Lord of the Rings Ongoing Discussion

[Altair1]

47 minutes ago, neithan said:

For the time being we dont know if there will be any discounts for the LotR Set.

When there will be a discount, I can compare the sets equally.^^

So then: Hogwarts Castle for 400, LotR for 500. Hogwarts is the better Set and has better value - for me. :-D

This comparison is limited and buyest. Here is a fair comparison without discount (if you accept to be objective of course):

Hogwarts castle: 469.99 for 6060 pieces. Price per piece: 7.75. Minifigs:4. Microfigs:24.

Rivendell: 499.99 for 6167 pieces. Price per piece: 8.10. Minifigs:15. 

To summarize, the price per piece is almost the same. The main difference is that one set is microscale and has mostly microfigs, while the second one is a playset and has only minifigs. So it all comes down to personal taste. I personally think that both look great, but as I much prefer playsets (and I don't like microfigs) I bought several HP sets to make my own castle rather than this big one. And I will obviously buy Rivendell on day 1 :-)

[Agent Kallus]

3 hours ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

A Bag End set is definitely possible! However, I doubt they’d include all the dwarves for the simple reason of it being too costly, under the assumption that a vast majority of the moulds are not available anymore. Out of the 13 dwarves, 10 had new parts, only three of which have been reused after that in other themes (Balin’s hearpiece, Dwalin’s beard, and the hairpiece used for Thorin, Fili, and Kili).

Sure, they could cheap out and give some of them reused beards, but I’d rather not have them again if they’re THIS inferior to the originals 

Not everyone has the originals though. Personally I have Fili, Kili, Oin, Glion, Dwalin, Balin and Thorin so I'd like a chance to get Nori, Dori, Ori, Bifur, Bifur and Bombur even if they are inferior to originals. And most of those I own are the Erobor Versions so the their standard adventuring outfits would be nice.

[Altair1]

2 minutes ago, Agent Kallus said:

Not everyone has the originals though. Personally I have Fili, Kili, Oin, Glion, Dwalin, Balin and Thorin so I'd like a chance to get Nori, Dori, Ori, Bifur, Bifur and Bombur even if they are inferior to originals. And most of those I own are the Erobor Versions so the their standard adventuring outfits would be nice.

At the time I made sure to buy all the Hobbit sets which had dwarves in them to get the whole ''Thorin and company''. They really look great together :-)

[MAB]

4 hours ago, PotterBlocks said:

The ideas set was rejected in June 2021 - is that too early for an official Bag End already being worked on / idea thrown round for the return of the LotR theme?

I don't think LEGO would pay any attention to the dates of an IDEAS submission. If they wanted to do a Bag End under ICONS as the first return to LOTR, then they would have done it. If they want it to be the second or third set, they will do it. Just because someone decided to submit a larger version of an existing set, based on a movie by a company that LEGO already has agreements with, it is not going to stop or delay LEGO doing a larger version of Bag End if they want to do one. The submitter has no rights over a Bag End made from LEGO at any scale.

[mtrsteve]

23 minutes ago, MAB said:

I don't think LEGO would pay any attention to the dates of an IDEAS submission. If they wanted to do a Bag End under ICONS as the first return to LOTR, then they would have done it. If they want it to be the second or third set, they will do it. Just because someone decided to submit a larger version of an existing set, based on a movie by a company that LEGO already has agreements with, it is not going to stop or delay LEGO doing a larger version of Bag End if they want to do one. The submitter has no rights over a Bag End made from LEGO at any scale.

With the possible exception if it bore an uncanny resemblance to their submitted design? (Though even that would depend on the terms and conditions of submitting an ideas design, which I have never personally looked at)

[Agent Kallus]

5 minutes ago, mtrsteve said:

With the possible exception if it bore an uncanny resemblance to their submitted design? (Though even that would depend on the terms and conditions of submitting an ideas design, which I have never personally looked at)

No don’t think so.

1 hour ago, Altair1 said:

At the time I made sure to buy all the Hobbit sets which had dwarves in them to get the whole ''Thorin and company''. They really look great together :-)

I was only 12 back in 2012 when they first came out with sets based on the hobbit, so I didn’t quite have the means available but if they released more Lotr\hobbit system sets now I would pounce on them. 
 

in fact hypothetically if they did make a small system wave akin to the Indy wave with 4 sets one for each film( plus one for the hobbit trilogy) plus a diorama set, what would people expect them to choose?

[MAB]

1 minute ago, mtrsteve said:

With the possible exception if it bore an uncanny resemblance to their submitted design? (Though even that would depend on the terms and conditions of submitting an ideas design, which I have never personally looked at)

The submitter has no rights over the shape/form of Bag End. If they made their model look like Bag End and LEGO make one that looks like Bag End at the same scale, then they will naturally look similar as they are both based off Bag End in the movies. Sure the IDEAS submitter can make a fuss on social media but they have no claim over the idea of Bag End.

[Khargeust]

Here are some impressions of the Rivendell set I want to share. As it is always difficult to point out what is right rather than what is wrong, I will be more talkative about the criticisms although I love the set.

The good :

- First, the return of the theme itself. I was in my dark ages when the LOTR and The Hobbit sets came out. When I got interested in LEGO again two-three years ago, the different minifigures and sets were already too expensive to look for. So I see this return as an indirect opportunity to get my hands on a universe that I missed. We will see if this release is followed by others, in any case it is already a chance to be contemporary with this set.

- The choice of colors and the architecture which transcribes well the atmosphere of the place.

- Nice balance between display set and play set.

- All of the Fellowship of the Ring miniatures!

- New molds and new prints.

The bad :

- The price. No doubt the large number of small parts artificially increases the price. But I still can't see where the 6167 pieces are. For such an amount, something is missing, a good third if not half of additional surface / builds...

- The fact that the back of the set is open. A second building half is missing so that the central building can be completely closed off at the rear. This was an opportunity to make a solid building with this light inversed V-shaped roof in the style of Roman architecture.
Thus, in my opinion the set can only really be exposed from the front contrary to what one of the lifestyle photos of the set suggests where the set is exposed from the back, the rendering is really awful... Back of the set looks a little cheap with these paintings inaccessible to miniatures. Something is missing. We could have imagined more living rooms as well as a complete hall with a spiral staircase.  Should I seek to acquire a second copy for this purpose? Aaah... Help!

- The stunted trees on the right side. In general trees could have more branches and leaves.

- The selection of minifigures is good but I would have preferred 3-5 more characters,let’s say 5 (additional elves, dwarves and humans), but in this case it would have been necessary to increase the surface of the board with more chairs. The statue figurines are a good addition but they do not count as real figurines in my opinion because they are not animated, it works more like a background. We could also have expected their headdress to be elvish as the "living" minifigures.

- The hairstyle of the elves. If it works well on its own, I find it a shame that it is generic and that it is intended for all elf characters. When we compare with the exclusive headdresses of the old figurines of Elrond or Arwenn, we deplore a loss. For example Legolas would have deserved a singular hairstyle, the generic headdress does not suit him so much as his front strands are too wide and also because his cheekbones have disappeared.

- The presence of stickers. For me it is indisputable, they should not exist, quite simply.

Despite everything, it remains a must have for me, but I will not buy it without double VIP points or with a discount. I am thinking of my local lego store which is not an official one but which nevertheless offers -15% on a receipt the week of our anniversary which is equivalent to a VIP Points x3 with automatic reduction, so the set would going to be 425€, which still seems too expensive to me but I could hardly have it cheaper because the product will remain exclusive like the 90 year old castle.

So, I'm going to take my time to acquire it, hoping that sales will be good, however, and that we see plenty of other sets appear afterwards, little ones or big ones. As I have already expressed it a little earlier here, I will be especially enthusiastic about the idea of a huge Bag End version of The Hobbit with all the dwarves of the Thorin or a Moria diorama (staging the confrontation with the cave troll or the Balrog).

Edited February 9, 2023 by Khargeust

[PotterBlocks]

24 minutes ago, MAB said:

The submitter has no rights over the shape/form of Bag End. If they made their model look like Bag End and LEGO make one that looks like Bag End at the same scale, then they will naturally look similar as they are both based off Bag End in the movies. Sure the IDEAS submitter can make a fuss on social media but they have no claim over the idea of Bag End.

But if Lego already had their own Bag End in development (or are at least holding onto the idea of releasing their own at some point in future) it could be a reason to why the Ideas set was rejected. Similar to the ideas Snow White cottage being rejected could have been due to lego (seemingly) already having developed it as a set to come out for the Disney 100 years theme.

[MAB]

1 hour ago, PotterBlocks said:

But if Lego already had their own Bag End in development (or are at least holding onto the idea of releasing their own at some point in future) it could be a reason to why the Ideas set was rejected. Similar to the ideas Snow White cottage being rejected could have been due to lego (seemingly) already having developed it as a set to come out for the Disney 100 years theme.

They don't have to give reasons why anything was rejected so we never know for sure why they were rejected. It could be that they had a similar Bag End in production, it could be that it overlaps with their plans to bring back LOTR,  it could be that they thought other designs were more feasible, it could be that the IDEAS team didnt like it. We cannot really read anything into it being rejected; it might be because of a similar set or it might not. If they later come out with a larger scale Bag End, it might have been the reason they rejected it. Or it might still be some other reason. 

[BrickBob Studpants]

1 hour ago, Khargeust said:

- The price. No doubt the large number of small parts artificially increases the price. But I still can't see where the 6167 pieces are. For such an amount, something is missing, a good third if not half of additional surface / builds...

I would recommend taking a look at the model on display at your local LEGO store once it gets released. This thing is HUGE. I’ve haven’t seen it in person myself of course, but I recently made shelf space for it and its footprint puts the microscale Hogwarts to shame. Things always look smaller on pictures

[MAB]

2 minutes ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

..., but I recently made shelf space for it and its footprint puts the microscale Hogwarts to shame. Things always look smaller on pictures

Same here. I measured the space out and had to double check I hadn't misread. No doubt the x and y dimensions can be shortened a little as it is probably measured as open as possible to maximise the dimensions, but even so it is a very big volume required to hold it. It wouldn't surprise me if a number of people have an issue with it being too big, no matter how great it looks.

[G_Brickley]

1 hour ago, Agent Kallus said:

in fact hypothetically if they did make a small system wave akin to the Indy wave with 4 sets one for each film( plus one for the hobbit trilogy) plus a diorama set, what would people expect them to choose?

This might reflect moreso my own wants but here goes. I've tried to space out the whole fellowship across a wave, plus some characters and locations that were left out in the OG sets.

Fellowship of the Ring: Boromir's Stand. 

• Probably the least likely one given how dark the subject is, but I was struggling to find any other scene that would provide the characters I was missing.
• Builds are the ruins where Aragorn tells Frodo to run, along with some additional trees and foliage.
• Figures are Aragorn, Boromir, Merry, Pippin, Lurtz, and two additional Uruk-hai.

Two Towers: Nazgul Attack.

• I'll be honest, I mainly just want a Fellbeast.
• Builds are a small portion of Osgiliath and a Fellbeast.
• Figures are Frodo, Sam, Gollum, Faramir, and a Ringwraith.

Return of the King: Mumakil Charge.

• Another creature build that I want to see (there may be a slight pattern to this).
• Build is a Mumakil.
• Figures are Legolas, Gimli, and three Haradrim.

The Hobbit: Smaug.

• I think Lord of the Rings adopting sets similar to the Hungarian Horntail or the Tallneck would be a great way for some smaller but still displayable sets.
• Build is Smaug with a base of piled-up gold and jewels.
• Figure is Bilbo in his blue coat.

Diorama: The Bridge of Khazad-Dum.

• Plenty of people have already expressed a want for this as a set in this thread.
• Builds are the Balrog and a portion of the bridge built on a black base with a "You shall not pass!" quote tile.
• Figure is Gandalf.

I'm not good with imagining hypothetical prices and piece counts, so I'll leave that to anyone else if they so wish 

[Lordhelmet]

1 hour ago, G_Brickley said:

This might reflect moreso my own wants but here goes. I've tried to space out the whole fellowship across a wave, plus some characters and locations that were left out in the OG sets.

Fellowship of the Ring: Boromir's Stand. 

• Probably the least likely one given how dark the subject is, but I was struggling to find any other scene that would provide the characters I was missing.
• Builds are the ruins where Aragorn tells Frodo to run, along with some additional trees and foliage.
• Figures are Aragorn, Boromir, Merry, Pippin, Lurtz, and two additional Uruk-hai.

Two Towers: Nazgul Attack.

• I'll be honest, I mainly just want a Fellbeast.
• Builds are a small portion of Osgiliath and a Fellbeast.
• Figures are Frodo, Sam, Gollum, Faramir, and a Ringwraith.

Return of the King: Mumakil Charge.

• Another creature build that I want to see (there may be a slight pattern to this).
• Build is a Mumakil.
• Figures are Legolas, Gimli, and three Haradrim.

The Hobbit: Smaug.

• I think Lord of the Rings adopting sets similar to the Hungarian Horntail or the Tallneck would be a great way for some smaller but still displayable sets.
• Build is Smaug with a base of piled-up gold and jewels.
• Figure is Bilbo in his blue coat.

Diorama: The Bridge of Khazad-Dum.

• Plenty of people have already expressed a want for this as a set in this thread.
• Builds are the Balrog and a portion of the bridge built on a black base with a "You shall not pass!" quote tile.
• Figure is Gandalf.

I'm not good with imagining hypothetical prices and piece counts, so I'll leave that to anyone else if they so wish 

I would flip the sets in the movies and do witch king attack for return of the king and mumakill ambush for two towers (eoyen, witch king, fell beast, merry) (faramir, ranger, three haradrim).  I would sub lothlorien for boromir’s last stand.  I like the other two. 

[Retro Brick Reviews]

4 hours ago, Agent Kallus said:

in fact hypothetically if they did make a small system wave akin to the Indy wave with 4 sets one for each film( plus one for the hobbit trilogy) plus a diorama set, what would people expect them to choose?

Okay, retail/playscale LOTR wave, here we go!

First is the diorama: "The Bridge of Khazad-dum" ($80). The set would have a build for the bridge with a backdrop of Dwarven architecture, and of course a large buildable Balrog. Minifigures will be Gandalf the Grey in the center of the bridge, plus Frodo and Boromir off at the far end. 

Now for the regular sets.

For Fellowship, I'd love a remake of the Attack on Weathertop for around $50, same as the original. It's the first real fight scene of the trilogy and works perfectly for a medium-sized playset (probably remove the noncanon play features from the original and repurpose those pieces for more detail up top). Minifigures are Frodo, Aragorn (as Strider),  2 Nazgul, and a white "Spirit Nazgul" (Idk if there's an official name).

For Two Towers, with how far big LEGO mechs have come in the last decade I'd love a $70-ish Treebeard set, paired with an Orc ballista for it to battle. Figures could be Merry, Pippin, Saruman, and some Orcs.

For Return of the King, this might be controversial but I'd like a $150-ish set based on Minas Tirith (Imo a D2C should be nanoscale of the whole city, but a more affordable playset as well would be ideal). Would feature the Citadel, Tower, and the courtyard with the White Tree of Gondor. Figures would be based on the coronation at the end of the film (Imo it's more interesting than the Siege and would fit the Citadel better), and would include King Aragorn, Arwen, Faramir, Gandalf the White, Frodo, Sam, etc.

Lastly and perhaps leastly is the Hobbit, for which I'd want a remake of the Barrel Escape set - similar to the old honestly, it was a great price at $40 and looked pretty good too. Figures are Bilbo, Thorin, Bombur, Thranduil, and Legolas.

[DocStrange]

Just to be completely clear, but there is no special gift with purchase coming out for Rivendell? Is the Frodo and Gollum the only things we are getting? if so, kind of a bummer for those of us who detest brickheads. 

[Retro Brick Reviews]

1 minute ago, DocStrange said:

Just to be completely clear, but there is no special gift with purchase coming out for Rivendell? Is the Frodo and Gollum the only things we are getting? if so, kind of a bummer for those of us who detest brickheads. 

Nope, that's the Rivendell GWP. Sure, it's a bit lame (they could've at least picked one of the two GOOD Lotr Brickheadz sets), but I think it'd be way worse if it was some cool small LOTR set that was only available to people who bought a $500 set day one.

Imo the ideal would be for LEGO to quit the whole "this promo is only available if you buy the one set specifically in the first few days specifically" and just stick with "spend this much on any theme this month and get the freebie" promos, but if they're going to exclude 99% of LEGO fans I'd honestly prefer the promos are either not exclusive or, if they aren't available anywhere else, have no exclusive parts.

[Altair1]

42 minutes ago, DocStrange said:

Just to be completely clear, but there is no special gift with purchase coming out for Rivendell? Is the Frodo and Gollum the only things we are getting? if so, kind of a bummer for those of us who detest brickheads. 

Yes, that really sucks... It is even worse than when I bought the giant Millenium Falcon on day 1 for 800 bucks and only got for that a black VIP card...

Edited February 9, 2023 by Altair1

[mtrsteve]

40 minutes ago, Retro Brick Reviews said:

Nope, that's the Rivendell GWP. Sure, it's a bit lame (they could've at least picked one of the two GOOD Lotr Brickheadz sets), but I think it'd be way worse if it was some cool small LOTR set that was only available to people who bought a $500 set day one.

Imo the ideal would be for LEGO to quit the whole "this promo is only available if you buy the one set specifically in the first few days specifically" and just stick with "spend this much on any theme this month and get the freebie" promos, but if they're going to exclude 99% of LEGO fans I'd honestly prefer the promos are either not exclusive or, if they aren't available anywhere else, have no exclusive parts.

I feel the opposite. Having some collector's items with actual rarity is part of the fun of being a collector.

In this case since the GWP would literally be a burden to me, I will probably wait for double VIP points instead of buying day 1.

Edited February 9, 2023 by mtrsteve

[Retro Brick Reviews]

4 minutes ago, mtrsteve said:

I feel the opposite. Having some collector's items with actual rarity is part of the fun of being a collector.

Last I checked, the $500 Rivendell WAS the collector's item.

[mtrsteve]

11 minutes ago, Retro Brick Reviews said:

Last I checked, the $500 Rivendell WAS the collector's item.

HA, fair enough! I was speaking more in general I suppose. Still kicking myself for not getting the little all black minifig with the MF on its chest when that was the give away, but I don't dislike the premise.

[LegoAUT]

20 minutes ago, mtrsteve said:

I feel the opposite. Having some collector's items with actual rarity is part of the fun of being a collector.

In this case since the GWP would literally be a burden to me, I will probably wait for double VIP points instead of buying day 1.

Same.

[Altair1]

 You guys are quite patient! No way will I wait to get a hold of my ''precious'' (especially knowing that it will most likely go out of stock pretty fast, and possibly for a while)

[Lordhelmet]

1 hour ago, DocStrange said:

Just to be completely clear, but there is no special gift with purchase coming out for Rivendell? Is the Frodo and Gollum the only things we are getting? if so, kind of a bummer for those of us who detest brickheads. 

Agreed that the GWP is lame.  Brickheadz were not the ideal way to restart the theme and now they double down with the worst one.  I bought the brickheadz too because I collect LOTR and didn’t want to miss a set, makes it that much worse for collectors who did the same.

 

I would have preferred something unique, but also would have been happier even with some extra minifigs or an argonath micro build or something (really anything other than what they chose).

[QuiggoldsPegLeg]

1 hour ago, DocStrange said:

Just to be completely clear, but there is no special gift with purchase coming out for Rivendell? Is the Frodo and Gollum the only things we are getting? if so, kind of a bummer for those of us who detest brickheads. 

I’m glad there’s no GWP, then I don’t feel bad about not buying the set right away. Better to wait until I have some more disposable income and double VIP points. 

1 hour ago, mtrsteve said:

I feel the opposite. Having some collector's items with actual rarity is part of the fun of being a collector.

In this case since the GWP would literally be a burden to me, I will probably wait for double VIP points instead of buying day 1.

Rarity doesn’t matter unless you’re planning on selling the thing you’re talking about. If it’s something you actually want to collect and hold onto, I’d rather everything be less rare, so then more people who also like said thing can get it more easily, and the market value is lower. It’s stupid to gatekeep people deriving joy from a collectible because you want to feel superior for owning a rare version. 

Edited February 9, 2023 by QuiggoldsPegLeg