MAB Posted January 19 Posted January 19 7 hours ago, BrickPrick said: The new Sauron helmet instantly including a minifigure is the stuff of distant dreams. Take notes, Lego Star Wars. The time of finally getting one of these helmets might be finally here for me. I just want some LOTR minifigures, man. Though depending on how much it settles, purchasing the figure separately might be the wise thing to do. =) I don't think the minifigure is really missing from SW Helmets, or if it would be a big deal if one was included. I think all the characters that had SW Helmets had readily available minifigures in cheap sets. That is where Sauron is different. I already bought a fake Sauron as I wanted to customise him by cutting and painting him anyway but I was also considering buying a genuine one "for the collection" as I don't really care for Barad-Dur so wasn't going to buy the set for myself. The figure appearing in the Helmet set makes it a no brainer for me. I wouldn't mind it if they do the same thing with the Witch King. Have him in a big set, then later repeat in a Helmet set. Quote
BrickPrick Posted January 19 Posted January 19 (edited) 3 hours ago, MAB said: I don't think the minifigure is really missing from SW Helmets, or if it would be a big deal if one was included. I think all the characters that had SW Helmets had readily available minifigures in cheap sets. That is where Sauron is different. Just because it makes more sense to do some things for certain themes than others, in this case to include a single minifigure in an 18+ sub-theme, doesn't necessarily mean it isn't still missing in the first place. As for Star Wars helmets, if you look at the line-up as a whole, you can see a mixed bag regarding the availability of the characters the helmets are based on. Sure, you've got your common everyday main characters like Darth Vader and the Mandalorian, which wouldn't make the inclusion of a minifig terribly relevant. But then you have helmets like Boushh Leia and Kylo Ren, which haven't had minifigures in ages at this point. You have cookie cutter troopers like the Stormie been on steady supply on one hand, but the AT-AT driver is no longer available as the helmet released. Cody is locked behind a set twice the price as the helmet is. Rex wasn't available in a cheaper set until later on. So I don't see this topic as quite one dimensional as it may seem at first. Not that it would hurt anybody to just include a single minifig anyways. Especially at the high price points Lego is asking for. Edited January 19 by BrickPrick Quote
ShaydDeGrai Posted January 20 Posted January 20 I was just cleaning up a bit this weekend and happened across some old LOTR and Hobbit "spare" sets (either kits I never got around to building or extras I bought to MOD-out official sets into something more suitable in scale in my mind - looking at you puny Weathertop, pathetic little Orc Forge and Black Tripping Hazard on a Hinge Gate). If I'm being honest, and no disrespect to the original designers of these sets intended, I really don't think TLG needs to worry about revisiting any of their prior efforts on this theme. It's been more than a decade since those sets first came out and some of them were pretty forgettable even in their heyday (I had an "oh yeah, they DID have a Moria set didn't they. Nice doorway, now where's the rest of it" moment when I found the box.) I can appreciate TLG needing to make sets at various price points when targeting a playset line, but if the game plan is to do one 18+ flagship set a year, the should just ignore any prior art and make the best kit they think they can feasibly market to the AFOL and/or adult Tolkien fanbase. While its likely true that there are current owners of Orthanc, Helm's Deep, and/or a Corsair of Umbar who might not rush out to buy a revisit of those particular models (IMO the three best offerings of the original 2013-2014 sets), I think it equally likely that those people are outnumbered by the number of people (teens who didn't have rich parents, college students, recent grads living in mom and dad's basement until their student loans are paid down, etc.) who wanted those sets back in the day and just didn't have the disposable income to pursue them. There might even be a few people out there who might buy a revisit despite owning the originals (lord knows I need to check Brickset to keep track of all the variations on Snowspeeders, X wings and Millenium Falcons I've collected over the years - and my snowspeeders all look a lot more similar to each other than The Council of Elrond looks to Rivendell.) In the end, I think it's less about the subject matter than it is about the treatment. Don't set out to build a 100USD set, targeted at a ten-year-old consumer, inspired by Helm's Deep; Set out to build an impressive, but practical, model of Helm's Deep then price it and grade it accordingly. Would I, personally, prefer to see something original, certainly but when I compare a set like Rivendell to, well, pretty much everything that came before it in this theme, I realize that just doing real justice to the source material IS original in my book. Quote
kuzyabricks Posted January 21 Posted January 21 8 hours ago, ShaydDeGrai said: I was just cleaning up a bit this weekend and happened across some old LOTR and Hobbit "spare" sets (either kits I never got around to building or extras I bought to MOD-out official sets into something more suitable in scale in my mind - looking at you puny Weathertop, pathetic little Orc Forge and Black Tripping Hazard on a Hinge Gate). If I'm being honest, and no disrespect to the original designers of these sets intended, I really don't think TLG needs to worry about revisiting any of their prior efforts on this theme. It's been more than a decade since those sets first came out and some of them were pretty forgettable even in their heyday (I had an "oh yeah, they DID have a Moria set didn't they. Nice doorway, now where's the rest of it" moment when I found the box.) I can appreciate TLG needing to make sets at various price points when targeting a playset line, but if the game plan is to do one 18+ flagship set a year, the should just ignore any prior art and make the best kit they think they can feasibly market to the AFOL and/or adult Tolkien fanbase. While its likely true that there are current owners of Orthanc, Helm's Deep, and/or a Corsair of Umbar who might not rush out to buy a revisit of those particular models (IMO the three best offerings of the original 2013-2014 sets), I think it equally likely that those people are outnumbered by the number of people (teens who didn't have rich parents, college students, recent grads living in mom and dad's basement until their student loans are paid down, etc.) who wanted those sets back in the day and just didn't have the disposable income to pursue them. There might even be a few people out there who might buy a revisit despite owning the originals (lord knows I need to check Brickset to keep track of all the variations on Snowspeeders, X wings and Millenium Falcons I've collected over the years - and my snowspeeders all look a lot more similar to each other than The Council of Elrond looks to Rivendell.) In the end, I think it's less about the subject matter than it is about the treatment. Don't set out to build a 100USD set, targeted at a ten-year-old consumer, inspired by Helm's Deep; Set out to build an impressive, but practical, model of Helm's Deep then price it and grade it accordingly. Would I, personally, prefer to see something original, certainly but when I compare a set like Rivendell to, well, pretty much everything that came before it in this theme, I realize that just doing real justice to the source material IS original in my book. I feel that for the time the LOTR playsets were quite impressive design wise. Most still hold up quite well. Quote
BrickBob Studpants Posted January 22 Posted January 22 On 1/21/2026 at 1:27 AM, kuzyabricks said: I feel that for the time the LOTR playsets were quite impressive design wise. Most still hold up quite well. Agreed! Sets from the 2010s in general have aged better than some people give them credit for. They‘ve aged better than a lot of sets from the 2000s for sure I display all the LOTR sets together and the new sets blend in with the original ones very well ^^ Quote
BrickPrick Posted January 25 Posted January 25 On 1/22/2026 at 4:10 PM, BrickBob Studpants said: Agreed! Sets from the 2010s in general have aged better than some people give them credit for. They‘ve aged better than a lot of sets from the 2000s for sure I display all the LOTR sets together and the new sets blend in with the original ones very well ^^ Ha, you know I already had the honor of asking you this, so now I will ask you again for this theme: how many LOTR sets do you own; is it the majority again? Quote
BrickBob Studpants Posted January 25 Posted January 25 26 minutes ago, BrickPrick said: Ha, you know I already had the honor of asking you this, so now I will ask you again for this theme: how many LOTR sets do you own; is it the majority again? All of them. Well, minus the LEGO store build-and-take sets (which I never count anyway) and the SDCC stuff that luckily didn't have anything exclusive about it in this case, besides the packaging Quote
BrickPrick Posted January 25 Posted January 25 8 hours ago, BrickBob Studpants said: All of them. Well, minus the LEGO store build-and-take sets (which I never count anyway) and the SDCC stuff that luckily didn't have anything exclusive about it in this case, besides the packaging Yep, this would have been my bet as well. Although owning everything is much easier for The Lord of the Rings than it is for Star Wars, it must still be an impressive display. Given your enormous private collection, have you ever considered to get some commercial usage out of it? Less selling some of it and more like for presentation purposes. Or is that not something you would be ever interested in and rather keep your private collection as such? Quote
BrickBob Studpants Posted January 25 Posted January 25 10 hours ago, BrickPrick said: Or is that not something you would be ever interested in and rather keep your private collection as such? People have suggested it to me before, and if I ever won the lottery, I‘d definitely open a museum Like the Museum of Bricks in Prague! Quote
Chris10 Posted January 26 Posted January 26 (edited) Not sure if anyone just saw it but one of the LAN members on Instagram appeared to just post a video of the Minas Tirth unveiling and then remove it a few minutes later. Don’t know if they posted by accident (looks like the Sauron helmet was officially unveiled at the same time) but it looks absolutely incredible. Edited January 26 by Chris10 Quote
Virginia_Bricks Posted January 26 Posted January 26 (edited) 22 minutes ago, Chris10 said: Not sure if anyone just saw it but Tips&Bricks on Instagram appeared to just post a video of the Minas Tirth unveiling and then remove it a few minutes later. Don’t know if they posted by accident but it looks absolutely incredible. I have a screenshot of the video thumbnail which shows it from the front - not sure if allowed to post? Send it into BrickTap. I think that would be your best bet. Tips&Bricks show pictures of real sets, but a lot of MOCs as well so they could verify if it is legit or not. In another news, while the east coast of the US was being pounded with snow I finally watched all the LOTR movies. I kind of get why play sets don't make sense in this revival. The majority of LOTR is grand places (Rivendell, Minas Tirith, Lothlorien, Barad-Dur, Orthanc, etc...) or battle/travel scenes. It doesn't lend itself easily to small sets without a lot of compromises. Sure they could do it, but the massive 18+ sets pull off the grandeur better. If I could get one wish for a future set it is Edoras. Helm's Deep or Orthanc in new versions would be nice, but I understand waiting on them. Minas Morgul has so little screen time, though it could be a cool set. Lothlorien would be cool, but not sure how easy you can create that design in budget constraints. The Prancing Pony could be a $200-300 set. As for the GWP, I don't think Grond makes the cut because the exterior is microscale and they would be out of scale with each other. The Witch King vs Eowyn also seems unlikely since there was the Fell Beast GWP. I think it would be a small diorama set (like the WSQK promo) of the interior of Minas Tirith. Something they just couldn't fit inside it and I would put good money on it to include Eowyn. Edited January 26 by Virginia_Bricks Quote
Chris10 Posted January 26 Posted January 26 Just now, Virginia_Bricks said: Send it into BrickTap. I think that would be your best bet. They show pictures of real sets, but a lot of MOCs as well so they could verify if it is legit or not. In another news, while the east coast of the US was being pounded with snow I finally watched all the LOTR movies. I kind of get why play sets don't make sense in this revival. The majority of LOTR is grand places (Rivendell, Minas Tirith, Lothlorien, Barad-Dur, Orthanc, etc...) or battle/travel scenes. It doesn't lend itself easily to small sets without a lot of compromises. Sure they could do it, but the massive 18+ sets pull off the grandeur better. If I could get one wish for a future set it is Edoras. Helm's Deep or Orthanc in new versions would be nice, but I understand waiting on them. Minas Morgul has so little screen time, though it could be a cool set. Lothlorien would be cool, but not sure how easy you can create that design in budget constraints. The Prancing Pony could be a $200-300 set. As for the GWP, I don't think Grond makes the cut because the exterior is microscale and they would be out of scale with each other. The Witch King vs Eowyn also seems unlikely since there was the Fell Beast GWP. I think it would be a small diorama set (like the WSQK promo) of the interior of Minas Tirith. Something they just couldn't fit inside it and I would put good money on it to include Eowyn. I’m on the bricktap discord and a fair few people are posting it - but being quickly removed by mods. Consensus is it’s definitely genuine. Quote
Virginia_Bricks Posted January 26 Posted January 26 (edited) 5 minutes ago, Chris10 said: I’m on the bricktap discord and a fair few people are posting it - but being quickly removed by mods. Consensus is it’s definitely genuine. Yep, they need to verify it before further posting. Consider yourself lucky that you saw it before it got taken down. EDIT: Its legit and on reddit. WOW... Also surpise Arwen in the mini-figure line up. This was already a likely Day 1 buy for me, but if the price point is rumored right at $650 USD this might surpass Rivendell for me. Edited January 26 by Virginia_Bricks Quote
BrickBob Studpants Posted January 26 Posted January 26 (edited) 37 minutes ago, Chris10 said: Don’t know if they posted by accident (looks like the Sauron helmet was officially unveiled at the same time) but it looks absolutely incredible. You got really lucky then!! You probably weren‘t able to look at it long enough to make out any details, but can you describe what you saw, like scale-wise for instance? Edit: Found it!! Wow, that looks incredible!! They nailed it The combination of micro- and minifig scale works really well here and I like how they reuse those printed tile pieces from Castle Neuschwanstein. The only thing I dislike about it is Gandalf the White. The old piece was much better than using the same pieces as for Gandalf the Grey, just recoloured Edited January 26 by BrickBob Studpants Quote
Shroffy123 Posted January 26 Posted January 26 (edited) Looks real. Set looks nice. Just wish they used the dragonborn paladin armour piece for the gondorian soliders. Edited January 26 by Shroffy123 Quote
Altair1 Posted January 26 Posted January 26 (edited) Just also saw the Minas Tirith leaks on reddit! Looks great, except for two things: - The round green building tops a bit everywhere bother me a bit. I don't remember that color in the movie (weren't they more like greyish?) - Doesn't look like there are any interior scenes in the back ? Edited January 26 by Altair1 Quote
Shroffy123 Posted January 26 Posted January 26 7 minutes ago, Altair1 said: Just also saw the Minas Tirith leaks on reddit! Looks great, except for two things: - The round green building tops a bit everywhere bother me a bit. I don't remember that color in the movie (weren't they more like greyish?) - Doesn't look like there are any interior scenes in the back ? Full video is up. You can remove walls for detailed scenes. Most are micro scale though. Quote
Altair1 Posted January 26 Posted January 26 Ah yes, saw the video too now, much better quality! There is the throne room behind. Well then it looks perfect to me, except for the green domes but I can always change the color if needed :-) And when you see the big entrance door you can't help thinking that Grond would be a great GWP ! Quote
Cyprinus Posted January 26 Posted January 26 (edited) 49 minutes ago, Virginia_Bricks said: Yep, they need to verify it before further posting. Consider yourself lucky that you saw it before it got taken down. Yeah, you can be sure Lego will go after this, and hard. But the video is genuine. And the set marvellous. 5 minutes ago, Altair1 said: And when you see the big entrance door you can't help thinking that Grond would be a great GWP ! Wouldn't be too hopeful - previous gwps didn't exactly have much of a connection to their sets. Edited January 26 by Cyprinus Quote
Virginia_Bricks Posted January 26 Posted January 26 7 minutes ago, Cyprinus said: Yeah, you can be sure Lego will go after this, and hard. But the video is genuine. And the set marvellous. Wouldn't be too hopeful - previous gwps didn't exactly have much of a connection to their sets. Fell Beast was a clear relation to Barad-Dur and the Nazgul. Smeagol and Degaol might not seem related to the Shire, but they were hobbits. Rivendell was before they designed real GWPs and just gave out the BrickHeadz set. It will be Minas Tirith related. But that is a wide scope from something from the Battle of Pelenor Fields to a small interior scene. I'd expect they choose something not likely to be done in a large set so King Theoden/Rohirrim is out of the picture since Edoras/Rohan is still possible. Quote
Metanoios Posted January 26 Posted January 26 (edited) Minas Tirith looks great. Since they included 4 additional smaller scene locations in the removable sections already which depict smaller scenes/easter eggs like the Archives from Fellowship, Houses of Healing (or on second thought that could be the room with balcony where Gandalf and Pippin have their "The Deep Breath Before the Plunge" scene), Palantir and the pyre, I think logically that leaves only a few locations/scenes for the GWP. For the usual size of the GWP I could imagine either the Beacon of Gondor with an additional Gondor soldier minifig or alternatively since they chose to keep the gate in a kind of minifig scale Grond with an Orc minifig on the Pelennor. Regarding new pieces/moulds we get the cloth piece for Arwen's Gondor banner, Aragorns crown with hair, Gondor soldier helmet. A lot of new prints like an additonal Palantir print depicting on one side the Eye of Sauron (otherside is not visible), 1x1 floor tile pattern in the Hall of Kings, 1x2 scroll in the archives (could be a reuse from Harry Potter). Aragorn's armor looks like it's the final design of the print but the Gondor soldiers seem to have a kind of sticker decal applied to them (which hopefully wille be a print in the final version). Pippin shares the torso with the other 4 Gondor soldiers. Aragorn and Arwen have arm-printing and Arwen has a new head print. Recoloured pieces include the Hylian shield from Zelda unprinted in I think a medium nougat colour and the large technic gear section in black for the arch. Also Faramir hair piece is a recolour in dark orange from a Friends hair peice Edited January 26 by Metanoios Quote
Mandalorianknight Posted January 26 Posted January 26 Absolutely amazing. The Hall of Kings looks like a MOC in the best way possible. Quote
Yoggington Posted January 26 Posted January 26 I like it a lot. But I don't €650 like it. Closer to €400 like it. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.