Why doesn’t LEGO provide any battle packs?

[Deathleech]

I think it would take one main character to draw more LEGO fans to the set. A set designed to appeal only to the AFOL and army builder will not sustain sales. I am willing to sacrifice one of the minifigs to a main character in order for LEGO to make the battle pack in the first place.

LEGO has already put some of their Legends of Chima sets on Retiring Soon.

I suppose it depends on a number of different things like is the main character in another set, how expensive is that other set, who is the main character being included, etc. I think putting a character like Aragorn, Frodo, Bilbo, or Gandalf in a battle pack would KILL its sales because we already have each of those figures available in a number of other sets. Putting an exclusive figure like Gothmog or Eowyn might help the sales though.

Personally I would rather see a battle pack stay strictly with soldiers. Maybe I was just a spoiled weird kid, but even when I was younger I always wanted multiple soldiers. At least two or three Stormtroopers, Foot Soldiers, etc. were always a priority. Now if I could of only gotten Han Solo or a Storm Trooper and that's it, things may have been different, but as it stands the soldiers were just about as important to me even at a young age, and getting multiples was equally as important.

I keep seeing people say battle packs wouldn't be hits with younger kids because of their lower spending limit and them having to make choices between which sets to get. Well let me ask this, if a kid has 50 bucks to spend do you think they are going to get Riddles for the Ring and Barrel Escape which has multiple Bilbos, or do you think they would opt for an Elf battle pack for more elves to fight the dwarves in Barrel Escape? Heck, they might even buy 2 which is at least 1 more than they are currently buying of the Riddles for the Ring or Gandalf Arrives sets. AFOLS on the other hand would buy DOZENS. I also see people saying Lego keeps figures in the more expensive sets to boost their sales but then wouldn't making battle packs only further help that cause? I think the lack of LotR/Hobbit battle packs has much more to do with licensing agreements and less to do with the demand for them. If not why make a Lone Ranger BP?

Oh, and the cheaper Chima sets are retiring because the speedzorz are on a much shorter life cycle than the regular sets, just like some of Lego's other products.

[Tyrant]

I believe Troop Builder sets akin to SW would sell for LotR. At the end of the day, the battle in LotR are on a greater scale (in terms of the number of soldiers) than the ones in SW. The Battle of Hoth is (I believe) the largest ground battle in the OT and it doesn't involve that many soldiers. The Battle of Geonosis is (again, I believe) the largest ground battle in the PT and we can't even see large chunks of it (due to dust) but we can see that it is "big". For Hoth I got the impression that we are looking at hundreds or very low thousands (assuming we somehow can't see 99% of the battle). The Battle of Helm's Deep, on the other hand, has an army in the tens of thousands on one side. The battle of Pelennor Fields has hundreds of thousands assaulting the city. The scale isn't even close. So, if battle packs can sell for the series that really doesn't have that huge of battles then I think it's a no brainer for the one that is known for, among other things, the large scale battles.

As for kids, as a kid my Cobra figures outnumbered my G.I.Joe figures by a pretty sizeable margin and I had multiples of the Cobra generics I liked, just like the show. With LEGO, it was Pirates where I built up a sizeable number of one type of figure (Blue Coats, then Red Coats) as a kid by purchasing the smallish sets over and over. If TLG thinks only AFOLs will buy them, make them in such a way that they are attractive to AFOLs and then make them Exclusives (and presumably a more limited run).

[Deathleech]

And to add to that, LotR has a lot of different factions compared to Star Wars (note huge factional armies, not the tons of different alien species in each). I mean sure they can do Snow Troopers and Storm Troopers and Sand Troopers and what not, but with LotR you can do totally different armies, each with huge numbers. Easterlings, Gondorians, Rohirrim, Ithilien Ranger, Moria Orcs, Mordor Orc, Uruk-hai, Haradrim, Undead Oathbreakers, Cave Trolls, Mountain Trolls, Wargs, etc. And that isn't even including any of the elves or the smaller factions like the Wild Men, Grey Rangers, Corsairs, etc.

[BlueberryWaffles]

I think TLG should release battle packs. It just makes sense! There could be so many! Uruk-hai, Gondorians, Rohirrim, Mirkwood Elves, Rivendell Elves, Lorien Elves, Iron Hill Dwarves, Corsairs, Easterlings, Wild Men, Mordor Orcs, Moria Orcs..........

[TheLegoDr]

I think one of the main problems is what little build do they include. With SW they have some small weapons or space crafts to build I guess, but with LOTR you would definitely need some form of landscape since it is all outside. I suppose a small wall structure could work too but then you start looking more like Uruk-Hai Army. I would imagine something more like the Endor Rebel Troop BP, but there aren't a lot of larger trees in LOTR with the larger battles that you would want to procure a sizable army anyway. So maybe a few baseplates with some shrubbery and some brick-built weaponry, like the clubs with Dwalin and stuff.

[Infernum]

Yeah, I think that's the issue. What to build with the figs? I could imagine a $20 Grond set with 5 or 6 Orcs though.

[A2L]

Does the license specify the size of accompanying construction parts per figure included to differentiate it from anaction figure toy?

If TLG wants it can easily do it. Its not being done for some reason unknown to us. And we can only speculate. To the posts above, let me say that it is not at all a struggle to find relevant construction material with battle packs. A seige machine with 5 orcs, a catapault or stone thrower with 4 Gondor soldiers and big boulders, a tent and few utensils with 5 Rohan soldiers (camp before Theoden King leaves for Minas Tirith), a stable with 2-3 horses and 5 Rohirrims (check sp.) etc., the list can go on and on.

Edited February 23, 2013 by A2L

[Deathleech]

If TLG wants it can easily do it. Its not being done for some reason unknown to us. And we can only speculate. To the posts above, let me say that it is not at all a struggle to find relevant construction material with battle packs. A seige machine with 5 orcs, a catapault or stone thrower with 4 Gondor soldiers and big boulders, a tent and few utensils with 5 Rohan soldiers (camp before Theoden King leaves for Minas Tirith), a stable with 2-3 horses and 5 Rohirrims (check sp.) etc., the list can go on and on.

Right, there are plenty of structures and siege weapons they could include in a LotR/Hobbit battle pack if they wanted. I mean they may not be the most interesting ever but that's not really why people buy the battle packs anyways. Just look at the Star Wars ones, most of the ships and guns in them are pretty boring and I doubt very many people really care about them (I know lots of people who sell off the ships and guns and just keep the minifigures from the BPs).

[legomonk]

I think if TLG made add ons like the did with the Uruk-hai army set. so for the mines of mora add couple of wall pieces and pillers and some mora goblins it would work as a battle pack.