Lord of the Rings Ongoing Discussion

[Alegrispa]

2 hours ago, mtrsteve said:

Not a great photographer, but here:

https://www.flickr.com/gp/197582965@N08/8K9KCmfF99

Oh man, that's awesome!

I also like where you placed your Smaug.

[mirkwoodspiders]

On 1/22/2023 at 2:29 PM, Balrogofmorgoth said:

I’m so scared for that answer…

Same here. I wouldn't put it past LEGO to give us this little taste of a breathtaking model in a much-desired series, only to shut down the line, a la Stranger Things. On the other hand, hope springs eternal. Perhaps this will be the threshold to an era in which LOTR makes a roaring comeback a la Harry Potter and sticks around for awhile. 

9 hours ago, mtrsteve said:

Barad dur would admittedly be higher on my list if I hadn't just finished building this guy's MOC:

https://bricksafe.com/pages/RakRonDewl/lotr-mocs

I dunno, I get the feeling a) it's too similar to Orthanc to be of much interest to those that already have Orthanc, and b) it's not as iconic in terms of movie-appearance as Orthanc. We really don't see much of Barad-Dur in the movies - at least, not enough for it to be instantly recognizable to the masses. That said, I'd buy one in a heartbeat if LEGO made one! The MOC is amazing, btw.

[Lordhelmet]

38 minutes ago, mirkwoodspiders said:

Same here. I wouldn't put it past LEGO to give us this little taste of a breathtaking model in a much-desired series, only to shut down the line, a la Stranger Things. On the other hand, hope springs eternal. Perhaps this will be the threshold to an era in which LOTR makes a roaring comeback a la Harry Potter and sticks around for awhile. 

I dunno, I get the feeling a) it's too similar to Orthanc to be of much interest to those that already have Orthanc, and b) it's not as iconic in terms of movie-appearance as Orthanc. We really don't see much of Barad-Dur in the movies - at least, not enough for it to be instantly recognizable to the masses. That said, I'd buy one in a heartbeat if LEGO made one! The MOC is amazing, btw.

I mean the eye on top of the tower is super iconic for the movies, probably the most iconic part of the movies as people who have never seen the movies might even recognize it due to parodies or other media (it was in the Lego Batman movie as a character). I would say Barad Dur is right there (recognizable) with some of the characters like Gandalf.  I would love a set even if it is like orthanc but would be just as happy with other sets mentioned throughout the thread.  I just think the giant eye on top of the tower makes it one of the most recognizable and iconic locations in the movies specifically to casual fans or some who haven’t seen the movie but watched other media where Barad dur still shows up.

[sebastian666]

11 hours ago, Balrogofmorgoth said:

A Lothlórien D2C similar to Ewok Village would be awesome. The largest section would be Celeborn’s and Galadriel’s flet, with other flets around it. And then have the mirror scene on the ground, and the boats as well. All with accurate scenery builds too

This is one of my dream sets… Would it be too much to ask for Galadriel’s swan boat and unique molds for (some of) her gifts to the Fellowship too? (Not sure that I need a new mold for the three strands of hair she gives to Gimli, though it is one of my favorite scenes in the movie).

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f7/9b/4b/f79b4be6e047067f308290a09ca6b16c.jpg 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NLwmFplNnbM

[MAB]

9 hours ago, Lordhelmet said:

I just think the giant eye on top of the tower makes it one of the most recognizable and iconic locations in the movies specifically to casual fans or some who haven’t seen the movie but watched other media where Barad dur still shows up.

Stick the eye on Orthanc and many people will think it is Barad-Dur (even if they don't know the name, but know of it as Sauron's tower that falls down when the ring is destroyed). In that sense, they are recognizing the eye and not the tower / location.

7 hours ago, sebastian666 said:

This is one of my dream sets… Would it be too much to ask for Galadriel’s swan boat and unique molds for (some of) her gifts to the Fellowship too? (Not sure that I need a new mold for the three strands of hair she gives to Gimli, though it is one of my favorite scenes in the movie).

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f7/9b/4b/f79b4be6e047067f308290a09ca6b16c.jpg 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NLwmFplNnbM

They have recently done the rowing boat in white in the lighthouse set.

If they did Galadriel's boat, I reckon it would be that along with a brick built head. The phial of light was already done perfectly well in the Shelob set.

[Agent Kallus]

4 hours ago, MAB said:

Stick the eye on Orthanc and many people will think it is Barad-Dur (even if they don't know the name, but know of it as Sauron's tower that falls down when the ring is destroyed). In that sense, they are recognizing the eye.

 

Stick the eye of Sauron onto a dark tower and people will think that it is the dark tower that has the eye of Sauron? Yes and...?

That's like saying you could stick the batman logo and cowl onto any futuristic ninja armour and people would think it was a batman suit. The icon part of something is the thing that people will first recognise? Shock horror what a goddamn surprise.

Yes Barad-dûr is iconic because of the eye, yes they might as well call a Barad-dûr set ' the eye of Sauron' but that doesn't reduce the fact that it is an icon location that would made a good set that would recognizable to almost anyone.

[MAB]

12 minutes ago, Agent Kallus said:

Stick the eye of Sauron onto a dark tower and people will think that it is the dark tower that has the eye of Sauron? Yes and...?

That's like saying you could stick the batman logo and cowl onto any futuristic ninja armour and people would think it was a batman suit. The icon part of something is the thing that people will first recognise? Shock horror what a goddamn surprise.

Yes Barad-dûr is iconic because of the eye, yes they might as well call a Barad-dûr set ' the eye of Sauron' but that doesn't reduce the fact that it is an icon location that would made a good set that would recognizable to almost anyone.

And .... it means the tower is not so important and it's the eye people recognize, so any old black pillar with an eye would do fine for people that recognize it based on the eye. More importantly,  if it is the eye they want, then a larger eye and smaller tower could well suffice. And not give a large accurate tower.

[Balrogofmorgoth]

6 hours ago, MAB said:

Stick the eye on Orthanc and many people will think it is Barad-Dur (even if they don't know the name, but know of it as Sauron's tower that falls down when the ring is destroyed). In that sense, they are recognizing the eye and not the tower / location.

They have recently done the rowing boat in white in the lighthouse set.

If they did Galadriel's boat, I reckon it would be that along with a brick built head. The phial of light was already done perfectly well in the Shelob set.

The crystal piece works just fine for the phial, but I think a molded piece would clearly still be better, although not entirely necessary

Edited January 24, 2023 by Balrogofmorgoth

[Lordhelmet]

Could you imagine how upset people would be if the did an eye of Sauron set (specifically D2C) on the wrong tower or out of scale to the eye tower (like a giant eye on the tower from the black gate set).  
 

especially after waiting so long for more LOTR lego sets

Edited January 24, 2023 by Lordhelmet

[Seaber]

40 minutes ago, Balrogofmorgoth said:

The crystal piece works just fine for the phial, but I think a molded piece would clearly still be better, although not entirely necessary

The maraca piece (also used as a flask in Harry Potter) would work quite well I think. 

[JimBaggins]

1 hour ago, Seaber said:

The maraca piece (also used as a flask in Harry Potter) would work quite well I think. 

That would work perfect in trans clear. Maybe they could have some silver printing on the handle. 

[Balrogofmorgoth]

6 hours ago, Lordhelmet said:

Could you imagine how upset people would be if the did an eye of Sauron set (specifically D2C) on the wrong tower or out of scale to the eye tower (like a giant eye on the tower from the black gate set).  
 

especially after waiting so long for more LOTR lego sets

That would be terrible. Personally I think Barad-Dûr is plenty recognizable on its own. The Eye is just part of that (for the movies at least) and plenty of people would be very happy with a D2C Barad-Dûr set, even after Orthanc. They’re completely different

5 hours ago, Seaber said:

The maraca piece (also used as a flask in Harry Potter) would work quite well I think. 

That would work really well I think!

[MAB]

15 hours ago, Lordhelmet said:

Could you imagine how upset people would be if the did an eye of Sauron set (specifically D2C) on the wrong tower or out of scale to the eye tower (like a giant eye on the tower from the black gate set).  
 

especially after waiting so long for more LOTR lego sets

Yes, some would be upset. Although Orthanc is not really very well done to scale, yet it didn't stop people buying it!

 

[Something_Awesome]

On 1/19/2023 at 1:28 PM, Legoman123 said:

Should the Icons set be minifigure scale then it would effectively just be a really large system scale set which is what everyone wants right? 

So Rivendell does not need to be minifig scale. It can be undersized and still support minifigs. We see this a lot, especially in other licensed themes like Star Wars and Harry Potter. What about the 90th anniversary castle? That's not a truly minifig scale case. At $500, a large slice of Rivendell that supports minifigs is feasible. Personally, I have a gut feeling that the set will be releasing at $550 USD.

[McMurder_them_softly]

Hope to hear some news soon! Any doubt that Rivendell is real? 

[Lordhelmet]

1 hour ago, McMurder_them_softly said:

Hope to hear some news soon! Any doubt that Rivendell is real? 

With you, would be nice to get some leaks or real information.

[QuiggoldsPegLeg]

8 hours ago, McMurder_them_softly said:

Hope to hear some news soon! Any doubt that Rivendell is real? 

There’s no chance we’d get this far along if it wasn’t real. D2Cs often leak only days before the planned reveal, so we might be waiting up to a month longer to see it. 

[mirkwoodspiders]

9 hours ago, McMurder_them_softly said:

Hope to hear some news soon! Any doubt that Rivendell is real? 

I was just thinking this today. I don't think there was ever a guarantee it'd be a March 1st release, but the rumor was March, and some other for sure March 1st sets are being unveiled... QuiggoldsPegLeg is probably right, though. It's a D2C, and those leaks have been pretty tight lately, so I'm not too nervous, yet.

[McMurder_them_softly]

9 hours ago, mirkwoodspiders said:

I was just thinking this today. I don't think there was ever a guarantee it'd be a March 1st release, but the rumor was March, and some other for sure March 1st sets are being unveiled... QuiggoldsPegLeg is probably right, though. It's a D2C, and those leaks have been pretty tight lately, so I'm not too nervous, yet.

I guess I am just nervous given the no-news. Patiently and optimistically waiting!

[Something_Awesome]

I do believe the set is happening. At least, a large LotR set of some sort. My concern is whether it will support minifigures or not.

I do not like microscale sets in general, but Rivendell being microscale is not my biggest concern, and it should not be yours either (more on that in a bit). The thing with the Microscale Hogwarts is that a castle like that has walls. Lots of them. Tall ones to boot. So the set is vertical. A very vertical set becomes more practical as you shrink the scale. This is not the case with Rivendell. From what I can tell, it has plazas and courtyards and open spaces and things like that. Open spaces should be occupied by figures. Of course, LEGO could just plug microscale trees in those open areas if the Rivendell set is to be microscale. However, at almost 6,200 parts, I think having just a large slice of Rivendell that supports minifugres to be very doable.

With all that said, my biggest concern about Rivendell being microscale has more to do with the return of LotR system sets. If the set supports figures, I think it further opens the door for LotR system sets returning. If the set is microscale, it does not slam the door, but it just means that LEGO has an additional step to take before it decides to bring the theme back. I want as little distance as possible between LEGO and the decision to decide to bring the theme back. Hope that makes sense.

And regarding the rumored price point and piece count indicating that the Rivendell set is going to be microscale, not so fast. The current Diagon Alley, which had its price increased, is still a better price-per-piece than Rivendell (as rumored). Why is this significant? Because if Rivendell is microscale, then it furthers the gap in value between Diagon Alley and Rivendell, because Rivendell would be using a lot of smaller parts as a micro build. As far as I am concerned, when comparing Rivendell's specs to Diagon Alley's, I could easily argue that Rivendell has a bigger budget for figures than Diagon Alley does. And Rivendell does not need the 22-24 figures that Diagon Alley has.

Just something to think about (and something to remain hopeful with).

Edited January 27, 2023 by Something_Awesome

[Lordhelmet]

19 minutes ago, Something_Awesome said:

I do believe the set is happening. At least, a large LotR set of some sort. My concern is whether it will support minifigures or not.

I do not like microscale sets in general, but Rivendell being microscale is not my biggest concern, and it should not be yours either (more on that in a bit). The thing with the Microscale Hogwarts is that a castle like that has walls. Lots of them. Tall ones to boot. So the set is vertical. A very vertical set becomes more practical as you shrink the scale. This is not the case with Rivendell. From what I can tell, it has plazas and courtyards and open spaces and things like that. Open spaces should be occupied by figures. Of course, LEGO could just plug microscale trees in those open areas if the Rivendell set is to be microscale. However, at almost 6,200 parts, I think having just a large slice of Rivendell that supports minifugres very doable.

With all that said, my biggest concern about Rivendell being microscale has more to do with the return of LotR system sets. If the set supports figures, I think it further opens the door for LotR system sets returning. If the set is microscale, it does not slam the door, but it just means that LEGO has an additional step to take before it decides to bring the theme back. I want as little distance as possible between LEGO and the decision to decide to bring the theme back. Hope that makes sense.

And regarding the price point and piece count indicating that this set is going to be microscale, not so fast. The current Diagon Alley, which has its price increased, is still a better price per piece than Rivendell (as rumored). Why is this significant? Because if Rivendell is microscale, then it furthers the gap in value between Diagon Alley and Rivendell, because Rivendell would be using a lot of smaller parts as a micro build. As far as I am concerned, when comparing Rivendell's specs to Diagon Alley's, I could easily argue that Rivendell has a bigger budget for figures than Diagon Alley does.

Just something to think about (and something to remain hopeful with).

Good points, might be worth adding that if we get some molds (new or re-used from the original line) on Minifigures it would be a good sign for future LOTR sets as well.  Bringing back the sting mold (brickheadz didn't) would be applicable, the elven hair pieces would be a good sign, Gimli's helmet and beard, among other molds that are specific to LOTR.  It would be even more encouraging if there were some new molds thrown in (like Narsil) or some others.  I like the Dragon Alley comparison, I am wondering where the comparison to Hogwarts came from (if it was leaked, or just speculated based on piece count).  I am just hoping for something that is a nice display regardless of scale with a bunch of Minifigures.  (I would take micro scale external with internal scenes with. minifgirues vs. the micro characters).

[Something_Awesome]

So regarding the Rivendell set, this is PRECISELY what I am hoping for. This Rivendell moc supports a bunch of figures and uses less parts than what the official set will use. So this is totally doable. My favorite Rivendell moc to date. Displayable AND playable.

 

 

[Altair1]

This MOC is amazing, but there are three things missing (which I hope will be included in the upcoming set): the bridge where Arwen and Aragorn meet, the place where the pieces of Narsil are kept, and... a waterfall! 

[Balrogofmorgoth]

9 hours ago, Something_Awesome said:

So regarding the Rivendell set, this is PRECISELY what I am hoping for. This Rivendell moc supports a bunch of figures and uses less parts than what the official set will use. So this is totally doable. My favorite Rivendell moc to date. Displayable AND playable.

 

 

The way he pronounces Rivendell makes me so mad lol “Rivendale”

[mtrsteve]

27 minutes ago, Balrogofmorgoth said:

The way he pronounces Rivendell makes me so mad lol “Rivendale”

At least it retains the essential etymology either way