LOTR & The Hobbit 2013 Set Discussion

[Deathleech]

I think Qui Gons hair looks spot on from the top, but Thorins would have been a better fit for the bottom and back.

As for the set itself, the figure printing looks amazing but the brick built part leaves something to be desired. Then again it must be based on PJ added footage since no Laketown chase ever happens in the Hobbit book. Hopefully after seeing the movie the set will make more sense.

The price is one of the highest for a LotR/Hobbit Lego set at almost 15 cents per piece. I have trouble believing the boat justifies this price because the Attack of the Wargs set had two big molded Wargs and was still $50. Then again maybe last years Hobbit sets were wildly popular so Lego thought they could get away with some higher prices this year like they commonly do on their Star Wars sets. We have had a few LotR/Hobbit sets in the 14-0.16 ppp range with Gandalf Arrives and Weathertop.

Lastly I would bet money the Azog figure is only a timed exclusive, or at the very worst a print exclusive. I mean lets look at the facts, it wasn't announced properly like the super hero exclusives much like last years Bilbo wasnt (which was a timed "exclusive"), it has 2 unique, expensive molds Lego will want to reuse and make money off of, AND Azog is a main character that should be made widely available.

Edited July 20, 2013 by Deathleech

[N7LEGO]

EDIT: $1000 for Azog! Holy crap! That seems like a bit much. My bet is its being sold by someone who isn't a LEGO fan (since the figs were being handed out at random, and not at the LEGO booth), so he hopes to get a ridiculous amount of money for it. The most I'd likely pay right now would be maybe $100.

Same for me, if I'm in a good month :D

[deskp]

This may be nitpicking, but I'm starting to get disappointed with the inability to use quivers on some of these minifigs, specifically, all the elves including Legolas, and now Bard the BOWman. I'm not sure why the can't make it so the hairpiece allows spacing for the quivers. I mean, they included the space on the Orc hairpieces in Mines of Moria.

Thoughts?

In LDD you can fit the Qui Gon hair over a quiver, can someone try this with real bricks?

I think the elves would look clunky with space for a quiver. That said it would be good for the ones who use quivers, but not for the rest, a new mold perhaps.

Azog looks much better when you dont see him directly from the front. Good thing about ebay sellers is they post more pictures!

Ebay seller says there was 100Azog figs amde for sdcc, with 2 of them being sold on ebay thats 2% of everyone who got a fig is selling them...

Edited July 20, 2013 by deskp

[Faefrost]

The Lake Town set is growing on me. Especially after watching the MTV video. The buildings seem a little more substantial than I originally thought, and the figs are incredible.

I'm thinking that it will probably be 5 boxed retail sets, plus maybe a few Polybags (retail ones and special giveaways). I know I am just dreaming, but how cool would it be if Smaug was to be a set like Orthanc or the Ewok Village? But where Smaug himself is the huge central build. A UCS type huge jointed and articulated organic creature. Now that would be awesome.

[deskp]

The Lake Town set is growing on me. Especially after watching the MTV video. The buildings seem a little more substantial than I originally thought, and the figs are incredible.

I'm thinking that it will probably be 5 boxed retail sets, plus maybe a few Polybags (retail ones and special giveaways). I know I am just dreaming, but how cool would it be if Smaug was to be a set like Orthanc or the Ewok Village? But where Smaug himself is the huge central build. A UCS type huge jointed and articulated organic creature. Now that would be awesome.

Wouldn't 1000 pieces be enough? wich would simply make it the falgship of the wave.. Also ewok village and orthanc isnt USC i don't think.

helms deep is 1368 pieces for example..

[TheLegoDr]

I guess I must be the only one to think Azog looks ..that spacing between the molded head piece and the torso doesn't sit too well for me. The expression is okay, albeit a bit blank. I'd think he'd have a little more life in his eyes...

I realize he is a main antagonist and I would assume he would be in a set sometime, but I'm not very upset about not getting this exclusive.

As for Laketown, the set itself looks great. I don't like the price though. I will definitely wait for a sale. But the figures look nice and I could always use those pieces for something.

[WEREWOLF]

like Elrond, Azog will be in a future set. Real Talk

[Darth Lurtz]

If the set looked the same but had around 450 pieces, people would be praising it.

[Seaber]

The boat is much to narrow compared to the one it is based on (in the DOS sneak peak), so perhaps it could have used this piece:

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemPic.asp?P=33129

However, I don't care. Thorin's new torso looks good. The Master looks good. The guard (who I though would have reused the PoP helmet) looks good. Bard looks good, and the Qui-Gon hairpiece is the best for him, and almost perfectly works with quivers, unless they've modded the mold.

I hope that they didn't include a version of Bilbo we already have at the expense of another one. However, that's speculating, so this set looks brilliant to me.

[Flobnomdob]

In LDD you can fit the Qui Gon hair over a quiver, can someone try this with real bricks?

I've checked- and a quiver does fit. You just have to rotate the hair slightly to the minifig's right side. This is not inconvenient at all as this is the direction they'd look to fire an arrow anyway.

Also, I'm so happy they've finally brought this hairpiece in another colour! In black it'll make a much more movie-accurate Lurtz at Amon Hen. Perfect!

[deskp]

The guard (who I though would have reused the PoP helmet)

Yes, I was expecting that aswell, a printed version of it, I'm so happy they didn't!

And yeah People should judge the quality of the set without the price tag. I think it's a very good laketown representation.

[Flobnomdob]

Oh, and another point- why must Azog be tan? He's the Pale Orc! Every custom of him I've seen so far has been white! Imagine how he'd look 'astride a white Warg', the colours would clash! Well, I pretty much hate everything about the Azog minifig anyway... That head, the unimaginative weapon and it's unavailability and mere existence outside a set I can afford. Maybe it's only an exclusive because of the head.

Has no-one noticed yet how much PJ likes topless loincloth wearing characters? The Great Goblin, Gollum, goblins and Azog all have more or less the same colour scheme.

[Jargo]

I'm disappointed the Lake Town buildings aren't dark brown. Or have more dark brown in them. They look a bit bland in reddish brown. The minifigs are colourful and the boat is reddish brown so it isn't like the set would be too drab. I just think it looked a bit richer and more interesting in the render.

[Str0ngbad]

If the set looked the same but had around 450 pieces, people would be praising it.

This is true in my case. I like the set a lot (not as much as if it had been primarily dark brown) but I don't buy Lego sets just to display them. Every set eventually (usually pretty quickly) gets cannibalized for parts to build my own stuff with. Value is important for any of us who can't buy everything we might want to and for many of us, the number of pieces we get is a major factor in that. For other LOTR sets with high price/piece ratios we got a cave troll, horses, or wargs to justify it. I just don't see that in this set. There is no way that dinghy is worth a $15 mark up.

[deskp]

Oh, and another point- why must Azog be tan? He's the Pale Orc! Every custom of him I've seen so far has been white! Imagine how he'd look 'astride a white Warg', the colours would clash! Well, I pretty much hate everything about the Azog minifig anyway... That head, the unimaginative weapon and it's unavailability and mere existence outside a set I can afford. Maybe it's only an exclusive because of the head.

Has no-one noticed yet how much PJ likes topless loincloth wearing characters? The Great Goblin, Gollum, goblins and Azog all have more or less the same colour scheme.

I like azog not being white, As does weta workshop, hes far from completely white. Lego Grima is also pale, using the same color as Azog.

If you want a little more flexible look at the Laketown set, i made a LDD file, obviously i don't know all the specifics. Theres a breakaway wall missing obviously, and I dont know what the backsides look like.

lake town.lxf

Edited July 20, 2013 by deskp

[Fives]

Yeah, it's just the moonlight scenes that made him look white in AUJ. During the Battle of Azanulbizar, he wasn't white.

It does seem funny, though, how Gollum, the GG and Azog have all been giving the tan skin treatment.

[Lynx]

I guess I must be the only one to think Azog looks ..that spacing between the molded head piece and the torso doesn't sit too well for me. The expression is okay, albeit a bit blank. I'd think he'd have a little more life in his eyes...

No, you're not the only one. The head+upper torso concept worked for the collectible minifigures Minotaur (due to fur or/ and chest muscles, I guess), but on Azog it looks to use your expression. Oh well, this CGI villain that should have been slain long ago deserves no better!

[Fives]

Oh well, this CGI villain that should have been slain long ago deserves no better!

Haha, very good!

On the one hand, I absolutely love this fig, and he's gone up to the top of my fave figs list along with the Mouth and Gandalf the White.

But I do see where the flaws are, and where LEGO could've done better. They had two better choices: 1. Make the torso/head/arms all special, like Dogpound from TMNT. That could've looked amazing,,and given Azog that bigger, more muscular look he needs. 2. Make the upper part of his loincloth armour thing that's printed part of the head piece, so it covers all the torso like Chewie or Krell. I think the awkward bosom the piece gives him makes him look weird.

[deskp]

But I do see where the flaws are, and where LEGO could've done better. They had two better choices: 1. Make the torso/head/arms all special, like Dogpound from TMNT. That could've looked amazing,,and given Azog that bigger, more muscular look he needs. 2. Make the upper part of his loincloth armour thing that's printed part of the head piece, so it covers all the torso like Chewie or Krell. I think the awkward bosom the piece gives him makes him look weird.

I think they should have made the torso/head one new piece, but make it so you could connect classic arms to it. I think Dog pund starts looking too much like an action figure, I like me some of that classic lego charm. (the arms could have been the long variation if needed, the point is they should be connected higher.

[Darth Nader]

I don't think the new Azog looks that bad, but I do agree with other people saying it needs bigger and more muscular arms. The set they revealed looks cool, the price is about $10 to high but it's still a nice and detailed set. But is there any interesting action features included in the set? Because all I see is those little catapults that have been included in a lot of other LOTR and hobbit sets.

[Str0ngbad]

I don't hate Azog but he does look strange. I think the chewie option would look bad on him too. The main problem in my eyes is that his arms begin a good deal lower than his shoulders. The minotaur minimizes this problem by having its shoulder fur taper all the way down to the beginning of the arms as well as extend past them horizontally to keep him from looking disproportionately tall from the arms up. The gap that is left between the shoulders and the arms on Azog is a bit of an eyesore.

Edited July 20, 2013 by Str0ngbad

[Lynx]

I think they should have made the torso/head one new piece, but make it so you could connect classic arms to it. I think Dog pund starts looking too much like an action figure, I like me some of that classic lego charm. (the arms could have been the long variation if needed, the point is they should be connected higher.

I love reading you two (Deskp/ Fives) discussing things as I imagine your avatars talking to each other. I don't think Thranduil and Azog will be engage in such civilised conversation come December.

On topic, I just noted the price point for Lake Town Chase (50 USD). I expect 90 or 100 AUD for 334 pieces, which is difficult to accept. I am slightly worried that this set was shown at SDCC, given the (arguable) best Hobbit set was shown last year. But then other sets could still be 'secret' due to plot reveals, so I'm hoping an Erebor, Beorn, Radagast or Silvan set will have a greater appeal to me.

Edited July 20, 2013 by Lynx

[Fives]

I love reading you two (Deskp/ Fives) discussing things as I imagine your avatars talking to each other. I don't think Thranduil and Azog will be engage in such civilised conversation come December.

On topic, I just noted the price point for Lake Town Chase (50 USD). I expect 90 or 100 AUD for 334 pieces, which is difficult to accept. I am slightly worried that this set was shown at SDCC, given the (arguable) best Hobbit set was shown last year. But then other sets could still be 'secret' due to plot reveals, so I'm hoping an Erebor, Beorn, Radagast or Silvan set will have a greater appeal to me.

Bag End, by far, the best Hobbit set, and honestly just a fantastic set in general. The thing with this year, though, is that anything really iconic, we haven't seen before. Bag End was in LOTR, so no spoilers there. But everything in DOS is new, so it seems like they went with a smaller set to help build up anticipation for a Smaug set, which seems to have been hinted at in that MTV video.

Also, Erebor should be saved for the BO5A. That way, LEGO can spend the money on making the mountain big and having the amount of figs necessary for the scene without having to worry about a dragon taking up space.

[deskp]

Is there any interesting action features included in the set? Because all I see is those little catapults that have been included in a lot of other LOTR and hobbit sets.

There is a door thing that swings open with the fish barrel. Secret hiding for Bard i would imagine. Or soemthing he can knock over as he runs through!

Edited July 20, 2013 by deskp

[Fives]

I really wish that someone would take some pics of Azog out-of-box and standing alongside other figs, and maybe his Warg. I think it would really be helpful for a lot of us to see the fig standing with some others, so we get a real sense of his height and how awkward the new head may look next to classic figs.