mirkwoodspiders

Oh good grief dude, the details are from the books and the movies. Seriously. It doesn't matter. I was simply trying to figure out how they'd fill in the details for Barad-Dur...

They're based on the movies and the books, actually. Case in point, LEGO Orthanc Tower has details like the staffs of the five Istari, who did not all appear in the LOTR films but obviously do in the books. So, yes the facades are mostly from the movies (which actually take some of their inspiration from the book's illustrations lol), but the details are taken from both, which is what I was suggesting they might do with Barad-Dur.

That's insane. Thankfully, I'm not much of an army builder, and I don't think I can ever remember wanting a set that I couldn't eventually get between release and retirement. I actually saw the set at my local Wal Mart yesterday and passed... it's probably still there but I'm in no hurry to get one.

Oh good grief. Brickfanatics is alread trying to bait readers into panic-buying the new clone trooper battle pack. Yeah... it's selling out fast day 1, it's a great set, but geez I'll probably be able to find it at Wal-Mart later this month if not now, probably at a discount not too far down the road. Gotta save that money for some of the TPM sets coming out later, sending LEGO a message we want MORE...

I agree. I guess if you're well-versed in LOTR lore and know the books backwards and forwards you might balk at relocating certain details, but the average fan probably wouldn't mind seeing some details from Cirith Ungol transported to Barad-Dur. I just don't see them doing Cirith Ungol at all... maybe in a playset if they ever get back to those, but probably not.

Oops, thanks for the correction. And yeah, as dark as it is I could see them including a torture chamber in an 18+ set. Everything you're describing sounds almost identical to Orthanc, though. Not that it'd deter me, but I wonder if they'll dig deeper into the source material to make the interior fairly distinct from Orthanc.

I know so little about the layout of Barad-Dur it's hard to have expectations. The leaked pic was pretty blurred and onIy really gave a general shape. I'm envisioning something like Orthanc, but I don't know what they'd fill the interior with. I guess they have the room where Sam rescues Frodo, probably some dungeons, but I'm not sure what else. I'm most curious as to how they pull off the Great Eye... maybe it'll have a light up function?! I think I'll be satisfied if LOTR only gets these giant, iconic sets, but man would some cheaper system-scale sets be neat too.

For the Sorting Hat, it looks like the tiles are both printed and have unique designs. I'm really curious to see how the voice box is activated. It almost looks there is an adjustable rod in the back - I'd guess it both adjusts the mouth and activates the voice box simultaneously.

"Plans for LOTR" - sounds like a full-blown theme to me. I'd buy every set they released if it happened. I missed out on everything but Orthanc last time around and wouldn't make that mistake again!

That's my hope, but man have they crammed some close together this fall. Venator and Avenger's Tower are only about 7 weeks apart, on top of the Orient Express in December.

The leak for Barad-Dur said it would release "1st half of 2024". Is it safe to assume the tower will release around the same time Rivendell did, in March or so of next year?

What about Luthen Rael's haulcraft? Or is that the one you are referencing? I found the ship interesting and would likely buy it if they ever made one.

Amazing model. Day 1 purchase. It's everything I was hoping for. Large, accurate, detailed, and tons of great figures.

My thoughts, too. Hard to wait on buying other stuff, but this news helps put off some other cool sets so I can save for one I'm REALLY excited for.

Completely stoked for the Avengers Tower reveal. Maybe more for the minifigs than the building itself.

I picked up the Venator this week. The GWP is a lot larger than it appears in the pictures. My local store only got 20 of the GWP, sold out all 11 Venators/GWPs on day 1, then sold the next 7 instantly from their shipment two days later. Only 2 GWPs left and then *poof* gone. I find it interesting that so many people want the Venator right away, when 2x points is right around the corner. Could it be people want the GWP more than some of the reviewers think? Most of the reviews I read were pretty disparaging, but the GWP is pretty cool, especially the giant metal Republic Credit.

Can anyone tell if the Venator GWP credit is metal or fabric? I haven't found any reviews and honestly can't tell.

Great ideas! I'd probably buy all of them assuming they were well done. If this theme is evergreen, which it certainly seem to be, I suppose there's a good change of multiple locations at grand scale that we haven't seen yet.

I got into LEGO VIP and buying high-priced sets well after they stopped doing minifigs for the GWPs. Poodoo! I'd much prefer that over the Venator's forthcoming GWP. I also recall LEGO recently doing some sort of VIPs survey asking what we'd like for GWPs for Star Wars. I said minifigs, but maybe a bunch of people actually like they stuff they've been churning out lately. I don't know that the metal credit and patches will push me to buy the Venator early, but I do have the beskar GWP, as well as the Death Star coin, and Han Solo keychain, and the credit might look good with all of those.

So, what's the future of large D2Cs for HP? Are we pretty close to being done? Now that Hogwarts, Hogwarts Express, Diagon Alley, Gringott's, and the Icons set are out, all I can think of for them to do is The Burrow, which I wouldn't have even considered had the set not leaked awhile ago.

Yeah, super excited to purchase and tinker with this thing. The outside is amazing, even if the guts can't be altered much.

So, not knowing much about the build except what we can see from the LEGO release video, I wonder if there isn't a relatively simple modification to have a hangar bay. Creating an opening mechanism for a portion of the hull doesn't seem like it'd be that complicated - just re-work some of the plates onto hinges or something similar. As far as the hangar bay, that's more tricky. The "backbone" of the interior structure looks like a series of consecutive beams running from the back of the ship to the front, all connected and heavily dependent on each other to maintain the integrity of the overall structure. However, if you could find a way to create a "gap" in the flow as I've crudely outlined below, you might be able to maintain the structural integrity while creating a space for a partial hangar underneath the modified panels above. I guess it depends on how much weight the center beams are supporting where you want to change the structure. Sorry for the novel, I just think it might not be that difficult to mod this thing and make at least part of the hangar bay. We will have to wait and see what the build is like to know for sure, though. ________________________ <---- displaced beam __________________ Hangar ____________________ <---- center beam __________________ Bay ____________________ <---- center beam ________________________ <---- displaced beam

That'd be epic, but something tells me the fact that it isn't advertised on the box means it won't. I'd guess the internal structure made any sort of interior unrealistic, and having the landing bay doors open to reveal technic bars wouldn't be interesting. I hope I'm wrong though

What an amazing model. I on noticed the back of the box, the only images other than the main set are all from the film. Hopefully that means there's a feature or two that they're keeping a surprise, but I wouldn't be too upset if what we can see now is what we get. This is so encouraging, seeing LEGO take a dive into Disney+ and the Prequels for UCS the last couple of years. Hopefully it is a sign of more set like these to come.

Watching the first few episodes of Ahsoka has me thinking one thing: I really, really hope they make a UCS of Ahsoka's T-6 shuttle and the Ghost. The system version are admirable and I'll probably end up getting them both, but UCS versions would be completely justified in my opinion, with some great interior and exterior details possible. Sorry for the wishlisting... When can we expect to see Venator photos?