SirBlake

What a wonderful idea! I might have to steal that one. As far as constructive criticism, I agree that the second baseplate sticking out at the corners is a little off. That's a pretty minor concern though. It's the concept that's so great.

What a great idea! That's super-cool. Great execution too.

I've got a part or two where the finish has gotten scratched off in a very specific area, but never had chrome wear off or discolor.

Helm's Deep for sure. So far I've got everything but Weathertop/Mines of Moria/Orc Forge, and none of those are calling to me nearly as much as Helm's Deep did. It's just so grand and beautifully done.

I'm not so sure about that. In the films, Theoden is never shown wearing anything but a green cape. (as I recall) The extra cape in the Helm's Deep set is the same dark red as Haldir's.

I'm really just looking forward to well done Gondorian soldiers. A new pointy helmet, the white tree printed on the armor and a new shield mold would be fantastic, though that last part is probably not a realistic expectation.

Nice review. Overall, I'd say that it's cool that a brick built display solution is offered, but I've seen many other MOC solutions for displaying CMFs that are better.

It's definitely an issue. Overall, I prefer my yellow folks, but the LotR minifigs are so beautiful, I wouldn't change a thing. So from there, a new and unforeseen aspect has shown up: adapting regular LEGO parts to fit within the LotR universe to further flesh out (pun intended, I guess) my LotR armies. There are lots of opportunities to make my own Rohirrim, for example, out of Kingdoms or other parts. It means I'll have to invest in some fleshie heads and hands, but so far it's been pretty fun.

I've only ever had real interest in one theme: Castle. So by extension, I'm really getting into the LotR stuff. They don't really mix well, but that's fine with me. As far as I'm concerned, those little clip hands were meant to hold swords and shields, and both Castle and LotR fulfill that. I don't see me ditching the first licensed castle theme any time soon, and if I lost interest in LEGO Castle in general, it would mean entering a second dark age.

It does seem quite early to be speculating on what'll be next. I'm guessing we'll get at least another 2.5 years out of LotR/Hobbit before that's much of a concern. That said, I absolutely loved Kingdoms. It's what brought me back from the dark ages too. Something about it connected directly with the classic castle vibe. I personally would be just fine with Kingdoms lasting into perpetuity, even if that meant that there were other rotating historic themes, and a handfull of Kindoms sets a year released along side them. I don't have a ton of interest in the Europa theme, myself. It's an interesting enough time period, but not one that would resonate with my inner LEGO maniac. There has been speculation that the next theme could go ancient mythical mediterranean Greek/Roman. Again, not sure if I would run out and buy all the sets in that theme like I would with more Kingdoms, but it does seem full of possibilities.

Hellooooo nurse! On one hand, that Uruk looks like the army building opportunity of the century, on the other, a direct reissue of the Frodo that comes with the most affordable set so far (Gandalf arrives). It's like the best possible, and worst possible solutions they could have come up with. With the purchase of 2 sets, I already have 8 Uruk-Hai, yet only one lonely Rohirrim. Missed opportunity for sure. Oh well, I'm an optimist. Perhaps there are more to come that will address this issue.

These are pretty fun! I particularly like the bench that the mime is sitting on. Good stuff.

I love that song! Hahah, welcome.

Hah! Love it. Ingenius front wheel solution there.

Fun topic. Nothing so bad that any differences I see are any sort of problem, but makes for spirited discussion. The stairs were made of stone, not wood, in the film. The tower would have had rooms, but what we're looking at is the ruins of that tower. Essentially the ground floor. There's no implication in the movie or book that there was some sort of cave/room below those ruins. But I agree, more playability and makes it more interesting. No problems with it for my part.

It's hard to say since I don't have him in-hand, but Boromir looks pretty fantastic. For what I've got, I'll have to say Theoden.

I was just in love with the, then new, armor pieces. Remeniscient of the classic Quarters that came with the 1981 Joust set, I guess I just needed more colors. The Red/Green is a forestman underneath the armor. With the black one, the idea of dual scimitars was cool, and the pirate cutlass was as close as I could get. EDIT: I'm not sure it was clear when I first posted this, but I was 15 in '91, so these customs are older than a lot of the users here. What do y'all think?

Only two LOTR sets at my local wally. Gandalf and Uruk-Hai, and they're in the middle of the LEGO aisle. Not complaining though.

I don't know, I played with them a lot, but I was always the kind of kid that kept his stuff in pretty good shape. I hadn't noticed until I took the picture, but it appears that my king has some 1980's Coca-Cola residue on his feet.

Holy cow! Giant scale is one thing, but those interiors are pretty amazing as well. Thanks for posting this.

Hahah, aw man. I knew that. My geography momentarily failed me there. Sorry about that.

Hahah, sorry. If it's any consolation, it was a scary google search for me.

Actually, that's her deformed face that was already that way before she met the hobbits.

Hahah, you must be a glass-is-half-full kind of guy. That totally works for me. Stand by for awesomeness!

A fair question, but you also have to put a price on your time and effort to run a BL store and deal with packaging and shipping and whatnot. Sometimes your extra cash for what you specifically want buys you your time back. When it comes to the second-hand market and buying what you actually want. Not saying my opinion is the only way here, but the effort it takes to dispense with the unwanted parts is an issue. This way surely isn't the only way, but it's worth consideration.