Lord of the Rings Ongoing Discussion

[TakeaBrick]

 

14 minutes ago, Jarreth2 said:

Maybe .. just maybe this could be done in minifig scale .. I’m gonna use LegoMocLoc as an example .. his LOTR builds are beautiful .. his Rivendell UCS is a massive 21120 pieces BUT is hugely detailed and includes practically every single part of Rivendell .. his Lothlorien UCS ( my personal favourite ) is 3855 and very detailed .. so this Rivendell ( at 6167 ) is supposedly 2312 pieces bigger than his Lothlorien .. again dependant on how they structure things and how much detail they go in to .. it could just be doable in minifigure scale 🤔

Just like you said, it is absolutely doable in minifig-scale.

https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-51085/LegoMocLoc/ucs-rivendell-council-of-elrond/#details

Part 1 of LegoMocLoc' s UCS Rivendell MOC only has 6,851 parts. LEGO can simply do this part.

But the problem with LEGO has always come to this: 

LEGO has the ability to make sets of great appeal to a great many people. But they never want to do it and just leave money on the table.

Edited December 13, 2022 by TakeaBrick

[Jarreth2]

@TakeaBrick .. yeah great point, but that part is just the Council of Elrond .. I would hope they‘ d do more of the actual city. I totally agree with your ‘money left on the table’ thing though 👍🏼

[wesker]

A combination of these two MOCs into a single set would be ideal. Its a good scale for display, perfectly captures the look of Rivendell and is enough to cover all the required scenes. Together the two builds come to a total of 6141 parts which is just short of the official model's 6167 pieces.

https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-84562/Taladril/rivendell-council-of-elrond/#details
https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-54957/LegoMocLoc/ucs-rivendell-frodo-awakens/#details

[RichardGoring]

And you could probably lose 1000-1500 from those two in LEGO's version, as they tend to avoid some if the repeating detail, to give you pieces for the gallery and/or environmental scenery.

[someguy827]

The only thing that gives me hope for minifigure scale is the Hogwarts set coming in at 6020 pieces at $580 CAD, while this set comes in at 6167 pieces at $680 CAD. I’m just praying that theres’ 20 minifigures in that extra $100.. 

Edited December 13, 2022 by someguy827

[Bainter-ban]

9 hours ago, mirkwoodspiders said:

Couldn't that just indicate a larger overall structure in general? Hogwarts and Rivendell are completely different subject matters. A castle that size lends itself to microscale for the full detail... Rivendell not so much I think. We'll see.

Yeah, that’s fully possible. But then I think it would have a higher price tag because generally larger and more costly bricks are needed for minifigure scale buildings.

[MAB]

I ignore part counts until I know what the parts are. High quantities of 1x1 parts can be used in minifigure scale builds too. 

[Altair1]

Personally I would not mind at all a microscale Rivendell if it is as well designed as Hogwarts Castle. But I would understand the disappointment of those who do not already own all the existing LOTR minifigs...

[sahidko]

Well i own multiple of each and i would be disppointed as well. Hogwarts castle is nice for what it is however it's still an one-off not fitting with rest of the theme released so far and therfore it remains one of the few new HP sets i don't own.

Edited December 13, 2022 by sahidko

[MAB]

46 minutes ago, sahidko said:

Well i own multiple of each and i would be disppointed as well. Hogwarts castle is nice for what it is however it's still an one-off not fitting with rest of the theme released so far and therfore it remains one of the few new HP sets i don't own.

I think that is the point of it, it isn't meant to fit with the rest of the theme. The adult (it was 16+ at the time but would surely be an 18+ set now) set was meant to be something different to the plentiful minifigure scale playsets, to show they can do something much larger than a couple of rooms in a coherent and architecturally beautiful way. The same with the HP Icons set and the crests Art sets, they are meant to be something different than the playsets. Diagon Alley (16+) and Hogwarts Express (18+) show they can also do minifigure based sets aimed at older teens / adults at much larger scale than playsets. Hogwarts Express is 5129 pieces and $500. Cut the minifigures by about half and remove larger pieces (inc train wheels) and replace them with more greebly 1x1s for fancy patterns in the roofs and so on, and the LOTR D2C could still be either minifig based or microscale.

Of course, the downside with LOTR is that it is not a theme. HP fans (AFOLs) have the fall back position of buying the children's playsets if they don't want the microscale Hogwarts. Whereas LOTR is not a currently a theme and so that position does not exist. If it is branded as ICONS rather than Lord Of The Rings, that might indicate that there are no plans for a theme. And we will have to wait to find out.

[sahidko]

Yop i fully agree that from LEGO's perspective if they don't plan to make LOTR full theme a microscale one-off build might make much more sense. I just hope it's not the case. Would really feel weird for me to see 4 new sets after so many years and not buy any of them because i don't care about BH and i am not sold on microscale builds given rest of my collection.

[RichardGoring]

1 hour ago, sahidko said:

Well i own multiple of each and i would be disppointed as well. Hogwarts castle is nice for what it is however it's still an one-off not fitting with rest of the theme released so far and therfore it remains one of the few new HP sets i don't own.

 

23 minutes ago, MAB said:

I think that is the point of it, it isn't meant to fit with the rest of the theme. The adult (it was 16+ at the time but would surely be an 18+ set now) set was meant to be something different to the plentiful minifigure scale playsets, to show they can do something much larger than a couple of rooms in a coherent and architecturally beautiful way. The same with the HP Icons set and the crests Art sets, they are meant to be something different than the playsets.

I fit into that category of being drawn in by the microscale Hogwarts. For a while it was the only Harry Potter set I had, as I think it looks fabulous as a mythic castle, and you can ignore the Harry Potter stuff. So it definitely works for LEGO, but inevitably frustrating for many here. It was also the gateway into getting more HP stuff, as I got Diagon Alley (but not Hogwarts Icons or Hogwarts Express, and then a load of the 2018-2020 playsets once I saw the direction they were taking for 2021 (which I didn't particularly like). I've not built any of them, yet, as I figured that if my children get into Harry Potter in a few years, they'll enjoy them. And if not, they're great starting points for MOCs.

All of which is to say, if it looks good, builds well, and has presence, I'd be happy with either minifigure or microscale.

[MAB]

1 hour ago, RichardGoring said:

I fit into that category of being drawn in by the microscale Hogwarts.

I think many other adults are too. Sets like that are great if someone wants one large display piece. Often the minifigures are clutter and for (non-AFOLs) there are often way better larger and detailed figures to display. During covid, it was amazing to see how many people had a lego set in the background and often it would be a large set like Yoda statue, a technic car, Saturn V, a few modulars, campervan, a UCS set, etc. It was quite rare to see a sprawling collection of smaller sets and minifigures. Of course, it might be that people keep that sort of mess off-camera and purposely place a single identifiable set behind them.

[Balrogofmorgoth]

I do think anyone expecting 20 minifigures is setting themselves up for disappointment. Even if it’s a minifigure based set, I think about 12ish would be more likely, a number which also happens to fit the amount of necessary main characters for those scenes. Since leakers don’t seem to have much to go on yet as far as figures I would keep expectations low for now, as much as it pains me. Lion Knights’ Castle has a lot of minifigures but aside from that, Icons sets don’t tend to be minfig-oriented. Granted, this is probably the most highly anticipated and the biggest license they’ve used for an Icons set. But they would need a lot of new prints. Who knows

Edited December 13, 2022 by Balrogofmorgoth

[McMurder_them_softly]

All I will say is that I hope it is minifigure scale / compatible. May still end up buying it either way but that is what I would like to see.  

[QuiggoldsPegLeg]

If they were doing a micro-scale set, I don’t see why they’d do Rivendell. Micro-scale works well for iconic shapes of buildings, like Hogwarts. Or for LOTR examples, something like Helm’s Deep, Minas Tirith, Orthanc, or Barad-Dûr. It doesn’t work for locations built into valleys that don’t have a distinctive/recognizable shape. 
 

Rivendell is a village in a valley with cliffs and waterfalls, and the shape of Rivendell isn’t iconic. Although in that way it works perfectly as a Master Builder Series type set, since there isn’t the expectation for it to look 1:1 to the movie, but there’s still a lot of stuff that can be included and some room for creativity to make a good looking set.

[zoth33]

Are the images on lego leaks fake there is a image of a Rivendell set?

[Balrogofmorgoth]

36 minutes ago, QuiggoldsPegLeg said:

If they were doing a micro-scale set, I don’t see why they’d do Rivendell. Micro-scale works well for iconic shapes of buildings, like Hogwarts. Or for LOTR examples, something like Helm’s Deep, Minas Tirith, Orthanc, or Barad-Dûr. It doesn’t work for locations built into valleys that don’t have a distinctive/recognizable shape. 
 

Rivendell is a village in a valley with cliffs and waterfalls, and the shape of Rivendell isn’t iconic. Although in that way it works perfectly as a Master Builder Series type set, since there isn’t the expectation for it to look 1:1 to the movie, but there’s still a lot of stuff that can be included and some room for creativity to make a good looking set.

I totally agree with this, which is why I’m hoping for a regular system scale. More of a Master Builder Series type of set would be perfect for this

[Alegrispa]

1 hour ago, zoth33 said:

Are the images on lego leaks fake there is a image of a Rivendell set?

The only ones I'm seeing are some AI generated crap.

[zoth33]

Ok cool just got home from work and hadn't checked IG for a little while.  Thanks for the reply.  

[Csc167]

I’m sure we will get a lot of minifigures they have already produced, just with updates. I am really hoping they throw in a Sauron figure though

[Altair1]

1 hour ago, Csc167 said:

I’m sure we will get a lot of minifigures they have already produced, just with updates. I am really hoping they throw in a Sauron figure though

Don't get your hopes up, I really don't see why they would put a Sauron figure in a Rivendell set (nor a Balrog, nor the Witch-King of Angmar...)

[Balrogofmorgoth]

A CMF series for LOTR would solve a lot of our problems. Especially if it came alongside waves of sets. It’ll never ever happen though.

[Graupensuppe]

I hope they add a few of the generic armored elves seen in the first Hobbit movie:

[Balrogofmorgoth]

55 minutes ago, Graupensuppe said:

I hope they add a few of the generic armored elves seen in the first Hobbit movie:

I’d much rather see the Second Age versions from the Fellowship prologue