Another solution is not to make all 13 Dwarves, just the ones with more prominent roles in the movies (not a popular solution, I know).

  On 2/16/2012 at 1:07 PM, deskp said:

...

Continuing my Eomer hair quest

This hair looks perfect in the back

The front LINK is acceptable. knowing some of the girlie-ness will dissapear with Eomers beard.

We have a winner! This just might drive up sales of these Friends sets...

@ Ash: DaleDVM was merely pointing out that the Uruk-hai Attack set is there for people who prefer multi-faction army-builder set, so BPs should cater to those who prefer the single-faction option. Wanting multi-faction BPs would mean no single-faction option, while the multi-faction niche is filled.

Edited February 16, 201213 yr by Ardelon

In regards to the Battle Packs (BPs), give LEGO a chance to figure things out. I welcome BPs in the LotR line no matter how LEGO decides to release them. I believe LEGO is testing the waters with the two-faction BP. In the past and with the SW line, each BP was a specific side. The 2010 release featured the Rebel and Empire The Empire Empire Strikes Back Hoth BPs. From my experience and with what I've seen, the Empire BPs sold better than the Rebel BPs. In fact, the TRUs in my area that still sell these have a ton of the Rebel BPs left.

Either way LEGO does it, there are going to be fans on different side of the fence. Here's how I see it. It's my understanding that the Star Wars BPs were initially created so you can build your army. You can build either side depending on your preference. So if I wanted Clones, I could buy just the Clone BP. I personally prefer the single faction BP because I can army build the side that I want. With the new two-faction BP, I'm forced to have both sides. In the case of the current Clone Wars BPs I still want a ton of Clones but I can now only get them in increments of 2. I like the Commando Droids that are included with this set but I don't want an equal army of Clones and Commando Droids. The Commando Droids are specialized Droids and you never see an army of them in the Clone Wars.

Now with the LotR theme my preferences are different. I will welcome and buy a ton of BPs regardless of which faction it is. To me LotR is the theme where I want a large army of both sides. So at this point it doesn't matter to me if LEGO does the single faction or two-faction BPs.

I know it's easy to say buy/trade/sell on Bricklink the minifigs and pieces you want and don't want but here's the thing. It's not an inconvenience to me but it's an inconvenience to others. It's an inconvenience to kids (the target group of LEGO) and their parents. The only people that will be doing the whole trading and selling what they don't want are the AFOLs.

Bottom line, no matter what format LEGO chooses, not everyone's going to be happy.

  On 2/16/2012 at 3:37 PM, Ardelon said:

@ Ash: DaleDVM was merely pointing out that the Uruk-hai Attack set is there for people who prefer multi-faction army-builder set, so BPs should cater to those who prefer the single-faction option. Wanting multi-faction BPs would mean no single-faction option, while the multi-faction niche is filled.

I get where he's coming from. I was just stating a personal preference, I'm not trying to will a reality where people other than me can't get what they want or anything . Actually my personal preference would be for some sort of deluxe pre-moria "Fellowship" set with bonus Bill the Pony! I'm sure that would cost a fortune.

Changing the subject and speaking of things equine something I'd really like to see: Shadowfax. I'm a little disappointed with the Gandalf we got. It's a bit too generic wizard for me. But mounted on an exlusive horse with sword and staff would be pretty cool.

Edited February 16, 201213 yr by Ash

  On 2/16/2012 at 4:04 PM, Ash said:

I'm a little disappointed with the Gandalf we got. It's a bit too generic wizard for me. But mounted on an exlusive horse with sword and staff would be pretty cool.

He really should have one of them "skirt" pieces. I believe they wold have given him that if he didnt come in a set where he needs to sit, now we'll propably never get updated gandalf.

Hes kinda lost he soul in the current minifig, A new hat would have been good (they could stop producing the current one)

  On 2/16/2012 at 4:12 PM, deskp said:

He really should have one of them "skirt" pieces. I believe they wold have given him that if he didnt come in a set where he needs to sit, now we'll propably never get updated gandalf.

Hes kinda lost he soul in the current minifig, A new hat would have been good (they could stop producing the current one)

I think one of the problems, costume aside, is that a couple of his distinctive features (in the films) simply don't translate well into Lego. Notably the nose and the hair. Having a closer look at the figure now the beard, eyebrows and wrinkles are OK. But without that lank scraggly hair and giant hooter it's just not the Gandalf I remember. Interestingly if we did get a Gandalf the white plus Shafowfax at a later date he *should* have hair instead of a hat.

I know a few people have been discussing alternative hair for Eomer. Any suiggestions for the big G? I'm guessing there aren't too many long scraggly grey hair pieces. I only the did an old hippy minifig to go along with the VW van or something ;)

Edited February 16, 201213 yr by Ash

  On 2/16/2012 at 4:12 PM, deskp said:

Hes kinda lost he soul in the current minifig, A new hat would have been good (they could stop producing the current one)

Other people have already said this, but a molded hat/hair piece like Jack Sparrow's would work perfectly and would set Gandalf apart from Majisto and the other generic wizards. At this point, though, I'm not sure how likely it is TLG would redesign him. I think the best we can hope for in future waves is a Khazad-dum set that includes a Gandalf sans hat but with a new hair mold.

  On 2/16/2012 at 4:12 PM, deskp said:

He really should have one of them "skirt" pieces. I believe they wold have given him that if he didnt come in a set where he needs to sit, now we'll propably never get updated gandalf.

Hes kinda lost he soul in the current minifig, A new hat would have been good (they could stop producing the current one)

I'm not too upset with the new Gandalf. Sure, the hat could be updated, but it still works. I think the reason Gandalf seems lacking is because he has no leg print, and his staff is lame. Its just a stick. Really, LEGO! Could they not have done at least a cool pice that fits on the top so it looks like his staff! Also, I don't think they should use the "skirt" piece for Gandalf. It would mean he couldn't ride a horse. I prefer only female characters having the "skirts" because it is more fitting (although it does look great on the new Nute Gunray). We will get a Gandalf the White, and that will call for more new molds. He will need new hair, Shadowfax, and maybe a new staff. Anyway, I'm not gonna complain too much about anything. I'm still amazed LEGO is even doing this theme!

Just having a browse now. Dumbledore hair is a reasonable match in style and colour. If colour wasn't an issue I'd go with Ginny Weasley (well except or the hairclip!) or Elizabeth Swann

Actually seeing what people with more resourced, funds and talent than I do with this kind of stuff is one thing I'm really looking forward to. There's obviously some amazing LOTR customs amd MOCs already but it'll be interesting to see what people do once the official stuff is added to the mix.

Edited February 16, 201213 yr by Ash

  On 2/16/2012 at 4:21 PM, newwavejunkie said:

Other people have already said this, but a molded hat/hair piece like Jack Sparrow's would work perfectly and would set Gandalf apart from Majisto and the other generic wizards. At this point, though, I'm not sure how likely it is TLG would redesign him. I think the best we can hope for in future waves is a Khazad-dum set that includes a Gandalf sans hat but with a new hair mold.

Sorry for the double post. I think that a Khazad Dum set would be the perfect place to redesign Gandalf the grey. Also, I think that they should make the hair a beard all one piece, like Hagrid's. I think if they took the Elizabeth Swann hair from POTC and combined it with the new Gandalf beard, all in light bley, that would be perfect! Sure, might look a bit strange, but I think it is the best way about it. Same could be done for Saruman, only the would need to make a completely new mold due to his straight hair. It would make capes a problem, but in Moria, Gandalf loses his cape before he gets to the bridge, and Saruman would look better with a "skirt" piece rather than a cape.

Also, on the topic of "skirts", it would work well for Grima and a sick Theoden.

I know people like to army build and fair play to them, each to their own and I respect most opinions and wants but remember that lego is a construction toy and a playset primarily. It never has been nor ever will be games workshop and I'm glad of that. Two very separate collectables and I'm glad that Lego moved towards the opposing factions/battle in a box for star wars this year, my kids love it. The PoTC one didn't seem to sell well because it had Jack Sparrow in it, as did every set It was however a battle in a box(blister pack) I hope if LoTR ones appear they are in a similar vein of the new star wars ones.

I think we will see another version of gandalf and a mold similar to that of Jack's hair would be great as would have been the same with a wizard/witch hat with hair similar to the tri corner hat. It's hard to know how Lego would produce a wizard hat in plastic that looks beat up. If they could it would suit a new Scarecrow figure also for the Superheroes line.

But looking at Indys fedora, Jacks hat it isn't easy to replicate in shiny ABS

I was secretly hoping that "Uruk-Hai Army" was the battlepack (Similar to the star wars ones). If it was a smaller set, i.e. get rid of the wall and sell it for £12.99 I would love it. That's the type of battlepack I want, two factions in one box. I guess LEGO will be making Battlepacks though, because if any theme needs them, it's LOTR!

  On 2/16/2012 at 4:56 PM, halfpenguinhalflego said:

I was secretly hoping that "Uruk-Hai Army" was the battlepack (Similar to the star wars ones). If it was a smaller set, i.e. get rid of the wall and sell it for £12.99 I would love it. That's the type of battlepack I want, two factions in one box. I guess LEGO will be making Battlepacks though, because if any theme needs them, it's LOTR!

wait a little longer, there will be something like that ;)

  On 2/16/2012 at 3:28 PM, halfpenguinhalflego said:

I'm still wondering how they'll fit 13 Hobbits DWARVES (Not Hobbits! ) into the 8(?) sets for the Hobbit film. Although they have two movies to span them over with.

LOTR managed to get twelve good guys (the fellowship, Haldir, Theoden and Eomer) and a generic Rohan soldier into the first wave, so I don't think it's out of the question that we will see Bilbo, Gandalf and the thirteen dwarves in the first wave, although they might hold a few of the less interesting ones (Dori, Ori, Nori, Oin, Gloin, Bifur and Bofur do the least in the books) back for the second.

In addition to this, we know that some characters will not appear until the second film (Dain, possibly Smaug, Master of Lake Town and Bard to name but a few) leaving the amount of characters available for the first wave to be fairly low. There are also fewer 'armies', Goblins and Elves are the main humanoid forces, whilst there are Wolves, Eagles and Spider creatures.

There are also far fewer characters in The Hobbit than LOTR, albeit with the inclusion of characters not originally in the book such as Legolas and Radagast actually appearing rather than just a mention.

So anyway, I am sure The Hobbit sets will give us a good range of minigures

I hope The Hobbit gets a full wave of sets, and not jsut a few like some themes has in the past.

On the side:

I really don't know for how long the Lego Lord of the Rings line will endure, and I really don't know what are the specificities of the license.

I guess we will have LotR sets this year (after all, the first sets are coming out in the middle of the year and The Hobbit is only coming out by the end of 2012), then 2013 (going strong with the release of The Hobbit in the end of 2012 and the Hobbit pt 2 in then end of 2013), then 2014 (with The Hobbit pt 2 going strong) and maybe -- just maybe -- one or two final waves in 2015. Which would give us about 8 waves.

As for the license, I believe that it's about the movies, and the movies only. It does not concern the books* (that's only my belief, mind you -- I have no inside information whatsoever). Nevertheless, that is a lot of options -- from army building Battle Packs to all types of buildings, scenery and vigenntes. I do hope Lego goes the opposite way it went with Pirates of the Caribbean, with more "complete" buildings and characters (and some opponents) like Kingdoms or Castle than small vignettes (PotC had too many vignette sets IMHO) and "imcomplete" building like that tavern from The London Escape.

* The Lord of the Rings Online MMORPG did profit A LOT from its The Lord of the Rings License -- Turbine can only use things like places and characters from the books, but that is just a lot of stuff! For in the books there are many things mentioned, stories told and so on and so forth. I only wish the Lego LotR license was just like this.

  On 2/16/2012 at 6:10 PM, Artifex said:

As for the license, I believe that it's about the movies, and the movies only. It does not concern the books* (that's only my belief, mind you -- I have no inside information whatsoever). Nevertheless, that is a lot of options -- from army building Battle Packs to all types of buildings, scenery and vigenntes. I do hope Lego goes the opposite way it went with Pirates of the Caribbean, with more "complete" buildings and characters (and some opponents) like Kingdoms or Castle than small vignettes (PotC had too many vignette sets IMHO) and "imcomplete" building like that tavern from The London Escape.

* The Lord of the Rings Online MMORPG did profit A LOT from its The Lord of the Rings License -- Turbine can only use things like places and characters from the books, but that is just a lot of stuff! For in the books there are many things mentioned, stories told and so on and so forth. I only wish the Lego LotR license was just like this.

As far as the books go, very few characters were missed out entirely. Tom Bombadil, Goldberry, Imrahil, Halbarad, Elladan and Elrohir were written out entirely, and Erkenbrand, Glorfindel and Beregond had their parts given to others. The Barrow-Wights, Druedain, Dunedain and various Gondorian armies, such as Dol Amroth are the only major forces that don't make it to film. This is from memory, so I might have made some glaring errors here!

The poster has the New Line Cinema logo, so I guess it is just for the films. It's a shame to think we're missing out on those characters, and certain locations like the Barrow-Downs or the Old Forest.

  On 2/16/2012 at 7:20 PM, Seaber said:

As far as the books go, very few characters were missed out entirely. Tom Bombadil, Goldberry, Imrahil, Halbarad, Elladan and Elrohir were written out entirely, and Erkenbrand, Glorfindel and Beregond had their parts given to others. The Barrow-Wights, Druedain, Dunedain and various Gondorian armies, such as Dol Amroth are the only major forces that don't make it to film. This is from memory, so I might have made some glaring errors here!

The poster has the New Line Cinema logo, so I guess it is just for the films. It's a shame to think we're missing out on those characters, and certain locations like the Barrow-Downs or the Old Forest.

It is a shame, but how would LEGO make them? With the films, they have something to base the sets and minifigs on. I know that some people may disagree with the way some characters and locations were presented in the films, but for the majority of people (not die-hard fans), what they see in the films is what the characters look like. I don't think it is LEGO's place to determine what a certain character looks like. Kids are less likely to buy a set with a fig based on a book, because they don't have any previous idea of what they look like. But when it comes to the films, the characters are instantly recognizable, and kids will look at these sets and say "Wow, that looks just like the movie!"

  On 2/16/2012 at 7:49 PM, Fives said:

It is a shame, but how would LEGO make them? With the films, they have something to base the sets and minifigs on. I know that some people may disagree with the way some characters and locations were presented in the films, but for the majority of people (not die-hard fans), what they see in the films is what the characters look like. I don't think it is LEGO's place to determine what a certain character looks like. Kids are less likely to buy a set with a fig based on a book, because they don't have any previous idea of what they look like. But when it comes to the films, the characters are instantly recognizable, and kids will look at these sets and say "Wow, that looks just like the movie!"

Exactly. With characters like the Mouth of Sauron, there is some hope to see a minifigure of him, even though he didn't appear in the theatrical cut. Where some characters (for example Halbarad, Beregond, Erkenbrand) are mostly a standard uniform with a unique head, these would not be hard to make your own. But someone like Mr. Bombadil would be nigh on impossible with standard pieces.

I know some trading cards exist with official Weta designs, but as they don't show up on the screen, chances are obscenely low.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings_Trading_Card_Game

  On 2/16/2012 at 8:18 PM, Seaber said:

But someone like Mr. Bombadil would be nigh on impossible with standard pieces.

What? lego can't do a guy in a hat and coat with a beard?

Gandalf beard and printed tophat would work out just fine..

By the way, I don't want a minifig of him.

Also the weta designs was exclusivly for the trading cards. never intended for the movies.

Edited February 16, 201213 yr by deskp

  On 2/16/2012 at 3:15 PM, Ash said:

I think Pirates of the Carribean have one. It will vary license to license. Star Wars makes sense because Star Wars action figures are such a massive industry. Lord of the Rings not so much, although there were some and I'm sure there will be for the Hobbit.

Ah, you're right. Hmm, I never knew about it... you can't build an army using that, so it's a slightly different case.

Would it really impact other action figure sales that much? With Lord of the Rings though, there have been quite a few of those models and small figures, so I think it'll be the same way.

(And of course, I'm automatically not interested if things aren't available from stores, which is why I'm pretty much anti-figure-only-battlepacks.)

  On 2/16/2012 at 8:53 PM, deskp said:

What? lego can't do a guy in a hat and coat with a beard?

Gandalf beard and printed tophat would work out just fine..

By the way, I don't want a minifig of him.

Also the weta designs was exclusivly for the trading cards. never intended for the movies.

I actually think what a real challenge would be is the Bombur minifig.

  On 2/16/2012 at 9:26 PM, Delta 38 said:

(And of course, I'm automatically not interested if things aren't available from stores, which is why I'm pretty much anti-figure-only-battlepacks.)

I understand why people want a BP with only one faction, but you have touched a point very valuable too, if they make BP of a single faction, only US, and some countries in Europe will have them at hand, I prefer the two factions battle packs for that way, but will like for the added build, a tree, statues, or something useful for landscapping instead of the catapult or cart they usually tend to put on these sets.

And for the fans a funny video on the web.

Don't know if this has been shared, but there will be a LEGO Hobbit video game coming out this Winter.

It turns out that yes, thanks to this poster on display at the LEGO booth at the New York Toy Fair 2012, which did not raise a ton of comments on forums around. However, it presumably openly announce the launch of the next LEGO video game based on The Hobbit license for late 2012.

The timing seems consistent: the game will resume probably the scenario of the film The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey , which if known by all those who have read Tolkien, is much less from the general public will discover the adventures of the Hobbits in the film.

Nothing more about this video game for now, he'll have to wait an official announcement or at least a trailer.

Source (translated from French): Lord of the Brick

-Sci

  On 2/16/2012 at 10:48 PM, Niku said:

I actually think what a real challenge would be is the Bombur minifig.

Hmm... Maybe not, they could use either a new beard piece or print it on the face (beard piece would be better) then for the body they could print the braid and do what they did with Dudley Dursley in Lego Hp 5-7, print the shirt on the hips piece, Midget legs, and have him hold a frying pan

  On 2/16/2012 at 11:02 PM, CM4S said:

Don't know if this has been shared, but there will be a LEGO Hobbit video game coming out this Winter.

It turns out that yes, thanks to this poster on display at the LEGO booth at the New York Toy Fair 2012, which did not raise a ton of comments on forums around. However, it presumably openly announce the launch of the next LEGO video game based on The Hobbit license for late 2012.

The timing seems consistent: the game will resume probably the scenario of the film The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey , which if known by all those who have read Tolkien, is much less from the general public will discover the adventures of the Hobbits in the film.

Nothing more about this video game for now, he'll have to wait an official announcement or at least a trailer.

Source (translated from French): Lord of the Brick

-Sci

There is a Lego board game announced. theres also been announced a non lego related Hobbit game.

I'm not gonna trust that site for now. tat poster only confirms the lego sets coming winter.

Theres no game studio logo on there.

____________

As for the bombur minifig, I think a molded hair-beard-braid would give him some weight.

Edited February 16, 201213 yr by deskp

  On 2/16/2012 at 11:16 PM, deskp said:

There is a Lego board game announced. theres also been announced a non lego related Hobbit game.

I'm not gonna trust that site for now. tat poster only confirms the lego sets coming winter.

Theres no game studio logo on there.

This source may be wrong, but it is curious that there is no video coming out for LOTR. I was expecting them to make a game for all three LOTR films, and then two games, one for each Hobbit film, and then finally a last game combing all three games in one! I know, four games is a bit much, but it would be awesome.