Lord of the Rings Ongoing Discussion

[RichardGoring]

1 hour ago, Timobricko said:

Yeah that makes sense, I guess they could just make a portion of Minas tirith like they did with Rivendell. Possibly the hall of kings. Because I can't see it working any other way without microscale. Edoras would be awesome! Would hope it'd included a ton of different horses 

Agreed. It would either be minifigure scale and be the hall, courtyard and seat, with a small amount of height to give a sense of the projection up and out, or they'd do more of it at microscale. In one of the videos, the designers did say that their first attempt at Rivendell was microscale, but they switched to minifigure scale so that they could include all the figures more easily. I suspect they'd need to do the same thing for Minas Tirith, as the figures available would be a decent draw. Especially if they set it during the siege.

[Seaber]

Gondor/Minas Tirith would be best served with a wave of sets, but with a Rivendell-size set based on the top level. 

 

A many thousand-piece set based on Aragorn's coronation (including 8/9 of the fellowship, Faramir, Eowyn, Eomer, Arwen and Elrond in exclusive outfits) and a beautifully detailed courtyard and Throne room could be the crowning glory to a wave of ROTK sets based on the seige of Minas Tirith. 

Just think about the huge size of that battle - Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Gandalf, Merry, Pippin, Theoden, Eomer, Eowyn, Denethor, Faramir, Gondor, Rohan and the Dead face Gothmog, the Witch King, Trolls, Nazgul, Fell Beasts, Mumakil, Grond, Haradrim and various sorts of Orcs.thats before you get into the actual locations in the city. 

There is just too much for one set alone, so I think a wave if sets would be ideal. It would also be harsh to lock Gondorian soldiers in a £500 odd set! 

21 hours ago, gdugaucquier said:

No sorry, it does not fit. The braid in the back is in its way. 

Ahhh, I forgot the braid. Thanks! 

[RichardGoring]

2 hours ago, Seaber said:

Gondor/Minas Tirith would be best served with a wave of sets, but with a Rivendell-size set based on the top level. 

Just think about the huge size of that battle - Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Gandalf, Merry, Pippin, Theoden, Eomer, Eowyn, Denethor, Faramir, Gondor, Rohan and the Dead face Gothmog, the Witch King, Trolls, Nazgul, Fell Beasts, Mumakil, Grond, Haradrim and various sorts of Orcs.thats before you get into the actual locations in the city. 

There is just too much for one set alone, so I think a wave if sets would be ideal. It would also be harsh to lock Gondorian soldiers in a £500 odd set! 

True. I was thinking that the Witch King would be the 'hero' figure to entice people to the set, but it would have to be vast to capture them all. That's generally the problem with Minas Tirith as a model. But given how good a job they've done with Rivendell in minifigure scale, I hope they can achieve the same thing with Minas Tirith, should they do it.

[MAB]

Think of the size of the Battle of Five Armies, and what we got with that set. I know bigger sets are common now but anything bigger than Rivendell is probably unrealistic.

[JimBaggins]

I personally want something a bit smaller with future Lord of the Rings sets. A $100 - $150 Bag End would be plenty big and much more affordable/accessible. I don't have room or money for a massive set like all of you are imagining, and I imagine many others feel the same way. 

[QuiggoldsPegLeg]

Regardless of what happens, it would be a crying shame if we never get figures of Éowyn, Faramir, or the Witch King.

[Shroffy123]

10 minutes ago, QuiggoldsPegLeg said:

Regardless of what happens, it would be a crying shame if we never get figures of Éowyn, Faramir, or the Witch King.

And a soldier of gondor 

[Balrogofmorgoth]

Give us a couple more minifigure heavy D2C sets, a few solid waves of playsets, and some battle packs, and it would be perfect 

[hikouki]

5 hours ago, Balrogofmorgoth said:

Give us a couple more minifigure heavy D2C sets, a few solid waves of playsets, and some battle packs, and it would be perfect 

I feel that from now on, Lego should at the very least, make 1 D2C, 1 small play set complementing the former, and 1 battle pack EACH year moving forward. 

[Eurolock]

I always thought the most obvious way to tackle Minas Tirith was just to do the main gate and a short section of wall either side. Have Grond as the enemy ‘weapon’. Then they could have an expansion set (like the old Uruk hai army set) with an additional section of wall, a Gondor soldier, a tower guard and 2 or 3 orcs.  I’d certainly buy a load of copies.

[MAB]

6 hours ago, Eurolock said:

I always thought the most obvious way to tackle Minas Tirith was just to do the main gate and a short section of wall either side. Have Grond as the enemy ‘weapon’. Then they could have an expansion set (like the old Uruk hai army set) with an additional section of wall, a Gondor soldier, a tower guard and 2 or 3 orcs.  I’d certainly buy a load of copies.

I guess it depends which scenes you want from Minas Tirith. Personally I'd prefer a facade of the great hall, a bit of courtyard with the white tree and small version of the beacon. With Denethor, Pippin, and a Gondor soldier or guard.

[wesker]

On 3/21/2023 at 1:32 PM, QuiggoldsPegLeg said:

Regardless of what happens, it would be a crying shame if we never get figures of Éowyn, Faramir, or the Witch King.

Hopefully they won't make that mistake again. Faramir at least seems inevitable if we get a D2C Minas Tirith after Barad-Dur.

It would be nice if we got a small wave of classic trilogy sets next year to indirectly tie-in with the releases of Rings of Power: Season 2 and Ride of the Rohirrim. The Eowyn/Witch-King duel would be the perfect set to capitalize on Miranda Otto's return to the franchise. The Gandalf/Balrog battle and Mirror of Galadriel would also go perfectly alongside it due to their ties to the characters and storylines appearing in the show's second season.

[Eurolock]

5 hours ago, MAB said:

I guess it depends which scenes you want from Minas Tirith. Personally I'd prefer a facade of the great hall, a bit of courtyard with the white tree and small version of the beacon. With Denethor, Pippin, and a Gondor soldier or guard.

Whilst I would also very much like a Minas Tirith set as you described it as a display piece, I just don’t think it would sell as well as a more ‘action focused set’. The appeal of the courtyard to non hard core LOTR fans seems limited. My kids absolutely loved playing with the Helm’s Deep set. Battles raged for hours with endless comedy banter between the heroes. Not sure what they would have done with the courtyard and white tree. Only so many times they could have thrown Denethor over the edge.

Now, if you are talking about a UCS scale set aimed squarely at collectors then I would be more inclined to agree with you. However, even at UCS scale, I don’t think Minas Tirith is really all that viable. At least not in minifigure scale. 

[MAB]

10 minutes ago, Eurolock said:

Whilst I would also very much like a Minas Tirith set as you described it as a display piece, I just don’t think it would sell as well as a more ‘action focused set’. The appeal of the courtyard to non hard core LOTR fans seems limited. My kids absolutely loved playing with the Helm’s Deep set. Battles raged for hours with endless comedy banter between the heroes. Not sure what they would have done with the courtyard and white tree. Only so many times they could have thrown Denethor over the edge.

Now, if you are talking about a UCS scale set aimed squarely at collectors then I would be more inclined to agree with you. However, even at UCS scale, I don’t think Minas Tirith is really all that viable. At least not in minifigure scale. 

From the evidence so far, we aren't getting new play sets.

If it was a larger set, they could also include some white walls, with Gandalf, Witch King and a Fell Beast. Like what they did with Rivendell, I don't think it geographically has to make sense. They could have everything on one level even though different scenes occur in different parts of the City. Similarly they could include Grond and a gate at minifigure scale near to the great hall.

[th0r1n]

It’s been said before but it’s worth repeating, the LOTR theme would be a perfect fit for Dioramas. So many iconic scenes to choose from. And far more accessible price wise. 

[Lion King]

I prefer to see smaller and affordable LOTR sets but it’s unlikely…

[RichardGoring]

It might be worth remembering that from LEGO's perspective LOTR has four sets currently available, three of which are low priced. The Brick Headz will retire soon and could easily be replaced by other, slightly shorter lived small sets, while the large Rivendell sticks on shelves for a couple of years.

Stepping back from it, I also think that Minas Tirith is unlikely, as it's such a vast location with an iconic layouts, that you'd be hard pressed to show it off in a LEGO set, compared to many other places that are of similar iconic status and would fit into LEGO sets much more elegantly.

[MAB]

9 hours ago, RichardGoring said:

It might be worth remembering that from LEGO's perspective LOTR has four sets currently available, three of which are low priced. The Brick Headz will retire soon and could easily be replaced by other, slightly shorter lived small sets, while the large Rivendell sticks on shelves for a couple of years.

 

They are brickheadz sets though. There have been plenty of licenses that got brickheadz sets that were not replaced by small playsets from that license once the brickheadz retired.

[Legoman123]

10 hours ago, Lion King said:

I prefer to see smaller and affordable LOTR sets but it’s unlikely…

Whilst I like the idea some what of cheaper LOTR sets I think bringing a big D2C like Rivendell out every year (or more frequent) works best for LOTR.  Majority of the sets we all want and should get will only be done justice at $400/$500+, that’s why I think it’s a lot different to other themes in that respect where they can get away with doing scaled down sets.  I mean it looks like we’re going to get a Barad-dur on a large scale with an interior, I mean come on how lucky can we get.  I think there could be potential to do a couple of smaller scale sets to accompany each D2C that way you could build your armies up.  
 

On a side note I’d actually love to see Radagast the Browns house.

[MAB]

1 hour ago, Legoman123 said:

Whilst I like the idea some what of cheaper LOTR sets I think bringing a big D2C like Rivendell out every year (or more frequent) works best for LOTR.  Majority of the sets we all want and should get will only be done justice at $400/$500+, that’s why I think it’s a lot different to other themes in that respect where they can get away with doing scaled down sets.  I mean it looks like we’re going to get a Barad-dur on a large scale with an interior, I mean come on how lucky can we get.  I think there could be potential to do a couple of smaller scale sets to accompany each D2C that way you could build your armies up.  
 

On a side note I’d actually love to see Radagast the Browns house.

I found Helm's Deep was a decent compromise between detail and size and certainly did it justice. I assume if they re-released a similar sized set today, it would probably contain a lot more 1x1 greebly details and be $240 / $250 now. They could have done it larger overall but I'm not so sure that it would be twice as impressive if it cost twice as much. I also found sets like the Black Gate had enough detail even though it lacked in a bit in the other half, but for that one I liked that customers could decide to buy one or two if they wanted a full display. I also think they did a good job on the Shelob, Mines of Moria and Orc Forge sets. Even though these should all be enclosed I don't think they lack too much by not been much larger piece counts to take into account a load of wall. The ship was also a decent build even if the set itself was not loved so much. The original Council of Elrond was a bit miniscule although very easy to expand if you wanted a larger one. I also quite liked the Wizard Battle set. Again it was small and lacked all the surrounding room but had enough detail to be a fun set. Weathertop was similarly small, but the small price meant it was practical to buy enough to have a full set of nine Ringwraiths and horses. But I guess that is the issue, as it seems LOTR is no longer a fun, play-set theme but a detailed model theme. And that will limit what we get to big locations only, and it means smaller scenes (like Shelob) will not be done again unless they go for an Assault on Hoth style set with lots of small and not necessarily connected builds.

[Yoggington]

Lothlorien, with a similar feel as the old Ewok village could make for a great set.

A few magnificent trees with flets in the upper branches, connected by bridges, Galadriel and the mirror as a centre-piece, the Nimrodel flowing past, or maybe the Anduin & some canoes?

[Jarreth2]

@Yoggington .. check out LegoMocLoc’s Lothlorien .. thats stunning 👍🏼

[Yoggington]

1 hour ago, Jarreth2 said:

@Yoggington .. check out LegoMocLoc’s Lothlorien .. thats stunning 👍🏼

Found it alright. Pretty great, though perhaps it could be better in the hands of the official designers. I envision it as a smaller companion piece to Rivendell. I may try this in stud.io and see what I come up with.

[Jarreth2]

@Yoggington .. you echoed my thoughts exactly .. much as I love it .. ‘officially’ designed it would be different. I started gathering a lot of the pieces with the intention of purchasing the instruction and building it .. then the Rivendell set leaked so I held off in case they might ever release an official set 😳

[hikouki]

15 hours ago, Legoman123 said:

Whilst I like the idea some what of cheaper LOTR sets I think bringing a big D2C like Rivendell out every year (or more frequent) works best for LOTR.  Majority of the sets we all want and should get will only be done justice at $400/$500+, that’s why I think it’s a lot different to other themes in that respect where they can get away with doing scaled down sets.  I mean it looks like we’re going to get a Barad-dur on a large scale with an interior, I mean come on how lucky can we get.  I think there could be potential to do a couple of smaller scale sets to accompany each D2C that way you could build your armies up.  
 

On a side note I’d actually love to see Radagast the Browns house.

Totally agree! 

I feel like that as far as buyers go, there are much less kids and more adults who have seen the movies during the years they were released. So play sets should really just be "add-ons" and not the main line.