Lord of the Rings Ongoing Discussion

[Black Monarch 88]

12 hours ago, Roebuck said:

I did not mean that LOTR is to blame for why we do not get a Castle wave in 2026, but why it disappeared in the first place. Castle had been around since 1978, then LOTR show up and the themes predate on each other and sell too little, get cancelled and here we are
 

We had a traditional castle theme in 2014 with blue lions and red dragons which I felt was a downgrade from Kingdoms. While the hobbits sets had a shorter shelf life I place more blame on nexo knights that ran for a couple years for the death of traditional castle themes. I’m happy we are getting some castle options and hopefully we get a full theme at some point. 

[MAB]

27 minutes ago, Black Monarch 88 said:

We had a traditional castle theme in 2014 with blue lions and red dragons which I felt was a downgrade from Kingdoms. While the hobbits sets had a shorter shelf life I place more blame on nexo knights that ran for a couple years for the death of traditional castle themes. I’m happy we are getting some castle options and hopefully we get a full theme at some point. 

Declining sales of traditional castle, especially small sets, are probably the reason LEGO wanted to try modernising Castle into Nexo Knights, and now they have seen the real Castle market is adults. ICONS and BDP provide them with great sellers.

The two 2014 Castle accessory / battle packs were clearanced here at 50%. I only bought 10 of each as Castle figures just weren't selling well at the time, mainly as I wanted the shields. It is only in recent years that they have become sought after, by adults (or, at least, at adult prices.)

[hikouki]

After Minas Tirith, what location could be next for LOTR?

Or would they start focusing on The Hobbits movies?

[Black Falcon]

1 hour ago, Black Monarch 88 said:

We had a traditional castle theme in 2014 with blue lions and red dragons which I felt was a downgrade from Kingdoms. While the hobbits sets had a shorter shelf life I place more blame on nexo knights that ran for a couple years for the death of traditional castle themes. I’m happy we are getting some castle options and hopefully we get a full theme at some point. 

Downgrade, from an adult point of view maybe, as especially the Joust Set and the Main castle are maybe a bit more towards a realistical castle (and the Joust wasn´t made that often either and Fantasy Era´s was just a small set anyways). But I don´t actually think that the 2013 Castle series was all that bad for kids. I mean the fact that it had Dragons again after Fantasy Era and I do actually like that Castle. The only thing that really looks bad to me are the Siege Engines of the Dragon Faction - and well the Wizards Tower could use some more bricks.

9 minutes ago, hikouki said:

After Minas Tirith, what location could be next for LOTR?

Or would they start focusing on The Hobbits movies?

Edoras would be my guess. There are plenty of options of course but at least Edoras (well the Hall only really) would allow them to make a smaller Set again after Minas Thirith, which I wouldn´t expect to happen with most of the other options.

[MAB]

2 hours ago, hikouki said:

After Minas Tirith, what location could be next for LOTR?

Or would they start focusing on The Hobbits movies?

I doubt they will revisit The Hobbit movies. 

[Mandalorianknight]

2 hours ago, hikouki said:

After Minas Tirith, what location could be next for LOTR?

Or would they start focusing on The Hobbits movies?

I think it'll likely be Helm's Deep or Orthanc, probably Helm's deep in 2027 and Orthanc in 2028.

(I know Orthanc is visually similar to Barad-Dur, but it'll have been 4 years between them by 2028, and there being two towers is of course a somewhat well-known thing even among casual LOTR fans.)

[Roebuck]

14 hours ago, Yperio_Bricks said:

The Hunt for Gollum is scheduled for release in December 2027. Prepare for playsets and battlepacks everyone! I mean, there is hope, right?

Definitely hope I guess it depends on the age range of the movie. New movies brought HP back and that is one of Lego most popular themes now

9 hours ago, hikouki said:

After Minas Tirith, what location could be next for LOTR?

Or would they start focusing on The Hobbits movies?

I hope for Edoras and some cavalry (knowing Lego it will have 2 horses ) 
Think they forgot The Hobbits movies like the rest of us 

[Altair1]

8 hours ago, Mandalorianknight said:

I think it'll likely be Helm's Deep or Orthanc

I hope not. We already have very decent versions of Helm's Deep and Orthanc. I would rather that they focused in priority on new locations (such as Edoras, Lothlorien, Grey Havens, etc...). Afterwards sure, why not.

9 hours ago, MAB said:

Or would they start focusing on The Hobbits movies?

Very unlikely, given how disappointing the Hobbit movies were compared to the LOTR movies... my understanding is that the Hobbit sets sales were even worse than those of the LOTR sets at the time.

Edited January 12 by Altair1

[Legopls]

5 hours ago, Altair1 said:

I hope not. We already have very decent versions of Helm's Deep and Orthanc. I would rather that they focused in priority on new locations (such as Edoras, Lothlorien, Grey Havens, etc...). Afterwards sure, why not.

I don’t think we should be looking for a deliberate strategy behind it, but it is true that they alternated between releasing a new set and a ‘remake’: Rivendell (remake), Barad-dûr (new), The Shire (remake), and now Minas Tirith. If that pattern is maintained (and if anything is planned for 2027 at all), then it would once again be a ‘remake.’ 

[Altair1]

1 hour ago, Legopls said:

I don’t think we should be looking for a deliberate strategy behind it, but it is true that they alternated between releasing a new set and a ‘remake’: Rivendell (remake), Barad-dûr (new), The Shire (remake), and now Minas Tirith. If that pattern is maintained (and if anything is planned for 2027 at all), then it would once again be a ‘remake.’ 

Well, in the case of Rivendell the tiny previous set was really lackluster and definitely needed a remake (and oh boy did they succeed in that remake!). As for the Shire, the previous set although very nice only featured Bag End (with no side scenes) and was actually a Hobbit set with dwarves, so there again a remake was welcome. On the other hand both Helm's Deep and Orthanc were complete and beautiful LOTR sets which do not really need remakes (although I would not mind getting at some point in the future a larger UCS Helm's Deep). 

Edited January 12 by Altair1

[kuzyabricks]

7 hours ago, Altair1 said:

I hope not. We already have very decent versions of Helm's Deep and Orthanc. I would rather that they focused in priority on new locations (such as Edoras, Lothlorien, Grey Havens, etc...). Afterwards sure, why not.

Very unlikely, given how disappointing the Hobbit movies were compared to the LOTR movies... my understanding is that the Hobbit sets sales were even worse than those of the LOTR sets at the time.

Those were 14 years ago. They’re over $600+ on the aftermarket. Lego should absolutely make another helms deep as it is much more iconic compared to the other locations you listed.

[MAB]

45 minutes ago, kuzyabricks said:

Those were 14 years ago. They’re over $600+ on the aftermarket. Lego should absolutely make another helms deep as it is much more iconic compared to the other locations you listed.

Yeah, I don't think LEGO care they made them before. It was long enough ago that they will do them again if they think they will sell well now. Just like Bag End.

[kuzyabricks]

23 minutes ago, MAB said:

Yeah, I don't think LEGO care they made them before. It was long enough ago that they will do them again if they think they will sell well now. Just like Bag End.

I would love some hobbit sets too. I expect Helms Deep and Orthanc to be next. After I could see some hobbit sets if the sets are still selling well. 

[Black Falcon]

17 hours ago, Mandalorianknight said:

I think it'll likely be Helm's Deep or Orthanc, probably Helm's deep in 2027 and Orthanc in 2028.

(I know Orthanc is visually similar to Barad-Dur, but it'll have been 4 years between them by 2028, and there being two towers is of course a somewhat well-known thing even among casual LOTR fans.)

I wouldn´t be surprised if we see Orthanc shortly after Barad-Dûr is retired, so 2028 seems like a likely date, however I don´t think they will touch Helms Deep so short after Minas Tirith. Both are just to similar I think. Not in the overall look or the build, but both are two of the most important locations in the films where big battles happened, it would yet again be probably a rather big Set and it would be two fortresses after another. I just think we would get a smaller Set again next, especially after such a big Set like Minas Tirith. 

[Mandalorianknight]

10 hours ago, Altair1 said:

I hope not. We already have very decent versions of Helm's Deep and Orthanc. I would rather that they focused in priority on new locations (such as Edoras, Lothlorien, Grey Havens, etc...). Afterwards sure, why not.

Very unlikely, given how disappointing the Hobbit movies were compared to the LOTR movies... my understanding is that the Hobbit sets sales were even worse than those of the LOTR sets at the time.

It'll have been 15 years since each of those released (assuming Helm's in 2027 and Orthanc in 2028). As @kuzyabricks points out, they're both extremely expensive on the aftermarket. And Helm's Deep was even a standard system set, not a big "UCS" set like Orthanc or the ones we're getting now, so it's not really different from, say, the Bag End set we just got compared to the old one.

At the end of the day I think both Helm's Deep and Orthanc are a lot more iconic than something like the Gray Havens, Meduseld (They might be able to pull off minas tirith with a microscale front and figure-scale back/interior, but there's no way we'd get all of Edoras), or even Lothlorien. And since it's been a decade and a half, I don't think Lego would view the old versions as preventing new ones. If anything, I think the established secondhand demand they have would show lego there's a market for those locations. 

1 hour ago, Black Falcon said:

I wouldn´t be surprised if we see Orthanc shortly after Barad-Dûr is retired, so 2028 seems like a likely date, however I don´t think they will touch Helms Deep so short after Minas Tirith. Both are just to similar I think. Not in the overall look or the build, but both are two of the most important locations in the films where big battles happened, it would yet again be probably a rather big Set and it would be two fortresses after another. I just think we would get a smaller Set again next, especially after such a big Set like Minas Tirith. 

I think Helm's Deep could reasonably be done around the size of Lion Knight's Castle, if not a bit smaller, putting it at around the cost of Barad-Dur (so on the cheaper end of these sets). As for being a location where a big battle happened, I don't think lego's all that worried about having two sets based on "two of the most important locations in the films where big battles happened". Them both being fortresses is a good point, but Helm's Deep is much more of a traditional grey castle whereas Minas Tirith will likely be a microscale white city, I think they're different enough.

If lego is that worried about them both being fortresses, maybe we get some sort of large Moria set? We've seen with the Batman shadow box that they don't have an issue making large caves, and there's a few iconic scenes they could represent there. The Book Nook might be a bit of an issue with that, though.

2 hours ago, kuzyabricks said:

I would love some hobbit sets too. I expect Helms Deep and Orthanc to be next. After I could see some hobbit sets if the sets are still selling well. 

I think Hobbit sets are definitely possible if these continue to do well. People might not be the biggest fans of the films, but something like the Lonely Mountain would probably do just fine. Though I wouldn't bet on Lake-Town.

[Black Falcon]

4 hours ago, Mandalorianknight said:

I think Helm's Deep could reasonably be done around the size of Lion Knight's Castle, if not a bit smaller, putting it at around the cost of Barad-Dur (so on the cheaper end of these sets). As for being a location where a big battle happened, I don't think lego's all that worried about having two sets based on "two of the most important locations in the films where big battles happened". Them both being fortresses is a good point, but Helm's Deep is much more of a traditional grey castle whereas Minas Tirith will likely be a microscale white city, I think they're different enough.

If lego is that worried about them both being fortresses, maybe we get some sort of large Moria set? We've seen with the Batman shadow box that they don't have an issue making large caves, and there's a few iconic scenes they could represent there. The Book Nook might be a bit of an issue with that, though.

Well for sure they wouldn´t be worried about any of thos things, it was more that they might want to have more diversity between the sets. So far the sets we got were quite different, from the Playscale Rivendell, to Barad-Dûr and then Bagend both from the overall design and the general look. Moria is definitely on my list of more Iconic Locations that I think are likely to happen in the next years, together with Helms Hold, Meduseld, Orthanc... And I don´t think the Booknook will be an issue here, as both are very different builds and the soonest it could show up is next, when the booknook is said to retire anyways.

[hikouki]

They could probably do some small sets every now and then for The Hobbit. I really want another Smaug. (missed out on that one) LOL

[Roebuck]

3 hours ago, hikouki said:

They could probably do some small sets every now and then for The Hobbit. I really want another Smaug. (missed out on that one) LOL

They probably need the budget of a normal wave of sets to pull anything like Smaug of again, even if they just bring back all the parts of the old one it will cost a lot of money..
I also regret not buying that at the time

[Altair1]

Of course it is understandable that those who missed the initial wave of LOTR and Hobbit sets have different wishes and expectations on the future of the theme than those (like me) who did buy all these sets at the time. Anyway time will tell, hopefully Lego will find the right balance between new sets and remakes to please as many fans as possible.

Edited January 13 by Altair1

[Renny The Spaceman]

1 hour ago, Roebuck said:

They probably need the budget of a normal wave of sets to pull anything like Smaug of again, even if they just bring back all the parts of the old one it will cost a lot of money..
I also regret not buying that at the time

God those sets were so cheap in the 2010s, really should have taken advantage of that. But I think what this commenter meant was doing like a brick built Smaug which I think is the only Hobbit set LEGO would do

[sebulba56]

3 hours ago, Roebuck said:

They probably need the budget of a normal wave of sets to pull anything like Smaug of again, even if they just bring back all the parts of the old one it will cost a lot of money..
I also regret not buying that at the time

Given it's size, Smaug could be brickbuilt. I would find it way more nice in the context of an "adult" set. A big moulded dragon would be too toyish in my opinion.

[Roebuck]

9 hours ago, Renny The Spaceman said:

But I think what this commenter meant was doing like a brick built Smaug

Yes then it is something else and no huge part budget required, however we have gotten a few brick built dragons lately so not so interesting to me I must say.. 

[MAB]

1 hour ago, Roebuck said:

Yes then it is something else and no huge part budget required, however we have gotten a few brick built dragons lately so not so interesting to me I must say.. 

While they might not need a new parts budget, a brick built Smaug would need a lot of parts. So both ways, it would be expensive. 

[hikouki]

10 hours ago, Roebuck said:

Yes then it is something else and no huge part budget required, however we have gotten a few brick built dragons lately so not so interesting to me I must say.. 

Re-use some Jurassic Park moulds. 

[ShaydDeGrai]

19 hours ago, MAB said:

While they might not need a new parts budget, a brick built Smaug would need a lot of parts. So both ways, it would be expensive. 

While Smaug wouldn't be MY first choice for their next Middle Earth set, if they were to do it I think it would have to be brick built and large enough to do justice to the character.  Smaug should be large enough to swallow a dwarf like a TicTac, so if you want something you can pose with minifigures it would need to be at least twice the size of anything they've done for Ninjago or D&D before I'd consider it a serious offering (and yes, that would make it a very pricey set).

What would I do instead of Smaug?  Well, I would say the Argonath, but, as you can tell from my avatar, I've already got one of those, and anything TLG came up with in an official kit would likely be a lot small than mine).   It might be nice to see them done as a pair of bookends though (I've been meaning to MOC this up for years and just never got 'round to it.)

I think Meduseld, the Golden Hall of Edoras, would be a strong contender for the "Rivendell Treatment"  I could see that being a cool model for either display or play with enough complexity to appeal to the 18+ crowd.

I also wouldn't object to a UCS revisit to Helm's Deep.  I have the entire original line of LOTR kits (and frankly, was a bit disappointed by most of them when compared to the sorts of MOCs people had been building for years just based on the books before the movies came out)  and while Helm's Deep was probably the best of the lot (especially when combined with a half dozen Uruk Hai Army battle packs) the scale of the set really didn't due justice to the setting.

And speaking of scale, they could also revisit Cirith Gorgor and Morannon (a.k.a. The Black Gate).  This location is supposed to be the Towers of the Teeth (Narchost and Carchost) and the Black Gate, not The Tower of the Tooth and the tripping hazard as realized in the original model.  The original effort was so scaled back, you needed two of them (building one looking at the instruction book in a mirror) just to complete the scene and even then you were left with a "gate" that inspired the meme "One does simply hop the fence into Mordor"