ka.lego

Hi. I'm super late, but recently got The Ghost as a gift. Looking to MOD but wanted some ideas. Do you have these photos up somewhere? Thanks.

Hmmm...only two replies on that message on onering.net. I hope there ends up being a crossover of Tolkien fans who find a new or renew a love for Lego. I guess the fanbases are pretty different. SW fans have been weaned on merchandising and are used to buying all sorts of SW stuff, while I guess Tolkien fans didn't really have that option, at least not until the Jackson films. Plus the Tolkien fans read more...just sayin, a different crowd. Hope they can get into the idea of building out their geekdom in plastic. Who knows? I can totally relate on the price thing. That goes for any toy really...if you're not used to buying them over the years, you have no real sense of how expensive things are. Oh well, thanks for the info!

Haven't posted here in a while, but I wholeheartedly agree that this year is a particularly exciting one. (I will be broke.) This LOTR line is one thing, but combined with Super Heroes, the SW Line breaking away from the movies in a big way with that Sith fighter and great minifigs (as opposed to sticking to the repeating of old sets), Friends (yeah, I said it), great Ninjago sets/figs, and some really cool Collectible minifigs, it seems like a big push to try some new things. Anyone here a part of the LOTR / Tolkien online community (I assume there is one)? Curious if the LOTR Lego announcements is causing much of a strir. Wonder if this will move people to buy their first sets (or their first sets in years) the way SW did for many, including myself.

Thanks for that. Agreed...I'd love the variety too!

As I try to catch up and pour over the many pages of missed comments, this was sums quite a bit up for me. I'm generally a critical person and appreciate dialogue, but I have to admit that sometimes things on ANY Internet forum could be more thoughtful, but again, that's THE INTERNET so one learns to be patient and accept it for what it is. I think there have been some good suggestions here for improvement that I'd love to see as well (new molds for weapons and armor, white Nazgul on Weathertop) but ultimately I'm super excited that this is happening at all and am pretty impressed by the (prelim, rough, proof-of-concept) pics. I love the idea that the Battlepack/army building set is an expansion of the Helms Deep scene. It would be great if there were obvious connection points to the structures to extend a wall or something, but even without it would be great to just get parts that help build that setting and scene. I hope future waves incorporate this idea too, because of the scale of the battles/scenes in the books/films. Yeah. It's important to remember Lucas had the foresight to hold onto the licensing / merchandising rights of his film rather than the standard practice of asking for more points, etc. At the time the studios could care less about merchandising and Lucas redefined the game. (And many of our childhoods in the process.) So, in my opinion, the SW property ended up being more than just about films and story, and also becam a way to sell a brand (and toys from that brand), which drove the introduction of all sorts of characters and vehicles and playsets in the movies knowing that they'd end up making for cool toys later on. Tolkien created Middle Earth in a very different historical moment that didn't foresee things (couldn't) the way a pop culturally savvy kid from Modesto, CA who was repeatedly burned by Hollywood and corporations like Lucas could. And of course Peter Jackson isnt trying to make a franchise, rather he's moreso trying to pay homage to Tolkien's work in a new art form. So yeah, we're limited. It can't really be a SW, but it's the closest thing out there in terms of scale and scope and a comparable (overlapping) following who will throw down $$$ and €€€ and £££ and ¥¥¥ on some ABS plastic. As I said when this theme was still a hotly debated rumor, it makes perfect sense that TLG went after this license. With HP done, they needed a strong license that will bring in sales and potentially new customers. POTC, PoP, Toy Story, and Cars are all well and good, but just don't have the $$$ potential of the big three: SW, LOTR, and HP. Oh and they were already smart to grab Super Heroes (smart to combine Marvel and DC in one line for many reasons). Now that it's here, let's enjoy it while it lasts, because after that, there aren't a whole lot of properties with the same global appeal to both kids and adults. Star Trek is the only one that jumps out at me, but that's always been a mess in terms of merchandising and the brands been pretty diluted. Yes, I hope so. I really want to see the battle outside Mordor. An oliphant with soldiers set? A Nazgul on a flying dragon beasty? There will definitely be good things to come. And your last comment about your non-LEGO coworkers eager to buy sums up my earlier point about why this license is a huge coup for LEGO, business-wise. Brilliant catch! Hope thats the case. I think TLG made a good move on this. It makes many of us longtime FOLs feel like we're getting something new rather than just new printing or colors as well as stresses the action-oriented nature of this property. Important point. It's always remember that TLG has to design these things with its target audience in mind who, judging from my nephew and his friends, don't do much other than build the sets as designed and then play. For those of us who then end up doing a lot of MOCing and modding, it's good to keep that in mind when judging any sets. We have to realize its not about us anymore and that we're a (key) secondary market. Besides, if you know you're gonna just MOC, loot for parts, or mod, then I suppose you're not expecting TLG to change much and are jus happy to get new sets to fuel your work, no? Said better than I would have. Oh and on the question re: why LOTR is in Historical... Bwahahahaha!!! Yeah, that whole POTC based on actual events exchange scares/amuses me. But those things aside, Castle being here to begin with is troublesome. It seems to me to be a hold out from the days when TLG purported to do more historical adventure type things (again scary to me), back when there were the "Wild" West things and the Castle stuff didn't have witches, skeleton armies, and dragons. But that was a log time ago. Wondering why this remains the nomenclature? That Unofficial Minifig Collectors Guide tried to update the theme categorization recently and it made the same mistake. I know thats too crazy to think of the changes for many, so whatever, historical (ugh) it is.

The Great Debate ends. So now we quibble over if the sets will suck or not? Ha. Fantastic news!!! I was thinking, if they're actually considering a Minecraft set, they have to be pursuing a LOTR license. AWESOME! And I have to give it up to those of you who knew this was coming but honored the confidentiality. You must've been rolling your eyes at some of the discussion / arguments on this thread.

Doubt it. Too much invested / built around the existing fig. Sure, they've been evolving the basic fig with the fleshtone figs, alt bodies (eg octopus, mermaids, snakemen, etc) and heads (aliens, wind-up robot, snakes, etc), but even this only extends the basic minifig template, which only makes the basic figure more relevant and important. Plus, it's their key piece of unique, identifiable intellectual property since they no longer have the rights to the basic brick. At least that was the impression I got when one of my t-shirt designs raised eyebrows at TLG (but eventually got the go ahead btw). They may add new things like this here and there, but the minifig is a LEGO staple. But, hey, I'm sure at a certain point the team who was working on Fabuland thought those would be around forever. Eek! Hahaha.

Here's a link to a pic of a better fitting Friends hairpiece on a minifig from one of my fave AFOL blogs, thebrickblogger.com. Looks great. I'm hoping this does well too, so much so that it branches into these figs doing more imaginative/fantasy play in addition to the realistic stuff. I could see how these figs appeal to a different demographic. And, yes, I'm especially glad some accessories are compatible with the traditional minifig.

...ahem... Oh yeah. That's what I meant. Me too...yes...by the book, strict engineering and feasability testing.

Ha. I've always wondered about that "historic" title. I get the surface logic though (castles...old stuff...historic...heh), but LOTR aside, there are also dragons, witches, skeleton knights, and orcs in Castle. As Cornelius says, historical accuracy's never been strict. Being a history geek, it's always going to be awkward when a toy line is linked even remotely as presenting something historical. But yeah...nitpicking I guess...I guess...wah. But yes, we still don't know if this LOTR is happening, despite my hopes it does. I'm rooting for it. Yeah, that was my thinking as well. Besides, I remember not too long ago on FBTB folks were debating whether or not the appearance of Jack Sparrow at Comicon was an indication of a POTC license. There were those that were quick to say "YES!!!" There were also those who were quick to respond, "Wait. Calm down. It's not official. Just wait." There were even those who said, "No, it's not gonna happen because Mega Bloks had the POTC license. Duh." We know how that ended up. I also vaguely remember folks wishing for Marvel / DC licenses, and a similiar conversation happened. There were the immediately excited folks, the "chill" folks, and the naysayers... There was a simliar argument that since Mega Bloks had Iron Man, it wasn't going to happen. We also know how that ended up. At this point, anything's possible. The folks at LEGO and the folks at MGM/New Line (and Lucas/Hasbro, Marvel/Disney, DC/WB. etc.) operate on a $$$ level that I won't even begin to understand or have a true "insider" access to despite having friends and family who work as low-level professionals at all except for MGM or New Line. Unless someone here is on the in with a Licensing Professional at these places or a high-level LEGO person, then we're all mostly just speculating based on some Internet sleuthing, he said/she said, rumors, etc....some of us are more willing to admit that than others. But the rules of these kinds of $$$$$$$$ licensing deals are somewhat simple / generalizable: despite whatever contracts are there, if you make the right business deal, anything's negotiable, whether it's a preexisting licensing conflict, etc. So yeah, the debate is good...and fun. Now I'm a fairly rational person and totally see how signs point more towards it NOT happening. BUT the geek in me clings tightly to the fewer indications that it might be happening—it's more than possible based on existing molds, etc., it's highly desired and could be profitable, the arguably misread/misunderstood blog post that started this whole thing, the timing with the new movie, LEGO's track record with licensing, etc etc etc—and holds on to the shred of hope. (I mean, isn't that what LOTR was all about...clinging onto that hope? Yeah, I'm a geek.) Anyway, based on what I said in the last paragraph, there's no point in trying to pooh pooh folks' infatuation with this rumor and its possibility. Folks tried to reason away people's excited wishful thinking with POTC and Superheroes, and lo and behold those license deals came true. So in the meantime we wait and keep hyping the thing up...because that's what we do. We are people who play with toys. Heh.

Seriously. Perhaps I'm a little new to this forum posting thing, but I don't really get the frustration folks seem to be having with the fact that conversations continue about this theme despite it being confirmed. While I get that there are rules / categories for forum posts, isn't a part of this whole forum to build community and connect people through fun conversations about our favorite toy. If it were just about giving us the "news" or facts about this theme being confirmed or not, I don't know that I'd bother...I'd just wait til it appears on one of the news blogs and be done with it. But for me, it's all about the speculation, conversation, and overall collective "what-if"-ing. I mean, to attempt to bring us back to reality, we're either young people who play with building toys or grown adults who play with building toys...either way, if we were looking to maintain serious, 100% purposeful conversations, maybe these forums for such toy fans might not be the be a good place to kick it. Seems like it's a recipe for unnecessary aggravation. Agreed. For me, my life will continue either way (and I'm pretty sure that's the case for all of us, if I may be so bold), which is why I'm wondering why folks seem annoyed by us having the conversation at all. Anyhoo, let's get back to the silly speculation because, well, it's fun...and again, I'm a grown man who plays with kids toys. Just sayin.

This conversation about LOTR vs Fantasy 2 definitely made me think. Either way, I'd be happy too. It's entirely true that the licensed stuff is relatively more expensive...makes "sense" (although a bit of a bummer) since more parties get a cut of the profits. Don't really care much for the non-fleshies argument personally. LEGO evolves and I'm open to it. I used to bemoan the shift from classic space to the newer space lines with their more detailed prints and accessories, but I learned to appreciate all the new possibilities that come from variety. Besides, on a half-serious note I hate that we call them "fleshies", since my flesh is brown. Reminds me of being a kid with the crayons and having others ask for "flesh color"...just sayin. Not trying to troll, just to raise what seems to be an oft-unmade point. And it does somewhat make sense to bring up here in the LOTR topic since one of the Pros to a possible LOTR theme, in my opinion, is an expansion on the variety of minifigs/creatures we'd be getting if the theme actually happens...elves, dwarves, orcs, trolls, uruk hai, eagles, ents, hobbits, dragons, etc. To me, the fear of "fleshies" is an argument for minifigs to stay the same...unnecessarily limited. I *love* the fact that licensed themes (NBA, Star Wars, and POTC) have given me some fleshtone variety in my minifig possibilities. Here's hoping that LOTR continues the trend. Thanks for that. Brilliant breakdown. This adds a great new direction to this topic and really helps concretize what's possible. I think you're spot on with the comparisons. And I'm 100% with you on the variety of figs. Here's hoping. Besides, they could pull a POTC and not be 100% accurate with which figs are in which scenes / movies, just for the sake of not having to give us too many Gandalfs, Frodos, etc. I'd love it if they could avoid the Anakin/Dastan/Jack Sparrow clone syndrome.

I had the same experience. Maybe it's just not available yet. My local TRU had all but that.