Lord of the Rings Ongoing Discussion

[TheDoctor]

Seen quite a few comments over on Reddit discussing the fact that the designer was too inexperienced to be trusted with an Icons set.
That the set lacks innovative part usage and uses simplistic building techniques (I think the boomerang use was clever, personally!)

Interestingly, his own Bricklink has him listed as designer for only 2 sets since joining in 2022, both botanicals and both released last year. (Wreath and Rose Bouquet)
So I guess this was his first big project.

Kind of surprised he dropped the ball designing the party tree given his experience working on Botanicals.

From the interviews I've seen, he was very focused on delivering Bag End from the start of the Fellowship, rather than considering the location as a whole.
(I'm still puzzled it's called 'The Shire' when it's just the one hole)

Maybe, given this was such a big opportunity for him, he didn't want to rock the boat and say "look, I can't make this tree work within the budget, let's just dedicate the parts to the other aspects of the build".
Also, there is no excuse for that atrocious exposed wall on the right-hand side.



Disappointing to hear that it originally had multiple holes.
I think I would have preferred that, even if they were just a facade with a small front garden and a path leading to Bag End.


On a whole, quite negative discussion around the set.
It had two very impressive sets to try and follow, though.

[Lordhelmet]

Hey fun thought, next year is the 25th anniversary of the fellowship of the ring.  Wonder if we get a printed brick like Star Wars gets for its anniversaries if they do another set?  Also I would be good with Lothlorien for the anniversary set (I know I want Gondor the most too, but Lothlorien is at least in the fellowship). 

[wesker]

1 minute ago, Lordhelmet said:

Hey fun thought, next year is the 25th anniversary of the fellowship of the ring.  Wonder if we get a printed brick like Star Wars gets for its anniversaries if they do another set?  Also I would be good with Lothlorien for the anniversary set (I know I want Gondor the most too, but Lothlorien is at least in the fellowship). 

Lothlorien feels too much like a B-tier location to warrant such a large D2C set this soon. It lacks the iconography of Minas Tirith, Helms Deep, Edoras and Orthanc. It would be a nice set to have eventually - but only once the bigger locations have been covered first.

It would be nice to get some smaller display pieces though. Balin's Tomb, the Mirror of Galadriel, Amon Hen, Weathertop and the Argonath would be some good options for celebrating FOTR's anniversary.

[Jarreth2]

Don't forget the Lothlorien that won the grand prize of the Lego Ideas contest 🤔

[Lordhelmet]

2 hours ago, wesker said:

Lothlorien feels too much like a B-tier location to warrant such a large D2C set this soon. It lacks the iconography of Minas Tirith, Helms Deep, Edoras and Orthanc. It would be a nice set to have eventually - but only once the bigger locations have been covered first.

It would be nice to get some smaller display pieces though. Balin's Tomb, the Mirror of Galadriel, Amon Hen, Weathertop and the Argonath would be some good options for celebrating FOTR's anniversary.

I don’t disagree that the other locations are bigger, but only Orthanc had any real action in the fellowship, and they already did that one. Moria is the only other big ticket site, and with the book nook we will have (on shelves) the shire, barad dur, Rivendell, Moria all represented. 
 

I would also be good with smaller sets that you listed instead, but I still think Littleton would be cool in the $350-$400 range.

 

Plus a giant tree with elven structures, Galadriel, swan boats, that could be an awesome set that more than just LOTR fans are interested in.

 

for the record I want Gondor, but a 25th anniversary set would be nice.

[MAB]

7 hours ago, Lordhelmet said:

Hey fun thought, next year is the 25th anniversary of the fellowship of the ring.  Wonder if we get a printed brick like Star Wars gets for its anniversaries if they do another set?  Also I would be good with Lothlorien for the anniversary set (I know I want Gondor the most too, but Lothlorien is at least in the fellowship). 

I'm not up with all the Star Wars anniversary tiles, but don't they tend to print parts to celebrate anniversaries of LEGO Star Wars rather than the Star Wars movies? There has been the occasional Insiders reward, stickers for parts and advertising on boxes for movie anniversaries but pretty much all the printed parts I have celebrate LEGO SW anniversaries. Plus Star Wars is a major theme for LEGO with a long history so there has been significant LEGO anniversaries to celebrate. I'll be really surprised if they print bricks to celebrate the release date of the FOTR movie as they had nothing to do with it. Maybe they would use it as advertising on the box but printed parts seem unlikely. 

 

I imagine they would just do the next set that they want to do (if any) rather than trying to fit in something else from FOTR again just to match a movie release date. They are doing probably the iconic FOTR location this year. If they really wanted to tie it to an anniversary they could have waited a year.

Edited March 27 by MAB

[wesker]

27 minutes ago, MAB said:

I'm not up with all the Star Wars anniversary tiles, but don't they tend to print parts to celebrate anniversaries of LEGO Star Wars rather than the Star Wars movies? There has been the occasional Insiders reward, stickers for parts and advertising on boxes for movie anniversaries but pretty much all the printed parts I have celebrate LEGO SW anniversaries. Plus Star Wars is a major theme for LEGO with a long history so there has been significant LEGO anniversaries to celebrate. I'll be really surprised if they print bricks to celebrate the release date of the FOTR movie as they had nothing to do with it. Maybe they would use it as advertising on the box but printed parts seem unlikely. 

 

I imagine they would just do the next set that they want to do (if any) rather than trying to fit in something else from FOTR again just to match a movie release date. They are doing probably the iconic FOTR location this year. If they really wanted to tie it to an anniversary they could have waited a year.

Lego does celebrate anniversaries for individual Star Wars movies but that's only because its part of a larger cross brand promotion that comes directly under Lucasfilm, hence why other companies like Hasbro will use the same anniversary branding on their products.

Outside of that Lego doesn't really focus too much on anniversaries that exist outside of their product portfolio.

[Roebuck]

9 hours ago, TheDoctor said:

Seen quite a few comments over on Reddit discussing the fact that the designer was too inexperienced to be trusted with an Icons set.

This is not how it works, the fans do not decide which designers make a set. Nor do designers start on Duplo and work there way up to Icons etc. Some designers are hired in the Duplo theme and some in the Icons one. If you are hired in the Icons theme you might start of with a big D2C right of the bat, in City maybe a 10$ car. We AFOLs know a few of the designers that have been in advertising of sets etc, but there are a lot more that prefer a low profile. It is also a theme work so they get help.
What they do not control is the budget of the set and that must be one of the harder things being a Lego designer, every part has a price. I am sure a lot of fantastic MOC builders would go mad with the limitations if they where to design a Lego set.

The prelim of Medieval Town Square 10332 was a dream set to me, then they cut the budget by a lot and we ended up with a decent set robbed of a lot of the best parts.
 

9 hours ago, TheDoctor said:

Kind of surprised he dropped the ball designing the party tree given his experience working on Botanicals

It could be that it was the parts he could afford with the budget, a better looking tree with other parts may be to expensive to include or he might be forced to remove a minifig or two to change it 

[TheDoctor]

He's done it again!



https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-215877/rebelnili/the-shire-gwp-lush-tree/#comments

[brimbolet]

Honestly I think it's unfair to say the designer is inexperienced. I didn't plan to buy the set anyway since I'm not interested in Shire settings but apart from the tree the build is good; after all Hobbits are not famous for their architecture but laziness... With 2017 pieces counting roughly 8.5c/p the set would have cost us ca. 175-180$ and everybody would have been happy about it. It would be certainly better than the medieval village (without animals!). For the additional 100$ only the management is responsible and they should work in Saruman's forges for a few months as a punishment...

[MAB]

2 hours ago, TheDoctor said:

He's done it again!



 

Yes, that shows that if you add about another 200 parts to that set, making it about double the size of the original part count, then it looks better. But presumably then it becomes too big for the GWP budget the designer was working to. I know when I've done my own trees, adding small leaf parts to the big leaves can completely elevate the look of an otherwise fairly plain tree but it really adds to the cost. There is probably about £15 worth of leaves that have been added.

Edited March 27 by MAB

[mtrsteve]

22 minutes ago, MAB said:

Yes, that shows that if you add about another 200 parts to that set, making it about double the size of the original part count, then it looks better. But presumably then it becomes too big for the GWP budget the designer was working to. I know when I've done my own trees, adding small leaf parts to the big leaves can completely elevate the look of an otherwise fairly plain tree but it really adds to the cost. There is probably about £15 worth of leaves that have been added.

Agreed. I think the party tree *should* have been this detailed for the price we are paying. This is over the top for the GWP though, and I doubt anyone is actually going to do this for that build.

[RichardGoring]

Video review from Tiago Catarino. Nothing groundbreaking or new in it, but sometimes video can be better than static video. He recorded it before knowing the price, so guessed that it might be $220-$250, saying that under $200 would be great. Also suggested that LEGO must have set a budget, but Bag End didn't warrant being big enough to fill it, hence all the side builds. Essentially a lot of what we've all been saying. In the comments he's said that $270 is overpriced.

It feels a bit too nice of a review. He's pointed out the party tree as being not great 'in my opinion', but that's about it. Shame, as he used to be somewhat more critical of things. I hope he's not softening. Looking forward to JANG's review, but I might have bought it by then if I want the GWP.

Also, did a PAB order last night and bought a bunch of pieces for additional hobbits, so looking forward to filling it in.

I noticed that Rosie's torso has TERRIBLE skin printing on her chest. Such a shame. On the other hand, it almost looks yellow, so if it ever appears in PAB, then will be another good torso for castle! 

 

[Lordhelmet]

23 minutes ago, RichardGoring said:

Also, did a PAB order last night and bought a bunch of pieces for additional hobbits, so looking forward to filling it in.

Which torsos are you planning on using? 

[Virginia_Bricks]

Anyone find a video review yet that compares the last Bag End to this one?

Edited March 27 by Virginia_Bricks

[DonQuixote]

1 hour ago, RichardGoring said:

Video review from Tiago Catarino. Nothing groundbreaking or new in it, but sometimes video can be better than static video. He recorded it before knowing the price, so guessed that it might be $220-$250, saying that under $200 would be great. Also suggested that LEGO must have set a budget, but Bag End didn't warrant being big enough to fill it, hence all the side builds. Essentially a lot of what we've all been saying. In the comments he's said that $270 is overpriced.

It feels a bit too nice of a review. He's pointed out the party tree as being not great 'in my opinion', but that's about it. Shame, as he used to be somewhat more critical of things. I hope he's not softening. Looking forward to JANG's review, but I might have bought it by then if I want the GWP.

Also, did a PAB order last night and bought a bunch of pieces for additional hobbits, so looking forward to filling it in.

I noticed that Rosie's torso has TERRIBLE skin printing on her chest. Such a shame. On the other hand, it almost looks yellow, so if it ever appears in PAB, then will be another good torso for castle! 

 

Never trust a review from a member of LAN. Remember, they are getting sets for free. If they are too critical, they might not recieve free sets anymore .

A review of a LAN member is just a commercial. 

[mtrsteve]

5:42 in that video you get a nice shot of the white tree above Bilbo's fireplace.

[Cyprinus]

39 minutes ago, mtrsteve said:

5:42 in that video you get a nice shot of the white tree above Bilbo's fireplace.

It is a tree. Probably not the white tree, since it is there in the movies.

[HarryPotter27]

I have a side question here. Do we have any info if they plan to come back with a full wave? I'm a huge fan of the theme but I have none of the OG sets and I'm wondering whether to slowly start buying some of them and I am thinking which ones are the most worth it and least likely to be recreated again even in the case of a new wave which I assume even if it's created wouldn't be merely as big as what we got for Harry Potter. Maybe some figures like the troll from Moria or Thranduil have very little chance to be remade. Also, got my eye on a new sealed Helm's Deep in my local Lego store for 480eur which is crazy expensive.

Edited March 27 by HarryPotter27

[RichardGoring]

23 minutes ago, HarryPotter27 said:

I have a side question here. Do we have any info if they plan to come back with a full wave? I'm a huge fan of the theme but I have none of the OG sets and I'm wondering whether to slowly start buying some of them and I am thinking which ones are the most worth it and least likely to be recreated again even in the case of a new wave which I assume even if it's created wouldn't be merely as big as what we got for Harry Potter. Maybe some figures like the troll from Moria or Thranduil have very little chance to be remade. Also, got my eye on a new sealed Helm's Deep in my local Lego store for 480eur which is crazy expensive.

There are no publicly known plans or rumours for this. Speculation is that they likely won't release playsets. They did poorly last time, but the adult-focused sets have been doing well. But they are releasing a second, smaller set later this year (a Moria book nook), which could lead to more sets being released, but they may still steer towards adult sets rather than playsets. But nobody knows for certain.

If they do continue with adult-focused sets, it seems likely to be large scale sets as they've done for three years, dioramas, or specialty/gimmick sets that they think will appeal to adults. But that's purely speculation on my part, and from what's been discussed above. But again, nobody knows.

[hikouki]

5 hours ago, DonQuixote said:

Never trust a review from a member of LAN. Remember, they are getting sets for free. If they are too critical, they might not recieve free sets anymore .

A review of a LAN member is just a commercial. 

Ditto. Ditto. Ditto.

[Jarreth2]

I think , and it's only a personal opinion, that Lego decided they needed to do a cheaper set than Rivendell and Barad Dur .. I only own Rivendell as I wasn't interested in Barad Dar ( although I have begun saving with a possible view to getting it ) The Shire I like, but I wonder if they felt the need for a cheaper set to entice more people in to buy it. Had the designer had the budget like Rivendell and Barad Dar I'm sure we would have seen something quite different. I mean Rivendell is £160 more here in the UK, that would have made The Shire much more impressive. Just a thought 😁

[DonQuixote]

You can pre order the shire now for €220 at an European webshop. It will be delivered at July first.

[Roebuck]

10 hours ago, DonQuixote said:

Never trust a review from a member of LAN. Remember, they are getting sets for free. If they are too critical, they might not recieve free sets anymore .

A review of a LAN member is just a commercial. 

You have a point, but I do not think it ever has happened that anyone has lost their LAN statues because of bad set reviews.
On the other hand several of those brats that are not LAN members complain about everything to get clickbait titles and that is a lot more annoying.

[TheDoctor]

I really dislike that the tent is not connected to anything (I dislike that all the side builds are disconnected, really!)

So I've bought the parts to build it a base and add some party supplies as per the film.


(The bottle on the barrel will be the CMF 'grape' bottle, the closest we'll ever get to real alcohol! )

Edited March 28 by TheDoctor