sebastian666

I guess time will tell, but I think if I was on the LEGO marketing team and selling a $100 set like the Hospital Wing I would want to show a “working” connection point to the existing system to help immediately justify the purchase of the set - especially if I couldn’t reveal the actual intended connection point for another eight months.

I have a strong suspicion that when the East Wing is released, the official instructions for connecting the modular Hogwarts system will change—specifically, the recommended attachment point for the Hospital Wing. Right now, the Hospital Wing is meant to connect to the Main Tower, but that connection simply doesn’t work well: there are two connection points trying to serve a single join, and visually it feels off. If the East Wing is intended to complete the right side of the castle—and if we only get one additional building beyond that (I’m hoping for the Astronomy Tower, but I’m not holding my breath)—then it would make sense to rebalance the overall layout. Attaching the Hospital Wing to the Viaduct Entrance instead would expand that area in a much more logical way and better suggest the Long Gallery. My guess is that the East Wing will form a T-shape, with the Viaduct Bridge and Viaduct Entrance as the main axis. Adding the Hospital Wing off to the side would naturally turn that into more of an L-shape, which would both improve the exterior silhouette and help conceal the exposed interiors.

I think you may actually be on to something here… I just finished building the Hospital Wing and the current suggested connection points to the Main Tower simply don’t work. The Ravenclaw common room section of the Hospital Wing set pushes into the balcony of the secondary tower in the Main Tower set causing friction / separation. I’ve seen people try to simply connect the two sets at the bottom connection point of the Hospital Wing but that doesn’t really work either. It makes that whole side of the castle feel awkward and off balanced somehow. It would make a lot more sense to me that - even if the Hospital Wing doesn’t end up as the right hand side of the Viaduct Entrance - that it is ultimately supposed to connect to the East Wing in some fashion and the marketing team just showed it connecting to the Main Tower for the time being since it was a January release and the East Wing doesn’t come out until August.

At 2,164 pieces the so-called “Hogwarts East Wing” will be the largest of all the new Hogwarts modular expansions to date. I think the name most likely refers to a combination of the Viaduct Entrance and the Long Gallery (aka the Library Annex in Hogwarts Legacy) and I could easily see it featuring the Library, Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom, the Slytherin common room, and the Chamber of Secrets. I also think the 379 piece count of “Dobby the Free Elf” is pretty telling. That’s almost exactly the same number of pieces as the (now retiring / sold out) “Potions Class” and I could see LEGO giving us another modular room like that to swap out under the Great Hall. This could be far fetched, but how good would it be to get the Hogwarts Kitchen scene where a now free Dobby has been hired to work as a salaried employee. It would be the perfect thing to swap out under the Great Hall now that the Potions Class is no more.

Titanosaurus, quetzacoatlus, spinosaurus, and brick built mosasaurus just leaked! @collectjurassic on Instagram

I saw that and thought the same thing. This is my biggest issue with the new Barad Dur set. There is no excuse for Sauron not having the long legs and arms. He’s over 9 feet tall in the movies (the same exact height as the N’avi in Avatar who also used the long legs and arms). I think the only excuse LEGO has for not doing this is because of the throne and the throne room in Barad Dur which would not fit a taller minifigure. I am hopeful that we will still get a correctly proportioned Sauron in another set…

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?

Nice! Thanks so much. Not a bad idea to keep it and sell it… I see it’s already selling for $200+ on eBay.

I’m bummed that I just missed out on the Fell Beast GWP by a few minutes. Has anyone found good instructions for modifying it online? I’m mainly looking for a good alternate head build. Thanks!

I saw that too, but I disagree. David just put the tan and red Woody legs and arms on Sauron, which obviously looks odd. It also still has the short black cape and the brick built mace. If the long legs and arms were printed with Sauron’s armor and a long, tattered cape and molded mace were included, it would look perfect. I think LEGO’s main argument for going with the standard legs and arms was that a main feature of their Barad-Dur set is Sauron’s throne room. I imagine scaling the throne and the throne room to the longer legs and arms just didn’t work well.

This is the Sauron we deserved… Here’s hoping we may still get a proper Sauron in the years ahead. The road goes ever on…

I’m mostly happy with how Barad-Dur turned out. It’s not perfect and doesn’t have great parts usage - the rock work at the base and around the mid-section of the tower feel particularly lazy - but it’s a set that I’ve dreamed of since I was a kid and will be a Day One, Minute One purchase for me. I’m also disappointed with the fell beast GWP - but, as they say, don’t look a gift fell beast in the mouth. The one unforgivable sin of this set for me is the Sauron minifig. Sauron has been one of the most highly anticipated minifigs in LEGO history… LEGO could not afford to skimp on his design or production. That minifig should have been one of the main selling points of this $450 D2C set. And LEGO had the resources to do this minifig justice. The long legs - which they just used in a standard release Harry Potter set for a half-giantess who is a foot shorter than Sauron - were mandatory in my opinion. Sauron should have also had a long unique cape to add to the feeling of height. And his mace should absolutely have been a new mold. It’s just as iconic as Sting or Anduril. I can understand the need to make helmet and upper body armor one piece, but longer legs would have made the whole thing feel less squat and chonky. As I said, this is still a Day One, Minute One purchase for me - but I can’t overstate how disappointed I am in LEGO’s execution of Sauron. I’d love to hear any ideas folks have for how they are going to customize their Sauron minifig to improve him and make him taller. I’m also quite sure that LEGO knew folks may not feel 100% satisfied with this Sauron minifig and that they may have something else in the works… If the rumors about more non-D2C LOTR sets are true, I could see an 18+ diorama set releasing next year that features a proper Sauron minifig - with long legs, a long tattered cape, and a molded mace - battling Isildur on the slopes of Mount Doom. We may have even been given a clue to that with sticker #6 in the sticker pack that we got with Rivendell…

Wow. This is an incredible build. The design and the scale of it is perfect - anything bigger would have made display difficult. I don’t love the brown bricks at the top of the tower, but I’ll reserve final judgement until I see it in person. Overall, the tower is beautiful. I’m so happy with how it turned out - this is a Day One, Minute One purchase for me (even though I’m disappointed with the fell beast gwp - but, as they say, don’t look a gift fell beast in the mouth). The one unforgivable sin of this set for me is the Sauron minifig. Sauron has been one of the most highly anticipated minifigs in LEGO history… LEGO could not afford to skimp on his design or production. That minifig should have been one of the main selling points of this $450 D2C set. And LEGO had the resources to do this minifig justice. The long legs - which they just used in a standard release Harry Potter set for a half giantess who is a foot shorter than Sauron - were mandatory in my opinion. Sauron should have also had a long unique cape to add to the feeling of height. And his mace should have been a new mold. I can understand the need to make helmet and upper body armor one piece, but longer legs would have made the whole thing feel less squat and chonky. As I said, this is still a Day One, Minute One purchase for me - but I can’t overstate how disappointed I am in LEGO’s execution of Sauron. I’d love to hear any ideas folks have for how they are going to customize their Sauron minifig to improve him.

Interesting to note that The Rings of Power Season 2 trailer was just announced to be dropping tomorrow: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C66SA49LYxE/?igsh=eHkxZ3hnd3NtbWcy The timing of this aligning with the official reveal of the LEGO Barad Dur set can’t be a coincidence. I know that the LOTR merchandising rights for anything that isn’t based on the Peter Jackson films are tied up in a complicated knot right now, but I feel like that knot may be about to unravel… With at least four more seasons of The Rings of Power, War of the Rohirrim, and the new Gollum movies all in the pipeline, there must be some major merchandising negotiations and coordination in the works. Is it possible that this new content will be our ticket to the full-blown return of the LEGO LOTR theme with play-scale sets? LEGO even mentions the Rings of Power TV show on its official Theme page for LOTR. While I would prefer more sets based on the original Peter Jackson films, I wouldn’t be mad if we kept getting one D2C based on the original movies every year, with five play-scale sets based on new content and another play-scale set or two based on the originals. I imagine it may take until 2026 when the new Gollum film comes out to get the merchandising rights sorted, but in the meantime I am placing my bets now on the next D2C set being something related to Rohan to align with War of the Rohirrim - either Helm’s Deep or the Golden Hall of Meduseld.

Has a Fell Beast actually been “confirmed” in the latest rumors? That would be a dream come true. I imagine it will probably be small and brick built, but I would be very happy with something like this:

What does everyone think the chances are that we get a Fellbeast and Ringwraith with the Barad-Dur set? We got Gwaihir the Eagle in the Orthanc set. It would make sense to get a counterpart with this tower. They aren’t huge, dragon-sized creatures, so I don’t think it’s outside the realm of possibility. Brick-built would be okay, but I’d prefer a new body and head mold. I’ve seen some great MOCs that use the Thestral wings from the LEGO Harry Potter sets. This is a day one purchase for me regardless, but if it included a Fellbeast… that could be a game changer for some people. Here’s a great Fellbeast MOC. I could definitely imagine something this size being included: https://www.reddit.com/r/lego/s/L6FeU4Bfl5

I think that’s exactly the plan… Create new LOTR content that is geared toward younger audiences to cultivate a new consumer base. Next year, we are getting a full-length animated film - THE WAR OF THE ROHIRRIM - with an all-star cast (including Brian Cox as Helm Hammerhand and Mirando Otto reprising her role as Eowyn) produced by one of the co-writers of the Peter Jackson films with the help of legendary Tolkien illustrators Alan Lee and John Howe. An anime-style film is a brilliant move if the investors in the LOTR IP want to engage younger audiences and continue making profits for years to come. I wouldn’t be surprised if LEGO’s “plans for LOTR” that have been referenced include a wave of Rohirrim-themed sets designed to coincide with the new movie’s release (eg, the Golden Hall, Helm’s Deep, Rohirrim battle packs) with a few OG trilogy LOTR sets sprinkled in.

I personally think Rings of Power is beautiful, and the production quality for a TV show is bar none. Are there parts of the show that are a bit cringe and that feel not totally authentic to Tolkien? Absolutely. But I think the same could be said of Peter Jackson’s LoTR trilogy to be fair. Compared to Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy, I think Rings of Power is far superior. In terms of sets that I could see LEGO producing from Rings of Power, here are some that I would love to see: - the Battle of Unnumbered Tears w/ Finrod and the elves and eagles vs. Morgoth’s orcs and fell beasts - Commander Galadriel and her elven soldiers battling the Snow Troll - the Armenelos Palace in Numenor with the White Tree Nimloth - a Numenorian ship - Arondir and the enslaved elves vs. the orcs and their Warg - the Harfoot caravan and the Stranger vs. the Wargs - the elven city of Eregion and the forging of the first three rings of power - the battle for the Southlands with the Numenorian cavalry and Galadriel on horseback fighting the orcs - the Balrog vs. the elven warrior over the Silmaril / Mithril tree

Just a reminder that the official LOTR theme page on LEGO.com makes specific mention of the Rings of Power show, so I think the chances that we will be getting sets based on this show are pretty high: Build and recreate iconic moments from Middle-earth with LEGO® Lord of the Rings™ sets. Whether you’re a new fan, a super-fan, or somewhere in between, join the epic battle of good vs. evil. The fantasy world of Lord of the Rings™ is filled with legendary books, movies and the new The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power TV show. Rings of Power has already been bankrolled for five seasons. It’s here to stay and, as others have already stated, it’s probably the reason that we are getting Rivendell (in my opinion the most beautiful LEGO set released to date), Barad Dur, and hopefully many more sets over the next five years. “And that is an encouraging thought.”

What time do folks think the reveal will happen today? Is it possible it could be 5 mins away? 9am EST? I need something to look forward to today! 😂

I think a fell beast with a basic Ringwraith as a GWP would be the perfect compliment to Barad-Dur. The fell beast isn’t a proper dragon, more like a worm with wings, so I don’t think the piece count would be crazy. I’d be okay with waiting for the Witchking in a bigger set (which is what I assume LEGO will do since he is such a desirable minifig). Speaking of GWPs, is there any indication that we will be getting one with Rivendell? If so, what do folks think it could be? We need some baddies… I would love a GWP with Arwen and Frodo on Asfaloth, a Black Rider or two, and a little river / shore build. That may be too much to ask for…

What a time to be alive! The Rivendell set is literally a dream come true. It’s exactly what I was hoping for - the scale, the trees, the bridge, the gazebo where Arwen gives Aragorn the Evenstar, the minifigs… Bilbo! The design of this set is simply perfect. I can’t wait to see more detailed pictures in the days and weeks ahead. And Barad-Dur… all I can say is WOW. I hope they use the new Avatar minifig body for Sauron. These sets are both day one purchases for me without a moment’s hesitation. Looking forward to the day - hopefully this year - that I can display the union of the Two Towers in my study. https://youtu.be/_qE5FSG6K0Y

Thanks very much for the clarification. And thanks too for sharing the info that you found. Didn’t mean to “spin things out of control” with my simple question... I’ve never heard of LEGO doing surveys like this with prototype sets, so it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out!

Where did @CloneO Patra vouch for the recent rumors? I don’t see anything here in the forum - was it in a direct message? I’d love to hear his interpretation of the photos… I still find this hard to believe, but I would love to get both a D2C Rivendell and a D2C Barad-Dur this year.

Apparently @CloneO Patra has confirmed the validity of @JeanGreyForever’s claims on the LEGO LOTR page. If these leaks are in fact true, could we finally be getting a Deathly Hallows version of the Burrow featuring Bill and Fleur’s wedding? @CloneO Patra - is it true that you have seen the photos that @JeanGreyForever mentions? Do you have any additional insights?