Err.. people, as much as we'd all like to nerd and geek it out with our LOTR knowledge, let's keep the discussion on (or at least relate your points to) LEGO LOTR, and not just LOTR alone.

  On 12/21/2011 at 10:08 PM, Tyrant said:

SW has contractual issues with that idea, otherwise I think it is a safe bet that they would do it. TLG isn't allowed to sell just SW figures without some kind of set along with it as it constitutes an "action figure" at that point and Hasbro has the license for action figures (and they have demonstrated their willingness to to engage in legal matters over that point). All SW minfigures have to come with some kind of sets. TLG has twice has sets of just figures (the old ones with the character cards and more recently the magnets) and twice they have stopped. If the announcement is being read correctly, then I think it is possible that LotR will have seperate figures. I hope they do so I can hopefully have a second way to amass armies, though the idea of using it as a means to distribute alternates (ghost witch king, etc) is interesting.

Was going to say pretty much the same thing. If LOTR has no action figure licence as SW does, TLG could sell any minifig they jolly well please... we could have anything cool that is impractical to have a building set for. And it could even be AFOL aimed and have quite a range as it will be much cheaper than 1000 piece UCS set. LOTR CMS? Not sure, interesting thought though.

  On 12/22/2011 at 1:27 AM, Fives said:

I disagree about Sam being kept as a bumbling sidekick in the movies, at least in ROTK. Sam truly becomes the hero in ROTK, especially when he is separated from Frodo on the Stairs. I know that this is not in the books, but I feel that this separation at the hands of Gollum only reenforces the Ring's power over people, and how Sam is the only hope for Frodo. Like Frodo says at the end of The Two Towers movie, Frodo would not have been able to do it without Sam.

True he's not just a bumbling sidekick in the movies, but his heroism is greatly compromised.

I think all of the sets look alright individually. My only critique is that as a collection, they all look the same, and sort of monochrome -- namely mostly fights with orcs on top of piles of grey rocks/stone walls. I think they might have deferred releasing one of these sets in favor of a second peaceful set with a bit of color in it (Maybe something like leaving Lothlorien in the elven boats, or one of the numerous forest scenes) just to add some variety. But of course this is just the first wave, and the unofficial pictures might not give the best representation of the actual sets.

I think that whether TLG makes all the dwarves depends on their screen time. If the movies will be faithful to the books in this, most of the dwarves would hardly get a line of dialogue in. So I wouldnt expect to see many of them. Heck, TLG might even make only generic dwarves (aside from Thorin).

  On 12/22/2011 at 1:51 AM, Frank-Lloyd-Knight said:

I think all of the sets look alright individually. My only critique is that as a collection, they all look the same, and sort of monochrome -- namely mostly fights with orcs on top of piles of grey rocks/stone walls. I think they might have deferred releasing one of these sets in favor of a second peaceful set with a bit of color in it (Maybe something like leaving Lothlorien in the elven boats, or one of the numerous forest scenes) just to add some variety. But of course this is just the first wave, and the unofficial pictures might not give the best representation of the actual sets.

Agreed! I built an old set I found in my closet (dark forest fortress) today and could not believe how much vegetation there was. I would like to see a LOTR set just as dense in greenery.

I am not sure if anyone post it already but there is a new hobbit trailer!

Here's the link

  On 12/22/2011 at 5:04 AM, Ardelon said:

I think that whether TLG makes all the dwarves depends on their screen time. If the movies will be faithful to the books in this, most of the dwarves would hardly get a line of dialogue in. So I wouldnt expect to see many of them. Heck, TLG might even make only generic dwarves (aside from Thorin).

According to Jackson's interviews and somewhat evident in yesterday's trailer, they are trying hard to give each dwarf some screentime and individual identity, more so than in the book. But it remains to be seen how this is going to be reflected in the Lego sets. Even if many of the beards (are shamefully short and) can be printed on the head piece they still require quite a lot of unique parts (hair pieces, weaponry etc.). Maybe Lego will just produce their own versions of the dwarves with some normalisation to bring down the need of strange pieces.

At present I think my biggest issues with these sets is the fact that if you want to get the complete Fellowship than there is only one path to do so. It would have been fairly easy to mix it up a bit and give people a bit of a choice. I guess for me it's a little frustrating that of the two large sets it's the one I don't particularly want that has two (possibly three) exclusive Fellowship figures rather than the one I do want (and there's no way I'll be able to afford both).

I know that this is something fans of other licensed themes have had to deal with for year, but there is a slight difference here as "The Fellowship" is a very well defined set of characters that a lot of people will want. As such it would be nice if there were a couple of diffrent routes to getting all of them. I suppose it's a plus that we don't have to buy all the sets to get them all. That would have just been cruel! Likewise when you do collect the Fellowship you don't end up with many duplicates (a couple of extra Frodos I think) which is pretty cool as well. Maybe I'm protesting too much!! That said these are still preliminaries and we don't know what else they have up their sleeves. So I'll hold off complaining too much until we know for sure.

One other thing that comes to mind is that unlike the Star Wars sets there's going to be a much smaller secondary market for these figures (which will in turn inflate their prices). With Star Wars some people split sets because they have little interest in the figures and just want the ships. The ships, without figures, have a lot of appeal The same doesn't really apply to these as most of these scenes are pretty pointless without the figures.

Anyway, mostly just thinking out loud!

Edited December 22, 201113 yr by Ash

While I initially was somewhat skeptical that we were all chasing rumors when this thread opened, I am delighted that this line has truly come to fruition! I love the sets, and while I don't plan on getting all of them, hopefully my shelves will be adorned with at least four of them this coming summer.

I respect that everyone has their own opinion about these sets, I am a little surprised at some of the criticism the sets are receiving. They all seem very well done, even in the preliminary stage. Lego has gone out of their way to provide us with a great range of figures as well.

The best thing about the sets is that Lego hasn't tried to scale them down to make them more inexpensive like they are doing with the Batman line. Each set is a good realistic size making them more exciting and without going over the top (i.e. like some members' requests for a 5000 piece Helms Deep )

What do you think about impulse sets for LotR/Hobbit?

I think impulse sets for that theme were very very popular because these would be an very good addition for the other sets.

Yes, you're right if you say that LEGO put the collectable main characters into bigger sets because the company want to sell a lot of bricks. But if we talking about all other minifigures (mainly warriors), than I would say that these minifigures would find a wonderful place in these impulse sets. I do not know one other theme wehre we see so huge battles and armies. And with a lot of impulse sets you could fill up your armies.

I think about impulse sets in exact that styles:

1.Example: LEGO Castle 5615

We get for the first wave an Mines of Moria set with 2x Moria Goblins. For that set could LEGO develop a Moria Goblin impulse set. So would our heros at Balin's tomb fight against some more goblins.

Also for Lothlorien elfs. At the Battle of Helm's Deep I see an Haldir minifigure (if my eyes not lies). But where is his army? Here could LEGO develop a another impulse set. An Lothlorien elf impulse set with similar accessories.

2.Example: LEGO Castle 5615

For this example 2x different helmets, a bit armor, some weapons and some bricks. Perfect!

This are my thoughts about impulse sets for LotR/Hobbit (here for the 1.wave). But what are you thinking? Would you like these impuls sets? Would LEGO like these impulse sets? Are LotR/Hobbit impulse sets a bad business? -Or more a good business?

  On 12/22/2011 at 4:45 PM, Elander said:

What do you think about impulse sets for LotR/Hobbit?

*snip @ rest of text*

It would be a nice idea, but I very much doubt that they would do a Lothlorien Elf impulse set - then they'd just make a whole new figure for the smallest set of the theme.

It would be more like, Rohan soldiers, Gondorian soldiers, etc.

But then they'd have to do Uruk-hai or orc impulses, but goblin impulses are possible along with that. Nearly all orcs look different... armoury, body, facial features - so an impulse of that would be a bit meh for the 'accurate variety', but good for the figures.

On the other side, I doubt they're gonna do impulse sets at all. Collectible figures are more likely.

The Orc Forge won't be an impulse set either - to those who thought so.

~ General Magma

I think LOTR impulse sets are a great idea. I would love a way to beef up my soon-to-be army as long as the impulses are generic warriors and not main characters. I do not think LEGO would put any main characters in such cheap sets anyways.

On a similar note, battle packs might be even better than impulses because they are 100% mini figs and not 50% mini fig and 50% other stuff (as seen in the above pictures).

Even if there is no way to beef up armies this theme still looks amazing. I heart LEGO.

  On 12/22/2011 at 10:06 AM, Ash said:

One other thing that comes to mind is that unlike the Star Wars sets there's going to be a much smaller secondary market for these figures (which will in turn inflate their prices). With Star Wars some people split sets because they have little interest in the figures and just want the ships. The ships, without figures, have a lot of appeal The same doesn't really apply to these as most of these scenes are pretty pointless without the figures.

Anyway, mostly just thinking out loud!

Actually, I'm not so sure about that: In addition to LEGO, I was into Tabletop gaming for a bit (mostly D&D and other more pen and paper types, rather than Warhammer), but I guarantee that most Tabletop gamers will be buying these: Not only are most Tabletop gamers BIG Lord of the Rings fans, but (brace yourself), LEGO minifigs and sets are actually the CHEAP alternative, when compared to normal Tabletop gaming miniatures (a Warhammer Empire musket squad, which consists of six musketmen, costs about $30-$40, and that doesn't include the glue or paint). Furthermore, you don't have to paint minifigs, and LEGO minifigs are poseable and durable, unlike most gaming miniatures. Not to mention you can use the LEGO bricks to build up the scenery for much less than typical tabletop gaming scenery costs as well.

As a matter of fact, that is why my gaming friends in the Navy and I used LEGOs instead of normal gaming miniatures and scenery for our D&D game sessions.

...Of course, that might get Games Workshop up in arms because nobody's buying their over-priced LoTR tabletop game miniatures, but it will, most likely, boost sales for LEGO.

Edited December 22, 201113 yr by Hikaro Takayama

  On 12/22/2011 at 4:58 PM, Hikaro Takayama said:

Actually, I'm not so sure about that: In addition to LEGO, I was into Tabletop gaming for a bit (mostly D&D and other more pen and paper types, rather than Warhammer), but I guarantee that most Tabletop gamers will be buying these: Not only are most Tabletop gamers BIG Lord of the Rings fans, but (brace yourself), LEGO minifigs and sets are actually the CHEAP alternative, when compared to normal Tabletop gaming miniatures (a Warhammer Empire musket squad, which consists of six musketmen, costs about $30-$40, and that doesn't include the glue or paint). Furthermore, you don't have to paint minifigs, and LEGO minifigs are poseable and durable, unlike most gaming miniatures. Not to mention you can use the LEGO bricks to build up the scenery for much less than typical tabletop gaming scenery costs as well.

I meant more the other way around. I'm sure people will be happy to buy them on the secondary market, I just don't think there's going to be many people selling split sets and it's going to be hard to find the figures seperately on Ebay or if you do they will be at a premium. Unlike Star Wars where you can split the set into ship and figures and sell seperately, these sets are pretty meaningless by themselves. I'm sure there will be some out there, but I doubt it will be as common a practice.

It might just be a semantics thing though. By "secondary market" I mean the reselling of sets or pieces of sets on ebay, not non-lego fans who might be interested in these. I definitely agree with you that there will be a market there.

Edited December 22, 201113 yr by Ash

  On 12/22/2011 at 4:53 PM, General Magma said:

It would be a nice idea, but I very much doubt that they would do a Lothlorien Elf impulse set - then they'd just make a whole new figure for the smallest set of the theme.

It would be more like, Rohan soldiers, Gondorian soldiers, etc.

But then they'd have to do Uruk-hai or orc impulses, but goblin impulses are possible along with that. Nearly all orcs look different... armoury, body, facial features - so an impulse of that would be a bit meh for the 'accurate variety', but good for the figures.

On the other side, I doubt they're gonna do impulse sets at all. Collectible figures are more likely.

The Orc Forge won't be an impulse set either - to those who thought so.

~ General Magma

I think they'd be a great idea as well, and I'm not actually as doubtful as you are that they'll happen - or rather, I think they might happen in a slightly different form, specifically polybag promos.

They seem to be moving away from impulse sets in those little square boxes, but they've certainly embraced polybagged promo sets in a major way in a variety of themes, including licensed ones - there are a couple different Harry Potter ones just currently, as well as any number of Star Wars ones, and they've done ones for Cars, Toy Story, and Pirates of the Caribbean, just off the top of my head. It certainly seems like Middle-earth is a big enough franchise to support enough of a variety of sets that they could do polybag promos. Most likely they'd tend to be sets featuring main characters, like the ones with Harry Potter in his lab or with his trolley, but they have also done "army-builder" ones, like Star Wars ones featuring battle droids, clone troopers or stormtroopers. I don't think something like a Middle-earth equivalent of one of these is completely out of the question:

  On 12/22/2011 at 5:06 PM, Ash said:

I meant more the other way around. I'm sure people will be happy to buy them on the secondary market, I just don't think there's going to be many people selling split sets and it's going to be hard to find the figures seperately on Ebay or if you do they will be at a premium. Unlike Star Wars where you can split the set into ship and figures and sell seperately, these sets are pretty meaningless by themselves. I'm sure there will be some out there, but I doubt it will be as common a practice.

It might just be a semantics thing though. By "secondary market" I mean the reselling of sets or pieces of sets on ebay, not non-lego fans who might be interested in these. I definitely agree with you that there will be a market there.

I plan on buying a bunch of smaller sets and selling the figs. It worked out very well for me this year and I plan on continuing next year! I did this by using sales, or cheap Target prices with the POTC sets (4181, 4182 and 4192) and HP sets (4865, 4867, 4736) and made all my money back from selling the figs - I ended up with 40+ sets for free, just with no figs. It was (a free!) and easy way to get lots of gold, skeletons, rocks, castle pieces, foliage, etc, etc.

I sold 200+ figs from those two themes alone and only have four left in inventory. I have no doubt (barring super expensive sets) it will work out even better for LOTR. I did this all on Bricklink...

Edited December 22, 201113 yr by Edmond Dantes

  On 12/22/2011 at 4:58 PM, Hikaro Takayama said:

Actually, I'm not so sure about that: In addition to LEGO, I was into Tabletop gaming for a bit (mostly D&D and other more pen and paper types, rather than Warhammer), but I guarantee that most Tabletop gamers will be buying these: Not only are most Tabletop gamers BIG Lord of the Rings fans, but (brace yourself), LEGO minifigs and sets are actually the CHEAP alternative, when compared to normal Tabletop gaming miniatures (a Warhammer Empire musket squad, which consists of six musketmen, costs about $30-$40, and that doesn't include the glue or paint). Furthermore, you don't have to paint minifigs, and LEGO minifigs are poseable and durable, unlike most gaming miniatures. Not to mention you can use the LEGO bricks to build up the scenery for much less than typical tabletop gaming scenery costs as well.

As a matter of fact, that is why my gaming friends in the Navy and I used LEGOs instead of normal gaming miniatures and scenery for our D&D game sessions.

...Of course, that might get Games Workshop up in arms because nobody's buying their over-priced LoTR tabletop game miniatures, but it will, most likely, boost sales for LEGO.

I've been wanting to do the same thing with other games (mainly the old Star Wars RPG from West End Games, and old-school AD&D) for years, myself.

  On 12/22/2011 at 1:51 AM, Frank-Lloyd-Knight said:

I think all of the sets look alright individually. My only critique is that as a collection, they all look the same, and sort of monochrome -- namely mostly fights with orcs on top of piles of grey rocks/stone walls. I think they might have deferred releasing one of these sets in favor of a second peaceful set with a bit of color in it (Maybe something like leaving Lothlorien in the elven boats, or one of the numerous forest scenes) just to add some variety. But of course this is just the first wave, and the unofficial pictures might not give the best representation of the actual sets.

I have to agree with you here. The sets all seem to have battles and ambushes in them, and though that is what makes LEGO 'exciting', there are many other exciting scenes that don't involve fighting in the series. Take the Hobbit, for instance. The scenes with Smaug would make great sets, no matter most of them don't involve fighting.

  On 12/22/2011 at 5:31 PM, Blondie-Wan said:

I've been wanting to do the same thing with other games (mainly the old Star Wars RPG from West End Games, and old-school AD&D) for years, myself.

Heh, thanks to my buying and loaning the Flying Ninja Fortress and one of the Knights Kingdom I sets to the AD&D session we were running, the DM allowed my character to get a super-awesome weapon that would have otherwise not been available.

Anyways, back on topic: Yeah, I have also seen lots and lots of PoTC and other licensed figures on Brick Link for reasonable prices, and most likely will see lots of LoTR figures as well. I mean, even some of the smaller, less "awesome" sets will still likely be very good parts packs. The Isla De Muerta set from the Pirates of the Caribbean line is a perfect example: It is the only PoTC set that I have bought multiples of, and mainly because it is cheap ($20) and has Lots and lots of useful parts (extra musketeer's hat, gold pieces, rowboat and tons of light bley bricks and slopes, all of which I use large quantities of). Several of the LoTR sets look like they might fit that description, particularly Moria, Weathertop, and the Uruk Hai battle pack.

Guys, I've pointed it before - those are all promotionals, not actual impulse sets which come in boxes and are available a lot more widely than promos. It's very likely that yes, they'll come out with promotionals, but they'll likely end up being Frodo on a canoe or something. I still don't see licensed impulses happening. Star Wars doesn't have a single impulse to its name, nor does any other licensed theme.

The thing that I'm trying to reach here is that promos are very rarely leaked before they come out, much less listed among actual sets, so I myself doubt the Orc Forge will be one.

Those are just my thoughts.

  On 12/22/2011 at 5:16 PM, Blondie-Wan said:

I think they'd be a great idea as well, and I'm not actually as doubtful as you are that they'll happen - or rather, I think they might happen in a slightly different form, specifically polybag promos.

I really hope they don't rely solely on poly bags for small, figure centric sets. It would be different if the stores restocked them or if S@H carried them (seriously, why don't they?), but as is if one is popular it will be gone within days of hitting the shelves never to be seen again. I think the boxed impulse sets are the better route because they actually restock them, they aren't limited to one retailer or one part of the world (where is the Dragon soldier polybag? We've got enough Lions), and you can get them through S@H. Having said that, looking at the other licensed themes I am sure there will be some polybags, though it remains to be seen who or what is in them.

  On 12/22/2011 at 5:30 PM, Edmond Dantes said:

I plan on buying a bunch of smaller sets and selling the figs. It worked out very well for me this year and I plan on continuing next year! I did this by using sales, or cheap Target prices with the POTC sets (4181, 4182 and 4192) and HP sets (4865, 4867, 4736) and made all my money back from selling the figs - I ended up with 40+ sets for free, just with no figs. It was (a free!) and easy way to get lots of gold, skeletons, rocks, castle pieces, foliage, etc, etc.

I sold 200+ figs from those two themes alone and only have four left in inventory. I have no doubt (barring super expensive sets) it will work out even better for LOTR. I did this all on Bricklink...

I did something similar with the smaller end of the newest Ninjago sets. I ordered several once they hit TRU, and they were on sale at B1G1 half off, and I pretty well recovered my costs by selling the ninjas. I was after the snake parts and snake figures. If the LotR sets are on sale, then I believe this will be a decent strategy with the sets like Helm's Deep that have characters like Haldir and Theoden that are thus far not in other sets.

Edited December 22, 201113 yr by Tyrant

  On 12/22/2011 at 4:58 PM, Hikaro Takayama said:

Actually, I'm not so sure about that: In addition to LEGO, I was into Tabletop gaming for a bit (mostly D&D and other more pen and paper types, rather than Warhammer), but I guarantee that most Tabletop gamers will be buying these: Not only are most Tabletop gamers BIG Lord of the Rings fans, but (brace yourself), LEGO minifigs and sets are actually the CHEAP alternative, when compared to normal Tabletop gaming miniatures (a Warhammer Empire musket squad, which consists of six musketmen, costs about $30-$40, and that doesn't include the glue or paint). Furthermore, you don't have to paint minifigs, and LEGO minifigs are poseable and durable, unlike most gaming miniatures. Not to mention you can use the LEGO bricks to build up the scenery for much less than typical tabletop gaming scenery costs as well.

As a BrikWars (and Warhammer 40K) player I plan on adding the minifigures from these sets to my Lego armies if not build them up into armies of their own. I would love to build up Elf and Rohan armies if the budget allows, which is why I'm really hoping for battle packs. In my gaming group we use minifigs for our Star Wars rpg (and if other GM request minifig for their fantasy game I am willing to hook them up) and I have used Lego built "ruins" for Warhammer 40K terrain. So I would agree that tabletop and rpg gamers will probably be getting this line as well.

Edited December 22, 201113 yr by omegabob

  On 12/22/2011 at 4:53 PM, General Magma said:

It would be a nice idea, but I very much doubt that they would do a Lothlorien Elf impulse set - then they'd just make a whole new figure for the smallest set of the theme.

Maybe is the mysterious 9475 LEGO set an Lothlorien set (just my thought) ?? -Than it could be possible that LEGO produces a Lothlorien soldier impulse set.

  On 12/22/2011 at 4:53 PM, General Magma said:

It would be more like, Rohan soldiers, Gondorian soldiers, etc.

But then they'd have to do Uruk-hai or orc impulses, but goblin impulses are possible along with that. Nearly all orcs look different... armoury, body, facial features - so an impulse of that would be a bit meh for the 'accurate variety', but good for the figures.

You're right if you say that every orc has a another look. In that case must a orc impulse set have changeable options. For example: 2x different faces + 2x diff. helmets + 3x body options(2x diff. armors, 1x torso look) + 3x weapon options (lance, sword and targe, bow and arrow)

= 2 x 2 x 3 x 3 = 36 variant types of orcs.

->if you want the complete collection -than you would have to buy 36x orc impulse sets. (...as I said before)

  On 12/22/2011 at 4:53 PM, General Magma said:

On the other side, I doubt they're gonna do impulse sets at all. Collectible figures are more likely.

The Orc Forge won't be an impulse set either - to those who thought so.

~ General Magma

Someone has written that "The Orc Forge 9476" a kind forge set is. Sounds logical. Maybe a small Isengard cave with some orcs & uruks. Sounds like a battle pack (my thought).

Edited December 22, 201113 yr by Elander

I was just looking at the new review of the Collectible Minifigures Series 6, and I was looking at the Celtic Warrior's sword. Does anyone else think that this sword could be used for Aragorn/Boromir/Gandalf/Nazgul? I also did notice on the prelims that the Nazgul in the Weathertop set both have what looks like a dark bley sword, but in the design of the classic chrome ones. Also, the Nazgul on the left of the box (on the rearing horse) has a sword that is a bit more pointy that the others. Also, Aragorn has the same dark bley sword in Helm's Deep. Could this celtic longsword be a new mould for this theme?

This is probably a minor point amongst all the actual discussion but shouldn't the question mark in the title be removed now?

I'm looking forward to this line so much SW may have to take a back burner for a bit.