LEGO LotR - general discussion

[Black Numenorean]

the haradrim in photo is so beautiful!

I want a gondor soldier with helmet, armor !

[Flieger]

Flieger, unfortunately the DG Witch King cannot be reused - the WK's hood and crown is completely different in every way.

You are right, I corrected that one.

I think any Minas Tirith version of UHA is a waste of time, honestly. Getting the lower wall and gate is just silly, it's not like we can have the rest of the city.

It is not just the lower gate, it is the main gate which has quite some significance (moreso in the book than in the movie, though). The question is: why do you want the rest of the city? Other than for the sake of completeness I see little use for it. The battle was primarily on the walls and the lower level. While I understand the importance of the Court of the Fountain e.g., it makes for some rather boring playset. The coronation of Aragorn or Denethor's living torch action are not exactly terribly exiting.

If one wants Minas Tirith complete or not at all, massive downscaling is in order - as much as to make it look silly even by Lego's sizing standards. But that is a well known problem.

What I want most is Rohan royal guard, armoured Eowyn with her unique Helmet, maybe Theoden in his kingly attire, Merry in rohan attire, Whitch King with Fell beast, and of course barding for Snowmane.

When it comes to Rohan, Edoras would be great. And it could be done without new moulds, I think. The Great Hall could have the Royal Guards, but more important Eowyn and Theoden without armour; also Grima to have him again.

[TheRedViper]

Just won a Mirkwood elf army set on eBay for £22 including postage, complete apart from no Thranduil fig. Good deal?

[Black Numenorean]

i tought that! why not an collectible minifig lord of the ring like Simpson? It will be great! We would be gondor soldier, witch king, real mordor orc (with sauron eyes ), eowyn, haradrim...?

[Trunkbass]

Just won a Mirkwood elf army set on eBay for £22 including postage, complete apart from no Thranduil fig. Good deal?

Congrats! I still need to pick up a MEA set..

i tought that! why not an collectible minifig lord of the ring like Simpson? It will be great! We would be gondor soldier, witch king, real mordor orc (with sauron eyes ), eowyn, haradrim...?

I think it has been discussed here that LEGO doesn't hold the license for action figures. So without a buildable structure to go with the minifigures this is a no-go I suppose. It's a shame though, this would really be so awesome.

Speaking about awesome, I don't understand why LEGO never made sets like these in the LotR theme:

Just two good guys (Rohirrim, Gondor soldiers, elves, dwarves, etc.) versus two baddies (Uruk-Hai, Mordor Orcs, Moria Goblins, Haradrim, etc.) and some random structures. Surely the bricks/minifigure count would be enough to not count as action figures?

In my opinion these would have sold like hot cakes!

[Robert_88]

I don't understand why they released new Castle sets instead of Gondor sets. I think they would have been interesting for Castle AND LotR fans.

[Alcarin]

Congrats! I still need to pick up a MEA set..

I think it has been discussed here that LEGO doesn't hold the license for action figures. So without a buildable structure to go with the minifigures this is a no-go I suppose. It's a shame though, this would really be so awesome.

Speaking about awesome, I don't understand why LEGO never made sets like these in the LotR theme:

Just two good guys (Rohirrim, Gondor soldiers, elves, dwarves, etc.) versus two baddies (Uruk-Hai, Mordor Orcs, Moria Goblins, Haradrim, etc.) and some random structures. Surely the bricks/minifigure count would be enough to not count as action figures?

In my opinion these would have sold like hot cakes!

Too little pieces (contract most likely) + I think they had (again contract) obligation to put in atleast 1 named character in every set

[Darth Caedus]

Too little pieces (contract most likely) + I think they had (again contract) obligation to put in atleast 1 named character in every set

Thing is, this will forever remain speculation, as there is zero proof from Lego that this is the case. Lego's PR is terrible in this respect - it would have taken a single sentence from a rep saying "there are ratios that we are contractually obligated to stick to, thus we cannot make battlepacks in the Star Wars style." Boom. Done. It's not like that's going to hurt sales of the line or alienate any fans. Why not tell us? The tragedy of the LOTR line really showcases how Lego has serious issues in its corporate structure: minifigure/set allocation is poorly planned and disregards the fact that there is almost always a perfect product that can satisfy KFOLs and AFOLs - instead they release stuff like the Corsair ship and don't really "wow" either faction. And then on the PR end, Lego should not be this towering, silent stonewall that leaves us guessing 99.99% of the time.

Also, come to think of it - the Dol Guldur Galadriel set proves that the ratio contract thing is total crap. That set has only 100 pieces at 3 minifigures, pretty darn close to the Forest Ambush. There was nothing ever stopping lego from putting out a $14.99 armybuilder with 100 pcs and 3 troops before now. Even if there is a 1-named-character stipulation, there's always an easy way to please KFOLs and AFOLs - pick a named character who can be re-used as a standard grunt with a basic headswap. Witchking becomes basic Nazgul with a black hood. Armored Faramir becomes Gondorian with face-swap. Same thing if they made a Braga for Laketown. There are also numerous named Orcs from the franchise generic enough to be reused effectively: Narzug from the Hobbit, Snaga, Mauhur, Guritz (skull hat), Murgash (Gothmog's lieutenant), heck, even Lugdush technically exists in the PJ depiction....sure, Orcs are more of a stretch, but a name's a name.

Edited August 27, 2014 by Darth Caedus

[Trunkbass]

^ I totally agree. Nice analysis. I was also wondering about the brick/minifigure ratio when looking at the Dol Guldur Galadriel set (I refuse to call it Witch-King Battle, it hurts too much).

Edited August 27, 2014 by Trunkbass

[Preuss]

sure, Orcs are more of a stretch, but a name's a name.

Sure, and if there is such requirement, The Orc Forge proves that a named orc would be enough!

[SMC]

Too little pieces (contract most likely) + I think they had (again contract) obligation to put in atleast 1 named character in every set

It looks like the new hobbit set is 3 figs for £12 is why could that not be an army builder?

[Mahtion]

It looks like the new hobbit set is 3 figs for £12 is why could that not be an army builder?

An army of Galadriels would destroy Sauron. Each with power of the Calaquendi and the light of Earendil.

[Deathleech]

Speaking about awesome, I don't understand why LEGO never made sets like these in the LotR theme:

This is EXACTLY the type of set I was talking about in the second part of my "dream wave". Four minifigures and a small build (catapults, rocks, trees, whatever..) for around $12.99-14.99. They must sell well for the Star Wars theme or Lego wouldn't keep pumping them out, so why not try it for LotR which is arguably more suited towards this type of set? There has to be a reason and I am guessing it's some sort of license issue with WB.

[Mr. Cube]

There is the responce to my e-mail:

"Thanks for getting in touch with us. We are always happy to hear about our huge LEGO® fans. I am really glad to hear you are a big LEGO Lord of the Rings™ and The Hobbit™ fan and that you were excited especially about the 1st wave of the series.

We really do appreciate your time you took to share your feedback with us. I will make sure that your voice will be heard and will pass your email on our designer team.

We know we’re lucky to have millions of fans around the world and we’re grateful for your comments.

I think it’s great to see you’re eagerly waiting and trying to find out about what we’ve planned for the future.

I'm sorry that I can’t tell you anything about the 3rd wave of the Lord of the Rings sets at the moment. Something like that might be coming soon, but our new toys are always kept secret until they’re announced in the catalogue or on LEGO.com. That’s because it takes a long time to design and make new toys, and we sometimes need every minute until they hit the shelves to make them perfect. Besides... we look forward to surprising you!

Being a big LEGO fan myself, I can understand your eager and I really do apologize that I don't have any closer dates for you at the moment.

Thanks again you took the time to let us know about your expectations and wishes. Comments like yours will help us get better and better at what we do, and I am sure our designer team will be happy to hear about your thoughts."

[Faefrost]

Congrats! I still need to pick up a MEA set..

I think it has been discussed here that LEGO doesn't hold the license for action figures. So without a buildable structure to go with the minifigures this is a no-go I suppose. It's a shame though, this would really be so awesome.

Speaking about awesome, I don't understand why LEGO never made sets like these in the LotR theme:

Just two good guys (Rohirrim, Gondor soldiers, elves, dwarves, etc.) versus two baddies (Uruk-Hai, Mordor Orcs, Moria Goblins, Haradrim, etc.) and some random structures. Surely the bricks/minifigure count would be enough to not count as action figures?

In my opinion these would have sold like hot cakes!

Because the license did not permit them to make the sets that way. Every license is different, and they explicitly lay out certain types of things. Such as ratios of Minifigs to build. Or minimum build, etc. someone explained early on at a con Q&A that the LotR license had higher build per figure requirements, hence they could not do SW type Battlepacks.

There is the responce to my e-mail:

"Thanks for getting in touch with us. We are always happy to hear about our huge LEGO® fans. I am really glad to hear you are a big LEGO Lord of the Rings™ and The Hobbit™ fan and that you were excited especially about the 1st wave of the series.

We really do appreciate your time you took to share your feedback with us. I will make sure that your voice will be heard and will pass your email on our designer team.

We know we’re lucky to have millions of fans around the world and we’re grateful for your comments.

I think it’s great to see you’re eagerly waiting and trying to find out about what we’ve planned for the future.

I'm sorry that I can’t tell you anything about the 3rd wave of the Lord of the Rings sets at the moment. Something like that might be coming soon, but our new toys are always kept secret until they’re announced in the catalogue or on LEGO.com. That’s because it takes a long time to design and make new toys, and we sometimes need every minute until they hit the shelves to make them perfect. Besides... we look forward to surprising you!

Being a big LEGO fan myself, I can understand your eager and I really do apologize that I don't have any closer dates for you at the moment.

Thanks again you took the time to let us know about your expectations and wishes. Comments like yours will help us get better and better at what we do, and I am sure our designer team will be happy to hear about your thoughts."

It's a default cut and paste CS reply. They know less than we do.

[Deathleech]

Because the license did not permit them to make the sets that way. Every license is different, and they explicitly lay out certain types of things. Such as ratios of Minifigs to build. Or minimum build, etc. someone explained early on at a con Q&A that the LotR license had higher build per figure requirements, hence they could not do SW type Battlepacks.

Then how can they get away with the Witch King Battle set? It has 3 minifigures and around 100 pieces for $13 or $15 bucks? I mean I am sure this is the reason, but maybe the set has to have a certain ratio of bricks to minifigures AND a certain amount of named characters or something?

[SMC]

Then how can they get away with the Witch King Battle set? It has 3 minifigures and around 100 pieces for $13 or $15 bucks? I mean I am sure this is the reason, but maybe the set has to have a certain ratio of bricks to minifigures AND a certain amount of named characters or something?

Or maybe lego just does not know how to make this line work.

[Hammerhand]

Or maybe lego just does not know how to make this line work.

This is probably the most likely reason. They could have put one named character in a set like WKB, and had the rest generic soldiers for an army builder. I'm sure that would cover the named character deal.

[Ql97]

This is my general opinion on the LotR line.

Wave one was great, in fact, it was pretty much perfect.

Wave two: When it first came out, i was quite excited. I loved all of the minifigures (Still do), and even though the cosair ship was a bit random, the model was quite nice, and I was satisfied.

The problem was that wave two felt like an interlude. Before Peter Jackson changed the hobbit release date, Lego was probably planning on doing a third, Gondor based wave. Now there are no signs of a third wave, and we are all quite confused. If I had to choose between a third wave with Gondor and the second wave, I would have gone for Gondor, as long as it had Elrond, Arwen, Saruman and Gandalf the White. For reasons we'll never know, the LotR theme has died mid swing, and now everyone is dissapointed.

[Jason7189]

So they were actually going to bring out a Gondor line?

[Cammo]

Maybe we'll get a Lothlorien clone set with the new elves line according to the title:

Treetop Hideaway (41075) – 99.99

Edited August 28, 2014 by Cammo

[Blazej_Holen]

The "Elves" line will be probably some fantasy add on to the current "Friends line" so ...

Shame on you Lego Company.

As those lines begin to produce sets in high quality (figs and structures) they ended with almost poor everything including by minifig selection. I thing like many form us says before, that LEgo wants to finish Hobbit story as soon as they can and then they will produce no more sets from Middle earth. Its a big deal for them obviously they realized that for both storyies there is necessary to create some armies, since there is many epic battles. They are to lay to do that or not much creative.

[Black Numenorean]

i discovered maybe, the most beautiful Moc i have ever seen in Lego Ideas!

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/75868

[Manx]

It's indeed a stunning work ...

[sahidko]

It is very nice but 13.000 pieces & 24 minifigs = not going to be produced.