We’ve been waiting with bated breath for the forthcoming LEGO Lord of the Rings sets for quite some time now, but it looks as if they’ve already been spotted in the wild. Apparently this image above was taken in the VIP area of LEGO’s booth at the Nuremberg Toy Fair and (allegedly) posted to this Slovenian forum. But are they the real deal?

Yes, it seems like those official LEGO Lord of the Rings sets are creeping closer and closer toward a reality. The latest announcement from the popular European construction toy features the Minifig population of Middle-Earth, with everyone’s favorite hobbits, wizards, dwarves, nazgul, elves, orcs, uruk-hai, and humans. Oh, and somebody else, but I just can’t remember his name. Creepy little dude, grey skin, you know the guy (gollum! gollum!). Oh, excuse this (gollum!) horrific wet hacking cough I’ve developed. Anyway, I’m sure his name will come back to me eventually.

The announcement of LEGO partnering to make Lord of the Rings themed products hasn’t stopped LEGO enthusiast Blake Baer from doing up scenes from The Hobbit with interlocking bricks. Highlighting pivotal scenes from the book, Baer’s models are all in the details — a moose head on the wall, the lived-in look of Lake-town, the immensity of Smaug’s hoard, and so on. While outstanding in its own right, it’s a bit of a cruel reminder how much longer we’ll have to wait for the movie.

Google has been wowing us with its humorous little jabs, and their fantastic Maps application is no different. It even contains that most famous of warnings about traveling into the blighted lands of the east. Strangely, it also shows that it’s a mere 11 miles from The Shire to Mordor, making me wonder what Frodo was bitching about.

Master LEGO building team OneLUG have completed their incredible model of the Battle of Isengard, a key battle in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. The model includes a whopping seven-foot tall Orthanc tower, dozens of ents, over a hundred orcs, and two small hobbits. Built to minifig scale, the entire tableau weighs 145 pounds, and uses 22,000 LEGO bricks across its eight-foot diameter. We’ve seen some pretty incredible LEGO creations inspired by J.R.R. Tolkein, but this one takes the cake.

Incredibly, key scenes from the Lord of the Rings film are depicted in exacting detail across the diorama. It will be on display at BrickCon this weekend, though you can see some choice images after the break. 

Saruman may be defeated, but he has one last trick up his sleeve.

(via Reddit)

In the far and distant past, we here at Geekosytem compiled a list of the 21 most amazing creations in Minecraft. Since then, much has changed. The game has entered Beta, and numerous updates have added new dimensions to the game that we could have only dreamed of back then. In honor of the impending 1.8 Adventure Update, we’ve assembled a bold slate of champions. Behold, 21 More Amazing Minecraft Creations!

One does not simply walk into Mordor, nor do they idly assemble enormous recreations of the feared dark tower of Sauron Barad-Dûr from hundreds upon thousands of LEGOs. The model, created by Kevin Walter, is nearly 6 feet tall and shows that with a huge number of plastic bricks and a little imagination, anything is possible.

More choice pictures, after the break.

Ian McKellen‘s, erm… quaint official site has confirmed that Guillermo del Toro‘s The Hobbit will begin filming in New Zealand this June July.

The Hobbit’s, two films, start shooting in New Zealand in June.  Filming will take over a year. Casting in Los Angeles, New York City and London has started.

Update: McKellen has since changed his webpage to read “July.”

Considering the length of the shoot (and IMDB) Part I will probably release in 2012, and the films will likely be shot at the same time, just like LotR before them.