Won't we get some detailed pictures during the January Lego toy fair or whatever it's called?

Did anyone notice that the sets say June. I though the LOTR wave was supposed to be in March?

Edited December 27, 201212 yr by Mahtion

  On 12/27/2012 at 1:34 AM, Mahtion said:

Won't we get some detailed pictures during the January Lego toy fair or whatever it's called?

That'll be the NYCC Toy Fair in early February.

Loving the new sets. Definitely picking up the 2 smallest sets. A pity we didn't get the Balrog, but the minifigure selection is great. Hope Arwen looks good!

Are these the only LOTR sets coming in the next wave? Four doesn't seem that many, especially with how small the Wizard Battle looks.

  On 12/27/2012 at 1:40 AM, wesker said:

Are these the only LOTR sets coming in the next wave? Four doesn't seem that many, especially with how small the Wizard Battle looks.

Pretty much. Hey, at least we're getting a second wave. Though, I think there might be a fifth set that is a certain store exclusive, as there is still set number 79009.

  On 12/27/2012 at 1:34 AM, Mahtion said:

Did anyone notice that the sets say June. I though the LOTR wave was supposed to be in March?

The March date was one of the first rumored way back when. The word around here for the past couple of months has been summer 2013, so I'm certainly not surprised. Fits right in with my 2013 LEGO budget plan, lol.

So about that giant dragon-looking creature in the background of the black Gate set... Part of the CGI background or a new creature design for LEGO? I'm surprised no-one's said anything yet - that's the first thing I saw. It does seem to remind me of Smaug more than a Fell Beast, though. Funny.

There's an eagle in the picture of Battle at the Black Gate! I didn't notice it at first, but after looking for what Crownie pointed out I saw the wing poking up behind the logo, and looked down and saw what appears to be an eagle!

Edited December 27, 201212 yr by Legomaster34

  On 12/27/2012 at 2:03 AM, Legomaster34 said:

There's an eagle in the picture of Battle at the Black Gate! I didn't notice it at first, but after looking for what Crownie pointed out I saw the wing poking up behind the logo, and looked down and saw what appears to be an eagle!

There is something there, it's really hard to tell at this point. Time will tell.

  On 12/27/2012 at 2:09 AM, Masked Builder said:

There is something there, it's really hard to tell at this point. Time will tell.

I was trying to think of what else it could be, and at first I thought a Fell Beast, but the color and shape looks more like an eagle. But you're right, time shall tell.

Edited December 27, 201212 yr by Legomaster34

Well, I do think it's definitely part of the set, whatever it it is. It crosses in front of the LOTR banner, which is something that seems to be reserved for set parts only. I've never seen part of a background or something not included in the set cross over graphic banners before. So bird or reptile, it's pretty exciting!

(I can see the eagle now that I stare at it more. Or maybe that means I've been staring too long, lol. It's like a magic eye painting... *stares more* Is that my aunt Mary? )

So is there going to be sets with Gondor soldiers? Or I am just going to be disappointing? Or what about more Rohan soldiers?

No Minas Tirith (or even part of it, like the throne room)? Kind of disappointing. Still, the picture only shows 4 out of the rumored 8 sets. With the Treebeard set and the Balrog set, that makes 6, which leaves 2 sets unrevealed.

Edit: It'll be interesting to see whether LEGO ever does anything related to the Battle of Pelennor Fields, including releasing the elephants.

Edited December 27, 201212 yr by gundamz

I would love some Gondor figs as well. Bugger.

Still, the sets look nice though so will definitely be buying.

Guess the limit of 4 sets is to allow for some hobbit sets as well.

Im really sad. Waaay too many gandalfs.I hate the Idea of the corsair ship over isengard. still no Orthanc. The council set is just waaay too boring. No witch king. no gondor. Is anyone else this disapointed?

I'm going to be disappointed with anything that doesn't result in Gondor soldiers. I swear, Uruk attack aside, this theme seems to be trying to avoid raking in the cash with army builder opportunities.

These are looking pretty good. I can't wait to get a better look at that Council set. I wonder if one of those 9 figs in the corsair set is Jackson...

Well, there's the proof I needed! I still think the selection is odd though... Anyway, I welcome all these sets, but do hope there are more than four!

I am quite surprised that the corsair ship is the flagship of the wave (literally), as far as we can see, rather than the Black Gates. I do think it is a shame that the latter doesn't have at least one Gondor Soldier, or an Olog-hai, but if that is an eagle, it should make up for it I think!

Anyway, I can't wait

I wonder if they scaled down the number of sets to make sure that LOTR and the new castles sets don't conflict.

  On 12/27/2012 at 3:14 AM, SirBlake said:

I'm going to be disappointed with anything that doesn't result in Gondor soldiers. I swear, Uruk attack aside, this theme seems to be trying to avoid raking in the cash with army builder opportunities.

Yeah, TLG is really missing a huge opportunity by not releasing battle packs. It makes no sense: the most memorable scenes, IMO, in LOTR are the massive battle scenes, with waves of troops crashing into each other. But with the current direction, Lego is creating something like the Superheros line but with magic. It's pretty lame and very disappointing.

Maybe if we all flood the official TLG Facebook page with questions about LOTR battlepacks we'll could manage to wrangle an answer out of them?

~Dwarf

Edited December 27, 201212 yr by dwarf-brik

  On 12/27/2012 at 3:30 AM, dwarf-brik said:

But with the current direction, Lego is creating something like the Superheros line but with magic. It's pretty lame and very disappointing.

So by that logic, the Superheroes line is "pretty lame and very disappointing"? It's totally dependent on point of view. I appreciate the fact that Lego is giving us a good variety of sets and covering a lot of bases with these first few waves. For all we know, the theme could be doing extremely well and will stick around for another 3-4 years (leaving plenty of time for battle packs and army building). I don't know what people's expectations are with this theme, but I'd hold off on casting judgment until we're able to look back at the theme as a whole.

I do see an eagle but there is more directly in front of the gate. There seems to be something swooping down where Gandalf is stricken back forced to defend with his staff. It looks more like a Fell Beast to me, the part that looks like the eagle is actually its serpentine tail.

  On 12/27/2012 at 3:36 AM, The_Chosen_1 said:

So by that logic, the Superheroes line is "pretty lame and very disappointing"? It's totally dependent on point of view. I appreciate the fact that Lego is giving us a good variety of sets and covering a lot of bases with these first few waves. For all we know, the theme could be doing extremely well and will stick around for another 3-4 years (leaving plenty of time for battle packs and army building). I don't know what people's expectations are with this theme, but I'd hold off on casting judgment until we're able to look back at the theme as a whole.

Nah, I wasn't saying the the Superhero sets are lame and dissapointing, quite the opposite: the Superhero storoes are all about the superheroes, and as such it wouldn't make sense if you got tons of S.H.I.E.L.D grunts and Chitauri in the sets and very few superheroes. Likewise, as so much of LoTR centers on epic battles, the lack of readily available ways to get large amounts of troops doesn't make much sense.

~Dwarf

Edited December 27, 201212 yr by dwarf-brik

I wouldn't count Corsairs out just yet. It looks like the goblin that Aragorn is fighting is just a fill in Moria Orc. If you look most the figures in the front left hand corner display look like concept drawings since Lego doesn't have the official figures made yet. They did the same thing for the preliminary pictures for the first LotR wave and used a lot of existing Fantasy orcs from the Kingdoms line.

For those still wondering those original 8 sets were obviously a fake rumor. Lego isn't going to release a small wizard duel set with Saruman and then a huge Orthanc in the same wave. It would be pointless. It would be like making the Unexpected Gathering set then a Bilbo's Garden set in the same wave. The bigger set already contains the smaller so why make both?

Personally I am a bit disappointed. Nothing Gondor themed at all, no battle packs, and only 4 sets? What a let down. If you are only gonna do 4 sets at least make one a huge Minas Tirith. I really hope there is at least one medium sized set that's an exclusive or D2C set. Are these generally not shown with the rest of a wave? As for the sets shown they do look decent but other than the Wizard Duel none really seem like huge scenes from the movies (compared to what they could of done.. Balrog battle, Ent attack, Minas Tirith, etc). It looks like a $10, 30-40, 60-80, and $100-130 price range for these sets?

Finally ateast preliminary pictures. besides the wizard battle one, the rest seem pretty much what were expected. I really thought there would be an orthanc set released with this but there is still hope. The council of rivendell looks extremely similiar to the bonus level rivendell structure. The only thing i dont see is the rail that is on the opposite side of the pitched roof. I love the eagle (or what i can see of it) in the battle of the black gates sets. I think thats definitely the best place to include one but also think its strange they only gave the Mouth a horse. (again just from what i can see but it shows gandalf and aragorn fighting from the ground). I am definitely not dissappointed with these sets although i think i will be a little dissappointed if there are only 4 sets released though. I think there is definitely still hope for a balrog set, treebeard set, and maybe something else to be released at the same time though.

If i change my thinking to "Business perspective thinking" and i were TLG, i wouldnt release any battlepacks until people stopped buying the original sets. I would think that the people that are going to 'army build' are doing it still regardless of specific battle packs being released. Whether they are doing it from purchasing multiples of the sets that have thier favorite soldiers in it or buying the figs off of bricklink or ebay, TLG is still making the money off of it. If they buy multiples of the sets, they are contributing to TLG directly and if they are just purchasing the figs then there was still a person who bought the set to resell in the first place. If they hold off on the battlepacks, people are going to continue to do this and TLG is still getting the money. Once people stop buying the original sets im sure TLG will come out with some battle packs to respark interest and im sure people will buy large quantities of those to finish up their armies. For an example with the Corsair ship set. If lego released a "Dead army" battle pack at the same time, people would only need to buy one of the ships and then they could load up on the battle packs and build a huge army of undead soldiers. by holding the release of any battle pack, they are forcing the person building the army to buy additional corsair ships to get the soldiers or buy the soldiers from someone who bought the set. Either way they are forcing people to spend money on the bigger set.

Does Gandalfs staff look different in the picture or is it just me? I cant tell if its just the distortion of the image or it looks like a different mold.

Edited December 27, 201212 yr by jhc2nmfn

Ah, but most people cannot afford multiple big sets. Think about it: if the Corsair set has 3 Dead in it and costs around $80, it'd take almost $200 just to get 6 Dead, and then you'd also have extra characters. Most people don't have a real use for more than one Aragorn, and it's a lotta hassle to sell off extra figs.

Now, if Lego released a Dead Army BP with 4 Dead and some scenery in it, and charged $10-$12, people would be able to build up a good army without redundancy. Really, I think by releasing lower-priced BPs, Lego would conquer sticker-shock and probably end up making more than they would if they didn't do BPs. Most people are much more likely to buy 4-5 $10 sets than they are to buy multiple $80-$100 sets. I'm pretty sure there have been well-recieved psychological studies documenting this effect before.

~Dwarf

I agree that most people can't buy two or more big sets. But even if people would buy 4-5 battlepacks at 10$ a pop, im sure TLG makes a bigger profit of the sale of just one of the larger sets $100 sets. I mean, im sure there are alot of fans that just want the figs, so if TLG released the best figs in small sets then those fans wouldn't even have to mess with anything high dollar. I have no proof but im sure its cheaper for lego to make normal one colored building bricks than it is for them to make minifigs, especially licensed. Just because certain people buy more cheaper sets doesn't mean it would be more profitable because it would definitely cut inti the amount of big sets being sold.