Cyprinus

Thanks! That makes a few things easier to plan.

Out of curiosity - since I never ordered a set on Bricklink like that - does it take the money when you place the order, or at a later point?

There is no "probably" there - the survey leak we had a year ago already had a full build of Barad-Dur. Thus unless Rivendell absolutely tanked, we were almost guaranteed to get it.

I mean, if they wanted to test the waters, a small, (relatively) cheap playset seems like a better idea than another Brickhead...

Of all the possible things Lego could do with the IP we get more discount Funkos. Yay...

Both Black Falcons and Forestmen appeared in more that one set post-revival (BF - 3 in 1 castle; Blacksmith, LKC; Forestmen - LKC, Hideout), Lion Knights had their castle, would make sense for them to appear than in another set.

I'm kinda torn on that. On one hand, it does look good (though the interior I have mixed feelings about a few things), on the other I kinda don't have a place to put something that tall... And yet I want it - if only to have a decent castle for the Falcons :D

I also wonder if it wouldn't be better to have the set open/close instead of going full modular... Also, did they really need to build up the rock on both sides of some segments? That is a lot of parts that could find better use...

Eldorado has quite bad torso printing for the soldiers (the white prints don't fully cover the color of the plastic), and the decision to go modular the way they did hurt it in several areas - we have nonsensical battlements which open to the sea but you're blocked from going around the wall, most areas are extremely shallow when you remove the middle piece, and while the side "entrance" to the fort was going through a tower in the original, now it is basically a hole in the wall, which certainly looks worse in the closed configuration, and doesn't do the fortress any favours when you open it up... I'm not saying it is a bad set, but it just falls short of how great of a job they did with the sets that came before it.

I wouldn't be surprised to get some more Brickheadz...

The beacon tower would be easy enough. The wall, I'm less sure about. You'd probably want it to encircle the whole thing (or at least the front) which would inflate the piece count and block the nice view of the courtyard (unless it got raised even more - but that would be further piece count bloat). I wouldn't count on LotR playsets.

Even with microscale it would be quite a big thing. And in that case I don't see a fell beast happening (microscale one aside ;) )

I know this idea keeps popping up, but I don't see any realistic way of getting a Minas Tirith set that looks good and isn't a monstrosity way and above the budget of 99,9% of people. I guess the palace and White Tree courtyard could work, but that would suffer from limited space for interiors...

I don't think we know the details of what exactly they have at the moment. Though even if they did have the Hobbit license they could decide not to use it - even if Rings of Power made people appreciate the Hobbit movies more, they're still nowhere near beloved classics like the LotR movies are ;) I don't think anyone asked for an interior completely designed on different location. Having a Cirith Ungol top floor certainly isn't that.

Agreed. I would consider it being an issue if we'd have detailed descriptions/depictions of Barad-Dur's interior, but we don't. We can logically extrapolate certain features, but even then there still is room to spare. And considering we have less of a chance to get a Cirith Ungol set than we have of anyone making a LotR movie better than what Jackson did all those years ago, they might as well allow people to play out the scene in Barad-Dur. A better fit for it than Rivendell ;P

Even if the tree wasn't there, the top of the tower in MV extends beyond the walls, making such a connection awkward. And I personally don't think connecting a castle directly with civilian buildings is a great look. But YMMV.

Early May. Rivendell got an official reveal about a month before release. Ugh, that would suck. Not an issue - as shown by the Avengers Tower.

While it wasn't used in the movies (beyond that abandoned idea of him dueling Aragorn during the final battle), Sauron very much has a physical form during the time. Gollum got to see him during his imprisonment and torture.

Even LEGO doesn't count them as such - probably to avoid people complaining about "false advertising" if they did...

Ah, sorry - looked at the wrong sticker. It does look like Orthanc, though the location doesn't make much sense for any of the towers...

Guess we'll see, though I kinda doubt the chimney holes were intended for anything...

The top part - kinda an eye - makes me think of Barad-Dur...

Dunno how it was on release, but later on the Blacksmith was widely available here. If this is the connection you're talking about, adding a tower there would be kinda awkward...

It would just about be the only way to get them, Cirith Ungol itself being nowhere near iconic or memorable enough (for general audiences) to warrant a set...

Didn't the old Leak mention armories and dungeons for the interior, with the minifigure lineup including Frodo, Sam, Sauron and Orcs? Anyway, I'd fully expect a Palantir room and a throne room thrown into the mix, however I could see someone deciding that would be too close to the way Orthanc was set up (even if it would make sense). And while it is true the rescue was at Cirith Ungol, we could easily see them pulling the same stunt they did with the Avengers Tower, where they included Loki's prison cell, though that was nowhere near the building. I'd love it if we get a bunch of Nazgul minifigs in the set, but I also doubt they'd want to include the full Nine - unlike the Fellowship those aren't varied enough for it. I'd also love a set of characters from the Last Alliance (Isildur, Elendil, Anarion and Gil-Galad, maybe throw in Elrond), but I guess a bunch of random, nameless Orcs would be easier and cheaper to make... And something I'd find hilarious and great would be them reusing the Lighthouse setup, so the Eye can truly search for the Ring. But I doubt that would be a thing.