Lego has quickly followed up its first animated short with a new one, this time following the Fellowship through the mines of Moria.
It’s very enjoyable silliness — go watch it!
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Category: Toys
Ringer fan Elf Overlord sends us news that Lego has uploaded the first part of an animated series promoting their Lego Lord of the Rings product line.
It’s an amusing and entertaining, but not very accurate, (editorial warning for understatement!) video retelling of the beginning of the Fellowship of the Rings.
Anyone hoping for Tom Bombadil and Goldberry is, as usual, doomed to disappointment.
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Wrebbit and Coiledspring, creators of 3D puzzles of various Lord of the Rings sets (including Edoras, Orthanc and Minas Tirith) have announced they’re working on a new series inspired by the The Hobbit movies. No sneak-preview images yet, but we’re keeping our fingers crossed for something nice.
‘…There are Orcs, very many of them,’ he (Gandalf) said. `And some are large and evil: black Uruks of Mordor. For the moment they are hanging back, but there is something else there. A great cave-troll, I think, or more than one. There is no hope of escape that way…’
I think back on my relatively young life and can fondly recall a few events that I would consider highlights: My marriage to my beautiful wife; the birth of our daughter; TheOneRing.net Oscar Parties from 2002-2004; Finding my dream job with Sideshow; and that time I got to see 26 minutes of The Fellowship of the Ring at the Cannes Film Festival in 2001. As you can read in my original report, I was blown away by the revelation of Peter Jackson’s vision of The Lord of the Rings on the big screen, especially when it came to the infamous Mines of Moria. Sure it was different from the books, but visual execution seemed to transmit my own visions of Middle-earth and put them on the big screen. So many years later, it is now my privilege to relive some of that sequence through the ‘Mines of Moria’ LEGO® Set, now available at most retailers.
As a preface to my review, I need to remind you all that I am not a LEGO® Set expert. My first experience with LEGO® Sets in many years was building the ‘Shelob Attacks‘ set I reviewed last month. So if I get some terminology wrong, please don’t hold it against me :P.
There are a few obvious differences between the ‘Shelob Attacks’ LEGO® Set and ‘The Mines of Moria.’ First, and most obvious, is that the set is much larger and more complex. Whether it is the ‘action’ elements in the gate and right side piece, or it is adding the detailing stickers just in the right place, you will find this set takes anywhere from 3-4 hours to piece together. Let me say…that is not a bad thing! I’m quickly finding myself addicted to the enjoyment and plain old fun of LEGO® Sets again! (After the break I’ve got 84 pictures of the set!)
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Have you ever pondered what a LEGO balrog might look like (and does it have wings?!) or longed to see a Lego Fellowship trot across the Bridge of Khazad Dum? If so, or even if not, today is your lucky day. The LOTR LEGO trailer has landed and not only is it full of cuteness that is a danger to fans’ wallets everywhere, it features 100% movie actor voices and only shows footage (LEGO style) from “Fellowship of the Ring.” We have no idea what all this means. Are these cut scenes? One game or three? Will we be able to mine for mithril? Is LEGO Boromir cuter than Legolas or Aragorn? In other film LEGO games, “Harry Potter,” “Indiana Jones,” and “Star Wars” for example, the characters never talk. We have no answers but we do have this trailer and it is cute.
…the most loathly shape that he had ever beheld…Most like a spider she was, but huger than the great hunting beasts…Great horns she had, and behind her short stalk-like neck was her huge swollen body, a vast bloated bag, swaying and sagging between her legs; its great bulk was black, blotched with livid marks, but the belly underneath was pale and luminous and gave forth a stench. Her legs were bent, with great knobbed joints high above her back, and hairs that stuck out like steel spines, and at each leg’s end there was a claw…
Shelob.
For every Tolkien fan, the name leaps from the pages (and screen) of Middle-earth to invade a commonly held fear in our everyday life – the fear of an impossibly large, eight-legged, creepy-crawly finding us in the dark. *shiver* According to Wikipedia, it is estimated that 55% of women and 18% of men are Arachnophobic. You can count me among those with a mild fear of spiders, which basically means I have to ‘act’ the role of father/husband when it comes disposing of them. I can’t very well unleash a high-pitched scream and run away now can I…
So when I first saw the ‘Shelob Attacks’ LEGO® Set at the 2012 Toy Fare, I have to admit…I was a bit creeped out. Yes, its LEGO® blocks, but the piece is still surprisingly life-like. In fact, one of the reporters getting the sneak peek at this set could not go within 5 feet of the display. Yes, he was that Arachnophobic!
Before we get to the meat of this review, I will warn you ahead of time, that I am in no way a LEGO® Set expert. To be honest, I haven’t touched the popular construction toys for possibly 10 years, so I’m a bit behind the times when it comes to the licensed themed sets. However, I can tell you, within 1 minute of opening the box, the wonderful memories of LEGO® set building came swooping back.
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