Brickadiergerard

Whatever that LDD represents, it doesn't represent the continuation of LOTR. Natethebate's response email from Lego customer service makes that completely clear- "Thanks for getting in touch with us. I’m sorry but we aren’t making any new Lord of the Rings sets any more." It's heartbreaking, but if that's right, there's no ambiguity at all. It's over. To paraphrase Frodo (in the books at least), "It is dead then. I feared it was so."

You (and the others) are right - it's a really clean and iconic Batman look, and brings him very close to the original comic incarnation as well as some classic animated series. I was really hoping that there might end up being some way of getting light grey legs with moulded black boots to seal the deal, but if TLG stick with New 52 it's unlikely.

There isn't much going on but it's clever - you stand a minifig at the entrance and they are at the right height to appear in the Joker image (hair, smile, suit) at the end of the hall. It's a nice little touch.

Ohhhh yeah.That's what me, my dad and my kids have pretty much been involved in this afternoon. The two sets work together wonderfully. I really think it's Lego Superheroes at its best. Lovely builds and hours and hours of fun for all ages.

The firing mechanism is very clever. You make two buttons which press down through the black 2x8 that sits across the front wheels, and each fires the rocket running underneath it. So you can target things pretty accurately! The eyes and the hat are moved by handles at the back of the head - eyes spin, hat wobbles from side to side.

It's a GREAT figure. Picked up the set yesterday, breaking my full-price rule. Again. Loads of play features for the kids. A lot of thought seems to have gone into the set. The rides are fun, and the look of it is a really pleasing Lego take on the cartoon classic "Terrifying Funfair". The figures are all good too. Maybe they could have gone for a few hapless civilians instead of some of the heroes, but if you want a stack of the world's finest, they're here. The printing on Starfire and Harley is particularly impressive, and Boots Bats is way better than the alternate version. I think we'll be selling all of them though - apart from Robin, who'll be modded to make him look even more like The Animated Adventures incarnation. We have some of the rest already, prefer non-52 Bats and Harley, and aren't clued-up enough to appreciate Beast Boy and Starfire. The Batmobile is the best I've seen since the truly iconic 7781. The missiles at the front are fun and can be fired really accurately, and the vent at the front and outlet at the back gives it the same jet-powered look as 7781 and the Burton-mobile. Really neat.

Yep. But Spidey is severely great. The boots make the figure. And they will be great for Superman too.

I think there were a couple of seats in the Animated Adventures one. Given the many variations of it TLG have now produced, I'm a bit surprised they haven't done a 2 seater. Forget random sets with submarines or mechs, a 2 seater Batmobile just with classicish Batman and Robin figures would fly off the shelves. I hope if they do it, they do go for the West mobile. It seems like an obvious best seller, but they've ignored others in different themes in the past - the Balrog being a topical example. I agree about the boots. He does look a bit bland without them and a bit stunted with them. I'll wait to pass final judgement until I get hold of one because I do want to get Jokerland even if I end up selling off some of the figures. I think I'm probably too committed to the traditional look to accept a lack of outer underwear in a grey Batman so I may have to add some black hips into the mix anyway. And maybe an old cowl too: I really like the eyes on the new one, but I find it hard to get used to the absence of the chin piece.

Ah, the books. I've tried to make my LOTR collection more book-like than film-like. But Gondor's a real problem. There's reference to winged helmets, although that is in the context of Tower Guards, and in my mind they're pretty essential. That's why of all the costumes that lego haven't covered the absence of a Gondor soldier leaves a massive gap. But I agree, the tree is the thing. One of those on a shield and you could get by with regular castle armour.

I didn't miss it, until my kids who love Lego got into the books, then the films, at the end of last year. I thought at the time that many of the 2010 and 2011 sets were great (Hogwarts Express, Hogwarts itself, Hagrid's Hut and Diagon Alley being the obvious examples) but they didn't mean much to me, and I had no interest in buying them. How things can change... I know if they were re-released tomorrow they would become the focus of my kids' desires and become the things they saved up pocket money for and would leap to the top of birthday/Christmas wish lists. They wouldn't just eclipse other Lego sets, they'd eclipse all other toys. And the sets would deliver - now I've seen most of the films, been on the studio tour etc etc I can see how accurate and well constructed they are and how well thought out are their play features. My experience can hardly be unique - maybe the popularity of the books and films has fallen from the insane levels of a few years ago, but it's still enormous judged by any objective standards, and I would imagine the sets would sell incredibly well as new generations come to love the theme. For the record, I think there are plenty of other books that didn't become phenomena like HP that could generate equally good sets that would be popular with their readership, but HP is HP and its exposure is still, rightly or wrongly, on such an enormous scale that the demand for sets would be correspondingly high. Bring them back!

You and afolaus are absolutely right. It's a great Luke figure, and his face is a much-needed return to the line-free look. The smiley-face one without the lines was good for the ANH incarnations, but looked a bit goofy as a Jedi in the Ewok village. This one is great for RotJ. I think it's one of the three best Luke's they've made, the others being in the 2011 Falcon and in the pilot gear in the 2013 Battle of Hoth. I'll be very interested to see how the Final Duel looks in real life. I know the tan heads are more movie accurate for Vader and the Emperor, but I really like the most recent grey versions. I think they have become so synonymous with their Lego characters that I find it hard to get used to the colour change. Particularly in Vader's case I also prefer the more stylised and cartoony face printing of the grey head over the "face only his mother could love" tan one.

I think the shuttle set is fantastic. Wonderful looking ship, and great minifigs. I hope I manage to buy it at some point. I just don't get it with the Assault Carrier though. That's a big price for a relatively unknown ship which lacks either the style or the iconic status of an ISD. Maybe the popularity of Rebels sets will be boosted by TFA but I'd have thought it's more likely that they'll be totally eclipsed by it.

That's a really informative review VBBN; thanks for taking the time. I'm torn over this set - it's an impressive piece of design, but ... just not for me. I enjoyed the Nolan films, but they're pretty dark for TLG to be using as a source of sets. So I was a bit surprised when the regular movie sets appeared. I was very surprised when TLG decided to make this model though because I didn't think there would be the demand for it at that price. Maybe it's more iconic than I realised, I'm not sure. It doesn't grab me. Like the new Boba Fett in UCS Slave 1, the minifigs are great examples of TLG's printing genius. I prefer mine to be less alarming, so I'll stick with regular Jokers. If anyone wants to start a poll to decide which minifig would be voted most likely to come to life and go on a slasher rampage, this Joker would win hands down.

Wow. That's one of the most interesting, best structured and informative articles about Lego sets that I've ever read anywhere. Great work ZCerberus

That they are - both the builds and the figures. And the Black Falcon knight in this set was one of the best of the figures from that era.