Lego Lord of the Rings

[THE-FORCE]

Hi!

I just got a gamer magazine, and this was put on a interview page with a lego guy page:

(it is translated)

We have seen Lord of the Rings action figures, dvd's and books.

Are you busy with lego lord of the rings?

The lego guy said that he didn't now anything about it.

But the interviewer said that there was a very high chance that it will come.

---------------------------------------------------------

What do you think?

I don't now, but I wanted to share.

Greets, The-Force

Edited August 1, 2008 by THE-FORCE

[Shoc]

But the interviewer said that there was a very high chance that it will come.

---------------------------------------------------------

What do you think?

Well, the interviewer thought that, but the Lego employee said nothing about there being any. It was probably just wishful thinking from the interviewer.

:skull:

[THE-FORCE]

Well, the interviewer thought that, but the Lego employee said nothing about there being any. It was probably just wishful thinking from the interviewer.

:skull:

Maybe Lego just wanna keep it quiet?

And don't forgot that we get after Star Wars another licensed theme.

Edited August 1, 2008 by THE-FORCE

[Shoc]

And don't forgot that we get after Star Wars another licensed theme.

Do we? I know that new licensed themes are popping up nearly every year now, but how do you know that?

:skull:

[THE-FORCE]

Do we? I know that new licensed themes are popping up nearly every year now, but how do you know that?

:skull:

I thought one of the Admins of Fellows said it, but I may be wrong.

At everyone who reads this topic:

It's is just a thought of mine!

Greets, The-Force!

Edited August 1, 2008 by THE-FORCE

[jifel]

Actually, it would probably replace HP, because even if lego is continuing HP, it will end with the movies.

It could also replace Indy in 1/2 years, or even Spongebob (yay!).

jifel

[hewkii9]

Maybe Lego just wanna keep it quiet?

And don't forgot that we get after Star Wars another licensed theme.

I doubt that a Lotr license would come out in 2011 with Star Wars ends, because then they'll have missed the release date of the Hobbit, and'll only have the bridge film to drive sales.

And maybe it'd be called Lego Middle-Earth so they could do Children of Hurin, Silmarillion and Hobbit sets without changng the name.

[Shadows]

Speculation about possible other themes, even Licensed ones, goes in "Other Themes", so I'll move this there, but first ...

On topic: It isn't happening. I'll put money on it.

Why would LEGO waste money paying for a license to a mostly out of date movie series that they can produce without that license anyway? What specifically could they make in a licensed version that they can't make now? Named characters? Guess what that means... Licensed = fleshie = doesn't match the rest of castle = bad.

No thank you to an official LotR line for me. Just give us elves and all the appropriate elements, minus the licensing nonsense.

[Stash2Sixx]

I agree with ImperislShadows. Keep going with what they have, there is no need to spend the money to get another license. Creative freedom in the hands of people who DON'T have to pay for it...to me, that sounds better.

[CloneMe]

I agree with ImperislShadows. Keep going with what they have, there is no need to spend the money to get another license. Creative freedom in the hands of people who DON'T have to pay for it...to me, that sounds better.

I don't think it will come. But isn't th new castle sets looking more and more like the lotr. I mean first it was men and skeletons(not so much), then it was dwarves and troll warriors(orcs), and there have been thoughts of a new elf coming out. It may not be lotr but I think a lot of the stuff is off it.

[THE-FORCE]

Well it was just a thought

Sorry for the topic.

Edited August 1, 2008 by THE-FORCE

[The Brick Rat]

Hi!

I just got a gamer magazine, and this was put on a interview page with a lego guy page:

(it is translated)

We have seen Lord of the Rings action figures, dvd's and books.

Are you busy with lego lord of the rings?

The lego guy said that he didn't now anything about it.

But the interviewer said that there was a very high chance that it will come.

---------------------------------------------------------

What do you think?

I don't now, but I wanted to share.

Greets, The-Force

Well, unless the interviewer has inside info, I wouldn't put too much stock in what he thinks LEGO will do. And the LEGO guy is going to follow company policy and not reveal future product. The time to come out with LotR would have been back when the movies were being released and LEGO has said at the time that they passed on the license because they thought the material was "too dark".

I do think it's possible that LEGO will go for a Hobbit license when that film comes out in 2010 and accompany it with a LEGO Hobbit game. If a Hobbit license were successful, I suppose LEGO could reconsider a LotR license. Never say never and all that (but I wouldn't put money on it).

Edited August 2, 2008 by The Brick Rat

[Manta]

I don't think this is evidence in either way, becuase the lego person would deny it even if it was true, and the interviewer has no knowledge in either way. I wish this would happen because Lord of the Rings is a great base for awesome lego sets.

[LegoLyons]

Why would it have to REPLACE another licence? Surely it could happen by itself.

I'd love to see it happen, but think that it's just too dark for LEGO.

[Sandy]

It may not be lotr but I think a lot of the stuff is off it.

Actually, most fantasy stuff is largely derivative from Lord of the Rings, which in place has it's roots in folklore and mythology and old European cultures. Dwarves and elves date back to Germanic mythology, but they were refined by Tolkien into his books, and later they moved onto other fantasy products, like novels, comics, movies - and recently LEGO.

Which brings me to my point: why would LEGO spend a small fortune to get a license on some named characters and events of a classic novel-turned-movie-series, when they could do - and have already done - almost the exactly same thing for free? The most heated LotR-fad has passed years ago, anyway, so it would be a very unwise business move.

Nothing prevents you guys from making LotR-scenes and characters out of the existing LEGO bricks, and many have done so already. So you can make really your dream come true even without the Lego Company.

[Inertia]

Actually, most fantasy stuff is largely derivative from Lord of the Rings, which in place has it's roots in folklore and mythology and old European cultures. Dwarves and elves date back to Germanic mythology, but they were refined by Tolkien into his books, and later they moved onto other fantasy products, like novels, comics, movies - and recently LEGO.

Which brings me to my point: why would LEGO spend a small fortune to get a license on some named characters and events of a classic novel-turned-movie-series, when they could do - and have already done - almost the exactly same thing for free? The most heated LotR-fad has passed years ago, anyway, so it would be a very unwise business move.

Nothing prevents you guys from making LotR-scenes and characters out of the existing LEGO bricks, and many have done so already. So you can make really your dream come true even without the Lego Company.

Don't forget Dwarves turned up in most Nordic cultures as well

As for a LOTR craze, once the Hobbit comes out, It might rekindle it, TLC would be smart to go just for a Hobbit liscence, as it's a humorous adventure and nothing in it is too dark... except for Gollum, but they can leave him out of the sets....

It wouldn't be an unwise business move, as LOTR has been around for a long time, there's little chance of it falling now, most people know about it and would be pretty excited to get a LOTR theme... The way TLC is going they could still get a lot of money with both a LOTR and Castle liscence going at the same time. That means double the sets... Choosing Spongebob was an unwise business move.

[Dovchenko]

As for a LOTR craze, once the Hobbit comes out, It might rekindle it, TLC would be smart to go just for a Hobbit liscence, as it's a humorous adventure and nothing in it is too dark... except for Gollum, but they can leave him out of the sets....

WHAT?! No smige? No taters either? What's taters, precious?

LOTR is a no go. Fantasy's already out, and it heavily resembles Tolkien. Not that I wouldn't want it of course, but the best you can do is continue to buy fantasy. After all, it's really fun and cool for army building, and MOCing is entirely possible.

[Mr Spielbrick]

Any official LEGO LotR seems very unlikely. Like has been pointed out before:

- there's already a fantasy "medieval" theme

- most LEGO-buying kids (the main target audience: kids, don't forget that) are too young to know/have seen LotR

- there have been LotR tie-ins from another blocky company; MiniMates (which ignorants will have mistaken for LEGO anyway)

But hey, if TLC doesn't supply us with official LotR... Why not be creative?

[Inertia]

Any official LEGO LotR seems very unlikely. Like has been pointed out before:

- there's already a fantasy "medieval" theme

- most LEGO-buying kids (the main target audience: kids, don't forget that) are too young to know/have seen LotR

- there have been LotR tie-ins from another blocky company; MiniMates (which ignorants will have mistaken for LEGO anyway)

But hey, if TLC doesn't supply us with official LotR... Why not be creative?

I didn't think that Minimates would have LotR... Anyway, Self promotion.

I suppose you're all right, I would love to see an LotR theme, but the new Castle line is good enough.

Well... If we see Elves next year...

[Joebot]

A license linked to the upcoming "Hobbit" movie seems potentially possible since it is a lighter, more kid-friendly story than the LOTR trilogy. They could conceivably mimic what they did with Indiana Jones -- make sets based on the new movie at the same time they make sets based on the older material. I'm skeptical though. The LOTR movies kicked off a wave of big budget adaptations of fantasy stories (Narnia, Spiderwick, Bridge to Terabitha, Eragon, Golden Compass, etc.), and none of them were all that popular (or all that good, for that matter). Is the trend starting to fade a bit now? Seems like jumping in on the tail end of a trend is not a really smart move.

Choosing Spongebob was an unwise business move.

Do you have some data to back up that assertion? I'd be curious to see that.

[Dovchenko]

A license linked to the upcoming "Hobbit" movie seems potentially possible since it is a lighter, more kid-friendly story than the LOTR trilogy. They could conceivably mimic what they did with Indiana Jones -- make sets based on the new movie at the same time they make sets based on the older material. I'm skeptical though. The LOTR movies kicked off a wave of big budget adaptations of fantasy stories (Narnia, Spiderwick, Bridge to Terabitha, Eragon, Golden Compass, etc.), and none of them were all that popular (or all that good, for that matter). Is the trend starting to fade a bit now? Seems like jumping in on the tail end of a trend is not a really smart move.

Do you have some data to back up that assertion? I'd be curious to see that.

First of all... lighter, more kid-friendly? Hopefully you don't mean "young", a "cgi-overload", or "big words". Because the Hobbit's none of them.

Second of all... yes. LOTR did kick off several mimics which didn't have the same effect, though Narnia shouldn't be in there... it's an old one, too.

Thirdly, agreeing... Spongebob was in no way a bad move. My cousin collects them crazily, though somehow he stays away from being a brat. He's only 6-ish and he's already got quite a few of them. Maybe for Christmas, we'll pick him up the hospital. I always end up building them and... honestly? They're aged down but not much. I smirked at the cartoon aspect and I don't think they're bad at all. If a 6 year old can enjoy them, I'm sure a 30 year old can, too. Or, a 20 year old. Or, older. You know why? Because they not only sell, but they're overall quick yet fun to build and play with sets.

[Sandy]

First of all... lighter, more kid-friendly? Hopefully you don't mean "young", a "cgi-overload", or "big words". Because the Hobbit's none of them.

I think he means the story in the original novel, not the movie. And he's absolutely right, it is much more lighter and easier to read than the ginormous epic of LotR.

In fact, when the Hobbit was first translated here in Finland, the publishers thought it was a children's book (there weren't many fantasy novels around back then) and the translation turned up to be full of what we might call "juniorizations" here. Cuddly names, funny sayings etc.

It got a proper translation later on when the LotR-books got popular, though. Also note that I'm talking about the 1960's and 1970's here, most of us weren't even born back then.

But on topic, honestly I don't see Lego-version of LotR (or the Hobbit) as even a possibility in the future. The target audience is just not right for that. But we always have Fantasy Era Castle!

Edited August 6, 2008 by Sandy

[Inertia]

Do you have some data to back up that assertion? I'd be curious to see that.

No... But that's my opinion.. Although some of teh parts in those sets were useful, and I suppose that it's a big hit with the kids.

I think he means the story in the original novel, not the movie. And he's absolutely right, it is much more lighter and easier to read than the ginormous epic of LotR.

In fact, when the Hobbit was first translated here in Finland, the publishers thought it was a children's book (there weren't many fantasy novels around back then) and the translation turned up to be full of what we might call "juniorizations" here. Cuddly names, funny sayings etc.

It got a proper translation later on when the LotR-books got popular, though. Also note that I'm talking about the 1960's and 1970's here, most of us weren't even born back then.

But on topic, honestly I don't see Lego-version of LotR (or the Hobbit) as even a possibility in the future. The target audience is just not right for that. But we always have Fantasy Era Castle!

Fantasy-era Castle being the best Castle line in a few years!

Like you said, the book is a lot more light-hearted and carefree then it's sequel. The plot is a lot lighter as well.

[Joebot]

I think he means the story in the original novel, not the movie. And he's absolutely right, it is much more lighter and easier to read than the ginormous epic of LotR.

Yes, that's what I was getting at. Thematically, "The Hobbit" is pretty simple. It's a straightforward adventure story -- find the dragon and steal the treasure. LOTR is much deeper and richer, with a complex narrative structure, and some pretty heavy themes regarding the nature of power and corruption.

I think another reason for Lego NOT to make "Hobbit" sets is the simple question of what would the sets be??? TLC tends to go after licenses with lots of vehicle possibilities (Star Wars, Speed Racer, Batman). Heck, even most of the Indiana Jones sets feature vehicles. There are no vehicles in Middle-Earth, unless you count Bill the pony. The sets would have to recreate various scenes and locations, almost like playsets, which is not something that TLC tends to do much.

That being said ... I would LOOOOVE to see a set with Smaug sitting on his treasure horde. Oooh, or a Mirkwood set with giant spiders!!

[Shoc]

TLC tends to go after licenses with lots of vehicle possibilities (Star Wars, Speed Racer, Batman). Heck, even most of the Indiana Jones sets feature vehicles. There are no vehicles in Middle-Earth, unless you count Bill the pony. The sets would have to recreate various scenes and locations, almost like playsets, which is not something that TLC tends to do much.

That being said ... I would LOOOOVE to see a set with Smaug sitting on his treasure horde. Oooh, or a Mirkwood set with giant spiders!!

Have you seen the Harry Potter sets? There were loads of them, but only a few vehicle sets. Also, there was a giant spider in a Harry Potter set too. So, TLC could come up with sets for The Hobbit. I find it unliekly they will do Middle Earth based sets though.

:skull: