Dwellington

"I vote we go left."

Swindle walks in close behind Tarn, holding the torch high and clear for everyone.

Fantasy Castle. By the time I started getting back into Lego, it was already long gone.

I think the bulk of this depends on how the Elves of Mirkwood are portrayed in the film. Peter Jackson came up with "dark hair for Rivendell, blonde hair for Lorien." Now I don't entirely recall what the production team said about why they made Legolas blonde, but since Legolas is making an appearance in the Hobbit, I have a feeling he'll make the Mirkwood company blonde as well, since for the most part the movies tend to follow strict regional characteristics. That being said, I'd be all over brown elf-hair. I hope they make an Elrond or Arwen, and I hope they don't wind up coming in the huge expensive sets.

"Ready when you are, gentlemen."

"Yes, I will take the torch."

That is just amazing. I'd love to see more pictures of it! Man, we need more Lego unicorns...

"Yes, I quite agree. Onward and upward! Er...downward."

"None at all. We will hunt these thieves, or whatever they are, down for you, Councilor." Swindle bows deeply again. This time he actually does bump his head on the desk, but he ignores it.

I could see them maybe trying to sculpt long hair that goes over a quiver, maybe, but I dunno. One thing of note is that throughout the films, Legolas's hair tends to go over the front of his body. If they had done a piece like the Qui-Gon hair, but without the back ponytail, that might've solved it really easily, but maybe that wouldn't look very good. We'll just have to wait and see.

Yeah, Legolas's collar comes up enough that, with a hand swap, you can stick that torso on any Yellow you want. Too bad the ears are fleshie, otherwise you could really mix Legolas and the Series 3 elf up.

Hey, I remembered the blackboard monitor bit, cut me some slack!

Naturally, because they probably aren't going to make a Legolas minifigure in armor. At least, not right away, since he's more immediately recognized without it. Or if they do, it'll wind up being just a printed torso, since long hair AND shoulder pads AND a quiver would get kind of crazy.

"Gold has a number of very interesting properties, but a lot of what it's capable of in pure or near-pure forms is much more involved with alchemical arts, rather than magic proper. I reckon that might be just as bad, or worse." He turns away from Guts, tactfully ignored, and speaks to Councilor Silverpick. "This is all just unfounded conjecture, of course. Was there anything strange or unusual about the method in which your minerals seemed to be extracted? We'll be able to examine it up close, of course, but if you saw anything particularly unusual, it might help us prepare better."

Like Javert up there, I'm also getting psyched for the Hobbit. I started reading the Hobbit again about two or three weeks ago, but then I started mucking about in the various Tolkien wikis and such, looking for the mysterious gaps or inconsistencies between the books, and then I wound up picking up the Silmarillion, which I tried to read once in high school and gave up on. So I'm reading that now. Also, since the post immediately above me is by one His Grace, Sir Samuel Vimes, Duke of Ankh-Morpork and Commander of the City Watch, (and Blackboard Monitor), I'd like to shout out that I have maybe 85-90% of the Discworld series and related paraphernalia, and I dig through those books almost continuously, since there are just so many of them. Haven't picked up Snuff yet, though.

There is a polite knocking at the door, and Swindle pokes his head in. His face is flushed, and he's breathing heavily. "Do forgive my tardiness, master dwarf!" He walks into the room and takes off his hat, bowing so low he almost hits his head on the desk. "I cannot offer any excuses for being late, but as for a reason, I was accosted by three Minotaurs and a couple of Northern Highland-men, who needed my assistance in personal matters." Swindle takes one last, deep breath and looks around the office, recovered and calm. "So, missing ores, with no clues as to how they were removed? What is the state of the mine, in other respects? Dark? Deep? Structurally sound?" (OOC: Sorry about that guys!)

That's pretty awesome. I like the way you handled the pillars on the upper level.

Yeah, this MOC is hardly what I'd call "beginner." It's pretty solid all around I think. It's got a very immediate feeling kinda story. Those Lion knights are totally done for.

I'm not gonna lie, I got some mad playing in my head when I read the name of the thread. Anyways, that is an awesome build! I love the way you did the sign. It looks like you've got a lot of small spaces perfect for setting up little scenes. It kinda reminds me of some action movie set.

I won't link them on account of TLG trying to pull them off the internet, but a quick Google reveals that the Helm's Deep image does seem to give Aragorn a pointy sword. The Weathertop and Moria sets both have the old chrome swords. I don't know if that means anything, I don't know how close those box images are going to be to the final products, and I assume those are also made with CG, but it looks like there is, or at least was, an intent to give Aragorn a new sword. Also worth note, the only image that has anything close to a Ring in it is the Shelob's Lair set, and the Frodo minifigure is carrying an unaltered orange stud. Yeah...

Aw yeah, that's wicked!

Well, yeah. But a) I think building a digital model of something they aren't intending to actually produce would probably not fly with the execs, especially if b) the object in question is in significant prominence on a high-profile glory shot promo picture. I mean, it is entirely possible that it could just appear in the video game, but ultimately too much is up in the air at this point. I can't speak for everyone else, but I'd just be mildly disappointed.

It is, in fact, a new mold. Nothing like the Highlander. And considering how small it's going to end up being, I'd say it's a pretty spot-on Narsil/Anduril. In terms of RIDICULOUSLY PEDANTIC TOLKIEN NERDERY, he shouldn't have this sword until either after Rivendell (by the books) or the Paths of the Dead (by the movies). Honestly, I don't care too much about that kind of detail, but if the Fellowship and Two Towers based sets give Aragorn a standard sword instead of this one, it means that a) Lego is paying attention, which is kinda cool, and b) we're totally getting a Paths of the Dead/Pelennor Fields/Black Gate based set, where he will have this sword.

I don't mind the wait until Toy Fair, because no matter what they show us, we still have to wait until summer.

If they don't have Knock Out give him a black and teal paint job at some point, I'm going to be very upset. And they'll definitely have something about Korra come Comic Con. It's just a matter of time. Just a matter of time...