Internet search challenge:
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.
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:
http://www.classic-castle.com/bricktales/lotrstory112.html
(Boosts welcome!)
If you would like to see (and perhaps fave and boost) the specific toots in which the #LEGO #LOTR dioramas were unearthed see:
@cwicseolfor: https://urbanists.social/@cwicseolfor/112097961655073701
@meeowth:
https://tech.lgbt/@meeowth/112098114738826863
@iaintshootinmis: https://digitaldarkage.cc/@iaintshootinmis/112100017387536940
@dynamic maybe look at the old LUGNET website to see if it was discussed there?
@dynamic I like how oddly specific this is. Did you just feel the urge to see a diy lego lotr diorama 20 years after seeing it on the interner?
And I like how infuriatingly unsearchable it is. Only kind of not, for obvious reasons.
In answer to your question, it was one of those cool web things from forever ago that I think about from time to time, and occasionally want to search for and don't know how to find.
Tonight it suddenly occurred to me that asking around might work better than searching. But I'd still be impressed.
Perhaps another reason why it is on my mind is that it was actually a decent synopsis of the books, and I guess I'm thinking about it more because my own child is at an age where I wonder if she's ready for those books or even if they've aged well enough for her to really get much out of them.
@dynamic @Aaron I could be wrong but given how history is trying to rhyme with regard to political and global events right now, and (allegory or not) it certainly represents a values system seeking to cope with such events - in which hope is an action taken up by the smallest, and the chief tool of evil as it seeks to enshrine itself is the paralysing lure of despair - I think it has plenty going for it.
I hope someone knows the diorama series, I would love to see them.
That's amazing.
But also not what I was thinking of. This was much less intricate, but did a scene-by-scene presentation of scenes from the books with posed LEGO figures for the characters.
For example, I think there was one of Gandalf with his arms up as the river (made of LEGO bricks) comes crashing down.
@dynamic @nathanlovestrees AFOL lingo usually calls these "vignettes" so that might help with your search. I found this, but it's not nearly old enough to match what you described - https://www.flickr.com/photos/tbonsch/galleries/72157720855278798/
Thanks for the jargon tip.
Those little scenes are really cute, and in a similar spirit to what I remember.
But, alas, you are correct that they aren't the right ones. In addition to being too recent, they pretty clearly seem to use official kits.
Can you edit this to hashtag LOTR, LEGO, etc.? You might get some hits from unexpected fandoms!
@dynamic Was it on its own website with a grey background, with long passages directly taken from the books under the images? I remember looking at that site at around the same time.
Only just saw this response. Is the site that folks here eventually turned up the right one?
If so, would be nice to know I'm not the only one who remembered it!
@dynamic It is! Verified because I remembered specifically that the Balrog had the islander mask from the pirate sets.
@dynamic Based on the era and the details you mentioned about the Bruinen ford, this feels like a match. The cheat was searching “Gandalf” “Lego” before:2010 (since it seemed like the official sets largely came out after that. I ended up on the creator posting a link to a Lego LotR Flickr page which sounded like the right project.
@cwicseolfor @dynamic I was gonna post this wayback machine link and lament that the images wheren't archived, but it looks like you found a mirror!
https://web.archive.org/web/20020609162532/http://www.chem.ucla.edu/~bnh/lotr/lotrstory00-00.html
@dynamic @meeowth @cwicseolfor oh man, free internet joints lol, greatly appreciate it!
@dynamic @meeowth @cwicseolfor @iaintshootinmis This is awesome. Good job, everyone!
@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.
Heee! : )
@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.
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.
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!
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.
@dynamic @meeowth @cwicseolfor @iaintshootinmis OMG thanks for the update!