealing to casual collectors as other set ideas  It’s one of the biggest icons of LotR in general, especially with the Eye of Sauron on top! Instantly recognisable and an imposing display model. No way this won’t be a smash hit!

19 hours ago, Shroffy123 said:

What are the anticipated figures for this set?

Frodo, Sam, Sauron, and a coupla orcs is what we know from the description

[MAB]

2 hours ago, wesker said:

The simple solution would be to just have the set cover both films. Its not like it hasn't been done before with the Death Star, Sanctum Sanctorum and Avengers Tower.

It may seem simple but that would mean that they have to have a licensing deal for The Hobbit in place again and we don't know if that is the case. It might also be that Warner don't want The Hobbit sets now that it is no longer a current movie or one where there is a large fanbase, where the toys help drive advertising for the movies and vice versa. I rarely see any merchandise for The Hobbit these days, whereas I still see LOTR merchandise for sale. It would also need agreement that they can include both movie trilogies within the same product. I cannot remember seeing much merchandise in the past where this was done. Even though it is the same studio / distributor, sometimes they want to keep their properties distinct from each other.

Edited November 21, 2023 by MAB

[RichardGoring]

I just hope that the final model for Barad-dur is to scale with the Orthanc set.

What I hadn't appreciated, until fairly recently, was how large it is compared to real-world buildings. Just being at the base of the Burj Dubai is a strange experience and sort of vertigo-inducing, given how tall it is. Barad-dur is staggering:

[Shroffy123]

4 hours ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

Barad-dûr has been on the top of my wishlist too! I wouldn’t be so sure about it not being as appealing to casual collectors as other set ideas  It’s one of the biggest icons of LotR in general, especially with the Eye of Sauron on top! Instantly recognisable and an imposing display model. No way this won’t be a smash hit!

Frodo, Sam, Sauron, and a coupla orcs is what we know from the description

Somewhat underwhelming minfig list, but glad we may be getting a sauron fig. Hopefully the orcs are new prints. 

[BrickBob Studpants]

18 minutes ago, Shroffy123 said:

Somewhat underwhelming minfig list, but glad we may be getting a sauron fig. Hopefully the orcs are new prints. 

They have to be new since the old prints are well, too old  The Rivendell set didn’t repurpose a single one from the 2012-13 sets

[Lion King]

5 minutes ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

They have to be new since the old prints are well, too old  The Rivendell set didn’t repurpose a single one from the 2012-13 sets

Yup exactly!

[Rjbricks]

3 hours ago, RichardGoring said:

I just hope that the final model for Barad-dur is to scale with the Orthanc set.

 

What I hadn't appreciated, until fairly recently, was how large it is compared to real-world buildings. Just being at the base of the Burj Dubai is a strange experience and sort of vertigo-inducing, given how tall it is. Barad-dur is staggering:

 

I suspect unless they rerelease Orthanc as a microscale building, it won’t be to scale! 
 

I’m assuming that post was joking… 🙃 

Edited November 21, 2023 by Rjbricks

[Balrogofmorgoth]

28 minutes ago, Rjbricks said:

I suspect unless they rerelease Orthanc as a microscale building, it won’t be to scale! 
 

I’m assuming that post was joking… 🙃 

As long as it’s reasonably taller than Orthanc I’ll be happy. I believe it is supposed to be a few inches taller

1 hour ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

They have to be new since the old prints are well, too old  The Rivendell set didn’t repurpose a single one from the 2012-13 sets

Exactly. Plus there are so many variants of these characters that they never used before. I’m hoping for Sammath Naur versions of Frodo and Sam with dirty faces and clothes. I honestly think I would even prefer that to the Orc disguise versions. It’s just iconic, and having the versions of those two characters specifically from the climax of the film would be really awesome

[Seaber]

11 hours ago, MAB said:

Bag End is The Hobbit and not LOTR if it comes with Thorin's company as it was suggested. A LOTR version of Bag End would be a little boring when it comes to minifigures, as we have already had the four hobbits in shire clothes, plenty of Gandalf, and hobbit hair is on PAB so generic hobbits are easy to make.

I don't know, new variants for the five main Hobbits in their party clothes (and Bilbo with proper hobbit hair in grey rather than the swept back pice he had in Rivendell) and a new hat/hair mold for Gandalf. 

Plus Rosie Cotton, the Sackville-Baggins and Proudfoot as well as some generic Hobbits (wity the Hobbit hair piece in new colours like the three tans, orange, light and dark grey, and white) would be as good a line up as Barad-Dur, but Rivendell is always going the be the best location for figures as about half of the main 20 or so characters show up there. 

[Darth Shadowthrone]

30 minutes ago, Balrogofmorgoth said:

As long as it’s reasonably taller than Orthanc I’ll be happy. I believe it is supposed to be a few inches taller

Exactly. Plus there are so many variants of these characters that they never used before. I’m hoping for Sammath Naur versions of Frodo and Sam with dirty faces and clothes. I honestly think I would even prefer that to the Orc disguise versions. It’s just iconic, and having the versions of those two characters specifically from the climax of the film would be really awesome

I definitely would prefer the orc disguises especially if it comes with their 2 helmets but then torsos with chain mail and armour prints wouldn’t fit any sort of Mount Doom posing at all - maybe they could both come with attachable breastplates to fit over their outfits from the finale? 

[Balrogofmorgoth]

4 hours ago, Darth Shadowthrone said:

I definitely would prefer the orc disguises especially if it comes with their 2 helmets but then torsos with chain mail and armour prints wouldn’t fit any sort of Mount Doom posing at all - maybe they could both come with attachable breastplates to fit over their outfits from the finale? 

I think I’d be good with that option. Especially if they made a new Orc armor piece. But I don’t find the likely since they already would need to make so many new pieces for the set

Edited November 21, 2023 by Balrogofmorgoth