Lego Orthanc

By Shamus Posted Wednesday Jul 18, 2007

Filed under: Nerd Culture 26 comments

Nicely done. Check out the pictures.

 


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26 thoughts on “Lego Orthanc

  1. Vegedus says:

    Looks like it’s about the size of the “bigature” they actually used for the movie.

    !tsop tsrif dna

  2. anonymous coward says:

    That beard is legendary. :D

  3. Katy says:

    That guy’s little brother is adorable.

  4. Amanda says:

    Pretty cool. He had a lot of time on his hands. . . and black legos.

    Your right, that’s a beard to hide a small badger in.

  5. Deathblade_penguin says:

    i would think it was more inconvient to collect all that black lego rather than build it.

    Looked good though. Wish i was motivated enough to waste my time on something like that.

  6. General Ghoul says:

    I say it’s painted black. Look at the shot of the top of the tower. The back side looks dirty and flat.

    3000 legos: $150
    Can of black spray paint: $1
    Picture of you, Sauron’s tower and that sweet beard: priceless.

  7. Dan says:

    Nope. Black legos. Look at the reflection of Sauruman on the wall. What a great project.

    This really tremendous. I hope he’s found a nice place to display it, because it would be a shame if it had to be dismantled. I’m guessing that it took 50+ hours (if he’s as slow as I am with Legos, which I doubt.)

    The thing I’m really glad about is that he didn’t display a prone Sauruman impaled on a pinwheel.

  8. Dan says:

    Can’t believe I mispelled Saruman twice in one post.

    I’m an idiot. I should be a player in Shamus’ comic campaign.

  9. Nilus says:

    3000 lego brick for 150, I wish :)

    He said 4,000. Assuming that the vast majority are good old fashion 4 by 2 black bricks if he bought them from Lego in bulk he would get 50 blocks for 7 bucks so …..560 dollars.

    I need to find the pictures of the Lego PC me and my roommate made in college. It looked great and it was fully functional. Except for the fact that the despite putting in a bunch of fans the thing would overheat all the time. Lego bricks seemed to keep the heat in to easily.

  10. Coffee says:

    It’s only a model!

  11. Browncoat says:

    2 anonymous coward Says:
    July 18th, 2007 at 7:31 am
    “That beard is legendary. ”

    Who’s? Saruman’s or the builder’s?

  12. Lynx says:

    Between them was a narrow space, and there upon a floor of polished stone, written with strange signs, a man might stand five hundred feet above the plain.


    Hmm, so the strange signs are lego studs with the words “LEGO” Stamped on them?

    :D :D :D

  13. Dan says:

    New Spell:

    LEGO Wall

    Evocation
    Level: Clr 6, Good 6, War 6
    Components: V, S
    Casting Time: 1 standard action
    Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
    Effect: Wall of Legos 20 ft. long/ level, or a ringed wall of Legos with a radius of up to 5 ft. per two levels; either form 20 ft. high
    Duration: 1 min./level (D)
    Saving Throw: Reflex half or Reflex negates; see text
    Spell Resistance: Yes

    An vertical curtain of Legos shaped of pure plastic appears. Any creature gazing upon the wall must make a saving throw vs. Wonder.

    If you evoke the barrier so that it appears where creatures are, each creature takes damage as if falling asleep on a pile of Legos. Each such creature can avoid the wall (ending up on the side of its choice) and thus take no damage by making a successful Reflex save.

    A Lego barrier provides cover (+4 bonus to AC, +2 bonus on Reflex saves) against attacks made through it. Any attacks made through the wall will cause it to collapse, doing 1d6 damage to all beneath its area of fall.

  14. Namfoodle says:

    I suppose it’s possible that he bought the bricks in bulk from the Lego website / catalog, but Nilus is right, a bag of 50 is $7. Seems a bit “Hammer & Tongs” to do it that way, and pricey.

    The new Lego Eiffel Tower has 3,400 bricks and only runs $200. (Nope, the bricks are grey).

    It looks like the guy lives in Phoenix, works for a sort of “online vitamin shop” and designs video games as a hobby. No help there.

    With that beard, he looks a bit viking. Maybe he has relatives in Denmark who can get him cheap Legos?

    The Lego store in the mall near me closed down. I must now travel 40 miles to the nears one :( Maybe a Lego store closed in AZ and there was a sale…

  15. Katy says:

    There’s always eBay — try a search for bulk Lego… you can get a random lot of ~2000 black Legos for $10 + $10 shipping (see, e.g. item #250144043943)… unless you lot bid it way up, of course.

  16. General Ghoul says:

    I stand by my prices. The guy says it weighs 20 pounds. Buy in bulk from eBay:

    http://reviews.ebay.com/How-to-Sell-a-Used-LEGO-R-Collection_W0QQugidZ10000000000854116

    http://reviews.ebay.com/How-to-Buy-BULK-LEGO-R-on-Ebay_W0QQugidZ10000000000730697?ssPageName=BUYGD:CAT:-1:LISTINGS:2

    $8-$10 per pound.

    And look at the steps in front of the door, mighty dusty there.

  17. Marty says:

    If he’s the type of Lego Uber-geek I expect him to be (no disrespect intended, I put myself in the same category), then he may have had the 4000 black pieces.

    But yes, it’s likely he picked up a few cheap lots on Ebay.

  18. theonlymegumegu says:

    If you’ve ever heard of a minis game called Heroscape (my favorite part is the very lego-like nature of modular board construction), here’s a model of Moria someone built using pieces from it.

    http://lyricoz.over-blog.com/article-6482591.html

  19. xbolt says:

    Wow! Never thought I would have my project mentioned here! Thanks Shamus! :D And thanks to y’all who commented. :)

    Anyway, for the curious, I spent a grand total of about $400 on used lots. I never thought about the LEGO studs being the strange signs. That’s pretty funny, actually. :)

    To answer Dan’s inquiry in the eighth post, yes, I have the model (It is, after all, only a model. ;) ) in my room, safe from those who would seek to destroy it.

    My ancestors were from Norway. That’s probably why I look like a Viking. ;)

  20. ZzzzSleep says:

    It looks very cool. Well done xbolt!

  21. Cenobite says:

    Yes, very well done!

    You got any more projects on the way? (Say…the Black Gate of Mordor?)

  22. brashieel says:

    Okay, now that is just AWESOME.

  23. Matt` says:

    Cool tower, cool beard, what more could you want :D

  24. xbolt says:

    Matt` Says:
    “Cool tower, cool beard, what more could you want :D ”
    A cooler place to live. ;) It was over 110 degrees out when those pictures were taken. Eek!

    And I don’t currently have any plans to do more giant models. (Would be fun, though.)

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