Lord of the Rings Ongoing Discussion

[Captain Pirate Man]

53 minutes ago, Mandalorianknight said:

"I know what I have to do, but I don't know if I have the strength to do it."

 

 

As to the wider topic, I'll simply say that "low quality content is better than no content" is how we got the current states of SW and marvel. Though as @BrickBob Studpants says, LOTR seems to already be having as much trouble with their canon as star wars currently is.

I don't disagree with that assertion. LOTR is nowhere close to as over saturated as SW is though. Just think about all the movies, shows, holiday specials, comic books, novels, video games, etc that SW has produced over the years. LOTR is still pretty fresh IMO, that's why I meant more content is good. Now if all the new content isn't very good (Disney Wars), then yes it will dilute the brand pretty quick. I just feel LOTR is so far from that situation at this time. Even with Rings of Power being considered less than, that's just one show. How many sub par shows has SW pumped out at this point?

I would also add... If this interview doesn't provide you with some faith that they are handling everything with care and respect... I don't know what will. I gained a lot of respect for her and the whole team after watching this. 

 

Edited June 16 by Captain Pirate Man

[kuzyabricks]

For anyone wondering what totally black Barad-dur looks like 

 

 

 

[CloneCommando99]

4 hours ago, Mandalorianknight said:

 

As to the wider topic, I'll simply say that "low quality content is better than no content" is how we got the current states of SW and marvel. Though as @BrickBob Studpants says, LOTR seems to already be having as much trouble with their canon as star wars currently is.

I quite liked ROP. (Music was phenomenal) It was a good and enjoyable show by itself. But it just didn’t feel like LOTR.

You have to commend Amazon for managing to wreak canon the canon in just one Season. A feat that took Disney around 5 different movies and TV shows for Star Wars.

[PsychoBuilder]

1 hour ago, Captain Pirate Man said:

As far as LEGO is concerned, I don't know about the rest of you, but I would prefer a full theme, of smaller sets over a $1000 Minas Tirith. Don't get me wrong, Minas Tirith would be welcomed as well, but if I had to pick... Give me smaller sets. Between this year and last year, I've spent nearly $1000 on LEGO LOTR. We got two absolutely amazing sets, now it's time to give us more minifigs and smaller builds to help populate the world of these two massive sets.

 

IDK about the rest of you... But I could use some more Elfs and Orcs at this point. At least before we introduce another faction (Gondor) to the equation. Not to mention I'd argue a Bagend remake would probably FLY off of shelves, faster than a Minis Tirith would. You could make Bag End the big set of the theme, and go small from there. 

Opinions?

Intriguing question. I don't want a $1000 Minas Tirith, I'd prefer one around the size of Rivendell or Barad-Dur, perhaps a tad larger, (you may be using a different form of currency or hyperbole, I'm not sure), and frankly, I might take that over a full theme. If any theme is truly suited to exclusively large D2Cs, this is the one. Look at the original theme--how many of those could not be done as D2Cs, and of those that could not, which ones are truly relevant? Helm's Deep (+Uruk Hai Army), Orthanc (+Wizard Battle), Moria, the Black Gate, Bag End, and arguably Weathertop could all be D2Cs, and the Council of Elrond already has been done. This leaves Pirate Ship Ambush, the Orc Forge, Shelob Attacks, and Gandalf Arrives. The latter could undeniably be combined with Bag-End, and the former two are relatively minor scenes which would most likely serve to build up armies. While they're neat, they're not critical. Shelob is certainly an important character, but the theme survives without her, probably.

So then beyond that, what are we missing? The first priority is probably Minas Tirith, which again is doable as a D2C. After that, the requests seem to steer into more remake-based territory, which again goes back towards the original theme. I'd say the Prancing Pony, Lothlorien, and Edoras would probably be done alongside Minas Tirith and the remakes, but after that and army builders, the big missing things get kinda odd--Minas Morgul (although this could also be a viable D2C), an Oliphaunt (could come with a hypothetical Minas Tirith), Treebeard (could come with Orthanc), Cirith Ungol, and Osgilliath. To me, it doesn't seem like Lego can cover the mid-range sets effectively. Smaller army builders and dioramas are certainly possible, but I fear that Lego would be reluctant to do a full theme, and then even if they did a few waves, how long can that last without tapping into the Hobbit, Rings of Power, and drawings (please?)? I mean, maybe I'm nuts here, but I'd say that this was kinda a weakness with the older theme as well--sure there are playsets, but will Lego go for those when the standard set by some is so high? And then even beyond that, is the interest high enough with kids and parents? 

I don't really want it to be like this--I have two big objections to the exclusively D2C style sets. The first is, of course, the price. I don't like the idea of a portion of the market being priced out of what may be a beloved theme, perhaps. The second is that I kinda doubt that we see a good chunk of these as D2Cs, even if Lego sticks with that as its release style--how many people are going to be willing to spend $400 on Minas Morgul? Sure, it's iconic to LotR fans, but is it worth that for a place that sees not even 10 minutes of screen time? To me, the solution seems to be smaller waves, similar to the Indiana Jones waves from last year, alongside the larger D2Cs. This way, Lego can rely on the more beloved film adaptions, hit bigger portions of the market, and do slightly more obscure things, eventually, while not losing the larger slot. If someone can come up with a plan of release for a full theme for the next, oh, six or so years, I'd be very impressed. 

Side-note to all of this--got a new hard drive, managed to recover my Minas Tirith design, but lost most of my other stud.io stuff :(, so that's at the very least still going. 

[Artanis I]

I love Minas Morgul. The eerie green glow is so cool.

Worst thing about Minas Morgul/Ithil isn't the limited screen time, but the lack of action & interior. You don't see anything "in" it at all. Just a big white/lime walls-towers-combo. A fell beast flies overhead. Orcs march out from the entrance. The only thing that DOES actually happen is the magic fire thing shooting up. Good luck representing that Lego play feature. And the whole thing surely can't be made from glow-in-the-dark bricks...

 

An oliphaunt/mumakil set doesn't have to be at Pelennor Fields - it could be in Ithilien with... get this... FARAMIR and other Gondor rangers! What concept! A Faramir minifig!

[BrickBob Studpants]

6 hours ago, kuzyabricks said:

For anyone wondering what totally black Barad-dur looks like 

Gonna be honest, the official set looks wayyyyyyyy better in my opinion  This looks too plain to me.

4 hours ago, CloneCommando99 said:

You have to commend Amazon for managing to wreak canon the canon in just one Season. A feat that took Disney around 5 different movies and TV shows for Star Wars.

I don’t think you can compare that. With adaptations, breaking canon is way more likely and sometimes even necessary since adaptations have to change things around to fit the medium, for example the time compression in RoP. Even the Jackson trilogies did that: The elves appearing in Helm’s Deep contradicts the book lore, but they simply applied the rule of cool here. The battle at Dol Guldur didn’t happen in the books (as Galadriel destroyed the fortress without assistance I think) but it was an awesome scene in Bot5A.

What bothers me more in RoP are the plotholes that have nothing to do with the lore, especially one of the biggest ones I’ve ever seen in any medium: how come Galadriel just happens to find Sauron in the middle of the bloody ocean?!  And don’t tell me it was fate.

As for SW, there are no adaptations and it’s all in the same continuity (except for Legends), so something only breaks canon if it’s in direct contradiction with the other movies/shows without any wiggleroom, and there’s A LOT of that (see Leia remembering her mother, Obi-Wan’s lie, Clones becomes Stormies, etc). Not sure what specifically you’re referring to here, as so far, nothing like that has happened as far as I’m aware. Lucas himself likely was the biggest offender when it comes to retcons 

[CloneCommando99]

@BrickBob Studpants

I know that the book adaptations don’t need to be completely accurate to the book. I just found that ROP has some agitating timeline inconsistencies. Such as Celebrimbor, Elendil and Isildur being alive at the same time. That just seems like the sort of thing that should have stayed accurate to the books. I know that I’m over sensitive of the subject.

I was fine with Leia remembering her mother in ROTJ tbh. I just find it weird that they retconned it into her not remembering anything in Kenobi. I was under the impression that the Stormtroopers were always recruited troops. Seeing as they all had different voices in the OT. And the fact that the Lieutenants - Commanders were obviously recruited. And then there’s Yoda being around the same around teh same age as Grogu when he started training younglings. “For 800 years have I trained Jedi.” By that logic Yoda, since Grogu is 50, would have the mental age of 6-10 years old when he first took on a Padawan. And seeing how strict the Jedi are in canon I doubt they would have let him teach. (Anakin’s immaturity is a special case because A) he was the supposed chosen one, and B) it was wartime.

Once again, I know I’m probably over sensitive on this subject.

 

 

[zoth33]

On 6/15/2024 at 10:43 AM, QuiggoldsPegLeg said:

To be fair, Star Wars is fantasy. 
 

Also, you unfortunately aren’t going to get anything about Beren and Luthien or Melkor, because the Tolkien Estate still holds on to all of the rights for stories derived from the Silmarillion, and has yet to lend those rights out to anyone. 

Yes Star Wars is a blend of fantasy and sci-fi that's why I have always liked it better than Star trek.  

Yeah I wish the Tolkien estate had some competent people that would be able to do justice to his works but maybe one day they will release those works and we will see more of middle earth.  

On 6/15/2024 at 6:28 AM, Black Falcon said:

Yeah a shame that Battle for Middle Earth isn´t avaiable today anymore - unless you buy used copys for insane prices 

We should keep in mind, that Warner will make films that will appeal to the masses though, and there are certainly some stories that would greatly appeal to fans of the tolkien universe mainly. I still think there might be stories that are better than Hunt for Gollum, but they wouldn´t have choosen it, if they wouldn´t have a plan for it. Though, one of the main reasons might be that the can use known figures from the LotR such as Gandalf and Aragorn which will help to atrract viewers.

Comparing the Hobbit and the RoP with another and putting them into one catergory is quite hard IMO. The Hobbit is way better IMO.

Yeah but Gollum isn't a huge appeal as like you said Gandalf or Aragorn.  Which again lends to this being an odd choice to do.  Gollum isn't a hugely popular character.  I think the story of young Aragorn would be more popular.  And from the people I have talked to and the presence online people are skeptical of this movie and why it's being made.  Whereas if they did a movie of about Aragorn people would be stoked to see it.  

[Cyprinus]

39 minutes ago, zoth33 said:

Yeah but Gollum isn't a huge appeal as like you said Gandalf or Aragorn.  Which again lends to this being an odd choice to do.  Gollum isn't a hugely popular character.  I think the story of young Aragorn would be more popular.  And from the people I have talked to and the presence online people are skeptical of this movie and why it's being made.  Whereas if they did a movie of about Aragorn people would be stoked to see it.  

Gollum was surprisingly popular, there is that. And the story of the hunt for Gollum is more a story of Aragorn and Gandalf than Gollum himself (or at least it can be so). So it can make sense.

8 hours ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

The battle at Dol Guldur didn’t happen in the books (as Galadriel destroyed the fortress without assistance I think) but it was an awesome scene in Bot5A.

Different battles. Galadriel destroyed the place only after the Ring was destroyed. The White Council made Sauron retreat to Mordor during the events of the Hobbit, but I don't think we get much detail on it, and only 10 years later the Nazgul reoccupied it.

Quote

What bothers me more in RoP are the plotholes that have nothing to do with the lore, especially one of the biggest ones I’ve ever seen in any medium: how come Galadriel just happens to find Sauron in the middle of the bloody ocean?!  And don’t tell me it was fate.

I saw some claim Sauron set it up, with his Maiar powers letting him know where to find her. People making said claims didn't explain why Sauron never showed such powers in canon stories, nor how would it help him get to the exact spot in the ocean exactly at the right time...

Edited June 16 by Cyprinus

[Black Falcon]

21 minutes ago, zoth33 said:

Yeah but Gollum isn't a huge appeal as like you said Gandalf or Aragorn.  Which again lends to this being an odd choice to do.  Gollum isn't a hugely popular character.  I think the story of young Aragorn would be more popular.  And from the people I have talked to and the presence online people are skeptical of this movie and why it's being made.  Whereas if they did a movie of about Aragorn people would be stoked to see it.  

I do have to disagree here,..

4 minutes ago, Cyprinus said:

Gollum was surprisingly popular, there is that. And the story of the hunt for Gollum is more a story of Aragorn and Gandalf than Gollum himself (or at least it can be so). So it can make sens.

... and fully agree here, Gollum is maybe one of the most iconic characters of LotR (movies). I don´t really need a full film with him personally but like Cyprinus said, I would expect the film to be more about the journey and search for gollum, then really about him. Also might be less of an actual hunt (though towards the end that surely will also happen) than more about really searching for him and the things that happen on the way - at least that is what I would expect, included some hidings and fights from/with orcs, who also search for gollum to find out where the one ring is.

[BrickBob Studpants]

1 hour ago, Cyprinus said:

I saw some claim Sauron set it up, with his Maiar powers letting him know where to find her.

I would accept that if they actually said or showed it somewhere  Maybe in S2. Some other issues I have can also still be fixed, like Gil-galad being a moron

1 hour ago, Black Falcon said:

... and fully agree here, Gollum is maybe one of the most iconic characters of LotR (movies).

Agreed, never underestimate Gollum! He‘s one of the most popular characters due to his characterisation, the performance by Serkis, and the amazing effect work. There‘s a good reason Gollum is still the gold standard for all things mocap!

[wesker]

 

16 hours ago, Brickroll said:

Intriguing question. I don't want a $1000 Minas Tirith, I'd prefer one around the size of Rivendell or Barad-Dur, perhaps a tad larger, (you may be using a different form of currency or hyperbole, I'm not sure), and frankly, I might take that over a full theme. If any theme is truly suited to exclusively large D2Cs, this is the one. Look at the original theme--how many of those could not be done as D2Cs, and of those that could not, which ones are truly relevant? Helm's Deep (+Uruk Hai Army), Orthanc (+Wizard Battle), Moria, the Black Gate, Bag End, and arguably Weathertop could all be D2Cs, and the Council of Elrond already has been done. This leaves Pirate Ship Ambush, the Orc Forge, Shelob Attacks, and Gandalf Arrives. The latter could undeniably be combined with Bag-End, and the former two are relatively minor scenes which would most likely serve to build up armies. While they're neat, they're not critical. Shelob is certainly an important character, but the theme survives without her, probably.

So then beyond that, what are we missing? The first priority is probably Minas Tirith, which again is doable as a D2C. After that, the requests seem to steer into more remake-based territory, which again goes back towards the original theme. I'd say the Prancing Pony, Lothlorien, and Edoras would probably be done alongside Minas Tirith and the remakes, but after that and army builders, the big missing things get kinda odd--Minas Morgul (although this could also be a viable D2C), an Oliphaunt (could come with a hypothetical Minas Tirith), Treebeard (could come with Orthanc), Cirith Ungol, and Osgilliath. To me, it doesn't seem like Lego can cover the mid-range sets effectively. Smaller army builders and dioramas are certainly possible, but I fear that Lego would be reluctant to do a full theme, and then even if they did a few waves, how long can that last without tapping into the Hobbit, Rings of Power, and drawings (please?)? I mean, maybe I'm nuts here, but I'd say that this was kinda a weakness with the older theme as well--sure there are playsets, but will Lego go for those when the standard set by some is so high? And then even beyond that, is the interest high enough with kids and parents? 

I don't really want it to be like this--I have two big objections to the exclusively D2C style sets. The first is, of course, the price. I don't like the idea of a portion of the market being priced out of what may be a beloved theme, perhaps. The second is that I kinda doubt that we see a good chunk of these as D2Cs, even if Lego sticks with that as its release style--how many people are going to be willing to spend $400 on Minas Morgul? Sure, it's iconic to LotR fans, but is it worth that for a place that sees not even 10 minutes of screen time? To me, the solution seems to be smaller waves, similar to the Indiana Jones waves from last year, alongside the larger D2Cs. This way, Lego can rely on the more beloved film adaptions, hit bigger portions of the market, and do slightly more obscure things, eventually, while not losing the larger slot. If someone can come up with a plan of release for a full theme for the next, oh, six or so years, I'd be very impressed. 

Side-note to all of this--got a new hard drive, managed to recover my Minas Tirith design, but lost most of my other stud.io stuff :(, so that's at the very least still going. 

I think the best solution would be keeping the theme targeted at adult collectors with affordable display pieces such as dioramas and buildable creatures (think 76394 and 76406 from the Harry Potter theme). They can be limited to roughly 3 sets per year, can co-exist alongside the larger D2C release and avoids the issue of over saturating retailers with a theme kids might not have much interest in.

[Mandalorianknight]

On 6/15/2024 at 11:02 PM, Captain Pirate Man said:

I don't disagree with that assertion. LOTR is nowhere close to as over saturated as SW is though. Just think about all the movies, shows, holiday specials, comic books, novels, video games, etc that SW has produced over the years. LOTR is still pretty fresh IMO, that's why I meant more content is good. Now if all the new content isn't very good (Disney Wars), then yes it will dilute the brand pretty quick. I just feel LOTR is so far from that situation at this time. Even with Rings of Power being considered less than, that's just one show. How many sub par shows has SW pumped out at this point?

I would also add... If this interview doesn't provide you with some faith that they are handling everything with care and respect... I don't know what will. I gained a lot of respect for her and the whole team after watching this.

I don't think I made myself super clear- I'm not saying that's where LOTR is, just that the attitude of "bad content better than no content" is the attitude that would lead to LOTR being so.

The animated film I actually really think will be good, but I didn't like ROP, and have no faith in Hunt for Gollum just off concept alone.

[MAB]

6 hours ago, Mandalorianknight said:

The animated film I actually really think will be good, but I didn't like ROP, and have no faith in Hunt for Gollum just off concept alone.

If you don't have any faith in it, then don't engage with it. No doubt that there are plenty of people that would go to see the movie and would buy toys from it. 

I quite enjoyed The Hobbit even though it was different in style to LOTR. Apparently other people enjoyed it too, as it took $3b at the box office. No doubt a Gollum movie would be similar. It doesn't need to be the best concept ever for a movie to be an enjoyable watch.

[Artanis I]

It's almost a given that the eventual Gollum movie will have merchandising including Lego. So I guess if they do a full wave of playsets, let's say 7 sets, how many Aragorn, Legolas, Gollum & Gandalf minifigs will we get? And 1 Bilbo or 2?

[zoth33]

22 hours ago, Black Falcon said:

I do have to disagree here,..

... and fully agree here, Gollum is maybe one of the most iconic characters of LotR (movies). I don´t really need a full film with him personally but like Cyprinus said, I would expect the film to be more about the journey and search for gollum, then really about him. Also might be less of an actual hunt (though towards the end that surely will also happen) than more about really searching for him and the things that happen on the way - at least that is what I would expect, included some hidings and fights from/with orcs, who also search for gollum to find out where the one ring is.

We will see when the movie comes out and can then access the viability of using Gollum as the main draw.  

 

21 hours ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

I would accept that if they actually said or showed it somewhere  Maybe in S2. Some other issues I have can also still be fixed, like Gil-galad being a moron

Agreed, never underestimate Gollum! He‘s one of the most popular characters due to his characterisation, the performance by Serkis, and the amazing effect work. There‘s a good reason Gollum is still the gold standard for all things mocap!

I'm not saying Andy didn't do a great job.  I think he did incredible as Gollum but I just don't see the character having a wide appeal as others like Legolas, Aragorn, etc.  The gollum video game was an absolute failure.  All I am saying is that Gollums story is pretty much fleshed out from the Hobbit and LOTR trilogies.  I would like to see other stories we haven't been exposed to from Middle Earth.  

[Duxx]

8 hours ago, Artanis I said:

It's almost a given that the eventual Gollum movie will have merchandising including Lego. So I guess if they do a full wave of playsets, let's say 7 sets, how many Aragorn, Legolas, Gollum & Gandalf minifigs will we get? And 1 Bilbo or 2?

Gollum movies are great way for lego to do 2-3 Gollum sets and add in the mix 3-4 LOTR/Hobbit sets per wave (hopefuly 2 waves)

as for Minas Tirith - why not modular one? Like they are doing for Hogwarts this year - once you have all 4-5 sets, connec tthem together and creat full MT... that way we would get much more figs, then in just one d2c

[Black Falcon]

29 minutes ago, zoth33 said:

We will see when the movie comes out and can then access the viability of using Gollum as the main draw.  

I'm not saying Andy didn't do a great job.  I think he did incredible as Gollum but I just don't see the character having a wide appeal as others like Legolas, Aragorn, etc. 

Well I still would think Aragorn is the main character of the movie...

29 minutes ago, zoth33 said:

The gollum video game was an absolute failure.  All I am saying is that Gollums story is pretty much fleshed out from the Hobbit and LOTR trilogies.  I would like to see other stories we haven't been exposed to from Middle Earth.  

Well the Gollum game beeing a failure had other reasons though and is a bad example on Gollums popularity - on the contrary that they made the game actually proves he is popular ;)

[PsychoBuilder]

2 hours ago, Duxx said:

as for Minas Tirith - why not modular one? Like they are doing for Hogwarts this year - once you have all 4-5 sets, connec tthem together and creat full MT... that way we would get much more figs, then in just one d2c

I really don't think this would quite work, tbh. Hogwarts works because it's spread out over an enormous area and has several distinct buildings that do not rely on each other. Every set is a standalone set that can be but does not necessarily have to be combined to be a successful set. Let's say you have the Clock Tower and the Great Hall--you can still say you have a "Hogwarts" setup even if you don't have the Astronomy Tower. A Minas Tirith probably wouldn't be able to work that way--the set would look incomplete without the full design. And then you have further issues such as a lack of memorable interior scenes (which works for Hogwarts given the massive amount of source material), desirability to kids, etc. 

[MAB]

10 hours ago, Brickroll said:

I really don't think this would quite work, tbh. Hogwarts works because it's spread out over an enormous area and has several distinct buildings that do not rely on each other. Every set is a standalone set that can be but does not necessarily have to be combined to be a successful set. Let's say you have the Clock Tower and the Great Hall--you can still say you have a "Hogwarts" setup even if you don't have the Astronomy Tower. A Minas Tirith probably wouldn't be able to work that way--the set would look incomplete without the full design. And then you have further issues such as a lack of memorable interior scenes (which works for Hogwarts given the massive amount of source material), desirability to kids, etc. 

Yet Minas Tirith is spread out over a large area and has many areas that do not rely on each other. They could do playsets based on Minas Tirith:

Lighting of the Beacon

Grond at the Gates

Witch King vs Gandalf

The Crowning of the King

 

They probably won't, as they aren't currently doing small playsets for LOTR. 

[Cyprinus]

18 minutes ago, MAB said:

Yet Minas Tirith is spread out over a large area and has many areas that do not rely on each other. They could do playsets based on Minas Tirith:

Compared to Hogwarts it has very little. Which kinda makes the modular design not work.

Like for outside areas you have the White Tree Courtyard, Palace, Beacon, Gate, battle of Gandalf and Witch-King.
Interior-wise we look at the Palace, the place where Denethor's pyre was (might be a tad dark for Lego), Houses of Healing.
 

Not a lot to go with for modular designs. Sure, playsets can work, but that is moving the goalpost.

[MAB]

4 hours ago, Cyprinus said:

Compared to Hogwarts it has very little. Which kinda makes the modular design not work.

Like for outside areas you have the White Tree Courtyard, Palace, Beacon, Gate, battle of Gandalf and Witch-King.
Interior-wise we look at the Palace, the place where Denethor's pyre was (might be a tad dark for Lego), Houses of Healing.
 

Not a lot to go with for modular designs. Sure, playsets can work, but that is moving the goalpost.

You also have wall, more wall, even more wall, and lots more wall. And that is per level. Wall is boring, so better to concentrate on the main parts where the action takes place.

There are two ways they could do Minas Tirith, and different people want different things. Some people want a microscale type build of the entire city including all 7 levels. Others want minifig scale representations of the key areas. I'd take either but would prefer minifigure scale covering the courtyard and tree, the palace (just the facade is fine and doesn't need a huge amount of depth), and the beacon raised up a little to imply it is higher. A bit of wall / terrace would be good too if they include Gandalf and the Witch King on a fell beast. It could be all combined with false perspective to give the appearance of different heights, a bit like Rivendell, or as separate units stood near each other. If done individually, that could easily be four combinable sets, a bit like like Hogwarts.

[PsychoBuilder]

9 hours ago, MAB said:

Yet Minas Tirith is spread out over a large area and has many areas that do not rely on each other. They could do playsets based on Minas Tirith:

Lighting of the Beacon

Grond at the Gates

Witch King vs Gandalf

The Crowning of the King

 

They probably won't, as they aren't currently doing small playsets for LOTR. 

Conceptually, there are many scenes that don’t rely on each other, yes, absolutely, I agree. What I meant was that structurally, it doesn’t make much sense. Every set’s either gonna end up with a bunch of pieces to try to fit it with the other sets, which is gonna both drive the price up massively and look kinda ugly if you don’t have the other sets, which is partially why Hogwarts works—every set is its own complete building. I’m still working on that Minas Tirith design right now—there isn’t an easy way to make the set look like a good display piece, as the other two have, without using a ton of pieces to make a solid structure. The very frustrating thing about Minas Tirith is not the shape of the walls, which are workable, albeit bit annoying. To me, the big issue has been getting the floors of the upper levels done—it’s not like just a series of walls combined is gonna quite get the job done, to me. The set needs a series of elevated floors to actually capture the city and be more than a facade. But even beyond that, if the set is just designed for play and you stick with the facade option, you’re still gonna need a big chunk of structure for it to look right. That might be an okay option for a Minas Tirith with 3-4 levels, provided players are done, but it’s not gonna be better than a D2C with dedicated floors, and will probably still be fairly expensive.

Okay, that was a lot with no clear thesis, sorry, I’m done now

[MAB]

14 hours ago, Brickroll said:

Conceptually, there are many scenes that don’t rely on each other, yes, absolutely, I agree. What I meant was that structurally, it doesn’t make much sense. Every set’s either gonna end up with a bunch of pieces to try to fit it with the other sets, which is gonna both drive the price up massively and look kinda ugly if you don’t have the other sets, which is partially why Hogwarts works—every set is its own complete building. I’m still working on that Minas Tirith design right now—there isn’t an easy way to make the set look like a good display piece, as the other two have, without using a ton of pieces to make a solid structure. The very frustrating thing about Minas Tirith is not the shape of the walls, which are workable, albeit bit annoying. To me, the big issue has been getting the floors of the upper levels done—it’s not like just a series of walls combined is gonna quite get the job done, to me. The set needs a series of elevated floors to actually capture the city and be more than a facade. But even beyond that, if the set is just designed for play and you stick with the facade option, you’re still gonna need a big chunk of structure for it to look right. That might be an okay option for a Minas Tirith with 3-4 levels, provided players are done, but it’s not gonna be better than a D2C with dedicated floors, and will probably still be fairly expensive.

Okay, that was a lot with no clear thesis, sorry, I’m done now

I don't think it can be done minifigure scale with multiple levels at accurate heights between the terraces. Either they'd need to concentrate solely on the upper level with the beacon maybe perched on a ten brick high rocky section, or give up on the realistic shape of the city and just merge lots of scenes together. I think the former would be better than the latter.

[sebastian666]

I’m not up-to-date on my LEGO leakers / content makers and who is considered trustworthy - but Jedi Bricks just posted a video saying that Minas Tirith has been leaked as the big 2025 LEGO LOTR set. Have any other trusted leakers mentioned this yet?