Lord of the Rings

[Spongey]

Had only LEGO gotten the license for LOTR...

I have recently come up with a list of sets that I hope to one day build, that could have been used by LEGO for LOTR. I'm not sure if this belongs in the Dear LEGO section, but I thought it was the best fit. Tell me what you think.
The first installment: Fellowship of the Ring (Based on the book.)

Moria- approx. 2000 pieces
Rivendell- approx. 900 pieces
Inn of the Prancing Pony- approx. 600 pieces
A Long Expected Party- approx. 450 pieces
Crickhollow- approx. 350 pieces
The Bridge of Khazad-Dum- approx. 300 pieces
Weathertop- approx. 300 pieces
Lothlorien- approx. 250 pieces
Ford of Bruinen- approx. 150 pieces
Farmer Maggot's Cart- approx. 80 pieces
Old Man Willow- approx. 80 pieces
Orcs- 5 fully armed orcs from Moria. (fig pack.)

[RichardAM]

LOTR is certainly a lucrative license, and if Lego did acquire it, you could bet it would cost lots of money. The way I see it currently, I think Lego is currently drowning in the amount of licenses, and with Star Wars being a major fixture, I don't think there's room for another major license. Put simply, I think it would be the death of "conventional" Lego.

I know at the sametime though, it is a line i'd like to see, particularly because of the heavy focus on medieval and castle sets. Maybe after Castle 2007 however, Lego could go down a similar angle to that of LOTR?

Conventionally it would be the age old rule of "good versus evil", but the idea of one incredible adventure is irresistible and of course would mean for more sets. I know in regards recently to KKII not a lot of AFOLs like storylines with their Lego, but if managed with a storyline that was as universal as that of LOTR (or Harry Potter even) it could appeal to all fans.

[kelderic]

I wish they had done LOTR instead of Harry Potter. So many things could be made...*sighs*

Kelderic

[Aragornn45]

I wish they had done LOTR instead of Harry Potter. So many things could be made...*sighs*

I agree, but we can only dream at this point .

[Prince Imdol]

What we need, is a good Osgiliath set.

[DARKspawn]

I guess the real question is, "do we need LEGO to pick up such a licence?" Looking at the range of pieces at our disposal & many of the fantastic LOTR MOCs I have seen, I think not.

Seeing as the movies are long gone I doubt LEGO would risk it personally.

[Maedhros]

I guess the real question is, "do we need LEGO to pick up such a licence?" Looking at the range of pieces at our disposal & many of the fantastic LOTR MOCs I have seen, I think not.

My thoughts exactly...

OTOH it would have given me an Orlando Bloom fig as food for my dragons and whatnot

[Lordje.]

Tolkien would turn in his grave, his masterwork a children's toy?! =P

I guess the real question is, "do we need LEGO to pick up such a licence?" Looking at the range of pieces at our disposal & many of the fantastic LOTR MOCs I have seen, I think not.

And it's a wonderfull exercise in being creative.

-Lordje.

[Sir Kohran]

Tolkien would turn in his grave, his masterwork a children's toy?!

Technically, Tolkien's 'masterwork' started out as a children's toy - he told The Hobbit as a new kind of fairy tale to his own children at home.

As to LOTR...

..yes, it would have been utterly brilliant as a Lego line.

But I think it would have killed Castle as a Lego line. Why? Well, look at most of the great Castle stuff on Brickshelf. It's almost all improvised and created from peoples' personal collections from all different ranges of official sets. People have a limited amount of stuff to work with and so they have to be more thoughtful and creative in how they build. This usually produces higher quality MOCs as more thought and effort has gone into them. But if we had LOTR, almost everything would be taken for granted - if we needed an opening and closing gate most people wouldn't build their own but just take the official one out of the Hornburg set and use that. People who wanted to build monsters wouldn't need to try out other Lego themes for evil heads any more because the Uruk Hai heads would be instantly available. No-one would need to build their own dragon; they'd just use the Fellbeasts. Basically, most builders wouldn't build any more, they'd just assemble different LOTR parts.

Also, I think LOTR has had a positive influence anyway. The release of Fellowship of the Ring put focus back on swords and sorcery and knights and castles, and so gave the previously ailing Lego Castle theme a massive interest boost. It worked officially, too - we got KKII just after ROTK, and now the new 2007 Castle line, both of which are prety obviously modelled on LOTR. So I think things turned out fairly well.

- Matt

[JPinoy]

IMO, the only way they can get an LOTR line is if they cut off ties with Lucas and instead worked along with Peter Jackson, or the Tolkein estate.

[davee123]

From the rumor department, Lego was offered and turned down the LOTR movie license, which is why you saw all those "intelliblox" LOTR sets instead of Lego. From what I heard, Lego didn't want the license because it was too violent and adult for them.

I didn't hear anything about it conflicting with the KK2 line, but that may have been a concern too, I'm not sure.

DaveE

[supernova]

I think it would have killed Castle as a Lego line.... almost everything would be taken for granted - if we needed an opening and closing gate most people wouldn't build their own but just take the official one out of the Hornburg set and use that .... Basically, most builders wouldn't build any more, they'd just assemble different LOTR parts.

while i disagree that lego should get a license with say LOTR (mainly because the prices of castle lego would go up and no1 likes that do they ), i disagree with this point. Look at star wars: SW is exactly like LOTR in the way that the buildings/vehicles etc are pre-defined by the movie/books/media. however, we still see many SW mocs, making lego creations more like the movie etc.

and the appearance of SW didn't kill classic space: there is a (large?) group of space enthusiasts who still build their own space stuff - just look at the MOCs on brickshelf or MOCpages

my main problem with the license is, as i mentioned, an increase in prices for the lego set. the benefit is not that big, as I don't foresee lego giving us army-building packs (probably like the SW license), nor will lego build a BIG castle/town from LOTR. we might, however, get some interesting official parts for orcs and stuff, but i think lego still can do that without ever getting the license

[Kev]

Waaay back when Jake Mckee was doing his Q&A's or "community relation" stuff with fans, he specifically said that LOTR was too mature for Lego, that it was targeted with themes and violence at a teenage (at least) level whereas lego was firmly targeted towards 6-8 year olds.

So didn't happen, not gonna happen. However, if/when someone gets around to the Hobbit, depending on how they handle the movie, I could see lego picking it up as a long shot.

[Maedhros]

Waaay back when Jake Mckee was doing his Q&A's or "community relation" stuff with fans, he specifically said that LOTR was too mature for Lego, that it was targeted with themes and violence at a teenage (at least) level whereas lego was firmly targeted towards 6-8 year olds.

And Star Wars is less violent? And soon they are reaching that "mature" point in Harry Potter as well (and they got past the 6-8 year stage there long ago....)

I´m still glad they didn´t do LOTR (or LR for the nerds ) though.. I just don´t really understand that argument...

[Spongey]

Now that I've started a good debate, I just wanted to go back to my original post, and see what you think of the set ideas, since they may become MOCs one day. Thanks.