Some LEGO creations manage to turn up a soundtrack in your head. A new series of builds by Thorsten Bonsch is a perfect example. The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies had numerous wonderful film locations, but the journey always starts by the Bilbo’s home Bag End in the town of Hobbiton located in the lush pastures of the Shire.
Click here to take a look at other creations in the series
This elven archer by Dmitry would be at home on any Lord of the Rings fan’s mantelpiece. The clean and minimalist approach to the facial features makes the ornate armor all the more impressive. I particularly like the use of Ninjago Spinner blades as wrapped hair braids, and the grill tiles for a flattop makes me chuckle. (As did that golden banana as part of the tunic.) But I’m certainly not laughing at the great shaping in grey achieved by cheese slopes and curved brick, or at that elegant display stand.
This build has a different look from most LEGO figures we see at this scale, and that’s not a bad thing at all.
Ever wonder what you would pack for a trip across Middle-Earth? Tune in and find out in this hilarious new LEGO Lord of the Rings stop-motion animation by BrotherhoodWorkshop. Make sure to grab some popcorn while watching this incredible parody of the iconic scene from The Two Towers!
We arrive at Edoras with Gandalf the White, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli and it looks like the kingdom of Rohan has seen some better days. To top it off, the Three Hunters are having trouble bringing their weapons into the Golden Hall… but not to worry, Gandalf knows exactly how to play by the rules.
Watch “Take the Wizard’s Staff!!!” below.
It’s got to be one of the most popular memes on the internet. There’s Eddard Stark at the Council of Agent Smith in Rivendell, uttering the unforgettable “One does not simply MOC into Mordor.” Or at least that’s what a LEGO version of double-oh-six would say, right? (A MOC is, of course, an original LEGO build, “My Own Creation”; and wonderfully, it rhymes with walk.) Swap out the Mordor bit and you have a universally applicable meme for difficult things. Fancy your hand at meme-ing this build by Big Stannis? The builder has captured the exact moment of the utterance, so perhaps we need to make this version go viral in the LEGO world. All the little details are there, from the cuffs to collar, and don’t miss that hair with ears poking out. Rounded ears, of course, since he’s not blond Will Turner. And right after you finish publishing your meme, Rudy will run out of wherever he’s hiding, eager to be included on the team for at least one game of ring toss.
As evil armies spread across the land, a young boy from a farming town journeys to strange places on a quest to defeat the mighty villain. Accompanied by a group of friends and gifted a glowing blue sword, he soon finds himself in the company of a weird little creature speaking in odd sentences, before ultimately defeating evil by casting it into a giant pit. That’s the backdrop for this mighty tower, which LEGO builder CRCT Productions calls The Emperor’s Eye or Vader’s Barad-Dûr.
The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars share a lot of similarities, but perhaps none so visually striking as the resemblance of Darth Vader’s Castle to the architecture of Sauron, and this nifty little microscale diorama shows the resulting mashup. The best part is the Force-blue glowing eye between the spires. The squared-off base works well to counterpoint the jumbled lava rocks around the foot of the tower, and there are some great parts hidden if you look closely, such as chain links and robot arms.
I love The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. Like, really, really love it. I have more than a whole shelf in my library (yes, I have a library, filled with many leather-bound books) devoted just to the book and its ancillary volumes (The Hobbit, Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, etc.). Tolkien is my favorite author, by far, and I’ve read his major work at least twelve times. So when I see really well done LEGO builds based on the stories, like this one by Simon Hundsbichler, it gets the warm fuzzies going inside. Even if it is based on the movies, I still love it; after all, for whatever butcheries they did to the characters (e.g. Faramir), Peter Jackson et al. did a phenomenal job of representing the material cultures of Middle Earth. This particular build is inspired by the second volume of the work, The Two Towers, and features many towers, from the horn tower of Helm’s Deep to Orthanc to Minas Morgul to Cirith Ungol.
Microscale is notoriously tricky to pull off, but Simon is a master among masters at it. Some features that need to be pointed out include using the tiny hole in the bar holder with clip as the window at the top of Cirith Ungol. Genius. But it is all amazing. Helm’s Deep bears repeated looks, with the absurd number of unconventional pieces in the rockwork, from grey hawks and frogs to saddles. But then there’s my favorite stair technique with a grille brick leading up to Meduseld. And a stud shooter in Cirith Ungol. And rockets in the towers of both Minas Morgul and Helm’s Deep. And a spider as Shelob, a giant spider. Brilliant. And there’s a Treebeard, too! Add in the book base, and the water flowing through it, and you have one of my favorite LEGO creations ever.
If you missed Simon’s masterful representation of the first volume of The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, check it out here. I can’t wait to see the third installment!
Orcs are probably one of the ugliest creature in all of fantasy fiction. But this little guy created by Jme Wheeler is stinkin’ adorable as all heck. How can you not smile when you look at that face? I’d like to think of him as an innocent baby, who does not yet know evil. But I guess there is just something about the Brickheadz style that lends to the “cute” factor. Whatever the case, my favorite part of this particular build is definitely the loincloth.
Have an afinity for BrickHeadz? We’ve got lots of them in our archives!
Microscales are fun and always leave me in awe with great parts usage and clever techniques, but this masterpiece by Simon Hundsbichler is jaw-dropping in every way. His build consists of six locations from the Fellowship of the Ring, recreated in awe-inspiring microscale — You don’t have to build big to make a big impact. What makes this literally pop out is the open brick-built book acting as an elegant base, complete with subtle detailing to form the curvature of the spine. I could stare at this for hours and find new things to wonder about. I did manage to spot a hidden Easter egg, with the one ring built into the hobbit-hole. Can you spot Gandalf? (Yes, he’s there alright)
You may have seen our ongoing advent calendar features where we reveal the contents of official LEGO advent calendars day-by-day and chime in with our witty commentary. Traditionally with advent calendars, you can expect to reveal a small nominal gift in the twenty-four days before Christmas. However, Simon Hundsbichler had something different in mind. Every day in December, Simon is unveiling a new intricate Lord of the Rings diorama that takes inspiration from the books and not the movies. On December first, he showcased this stunning scene depicting Gandalf arriving in Hobbiton. The quality of the work doesn’t waver, in fact it gets better from here.
“In a hole in the snow there lived a Hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell… No, this hole was warm and snug, a cozy place in which Bilbo could thaw his toes after a wintery walk.” Patrick B. has created the perfect little winter scene from the Shire, with a hobbit hole covered in snow. The sledge is nice little creation, as is the snow-clad tree atop the mound, but be sure to zoom in on the hobbit dwelling’s frontage — the windows are lovely, and I particularly like the reversed plates used for the door, a surprising but effective choice.
Gondor is the greatest kingdom of Men during the Third Age of Tolkien’s Middle-Earth. Its northern borders are marked by The Argonath, a pair of huge statues standing on the banks of the River Anduin. Jason Pyett has taken on the challenge of building a LEGO version of this dramatic location from The Lord Of The Rings, and the result is an impressive piece of microscale building.
The statues tower above the river, their left hands raised in warning to the enemies of Gondor. The choice of colours and level of detailing manage to evoke the idea of weathered stonework, and the proportions of both figures are nicely done. Fun fact: Jason has built the movie version of this monumental pair — depicting Isildur on the left, and Elendil on the right, armed with the sword Narsil. In the original description from the books, the statues depicted Isildur and his brother Anarion, and both were armed with axes.
The city of Minas Tirith in the realm of Gondor is one of the most iconic locations from Tolkien’s beloved The Lord of the Rings books, and was brought to life perfectly in the film adaptations. Builder Nicola Bozzolan has crafted the capital stronghold in LEGO, and it looks amazing. Using over 7,000 pieces, Nicola spent more than 60 hours making the White Tower nestle just perfectly among the mountains, with its seven-tiered system of defensive walls.
Spreading out on the Pelennor Fields, the curved city is rendered excellently in microscale. High at the top of the central spire of rock is the palace of the kings of Gondor. The emblematic white tree of Gondor is in the central courtyard, with its ancient sweeping branches represented by a LEGO feather.
