Rivendell by Alice Finch

This Rivendell created by Alice Finch on Flickr is the perfect MOC to look at this morning.  Obviously because The Hobbit: DoS was released last night. For those of you that haven't seen the film yet, I recommend you do. Visually stunning. Plot... let's just say it's not quite as stunning. But enough with the movie, let's talk about the MOC.
While it may not look too much like other Rivendell MOCs, or the Rivendell from the film for that matter, it's no less impressive. There is a fantastic attention to detail. From the roof designs to the water-horses. Check out a larger image and more by clicking the link below.

See it on Flickr.

2014 The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Images

Images of three new The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug sets have been released. And I must say they are FANTASTIC! Of course, these sets should come with some fantastic price points as well. Fantastic for LEGO, not our wallets, that is.

79011 Dol Guldor Ambush. Minifigures: Beorn, Gundabad Orcs x2.

We finally see what Beorn will look like. Those of you that follow The Hobbit news sites should recall some leaked images of Beorn, but this set certainly gives us more to talk about. Whether Beorn is ambushed at Dol Guldor in the films remains to be seen.

See the other sets (which in my opinion only get better!) below! But keep in mind, this post contains Spoilers! 

Lord of The Bobble Heads by Nathaniel Shields

Check out these hilarious Lord of the Rings bobble heads by Nathaniel Shields. Each one is great in its own way. I especially love Merry, Gandalf, and Boromir. Just wonderful idea. Now I want to see some Avengers bobble heads.

See it on Mocpages.

The Council of Elrond by Disco 86

Check out this Rivendell MOC by Disco 86. I love the trees, and the flowers creeping over the wall. It's a great representation of the scene. And I like how all the characters are represented in their official minifigure form.

See it on Mocpages.

LEGO The Hobbit Laketown Chase Revealed at SDCC

Comic Con is back again (I feel like it just ended) and LEGO has revealed the latest set in The Hobbit line: Laketown Chase. 334 pcs. 5 minifigures. $49.99.
I'm gonna be honest, I'm very disappointed in this set. LEGO had a chance to build some spectacular buildings and they threw it away. And they placea ridiculous price tag on the set to make it all the more painful.
The only reason I would even consider getting this set is for the minifigures. They appear to be Bilbo, Thorin, Bard, the Master of Laketown, and a Laketown Guard. But there's no way I'm gonna dish out $50 for a couple of minifigures.
I'm sorry LEGO, you make great sets, but in my opinion you really struck out on this one.

Weathertop - Amon Sûl by Legopard

Someone has finally gone ahead and built a good Weathertop. Ok, not finally, it's been done before, but this is probably the best one out there!
And the builder of this fantastic creation is Legopard. BrickEnd is no stranger to Legopard's MOCs. Yet he continues to knock the ball (er, MOC) out of the park!
Did anyone else think that Blake Baer had built this when they first saw it? It's very similar to his style.

See it on Mocpages.

2013 LOTR High-res Images

Eurobricks has revealed high-res images of two more of the Summer 2013 Lord of the Rings sets.

The two sets are The Council of Elrond, and The Wizard Battle. 

Both are relatively small sets, with rather *cough* lame *cough* builds. Especially on The Council of Elrond set. I am very disappointed in the design of this set.

The Wizard Battle is slightly more promising. The build isn't much better, but the Saruman minifig is very nice. And with a price point of $12.99, it's a great impulse set.

See more images on Eurobricks.

10237 Tower of Orthanc Press Release

The newest Lord of the Rings set has been revealed over on Brickset. The set has a July 1st release date. This could be the release date of the other LOTR sets too. But it might just be for this one. Especially if this set is an exclusive model.
Press release below.

10237 Tower of Orthanc, Ages 14+.  2,359 pieces.

Build the The Lord of the Rings™ trilogy must-have model!

US $199.99, CA $249.99, DE 199.99€, UK £169.99, DK 1699.00 DKK

Finally, collect one of the most instantly recognizable and iconic buildings of The Lord of the Rings trilogy: The Tower of Orthanc! Build all 6 highly detailed floors filled with fascinating movie-related details including the attic, library, alchemy room, Saruman’s throne room, entrance hall and dungeon. This exclusive model stars in some of the most iconic scenes from The Lord of the Rings movies. Swoop down with the Great Eagle and rescue stranded Gandalf the Grey from his tower-top prison after his defeat at the hands of the white wizard, Saruman. Build the powerful, tree-like Ent, with poseable limbs and cool swinging arm function, then attack the Uruk-hai and Orc Pitmaster while Saruman and his servant Grima Wormtongue take refuge high in the tower. The Tower of Orthanc is a must-have model for any The Lord of the Rings collection! Includes a Great Eagle, buildable Ent figure and 5 minifigures with weapons: Saruman with kirtle outfit, Grima Wormtongue, Gandalf the Grey, an Uruk-hai and the Orc Pitmaster.

• Includes a Great Eagle, buildable Ent figure and 5 minifigures with weapons: Saruman with kirtle outfit, Grima Wormtongue, Gandalf™ the Grey, an Uruk-hai™ and the Orc Pitmaster
• Features 6 highly detailed floors with lots of functions, including a folding staircase, LEGO® light brick palantir, opening entrance doors and a trap door
• Weapons include 5 staffs, knife, sword, shield and a long axe
• The attic features a folding staircase, the 3 staffs of the missing wizards, the 2 keys of the Two Towers, 2 maps and an Uruk-hai helmet, shield and sword
• The library features 2 books, 2 torches, 2 maps and 2 skulls
• The alchemy room features 2 torches, a bomb (being produced for the Battle of Helm’s Deep™), 2 potions, bottle, skull, gunpowder keg, pot, cauldron and a long axe
• Saruman’s throne room features lamps, 2 bookcases with 3 potions, map, letter and the powerful palantir with a LEGO light brick
• The entrance hall features opening doors, trap door, 2 large banners, chandelier, statue and 2 axes
• The creepy dungeon features a chain, 2 bones, 2 skulls and a rat
• Buildable Ent features poseable limbs for holding a minifigure and a cool swinging arm function
• Attack the tower with the cool buildable and poseable Ent!
• Swoop to the rescue with the Great Eagle!
• Activate the LEGO light brick and make the palantir glow!
• Set the trap door and banish unwanted guests to the dungeon!
• Prepare the bomb for the Battle of Helm’s DeepTM!
• Swing the Ent’s arms to smash or grab things with the poseable fingers!
• Measures over 28" (73cm) high, 8" (21cm) wide and 6" (16cm) deep
• Ent stands over 9" (23cm) tall

Available for sale directly through LEGO beginning July 2013.

I must say I can't wait for this set. The size of the tower is just awesome! LEGO is finally building in scale. Well, closer to scale than normal.
What do you think about this set? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.

High-res Summer LOTR Images

High-res images have been posted of the Summer 2013 Lord of the Rings sets. Up until now, we've only seen small, blurry pictures of each. Hardly enough for any LEGO fan. But now we can view them in their full glory.

79007 Battle at the Black Gate. 5 minifigures. 656 pieces. Price: $60-$70.
79008 Pirate Ship Ambush. 9 minifigures. 756 pieces. Price: $80-$100.

See more images on Eurobricks.

New York Toy Fair Pictures (Star Wars, LOTR, Castle, More)

Hundreds of pictures from the New York Toy Fair have been released. Not to mention numerous videos from The BrickShow. Most of the sets have excellent prices. And the minifigs just keep improving.

Check out all the new sets for 2013 by clicking the links below!
Castle
City
Creator
Friends
LEGO Games
Galaxy Squad
Lord of the Rings
Mindstorms and Technic
Legends of Chima
Hero Factory
Star Wars
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

I'm very excited for Star Wars and LOTR. Lord of the Rings has some beautiful sets with very cheap prices, and while this Star Wars wave is mostly a remake of older sets, the prices have improved, as well as the minifigs.
Jango Fett, Christmas Jango Fett. Yes!

LEGO Games LOTR Battle of Helm's Deep

LEGO Games will be releasing their first Lord of the Rings game. I can't figure out how to play by looking at the picture, but it looks as though the Uruk-hai need to get through the Deeping Wall to the Hornburg (duh). Not having played any of the LEGO Games myself, I can't see any similarities between this and other games. But with at least 11 microfigures, I just might have to pick up my first one.

50011 LEGO Lord of the Rings Battle of Helm's Deep.
Ages 7+. 338 pieces. Estimated price: $39.99.
Available in August.

LOTR 79008 Pirate Ship Ambush

With the London Toy Fair nearly over, I'm surprised that we haven't seen more images from upcoming sets. But thanks to Flickr user Motayan we have two that have just made my day. The images may be small, and they're definitely blurry, but who cares? Anything is better than nothing.

79008 Pirate Ship Ambush.

Minifigures: Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, King of the Dead, Soldier of the Dead x2, Corsair of Umber (Peter Jackson), Mordor Orc x2.

Coming Summer 2013.

A very good selection of minifigures. Hopefully this set'll cost no more than $80. I take it back. Whenever I guess the price of a set I'm always way off. 

I'm very glad they're including the Peter Jackson Corsair character over just any random corsair. And of course, The fact that there are three dead people makes this set even more awesome! Though I wonder about the Mordor Orcs.

A very good size ship, with the spike off of the bottom of the hull. Yes! I'm very glad they left that part in, even though it was never seen in the movies. That's just the nerd in me coming out. :)

Let's hope we'll see many more LEGO goodies before Toy Fair is over. But then, the New York Toy Fair is the real cheese. That's when everything is out in the open.

LEGO LOTR Battle at the Black Gate Preliminary image

The Sears Canada website has listed one of the yet-to-be-released LOTR sets. The image has a confidential watermark on it, so thanks to ToysNBricks, we have a white-out version. I believe the release date for this set is Summer 2013. I have no idea how Sears got so priviledged. They'll probably be hearing it from LEGO very soon. UPDATE: The set is out of stock. Either LEGO pulled it, or many lucky fans lucked out.
Set info below:

79007 Battle at the Black Gate. 655 pieces. $59.99. Minifigures: Gandalf, Aragorn, The Mouth of Sauron, two Mordor Orcs.

Fly the Great Eagle high above the Black Gate of Mordor where Aragorn and Gandalf the White must distract the Eye of Sauron. Use them to stage a scene while Frodo Baggins and his friend Sam throw the One Ring into the fiery depths of Mount Doom and destroy it forever. To reach the Ring's final destination, you must defeat the Mouth of Sauron and the Mordor Orcs positioned high in the spiked gate walls. Then breach the gate and lead the attack on the enemy! Includes a Great Eagle and 5 minifigures with weapons: Aragorn, Gandalf the White, Mouth of Sauron and 2 Mordor Orcs

Despite the fact that the Black Gate is so short, this should be a great set. And I'm very excited for the Mouth of Sauron figure. As is the case with most early images, the minifigures are nowhere near final.

New Summer 2013 Set Rumors (LOTR, Star Wars, Castle)

A hoard of Summer 2013 set rumors have appeared all over the internet. The most exciting rumors (to me) is the announcement of more LOTR, certain Star Wars sets, and the return of Castle!
There's also some Galaxy Squad, Legends of Chima, and City. So let's dive into the rumors of 2013 LEGO!

Finders Keepers by Ochre Jelly

Apparently I wasn't the only one that thought the LEGO One Ring was too big for minifigures. Ochre Jelly (Iain Heath) has used the One Ring the way it should be used - By brick-built figures.
I don't think there is one flaw in this entire MOC. From Bilbo's hair, to his jacket, to Gollum's eyes, everything is masterfully done.
With the nationwide release of The Hobbit less than 48 hours away, the timing of this MOC couldn't have been better.

See it on Flickr.

Amazon LOTR and The Hobbit Deals

Amazon currently has some great deals on Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit LEGO sets. With The Hobbit hitting theaters a week from today, this'll be the perfect way to feed your Hobbit craze!
While most of the deals are only a few bucks off here and there, there are some drastic price drops in several of the larger and more pricy sets.

The Goblin King Battle: MSRP: $99.99. Amazon discount: $85.50. BUY!
The Battle of Helm's Deep: MSRP: $129.99. Amazon discount: $105.99. BUY!
Attack on Weathertop: MSRP: $59.99. Amazon discount: $42.75. BUY!
Uruk-hai Army: MSRP: $29.99. Amazon discount: $23.75. BUY!

Other deals include The Mines of Moria $3.50 off, Shelob Attacks $2.40 off, and Attack of the Wargs $2.50 off.
While these last deals aren't very big, if you were planning on getting these sets and don't want to wait for a bigger sale this may be the time to act. All those extra dollars off could get you Riddles for the Ring.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Sets at Shop@Home

After much waiting, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey sets are now available at Shop@Home and LEGO retail stores. With the release of the film next month, you can be sure these will fly off the shelves.
It's too bad these weren't released yesterday when we could've taken advantage of Cyber Monday sales.

Buy the Hobbit sets now: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey sets.

The Hobbit Gandalf Ploybag

Another The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey polybag has been sighted on Ebay. No word on when it'll be available. We'll most likely see it at TRU in the next couple of weeks.

EDIT: This polybag is now available at ToysRUs.

30212 Mirkwood Elf Polybag at TRU

The first of hopefully many Hobbit polybags has appeared over at Toysrus. The set contains a brand new Mirkwood Elf minifig. And I think the first ever dark green hood.
For a probable $3.99 price point, it's not bad. Definitely gonna want a couple of these for your elf army.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Sets at Kmart

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey sets are now available at Kmart. All of them. And you can use coupon code KMART10PSAVINGS for an additional 10%.
Get over to a Kmart to pick up the first ever LEGO Bilbo Baggins. Not to mention the thirteen dwarves. Which I love!