Tag Archives: Lord of the Rings

LEGO began releasing official Lord of the Rings sets in 2012, followed quickly by LEGO Hobbit sets, but LEGO builders have been recreating the people and places of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth for just as long as there have been books and bricks. Relax in the Shire or battle Saruman and his Uruk-hai army at Helm’s Deep and the Tower of Orthanc, but wherever your LEGO journey takes you, beware the watchful eye of Sauron!

Life-size LEGO Bag End built by LEGO Model Shop

LEGO posted photos on their Facebook page yesterday of a life-size version of my favorite LEGO set, 79003 An Unexpected Gathering.

Life-size LEGO Bag End

Here’s what LEGO says:

It took a team of 12 model shop employees 3,000 hours to build this life size model of the LEGO Bag End set. In addition to containing over 2 million 1×1 bricks this model has working lights in the fireplace and over the bookstand as well as a chimney that really smokes!

I suspect that this display model was built for an upcoming trade show, like Toy Fair. We’ll ask around and update this post as we learn more.

You can see more views on the official LEGO and LEGO Shop Facebook pages.

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LEGO Lord of the Rings video game rewards perseverance [Review]

The latest LEGO video game from TT Games, LEGO Lord of the Rings, was released on November 13. There’s a reason you’re reading this review nearly three weeks later: Unlike most reviewers who played a handful of levels and declared the game awesome, I wanted to review the game after experiencing it the way most of you out there are likely to play it — trying to reach 100% in the game and unlock all the achievements (on Xbox) or trophies (on PS3).

I hit 100% earlier today, and I’m just two small achievements short of having all 1,000 gamerscore points unlocked on the Xbox, so now seems as good a time as any for a review.

Having played most of the LEGO video game since the original LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game back in 2005, the LEGO game franchise was starting to feel more than a little repetitive (which is why I’ve skipped the second incarnations of LEGO Indiana Jones, the LEGO Star Wars re-releases, and so on).

Every game until now has had several things in common:

Watch minifigs mime funny versions of familiar scenes.
Break stuff in the game to release studs (points) and to build other things.
Collect parts of miniature LEGO kits.
Unlock extra characters with the studs you’ve earned.
Unlock extra abilities (like score multipliers and invincibility) with red bricks.
Access previously played levels from a central “hub” area.
Explore levels again in freeplay mode to use the abilities of characters you didn’t have with you in story mode, thus finding treasures and even more studs you couldn’t get to before.

No, TT Games hasn’t really revamped the basic formula in LEGO Lord of the Rings, but there are a few important differences.

Read the full review after the jump.

A box for Gimli

The latest video from BrotherhoodWorkshop gives us a behind-the-scenes view of what happened during the Battle of Helm’s Deep.

The whole video is funny, but the punchline at the end is priceless.

LEGO stop-motion animation tips & tricks from BrotherhoodWorkshop

You might think that stop-motion animation is just a matter of taking lots of sequential photos, but there’s a lot more to it than that. Kevin Ulrich shares his experience creating the popular Hobbit and Lord of the Rings shorts we’ve featured here over the past few months.

Like all movies and TV, I would argue myself that what actually makes the BrotherhoodWorkshop shorts so great is excellent writing. Can’t wait to see what they post next!

Full-size LEGO Lord of the Rings Sword – “Sting”

I am a sucker for full-size LEGO replicas of medieval weapons. Having one be something as iconic as “Sting” is even better. Cole Edmonson built it and I want one.

This LEGO Hobbit Halloween will scare the fur right off the top of your feet

The guys over at BrotherhoodWorkshop are getting into the Halloween spirit by sharing another installment of their hilarious Lord of the Rings and Hobbit short films, all animated in LEGO. It should come as no surprise that a certain pair of Hobbits would play a few pranks on Halloween, but just wait ’till the end…

As always, BrotherhoodWorkshop’s stop-motion animation is smooth, with delightfully funny writing and excellent parody voice acting for each of the characters.

The Cranky Cave Troll – new LOTR short from BrotherhoodWorkshop

The guys over at BrotherhoodWorkshop are at it again, with another hilarious stop-motion Lord of the Rings video. This time, we learn a little bit more of the story behind the very angry cave troll who storms into Balin’s Tomb in the Mines of Moria.

Via my lovely wife.

This LEGO Hobbiton even has a brick-built map

Legopard recently exhibited his LEGO Hobbiton at SteineWahn 2012 in Berlin, where it took 3rd place for “Best MOC”. While many LEGO builders are content to build a single hobbit hole, Legopard built three, each with its uniquely colored front door, all surrounded by lush landscaping.

Bag End has an interior to satisfy the poshest (and hungriest) of hobbits:

And I love that Hobbiton even gets its own LEGO map!

Check out MOCpages for the full gallery, with descriptions of how Legopard built and transported this large diorama, and watch a slideshow on YouTube.

Amazon.com discounts LEGO Lord of the Rings sets

Adding to the LEGO Star Wars sets that are 30% off, Amazon.com has just discounted most of the LEGO Lord of the Rings line as well.

Here’s the list:

Save $27.50 on 9474 The Battle of Helm’s Deep
Save $10 on 9473 The Mines of Moria
Save $24 on 4194 LEGO Whitecap Bay (LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean, but still a good discount…

Some of the discounts have dropped or ended since I got Amazon’s email this morning, so this one might not last as long as the Star Wars sets.

And unfortunately, these may only be available to our US readers. (We’ll have something cool for people in more places in a couple of days.)

Funny LEGO LOTR stop motion shows orcs’ true nature

BrotherhoodWorkshop has created a funny little stop-motion video that proves we might have a lot to learn about orcs.

Rivendell captured in Lego

Blake Baer and Jack Bittner present their second collaboration shown at BrickFair earlier this month. This time they built the beautiful Rivendell from Lord of the Rings. This is the first time I’ve seen the olive colored leaves used in significant quantities and they are great highlights on top of an already gorgeous diorama. You can see a video tour of the details on Flickr and more pictures including behind-the-scenes shots on MOCpages.

LEGO Argonath guards the borders of Gondor

Noah McClung (Glory_Forever) tackles one of the most awe-inspiring scenes from The Lord of the Rings, when the Fellowship passes beneath the gaze of the Argonath, or the Pillars of the Kings, into the much-diminished lands of Gondor.

The smooth statue stands in contrast to the rough-and-tumble rocks of the cliff. Here’s hoping Noah adds Isildur’s statue on the other side of the river Anduin, joining Anárion to face down Gondor’s northern enemies.

Via FBTB.