Lord of the Rings Ongoing Discussion

[Lordhelmet]

I think minis tooth could be done at micro scale like the recent hogwarts and look good.  Maybe come with one minifig (maybe some more obscure character like the huge arts architect - just not in gold).  I would be happy with this version versus a giant set, providing that they come out with a whole series of Gondor play sets to get the minifigs.

 

that LOtR contest winner with the forced perspective minis tooth looked good in Lego ideas.

1 minute ago, RichardGoring said:

I don't see why they can't make an Icons or 18+ small battle pack set. Especially as they're going to be doing a small GWP set, so where does that fit in the structure? And, they make up the rules, so they can add anyone they like to the icons lineup. A battle pack for LotR could easily be thought of as more adult if you wanted it to be, and could be fine with an all black box art style.

I'm not saying it's likely, but I don't think it's impossible because there is no dedicated theme.

Agreed, an orc battle pack as the gwp wouldn’t be disappointing (thinking Star Wars droid carrier).  I would prefer an extra Nazgûl or Tolkien, or a unique print but some extra orcs are a win too.

 

i am all for battle packs LOTR lends itself to army building and true battle packs would sell.  

[iL01]

I would like next variants GWP:

- Isildur scene

- Mini Mount Doom

- The map of Land of Mordor at micro scale

[mtrsteve]

3 hours ago, wesker said:

I don't think Edoras would have any problems selling well. Its one of the trilogy's more iconic locations and visually isn't that far off from the Viking Village Lego just released which is proving to be quite a popular set. I think Minas Tirith can be done well but it isn't going to be the kind of set that will please everyone.

I agree that Bag End and Helms Deep would be the safer options.
 

Another option could be the blister packs exclusive to Shop@Home and the Lego stores. If Lego aren't confident in giving LOTR normal retail sets just yet something like this could be a good alternative for the army builders.

I assume they would go with a microscale exterior of the city along with a minifigure scaled interior in the back of the model. That seems to be the direction Barad-Dur is taking. I can't imagine the army builders would be too happy about that though.

I'm in the camp that would be totally happy with this approach. I've got no issue with mixing scales if the objective is to look good while also incorporating good play.

I'd also be totally satisfied with something more like Hoth where we get just the front wall/gate with a bunch of side builds like an Oliphant, the with king and fell beast, Grind, etc.

Bottom line is we need to get Gondor representation in some form eventually. Only mother thing that comes to mind is a Battle for Osgiliath style set, which could also be amazing.

[BenA]

I read somewhere that if they were real, Barad Dûr would be around 1500ft tall, and Orthanc would be around 150ft.  That got me thinking, could the GWP could be an 'architecture-style' version of Orthanc - miniature, but still roughly in scale with Barad Dûr?  That way they could be displayed together, and Lego could claim to have given us "the Two Towers" . In support of my - admittedly highly unlikely - theory, I think BrickClicker did describe the GWP as 'an 18+ display set' - key word 'display', not 'play'.  And even more tenuously, if I remember right, didn't one of the maps in Rivendell incorrectly show both towers - could that have been a hint!??? 

If the GWP did turn out to be a mini-Orthanc, it would be great if it came with another minifig. Maybe not Saruman due to needing a new hair/beard mold, but perhaps another Orc... Or Grima, just to really annoy the resellers 

To be clear, I don't think any of the above is likely, but it's fun to speculate!

Final edit, I think the heights I quoted were based on the movie versions. Not sure if they'd apply to the book versions or not. But the sets are based on the movies so 

Edited April 5, 2024 by BenA
Typo, disclaimer about heights

[Unknown Jedi Master]

4 hours ago, RichardGoring said:

How many figures would you need to make a satisfactory UCS Helm's Deep? Probably quite a lot.

And would LEGO put enough into it to make it feel right? Probably not.

The worry about a UCS Helm's Deep is that it would be really hard to get sufficient figures, so I'd hope they'd release a battle pack alongside it. Less likely, but still viable, would be to put the massable figures on PaB.

The nice thing about LotR is that there are a lot of great subjects for UCS sets, and I hope they continue to release them at a reasonable pace, every couple of years.

Let's try to put together a minifigure selection, just for fun. I will probably forget someone important, was some time ago that I watched the movies. How about 22 figs focused around the battle, excluding the part with Gandalf etc: 

• Aragorn, Gimli & Legolas
• Theoden, old man with bow, 6 Rohan soldiers
• Haldir and 4 elves.
• Berserker, 5 Uruk-hai

Yes, not a lot of Uruk-hai, but a battle pack for both factions should be released alongside.

[JohnTPT17]

Everyone's who's hoping for new minifigures in the GWP - be careful you're not wishing on a Monkey's Paw. All it takes is one internet outage, or the Lego website crashing at midnight, to make sure you don't get that GWP - and, if people ever want it down the line, it's going to be very expensive to find it (just look at the old Star Wars exclusive characters). 

Either way, hopefully we can get smaller sets again at some point... I don't have the budget for any of this.

1 minute ago, Unknown Jedi Master said:

Let's try to put together a minifigure selection, just for fun. I will probably forget someone important, was some time ago that I watched the movies. How about 22 figs focused around the battle, excluding the part with Gandalf etc: 

• Aragorn, Gimli & Legolas
• Theoden, old man with bow, 6 Rohan soldiers
• Haldir and 4 elves.
• Berserker, 5 Uruk-hai

Yes, not a lot of Uruk-hai, but a battle pack for both factions should be released alongside.

I'd cut down on the number of Rohan soldiers and elves - I think Uruk-hai should be the focus. I also might throw in Eowyn if there's not any plans for Edoras (which is probably not super high priority for Lego) - that way, there's a new, exclusive character to attract old-timers, and it's one of the few times she would be able to be gotten in "normal" clothes (since against the Witch-King, she would be armored). 

[MAB]

3 hours ago, Lordhelmet said:

Agreed, an orc battle pack as the gwp wouldn’t be disappointing (thinking Star Wars droid carrier).  I would prefer an extra Nazgûl or Tolkien, or a unique print but some extra orcs are a win too.

For me that would be very disappointing. Instead of making an exclusive GWP battle pack that fits with and is pretty much necessary for a big set, they should just include those "free" figures with the set.

[RichardGoring]

2 hours ago, BenA said:

I read somewhere that if they were real, Barad Dûr would be around 1500ft tall, and Orthanc would be around 150ft.  That got me thinking, could the GWP could be an 'architecture-style' version of Orthanc - miniature, but still roughly in scale with Barad Dûr?  That way they could be displayed together, and Lego could claim to have given us "the Two Towers" . ...

Leaked image of the GWP! 

Edited April 5, 2024 by RichardGoring

[BenA]

@RichardGoring 

[Altair1]

On 4/3/2024 at 3:09 AM, Artanis I said:

I already have 2 Mouth Of Saurons... oh well, still shaping up fairly nicely

Same here, bought two 79007 at the time to be able to make one real big Black Gate ;-) Not sure why they would put the Mouth again in the Barad Dur set, but it's OK, no big deal.

22 hours ago, Balrogofmorgoth said:

I would be just as happy with a little set of Tolkien at his desk or something honestly. 

Very nice idea! Would love to add it to the GWP tributes I already have (Charles Dickens, Galileo Galilei, Amelia Earhart, Jane Goodall...)

[Duke27]

19 hours ago, mirkwoodspiders said:

1) Do you think LEGO continues releasing large LOTR sets in the future? I'd say yes. 2 in the span of less than 1.5 years makes me think another one is on the way in the next year or so.

There was a list from TnB and Brickclicker about 2025 set on 1 april. There were about 5 different Lego themes and "LOTR is back in 2025" among them. They told some of the themes in the list were a joke, but some are not.

Edited April 5, 2024 by Duke27

[mirkwoodspiders]

27 minutes ago, Duke27 said:

There was a list from TnB and Brickclicker about 2025 set on 1 april. There were about 5 different Lego themes and "LOTR is back in 2025" among them. They told some of the themes in the list were a joke, but some are not.

Well, it's been "back" since last year. I'm guessing they were surmising the return of system scale sets?

[wesker]

 

4 hours ago, JohnTPT17 said:

I'd cut down on the number of Rohan soldiers and elves - I think Uruk-hai should be the focus. I also might throw in Eowyn if there's not any plans for Edoras (which is probably not super high priority for Lego) - that way, there's a new, exclusive character to attract old-timers, and it's one of the few times she would be able to be gotten in "normal" clothes (since against the Witch-King, she would be armored). 

Eowyn is a must for Helms Deep. She's long overdue for a minifigure and there aren't a lot of options in this theme for including female characters in general. Lego did previously include her in the buildable Helms Deep game but unfortunately that came in the form of a microfigure rather than a proper minifigure.

Even if there were plans for Edoras eventually it would still be nice to get some costume variants. They could definitely squeeze at least four different minifigures out of Eowyn between the Witch-King duel, Helms Deep, Edoras and Minas Tirith.

 

[JohnTPT17]

25 minutes ago, wesker said:

Eowyn is a must for Helms Deep. She's long overdue for a minifigure and there aren't a lot of options in this theme for including female characters in general. Lego did previously include her in the buildable Helms Deep game but unfortunately that came in the form of a microfigure rather than a proper minifigure.

Oh, yeah... I keep forgetting about those tail end licensed Lego board games that never made it to the states. Those always looked cool, and I'd love to get them if they weren't so expensive...

Still, if we use that set as a template for Helm's Deep minifigs, that would give us:

• Aragorn, Eowyn, Gimli, Haldir, Theodin, and Legolas for named characters.
• 4 Rohan soldiers
• 11 "regular" Uruk-Hai
• 5 Uruk-Hai Beserkers
• 2 specialty Uruk-Hai

If we cut out those two specialty Uruk-hai and have only one Beserker, that would be 22 minifigs. Yes, it's more than Rivendell, but a lot of those prints would be repeated for the soldiers and Uruk-Hai, and I think that gives enough soldiers on each side to feel substantial.

[Black Falcon]

22 hours ago, zoth33 said:

They don't make new molds for GWP there is no way it's going to be the Witch king.  

Well, I never mentioned that I would think they would to that. I won´t be surprised if the gwp will have no minifigs at all. And if, I guess it would be more something like Gandals arrival.

[Ben S]

6 hours ago, Black Falcon said:

And if, I guess it would be more something like Gandals arrival.

Gandalf's arrival to tease next year's Icons Bag End 

[Black Falcon]

2 hours ago, Ben S said:

Gandalf's arrival to tease next year's Icons Bag End 

Well I wouldn´t call Bag End unlikely at least. But Gandalfs arrival would be a good size for a gwp IMO. I don´t think Edoras is that unlikely actually either. I mean likely it wouldn´t be the first thing you would think about, since there are more iconic places. But to me it would make sense to make that one as long as the Viking Village is in Production, since it can benefit from parts there.

[KristofBD]

Looking at the map included in the Rivendell set, it seems most likely to me that we get Minas Tirith. Makes sense to include the Witch King and Fell Beast there.

If they are able to do a Barad Dûr set, they can do Minas Tirith. Probably more of buyer's interest in the latter too.

[Altair1]

On 4/5/2024 at 7:42 AM, Unknown Jedi Master said:

I don't think Minas Tirith is possible to do justice

I could not disagree more. There have been amazing MOCs of Minas Tirith made in recent years, and it is totally feasible - I really hope it will be next year's LOTR big set! Edoras or Lothlorien would be fine too, but Helm's Deep and Bag End are not priorities as we already have them. 

12 minutes ago, KristofBD said:

Looking at the map included in the Rivendell set, it seems most likely to me that we get Minas Tirith. Makes sense to include the Witch King and Fell Beast there.

If they are able to do a Barad Dûr set, they can do Minas Tirith. Probably more of buyer's interest in the latter too.

Exactly this!

 

Edited April 6, 2024 by Altair1

[Duke27]

16 hours ago, mirkwoodspiders said:

I'm guessing they were surmising the return of system scale sets?

Yes, exactly 

[Balrogofmorgoth]

20 hours ago, BenA said:

I read somewhere that if they were real, Barad Dûr would be around 1500ft tall, and Orthanc would be around 150ft.  That got me thinking, could the GWP could be an 'architecture-style' version of Orthanc - miniature, but still roughly in scale with Barad Dûr?  That way they could be displayed together, and Lego could claim to have given us "the Two Towers" . In support of my - admittedly highly unlikely - theory, I think BrickClicker did describe the GWP as 'an 18+ display set' - key word 'display', not 'play'.  And even more tenuously, if I remember right, didn't one of the maps in Rivendell incorrectly show both towers - could that have been a hint!??? 

If the GWP did turn out to be a mini-Orthanc, it would be great if it came with another minifig. Maybe not Saruman due to needing a new hair/beard mold, but perhaps another Orc... Or Grima, just to really annoy the resellers 

To be clear, I don't think any of the above is likely, but it's fun to speculate!

Final edit, I think the heights I quoted were based on the movie versions. Not sure if they'd apply to the book versions or not. But the sets are based on the movies so 

Orthanc was 500ft tall, the text tells us as much. We don’t get an actual measurement for Barad-Dûr but we get enough textual clues to place it most likely around 3500ft tall, give or take.

[Khargeust]

17 hours ago, Duke27 said:

There was a list from TnB and Brickclicker about 2025 set on 1 april. There were about 5 different Lego themes and "LOTR is back in 2025" among them. They told some of the themes in the list were a joke, but some are not.

Can you please share the link ?

[Cyprinus]

4 hours ago, Altair1 said:

I could not disagree more. There have been amazing MOCs of Minas Tirith made in recent years, and it is totally feasible - I really hope it will be next year's LOTR big set! Edoras or Lothlorien would be fine too, but Helm's Deep and Bag End are not priorities as we already have them.

Any of those MOCs are in a sensible scale and not using a ridiculous number of pieces? The ones I saw generally were either in a very weird scale or would be a set way above a 1000$ price point...

[Altair1]

Here are a few Minas Tirith MOCs below - totally doable with 5000+ pieces (which should be the piece count of Barad Dur for example according to the leaks)

https://www.theonering.net/torwp/2020/05/27/108093-collecting-the-precious-what-if-a-lego-minas-tirith-was-made/

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/c8ea2aec-39a3-426e-9951-8fee9a759e67

https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-104144/GJC15344/the-white-city/#details

 

Edited April 6, 2024 by Altair1

[mirkwoodspiders]

18 minutes ago, Altair1 said:

Here are a few Minas Tirith MOCs below - totally doable with 5000+ pieces (which should be the piece count of Barad Dur for example according to the leaks)

https://www.theonering.net/torwp/2020/05/27/108093-collecting-the-precious-what-if-a-lego-minas-tirith-was-made/

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/c8ea2aec-39a3-426e-9951-8fee9a759e67

https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-104144/GJC15344/the-white-city/#details

 

Thanks for the links. Honestly not interested in any of them but they're good efforts. I'd hope for something closer to 9,000 or 10,000 pieces honestly - if it's possible for the Colosseum /Titanic/Eiffel Tower, hopefully they'd consider it to get sufficient detail for Minas Tirith.