Lord of the Rings Ongoing Discussion

[Captain Pirate Man]

Don't get me wrong, if Lego wants to keep doing a bit LOTR set every year, I'm fine with that. I'll keep getting them. I already have a MOCCED up Shire, Helms Deep, Erebor and  Laketown. Plus Orthanc WAS in my Mordor, but I just took that out to make room for Barad Dur. So with Rivendell and Orthanc already being great sets, only so many places for Lego to go for making sets. If they do another Helms Deep, or Bag End, I'll buy it, and make my current ones even better. Out side of that, Minis Tirith would be the next likely candidate. 

But they could do some Rohan sets in the vein of the Viking Village, and keep the price point down, people would LOVE IT. This theme has been, and continues to be VERY EXCLUSIVE. It's expensive to collect for, I feel bad for new collectors. The choices to collect LOTR are Brickheadz (lame, lol), $500 Rivendell and $450 Barad Dur, or go and BL and pay $20 and up for the VAST majority of the minifigs. 

I wouldn't hate it if Lego threw people a bone, and make it easier for people to get into the theme. 

[BrickBob Studpants]

I‘m a bit late on this, but love how the Eye of Sauron looks in that teaser! Hope the leakers are right and the reveal will happen tomorrow

Also, surprised to hear the GWP will be a fell beast, like some have predicted! But as I’ve said before, they won’t introduce new pieces in a limited GWP set. So unless somebody confused the Mouth of Sauron with the Witch King in the D2C minifig line-up, there’s no chance in bloody MORDOR that the latter will show up in that set. Well, not with his iconic helmet at least! He could still be included as a generic Nazgûl

My guess would be a Nazgûl and one each of the two orc variants from the D2C set.

[Captain Pirate Man]

11 hours ago, upliftingbricks said:

We haven't even seen the set to say its bad yet .

To your wider point Id agree at some smaller sets for a couple of years till these 2 retire but if it means no LOTR sets unless its a massive set Id go with keeping the theme alive.

I meant good and evil, lol 😂😆

[TheDoctor]

I'm calling it now!

This is my genuine belief as to what the next set will be...

A buildable talking Gollum with switchable heads and a sound brick in the rocky base like this 2002 figure. (Not unlike the recent Dobby figure)




I'm not joking when I suggest it, and I don't like the idea either, but it would be a 'marginally' cheaper set, with a wide appeal.

As much as I'd love to see an Icons Minas Tirith, |I just don't think it has a wide enough appeal - it's not 'iconic' enough for a casual fan to drop $500 on it. (I know it's iconic to us, but try and remove yourself from our echo chamber)
It amounts to nothing more than a dull white and grey blob with no other colours. Even the base would be tan or brown.
Bag End is FAR more likely.

For the fans here, it's very easy to overestimate the amount of LotR fans that are also willing to purchase huge lego sets, I'd argue that that intersection is very small and gets smaller every time a large D2C is released.
How many casual fans just bought Rivendell on a whim because it's beautiful and includes the complete Fellowship.
It's quite another thing to purchase another huge LEGO set with the price and space it takes up as a casual fan.


I do believe we'll see a small wave (3-4) of playsets further down the line, but only to test the waters.
And I certainly wouldn't expect anything new from them except maybe some Gondor representation. 
The original sets released over 10 years ago, so LEGO will see no issue in remaking Shelob, Gandalf's arrival, Wizard Duel or a small Gollum set.
Those are all basically guaranteed to sell and probably sell quite well. (I also think they will throw in a Gondor set just to appease us)

Edited May 13, 2024 by TheDoctor

[CallumPears]

6 hours ago, wesker said:

I think the key is to keep the theme adult oriented. Focus more on affordable display pieces such as dioramas and buildable creatures rather than simplified builds targeted towards kids.

Honestly I disagree. I'm an adult but have absolutely no interest in large display sets (e.g. large creatures or the Star Wars helmet sets; I certainly wouldn't buy the large Gollum suggested above) and find that the diorama sets have so far been ridiculously overpriced, essentially a £25 playset stuck on a black base for triple the cost. 

For a theme that hasn't got fully set up yet, I think focusing on these overpriced sets would kill it. Just give us the £25 playset and the collectors can add their own black base if they really want to. 

Edited May 13, 2024 by CallumPears

[kuzyabricks]

Heck I’d buy that gollum set, that sounds fun! Disagree about the hobbit sets lacking in design, which ones did? Kid me only found the laketown ones uninteresting I wanted every other set otherwise. spoiler: didn’t get any((((( 

[TheDoctor]

3 minutes ago, kuzyabricks said:

Heck I’d buy that gollum set, that sounds fun! Disagree about the hobbit sets lacking in design, which ones did? Kid me only found the laketown ones uninteresting I wanted every other set otherwise. spoiler: didn’t get any((((( 

At the time I disliked the Laketown sets too, but when you put them both together on a blue baseplate with some scattered white plates around the bottom, it's actually one of my favourite Hobbit displays.

[kuzyabricks]

1 minute ago, TheDoctor said:

At the time I disliked the Laketown sets too, but when you put them both together on a blue baseplate with some scattered white plates around the bottom, it's actually one of my favourite Hobbit displays.

Oh I agree laketown displays are neat I quite like them now, heck I liked all the hobbit and LOTR sets.  I got into LOTR through Lego sets funnily enough. Not even one sticks out as poor to me. Really wish LOTR and POTC would have come out when I was older. I would have bought the entirety of both lines day one. Don’t remember the last time I’ve wanted to buy an entire wave of a theme.

[Khargeust]

To the extent that I missed the 2012-2013 playsets and have given up on collecting them today given their crazy prices on the secondary market, I am impatiently awaiting a lasting revival. This does not seem incompatible to me with the occasional release each year of an expensive UCS set, although I would have difficulty keeping up financially, but it would be a shame if LEGO limited itself to it. We absolutely need battlepacks.
 

Also I really hope we could get an UCS Bag End with the whole Thorin et Cie but it seems doubtful unfortunately.

Edited May 13, 2024 by Khargeust

[Khargeust]

 

Less than 24 hours from the announcement and no pictures yet, well one can say that the vault is well guarded ! 

Edited May 13, 2024 by Khargeust

[mirkwoodspiders]

39 minutes ago, Khargeust said:

 

Less than 24 hours from the announcement and no pictures yet, well one can say that the vault is well guarded ! 

No kidding! They really are keeping it secret and safe.

[Ferder]

54 minutes ago, mirkwoodspiders said:

No kidding! They really are keeping it secret and safe.

It’s actually kind of nice to not have to squint over blurry leaked pictures and go straight to hi-res product images— assuming there’s still no leaks before tomorrow.

[Roebuck]

Nice that they manage to keep it a "secret" until the reveal. The JP that just showed up had not leaked either I belive

[Lion King]

7 hours ago, TheDoctor said:

I'm calling it now!

This is my genuine belief as to what the next set will be...

A buildable talking Gollum with switchable heads and a sound brick in the rocky base like this 2002 figure. (Not unlike the recent Dobby figure)




I'm not joking when I suggest it, and I don't like the idea either, but it would be a 'marginally' cheaper set, with a wide appeal.

As much as I'd love to see an Icons Minas Tirith, |I just don't think it has a wide enough appeal - it's not 'iconic' enough for a casual fan to drop $500 on it. (I know it's iconic to us, but try and remove yourself from our echo chamber)
It amounts to nothing more than a dull white and grey blob with no other colours. Even the base would be tan or brown.
Bag End is FAR more likely.

For the fans here, it's very easy to overestimate the amount of LotR fans that are also willing to purchase huge lego sets, I'd argue that that intersection is very small and gets smaller every time a large D2C is released.
How many casual fans just bought Rivendell on a whim because it's beautiful and includes the complete Fellowship.
It's quite another thing to purchase another huge LEGO set with the price and space it takes up as a casual fan.


I do believe we'll see a small wave (3-4) of playsets further down the line, but only to test the waters.
And I certainly wouldn't expect anything new from them except maybe some Gondor representation. 
The original sets released over 10 years ago, so LEGO will see no issue in remaking Shelob, Gandalf's arrival, Wizard Duel or a small Gollum set.
Those are all basically guaranteed to sell and probably sell quite well. (I also think they will throw in a Gondor set just to appease us)

Oh no, not buildable talking Gollum! I imagine waking up and finding it in the shadowy corner of bedroom…. Creepy.

[McMurder_them_softly]

3 hours ago, mirkwoodspiders said:

No kidding! They really are keeping it secret and safe.

Still keep frantically checking for a leak! 

It would be nice almost to see this one make it. But I have my doubts that it'll leak even a few hours beforehand. 

Tomorrow for sure? I mean the teaser, can't be more than a few days after that typically. 

Edited May 13, 2024 by McMurder_them_softly

[NoOneOfImportance]

8 hours ago, TheDoctor said:

For the fans here, it's very easy to overestimate the amount of LotR fans that are also willing to purchase huge lego sets, I'd argue that that intersection is very small and gets smaller every time a large D2C is released.
How many casual fans just bought Rivendell on a whim because it's beautiful and includes the complete Fellowship.
It's quite another thing to purchase another huge LEGO set with the price and space it takes up as a casual fan.


I do believe we'll see a small wave (3-4) of playsets further down the line, but only to test the waters.
And I certainly wouldn't expect anything new from them except maybe some Gondor representation. 
The original sets released over 10 years ago, so LEGO will see no issue in remaking Shelob, Gandalf's arrival, Wizard Duel or a small Gollum set.
Those are all basically guaranteed to sell and probably sell quite well. (I also think they will throw in a Gondor set just to appease us)

I'm not sure we'll see playsets, but I do think LEGO would be wise to make a couple of D2Cs that are closer to $250. In fact, I could EASILY see a $250 Bag End as the next set. While I understand the desire to make primarily D2Cs for adult fans, some variety in prices (more than $40), would be nice. 

[TheDoctor]

12 minutes ago, NoOneOfImportance said:

I'm not sure we'll see playsets, but I do think LEGO would be wise to make a couple of D2Cs that are closer to $250. In fact, I could EASILY see a $250 Bag End as the next set. While I understand the desire to make primarily D2Cs for adult fans, some variety in prices (more than $40), would be nice. 

I was mostly basing that off LEGO teasing smaller sets in a tweet reply on X.

I highly doubt the social media manager would get away with something like that unless there was merit to it.
I've certainly not seen them tease anything like that before in tweet replies.

[mirkwoodspiders]

14 minutes ago, NoOneOfImportance said:

I'm not sure we'll see playsets, but I do think LEGO would be wise to make a couple of D2Cs that are closer to $250. In fact, I could EASILY see a $250 Bag End as the next set. While I understand the desire to make primarily D2Cs for adult fans, some variety in prices (more than $40), would be nice. 

Oh to be a market researcher for LEGO. I'd be so interested in seeing how they gauge interest in themes and price ranges. Probably a lot of different things - social media, forums like this, random surveys, actual sales, year-over-year trends, etc. It would be so fun surveying the public to see what their interest in LOTR LEGO is. 

6 minutes ago, TheDoctor said:

I was mostly basing that off LEGO teasing smaller sets in a tweet reply on X.

I highly doubt the social media manager would get away with something like that unless there was merit to it.
I've certainly not seen them tease anything like that before in tweet replies.

I'm honestly not sure I'd put much stock into the reply. It said, "Keep your eye this way" which to me says 1) check back here for the reveal of an upcoming set, and 2) they're only referring to the Barad-dur reveal, considering the "eye" and "fire" emoji's they posted.

I feel like the response would have been something like "stay tuned" or "I wouldn't say no to that" or something if they were referring to other future LOTR playsets. Or, I'm completely misreading it and they're teasing upcoming LOTR playsets - this is my hope!

[zoth33]

48 minutes ago, mirkwoodspiders said:

Oh to be a market researcher for LEGO. I'd be so interested in seeing how they gauge interest in themes and price ranges. Probably a lot of different things - social media, forums like this, random surveys, actual sales, year-over-year trends, etc. It would be so fun surveying the public to see what their interest in LOTR LEGO is. 

I'm honestly not sure I'd put much stock into the reply. It said, "Keep your eye this way" which to me says 1) check back here for the reveal of an upcoming set, and 2) they're only referring to the Barad-dur reveal, considering the "eye" and "fire" emoji's they posted.

I feel like the response would have been something like "stay tuned" or "I wouldn't say no to that" or something if they were referring to other future LOTR playsets. Or, I'm completely misreading it and they're teasing upcoming LOTR playsets - this is my hope!

I agree I think that that was in reference to the Barad Dur set and nothing more.  I think people are desperate for sets so they are taking things like that to mean something else.  That being said can't wait to see the reveal tomorrow.  

[MAB]

9 hours ago, TheDoctor said:

I'm calling it now!

This is my genuine belief as to what the next set will be...

A buildable talking Gollum with switchable heads and a sound brick in the rocky base like this 2002 figure. (Not unlike the recent Dobby figure)

 

 

There was this MOC from years ago. I reverse engineered some if it and used ball and sockets to give it a bit more motion, and he was not a bad little Gollum action figure.

 

 

1 hour ago, NoOneOfImportance said:

I'm not sure we'll see playsets, but I do think LEGO would be wise to make a couple of D2Cs that are closer to $250. In fact, I could EASILY see a $250 Bag End as the next set. While I understand the desire to make primarily D2Cs for adult fans, some variety in prices (more than $40), would be nice. 

It might be that LEGO finds that a $400 set sells just as well as a $250 set. $250 is expensive and if someone is willing to drop that much on a set, they will probably be willing to drop $400 on an even nicer one. 

[Yoggington]

3 hours ago, McMurder_them_softly said:

Still keep frantically checking for a leak! 

It would be nice almost to see this one make it. But I have my doubts that it'll leak even a few hours beforehand. 

Tomorrow for sure? I mean the teaser, can't be more than a few days after that typically. 

At this stage would you not just treat yourself and avoid leaks?

[TheDoctor]

37 minutes ago, Yoggington said:

At this stage would you not just treat yourself and avoid leaks?

Nope!

Gotta know if they confused Mouth of Sauron for the Witch King!

Witch King makes way more sense now we know were getting the Fell Beast

[mirkwoodspiders]

4 hours ago, McMurder_them_softly said:

Still keep frantically checking for a leak! 

It would be nice almost to see this one make it. But I have my doubts that it'll leak even a few hours beforehand. 

Tomorrow for sure? I mean the teaser, can't be more than a few days after that typically. 

It's crazy how the wait is most difficult (for me at least) the day before versus, say, over a year ago when this thing leaked initially. For those going to a LEGO store for a day one purchase, how early are you planning to arrive on June 1?

[Captain Pirate Man]

11 hours ago, kuzyabricks said:

Oh I agree laketown displays are neat I quite like them now, heck I liked all the hobbit and LOTR sets.  I got into LOTR through Lego sets funnily enough. Not even one sticks out as poor to me. Really wish LOTR and POTC would have come out when I was older. I would have bought the entirety of both lines day one. Don’t remember the last time I’ve wanted to buy an entire wave of a theme.

I paired the Laketown sets with the Viking Village, makes a GREAT Laketown!! 

 

Edited May 13, 2024 by Captain Pirate Man

[Galahad]

32 minutes ago, mirkwoodspiders said:

It's crazy how the wait is most difficult (for me at least) the day before versus, say, over a year ago when this thing leaked initially. For those going to a LEGO store for a day one purchase, how early are you planning to arrive on June 1?

I'm still working out if I can justifying buying this on June 1st, but if I do, I plan to be at the store entrance no later than 6:00 a.m. Based in previous release days, thus is gently early enough. Usually only 1-2 people ahead of me.