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EDIT: Found! See below!

At some point, circa the year 2000, someone posted a photo sequence of set of really nice LEGO dioramas illustrating the major scenes from the _Lord of the Rings_ books.

There were no LOTR kits at the time, so this was all out of someone's head. One detail I remember clearly is that they used Darth Vader LEGO figures as Nazgul.

If anyone can dig this up, or any specific information on it... well, that'd be really cool. And I'd be impressed.

dynamic

UPDATE: Brilliant sleuthing by @meeowth, @cwicseolfor, and @iaintshootinmis has successfully unearthed the ancient LOTR LEGO vignettes that I described above.

The photo series is mirrored here:
classic-castle.com/bricktales/

(Boosts welcome!)

@dynamic
Didn't want to clog up your replies with something different than what you're looking for, but now that you found it: enjoyers of Lego LOTR may also enjoy the Lord of the Peeps, a relic from a long-past internet age.

lordofthepeeps.com/lotp/fotp.h

www.lordofthepeeps.comFellowship of the Peep

@artemis @dynamic I remember this one. To think about the time investment! I acquired internet access just in time for the movies to come out and the explosion of passionate art (howsoever serious or silly) was my introduction not just to fandom culture but the idea that other people still liked fantasy *at all* and I wasn’t the only one left reading the stuff after missing its heyday. It really was a nucleation point for very enthusiastic & often wildly gifted people.

@cwicseolfor
@dynamic

Yeah, early internet fandom was often such a delight.

There was something so special about discovering something like this and knowing that some very passionate person/s somewhere put so much dedication and attention into making it and then shared it for everyone to enjoy.

@artemis @cwicseolfor @dynamic Every now and then it still happens. Fanfilms and fan animation have gotten particularly good. Fan mods in gaming sometimes surpass the originals for scope despite being volunteer-made passion projects. Musical arrangements too - though often these are professional orchestras - have you seen any of the blessedly nerdy DR Konserthuset productions? Some of the musicians are clearly very into it beyond the call of professionalism.

@cwicseolfor @artemis

I think part of what makes the LEGO LOTR series feel so special is that it's feels like something that most of us could do if we were willing to put in the time, and that most of us have an intuition for just how much work it would be.

I'm sure that part of why fanfilms have gotten better is that better technology is more widely available. But that kind of production is still outside the technical reach for most of us.

@dynamic @artemis THAT. But I think the main limiter now is TIME. Cross the tiny population with will for sustained effort with enough time to learn, it becomes *incredible* what a couple motivated people can do - this is the glorious future tech promised!! But work hours only go up. Even ca 2005 symphonic soundfonts which meant re-scoring an entire concert didn't take an orchestra... just a few hundred hours of skilled time. Ditto video editing tools.

Art is what people do when they have time!

@cwicseolfor @artemis

Possibly. Certainly there were some really beautiful creative efforts that appeared during the early weeks of COVID lockdowns, when there were still plenty of resources to support people who couldn't go into work.

But I still feel like the LEGO LOTR feels really really different from a modern high quality fan film.