LOTR & The Hobbit 2013 Set Discussion

[Darth Malgus]

That's not true- the Death Star featured areas from both Episode IV and Episode VI, and I'm pretty sure there was another major liscensed set (Hogwarts, maybe?) that featured items/features/characters from a variety of movies that couldn't have canonically existed together. Heck, there's even a precedent for it in the Tolkien sets themselves- Bag End had the Dwarves and maps that were clearly from the beginning of the Hobbit, but also included Sting and Bilbo's book that wouldn't have been there until after the movies completion.

With Characters such as Eoweyn or Hama from Rohan that haven't been done I cannot see why they would place another Theoden in this set. Core characters I understand repication but fringe characters I don't. With Respect to the Death Star the reason it featured both EP 4 and Ep 6 characters is the death star was in two movies, not unlike the Orthanc except the characters in the DS where more core characters even though some were repeated. I don't see Theoden as being a core character as far as Orthanc is considered. That was my point.

[KyleJohnson11]

That's not true- the Death Star featured areas from both Episode IV and Episode VI, and I'm pretty sure there was another major liscensed set (Hogwarts, maybe?) that featured items/features/characters from a variety of movies that couldn't have canonically existed together. Heck, there's even a precedent for it in the Tolkien sets themselves- Bag End had the Dwarves and maps that were clearly from the beginning of the Hobbit, but also included Sting and Bilbo's book that wouldn't have been there until after the movies completion.

The first Hobbit movie starts out right before Bilbo's party. When you are walking through the Hobbit hole with Bilbo and Frodo you see Bilbo's book. So technically they both are in the first Hobbit movie since the opening scene takes place immediately before the start of The Fellowship of the Ring.

[Str0ngbad]

That reckless Peter Jackson is going to rip the space/time continuum!!

Anyway, I too would be surprised if they put characters from different parts of the movie into the set. Largely, because it's not necessary for anyone except maybe Grima's existence and even if they wanted to include a fairly large line-up of minifigures, there are a couple different groups of characters they could use, both of which could include Grima.

A great play feature for Orthanc could be knocking Saruman from the balcony to be impaled by that machine! Oh, you don't think LEGO would do that... They're for kids? Shoot.

[II5hyena]

I hope there is a new set coming out soon with horses. Like maybe at least two or three. I like wizard battle because it has cool figures and it has around 10 cents per piece which is good. :)

[jmagaletta]

A great play feature for Orthanc could be knocking Saruman from the balcony to be impaled by that machine! Oh, you don't think LEGO would do that... They're for kids? Shoot.

Sounds like an awesome moc/mod

[Darth Malgus]

or a nice little expansion clip for Twisted Tales to put in the game!

[Faefrost]

With Characters such as Eoweyn or Hama from Rohan that haven't been done I cannot see why they would place another Theoden in this set. Core characters I understand repication but fringe characters I don't. With Respect to the Death Star the reason it featured both EP 4 and Ep 6 characters is the death star was in two movies, not unlike the Orthanc except the characters in the DS where more core characters even though some were repeated. I don't see Theoden as being a core character as far as Orthanc is considered. That was my point.

Much like the Corsairs ship, Theoden as a core character at Orthanc will depend heavily on whether you have watched the extended version of RotK. In the extended he has a nice bit of back and forth with Saruman.

Granted I can't seem to wrap my brain around us getting any Minifigs with this set save a Saruman to place on the UCS nameplate, similar to the mini R2d2. But that's just my mental picture of the set. I'm having trouble seeing it as a play set. I hope I am wrong and this is simply a failure of said imagination on my part. (Although if they were going to do a massive Death Star sized play set, I kinda wish it had been Mina's Tirith.)

[SMC]

OK seeing as we are all waiting for more information on The Tower of Orthanc set 10237 how about we pass the time with a competition?

1 – How many pieces will be in the set?

2 – How many minifigures will be in the set?

3 – Will the set open/be playable? (yes/no answer)

4 – Will the Wizard Battle set 79005 fit inside? (yes/no answer)

5 – What will the price be?

6 – What age range will it be?

7 – When will the set be released?

[Cammo]

1 - 1200?

2 - 4 (if you include the eagle)

3 - no

4 - no

5 - 159 euro/ 149 dollars

6 - 7-14?

7 - November 2013

[The_Creator]

1- 1,500 pieces

2- 0

3- No, but I think it might have layers like the Modular Buildings.

4- No

5- $175/£190

6- 14+

7- October 2013

Edited March 13, 2013 by The_Creator

[Kez]

1-1,500

2-3

3-yes

4-no

5-£130

6-14+

7-October 2013 (announcement early September)

[Teh Stud]

1 - 2366 pieces

2 - 6 minifigs + eagle

3 - Yes

4 - No

5 - $199.99

6 - 14+

7 - June 2013

[Blakstone]

Brickshow today says that Orthanc is coming in June. The rest of that piece is speculation though.

[brodey1]

One of the first pictures leaked described the height of Orthanc as 28 inches if I remember correctly. If that is true, I can't see it being less than 2,000 pieces and $200.

[just2good]

Brickshow today says that Orthanc is coming in June. The rest of that piece is speculation though.

TBS always says stuff like this. There's no confirmation. They just guessed on that.

Speaking of guessing, I guess the set is coming in October.

[The_Creator]

One of the first pictures leaked described the height of Orthanc as 28 inches if I remember correctly. If that is true, I can't see it being less than 2,000 pieces and $200.

Was that picture ever confirmed to be legit?

[Lord Rahl of Clannad]

Was that picture ever confirmed to be legit?

I'm not sure, but people on here seemed to think so. I hope that it was legit rather than an elaborate hoax.

[Darth Malgus]

I have watched the extended editions (I own the big disc set on bluray). My inital point pages and pages ago was that personally I felt they would use the Ent scene as it had more core characters where they could also put a custom set in it. Personally I don't see Theoden in it, doesn't mean he won't be in it (God, I hope he isn't as I'd like to see him in a witch king set with Eowyen).

[Hepitos]

1- 1,500 pieces

2- 0

3- No, but I think it might have layers like the Modular Buildings.

4- No

5- $175/£190

6- 14+

7- October 2013

wtf

1 GBP ~ 1,5 USD

[Cammo]

wtf

1 GBP ~ 1,5 USD

I think The_Creator is just mocking the U.K. and European LEGO consumers. Look at the Arkham Asylum set for instance. EUR & GBP have more value than the USD but still the sets costs more for us than the USA. (Yes, I know Batman is still more popular in the USA but still...) He has a point in his pricing though.

[Str0ngbad]

I think The_Creator is just mocking the U.K. and European LEGO consumers. Look at the Arkham Asylum set for instance. EUR & GBP have more value than the USD but still the sets costs more for us than the USA. (Yes, I know Batman is still more popular in the USA but still...) He has a point in his pricing though.

That was something I found surprising when I was in Europe for the first time this summer; most everything cost at least as much Euro as it did dollars back home. I'm no economics expert but it sure didn't make sense on on an intuitive level.

Regarding that picture, I don't think it was ever confirmed as official. I am still taking GRogall's word as law though and look forward to more news of this set, hopefully soon.

Edited March 14, 2013 by Str0ngbad

[Deathleech]

I have watched the extended editions (I own the big disc set on bluray). My inital point pages and pages ago was that personally I felt they would use the Ent scene as it had more core characters where they could also put a custom set in it. Personally I don't see Theoden in it, doesn't mean he won't be in it (God, I hope he isn't as I'd like to see him in a witch king set with Eowyen).

I think if they include Ents, it will have more minifigures and play features and be more like a normal set aimed at younger children. If it's just Orthanc, it might have Grima and Saruman but will be more like a USC and intended more for adults with very few or no play features (catapults, break apart pieces, etc.)

I think The_Creator is just mocking the U.K. and European LEGO consumers. Look at the Arkham Asylum set for instance. EUR & GBP have more value than the USD but still the sets costs more for us than the USA. (Yes, I know Batman is still more popular in the USA but still...) He has a point in his pricing though.

I know this is off topic and might not be the right place, but there is almost no Lego news right now so I figured I would touch on it anyways. Every time I see price mentioned I see pretty much everyone outside the U.S. complain about prices like Lego is favoring the U.S. or something. That's not the case at all though, it's simple supply and demand economics. The demand in the U.S. (and this goes for most goods) is MUCH higher than anywhere else so we see lower prices. Here is a simple example. Lets say I grow apples. It cost me roughly 20 cents per apple to grow, and in the U.S. I sell them for 30 cents, netting me a 10 cent profit. In the U.K. and Europe, I sell them for 60 cents, double the U.S. price and giving me a 30 cent profit which is triple, however I only sell 10 in the UK and Europe for every 100 apples I sell in the U.S. That means, even with 3x the profit per apple outside the U.S. I am still making WAY more in the U.S. despite selling them at a much lower profit. Here is the break down:

10 apples x 0.30 = $3.00

100 apples x 0.10 = $10.00

As you can see even if I sell for less in the U.S. I am still making over three times more anywhere else due to demand. This is pretty much why Lego gives the U.S. lower prices. We have single states alone that buy more product than entire countries elsewhere. Why do you think all the musicians in other countries want to hit it big in the U.S. despite already being huge hits in say the UK or Canada? Its not because they just think the U.S. is cool, it's because they know people in the U.S. are huge consumerists and will buy their music ten fold anywhere else if they become popular there. This is why the U.S. enjoys much lower prices on a number of goods, including Lego. It's simple economics, nothing more and no big secret (Lego said themselves this is the reason before).

Edited March 14, 2013 by Deathleech

[TheLegoDr]

Everyone talks about the extended edition vs the regular edition. I've only ever seen the Extended Edition, so I guess I don't know what was included/excluded. I always assumed the Mouth was always in the movie, so I am glad he is in the set.

As far as Orthanc is concerned, that scene with Theoden is a good one, but I would still assume they would go with a different scene for Orthanc. The most memorable being with the Ents and the flood. Who knows how they will do it, but that is what I would picture. Or I would picture no figures and just a display piece. As much as some people don't care about figures, that is almost the only reason I buy any of the licensed sets, so if Orthanc doesn't have any exclusive quality looking figures, I may end up passing, even though I love LOTR as a whole. But we'll see what happens..

[Darth Malgus]

Economy of scale... What if I don't want to buy apples from the US?

[Deathleech]

Economy of scale... What if I don't want to buy apples from the US?

Then you pay higher prices. Btw, the apples aren't from the U.S. necessarily, they are just sold cheaper due to the huge demand/bulk sales