Lord of the Rings Ongoing Discussion

[Altair1]

3 minutes ago, sahidko said:

Well mostly because if we are limited to one big set per year (Rivendell 2023 and Barad-Dur 2024) i think there are locations that will be made before Lothlorien or Bree like Minas Tirith, Helm's Deep or Bag End. If we actually get a full wave that changes everything of course.

We already have very decent Helm's Deep and Bag End sets though, so I think Minas Tirith and Lothlorien should come first...

[Blazej_Holen]

5 minutes ago, Altair1 said:

We already have very decent Helm's Deep and Bag End sets though, so I think Minas Tirith and Lothlorien should come first...

Minas Tirith would be probably microscale, so ton of white and bley bricks with possibly few figs for display. Minifig compatible scale is nonsense, even 1000-1500 USD pricepoint wouldnt be enough. Helms deep is easier for translation into lego bricks as large D2C set, maintaining the Rivendell price. 
 

Lothlorien would be nice, but it would be probably enough to make it as a smaller set with Galadriel, Celeborn, Haldir and some members of the Fellowship… Bag End would be also nice as D2C as a closing set which ties all story together ;)

[sahidko]

10 minutes ago, Altair1 said:

We already have very decent Helm's Deep and Bag End sets though, so I think Minas Tirith and Lothlorien should come first...

We already have the whole Fellowship and dedicated CoE set as well. General consensus is that they won't really look back what's been made 10 years ago.

[ddavid]

Yes, there are countless scenes that would be amazing to recreate. A smaller vignette could be the bridge passage in the Mines of Moria with the Balrog fight. But it seems we are getting only large D2C sets

4 minutes ago, sahidko said:

We already have the whole Fellowship and dedicated CoE set as well. General consensus is that they won't really look back what's been made 10 years ago.

And I think they do look back - the Barad-dûr looks like a perfect companion to the Tower of Orthanc

[Jarreth2]

I had started buying parts to make LegoMocLoc’s Lothlorien.. but it may have to wait now .. I think with Lego having done Rivendell they may wait a while and produce others before the other main Elf home.

On the Rivendell set .. I notice a lot of people wondering about lining up the roof tiles. I’m betting ( or hoping ) that Lego have included some trick to lining them up, like inserting a long tile into what becomes the gap, you added the 1x1’s and then remove the tile ?? Have to wait and see I guess. 😁

[Altair1]

22 minutes ago, Blazej_Holen said:

Minas Tirith would be probably microscale, so ton of white and bley bricks with possibly few figs for display. Minifig compatible scale is nonsense, even 1000-1500 USD pricepoint wouldnt be enough.

I actually disagree. We have seen beautiful MOC submissions (on Lego Ideas and elsewhere) of Minas Tirith which are minifig compatible and could stay in the 500 bucks range. Of course they had to make some design compromises (in particular in the number of vertical layers), but they still represent beautifully the City of Kings :-) The minifigs usually included are of course Faramir, Denethor, Eowyn, the Witch-King, etc...

Edited February 8, 2023 by Altair1

[sahidko]

16 minutes ago, ddavid said:

Yes, there are countless scenes that would be amazing to recreate. A smaller vignette could be the bridge passage in the Mines of Moria with the Balrog fight. But it seems we are getting only large D2C sets

And I think they do look back - the Barad-dûr looks like a perfect companion to the Tower of Orthanc

Sure but do you believe they are going to release Barad-Dur because they made Orthanc before or because it makes sense to make such set whether Orthanc exists or not? Releasing such set because it will look good with another set from a decade ago doesn't seem like a great idea. It's a nice bonus but definitely not a major factor.

3 minutes ago, Jarreth2 said:

I had started buying parts to make LegoMocLoc’s Lothlorien.. but it may have to wait now .. I think with Lego having done Rivendell they may wait a while and produce others before the other main Elf home.

Same here. Feel bit bad for LegoMocLoc given now people are probably going to wait what other LOTR sets LEGO is going to produce in the future. But on the other hand i already bought some of his instructions so whether i actually build those or not is irrelevant for him. :D

Edited February 8, 2023 by sahidko

[Altair1]

25 minutes ago, sahidko said:

We already have the whole Fellowship and dedicated CoE set as well. General consensus is that they won't really look back what's been made 10 years ago.

Except the Council of Elrond set was way too limited and not a decent representation at all of Rivendell... The same can not be said for the Helm's Deep and Bag End sets. Anyway I am only talking of priorities here, I would welcome of course at some point a bigger Helm's Deep and a whole Shire/Hobbiton set :-)

Edited February 8, 2023 by Altair1

[sahidko]

Ok let's look at HP as an example. We have a great Burrow set from not that long ago which apparently didn't prevent LEGO from making a UCS version. So what makes you think that decade old Helm's Deep or Bag End should be an exception? Just to be clear i am not advocating for LEGO to remake those sets as priority (i own both of them) but i am realistic enough to undestand that it may happen regardless of the fact that we already got those locations in the past (and before we get places like Lothlorien i wanted to add...)

Edited February 8, 2023 by sahidko

[MAB]

35 minutes ago, Altair1 said:

We already have very decent Helm's Deep and Bag End sets though, so I think Minas Tirith and Lothlorien should come first...

They were so long ago though, they would be ignored. Look at repeats in SW and HP.

26 minutes ago, Blazej_Holen said:

Minas Tirith would be probably microscale, so ton of white and bley bricks with possibly few figs for display. Minifig compatible scale is nonsense, even 1000-1500 USD pricepoint wouldnt be enough. Helms deep is easier for translation into lego bricks as large D2C set, maintaining the Rivendell price. 

Minifigure scale makes perfect sense for Minas Tirith. Lego knows minifigures help sell large sets. Minas Tirith does not need to be a complete city, just like the Rivendell set is a small fraction of the on screen location. I can imagine them doing part of the great hall (about the same depth as Rivendell), a beacon and a bit of the courtyard, maybe a small part of wall / fortification. I also imagine they would repeat some of the characters they are now doing (Pippin and Gandalf, Aragorn and Arwen) in different outfits.

[Blazej_Holen]

9 minutes ago, Altair1 said:

I actually disagree. We have seen beautiful MOC submissions (on Lego Ideas and elsewhere) of Minas Tirith which are minifig compatible and could stay in the 500 bucks range. Of course they had to make some design compromises (in particular in the number of vertical layers), but they still represent beautifully the City of Kings :-) The minifigs usually included are of course Faramir, Denethor, Eowyn, the Witch-King, etc...

You're right, but then it's more like Helm's deep set, back in 2012. 2-3 levels and a small tower, sparse interior, probably only a Citadel and ramparts. That is not what I would like to see. But that's just me :) If those sets aspire to be compatible with each other (meaning Rivendell scale), it's impossible to make Minas Tirith at a reasonable price point. 

It depends on everyone's taste. If TLG decides to go with the 2012-2013 approach, and make some playsets - then ok. I will buy them but then rebuild them in something more substantial. Personally, I feel (and hope) they chose a different approach since this theme deserves large-scale location sets, along with minifig packs and smaller dioramas... 

 

[Altair1]

26 minutes ago, Blazej_Holen said:

You're right, but then it's more like Helm's deep set, back in 2012. 2-3 levels and a small tower, sparse interior, probably only a Citadel and ramparts. That is not what I would like to see. But that's just me :) If those sets aspire to be compatible with each other (meaning Rivendell scale), it's impossible to make Minas Tirith at a reasonable price point. 

It depends on everyone's taste. If TLG decides to go with the 2012-2013 approach, and make some playsets - then ok. I will buy them but then rebuild them in something more substantial. Personally, I feel (and hope) they chose a different approach since this theme deserves large-scale location sets, along with minifig packs and smaller dioramas... 

 

3 levels is the minimum for Minas Tirith to look like Minas Tirith. Yes, I would much prefer a playset (even if I have to complement it myself later) than a microscale version in which the minifigs would not fit in.

[betaplayer]

4 hours ago, Alegrispa said:

Honestly y'all? Overnight I've grown very bitter about this set.

When you look at the original sets you could get the whole fellowship, and a bunch of additional figures for less than €200 worth of sets, now we got to pay more than double for a set they've massively overpriced just because they can? Because it's the only thing they chose to offer?

Similarly, I'm also a bit bitter that there are no smaller playsets and all they offer is this huge thing, clearly aimed at adults. I don't believe any smaller sets were rumoured so far?

We got kids. My wife loved LOTR as a kid herself, we would buy some playsets for sure. But this? I doubt it.

I also feel these large sets meant as display pieces simply don't have the charm some smaller playsets have, but that's down to personal taste I guess.

[Agent Kallus]

6 hours ago, zoth33 said:

  I'm assuming your talking about the blond one.  I guess it is a female looking at the pictures now I thought it was going to be one of the 2 blacksmiths from the scene in ROTK  but I guess not.  

I think that they are Arwens sword.  But that's just a guess at this point.  

 

I think the set is great and can't wait to get it.  I find the discussion over the price weird when you look at themes like the Monkey kid and especially any licensed stuff.  The price seems fine to me.  I think the set has some great details.  The new fern piece is wonderful.  All the new molded weapons are great.  The roof looks great with all the different colors like the movie.  I really like the design and the playability of the set.  

Well they've used a traditionally female head for one of them is all. But only she has a slope, the guy just has grey legs, so if she came with a sitting slope too, I could use one on each of them.

And yes I've googled arwens sword and you are absolutely right.

5 hours ago, Aanchir said:

Yeah, accessory packs like these are generally treated as one element, since all the parts are pressed off the same mold and then bagged. It's basically the modern equivalent to how many smaller accessory pieces used to come on a sprue (like the old "tool wheels"), allowing designers to introduce several part shapes for the cost of just one new mold. It's just that nowadays, LEGO punches the parts off the sprue before packaging them so they can recycle the leftover plastic.

I also suspect that the fern mold (the other non-minifigure mold from this set) was designed for another theme like Friends or City and simply happened to show up here first, since if it were designed specifically for this set I'd have expected LEGO to call more attention to it in the press release in the part where they talked about all the new weapons.

Though sprues aren't dead yet, shurikens and wands come paired on sprues.

4 hours ago, RAKRONDEWL said:

Just a thought,

What if we get a set to represent each book title over the next few years?

2023 - Fellowship of the Ring - The new Rivendell set as this is where the fellowship started

2024 - The Two Towers - The prototype Barad Dur leaked from the Survey as this is the tower we have yet to get from LEGO and doubles to give us the lord of the rings, Sauron

2025 - Return of the King - This is purely speculation but Minas Tirith as this is where Aragorn returns to become king

Perfectly represents each book/film with a set which also just so happens to be the locations we have asked for and wanted the most.  I wonder if we will see a set for the Hobbit.  Hopefully some minifigure series to get more characters down the road as well.

 

While I think it is less likely to happen, the bridge of Khazad Dum with Gandalf and Durin's Bane would work well as a diorama set.

Honestly I see Barad-dûr as a return of the king set anyway so if anything we'd need a two towers one, maybe an Orthanc remake or a helms deep or an edoras?

 

3 hours ago, Alegrispa said:

 

When you look at the original sets you could get the whole fellowship, and a bunch of additional figures for less than €200 worth of sets, now we got to pay more than double for a set they've massively overpriced just because they can? Because it's the only thing they chose to offer?

Seriously reconsidering if I want this set at all. Sure it would be nice to finally complete my fellowship after all these years, but this is about principle and sending a message with my money that this direction LEGO is heading in is not one I want to follow.

On the one hand I do understand what you mean. This is way bigger than it needs to be and a wave of system sets would have been more appreciated. But on the other they could not have made a set this gorgeous if it much smaller.

And with what you are saying there you seem to be focusing on the fellowship and the figures and with my renewed hope for system sets, I don't think this will be the last opportunity to complete the fellowship.

And sadly with scalpers this will be cheaper for me than getting all the og ones I missed. ( Though I did luck out the other day and get pippin, gollum, Sam's torso and Frodo's torso in a random mixed lot ( and I already had more than 1 shire Frodo so I just swapped out a torso).

This will be the most expensive set I've ever gotten and I do think it is getting absurd but I just can't not love it.

2 hours ago, Blazej_Holen said:

I consider Helms deep more probable than Minas Tirith. I can see them (TLG) nake a decent D2C 18+ Helms deep in 350-400 USD price point with around 20 figs including 1 horse. As for Minas Tirith, its more likely to be either microscale with Gondorian soldier / Citadel guard and Aragorn as a King or as a part of the battlememts - Gate along with part of the wall, Grond and few attackers and defenders. It would be nice to get one big set a year and meanwhile some smaller sets to fill the gaps between them. Overall I consider this theme more adult and collectible like rather than a playset thing. 

As much as can understand the people wanting minas tirinth, I do also think helms deep more likely.  It is more prominent in the films and would be easier to capture well at any reasonable scale. But TBH I'm kinda hoping for a system scale one instead of a D2C scale one, I know people who have the og one would be disappointed and rather a minas tirinth but I think most of us probably don't have a complete collection of the old sets ( I only have LotR ones that were under £20, though I did get some of the pricier hobbit ones)

Though after Rivendell and Barad-dûr I think A Hobbiton set would be a good third D2C . It could be based on either the start of the hobbit with all the dwarves or the start of LotR with Bilbo's party or both?. The main focus would be bag end of course but they could include the party pavilion and old gaffer Gamgee's house and such like.

8 hours ago, AmperZand said:

I still prefer my Yellowship of the Ring. I can’t abide fleshies and the K2 short legs with fleshy feet in the new Rivendell set are a turn for the worse. They, like all fleshy parts, are an abomination.

 

Whilst I'm actually on the side of preferring fleshies ( I do have more yellows though so there's an uneasy peace), I have to give Kudos to the name Yellowship.

Though I will say that the head you've got for Aragorn isn't very like Viggo IMO. Though that's a sore point in this Rivendell set as well. I know he has a new face whilst a lot of the others have repurposed faces but honestly Aragorn's face feels the most off to me of all of them. 

10 hours ago, AmperZand said:

I realise that LEGO has said that further LotR sets are contingent on Rivendell selling well, but I strongly suspect that Barad-dûr is already in the works regardless.

I have reason to believe that some of the LEGO Ambassadors, i.e. select influencers, have already seen it or have had its release confirmed by LEGO.

The leaked image of it only reinforces that belief and the fact that the survey it leaked from was about pricing, not features, makes me doubly sure.

A Barad-dûr set including a Sauron minifigure will be released. That’s my strong suspicion.

I mean, now knowing that @Ashnflash had already seen this, it's no surprise that he jumped straight on the Jeangreyforever leaks as he might've already seen some of them but the leaked descriptions allowed him to talk about them with breaking the NDA.

10 hours ago, ToaDraco said:

Oh I definitely think we'll get a bunch of regular retail sets at some point. The fact that they made so many new very lotr specific molds is evidence to me that this is going to be more than just a couple of expensive d2cs and a few brickheads. 

I'm really hoping so too. I mean look at all the weapons. This scene has no combat and the only weapon really needed here was the sword that broken ( and I thought they print it onto a clear tile).

10 hours ago, Blazej_Holen said:

There should be Bill the pony to complete the Fellowship of the ring :)

Honestly I'd love a new pony mold, like the horse but shorter in height and length. Perfect for dwarves and Hobbits ( though of could gimli should still be on legolas's horse)

[Artanis I]

Think I will give this a miss, as nice as it looks. It's just too big & expensive. Orthanc was less than half the price, I could justify that much more easily.

[sahidko]

Orthanc also had 60% less pieces.

[Altair1]

1 minute ago, sahidko said:

Orthanc also had 60% less pieces.

Exactly, and do not forget inflation too. This wonderful set is worth its price (and I don't say this often about a Lego set).

[Gorilla94]

I am surprised in a lot of ways. I would never have expected to see an accurate sword mould for Boromir. His shield is just fantastic. On the other hand I just can't get why he has again plain red arms... and the completely blue legs look much worse than the old version in my opinion :/  Elrond's and Gandalf's new printed skirt pieces are gorgeous. Gandalf again having a bald head underneath the old standard witch hat with an inaccurate buckle seems like a joke to me but I already made a custom solution anyways. Gimli looks strange to me. It may look better in real live but I prefer the old one updated with medium legs by far. I just hate the whole weapon mould being pearl gray. I can't even paint the hilt brown, because the figure still needs to grab it. They should have made it an axe head, that can be put in a Bar piece, not one mould for the whole weapon. That way the piece would not only work better in the one function it is supposed to be but would also be a usefull piece in other situations. To be honest I can't stand the new elven hair piece. I see how it ismore accurate for Legolas with hair on his shoulders but the top part just looks off to me on most characters. The old one for Elrond was far superior. Glad I own it. The stickers are a bad joke. Especially stuff like the Mithril armour in gold und silver, wich I can't even fix with custom prints :/ The printed hobbit legs just rock.

I will definetly buy some parts separately from the set. I hope they are successfull enough to give us more sets. Every piece I can use to improve my favourite display is welcome. If Lego ever produces a Moria or Erebor Set with this level of detail, I'll buy the whole thing and integrate it into my dwarven mountain.

 

[kevkipo]

Is Gandalf's hairpiece new? It isn't the same as Gloin and Gimli's...
Also, still baffled, how are those mushrooms attached to that tree next to the gazebo???? Isn't that an illegal technique?

Edited February 8, 2023 by kevkipo

[Retro Brick Reviews]

2 minutes ago, kevkipo said:

Is Gandalf's hairpiece new? It isn't the same as Gloin and Gimli's...

It is literally the same hair as Gloin and Gimli's. They all use the 2018 Dumbledore hairpiece.

2 minutes ago, kevkipo said:

Also, still baffled, how are those mushrooms attached to that tree next to the gazebo???? Isn't that an illegal technique?

No.

[BrickBob Studpants]

5 minutes ago, kevkipo said:

Isn't that an illegal technique?

Nope. They‘ve used it several times before

While I would like to see smaller playsets too, I don‘t mind the theme returning with 18+ sets only.

I suppose the 2012-14 range didn‘t sell too well among kids, but the high demand among AFOLs combined with the recent focus on 18+ display models and the release of ROP resulted in this strategy

I think LOTR is in a unique position where a range of 18+ sets only is actually sustainable given its vast landscapes and larger than life unique architecture  

[Agent Kallus]

They do need to learn that sets aimed at adults don't have to massive, they are starting to learn with the dioramas but even they are needlessly over done in ways. Just make good system sells and they will sell to the adult audience, it works for star wars it could work here.

All that said, I've saved for this and will get it but the point still stands.

I mean maybe Lord of Rings could replace Harry Potter, a little time? Perhaps it not as big but JK does like to alienate her audience. And they're running out of new stuff to do with the HP line. And whilst I enjoy the Indy films LotR is bigger than indy ( and closer to my heart) if indy can support system sets so can LotR. 

Edited February 8, 2023 by Agent Kallus

[MAB]

2 hours ago, Altair1 said:

3 levels is the minimum for Minas Tirith to look like Minas Tirith. Yes, I would much prefer a playset (even if I have to complement it myself later) than a microscale version in which the minifigs would not fit in.

This does it perfectly well in a single level with the courtyard and White Tree of Gondor surrounded by the Great Hall and Citadel. Just like Rivendell doesn't need the full location, Minas Tirith is recognizable at a large minifigure scale without needing to show the geography of the whole city. They can go big minifigure scale and do really nicely detailed buildings that figures can fit in and focus on character based scenes within Minas Tirith or a small minifigure scale like the MOCS on IDEAS, and have a tiny great hall that is just a couple of minifigures tall and focus on the shape of the overall city. Personally, I prefer the former to the latter. It comes down to do they want a display of the whole city or scenes within the city.

5 minutes ago, Agent Kallus said:

I mean maybe Lord of Rings could replace Harry Potter, a little time? ..... And they're running out of new stuff to do with the HP line. And whilst I enjoy the Indy films LotR is bigger than indy ( and closer to my heart) if indy can support system sets so can LotR. 

I don't think there is any need to. They are different audiences. It doesn't matter if they run out of new stuff for HP, since the audience is constantly refreshed and it is still popular with young kids now just as it was in the past. It has been three years since the burrow. Give it another two years, and they can probably do it again. Repeat that with Hagrid's Hut, the Forbidden Forest, and just about every room in Hogwarts. Kids will continue to want them. It doesn't really matter if adults don't buy the 8-12 age range sets as kids do.

Give it a few months and it wouldn't surprise me if Indy was bigger than LOTR for the 8-12 and 12-16 year old age brackets.

 

[Rjbricks]

12 hours ago, AmperZand said:

I still prefer my Yellowship of the Ring. I can’t abide fleshies and the K2 short legs with fleshy feet in the new Rivendell set are a turn for the worse. They, like all fleshy parts, are an abomination.

 

Love it.

Everyone bring a fleshy puts a bit of a downer on this for me. Mayhaps they’ll have a sale/double vip points over the next year or so. 
 

 

[Altair1]

12 minutes ago, MAB said:

This does it perfectly well in a single level with the courtyard and White Tree of Gondor surrounded by the Great Hall and Citadel. Just like Rivendell doesn't need the full location, Minas Tirith is recognizable at a large minifigure scale without needing to show the geography of the whole city. They can go big minifigure scale and do really nicely detailed buildings that figures can fit in and focus on character based scenes within Minas Tirith or a small minifigure scale like the MOCS on IDEAS, and have a tiny great hall that is just a couple of minifigures tall and focus on the shape of the overall city. Personally, I prefer the former to the latter. It comes down to do they want a display of the whole city or scenes within the city.

 

 

See, for me this does not do it at all. It has to look like Minas Tirith, not just a portion of it. Here is a good example: https://ideas.lego.com/projects/c8ea2aec-39a3-426e-9951-8fee9a759e67