Alcarin

My main gripe is with the decision of the shields being oval instead of square same as Roman shield... I know the shields of Gondor were not totally square, but were far from Oval aswell... Also minifigure count is abyssmal for 8k pieces... Id rather see it be 50$+ and add 4 more figs tbh...

Hello Fellow brick lovers from around the world. I am in need of assistance... particulary with LEGO flower parts... Im trying to build a LEGO MINI garden so basically 1-3 trees and garden with simple path... preferably some kind of "vignette" definetly not larger than 25x25... But my issue is what to buy for flowers and flower parts and foilage basically... I have no idea what parts go together (shaft, etc...???) And is it me or the new flowers actually looks worse than those beautiful classic ones? Also some good info for brick built tree with foilage and stuff id appreciate it.

Can anyone send the link to see the figs you're discussing? EDIT: Found them.

So I must say, I was cleaning my room from childhood and found many interesting writings I had as a kid, creating and imagening story of the Vintage/Classic Castle factions from before I was born and from my childhood and creating this amazing universe that made sense to me... So while I created my oww story of Origin for all of the factions from my childhood in my mothers language I did a translation now to share with AFOLs in case anyone wants to read it. Must say the core of the story still makes sense to me. I added a little of extra wording as it was mostly sketch but all of the main characters were as i imagined this in my childhood. Hope you all will like it, would love to hear comments on my "origins story" So lets go:

Yeh thats 1 way to go at it true :)

The problem to me with Dreamzzz theme is that its confusing... I am more a classic guy, not a mix guy... this Dreamzzz theme reminds me on that old vintage theme or subtheme that had mixed stuff some monkey and white scientist guy + some interdimensional stuff, never liked it either... and Dreamzzz just looks like an upgraded refined version of it.

Yeah, they trully did, I will probably sell all my vintage 90s Dragon Knights + the Dragon Wagon and Dark Den... got like an army of 30 with shields and spears... looks nice, but I need space

Actually thats a tough subject... its partially problem of both sides... The designers side creating such nice creations that its hard to imagine more and better that buildable, and part of kids problem... See when I was a kid, and got those "plain" looking Castle sets I was always wanting to build more and better and bigger armies etc... now the sets like Lion Knights Castle looks so amazing It would take me ages to design something better really... and so it happens for kids also. I think LEGOs doom for creativity comes from the fact that sets look better than creations themselves from kids and teens.

Yeh but then id rather see Minas Tirith Gate + Grond + 3 Gondor Soldiers + Gandalf vs 3-4 Orcs and then another Mumakil set with Haradrim and Withck King showdown... would complete what we need mostly... could also add Osgiliath battle pack and Mordor battle pack and it would be great.

True, some probably dont, but some do... and its impossible to buy them anything in a normal price range of 40-70$ for Xmas or birthday.... same goes for Pirates, for Indians, Cowboys etc...

Perhaps, but I know my nephew doesnt particulary enjoy sets that are not usable by minifigs... Sure Barad-Dur and Orthanc are not enitrely true to scale, but its a tower, it get a little semi-free pass, afterall, you still have rooms that are playable...but having a castle where you cant actually fir a figure to defend it, it takes away the core magic imo... and the display looks weird, it takes away the gradness of the structure if you put a figure on it, and it dwarfs it... Its perhaps the most complex thing yes, but IMO, one of the worst options... I doubt anyone would really want a bad replica in midi size of this gradn structure tbh... rather get a battle pack then and let the moders build true to fig sizes.... Rivendell is perfect, it captures the essence of the Elven retreat, and gives the spot to most important scene of the movie there... It should be a placeholder for any LOTR set to be honest.

Yeh that would be another issue indeed :)

The sad fact is, that there is NO WAY of creating Minas Tirith as a 7 lvl citadel "castle" with small parts as LEGO is using now and to be atleast semi minifig scale (so you could actually defend and fight with figures on all 7 lvls) and be true to minifig scale... I would probably cost around 5.000$ for this to be as described above. So a more realistic its either a mini set of Minas Tirith (which does nothing to me) or a only White tower + White tree courtyard... for a nice price point of 400$...

Yeh, but think of it like this... I want to buy LEGO for my nephew aged 9.... he loves CASTLE, he loves WESTERN... he doesnt like NINJAs... What can I buy for his 9th birthday that is not either heavily overpriced (lion Knights Castle) or not of his liking(NINJAGO etc...) Give me a 40-60$ set for Castle loving kids today that has atleast mostly traditional Castle setting... Then we can move to Western and Pirates, and so on and on... Basically this is what is missing...

I agree, but that is if you make a MOC... I am more talking in the direction of wanting to depict a siege of enemy army on the specific official LEGO set (Like Lions Knights Castle) with barely any MOCing done, apart from adding surroundings with trees/bushes etc... Having 20 soldiers besieging a castle of 10 defenders to me looks poor, but maybe its just me... :)

Well I know I would still like and enjoy the White Tower set with white tree protected by those special molded Gondor guards of the Citadel... But yeh, my main wish is for proper Gondor soldier with armor and shield and helmet, preferaby a battle pack...

Yeh obviously a vignette will be hard to sport much more than 24 figures anyway :) When I talk army building I usually think on like a set (Lion Knights Castle) being besieged by the Black Falcons.... and for such "diorama" you would probably want atleast like 150-200 figures vs like 40 or so defenders...

Actually White Tower has an important symbolic role in the whole story, its the actual tower as a response to Dark Lords tower to defend the free lands of Middle Earth. It also symbolizes the biggest threat to Sauron (as he perceived it) of any nation. Its pretty much the strongest military bastion of the free people of Middle Earth. it is also the location of one of the "all seeing" stones as was Barad-Dur and Orthanc... it is also the most important location seeing as the story rather talks about this instead of the fights at Erebor etc... I know whats your point, but imo, the time story spends in Minas Tirith is far greater than Orthanc or Barad-Dur... and if both "black towers" are a symbols of the enemy and darkness, the Tower of Ecthelion is a symbol of hope and light...

Yeh you are probably correct... I just think it looks better when you field like 40-50 units...I mean when i try to recreate a castle siege, I usually want atleast like 100 soldiers besieging the 30 defenders or so... else it feels "empty" :)

Why it doesnt make any sense? It makes just as much sense as Barad-Dur tbh... Regarding the guards i was implying on this scene/part Yeh LEGO never did it but its a discussion, and LEGO never did 1k set before either...

My opinion is, that yes, there is too many licensed sets and too little non licensed... Especially in area Castle/Pirates etc... I mean i keep seeing LEGO city + Friends and Ninjago everywhere, and then after that its mostly Star Wars and a little Harry Potter... and some LEGO "flower" sets... kinda not a good variety imo, especially for boys, if they are not into Ninjago or Star Wars, there is barely any mediaval or fighting stuff. We really need perma pirates/Castle themese.

Thats pretty low ye... I usually aimed atleast 40... so you have like 30 foot soldiers + some archers + Captain/Commander etc... But now i got myself 200 Falcons + COmmander + 5 Captains... my biggest army.

That would be overkill imo... Id rather see White tower + white tree seperate build (that green courtyard and 4x Gondor Guards with those special helmets + Gandalf + Denethor + Faramir and Pippin both in Gondor attires... I think that would work and since White tower is not as big as Orthanc/Barad-dur it could be a neat 400$ set or maybe even 350$...

Yeh obviously I dont think we will ever get Minas Tirith as it should be (Because it had to be like 50.000 pieces...) But getting White Tower + the White tree, should work.

Interesting, seeing as LEGO depicts battlefields non stop in Star Wars To be honest... I would rather just get White Tower of Ecthelion then and Denethor + Pippin in Gondor attire + Gandalf + 4x Fountain Guards (Might aswell add Faramir in Gndor attire then) in full armor new helmet and rectangular Gondor shield... I think such set should DEFINETLY be doable for a price point of 400-500$...