Lord of the Rings Ongoing Discussion

[Blazej_Holen]

53 minutes ago, brickbride said:

Also the Death Star is probably the most iconic thing about Star Wars next to the Millenium Falcon. It makes sense for those two to be the uber-pricey flagship sets because for many people, if they only buy one Star Wars set in their lives it's either of these.

Minas Tirith isn't in the same category IMO. It's an iconic location, sure, but not the most iconic, and not the most plot-relevant or the most beloved either. If I remember correctly, several of the most important characters like Frodo and Sam never even set foot there. People want it for reasons of completionism and they want a large version because the architecture requires it but I don't know. Who's really going to be satisfied with having Minas Tirith as their only LotR set? I don't think anywhere near as many people would buy it at the EUR 850-1.000 price point as would buy the Falcon or the Death Star.

All members of the Fellowship was actually there at one point. Including Frodo and Sam. Minas Tirith is Iconic because of the Battle on the Pellennor fields. Forgot about that? 

[brickbride]

18 minutes ago, Blazej_Holen said:

Minas Tirith is Iconic because of the Battle on the Pellennor fields. Forgot about that? 

It's been ages since I've read the books but when I think Minas Tirith, I think the White Tree, Houses of Healing, Denethor's seat, and so on. The Pellennor Fields are not the city proper. In LEGO terms that would be an entirely different set and I don't think we'd get Frodo and Sam with Minas Tirith, either.

Edited April 6 by brickbride

[Blazej_Holen]

Just now, brickbride said:

It's been ages since I've read the books but when I think Minas Torith, I think the White Tree, Houses of Healing, Denethor's seat, and so on. The Pellennor Fields are not the city proper. In LEGO terms that would be an entirely different set and I don't think we'd get Frodo and Sam with Minas Tirith, either.

It wont. Most of the battle turned into siege of the city… 

[brickbride]

If they make a truly gigantic set maybe. But I'd rather expect us to get a Minas Tirith focusing on the area at the very top (the size of the Shire set) and possibly but not really likely a seperate Pellennor Fields/city gates one. A EUR 1.000 Minas Tirith seems really unlikely to me for reasons explained above.

Also LEGO seem to shy away from depicting actual warfare so far. We've had two idyllic locations and even Barad-Dur had a rather cutesy interior given the subject matter. A battlefield's not likely IMO. 

Edited April 6 by brickbride

[Blazej_Holen]

1 minute ago, brickbride said:

If they make a truly gigantic set maybe. But I'd rather expect us to get a Minas Tirith focusing on the area at the very top and a seperate Pellennor Fields/city gates one. A EUR 1.000 Minas Tirith seems really unlikely to me for reasons explained above.

Maybe, we shall see :) I would prefer both variants. As collector, I like the idea of Minas Tirith (Barad Dur style in terms of scale) in $1000 price point. I can be in peace with multiple playsets which I get just for minifigs and then build my own version of the Gondor Capital. So its basically win win if Lego decides to depict Gondor in one way or another :)

[BrickBob Studpants]

While Minas Tirith is near the top of my wishlist, what I want the most are a Mûmakil and the Witch-King  Both could theoretically be included in a Minas Tirith set, but one focussing on the Battle on the Pelennor Fields would be preferable to me if it features them.

[wesker]

I think the most likely option for Minas Tirith would be to do what Barad-Dur did - have a microscale exterior that faithfully recreates the city but have the backside incorporate minifigure scaled interior rooms. It should definitely be possible to do that around the same price range as Rivendell and Barad-Dur.

I do like the idea of a separate set focusing only on the top level with the white tree. They could differentiate this version by focusing it around Aragorn's coronation rather than Gondor but I don't think this one should come before the city itself.

The only way I see the walls/gates of Minas Tirith happening is if its paired with a siege tower as part of a battle pack. But I think if such a set were to happen it would be a stand alone build like the Mirkwood Elf set that wouldn't really be compatible with any larger D2C set.
 

13 minutes ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

While Minas Tirith is near the top of my wishlist, what I want the most are a Mûmakil and the Witch-King  Both could theoretically be included in a Minas Tirith set, but one focussing on the Battle on the Pelennor Fields would be preferable to me if it features them.

I second this. You can't have the Battle of Pelennor without these two. While I'm okay with the Witch-King being included as part of Minas Tirith I do think the Mumakil needs its own set to do its scale justice.

[Alcarin]

59 minutes ago, brickbride said:

If they make a truly gigantic set maybe. But I'd rather expect us to get a Minas Tirith focusing on the area at the very top (the size of the Shire set) and possibly but not really likely a seperate Pellennor Fields/city gates one. A EUR 1.000 Minas Tirith seems really unlikely to me for reasons explained above.

Also LEGO seem to shy away from depicting actual warfare so far. We've had two idyllic locations and even Barad-Dur had a rather cutesy interior given the subject matter. A battlefield's not likely IMO. 

Interesting, seeing as LEGO depicts battlefields non stop in Star Wars 

12 minutes ago, wesker said:

I think the most likely option for Minas Tirith would be to do what Barad-Dur did - have a microscale exterior that faithfully recreates the city but have the backside incorporate minifigure scaled interior rooms. It should definitely be possible to do that around the same price range as Rivendell and Barad-Dur.

I do like the idea of a separate set focusing only on the top level with the white tree. They could differentiate this version by focusing it around Aragorn's coronation rather than Gondor but I don't think this one should come before the city itself.

The only way I see the walls/gates of Minas Tirith happening is if its paired with a siege tower as part of a battle pack. But I think if such a set were to happen it would be a stand alone build like the Mirkwood Elf set that wouldn't really be compatible with any larger D2C set.
 

I second this. You can't have the Battle of Pelennor without these two. While I'm okay with the Witch-King being included as part of Minas Tirith I do think the Mumakil needs its own set to do its scale justice.

To be honest... I would rather just get White Tower of Ecthelion then and Denethor + Pippin in Gondor attire + Gandalf + 4x Fountain Guards (Might aswell add Faramir in Gndor attire then) in full armor new helmet and rectangular Gondor shield... I think such set should DEFINETLY be doable for a price point of 400-500$...

Edited April 6 by Alcarin

[Black Falcon]

1 hour ago, brickbride said:

Also the Death Star is probably the most iconic thing about Star Wars next to the Millenium Falcon. It makes sense for those two to be the uber-pricey flagship sets because for many people, if they only buy one Star Wars set in their lives it's either of these.

Minas Tirith isn't in the same category IMO. It's an iconic location, sure, but not the most iconic, and not the most plot-relevant or the most beloved either. If I remember correctly, several of the most important characters like Frodo and Sam never even set foot there. People want it for reasons of completionism and they want a large version because the architecture requires it but I don't know. Who's really going to be satisfied with having Minas Tirith as their only LotR set? I don't think anywhere near as many people would buy it at the EUR 850-1.000 price point as would buy the Falcon or the Death Star.

Probably the two you meantioned and the Star Destroyer. But overall I would say that Minas Thirid, while not beeing the most Iconic Location in LotR (though, honestly I couldn´t really name one) it is still a very important one and overall the one that would benefit the most of a big 1000€ Set. Would many just buy it as a single Set? No, I don´t think so, but I don´t really think people do this with Star Wars either. But I agree with you that less people would buy it compared to a Star Wars UCS, after all the Fan base overall is smaller.

But still I wouldn´t rule out that Lego would do it, even if it seems less likely. I could see them doing it in all Ranges between 500-1000€. 

19 minutes ago, brickbride said:

If they make a truly gigantic set maybe. But I'd rather expect us to get a Minas Tirith focusing on the area at the very top (the size of the Shire set) and possibly but not really likely a seperate Pellennor Fields/city gates one. A EUR 1.000 Minas Tirith seems really unlikely to me for reasons explained above.

I wouldn´t rule out any option, if we actually get the city at all ofc. Sure some are more likely than others, like they could go he same way with it like they did with Barad-Dûr, but for this set it seems just less likely. I mean, Barad-Dûr is a Tower, to interior is all well, but for Minas Tirith the interior would be pretty much in the mountain. Just the top doesn´t seem that unlikely either, but I could also see them doing the top with another Section, so it doesn´t look that flat and people get an idea of the overall shap of the original city.

19 minutes ago, brickbride said:

Also LEGO seem to shy away from depicting actual warfare so far. We've had two idyllic locations and even Barad-Dur had a rather cutesy interior given the subject matter. A battlefield's not likely IMO. 

I think one of the reasons might be that to depict actual warfare, you need a certain amount of minifigs, aside hat the locaions they choose are some of the most iconic for the franchise, but don´t really are those that you would think of as location of a battle - even with Barad-Dûr. If they would make a Black Gate Set, which together with Orthanc are the two most Iconic "Dark" locations, I would totally expect a battle underneath. If we ever get one, we will have to see, but if they keep doing one Set each year for a while, Black Gate, Orthanc (probably not the first Set they´ll do, but I don´t think they will skip it just because they made one years ago), Helms Deep, Meduseld, Minas Thirid and Mines of Moria are the most Iconic Locations (might be missing something ofc) I would expect them to make Sets of.

Anyways, just because they haven´t done Battle Scenes so far, I wouldn´t say they won´t make them at all. 

 

21 minutes ago, wesker said:

I think the most likely option for Minas Tirith would be to do what Barad-Dur did - have a microscale exterior that faithfully recreates the city but have the backside incorporate minifigure scaled interior rooms. It should definitely be possible to do that around the same price range as Rivendell and Barad-Dur.

I am acually not sure of that. I mean, it surely wouldn´t be as high as Barad Dûr, but bigger in the other two Dimensions, so if they would do all of the City that way, I would expect a Price higher than the other two. 

[Cyprinus]

1 hour ago, Black Falcon said:

I am acually not sure of that. I mean, it surely wouldn´t be as high as Barad Dûr, but bigger in the other two Dimensions, so if they would do all of the City that way, I would expect a Price higher than the other two. 

Yeah, it definately would need to be more expensive than Barad-Dur. To make it look decent it would need to be much wider and at least a bit deeper, while in height I'd say you'd probably skip the final tower segment of BD. At best. if BD is a 460$ set, that would probably start somewhere around 600$... Possibly more in some countries, depending on the tariffs in place...

[RichardGoring]

4 hours ago, brickbride said:

Also the Death Star is probably the most iconic thing about Star Wars next to the Millenium Falcon. It makes sense for those two to be the uber-pricey flagship sets because for many people, if they only buy one Star Wars set in their lives it's either of these.

Minas Tirith isn't in the same category IMO. It's an iconic location, sure, but not the most iconic, and not the most plot-relevant or the most beloved either. If I remember correctly, several of the most important characters like Frodo and Sam never even set foot there. People want it for reasons of completionism and they want a large version because the architecture requires it but I don't know. Who's really going to be satisfied with having Minas Tirith as their only LotR set? I don't think anywhere near as many people would buy it at the EUR 850-1.000 price point as would buy the Falcon or the Death Star.

Completely agree. I don't think they will do it, but if they were considering a $1000 LotR set, they surely wouldn't release it until after they had data from doing the $1000 Death Star. Although I suppose it's probably going to be similar enough to the $850 AT-AT.

I do think that Minas Tirith is pretty iconic though. After Bag End and Barad Dur?

[brickbride]

It's definitely one of the more iconic locations, no doubt about that. But I think people have more of an attachment to Bag End (as the starting and end point of both LotR and the Hobbit). Or Rivendell which again appears in both LotR and the Hobbit and is a major starting point as well (the birthplace of the Fellowship). With Minas Tirith, you have an iconic look (comparably to other locations like Barad-Dur) but one that's hard to recreate in LEGO form due to its sheer size, although again I think a set just focusing on the area around the palace and the White Tree could look pretty good, the yellowing issue notwithstanding. Action-wise however, comparatively little happens within the city compared to its size (again I'm not talking about the Pellennor Fields) and most of what happens there has negative connotations (especially Denethor learning of Boromir's death and then completely losing it), so I just don't think most people would look on it the same as they would look on Rivendell or the Shire.

Someone made the Star Wars comparison a few posts ago. Of course LEGO have no qualms about depicting warfare, but you know, it's Star WARS. It's hard to find anything iconic in that theme that's not either some sort of weapon, flying or otherwise, or the site of a battle. With LotR, right now they seem to try and emphasize more the magical look of Middle-Earth. Their version of Barad-Dur's interior is ridiculously tame given its nature; the library/office and cantina levels could be seemlessly transferred to a Hogwarts castle set and wouldn't look out of place there, and the skeleton in a cage looks like something right out of Ninjago. And Gollum being tortured there has been turned into "Gollum's hideout". If we get Minas Tirith I'm pretty sure it will be in its white splendor, not besieged with bloody ramparts, fires, and corpses everywhere.

Edited April 6 by brickbride

[Blazej_Holen]

23 minutes ago, brickbride said:

It's definitely one of the more iconic locations, no doubt about that. But I think people have more of an attachment to Bag End (as the starting and end point of both LotR and the Hobbit). Or Rivendell which again appears in both LotR and the Hobbit and is a major starting point as well (the birthplace of the Fellowship). With Minas Tirith, you have an iconic look (comparably to other locations like Barad-Dur) but one that's hard to recreate in LEGO form due to its sheer size, although again I think a set just focusing on the area around the palace and the White Tree could look pretty good, the yellowing issue notwithstanding. Action-wise however, comparatively little happens within the city compared to its size (again I'm not talking about the Pellennor Fields) and most of what happens there has negative connotations (especially Denethor learning of Boromir's death and then completely losing it), so I just don't think most people would look on it the same as they would look on Rivendell or the Shire.

Someone made the Star Wars comparison a few posts ago. Of course LEGO have no qualms about depicting warfare, but you know, it's Star WARS. It's hard to find anything iconic in that theme that's not either some sort of weapon, flying or otherwise, or the site of a battle. With LotR, right now they seem to try and emphasize more the magical look of Middle-Earth. Their version of Barad-Dur's interior is ridiculously tame given its nature; the library/office and cantina levels could be seemlessly transferred to a Hogwarts castle set and wouldn't look out of place there, and the skeleton in a cage looks like something right out of Ninjago. And Gollum being tortured there has been turned into "Gollum's hideout". If we get Minas Tirith I'm pretty sure it will be in its white splendor, not besieged with bloody ramparts, fires, and corpses everywhere.

Lego made Barad Dur. Location where nothing, literally NOTHING happened except of Gollum’s torture. Noone from the Fellowship went there. So why they wouldnt make Minas Tirith which is main centre point in ROTK? 🤔

[Lordhelmet]

50 minutes ago, Blazej_Holen said:

Lego made Barad Dur. Location where nothing, literally NOTHING happened except of Gollum’s torture. Noone from the Fellowship went there. So why they wouldnt make Minas Tirith which is main centre point in ROTK? 🤔

Barad Dur is almost more like a buildable character than it is a location (based on the movies depiction of the eye). And let’s be honest it was a great Batman character too.

 

i don’t disagree with your point though.  Minis Tirith is shown in all three movies as the primary defense against the dark, it features heavily in the plot, visually, and is the scene of a lot of activity.  While Rivendell is awesome, I would argue in the movies Minis Tirith has a much more prominent role, and is more recognizable.  It is also by far the most important location in return of the king.

I get why they started with Rivendell, Barad Dur, and the shire.  But Minis Tirith needs to be made next, and soon.  It is a top five location in the movies and the only one to not have any representation in Lego.

[brickbride]

1 hour ago, Blazej_Holen said:

Lego made Barad Dur. Location where nothing, literally NOTHING happened except of Gollum’s torture. Noone from the Fellowship went there. So why they wouldnt make Minas Tirith which is main centre point in ROTK? 🤔

Barad-Dur is an iconic location, Fellowship or not. The giant black tower with the eye on top is recognisable enough that, as @Lordhelmetsays, it even worked as a Batman movie villain. And again the main problem with Minas Tirith compared to other locations is scale. And again I do think we'll get Minas Tirith if they continue with the series. I just don't think we'll get a UCS 10.000 pieces Minas Tirith that's minifig sized while featuring the entire city on the hill plus the Pellennor Fields. A set the size of the Shire featuring the heart of the city seems entirely doable. (As does a microscale set of the entire city but that would not display well with the other LotR sets so I cannot really see it.)

Edited April 6 by brickbride

[Alcarin]

Yeh obviously I dont think we will ever get Minas Tirith as it should be (Because it had to be like 50.000 pieces...)

 

But getting White Tower + the White tree, should work.

[Lordhelmet]

4 hours ago, Alcarin said:

Yeh obviously I dont think we will ever get Minas Tirith as it should be (Because it had to be like 50.000 pieces...)

 

But getting White Tower + the White tree, should work.

I would like a Rivendell styled white tower/throne area/tree maybe have houses of healing with a garden or a beacon (like the armory section). $700 ish dollars.  Then a separate micro scale build of the whole city like the recent hogwarts and grounds.

[brickbride]

18 minutes ago, Lordhelmet said:

Then a separate micro scale build of the whole city like the recent hogwarts and grounds.

I see the same problem here as with the Death Star comparison: Hogwarts is the main and most iconic location of its franchise, Minas Tirith is not. You can put a microscale Hogwarts up as a display and it will look complete, but a microscale Minas Tirith won't look as complete without a microscale Shire, Rivendell, and so on to go with it.

Then again, there's unlicenced microscale Minas Tirith sets by competing companies, I tink, so you might be in luck, since LEGO do seem to have made it their mission to pull all their competitors' best-selling products into their own portfolio.

[Lordhelmet]

58 minutes ago, brickbride said:

I see the same problem here as with the Death Star comparison: Hogwarts is the main and most iconic location of its franchise, Minas Tirith is not. You can put a microscale Hogwarts up as a display and it will look complete, but a microscale Minas Tirith won't look as complete without a microscale Shire, Rivendell, and so on to go with it.

Then again, there's unlicenced microscale Minas Tirith sets by competing companies, I tink, so you might be in luck, since LEGO do seem to have made it their mission to pull all their competitors' best-selling products into their own portfolio.

Not buying the competition.  I spend enough collecting Lego LOTR.  
 

But I think you made a point that Lego could sell it fine.  if it’s their competitors top seller, then Lego should have no trouble selling it with the brand recognition.

[Black Falcon]

2 hours ago, brickbride said:

I see the same problem here as with the Death Star comparison: Hogwarts is the main and most iconic location of its franchise, Minas Tirith is not. You can put a microscale Hogwarts up as a display and it will look complete, but a microscale Minas Tirith won't look as complete without a microscale Shire, Rivendell, and so on to go with it.

Minas Tirith is one single location, and as such, it doesn´t need any other location that is located elsewhere to look complete for me. 

2 hours ago, brickbride said:

Then again, there's unlicenced microscale Minas Tirith sets by competing companies, I tink, so you might be in luck, since LEGO do seem to have made it their mission to pull all their competitors' best-selling products into their own portfolio.

This has a bit of victim-perpetrator role reversal.

 

[MAB]

12 hours ago, wesker said:

I think the most likely option for Minas Tirith would be to do what Barad-Dur did - have a microscale exterior that faithfully recreates the city but have the backside incorporate minifigure scaled interior rooms. It should definitely be possible to do that around the same price range as Rivendell and Barad-Dur.

To me, that is the worst of both worlds. Microscale gives the overall shape of the city but not really any detail, and the minifigure scale interiors would be rather irrelevant as most scenes occur outside. Rooms inside Barad-Dur work as it is a tower and you expect rooms in a tower (even if the scale is off). Whereas having rooms inside a City (rather than a building) would be weird. 

[Lordhelmet]

If you haven’t done so it’s worth checking the winner of the LOTR Lego ideas challenge from when Rivendell was released.  Minis Tirith was great in micro scale.

[brickbride]

5 hours ago, Black Falcon said:

This has a bit of victim-perpetrator role reversal.

???

I'm talking neither victims nor perpetrators, it's just a fact. Stuff like Notre Dame, Neuschwanstein, the solar system model, a Hogwarts express booknook, Sherlock Holmes, One Piece,  Pokemon, Star Trek ... have all been done by other brick companies first. Are you telling me that LEGO wouldn't gauge their sales before making their own versions?

Edited April 7 by brickbride

[Alcarin]

9 hours ago, Lordhelmet said:

I would like a Rivendell styled white tower/throne area/tree maybe have houses of healing with a garden or a beacon (like the armory section). $700 ish dollars.  Then a separate micro scale build of the whole city like the recent hogwarts and grounds.

That would be overkill imo...

 

Id rather see White tower + white tree seperate build (that green courtyard and 4x Gondor Guards with those special helmets + Gandalf + Denethor + Faramir and Pippin both in Gondor attires...

I think that would work and since White tower is not as big as Orthanc/Barad-dur it could be a neat 400$ set or maybe even 350$...

[Blazej_Holen]

2 hours ago, Alcarin said:

That would be overkill imo...

 

Id rather see White tower + white tree seperate build (that green courtyard and 4x Gondor Guards with those special helmets + Gandalf + Denethor + Faramir and Pippin both in Gondor attires...

I think that would work and since White tower is not as big as Orthanc/Barad-dur it could be a neat 400$ set or maybe even 350$...

White tower itself doesent make any sense. Also 4x Gondorian guards is nonsense, we never get that many guards in one set. Usually Lego is very good at dissapointing their fans in terms on what they include in sets... Rivendell is rare exception...