Kinda like finding a dusty old violin in a shop somewhere. You too, for $ 75.00, can buy a violin with an “aged” label that reads, " Antonio Stradivarius, Cremona ". A sucker is born every minute and yes, I’m aware that his last name was Stradivari.
No surprise that gem stores see a sucker coming every minute the same way !!
And too greedily?
I remember the episode of That’s Incredible featuring a jet converted into a street-legal vehicle. My favorite part was when they put a camera in a spot so that people could only see the front turning onto their street.
Anyone else try to expand the main text to see if it was real words?
Aye, that I did. Ack.
I hope you like Balrogs, because that’s how you get Balrogs.
It’s only the Doom of Durin if it comes from the region of Khazad-dum, otherwise it’s sparkling Valarauko
With or without wings?
Buffalo wings or regular wings?
My take on the Balrog/wing controversy is that Balrogs, being fairly high level beings, were highly individual in their appearance. Some had wings, some (probably most) did not. And even those with wings may not have been able to fly. They had them because they looked cool.
The joke is that the one balrog we did see in the story, the description in the text was ambiguous right there, without bringing in other balrogs.
My take is that they do have wings, but that their wings are literally composed of shadow, and wings of shadow aren’t enough to give them flight while wearing a corporeal form.
FWIW, Lego believes that Balrogs have wings. 
I’m not sure that helps much. The passage:
The Balrog reached the bridge. Gandalf stood in the middle of the span, leaning on the staff in his left hand, but in his other hand Glamdring gleamed, cold and white. His enemy halted again, facing him, and the shadow about it reached out like two vast wings. It raised the whip, and the thongs whined and cracked. Fire came from its nostrils. But Gandalf stood firm.
‘You cannot pass,’ he said. The orcs stood still, and a dead silence fell. `I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. You cannot pass. The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udûn. Go back to the Shadow! You cannot pass.’
The Balrog made no answer. The fire in it seemed to die, but the darkness grew. It stepped forward slowly on to the bridge, and suddenly it drew itself up to a great height, and its wings were spread from wall to wall; but still Gandalf could be seen, glimmering in the gloom; he seemed small, and altogether alone: grey and bent, like a wizened tree before the onset of a storm.
The shadow is just “like” wings, not actually wings. And then we’re told about what seems like actual wings.
Are these even referring to the same thing? Maybe the Balrog has actual wings, but in addition a shroud of shadow that is merely like wings.
Much as I love LOTR, Tolkien could certainly have used a good editor.
Also, “You Shall Not Pass” is the better line.
“Pass, you shall not!” - Yoda
That’s not really “Lego thinks”; that’s “Peter Jackson thinks”. The Lego LotR models are based on how things appeared in the movies.
The design of the Lego set is very reminiscent of an older drawing by Ted Nasmith:
Best as I can tell, both Nasmith and Alan Lee were in favor of wingless Balrogs, while John Howe preferred winged. Nasmith wasn’t involved in the movies, though, and Howe seemed to have won Jackson over.
Given that Jackson was already a fan of the books, I think it more likely that he already had a mental image of the Balrog, and he happened to picture it as having wings, rather than any particular artist winning him over.
“No wings!”
–Edna Mode (sort of)