Balrogofmorgoth

I got it but they are probably the worst quality knockoff figures I’ve ever seen. The Witch King helmet piece has extra plastic underneath (they all have it not just an error on one, I got several) and so the entire thing sticks up above the torso really high and looks terrible. Basically just doesn’t go down over the head all the way

I want Last Alliance figs as much as anyone, but there are currently no rumors for any figures aside from Sauron, Sam, Frodo, and some Orcs. Hopefully that has changed since the survey, but I wouldn’t get hopes too high

I would say definitely not black. I think Pearl dark grey would be best, and if not that then plain dark grey

Speaking of dual molding, I really hope we can get a Boromir figure at some point that has dual molded printed arms. It would be the perfect figure

When I say I hope they bring back the Orc hair piece I’m 100% referring to the one with the ears, not the Mohawk one. Although I’m sure they could come up with something similar but dual molded like the Elf hair piece

I think they meant the Orc hairpiece with the ears

Sure but one accurate helmet is still better than none

The problem is they used the Uruk-hai helmet for Orcs. It would have been a lot nicer if they had given Orcs their own style helmet

Honestly I mostly blame the fan base for the failure last time, if poor sales was genuinely the reason the theme was cancelled. They were remarkably well made playsets with fantastic minifigures. I bought every set and have very few nitpicks considering when they were released.

Not necessarily. Plenty of location based playsets out there, it wouldn’t be hard to do for LOTR at all

Honestly Barad-Dûr, Jabba’s Sail Barge, and The Burrow are the only survey sets I would even consider buying so I hope those three at least make it If that big ugly brick built Sorting Hat gets released but not Barad-Dûr, I’ll be livid

One problem the previous line faced is that they used the exact same minifig variant almost CR time the character appeared in a set, even if they wore a different outfit in the scene. Aragorn is probably the biggest example. Looking at Harry Potter, I think they’ve learned that people want different variants of characters depending on their on screen appearance, leading to more variation in the minifigures.

I genuinely think now would be the time to start a LOTR theme. Regardless of what some people think of RoP, it brought Tolkien’s world back into mainstream media, and it’s a hot topic right now. There are more LOTR fans now than ever and more lego fans now than ever. If I were them, I wouldn’t wait for new movies to be out. I would start now, establish the theme, and let people get used to them being on shelves before introducing sets from brand new films. Starting with the new films rarely works out for them because they don’t take the time to establish licensed themes with sets from the films people are already in love with

Exactly. The other thing is that lego has come a long way in their set designs since the previous LOTR theme. I think they now have a pretty good way of balancing sets to make the appealing to both adults and kids. Even more so than they used to. It’ll never be able to compete with Harry Potter for kids but I think it has a good chance of performing well all around.

I can’t speak to whether those rumors were true or not. I do think a lot of it probably had to do with the poor reception of The Hobbit films. I think this time around, there’s an even larger adult da base than there was even then, and adults could probably carry the theme by themselves. That said, I still have a very hard time believing kids wouldn’t see those sets and want them, even if they aren’t super familiar with LOTR. Kids love knights and swords and bows and arrows and horses and dragons and battles and castles. I rarely meet kids that don’t love those things (I’m a dad of two boys so I interact with plenty of kids their age). I just don’t see it being that unpopular with kids, especially now.

No rumors so far past the Barad-Dûr set. I agree that the old line was superb and I think a new full blown LOTR theme would sell remarkably well in the current climate. It may not be as popular with kids as Harry Potter but I do really think it would be popular enough with kids to sell well, and afols would spend a ton on it. I think lego would be foolish to not at least try a wave of sets and see how it does after the success of Rivendell

I think the Orc armor for them would simply be printed. I definitely wouldn’t expect new molded armor pieces plus molded helmets. Unless the new Orc figures all just have molded armor over their torso and the piece just gets produced like crazy with intent on future use. I certainly wouldn’t mind that, but I wouldn’t expect it. It would be cool though, especially since it would mean you could completely switch Frodo and Sam between their Orc disguises and their Cracks of Doom clothes with ease just by removing the armor and helmets and putting a hairpiece on. That would be neat

Nah they’ll give Sauron an accurate helmet for sure. Now whether he gets new shoulder armor and mace, who knows. I hope so. I think a decent budget should be directed to him as a minifigure specifically, and I think they know that. I also think Orc helmets for Frodo and Sam would be awesome, and if they do it then they should do it accurately, even if they have to make one that could work for both of them rather than making two different ones. They’re similar enough after all. But I would also be perfectly happy with Frodo and Sam in just their Sammath Naur attire. Preferably with dirty faces on one side

I hope they wouldn’t use the HP goblin piece. If they don’t make a new piece then I hope they’re just bald. But a new piece would be great. Problem is that set already needs several new minifig pieces for Sauron alone. Hopefully it would have the same attention that Rivendell got and get a ton of new molds. Rivendell had Gimli’s helmet, new dwarf beard, weapons pack (counting this as one), and new Elf hair. Plus it brought back the Hobbit hair with new part numbers and introduced dark brown dual molded short legs. So we could potentially get a lot of new stuff in Barad-Dûr. Hoping for a villain weapons pack

I’m really interested to see what the design of the new Orcs will be. I’m so used to the 2012 design. It would be cool to at least get the Orc hair piece back

It would definitely cost more of it had that function

Honestly I miss when UCS sets didn’t include any minifigs just so people can stop complaining about what figures do or don’t get included. When the Gunship came out everyone complained that it didn’t have Cody. Now everyone is mad that this has Rex. It was just simpler when UCS sets had no figures

I think people are still missing the point of UCS sets. If you don’t have display space, then UCS sets aren’t for you. If you have to have a lot of different play functions, UCS sets aren’t for you. If a full interior is non-negotiable, UCS sets aren’t for you. Seems like people are always so shocked and upset when all these different play set criteria aren’t met for a large scale display model

Interesting, thank you!

If Rivendell hadn’t released this year, I think this would be set of the year for me. But Rivendell definitely still wins I believe it’s the same shape and colors, the only difference is the red on the bridge to distinguish it as the Resolute. Someone correct me if I’m wrong