The Lord of the Rings

11377 LEGO® Icons The Lord of the Rings: Minas Tirith™ revealed: Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of The Lord of the Rings

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It was December 27, 2001. The Knoller in Chief and I went to the movies to celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary, as well as to enjoy a quiet night out with our two young children. It is hard to believe that this is now 25 years ago. Over the next few years, our wedding anniversary would be recognised as a chance to get out of the house together and catch up with the latest cinematic sage being released in the post Christmas period. We had both grown up with the Lord of the Rings and seeing the story translated into film was a defining moment in popculture for us both.

After the original run of sets based on The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit from over a decade ago, we have been getting a steady drip feed of related sets over the past few years: Starting with Rivendell, we have seen Barad-Dur and Bag End as ‘regular’ display sets, while we have also seen a selection of Brick Headz, a book nook, and more recently, Sauron’s Helmet. While our display spaces rapidly diminish, today, the LEGO Group are revealing their latest model: 11377 LEGO Icons The Lord of the Rings: Minas Tirith.

This latest set will be available at the start of June (1st for LEGO Insiders, 4th for everyone else). It comes with 8278 pieces – measures over 23.5 in. (59cm) high, 24.5 in. (62 cm) wide, and 14.5 in. (37 cm) deep, and comes with 10 minfigures. It will be priced at $AUD 999.99 / £579.99 / €649.99 / $649.99.

LEGO set box for Minas Tirith from The Lord of the Rings, featuring detailed depiction of the iconic white city with intricate architecture, showcasing various towers and gates.
LEGO set box featuring the Lord of the Rings model, showing architectural details and mini-figures, including illustrations of its features on the sides.

Let’s find out more…

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One Helmet to Rule them All: 11373 The Lord of the Rings: Sauron’s Helmet revealed.

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A detailed model of Sauron's helmet from The Lord of the Rings displayed on a pedestal in a modern interior setting.
LEGO Icons set featuring a model of Sauron's helmet from The Lord of the Rings, with 538 pieces, targeted at ages 18 and up.
Box packaging of LEGO Lord of the Rings Sauron set featuring the iconic helmet of Sauron, with artwork and images on the sides.

Things have been a little quiet on the Star Wars and Super Heros helmet cowl and bust collection lately. With 14 Star wars helmets released between 2020 and 2025; six marvel masks released between 2020 and 2025 and two Batman Cowls released in 2021, it has been a bit of a drip feed: a couple a year, with a small name plaque. Limited enough to be able to collect them all, and all imminently displayable.

Today, we get our first Helmet from The Lord Of The Rings – the Sauron’s Helmet. The set will released on March 1 and have 538 pieces, and unlike any Helmet series set before, it also comes with a Sauron minfigure. the set is priced at 129.99AUD / 69,99 USD / 74,99 EUR / 64,99 GBP .

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40761 The Lord of the Rings: Sméagol and Déagol. [Hands On review]

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As much as I like the Bag End build incorporated in 10354 The Shire (I keep wanting to call it ‘Bag End and a Long Awaited Party’), many people might want some kind of sweetener to go ahead and pick it up on opening week. I understand this. At $AUD399.99, it is an expensive set. So, will the LEGO Store Exclusive 40761 Sméagol and Déagol be enough to make you pull the trigger? The LEGO Group were kind enough to send a copy of the set over to look at, but it has probably been available for a few hours before we are able to publish our reviews.

Let’s dive in >ahem< and take a closer look.

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10354 The Shire: Part 2 – the Build

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Last week, we took a look at the minifigures included in 10354 The Shire. Today, we will take a look at the better part of the construction of set. Be sure to take a closer look at the figures from this set in my previous review here.

Quick Spoiler: On the whole, I really enjoyed building putting this set together: the details included in Bag End are just wonderful. But is it worth the price? Read on. This set was provided by the LEGO Group for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

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10354 The Shire: Part 1 The Minifigures

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While not as extravagant as 10316: Rivendell, the upcoming 10354 The Shire still has a lot to cover. While I am finishing the complete review, I thought we might look at the nine minifigures that come with this upcoming set. The Shire brings us nine minifigures: six old characters, and three new. Let’s take a look at how these figures compare with those found in 10316 Rivendell, and the previous wave of LEGO The Lord of the Rings sets, released in 2012-2013.

The LEGO Group provided this set for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

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A Long Awaited Party: 10354 The Shire Revealed.

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Rumors have been floating around for months, and even an own goal scored by the LEGO Events team announcing a set-signing event in early April on the LEGO website a few weeks ago. Finally, we can show you 10354 The Shire.

This set brings us to Bag End and the location of Bilbo’s Party, as seen in the first part of the Fellowship of the Ring. With nine minifigures, including Bilbo, Frodo, Gandalf the Grey, Merry and Pippin, we also have a couple of new characters, including Rosie Cotton and the Proudfoots. The set has 2017 pieces and has a recommended retail price of $AUD399.99; €269.99 £229.99 $USD269.99. It will be released on April 2dn to LEGO Insiders, and available to all on April the 5th.

In this post, We’ll take a quick look at the set. Then I’ll bring some of my history with the Shire: from Discovering the Lord of the Rings, visiting the Hobbiton sets and building my version of Bag End a year or so before the official set was released in 2012. Then we’ll take a look at some photos of the set from the Fan Media Days in Billund last year, and hear some words from Kenyon Brady, one of the LEGO Designers who worked on the set. Finally, we will get to the official Press release, as well as details of the Gift with Purchase, available when the set will be released in early April.

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10333 Barad-Dûr Revealed; New Minifigures;$450USD; Speculation…

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In which the latest LEGO® Lord of the Rings set is revealed, some minifigures are updated (while others are not) and I try not to feel too bad about the cost.

JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings is a timeless classic of epic fantasy and world building. I was introduced to the work back in 1981, when the BBC’s radio drama was broadcast over 26 half hour episodes on a Sunday Morning. I probably only ever discovered it because the NPR dramatisation of Star Wars finished the previous week. That version of the story missed some of the same bits as Peter Jackson’s cinematic adaptation from the early days of the century. While the action of the narrative swirled across middle earth, there is one location that might be considered core to the drama, but never visited by the story tellers Point of View: The Darks Lord’s Tower, Barad-dûr.

And while MOCs have been produced over the years in a variety of scales, from the tabletop to the major installation, the LEGO Group have never produced a model kit of the Dark Tower of Mordor. Until now.

This 5471 piece set will be available from June 1st 2024, priced at €459.99 / £399.99/ $USD459.99/$AUD699.99 /$CAD599.99 /10999 MXN. On release it will be a LEGO exclusive – only through LEGO and LEGO Certified stores. I will come and revisit that price later in this post, and explain why I don’t think it is totally outrageous.

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The Figures of 10316 Rivendell

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We recently looked at the building experience for 10316 Rivendell – the upcoming LEGO Icons set. It is big, with over 6000 pieces and 15 minifigures (+6 statues)! I thought I would take a closer look at the new minifigures, and compare them with the original Lord of the Rings figures from 2012-13.

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10361 LEGO® Icons Rivendell [Rambling Review]

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The Latest LEGO ICON set 10361 Rivendell, realises one of the most iconic locations in JRR Tolkien’s tales of Middle Earth. This set brings us a model in three main sections: the Tower; River, Armory and Gazebo, and finally, the main Hall and Council Circle. With 15 minifigures and 6167 elements, this set captures the beauty of both the Architecture and Landscape of the Last Homely House, East of the Sea.

When I first saw this set, revealed at the LEGO Fan Media Days in Billund, last September, I started to get excited about the set, and what kind of build it might be. And just a bit daunted by the appearance of all of the 1×1 tiles on the roof.

When I was offered a set for early review, I have to admit,I felt a little giddy with excitement. I have been a fan of The Lord of the Rings since the early ’80s. Perhaps not a dedicated consumer of everything related to Middle Earth. But a fan nonetheless. I could see past the changes made, where the movies deviated from the primary text, without being too upset.

I am grateful to the LEGO Group for sending me this set to review. All opinions are my own,

This review will include comprehensive coverage of the building experience. If you are merely curious as to whether or not the set is for you, and wish to avoid having the experience spoiled… click here to go straight to the conclusion and further images of the completed model. 

If not: Let’s get on with it.

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Rivendell Might Just be My Favorite Set to Photograph

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When I present a review, the sets are typically photographed in a cold, sterile lightbox, with perhaps a cardboard cutout for good measure. I have been writing up my review of 10316 Rivendell. But it is not quite finished. In short, it is an epic build, full of techniques I had not thought about and tricks that might be applicable at some point. To say nothing of a gorgeous interpretation of the subject matter. It does not pretend to be all of Rivendell but rather incorporates some key scenes from the Peter Jackson Movies.

I took a break from writing up my Rambling Review, so I could enjoy the warm diffuse light of a summer evening, set and camera in hand. Read on to see what happened…

[or you can go straight to my review here]

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