LOTR & The Hobbit 2013 Set Discussion

[Str0ngbad]

The citadel/top part of minas tirith is not really that recgnizable and it features 0 action. and the drama that happens there is I imagine too too dark for lego's audience.

Agreed on the matter of obvious play functions but not all the drama there is overly dark. In fact, that is the setting for the sweetest scene at the end of the movie. I don't think LEGO will pass up doing the citadel/courtyard in some form or fashion; even if it is not its own set. As far as play functions go, I'm sure LEGO could find some place to stick a couple of those beloved flick-fire missiles for us.

[deskp]

I'm sure LEGO could find some place to stick a couple of those beloved flick-fire missiles for us.

Or perhaps a burning Denethor catapult

[Peppermint_M]

Right, back in the thread there was a lot of nastyness. Please behave, keep respectful of each other and Stay On Topic (This being the actual discussion on official 2013 LotR sets.) Or staff will be taking names and hammering down.

Thank you for your time.

[The_Creator]

You know what set I really want to see the light of day, The Prancing Pony. Don't get me wrong there is a lot of other sets I would rather see first (Barad Dur, and Minas Morgul in epic proportions come to mind). However the Prancing Pony I could see becoming one of those "best Lego sets ever" because it would appeal to so many fans as a historic city building set. One other set comes to mind that did this before, MMV, and that set sold very well did it not? The bottom floor could be the Tavern with rooms above, that's the easy part. And they could make it "modular" which seems to be a selling feature these days. The hard part imo would be choosing the minifigures. Would we get some generic fleshies (a first right?), Strider, Hobbits, Nazgul?

I second this! I'd love to see a Prancing Pony set, no matter the size.

By the way, has anyone spotted to new sets in-store?

[Deathleech]

I would be fine with Lego breaking Minas Tirith into a few sets and having one be the Citadel and White Tree like in the MOC Yooha posted. It looks really good. I don't think they would include everything in that MOC though, it looks like it easily would cost as much if not more than Orthanc and isn't even all of Minas Tirith. I would suspect Lego would only have the Citadel and the tree and probably opt not to include any of the side buildings or the (large) gray base. If they do make a base, they might give a thin one leading out to a point at the end to give the overall shape of the top of the city. That could be a nice $80 set that includes Faramir, Denethor, Pippin in Gondor clothing, Gandalf the White on Shadowfax, and 2 Gondor guards.

I would still want at least a gate set though, and I am not sure how they would make the two connect without making the Gate set huge, or making a third set that includes most of the middle of the city. Minas Tirith has a really iconic look, just like Helm's Deep does so I would like to see a set that includes the whole city if possible, even shrunk way down

Edited May 6, 2013 by Deathleech

[Fives]

I wonder, with the release of Arwen's hair, if any future version of Tauriel with have the female elf hair. I think it would make the minifig way better.

[deskp]

I wonder, with the release of Arwen's hair, if any future version of Tauriel with have the female elf hair. I think it would make the minifig way better.

Thats what I've been thinking, widowspeak-y hair doesent suit females.

[Deathleech]

Who knows if she will even be in another set though? She may be a fairly minor character since Peter Jackson added her.

[deskp]

Who knows if she will even be in another set though? She may be a fairly minor character since Peter Jackson added her.

They added her for a reason,

Shes seen figthing orcs in mirkwood, she and legolas leads the group that cacthes the dwarves, she is Thranduils perosonal guard-thing, and she will proapbly be part of battle of the five armies.

I hope we see her again... With better hair and unique legs!

[The Legonater]

Personally, the whole Minas Tirith discussion is outlandish. There is absolutely no way LEGO will waste consumer's dollars on a half-dozen houses in the city. They didn't have the civilian quarters in Helm's Deep, all the apartment suites in Cloud City, the dozens of janitors closets in the Death Star, Bilbo's bedroom in Bag End, the places the croonies sleep in Jabaa's Palace, the crew quarters in the Endor Bunker, everyone single room in Echo Base... it is just not feasible for them to put in houses in Minas Tirith. We'll get either a scaled down minifig Minas Tirith with very selective buildings, or we'll get a UCS Minas Tirith which will still be scaled down and selectified to some extent. Either way, we'll get what's recognizable, not what happens to be in the shot.

[ShaydDeGrai]

To put this all in perspective. The actual shooting miniature of Minas Tirith was 1/72 scale, and at that scale probably filled somewhere between 1/4 to 1/2 of a soundstage. Lego System or Minifig scale is actually closest to 1/48 (with the figs slightly oversized for that.) So a minifig scale Minas Tirith would be double the size of the filming model, or the size of a small house.

Faefrost's calculations are dead-on. When I was working on this guy, I started with description from the books, backed it up with models built for the movie and, at one point figured out that it Minas Tirith were built to the same warped scale as the modular buildings line, it would be half a meter taller than my house (a two story building with a "nearly" walk-in basement and small attic).

I can appreciate the opinion some hold where no Minas Tirith (play set) is better than a grossly out of scale one, but I also feel that there are enough locales within the city to create more viable play sets (Grond at the gate, the throne room, the court yard, etc.) to pay homage to the importance of the place - similar to the piecemeal Hogwarts castle treatment. TLG never released anything close to a complete minifigure scale Hogwarts, but over the years they put out enough bits to make a pretty impressive keep if you took the time to merge things together.

And by the way, for those who have been debating scale, according to the books Orthanc is supposed to be 500 ft tall so if the new Orthanc kit were _really_ to scale it would be nearly four meters tall.

The top of the White Tower of Ecthelion (the spire at the top of Minas Tirith in the movie) was a thousand feet above the Pelennor Fields and the tower itself was said to be 50 fathoms (300 ft) tall, so, to scale Minas Tirith would be double the height but roughly 11 times the mass of Orthanc.

The exact height of Barad Dur is never given in the books or any of Tolkien's (known) notes other than to refer to Orthanc as a "little" copy and to say that it dwarfed Minas Tirith. People with far more time on their hands than I have written long theses on the subject but I'm particularly fond of one theory that puts it somewhere in the 3000 ft range (+/- 200 ft). Tthis is based on the assumption that the curvature of Middle Earth is similar to our own planet, the scale of Tolkien's own maps and the height of the tower with respect to Mt Doom (whose height IS given) on the horizon from various observation points. Even at minifigure scale, a Barad Dur model might start cracking LEGO bricks under its own weight. (In the books, the foundations of Barad Dur had to be forged by the power of the rings because the keep was too massive for the mantle of the earth to bear it - that's why it fell down when the ring was destroyed.

And one other point for those who didn't read the books carefully: Minas Tirith is called the White City because of the White Tree in it's courtyard not because the city itself is white. The text actually says the lower wall is black - made from the same material as Orthanc, the middle tiers are smokey, light gray marble that shines with a pearly white glare in the sunlight, and that only the Tower of Ecthelion IS actually white. The movie version takes some liberties with this. (Sorry if that was a rant it's a bit of pet peeve of mine)

[wesker]

I wonder, with the release of Arwen's hair, if any future version of Tauriel with have the female elf hair. I think it would make the minifig way better.

Forget Tauriel. You know who would look great with the new female elf hair? Galadriel!

They added her for a reason,

Shes seen figthing orcs in mirkwood, she and legolas leads the group that cacthes the dwarves, she is Thranduils perosonal guard-thing, and she will proapbly be part of battle of the five armies.

I hope we see her again... With better hair and unique legs!

No more Tauriel or Arwen figures until Lego FINALLY gives us both Galadriel and Eowyn!

I hate how long we've had to wait for them.

[BlueberryWaffles]

(Sorry if that was a rant it's a bit of pet peeve of mine)

Holy moley. I've never ever been so educated by the Internet.

[Gryphon Ink]

No more Tauriel or Arwen figures until Lego FINALLY gives us both Galadriel and Eowyn!

I hate how long we've had to wait for them.

Realistically, there have only been, what, twelve Lego LOTR sets ever designed? It hasn't exactly been decades of waiting and dozens of missed opportunities.

I'm with you in the hopes for both heroines, though. Hopefully Galadriel will show up in the Desolation of Smaug sets this winter. That said, I'm psyched to see Tauriel in action, and she did make a fine minifig.

[Deathleech]

They added her for a reason

From what I have read the main reason they created her was just to add a female to the story since the Hobbit is severely lacking any. Of course they also added Galadriel with the White council and Battle of Dol Guldur.

[Artanis I]

The citadel/top part of minas tirith is not really that recgnizable and it features 0 action. and the drama that happens there is I imagine too too dark for lego's audience.

Funnily enough, it is the only part of the city accessible in the Lego LOTR game. And that's the outdoor section BTW. Unless you briefly ride out of Minas Tirith with Gandalf at the end of the Pelennor Fields level? (Not sure if I'm just confusing that with Theoden at Helm's Deep though.)

(Sorry if that was a rant it's a bit of pet peeve of mine)

But it was an interesting one

[Fives]

From what I have read the main reason they created her was just to add a female to the story since the Hobbit is severely lacking any. Of course they also added Galadriel with the White council and Battle of Dol Guldur.

Actually, Galadriel's prescence in the White Council and the Battle of Dol Guldur are accurate.

And ShadyDeGrai, I'm very glad you went to the effort of hopefully extinguishing the argument about a Minas Tirith model. Also, I surprisingly learned stuff from it (particularly about Barad Dur's foundation)

[8BrickMario]

I wonder what variants the dwarves will have in the Desolation of Smaug sets? The Hobbit trilogy is nice, it's a warmer, less dark story in Middle-earth! Can't wait to see the sets with my money flying after them!

[just2good]

I wonder what variants the dwarves will have in the Desolation of Smaug sets? The Hobbit trilogy is nice, it's a warmer, less dark story in Middle-earth! Can't wait to see the sets with my money flying after them!

I doubt they'll have any printed varients. Maybe they'll have new weapons...

[Str0ngbad]

Galadriel's presence is accurate but it is not out of The Hobbit. The book doesn't mention a female even one time. Tauriel was created solely for the purpose of having a heroine and I am fine with that.

I also enjoyed Shady's post. I do not have a very good understanding of LEGO scale so it was all very informative to me.

I want multiple Rivendell's as I can find a purpose for just about every piece, including the Gimlis and Frodos. I haven't figured out what else i can use Elrond's hairpiece on though. On one hand, I'm really glad to have the elf hair with the circlet. On the other, the hair without the circlet would be so much more useful. Looking strictly at the usefulness of the parts, this has to be one of the nicest cheap sets to be released in quite a while.

[Infernum]

The book doesn't mention a female even one time.

What about Lobella?!

[8BrickMario]

With two pieces, one could make Óin's ear trumpet: (I apologize for the distortion, it's the tap piece and the cone piece inverted. If you see the Hobbit announcement trailer, it's easier to see the shape of the ear trumpet when it's in motion.

EDIT: I have lost the side-by side image I had. With the blasted 3DS, I can't get it. I apolgize for the missing image. It shall be fixed tomorrow. In the meantime, imagine a 1x1 black cone standing straight up. Put a tap piece on it with the base of the tap on the top of the cone. Flip the image and turn it to the left or right 90 degrees, and that's what it looked like. Perhaps deskp could upload an image of this from LDD (where I made the LEGO image and pasted a screen capture of Óin right beside it.)

Edited May 7, 2013 by 8BrickMario

[Str0ngbad]

What about Lobella?!

Oooo, you got me there, even if she's not exactly a heroine.

[Deathleech]

Galadriel's presence is accurate but it is not out of The Hobbit. The book doesn't mention a female even one time.

Yup! The battle of Dol Guldur and the White Council are in other books like the LotR appendix, but not specifically mentioned in the Hobbit.

Edited May 7, 2013 by Deathleech

[Doctor_ocks]

I disagree, cause of the limited minifigures. Not only are there very few minifigs in the set, none of them are the action hero kind, just old men and some uruk/orcs they might already have.

If youre gonna spend that money on a kid several cheaper sets is better value.

Assuming the kid already have ALL the other sets is abit of a stretch for most.

I think on the whole, you're correct.

As an aside, my five year old son's three favorite things are Lego, Lord of the Rings, and Star Wars - which I attribute to my excellent parenting. I texted my wife the Lego Orthanc video the day it was released to show my son while I was at work. Her response was "he wants to know how long it will take for him to save his allowance to get it...as if you're not going to buy it the day it comes out."

She's right, but he doesn't know that yet and we're getting extra mileage of his chore chart because of it! Again, excellent parenting.