You've no doubt seen this top-notch MOC on display at BrickCon 2011 and caused a stir, but I have to post it here, at least to mark the launch of Lord of the Brick ....

Named by its creators "The Last March of the Ents", this MOC recreates the battle of Isengard seen in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
The base displays 305 studs in diameter for a total height of the tower Orthanc of 228 bricks. 25 ent face more than 100 orcs during this battle of 22.000 bricks, the reconstruction of which is exceptional in detail and finish.

To see this MOC from all angles and in close-up, go to The OneLUG flickr gallery.

And these are indeed rumors, at least for the moment.

LEGO has never confirmed (nor denied for that matter) that the The Hobbit license will not be available in sets and minifigs in 2012 or 2013. So, what do we really know? What can we hope for?

At the origin of this rumor, an interesting article posted on allaboutbricks and which announces in a few lines that the next license which LEGO could seize is that of Lord of the Rings...

But this information has been taken up without any verification on the basis of numerous pages posted, in particular on Wikia Fanon (LEGO Lord of the Rings Theme, LEGO Lord of the Rings Video Game) by AFOLs in a bit of a hurry and which transform vague rumors and long heated discussions on the possibility or not of a LEGO The Hobbit license into a reality .....

Obviously Eurobricks seized on this rumor about a dedicated topic where each forumer adds his certainties to the rumors and the whole becomes a rather comical parallel pseudo reality ....

For my part, I believe in a possible The Hobbit license for 2013, but with a few caveats: Tolkien's universe is too dark for LEGO and if a range is developed by the manufacturer, it will be infantilized and watered down. There is no doubt that the two films scheduled for late 2012 and late 2013 will be full of good-natured scenes and slices of laughs between hobbits that can be adapted in sets for the youngest. After all, LEGO has already declined licenses that come from films where violence is present (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Prince of Persia, Harry Potter ...).

LEGO already has a base with its Castle range, and the elf (Series 3) or dwarf (Series 5) minifigs released in the Minifigures Series ranges would be suitable for this universe. Adapting a The Hobbit license would be technically possible and inexpensive. No doubt to the detriment of the Castle range which would suffer from it like the Pirates range with the Pirates of the Caribbean license.

Regarding the release of a video game Lego lord of the rings where LEGO The Hobbit, the official developer of LEGO games, Traveller's Tales, recently refused to deny, but without confirming it either, the rumor lingering about the ongoing development of a LEGO game on the LOTR license.

A video game is an essential basis for the launch of a new LEGO license which is not originally intended for the youngest. The video game makes it possible to hook the children and to make them discover a universe by watering down the subject, the violence and the scenario.

In short, we do not know much, and the rumor follows its path. Everyone has their opinion and the next events of the type Toy Fair will undoubtedly provide us with more information.

What we are sure is that The Hobbit will have good derivatives in the form of toys. The license has just been granted to a manufacturer: The Bridge Direct.

It is Warner Bros. officially announcing that a license agreement for the two films The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey et The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug was signed with the toy maker The Bridge Direct which will be able to launch its range of derivative products in the fall of 2012 pending the official release of the first film scheduled for December 14, 2012.

LEGO must still have a stock of these two minifigs of Batman and Green Lantern (Distributed in 2500 copies during the SDCC 2011) and after Brickset and Eurobricks, it is logically FBTB that benefits from the generosity and generosity of the manufacturer .... I know, I'm exaggerating ...

Between two sponsored ads for Toys R Us and an analysis of the next episode of Clone Wars, FBTB which is slowly losing its soul to my taste, offers you a contest entitled wheels of justice.

The goal: Build a BatMobile or a GreenLanternMobile and upload it to the official website Lego superheroes to hope to win one of the two minifigs put into play by LEGO.
As usual with this type of competition, the rule is full bodied with loose:
- The BatMobile must be black, have four wheels, and not be closely or remotely inspired by models already known.
- The GreenLanternMobile must be green.
- You need an account on FBTB to participate and post your photos.
- Deadline: November 30, 2011 at 23pm ....

In short, if you have a good idea, the time to realize it and the desire to participate in this contest, hurry up.
Otherwise buy your minifigs on eBay and move on, after all I find that these contests of MOCs sponsored by LEGO on Eurobricks where FBTB could benefit from a slightly more substantial endowment than these two minifigs ultimately not as exclusive as what the 'we are willing to believe .....

The press release is dated November 4, 2011 and informs us in all sobriety that the LEGO Universe joke will permanently shut down its servers on January 31, 2012.

I announced the end of this online game from February 2011, by slightly mistaking the date ..... You didn't have to be a guesser to imagine that this MMOG (massively-multiplayer online game) was not going to go the distance. Too expensive, at least initially, ugly, slow, boring, full of activities all more infantilizing than the others, this universe could not seduce many people, even when it became free ....

LEGO claims to have been able to bring together 2 million players (registered?, Active?) And to have decided to close because of the non-profitability of the whole. There is a paradox here: How can a game that has become free be profitable? Why make it free if it is necessary to invest elsewhere to welcome all the players who come to register because of this same free? Are there enough MMOG AND LEGO fans? Wasn't the game just way below the current standard when compared to other online games of the same type?

But it is not the end of the game that bothers me the most: LEGO is laying off 115 people in the process, who were employees of "Play Well Studios" in the United States and the marketing department of Billund (Denmark) and simply announces them to be insured. reclassification assistance at LEGO or elsewhere .....

A great mess, which will not mark the spirits, and which sets the limits of what can be done by trying to follow too closely and too opportunistically current trends in leisure and entertainment.

 The official press release:

LEGO® Universe to close in 2012