LEGO LotR - general discussion

[Haldiron]

...So many comments about the Lego Ideas Minas Tirith set that has been gaining steam. It's not a matter of if it gets 10,000 votes to be considered. It's a matter of when. When I last checked, it's support was at 8,632 votes. It's already getting Lego's attention by staying on the front page of the site. At it's current pace, it very well could hit 10,000 votes by the end of the month. It's pretty much guaranteed at this point that this project will get to review. Regardless of how you feel about the project, that alone should be encouraging to all Lord of The Rings fans. I've shown the project to non-Lego collectors, but who are big Lord of the Rings fans, and they are very interested in purchasing it, if it does become a set. The idea here is to convince Lego that there is enough support and interest in this theme to make it worth the effort for Lego. I believe there is. I always thought that this set would be perfect for a Lego UCS set, and that would not take up much shelf space. One argument has always been that it was not worth it to Lego to keep the Lord of the Rings license to develop 1 set (if in fact they are discontinuing the production of all other LOTR sets). But lets consider some of the other Lego Ideas projects that have passed review and become official sets (Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, Minecraft,etc) Minnecraft was so successful that a new Lego theme was created, and from what i've seen the Back to the Future and Ghostbusters sets have sold well. These sets all required a license in order to sell them and they are just one set in the theme....the exception of course being Minecraft. In the end, if you want Lord of the Rings to continue, support the project, and support other Lord of the Rings projects. Even if it does not pass review, it is still getting Lego's attention, and if they see other Lego Lord of the Rings projects get that kind of support, that too will send a strong message to Lego.

[wesker]

While its great to see Minas Tirith doing so well, it would be even better other LOTR themed projects could get some extra attention. Here's some of the ones that stood out for me:

Edoras - https://ideas.lego.com/projects/36278

The Battle of Kazad Dum - https://ideas.lego.com/projects/70624

Lothlorien Swan Ship - https://ideas.lego.com/projects/51716

Nazgul on Fell Beast - https://ideas.lego.com/projects/41453

Fall of the Witch-King - https://ideas.lego.com/projects/19148

Cirith Ungol - https://ideas.lego.com/projects/70259

Battle of Osgiliath - https://ideas.lego.com/projects/84994

Destruction of the Ring - https://ideas.lego.com/projects/83657

The Forbidden Pool - https://ideas.lego.com/projects/45646

Doors of Durin - https://ideas.lego.com/projects/80650

Bilbo's 111th Birthday - https://ideas.lego.com/projects/69033

There were some other beautiful projects although many of them were far too large and complex to ever be realistically released as a set. Still supporting them does send Lego the message that there's still an interest in the LOTR line:

Lothlorien - https://ideas.lego.com/projects/70260

Argonath - https://ideas.lego.com/projects/10944

Minas Tirith - https://ideas.lego.com/projects/70809

Barad-Dur - https://ideas.lego.com/projects/60514

Rivendell - https://ideas.lego.com/projects/72851

Would be great to see any other good projects people come across. Every bit of support counts.

Edited November 12, 2014 by wesker

[Risgrynsgrot]

I just supported all of them. Don't think if you like the model or not, just support it to show LEGO there's a demand for LOTR!

[Izendel]

Hello! Please support my project on LEGO Ideas – "The Mirror of Galadriel". In case it gathers 10000 supports, it will get a chance to be released as official LEGO set. Thank you!

Link on the project: (link removed)

Edited November 12, 2014 by ZCerberus
Create a stand alone topic with the MOC as the main highlight. Form there you may create a link to the ideas project. Asking for support in this manner is not allowed in the site guidelines.

[Blazej_Holen]

Nice little MOC but is it worth to make it as a set? Everything here is accesible through existing sets, so I am not sure where is the added value in this... :)

[Haldiron]

While its great to see Minas Tirith doing so well, it would be even better other LOTR themed projects could get some extra attention. Here's some of the ones that stood out for me:

[snip]

Thanks for those links. I have supported most of them, but I will look through and support the others I missed. They all look great!

[Blazej_Holen]

Is it necessary to quote all those pictures? :)

[bachamn]

Is it necessary to quote all those pictures? :)

haha, I was just thinking the same thing. it's pretty common on this site; seems a lot of standard forum etiquette is not practiced here it ;)

Edited November 12, 2014 by bachamn

[ZCerberus]

1. Quoting pictures is indeed a no-no unless there is something very specific about the image you are discussing.

2. Telling people not to quote images is a job for a regulator or a mod. Please use the "report" button for that kind of thing in the future.

3. Promoting your own Ideas projects is dangerous territory. While I think it benefits the community to mention good ones you've seen out there, self promotion of Ideas projects (beyond a link in your signature or a single link in the discussion of the MOC itself) will be dealt with swiftly by moderators. It is in the site guidelines, so read those if you are unsure what is or is not allowed.

Here is the guideline for those who haven't read it before:

LEGO Ideas: If you have a great MOC, that is also a LEGO Ideas project, you may present it on EB as you would any MOC, with a single link to the Ideas entry. Make the title about the MOC, not the Ideas business; don't be too shouty, and it is likely to be tolerated. You need to be thinking: 'I want people on EB to see my MOC and comment on it. If they like it, perhaps they'll support it on LEGO Ideas', rather than: 'I want Ideas support! If I post it on EB, perhaps more people will vote!.

[Bycougars]

Battle of Osgiliath - https://ideas.lego.com/projects/84994 Thanks Wesker, I have to say that, that is one of the better Osgiliaths I have seen.

Edited November 12, 2014 by Bycougars

[Blakstone]

That Osgiliath has a great balance between the grays that keep the build interesting. I particularly like the domed tower.

However, I have too many brick separators so I cannot sup...

Just kidding. I really like it AND I supported it on Ideas already.

[Borador]

That is a mighty fine Osgiliath. Frankly, I think it has a WAY better chance than any Minas Tirith due to size. Plus, we'd still get our Gondor soldiers.

Of course, it still has all of the other problems with ANY Lord of the Rings Ideas set, but after the Big Bang Theory got approved, I don't even know anymore...

[Izendel]

Greetings! Here is my work - The Mirror of Galadriel. If you like it, please support it on Lego Ideas.

-link removed-

Edited November 13, 2014 by Ecclesiastes
link removed

[Ecclesiastes]

Greetings! Here is my work - The Mirror of Galadriel. If you like it, please support it on Lego Ideas.

-link removed-

It seemed you only joined to promote your project... Instead, join the discussion here!

[LegoFish]

Its nice to see that out of the 12 'popular this week' projects on lego ideas, 3 are currently middle earth sets. Popularity seems to be growing more and more, and thats promising

[Deathleech]

...So many comments about the Lego Ideas Minas Tirith set that has been gaining steam. It's not a matter of if it gets 10,000 votes to be considered. It's a matter of when.

Yup, now that it has been on the front page and spot lighted as a staff pick things have really snow balled. It's been listed consistently as a popular project. With less than 1200 votes left I could easily see this getting to 10,000 by months end, and definitely before years end. I mean it's not even been a month since it became a staff pick and it has gotten over 2500 votes since then...?

That is a mighty fine Osgiliath. Frankly, I think it has a WAY better chance than any Minas Tirith due to size. Plus, we'd still get our Gondor soldiers.

Of course, it still has all of the other problems with ANY Lord of the Rings Ideas set, but after the Big Bang Theory got approved, I don't even know anymore...

Ehh, the only issues I see with the set are it's missing the Witch King and Eowyn. The Witch King could easily be added in place of an orc or something since he was there at different points in the film. I would rather the set stay as is though, and we got a smaller $30 or 40 set with the Witch King on Fel Beast vs Eowyn and Rohan Merry.

[Blakstone]

Lothlorien - https://ideas.lego.com/projects/70260

This is the new Staff pick today. I am already a supporter but perhaps it will see as big up a jump in support as Minas Tirith.

[Borador]

I wonder why the staff keeps picking Lord of the Rings sets... Forgive me if this is a stupid question, but what connection do they have to LEGO?

(it is also possible that they aren't picking Lord of the Rings sets as often as I think they are, and it just seems that way since I don't really follow Ideas, but surely there must be some hope for an Ideas set if the staff keeps picking them?)

[Blakstone]

The LEGO staff that manage the Ideas site are not the ones that get to make the final approval. I think the staff just likes to pick great looking sets.

But the increased visibility really seems to help push projects. Earlier today we had the Minis Tirith, Battle of Osgiliath, and Hobbit: Dale in the 12 most popular projects this week. However, the Dale project dropped off recently in favor of a second International Space Station.

Hopefully Lothlorien can make the most popular sets this week. It is a great way to draw interest from people who did not go to the site to look for Tolkien sets to support.

I think that the Minis Tirith project benefited not only from being featured but that it was featured during the time that the results of the last review came in. There was likely a ton of people that logged in for that announcement and were presented with such a great project.

[Balbo]

It's awesome to see that the whole Lord of the Rings theme seems to get pushed now on the Ideas side , although i fear that it's a bit too late, because the last Hobbit movie is hitting theater in December and than there's no new Middle earth movie on the horizon for years which would support the set.

The Minas Tirith Set is really awesome, but I'm not sure if it would work in the Ideas strategy - it seems like they are focussing more on smaller and less expensive sets.

[TheLegoDr]

Think about the problem if they did release some version of Minas Tirith via IDEAS..If they include the right figures and at a decent price, people may want to buy multiples. IDEAS sets are limited releases PLUS they usually have a limitation on how many can be purchased...I fear a lot of people would still be upset, even if they did release it. Look at the outrage fans have given for Exo Suit and Research Institute...

LEGO can't win either way.

[Blakstone]

LEGO can choose to run additional production runs... if they want. They did that for both the Ghostbusters and Back to the Future. The original CUSSOO Minecraft set is still available.

Though I doubt LEGO would actually make a Lord of the Rings IDEAS set. They didn't make the IDEAS UCS Tumbler or the UCS Sandcrawler. But they did come out with them in an existing line independent of IDEAS.

I think the goal is that 10,000 supports means that LEGO has to have serious conversations about a project. From there, who knows?

[Deathleech]

LEGO can choose to run additional production runs... if they want. They did that for both the Ghostbusters and Back to the Future. The original CUSSOO Minecraft set is still available

And plus, I don't think the demand for a $400 set is going to be the same as a $30-50 one. Of course there probably won't be near as many in production either so who knows.

Regardless I doubt the set would get made via Ideas either way just due to it's sheer size. I think, like you said, it would just make Lego consider releasing their own version if they know the demand is there. If not a Minas Tirith, as least some other Gondor set.

[coolguy2323]

Man that Barad-dur UCS idea is practically my dream set. Sauron's tower with all of those Second Age figs, including my favorite character Gil-galad!

[Haldiron]

Why do so many people think a LOTR set cannot make it as an Ideas project? I mean, they are releasing a Big Bang Theory set for crying out loud. Anything is possible, My Friends!