LEGO LotR - general discussion

[Blakstone]

The final wave of Hobbit is coming out in 2014 but there is no Lord of the Rings in 2015. So it will not be a one year wait.

[mrbean]

I would be pleasantly surprised if we got more LOTR sets, I'd buy them all. I just haven't seen any indications of such plans. It looks to me like Lego is focusing all their energy on other themes. Maybe they have plans to come back to LOTR, but when is anybody's guess.

[Galactic13]

Here is something else I've been thinking about. The only reason Lego got this theme is for the Hobbit, right? At the time they got it all they had was the book whitch is considered by most to be a children's book, right? I think Lego thought that this would be more kid frindly than LotR and so when the films came out they realized that they had a theme that was a little darker than they wanted. But because they had already bought into it, they had to continue. So this theme will be like the Harry Potter line, it got too dark and they pulled the plug on it.

[Venkefedo]

They'd have to have been pretty naive to think Peter Jackson's Hobbit films would be anywhere near as light as the book. The book may be a prequel to LOTR, but tonally it's an incredibly different beast; Tolkien wanted to write a new version to better match LOTR, but the publisher talked him out of it ("It wouldn't be The Hobbit"... ignoring/dismissing the possibility of releasing it under a different title or something to mark it as just an alternate take on The Hobbit). Had Jackson--or anyone, really--filmed a faithful version of The Hobbit, tonally it'd be as different from Jackson's LOTR films as the cartoon "Ewoks" was from The Empire Strikes Back.

[Galactic13]

Or Jar Jar from Revenge of the Sith (let's spread the prequel love guys). But in all seriousness, part of me really thinks that that had a part in it. Lego probably wouldn't have done Harry Potter if they read the books first. So, I do think Lego thought that the Hobbit trilogy was going to be more light hearted than The Lord of the Rings. Like I said the only reason we got LotR sets is because of the Hobbit films.

[IvanStorm]

Here is something else I've been thinking about. The only reason Lego got this theme is for the Hobbit, right? At the time they got it all they had was the book whitch is considered by most to be a children's book, right? I think Lego thought that this would be more kid frindly than LotR and so when the films came out they realized that they had a theme that was a little darker than they wanted. But because they had already bought into it, they had to continue. So this theme will be like the Harry Potter line, it got too dark and they pulled the plug on it.

You might be right about this. But that reasoning only makes the inclusion of The Mouth Of Sauron more baffling - he was one of the most disturbing parts of the trilogy, and dies by decapitation (are children supposed to recreate that scene?). Additionally, he only appears in the Extended Edition, so it's not like it was really important to include him. Baffling indeed.

[Galactic13]

But then on the flip side, you have Revenge of the Sith. That was the darkest and most violent of the whole SW saga and their still making sets from that film. In fact we have had two sets depicting the most graphic part of that film with the lava burned Anakin minifig.

[TheLegoDr]

^Exactly. My guess is LOTR just didn't sell well. ROTK came out in 2003. Revenge of the Sith came out in 2005. Both have been out of the mind's eye for a while, but SW is very much alive in other venues. I think that helps push that along. LOTR is a different beast.

I wish sales would have been better. It's the only theme I truly care about. Now I'll focus on DC super heroes I guess, but it isn't the same.

[HawkLord]

I think alot of companies didn't quite know what to do with the hobbit license. Bridge Direct stopped making action figures for the movie almost after the first one came out. Gentle giant makes a couple busts, but those will be no where near a finished line. Weta makes expensive prop replicas and statues that linger at online stores because very few people are paying that much for those types of products these days. Lego is really the only one towing the line for hobbit in the toy aisle.

[bachamn]

Because they don't want to take anything away from the Hobbit wave.

That's a reasonable suggestion, but it does seem odd that they would go to the lengths of changing their typical approach if it's as rigid as people describe. Is there precedence for this happening with other properties? I'm not very involved in the LEGO world but from what I've gathered during my time here, a lot of the more involved members seem pretty confident about the predictability of LEGO's marketing schedule.

[Borador]

If Sauron's helmet goes over a minimate head, would a minimates head fit on a LEGO body?

If no... I can improvise...

[TheWorldAhead]

Honestly, I don't mean to crush this thread, but....

I was so obsessed with TLG making more LOTR sets, but to be honest, I am so excited with this final wave from The Hobbit that I find it fair enough as it is. Yes, Minas Tirith and a Balrog would be fantastic, but it has been discussed ad nauseum not only in this thread, but in others as well. I think it is time for the MOC-ers to shine! (And they have already begun)

[Alcarin]

That's a reasonable suggestion, but it does seem odd that they would go to the lengths of changing their typical approach if it's as rigid as people describe. Is there precedence for this happening with other properties? I'm not very involved in the LEGO world but from what I've gathered during my time here, a lot of the more involved members seem pretty confident about the predictability of LEGO's marketing schedule.

Exactly, people keep saying over and over, how LEGO is rigid and cannot just turn their plans over to make more of X set and change their plans in the middle, yet for LOTR many say they changed halfway, how does that go together I do not understand :P

[Faefrost]

Exactly, people keep saying over and over, how LEGO is rigid and cannot just turn their plans over to make more of X set and change their plans in the middle, yet for LOTR many say they changed halfway, how does that go together I do not understand :P

No one has said they can't change. What everyone has said is we do not see any signs of it and feel it is unlikely here. We know what going back and extending a line based on fan pressure looks like. Look at Ninjago. But doing that requires keeping the line and IP alive during the ramp up for more. When they do that there will be a dead spot with the theme out of production. If this were the case with LotR we would see teasers and talk. They would let the customers know there was more to come. In short there would be a subtle marketing campaign before we started seeing signs of new sets.

We also know what it looks like when a licensed theme ends. LR, PotC, IJ being the closest examples. They simply fade. No marketing. They quietly sell through the last wave until the shelves are cleared. LoTR is particularly problematic for Lego. It has strong AFOL support. But falls largely flat with Legos core audience. As an AFOL targeted product line it would easily do as well or better than the Modulars in the D2C market. But the D2C stuff cannot pay for the expensive license on their own. Licenses in most cases need full retail release.

And yes Ideas manages to pull off some low volume 1 shot D2C licensing of older properties. That is a bit different. That is baked in from the ground up.

[Lord_Tyrannus]

Honestly, I don't mean to crush this thread, but....

I was so obsessed with TLG making more LOTR sets, but to be honest, I am so excited with this final wave from The Hobbit that I find it fair enough as it is. Yes, Minas Tirith and a Balrog would be fantastic, but it has been discussed ad nauseum not only in this thread, but in others as well. I think it is time for the MOC-ers to shine! (And they have already begun)

I don't think lego LOTR fans are angry because we didn't get a Minas Tirith set, the problem is we don't have any gondorian soldier to put with our own MOCs... As a building toy you can always create any scene with your own parts, the minifigs are the problem...

[Ql97]

I don't think lego LOTR fans are angry because we didn't get a Minas Tirith set, the problem is we don't have any gondorian soldier to put with our own MOCs... As a building toy you can always create any scene with your own parts, the minifigs are the problem...

Exactly how I feel. We can always build what we want, but without the correct mini figure parts, we can never complete our creations.

Edited October 11, 2014 by Ql97

[SMC]

+ 1 Even some small sets would have been good.

[atreyu2112]

I just got back from New York Comic Con... I can assure you, LOTR IS ALIVE AND WELL judging by all the insanely great cosplay I witnessed. I also saw a lot of both LotR & Hobbit merch all over. The WETA booth was hands down the biggest spectacle of the entire show floor! (PS, met Richard Taylor!!!)

The Lego booth SUCKED!!!! A Bionicle head over some mist. That was IT. I didn't even see a rep, multiple passes. No one to grill about LotR. The Mega Bloks booth KICKED it's megablocks BTW.

I still have a couple sets to get. An extra Black Gate, a Pirate Ship (just to have it) & the last 2 Hobbit wave 3 (BotFA & LT2). Then I will be finished & every set. If we get more Lord of the Rings sets I will be a VERY happy fan & will buy them all. If we don't... I will save money. With all I collect, I don't have room to go all out on any other theme. It will be slim cherry-picking from here on... returning to my dark age.

[cullmancreations]

I was there too. the lego booth did suck and I did notice quite alot of LOTR cosplayers as well. The life size head of smaug was epic

[atreyu2112]

Haha ... I met Sauron:

met Sir Richard Taylor (under Smaug):

Got a SICK commission from my man Jon Sommariva (aka RedJ, infamous TMNT Chibi artis):

And, sadly... this was the Lego booth:

[TheLegoDr]

Bionicle is LEGO's savior...LOTR is not the money maker here. As you can clearly see!

(I jest, but in reality, even as popular as LOTR may be in cosplay and books, artwork, etc. it doesn't mean all of those fans would buy LOTR sets)

[Venkefedo]

Even if a Lego rep were on hand, grilling them over LOTR wouldn't accomplish any more than emailing Customer Service about LOTR would. It might let them know there's still interest, and they might pass that info along, but it's not like the one doing the grilling would get any new information or a clear answer. The reps at these things often don't have access to that info, or the authority to pass it along even if they did know--and in many cases, they know even less than the fans!

Edited October 13, 2014 by Venkefedo

[HawkLord]

Bionicle is a better deal for Lego than LOTR. No license to pay for, no sets/ideas to be approved, all straight control and profit. Same as with the Lego movie stuff pushing back the winter wave earlier this year.

[Blakstone]

I don't think that Bionicle is a better deal for LEGO. The two are not mutually exclusive... heck, LEGO even had Castle running along side Lord of the Rings, so those two product lines were not mutually exclusive.

I agree that LEGO keeps more of every dollar / Euro spent on Bionicle than any licensed line. Profits don't have to be shared and there is less overhead as there is no coordination with other companies. The LEGO Movie still has to be coordinated with Warner Bros, but I have no clue whether any profit is shared with the WB. We don't know what their contracts are. We do know that WB controlled the movie and LEGO only helped where possible.

While an internal line means that LEGO gets to keep all the profits, the goal of a licensed line is to piggy back on an existing brand. From the Shareholder Reports, we know that LEGO was unable to extend a line that exceeded expectations when there was no more media supports for it (PotC).

LEGO is constantly changing up their offerings to bring in new consumers and lure previous consumers back. However, only Star Wars and now Superhereos are evergreen licensed themes. Lord of the Rings / Hobbit like the other licensed lines were expected to be short term lines.

I think everyone in this thread is sad to see line ending and we all wish there were more sets to look forward to.

Edited October 13, 2014 by Blakstone

[MAB]

I just got back from New York Comic Con... I can assure you, LOTR IS ALIVE AND WELL judging by all the insanely great cosplay I witnessed. I also saw a lot of both LotR & Hobbit merch all over. The WETA booth was hands down the biggest spectacle of the entire show floor! (PS, met Richard Taylor!!!)

The Lego booth SUCKED!!!! A Bionicle head over some mist. That was IT. I didn't even see a rep, multiple passes. No one to grill about LotR. The Mega Bloks booth KICKED it's megablocks BTW.

LOTR is alive and well. It is just Lego LOTR that is dead.

You are not the first person to say that MegaBloks completely outplayed lego this year either. Both fans and non-fans of lego seem to be saying the same.