Lord of the Rings Ongoing Discussion

[Legoman123]

I said on previous forms I had been away for a while and I have only just got round to posting on this forum, can someone tell me what the expected line up is for next year and if we are expecting another large D2C like this year and last year. 

[Lion King]

While waiting for news on more LOTR sets, I hope they could re-introduce molds for cave trolls and giant eagles from 2012. I don’t know how likely since thier molds are over a decade, maybe broken or something.

Of ourse we have mountain troll from Harry Potter so it’s likely for cave troll but not sure about giant eagle. 

[Black Falcon]

1 hour ago, Lion King said:

While waiting for news on more LOTR sets, I hope they could re-introduce molds for cave trolls and giant eagles from 2012. I don’t know how likely since thier molds are over a decade, maybe broken or something.

Of ourse we have mountain troll from Harry Potter so it’s likely for cave troll but not sure about giant eagle. 

Most likely they got destroyed. Which doesn´t make it impossible for them to return them, though, they could just make a new one. I don´t think that the troll from Harry Potter will make any higher chance for a new LotR one.

Anyways, as I wouldn´t expect them to make any playsets aside maybe for the new film for next year it might depend on if that one has any of those included - or what big set we will be getting and with Bag End for instance, I don´t see them doing any new moulds for animals.

They could aswell make a Mines of Moria Set, then the Troll would be almost given. Might not be the most likely option to happen though - but would actually be my choice if I could decide what they would make next.

[Lion King]

1 hour ago, Black Falcon said:

Most likely they got destroyed. Which doesn´t make it impossible for them to return them, though, they could just make a new one. I don´t think that the troll from Harry Potter will make any higher chance for a new LotR one.

Anyways, as I wouldn´t expect them to make any playsets aside maybe for the new film for next year it might depend on if that one has any of those included - or what big set we will be getting and with Bag End for instance, I don´t see them doing any new moulds for animals.

They could aswell make a Mines of Moria Set, then the Troll would be almost given. Might not be the most likely option to happen though - but would actually be my choice if I could decide what they would make next.

Yeah it won’t be impossible at all, given that they “revived” a goa mold.  Well, a mountain troll from HP is at 50/50 chance for a new LOTR set, in my opinion. I mean,….  It is now a bigfig so hey could reuse that body for a cave troll. 

Who knows? I would love to get playsets than than the overpriced 18+ sets. 

[Black Falcon]

2 minutes ago, Lion King said:

Well, a mountain troll from HP is at 50/50 chance for a new LOTR set, in my opinion. I mean,….  It is now a bigfig so hey could reuse that body for a cave troll. 

I would bet, that if they bring a troll back for LotR, they will make a new mould rather than reusing the Harry Potter one, they just look to different. They would very likely reuse the Arms and Hands of it, but the body just doesn´t work.

[Lordhelmet]

34 minutes ago, Black Falcon said:

I would bet, that if they bring a troll back for LotR, they will make a new mould rather than reusing the Harry Potter one, they just look to different. They would very likely reuse the Arms and Hands of it, but the body just doesn´t work.

Agreed, a new mound makes more sense and would be more in line with what Lego has done with other themes for something like that.  Even if they destroyed the mound (likely) theoretically they have the digital version but Lego seems to prefer completely new mounds over recreating older ones.

[Lion King]

1 hour ago, Black Falcon said:

I would bet, that if they bring a troll back for LotR, they will make a new mould rather than reusing the Harry Potter one, they just look to different. They would very likely reuse the Arms and Hands of it, but the body just doesn´t work.

That’s fair. It seems lego is willing to make a new mold for one-off set so I guess we will see about new mold for cave troll and giant eagle. 

[BitByBrick]

6 hours ago, Black Falcon said:

Anyways, as I wouldn´t expect them to make any playsets aside maybe for the new film for next year it might depend on if that one has any of those included - or what big set we will be getting and with Bag End for instance, I don´t see them doing any new moulds for animals.

They could aswell make a Mines of Moria Set, then the Troll would be almost given. Might not be the most likely option to happen though - but would actually be my choice if I could decide what they would make next.

If only they could make more LotR playsets like the original wave, with a nice build and a decent minifigure count. …9471: 229 Parts, 6 Minifigures. 79002: 378 Parts, 5 Minifigures. 9476: 347 Parts, 4 Minifigures. 9472: 406 Parts, 5 Minifigures, etc. 

I wouldn’t mind if they remade any of the original sets, if they had updated builds and improved minifigures. However, I would much prefer new scenes with at least some minifigures that haven’t been made, yet. Possibly throw in fan favorite anniversary-type figs, like they are doing for Star Wars? Or any sets to make army building possible.

[Legoman123]

5 hours ago, BitByBrick said:

If only they could make more LotR playsets like the original wave, with a nice build and a decent minifigure count. …9471: 229 Parts, 6 Minifigures. 79002: 378 Parts, 5 Minifigures. 9476: 347 Parts, 4 Minifigures. 9472: 406 Parts, 5 Minifigures, etc. 

I wouldn’t mind if they remade any of the original sets, if they had updated builds and improved minifigures. However, I would much prefer new scenes with at least some minifigures that haven’t been made, yet. Possibly throw in fan favorite anniversary-type figs, like they are doing for Star Wars? Or any sets to make army building possible.

For me I just feel like a theme like Lord of the Rings needs only £400+ sets as the builds are just so big and the architecture so good, plus the interiors that the only way to do these sets justice is by pricing them at that point rather than cheeper.  That way you get everything you want from the set (although I feel Bard-dur could have had a couple of bigger rooms near the top) the oney downside is the price, but if its one per year then that makes it more reasonable and allows for more hype.  Having said that maybe 2/3 different army building sets certainly wouldn't go a miss.  Maybe even give us areas that can be added on to the bigger sets we have as small army builder sets. 

Edited August 20, 2024 by Legoman123

[Artanis I]

21 hours ago, Legoman123 said:

I said on previous forms I had been away for a while and I have only just got round to posting on this forum, can someone tell me what the expected line up is for next year and if we are expecting another large D2C like this year and last year. 

There are no leaks or rumours at all, just hopes and speculation.

[Legoman123]

1 hour ago, Artanis I said:

There are no leaks or rumours at all, just hopes and speculation.

Thanks for confirming that, I'd seen something regarding Minas Tirith but wasn't sure how reliable that was at all, I know the only reason we knew about Barad-Dur was down to all those preliminary photos leaking from at the time next years sets.  

Do you know how or why that all leaked out because that was some leak, not just for LOTR but all sets?  Could we expect that again?  I'm pretty sure people;e had seen the official bard-dur as soon as Rivendell came out in fairness but they were a select few who'd been allowed to go to a lego event and see it, that's at least what a guy on YouTube was saying who then showed us footage from that event. 

[FullBrickDev]

3 hours ago, Legoman123 said:

Do you know how or why that all leaked out because that was some leak, not just for LOTR but all sets?  Could we expect that again?  I'm pretty sure people;e had seen the official bard-dur as soon as Rivendell came out in fairness but they were a select few who'd been allowed to go to a lego event and see it, that's at least what a guy on YouTube was saying who then showed us footage from that event. 

I believe it was a survey by LEGO where they asked, for example, how much would you pay for these sets. This is as much as I know. Someone who participated or was organizing the survey leaked it, I'm guessing it was a participant since leaking would seriously jeopardize your job at LEGO. How people got into the survey, I do not know.

 

I believe Barad-Dûr was shown about a year ago at a Lego House Inside Tour, and the designers at that Inside Tour did specifically say that they didn't know at all if there was going to be a second set after Rivendell. 

[RichardGoring]

3 hours ago, Legoman123 said:

Thanks for confirming that, I'd seen something regarding Minas Tirith but wasn't sure how reliable that was at all, I know the only reason we knew about Barad-Dur was down to all those preliminary photos leaking from at the time next years sets.  

Do you know how or why that all leaked out because that was some leak, not just for LOTR but all sets?  Could we expect that again?  I'm pretty sure people;e had seen the official bard-dur as soon as Rivendell came out in fairness but they were a select few who'd been allowed to go to a lego event and see it, that's at least what a guy on YouTube was saying who then showed us footage from that event. 

The leak was from a consumer survey that had a range of sets - some final, some preliminary, some prototypes - to see how people would respond to them and the potential price ranges. It just so happened that an AFOL (on this forum, JeanGreyForver) was one of the survey participants. It didn't sound like there was an NDA signed by those taking the survey, so it was possible to share (at least some of) the images. In the end, I don't think it was JeanGreyForever who shared the actual images, but was the first to reveal the contents. It was a huge fluke, and unlikely to happen again as you probably won't get a serious AFOL taking the survey, and LEGO/the surveying company will have learnt their lesson about contracts.

Every year, LEGO does fan media days in which upcoming sets are revealed and it's an opportunity to do lots of interviews with designers, which they can use through the coming year as sets are revealed. The Recognised Fan Media are all generally very good at keeping secrets and holding to embargos, so while they may know about a sets existence and even have footage of it, they all appear to be professional and principled, and so it's really unlikely that there will be a leak. I think last year, there was one YouTuber who filmed something at the fan media days where they had two sets on display next to each other, but they released months apart. He had to crop out all the instances of the unrevealed set from his video, but missed a couple of frames, where you could see half of Rocket from Guardians of the Galaxy. That got him a six month ban (thereabouts) from being part of the program, which felt very unfair. I don't know if it was later revoked. But it shows that it's taken seriously by both LEGO and the fan media.

[Black Falcon]

8 hours ago, Legoman123 said:

For me I just feel like a theme like Lord of the Rings needs only £400+ sets as the builds are just so big and the architecture so good, plus the interiors that the only way to do these sets justice is by pricing them at that point rather than cheeper.  That way you get everything you want from the set (although I feel Bard-dur could have had a couple of bigger rooms near the top) the oney downside is the price, but if its one per year then that makes it more reasonable and allows for more hype.  Having said that maybe 2/3 different army building sets certainly wouldn't go a miss.  Maybe even give us areas that can be added on to the bigger sets we have as small army builder sets. 

Not every Set needs to show a location, or if a complete one. For instance, Gandalf Arrives was a neat little Set, that doesn´t need a location at all. They could make a Balrog Set, with just Gandalf, the Balrog and the Bridge - sure a Big Set of Moria would be great aswell, with the Bridge and Balrog, the tomb with the cave troll and orcs and the gate with the watcher in the water

[RichardGoring]

1 hour ago, Black Falcon said:

Not every Set needs to show a location, or if a complete one. For instance, Gandalf Arrives was a neat little Set, that doesn´t need a location at all. They could make a Balrog Set, with just Gandalf, the Balrog and the Bridge - sure a Big Set of Moria would be great aswell, with the Bridge and Balrog, the tomb with the cave troll and orcs and the gate with the watcher in the water

Any of those settings would be perfect for a diorama display. More expensive than a battlepack or a playset, but more accessible than the mega sets released so far.

[Lion King]

Eh I don’t need specific location as diorama….  I prefer battlepack and playset over it. 

[MAB]

23 hours ago, Legoman123 said:

For me I just feel like a theme like Lord of the Rings needs only £400+ sets as the builds are just so big and the architecture so good, plus the interiors that the only way to do these sets justice is by pricing them at that point rather than cheeper.  That way you get everything you want from the set (although I feel Bard-dur could have had a couple of bigger rooms near the top) the oney downside is the price, but if its one per year then that makes it more reasonable and allows for more hype.  Having said that maybe 2/3 different army building sets certainly wouldn't go a miss.  Maybe even give us areas that can be added on to the bigger sets we have as small army builder sets. 

When looking at the original sets, most of them were one purchase only type sets in that the minifigures were named and not army builders. If they did small sets again, they'd probably do it in the same way and find most people inly buy one of each. Thus it might be better to do one big set well than multiple smaller sets badly. If they do battle packs with generic figures alongside the big sets, there would be complaints that core figures were only in expensive sets and that there is a pay wall to get into LEGO LOTR. Of course people that ant the big sets and battle packs would be happy, but they'd get complaints from others.

[Black Falcon]

14 hours ago, Lion King said:

Eh I don’t need specific location as diorama….  I prefer battlepack and playset over it. 

In the end, they can make the same scenes they make as dioramas as play sets, so it would actually just a difference how they do it, not what they do.

 

6 hours ago, MAB said:

When looking at the original sets, most of them were one purchase only type sets in that the minifigures were named and not army builders. If they did small sets again, they'd probably do it in the same way and find most people inly buy one of each. Thus it might be better to do one big set well than multiple smaller sets badly. If they do battle packs with generic figures alongside the big sets, there would be complaints that core figures were only in expensive sets and that there is a pay wall to get into LEGO LOTR. Of course people that ant the big sets and battle packs would be happy, but they'd get complaints from others.

Well, but is there that much of a difference if people just buy one big set, or many (different) smaller ones? In the end it would end up selling more Sets because simply more people can afford to buy them. Sure, there are other things to consider here aswell, such as exclusivity, packaging etc, but overall I would say both ways have their pros and cons that I couldn´t choose which way is better - well obviously it would be to do both.

[MAB]

33 minutes ago, Black Falcon said:

Well, but is there that much of a difference if people just buy one big set, or many (different) smaller ones? In the end it would end up selling more Sets because simply more people can afford to buy them. Sure, there are other things to consider here aswell, such as exclusivity, packaging etc, but overall I would say both ways have their pros and cons that I couldn´t choose which way is better - well obviously it would be to do both.

Yes, there is a difference. The larger sets tend to be sold by LEGO and maybe one or two high end stores depending on location. Whereas smaller sets tend to have a far wider distribution. They could of course keep the range exclusive to LEGO stores if they wanted. Even then, there is a difference in that it is cheaper for them to sell one big set rather than an equivalent value in smaller sets, especially if they are spread out over multiple transactions. It is also more economical in terms of shelf space and replenishment to have one position for large boxes than multiple positions for smaller boxes. And then there is the premium branding. If they want the range to feel like a premium range, they keep it as expensive sets only. Doing cheaper sets alongside one expensive set destroys that. And we already see how many people buy the LOTR big box sets on day 1. If they do smaller sets, people tend to spread out purchases and look for discounts (especially if there are multiple sellers). LEGO have retail experts, they know what they are doing when it comes to marketing 18+ sets.

 

[MAB]

I just finished rewatching series 1 of Rings of Power, in anticipation of the new series starting. I quite enjoyed it again, probably even more than on the first watch. Especially the last four episodes, once there has been a bit of character development. So I'm really looking forward to next week. It is never going to be anywhere close to the movies but as a TV series I think they've done quite well.

It is funny though, when watching it, that my mind was ... that scene would make such a cool LEGO set, that scene would be great as a LEGO set, and in my mind there are already more sets than LEGO made originally for the movie trilogy.

[Black Falcon]

Looks quite good so far. For now there are good chances I would go to the cinema for it. Not completely sold on the synchronisation yet though - especially the one of the german trailer but will see how it turns out in the finshed film or later trailers.

Edited August 24, 2024 by Black Falcon

[Arjo]

Can’t say I am sold based on the trailer… where it brought some clarity, in my opinion, is on the possible tie in with new lego sets. I don’t see that happening unfortunately.

fingers crossed I am proven wrong.

[Black Falcon]

1 hour ago, Arjo said:

Can’t say I am sold based on the trailer… where it brought some clarity, in my opinion, is on the possible tie in with new lego sets. I don’t see that happening unfortunately.

fingers crossed I am proven wrong.

If there would be Sets, we would have heard about it by now I am afraid, so I second your opinion here. Of course they could always do it later, but Lego would want to have it out when people watch it in the cinemas.

[Horation]

On 8/21/2024 at 10:29 AM, Black Falcon said:

Well, but is there that much of a difference if people just buy one big set, or many (different) smaller ones? In the end it would end up selling more Sets because simply more people can afford to buy them. 

Yes, there is.

Picture this hypothetical :

I sell 100 sets and 100 dollars profit from each vs I sell 200 sets at 50 dollars profit from each (by profit I mean the amount I sell it above my cost of production)

Now for 100 sets, I'll have to have my employees work for half as much time preparing half as many orders, that saves me money.

For 100 sets, I can offer things like free shipping at a smaller loss (say, shipping a 40-dollar-set might cost me 8 dollars, or 20%, but shipping a 200-dollar-set might cost me 30 dollars, so 15%), that saves me money.

For 100 sets, I need to spend money marketing one item vs way more to market several smaller items.

For 100 sets, I need to spend less on shipping material, that also saves me money.

I mean, sure I would maybe sell a few extra copies, but in the end I'd hardly make any more money, and I'd have created many new problems I don't want to deal with, like a much larger workforce, and keep in mind that there are many customers (ex : parents buying a birthday gift) who'd have at most bought a single product, so now they'd be giving me half as much money than if they had instead purchased the bigger set.

In short, yes, it's that much of a difference if people just buy one big set.

[zoth33]

On 8/24/2024 at 9:39 AM, Black Falcon said:

Looks quite good so far. For now there are good chances I would go to the cinema for it. Not completely sold on the synchronisation yet though - especially the one of the german trailer but will see how it turns out in the finshed film or later trailers.

The first half of the trailer looks good the second half not so much.  They are taking quite a bit of liberties with the lore it looks like.  I'm on the fence about this will have to wait and see