I am aware of the promotions of buying 2 or 3 of these $460 USD sets to make it taller; promotions on sponsored channels that make it seem like a great feature for consumers. To be kind, I think that is at best, completely tone deaf & out of touch to suggest that regular consumers, people who actually pay for their sets, should be *happy* to spend almost an *extra* $1000 just to add a little height to this thing (and be left with thousands of unused parts most people will never use). Bricklinking the parts for extra vertical segments makes great sense for advanced hobbyists. I will not, however, gleefully suggest that we should all be ecstatic that a multibillion dollar company has graciously given us the option to give them a significant chunk of additional money to make an already pricey item just a little cooler. That's why I didn't cover that "feature" in my review.
there’s something so SO nice about hearing “I bought this set for…” After seeing so many review channels get it for free and give their underwhelming thoughts, it’s always nice to know the level of honest you get here
I really think, LAN members should get set at discount and not free. Cause then they could only review the set they are excited about and not make their channels into CNN style lego news/ review channel.
It is not supposed to be the inside of Mt Doom. It is supposed to be the rock /mountain Frodo and Sam are walking on near the edge of Mordor when the Eye looks over and sees them, and Frodo almost puts on the ring, but Sam has to pull him down behind the rock. That’s why it comes with the Barad dur set, because it’s the only time Frodo and Sam interact (technically) with Barad dur.
It really has been like 4 years of sponsorted lego reviewers telling us paper bags are commonplace. I still haven't seen a single one in the dozens of sets ive bought in that time 😂
I recently started to get paper bags. My guess is that Lego first got rid of their probably massive stash of plastic bags since they announced paper bags and only now the paper bags arrive at the customers more widely.
My favorite part of your channel is that you are an independent reviewer. The ambassadors who get free sets are always biased as to not disturb their relationship with LEGO and their free items. You are one of us, and we appreciate it !
Thank you, Jang. You are the only Lego reviewer I watch for a reason. Lego is not above reproach, and I appreciate how honest and reasonable you are. It's so incredibly important to get unbiased reviews from people who spent their own hard-earned money on something. I'll probably get this at some point because I'm a huge Tolkien fan, but until I can justify that purchase, this video will help tide me over. Thanks again
Preach! When Jang reviews a set, we know he sees that money going from his bank account just like us so he understands how we'd feel and he reviews it that way. He doesn't get it for free and has to pretend to knows how it feels to spend that amount on the set
When it is a minifigure based set I don't look for accurate scaling. Instead, I appreciate the effort to make something look good within the confines of budget and space.
29:20 - 12 years on and I still keep on coming back on a regular basis to watch your videos, Jang! KEEP UP!!! You and the guys from the "late" Brick Show made me an AFOL back in 2014 when I finally relented, ended my "Dark Ages" and bought myself Benny's Spaceship. 🙂 ❤
I finished building it last night and it’s so much more impressive in person. None of the images or videos I’ve seen have done it justice. There were some really exciting and innovative building techniques and it was a relatively relaxing build. I accidentally put curved panel with the sticker of Sauron on the wrong quadrant of the room, so I have to take apart the tower bit to fix that 😅 I think that this is honestly just as impressive as Rivendell, albeit in a very different way. It really is stunning, and I love the way the designers incorporated browns and oranges to give the illusion of a glow. My wife was blown away when I pointed out that optical illusion.
I’m quite sure that the reason for the dining hall, beyond simply referencing the “Meat’s back on the menu” line, was to base Barad-dur’s interior on the only building interior in Mordor that we do actually see in the films, the tower of Cirith Ungol where Frodo is taken to after Shelob gets him, which has a big dining table like that at the bottom of it.
In reference to it becoming more difficult to stay an independent reviewer… I have been watching you for years now and you are probably the best out there. You really seem like you care about this stuff and clearly have tons of experience. I don’t think your opinions would change whether you were sponsored or not, but either way I appreciate you!
I wish the candlestick pieces behind the eye were orange, I don’t know how they thought putting a thick black line behind translucent orange was a good idea
@@Jerome... It's a billion dollar company man, making a piece in a new colour for a $460 set should not be something they worry about, better yet they could make it translucent too
“There are a lot of reasons to not get this…” indeed. The price, the scale of the tower, the mini figures, and some of the design choices are among them… of course if you love this set, no hate and I’m glad you like your purchase. Great review Jang. Let’s hope for some smaller sets in the LOTR theme, soon.
While I definitely hear and understand the calls for smaller LOTR sets, I'd also be happy to have more giant display sets like this, but this one just isn't inspiring or intersting to me. Now, had they made a Minas Tirith or a Lothlorien or an Edoras, that would be different! (Though I don't see an Edoras coming soon since it would be too similar esthetically to the Viking Village set.)
@@SO-ym3zswhy does it have to be an either or situation? Why is it only that rich collectors can enjoy Lego Lord of the Rings? Why can't they make these big sets but also smaller playscale or diorama sets? They do it for Star Wars. They do it for Harry Potter.
Jang, I always appreciate watching your videos as I feel, for the most part, that we get an unbiased, unfiltered, objective review and I think that's in large part due to the fact that you buy every set that you review, your prior experience in things such as product design, and your nature as a human being. Thank you for taking the time to cover all of the aspects that are important and not simply schilling out an opinion that you feel will get favorable results. I feel it takes a lot of integrity to voice your opinion on a way that's educated and informative without being dismissive of the work that went into creating something like this set. I hope your chosen career continues to be sustainable for your needs and that you continue to take pride in what you provide to the community.
I’m just gonna pretend my Night Lord’s Castle is Barad Dur so I don’t lose any sleep of this. “Ahh yes this Barád-Dûr, from uhh, Ralph Bakshi’s Lord of the Rings.”
never give up doing what you like Jang, I have watch your videos since i don't know what English is until i have no space left to display lego, you were me inspiration
This became my most wanted set of the year as soon as it was revealed. I can’t get it now since I bought Riverdell a few days before this was revealed, but I've already started saving to get it this year or early next yeat
Just finished mine. It's a gorgeous model. The scale fits what LEGO was going for, and you covered all of the praises and hiccups very well. I'm not overly pleased that LEGO recommends getting multiple of the set to make the spire taller, or that it's easy to implement into the model. I haven't even seen an attempt to do so, yet. Great work, as ever, JANG
My favorite thing about you, Jang, is that you are an independent reviewer. I'm not a fan of the "this set was sent to me by Lego but all opinions are my own" line. Sure it is. Even though i don't buy as many sets as i used to (thanks to my Gundam addiction lol), i still continue to watch your content. Whether it's a set im interested in or a set like this one that i personally don't care for, i will continue to watch your content.
Great review. My only comment is that I've seen people referring to the side build as the place where Frodo and Sam are rescued by the eagles, and I agree it definitely resembles that rock outcrop more than the cliff inside Mount Doom. Otherwise, I agree it doesn't look the part if it was meant to be the latter, but it's nice to get it regardless, imo, and use it to represent whatever you want.
I really appreciate the unsponsored review of this set. I like that you bring up that there are multiple reasons to not get this set as well despite how good of a set it is. I personally don’t have the space for something like this after already getting the Daily Bugle & Ninjago City Gardens, so I’ll probably just get the Sauron minifigure by itself once it hits BrickLink for a reasonable price later this summer.
7:04 It's funny to me how everyone assumes that those weapon pieces belong to Ninjago, when they have never been used in a Ninjago set. They were introduced in Nexo-Knights and then used again in a few Monkie Kid sets.
I know that add on build was meant to be the bridge inside of Mount Doom but it reminds me more of the rock that Frodo and Sam were resting on as Mount Doom erupted after destroying the ring
Great review as always. This was a rare case where I bought a set before watching your review, and I'm happy to report that I do not regret it. Such a cool build. Here's hoping for more (cheaper please 😂) LotR sets in the near future.
Same, got it in The Netherlands and also paper bags only. It must vary per factory/location. It's known that printing quality of european factories is better than in US/MX. Also European environmental regulation is a bit more strict, maybe it influenced the distribution of paper bags.
The more I look at this set, the more I want to get 2 of them and mod it into a nice unlicensed castle with this structure. I really like what I see. And I do love the scroll prints. Wish they had more prints (especially the banners)
I'm really looking forward to building mine, but I just finished putting the D&D set together a few days ago, and need a little break from huge ones for a few weeks.
6:48 man, imagine they had gone for a clear bar. That would have been amazing. Thank you for the fair review, i really needed this after all the bad ones i have seen.
mine arrived yesterday, box was beat up. I will be griping. Also not a fan of 'dollhouse'. Still it is cool, it is LOTR, and i want more. Very excited to see Jang's opinions on this
Can we just admit that if this tower had this height and accurate proportions, it would constantly fall over? The base would be too thin to stabilise the build. It needed to be squashed a bit if Lego wanted to make it from ground floor all the way to its eye. I would call it perfect rendition of the thing in Lego form, it is pricey, but for once i don't think I feel comfortable bitching about price being too much. It looks amazing overall and gives perfect playability to displayability for this price range. It's not for me, I won't be getting it for multiple reasons, even if i love LoTR, but it is amazing set.
I'm glad you make the distinction between minifig scale and minifig compatibility. The Lion Knights' Castle, for example, can hold minifigures, but it's not remotely to proper scale for a castle. It's way too small in nearly every regard, and minifgs look ridiculous posed on it, but some reviewers missed that important distinction.
I'd kill for a version of Sauron from the LOTR LEGO game, he was built like a bionicle toy and looked so dope. I also find it funny when people complain about plastic packaging when the thing in the box they are buying is made of 100x more plastic that will ultimately end up in the dirt at some point in time (be it next year, decade, epoch).
He likely won't. If he does, that'd be cool, but it's from a smaller theme, a more niche fig with a far harder mould and a greater value overall; there is only ONE Sauron figure, there are numerous variations for Rex. Still, they need to make smaller lotr sets! Like a Bag End, or an Ent, or even something like the an Icons Weathertop for around 70 quid
Probably the most satisfied I’ve been with a Lego purchase in a while. I appreciate it so much more because of the price I paid for it and building this while watching the LOTR trilogy was a great experience. It has a physical presence you just don’t get from the pictures. Honestly 10/10 for the overall experience.
The mount doom display looks nothing like it does in the movie. However, id say it works well as the spot where gandalf ends up picking up frodo and sam with the eagles
This year is the first year I've gotten paper bags, mostly in June release sets. I think it's happening quicker for European copies, which tracks with sponsored reviewers getting paper bags too.
Yeah it's just that LEGO has been feeding them stuff with paper bags for around 3 years now, whereas the real world transition is just shifting into gear in one region finally *this* year.
The Sauron thing is the Vader issue I suppose. I remember people used to complain about Vader not being tall enough. Which I disagree with for the reasons you stated. There's something cute about being able to line up film villains and they're all the same size.
24:06 RE: plastic vs paper bags. I haven’t been paying close attention to which people are getting which bags-is it a packing-facility thing? I.E., could it be that nothing packed for the North American market is using paper bags yet? (If that were the case, it would make sense that LAN sets are sent from Denmark and thus would have whatever inner bags are going into sets produced for that market.)
Europe is getting more paper bags sooner, but my problem is that LAN folk (Americans included) have been frequently showing off paper bags for 2 to 3 years now, while the general public has only started getting them more regularly this season, and only in Europe.
there was someone who tried the avatar arms and legs on the sauron fig and it looked super goofy. this is the best they could do. maybe a knew body mold or something brickbuild but lego would never do that and it still would be super hard
I think this is also a case where you could compare it to alternatives. I can only currently find a "mini" model with no size given, for $99. I doubt any reasonably detailed Barad-dur model at that size would cost less than, say, $300.
As somebody who has the original Gollum, I must say I'm actually quite a fan of the new design still! I feel like he captures a similar aesthetic well without weird "Clone Wars" type SW eyes. It totally works for me! It's doing something different, and uses fewer new parts (or are those arms longer than skeleton arms? even if so, they seem like they are more likely to see use again than the old arm design). I like what they did, and I still like the old approach, but I don't think the new design is worse, nor do I feel like it blows away the original. It's just a great alternative, and either is amazing to have in a collection. The perfect side-grade, imo! Doesn't take value from the original, but is just as usable and just as good as well.
As Jang said, don't look for accuracy in this Lego set, otherwise, it would be unimaginably expensive and too large for most collectors. But I think for those who are fans of LOTR, and can afford it, you got an amazing set right there without forking over a year's salary! Thank you for the review, Jang !
I like the menu joke and the kitchen, but in my opinion, they should have switched it with the floor above. Give Sauron a properly imposing throne room, have the Palantir always visible, and add some other details or leave it open for figures to pay homage or receive orders. You lose the cool pull-out effect, but I think it would be a significant improvement, and maybe the killjoys who complain loudly about the kitchen because it "breaks canon" or whatever might be a little less obnoxious about it. I might do some customization when I get this set in 2-5 years. (To be clear, Jang is not included in the killjoy camp, despite his critique of the kitchen. Respectful disagreement is good, actually!?)
THANK YOU, finally someone pointed out how bad proportions of upper part are. Its beautifull, but doesn't fit the base of the tower at all. Funny thing is, that it isn't that hard to fix it, at least a little. If you thin down the part with spears from two studs wide to just one stud, proportions look a whole lot better. Ofc you're losing the interior of this segment that way, but to be honest, who buys this set for the interior?
If your a Lotr fan and a Lego fan this is a must buy if you have the disposable income. When I first heard of a new lotr set I start saving up and saving points. The set should be around for about 3-5 years. If you really want it start saving. But yes I agree it is expensive for just a bunch of plastic bricks. Thank you for your honest review.
Mostly paper with a very thin coating of plastic inside. Their normal plastic bags aren't processed by most recyclers (not worth it) and instead go to landfill or become impurities. The LEGO "paper" ones count as similar to milk carton or glossy magazine material for recycling, so while they cannot be put in pure plant-based fiber collection bins that some regions use, there are more options for actual recycling worldwide than the previous material. Plus significantly more of the production process is sustainable.
I’m a huge Lord of the Rings fan and Rivendell last year absolutely blew me away, so this was a day one get for me. Thankfully managed to snag a Fell Beast before they sold out. Knowing that in universe, this tower is several thousand feet tall, I knew that it wasn’t going to scale well to anything no matter what they did with it, but like you said, for what they did do, it works perfectly well. The only addition I think they could have possibly done is added some micro figures in like they did with the big Hogwarts castle, so that we could stick them around on the outside of the tower and kinda get some of that scale back. But all in all, I love the set, it looks great in contrast to the beautiful colors and textures or Rivendell, and I really hope they keep doing LOTR sets for the foreseeable future.
I’ve got to say, I much prefer those iconic orc helmets on Sam and Frodo than dirtied clothes. And, as someone who has collected all the LOTR sets since middle school, the new Gollum’s great. And for any criticisms anyone might give of the Sauron minifigure, it’s just way too cool to have him at all
I’d say it’s fairly priced. Orthanc was $200, and that was years ago, while this set-for $460-has over twice as many pieces, is significantly larger in all dimensions, has nearly double the minifigures, is part of a more prestigious and adult-oriented line, and (if you were quick enough) came with a free Fell Beast set.
This is great work and worth each dollar. I would pay even more, i dont care. This is great construction and figs are totally great. One thing i miss is just more sets and mostly small sets with some figs. We just getting total masterpieces in form of huge sets. I can agree not everyone can afford it but for the size and design the price is totally adequate as i see it. Great review also, always nice to watch ur stuff. Keep it up
If I was a HUGE LOTR fan I'd absolutely buy it. The only thing I don't like is the black bar behind the eye. As a designer I would have found a way to have a clear bar back there. If I bought this set I'd definitely immediately find a way to replace the black bar with a transparent or at least orange one.
More and more I hear you saying it's a straight forward build and less mentioning how you really enjoyed the build and were amazed by cool techniques. Are LEGO:s instructions getting too good? So easy to follow that it takes some of the fun out of it? I would really like to hear your opinion. Thanks for another great review!
It's not just the instructions that are being hyper-optimized for ease of use, but the designs themselves. So much work goes into arranging the order of operations & ensuring that it's things rarely get fiddly, confusing, or fragile. I think it's a strong value add LEGO is providing relative to smaller competitors and especially kind to the new fans they're aggressively courting these days.
@@JANGsLEGOreviews I agree, they are great for new builders, almost anyone can build any of their sets without issue. I just wish they had something more challenging for experienced builders. Maybe they could add another set of instructions that's a little more difficult? I don't know. Thanks for your response.
Hi Jang how are you? Awesome review btw! Do you plan on reviewing the DnD set? If you have already I sadly cannot seem to find the review anywhere and I've been looking tirelessly for it Thank you again for the trustworthy review and all of the effort!
I am aware of the promotions of buying 2 or 3 of these $460 USD sets to make it taller; promotions on sponsored channels that make it seem like a great feature for consumers. To be kind, I think that is at best, completely tone deaf & out of touch to suggest that regular consumers, people who actually pay for their sets, should be *happy* to spend almost an *extra* $1000 just to add a little height to this thing (and be left with thousands of unused parts most people will never use). Bricklinking the parts for extra vertical segments makes great sense for advanced hobbyists. I will not, however, gleefully suggest that we should all be ecstatic that a multibillion dollar company has graciously given us the option to give them a significant chunk of additional money to make an already pricey item just a little cooler.
That's why I didn't cover that "feature" in my review.
That is why we watch you, sir
The prices are out of control but the sets keep getting better and better. Like the Zelda set is so cool but also overpriced…
This is why we love you, king
This is why we love you JANG!
Well said Jang
there’s something so SO nice about hearing “I bought this set for…” After seeing so many review channels get it for free and give their underwhelming thoughts, it’s always nice to know the level of honest you get here
I really think, LAN members should get set at discount and not free. Cause then they could only review the set they are excited about and not make their channels into CNN style lego news/ review channel.
It is not supposed to be the inside of Mt Doom. It is supposed to be the rock /mountain Frodo and Sam are walking on near the edge of Mordor when the Eye looks over and sees them, and Frodo almost puts on the ring, but Sam has to pull him down behind the rock. That’s why it comes with the Barad dur set, because it’s the only time Frodo and Sam interact (technically) with Barad dur.
It could also work as the rock they lay after crawling out of Mt Doom waiting for eagle extraction.
It really has been like 4 years of sponsorted lego reviewers telling us paper bags are commonplace. I still haven't seen a single one in the dozens of sets ive bought in that time 😂
I recently started to get paper bags. My guess is that Lego first got rid of their probably massive stash of plastic bags since they announced paper bags and only now the paper bags arrive at the customers more widely.
Same here! I WANT to see paper bags commonplace as it’s better for the environment, but to this day I haven’t got a single one
I got them for the first time recently. First with the Droideka and then the 3 in 1 Red fox
I've had them in 1 set and until I saw your comment I'd completely forgotten about it.
I've seen a few, but definitely nowhere near as common as depicted.
My favorite part of your channel is that you are an independent reviewer. The ambassadors who get free sets are always biased as to not disturb their relationship with LEGO and their free items. You are one of us, and we appreciate it !
Thank you, Jang. You are the only Lego reviewer I watch for a reason. Lego is not above reproach, and I appreciate how honest and reasonable you are. It's so incredibly important to get unbiased reviews from people who spent their own hard-earned money on something. I'll probably get this at some point because I'm a huge Tolkien fan, but until I can justify that purchase, this video will help tide me over. Thanks again
Preach! When Jang reviews a set, we know he sees that money going from his bank account just like us so he understands how we'd feel and he reviews it that way. He doesn't get it for free and has to pretend to knows how it feels to spend that amount on the set
Agreed, Jang is a great resource....
When it is a minifigure based set I don't look for accurate scaling. Instead, I appreciate the effort to make something look good within the confines of budget and space.
One review to rule them all!
29:20 - 12 years on and I still keep on coming back on a regular basis to watch your videos, Jang!
KEEP UP!!!
You and the guys from the "late" Brick Show made me an AFOL back in 2014 when I finally relented, ended my "Dark Ages" and bought myself Benny's Spaceship. 🙂 ❤
I finished building it last night and it’s so much more impressive in person. None of the images or videos I’ve seen have done it justice. There were some really exciting and innovative building techniques and it was a relatively relaxing build. I accidentally put curved panel with the sticker of Sauron on the wrong quadrant of the room, so I have to take apart the tower bit to fix that 😅
I think that this is honestly just as impressive as Rivendell, albeit in a very different way. It really is stunning, and I love the way the designers incorporated browns and oranges to give the illusion of a glow. My wife was blown away when I pointed out that optical illusion.
Same here. Great building experience with my kids and it looks really impressive.
Great next to the Rivendell set as well.
I’m quite sure that the reason for the dining hall, beyond simply referencing the “Meat’s back on the menu” line, was to base Barad-dur’s interior on the only building interior in Mordor that we do actually see in the films, the tower of Cirith Ungol where Frodo is taken to after Shelob gets him, which has a big dining table like that at the bottom of it.
In reference to it becoming more difficult to stay an independent reviewer… I have been watching you for years now and you are probably the best out there. You really seem like you care about this stuff and clearly have tons of experience. I don’t think your opinions would change whether you were sponsored or not, but either way I appreciate you!
I wish the candlestick pieces behind the eye were orange, I don’t know how they thought putting a thick black line behind translucent orange was a good idea
its not nearly as noticeable in a real world environment
Orange don't exist yet. You can replace them with gold candlesticks, it does look nicer.
@@Jerome... It's a billion dollar company man, making a piece in a new colour for a $460 set should not be something they worry about, better yet they could make it translucent too
Thanks for staying independent. We need people to express their constructive criticism freely without being in bed with Lego behind the scenes.
“There are a lot of reasons to not get this…” indeed. The price, the scale of the tower, the mini figures, and some of the design choices are among them… of course if you love this set, no hate and I’m glad you like your purchase.
Great review Jang. Let’s hope for some smaller sets in the LOTR theme, soon.
While I definitely hear and understand the calls for smaller LOTR sets, I'd also be happy to have more giant display sets like this, but this one just isn't inspiring or intersting to me. Now, had they made a Minas Tirith or a Lothlorien or an Edoras, that would be different! (Though I don't see an Edoras coming soon since it would be too similar esthetically to the Viking Village set.)
@@SO-ym3zswhy does it have to be an either or situation? Why is it only that rich collectors can enjoy Lego Lord of the Rings? Why can't they make these big sets but also smaller playscale or diorama sets? They do it for Star Wars. They do it for Harry Potter.
One Jang to rule them all, One Jang to find them, One Jang to bring them all, and in the white studio review them.
Lol I was wondering how you’d end the poem there
Jang, I always appreciate watching your videos as I feel, for the most part, that we get an unbiased, unfiltered, objective review and I think that's in large part due to the fact that you buy every set that you review, your prior experience in things such as product design, and your nature as a human being. Thank you for taking the time to cover all of the aspects that are important and not simply schilling out an opinion that you feel will get favorable results. I feel it takes a lot of integrity to voice your opinion on a way that's educated and informative without being dismissive of the work that went into creating something like this set. I hope your chosen career continues to be sustainable for your needs and that you continue to take pride in what you provide to the community.
Best Lego reviewer on UA-cam by far
Keep being independant Jang, the quality of reviews is unmatched.
I love when you discuss your professional background, genuinely
With regards to the kitchen, you can't conquer Middle Earth on an empty stomach! Maggot eaten bread only gets you so far.
I’m just gonna pretend my Night Lord’s Castle is Barad Dur so I don’t lose any sleep of this. “Ahh yes this Barád-Dûr, from uhh, Ralph Bakshi’s Lord of the Rings.”
never give up doing what you like Jang, I have watch your videos since i don't know what English is until i have no space left to display lego, you were me inspiration
This became my most wanted set of the year as soon as it was revealed. I can’t get it now since I bought Riverdell a few days before this was revealed, but I've already started saving to get it this year or early next yeat
Just finished mine. It's a gorgeous model. The scale fits what LEGO was going for, and you covered all of the praises and hiccups very well.
I'm not overly pleased that LEGO recommends getting multiple of the set to make the spire taller, or that it's easy to implement into the model. I haven't even seen an attempt to do so, yet.
Great work, as ever, JANG
My favorite character from the Lego Batman movie.
jang is a pioneer within the lego review community, who else starts at the top floor when looking at the interior
your videos are a mental stim for me, your voice and talking about lego just scratch all the right itches in my brain :) thanks for your content!!!
The GOAT of honest Lego reviewing
Finally! I was waiting for this review even after All the other UA-camrs had theirs. Thank you
My favorite thing about you, Jang, is that you are an independent reviewer. I'm not a fan of the "this set was sent to me by Lego but all opinions are my own" line. Sure it is.
Even though i don't buy as many sets as i used to (thanks to my Gundam addiction lol), i still continue to watch your content. Whether it's a set im interested in or a set like this one that i personally don't care for, i will continue to watch your content.
so genuine, as always. I will never not click on one of your videos.
Great review. My only comment is that I've seen people referring to the side build as the place where Frodo and Sam are rescued by the eagles, and I agree it definitely resembles that rock outcrop more than the cliff inside Mount Doom. Otherwise, I agree it doesn't look the part if it was meant to be the latter, but it's nice to get it regardless, imo, and use it to represent whatever you want.
The only reviewer I trust. Great video.
About to start building it today. Happy this review dropped.
I'll live vicariously through your review until I can find space for this behemoth. As always, thank you for your time and service.
I really appreciate the unsponsored review of this set. I like that you bring up that there are multiple reasons to not get this set as well despite how good of a set it is. I personally don’t have the space for something like this after already getting the Daily Bugle & Ninjago City Gardens, so I’ll probably just get the Sauron minifigure by itself once it hits BrickLink for a reasonable price later this summer.
Great review. And I am glad this is in the doll house style. It has display-ability and kids can play with it. LEGO is best when it is playable IMO.
I really appreciate the work you put into your reviews. Also, that OSL is nicely done.
7:04 It's funny to me how everyone assumes that those weapon pieces belong to Ninjago, when they have never been used in a Ninjago set. They were introduced in Nexo-Knights and then used again in a few Monkie Kid sets.
Mine had paper bags and i bought it full price at the store. i think EU got paper and US got plastic
I know that add on build was meant to be the bridge inside of Mount Doom but it reminds me more of the rock that Frodo and Sam were resting on as Mount Doom erupted after destroying the ring
Great review as always. This was a rare case where I bought a set before watching your review, and I'm happy to report that I do not regret it. Such a cool build. Here's hoping for more (cheaper please 😂) LotR sets in the near future.
Love your reviews. It’s always nice when someone can be critical without being negative. “Here’s what works, here’s what doesn’t”
Can't believe they finally made the guy from the Lego Batman movie 🔥
In Belgium, I got paper bags in this set.
I also got paper bags here in Germany with this set.👍
Same, got it in The Netherlands and also paper bags only. It must vary per factory/location. It's known that printing quality of european factories is better than in US/MX. Also European environmental regulation is a bit more strict, maybe it influenced the distribution of paper bags.
The more I look at this set, the more I want to get 2 of them and mod it into a nice unlicensed castle with this structure.
I really like what I see. And I do love the scroll prints. Wish they had more prints (especially the banners)
Oh awesome review! I love hearing some of your more unique perspectives!
I assumed that the side build was meant to be either the rock that the eagles find them on, or the rock they hide behind when Sauron looks at them
I'm really looking forward to building mine, but I just finished putting the D&D set together a few days ago, and need a little break from huge ones for a few weeks.
They should do a micro figures pack for this that really show the immensity of this tower. Some good proper scale
6:48 man, imagine they had gone for a clear bar.
That would have been amazing.
Thank you for the fair review, i really needed this after all the bad ones i have seen.
Always the best lego reviews
0:03
Finally someone actually pronounces Barad-Dûr correctly. I liked you before, now you're even higher in my "Best Lego reviewers" list
mine arrived yesterday, box was beat up. I will be griping. Also not a fan of 'dollhouse'. Still it is cool, it is LOTR, and i want more. Very excited to see Jang's opinions on this
JANG best Lego reviewer, by a significant margin. Legend
Can we just admit that if this tower had this height and accurate proportions, it would constantly fall over?
The base would be too thin to stabilise the build.
It needed to be squashed a bit if Lego wanted to make it from ground floor all the way to its eye.
I would call it perfect rendition of the thing in Lego form, it is pricey, but for once i don't think I feel comfortable bitching about price being too much. It looks amazing overall and gives perfect playability to displayability for this price range.
It's not for me, I won't be getting it for multiple reasons, even if i love LoTR, but it is amazing set.
Superb review as always! Thanks for dropping $460+ for this review.
I'm glad you make the distinction between minifig scale and minifig compatibility. The Lion Knights' Castle, for example, can hold minifigures, but it's not remotely to proper scale for a castle. It's way too small in nearly every regard, and minifgs look ridiculous posed on it, but some reviewers missed that important distinction.
I'd kill for a version of Sauron from the LOTR LEGO game, he was built like a bionicle toy and looked so dope.
I also find it funny when people complain about plastic packaging when the thing in the box they are buying is made of 100x more plastic that will ultimately end up in the dirt at some point in time (be it next year, decade, epoch).
just finished building it today
Seldom has a product has caused such a degree of being totally awed, mesmerized as this one was. Way to go Jang!🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
Excellent independant review as always! I hope Sauron will be made available in a cheaper set at some point, just like what they did with Captain Rex!
He likely won't. If he does, that'd be cool, but it's from a smaller theme, a more niche fig with a far harder mould and a greater value overall; there is only ONE Sauron figure, there are numerous variations for Rex. Still, they need to make smaller lotr sets! Like a Bag End, or an Ent, or even something like the an Icons Weathertop for around 70 quid
Probably the most satisfied I’ve been with a Lego purchase in a while. I appreciate it so much more because of the price I paid for it and building this while watching the LOTR trilogy was a great experience. It has a physical presence you just don’t get from the pictures. Honestly 10/10 for the overall experience.
The mount doom display looks nothing like it does in the movie. However, id say it works well as the spot where gandalf ends up picking up frodo and sam with the eagles
I always respect your honesty in your reviews and I always will :)
This year is the first year I've gotten paper bags, mostly in June release sets. I think it's happening quicker for European copies, which tracks with sponsored reviewers getting paper bags too.
Yeah it's just that LEGO has been feeding them stuff with paper bags for around 3 years now, whereas the real world transition is just shifting into gear in one region finally *this* year.
"Just do it" said in the voice of Emperor Palpatine was spot-on
Best review on this set. period. 👍
The Sauron thing is the Vader issue I suppose. I remember people used to complain about Vader not being tall enough.
Which I disagree with for the reasons you stated. There's something cute about being able to line up film villains and they're all the same size.
24:06 RE: plastic vs paper bags. I haven’t been paying close attention to which people are getting which bags-is it a packing-facility thing? I.E., could it be that nothing packed for the North American market is using paper bags yet?
(If that were the case, it would make sense that LAN sets are sent from Denmark and thus would have whatever inner bags are going into sets produced for that market.)
Europe is getting more paper bags sooner, but my problem is that LAN folk (Americans included) have been frequently showing off paper bags for 2 to 3 years now, while the general public has only started getting them more regularly this season, and only in Europe.
there was someone who tried the avatar arms and legs on the sauron fig and it looked super goofy. this is the best they could do. maybe a knew body mold or something brickbuild but lego would never do that and it still would be super hard
Looks epic great detail quite tall enjoyed your twich build awesome review jang 👍
I think this is also a case where you could compare it to alternatives. I can only currently find a "mini" model with no size given, for $99. I doubt any reasonably detailed Barad-dur model at that size would cost less than, say, $300.
Jang - you’re still No. 1 due to realibilty and knowledge 🙌🏻🇩🇰
Great review as always Jang.
As somebody who has the original Gollum, I must say I'm actually quite a fan of the new design still! I feel like he captures a similar aesthetic well without weird "Clone Wars" type SW eyes. It totally works for me! It's doing something different, and uses fewer new parts (or are those arms longer than skeleton arms? even if so, they seem like they are more likely to see use again than the old arm design). I like what they did, and I still like the old approach, but I don't think the new design is worse, nor do I feel like it blows away the original. It's just a great alternative, and either is amazing to have in a collection. The perfect side-grade, imo! Doesn't take value from the original, but is just as usable and just as good as well.
As Jang said, don't look for accuracy in this Lego set, otherwise, it would be unimaginably expensive and too large for most collectors. But I think for those who are fans of LOTR, and can afford it, you got an amazing set right there without forking over a year's salary! Thank you for the review, Jang !
Great vid jang!
Probably my favourite fictional building in any IP-
I really wish they made this as a display model similar to the architecture sets.
Thanks for keeping it real and independent, Jang!
I like the menu joke and the kitchen, but in my opinion, they should have switched it with the floor above. Give Sauron a properly imposing throne room, have the Palantir always visible, and add some other details or leave it open for figures to pay homage or receive orders. You lose the cool pull-out effect, but I think it would be a significant improvement, and maybe the killjoys who complain loudly about the kitchen because it "breaks canon" or whatever might be a little less obnoxious about it. I might do some customization when I get this set in 2-5 years. (To be clear, Jang is not included in the killjoy camp, despite his critique of the kitchen. Respectful disagreement is good, actually!?)
THANK YOU, finally someone pointed out how bad proportions of upper part are. Its beautifull, but doesn't fit the base of the tower at all. Funny thing is, that it isn't that hard to fix it, at least a little. If you thin down the part with spears from two studs wide to just one stud, proportions look a whole lot better. Ofc you're losing the interior of this segment that way, but to be honest, who buys this set for the interior?
What a great review and tour of the set. Really enjoyed this video. 😁
It makes a nice companion to the Orthanc set I bought years ago, very happy with my purchase!
If your a Lotr fan and a Lego fan this is a must buy if you have the disposable income. When I first heard of a new lotr set I start saving up and saving points. The set should be around for about 3-5 years. If you really want it start saving. But yes I agree it is expensive for just a bunch of plastic bricks. Thank you for your honest review.
Excellent review! I thoroughly enjoyed it
Thanks for a well thought out, mature review.
23:30 Are they even actual paper bags anyway? Aren't they plastic coated paper so harder to recyclable than the just normal plastic bags?
Mostly paper with a very thin coating of plastic inside. Their normal plastic bags aren't processed by most recyclers (not worth it) and instead go to landfill or become impurities. The LEGO "paper" ones count as similar to milk carton or glossy magazine material for recycling, so while they cannot be put in pure plant-based fiber collection bins that some regions use, there are more options for actual recycling worldwide than the previous material. Plus significantly more of the production process is sustainable.
An army travels on its stomach.
I’m a huge Lord of the Rings fan and Rivendell last year absolutely blew me away, so this was a day one get for me. Thankfully managed to snag a Fell Beast before they sold out.
Knowing that in universe, this tower is several thousand feet tall, I knew that it wasn’t going to scale well to anything no matter what they did with it, but like you said, for what they did do, it works perfectly well. The only addition I think they could have possibly done is added some micro figures in like they did with the big Hogwarts castle, so that we could stick them around on the outside of the tower and kinda get some of that scale back. But all in all, I love the set, it looks great in contrast to the beautiful colors and textures or Rivendell, and I really hope they keep doing LOTR sets for the foreseeable future.
I’ve got to say, I much prefer those iconic orc helmets on Sam and Frodo than dirtied clothes. And, as someone who has collected all the LOTR sets since middle school, the new Gollum’s great. And for any criticisms anyone might give of the Sauron minifigure, it’s just way too cool to have him at all
could have had a couple more figs, but all in all I really have the same overall feeling as Jang. This is a good LEGO-ized dark tower.
I’d say it’s fairly priced. Orthanc was $200, and that was years ago, while this set-for $460-has over twice as many pieces, is significantly larger in all dimensions, has nearly double the minifigures, is part of a more prestigious and adult-oriented line, and (if you were quick enough) came with a free Fell Beast set.
This is great work and worth each dollar. I would pay even more, i dont care. This is great construction and figs are totally great. One thing i miss is just more sets and mostly small sets with some figs. We just getting total masterpieces in form of huge sets. I can agree not everyone can afford it but for the size and design the price is totally adequate as i see it. Great review also, always nice to watch ur stuff. Keep it up
If I was a HUGE LOTR fan I'd absolutely buy it. The only thing I don't like is the black bar behind the eye. As a designer I would have found a way to have a clear bar back there. If I bought this set I'd definitely immediately find a way to replace the black bar with a transparent or at least orange one.
You buying these sets with your own money already gives your insight more weight than the other sponsored content creators.
More and more I hear you saying it's a straight forward build and less mentioning how you really enjoyed the build and were amazed by cool techniques. Are LEGO:s instructions getting too good? So easy to follow that it takes some of the fun out of it? I would really like to hear your opinion. Thanks for another great review!
It's not just the instructions that are being hyper-optimized for ease of use, but the designs themselves. So much work goes into arranging the order of operations & ensuring that it's things rarely get fiddly, confusing, or fragile. I think it's a strong value add LEGO is providing relative to smaller competitors and especially kind to the new fans they're aggressively courting these days.
@@JANGsLEGOreviews I agree, they are great for new builders, almost anyone can build any of their sets without issue. I just wish they had something more challenging for experienced builders. Maybe they could add another set of instructions that's a little more difficult? I don't know. Thanks for your response.
Hi Jang how are you? Awesome review btw!
Do you plan on reviewing the DnD set? If you have already I sadly cannot seem to find the review anywhere and I've been looking tirelessly for it
Thank you again for the trustworthy review and all of the effort!
just bought it. and mine is in paper bag and I think it's a great set i love it 👍👍👍👍👍