LEGO LotR - general discussion

[deskp]

I think the main issue with the Balrog isn't that it's demonic or anything. It would be tough to do in figure form. It's essentially a d00d almost completely covered in flames. I'm not sure how you'd represent him effectively with all those flames. He'd likely have to be one of the most detailed lego figures we've ever seen both print wise and molding detail wise, by far.

Lego would have no problems making the balrog, hes just a big black creature with some fire on his back. I'm in the camp that does not know why everyone wants him though...

[biancawong]

I would love to see Edoras made. The project on CUUSOO is a perfect representation of it. Although even with one final wave I don't like the chances of us seeing it.

It's my concern, too. It bothers me that between MinasTirith and Edoras, Minastirith seems a safer bet. Since we already have two major sets (helm's deep and orthanc) in the first two movies released, more people are expecting a major set from the third.

However, being a big Weta and PJ fan myself, I do hope TLG will consider making a decent Edoras set. Because the level of detail Weta put into the actual film set is just astonishing. Since the real film set had to be torn down to preserve the natural environment, a well-designed LEGO set seems to be the only way we can remember it by ( yes I do watch the extended DVD once a year for almost ten years).

Fingers crossed.

[Alcarin]

Its quite unsettling that there are NO teasers for LOTR 2014....

Makes me conclude they might shockingly cut LOTR O_O

That would be an amazing shame ....

Guess I will go out and buy Pirate Ship Ambush afterall if thats the case lol....

[Blazej_Holen]

Its quite unsettling that there are NO teasers for LOTR 2014....

Makes me conclude they might shockingly cut LOTR O_O

That would be an amazing shame ....

Guess I will go out and buy Pirate Ship Ambush afterall if thats the case lol....

There might be some, I dont see any informations of official discontinuing of LOTR line. We have to wait a little while...Next Hobbit wave vill be next year fall or winter 2014. Meanwhile we can see (hopefuly) some exclusive set (summer 2014) like Orthanc or such...maybe Erebor, or something with Smaug?

To be honest, I dont expect any LOTR sets next year, maybe after TLG finish with Hobbit series...

[Suspsy]

Above all else, I'd like a stand-alone Treebeard set with Merry, Pippin, and an orc to squash.

Next up would be the Witch King atop his fell beast, with Eowyn to chop off its head.

Some small army builder sets similar to those of Star Wars would be appreciated as well.

[Blazej_Holen]

Above all else, I'd like a stand-alone Treebeard set with Merry, Pippin, and an orc to squash.

Next up would be the Witch King atop his fell beast, with Eowyn to chop off its head.

Some small army builder sets similar to those of Star Wars would be appreciated as well.

There is no possibility to get stand alone Treebeard and those two Hobbits.. These characters we already have, so why would they create them once again? You have to buy Orthanc or build that ent by yourself. U can find proper brics on Bricklink :)

[deskp]

There is no possibility to get stand alone Treebeard and those two Hobbits.. These characters we already have, so why would they create them once again? You have to buy Orthanc or build that ent by yourself. U can find proper brics on Bricklink :)

Tell that to Grishnakh.

[The Real Walkers]

I wish they would just let us off the hook one way or the other. Either tell us LOTR is done so we can be supremely disappointed for a while and get over it, or tell us there will be another wave so we can stop worrying about it.

They didn't do that for Harry Potter, they probably wouldn't for this... yes I'm still very bitter about losing Harry Potter and will be if LOTR goes...

[Suspsy]

There is no possibility to get stand alone Treebeard and those two Hobbits.. These characters we already have, so why would they create them once again?

Putting aside the fact that the ent in the Orthanc set isn't referred to as Treebeard and doesn't bear a strong resemblance to the character, such reasoning doesn't make a lick of sense given Lego's philosophy. Harry Potter had multiple versions of the Knight Bus, Hagrid's Hut, the Hogwarts Express, and Hogwarts itself and Star Wars has had multiple X-Wings, TIE fighters, and Millennium Falcons.

[Blazej_Holen]

Putting aside the fact that the ent in the Orthanc set isn't referred to as Treebeard and doesn't bear a strong resemblance to the character, such reasoning doesn't make a lick of sense given Lego's philosophy. Harry Potter had multiple versions of the Knight Bus, Hagrid's Hut, the Hogwarts Express, and Hogwarts itself and Star Wars has had multiple X-Wings, TIE fighters, and Millennium Falcons.

Yep, but LOTR IS NOT Harry Potter nor Star Wars..Star Wars is produced over 10 years so they can effort to make several typese of one specific characters or even repeat some sets and so on. Same as Harry Potter. Firstly they did this theme normaly with yellow headed figs, after then they "renew" theme and create once again all of the characters.. LOTR is different.

And even that Orthanc Ent is not refered as a Treebeard, I think that he is ... Who else, generic Ent? Its up to us, how we think about it...For me its a Treebeard. The fig is almost the same as that one from the Movie.

Repeating Characters in LOTR is probably never gonna happend, (not speaking about Aragorn and Gandalf, these characters are different) If LEgo does third wave they will focus on the rest of Middleearth, like Gondor, Orcs, Rohan (Eowyn, Gamling or regular Knight) and Galadriel.... Deffinitely they wouldnt do some other versions of Ents etc...After all as I said, you can built your own Treebeard there is nothing new on him. Same as Balrog...

[Darth Punk]

What about the idea of a hobbit/LoTR combined wave in2015? I could see Jackson ending the hobbit series with a direct tie in to TLoR. And you know Warner bros. will eventually put out a blu ray collection of the two series. And maybe a lego hobbit/LoTR complete game. Just look at how many harry potter movie collections Warner bros put,out.

[Blazej_Holen]

What about the idea of a hobbit/LoTR combined wave in2015? I could see Jackson ending the hobbit series with a direct tie in to TLoR. And you know Warner bros. will eventually put out a blu ray collection of the two series. And maybe a lego hobbit/LoTR complete game. Just look at how many harry potter movie collections Warner bros put,out.

Its good idea but I thing that this legos are directed to the movies..so probably after TABA we can see one last exclusive set at best...

[deskp]

Just look at how many harry potter movie collections Warner bros put,out.

..and they never have lego tie in sets mind you.

[Darth Punk]

No but by then there were countless harry potter sets. And there is the fact the hobbit lego game is coming out before the third movie. Plus there are still plenty of sets to be made.

The point about Warner bros is they don't usually leave any bit,of content uncovered. They like the suck the life out of it as much as they can. So I find it hard to believe that even if the lego line is underperforming, which I don't believe, they would walk away with so much still on the table. In the case of Harry potter, more books and movies can be made. As for TLoR, I don't even think Jackson could eek out, make up. enough material to make another movie. So when this is done its done.

[Blazej_Holen]

No but by then there were countless harry potter sets. And there is the fact the hobbit lego game is coming out before the third movie. Plus there are still plenty of sets to be made.

The point about Warner bros is they don't usually leave any bit,of content uncovered. They like the suck the life out of it as much as they can. So I find it hard to believe that even if the lego line is underperforming, which I don't believe, they would walk away with so much still on the table. In the case of Harry potter, more books and movies can be made. As for TLoR, I don't even think Jackson could eek out, make up. enough material to make another movie. So when this is done its done.

Yes but there are 7 books of HP, 8 movies... So thats why they made so many sets...

As for LOTR, there are 3 movies from 2001-2003 nothing else.. So why would TLG produce another Legos when they can focus on some Super Heres sets and so on. Btw we wait over 10 years for another movie from Middleearth, Jackson has no rights to make another movie..and there is no further stories..Unfinished Tales? Or Silmarilion? I dont think so... :)

I know u want more sets, I want them to, so much..but I am trying to be logical... We already have a few good sets, so maybe at the end of the sells, we can buy much more of them cheaply and make something on our own. And yes I miss Gondor. So badly damn... But time will show ..this is only a speculation.

[Suspsy]

Yep, but LOTR IS NOT Harry Potter nor Star Wars..Star Wars is produced over 10 years so they can effort to make several typese of one specific characters or even repeat some sets and so on. Same as Harry Potter. Firstly they did this theme normaly with yellow headed figs, after then they "renew" theme and create once again all of the characters.. LOTR is different.

No, I'm failing to see how it's any different. They're all major franchises with devoted fanbases consisting of both kids and adults.

And even that Orthanc Ent is not refered as a Treebeard, I think that he is ... Who else, generic Ent? Its up to us, how we think about it...For me its a Treebeard. The fig is almost the same as that one from the Movie.

Not really. The Orthanc Ent's beard isn't nearly bushy enough to resemble Treebeard's and the branches on his body are completely different.

Repeating Characters in LOTR is probably never gonna happend, (not speaking about Aragorn and Gandalf, these characters are different) If LEgo does third wave they will focus on the rest of Middleearth, like Gondor, Orcs, Rohan (Eowyn, Gamling or regular Knight) and Galadriel.... Deffinitely they wouldnt do some other versions of Ents etc...After all as I said, you can built your own Treebeard there is nothing new on him. Same as Balrog...

You say all this and yet you don't provide any argument for it beyond "probably never gonna happen." How do you know Lego won't produce a Treebeard set?

[Blazej_Holen]

No, I'm failing to see how it's any different. They're all major franchises with devoted fanbases consisting of both kids and adults.

Not really. The Orthanc Ent's beard isn't nearly bushy enough to resemble Treebeard's and the branches on his body are completely different.

You say all this and yet you don't provide any argument for it beyond "probably never gonna happen." How do you know Lego won't produce a Treebeard set?

Thats my experience so far. I just think that SW and LOTR lines are not the same. It also depend on sales not franchise. Think about this: Why they buy LOTR license now (2011-12) and not when the movies cmes out (2001-2003) ? My opinion is that they did like what they did just because of the Hobbit Movie. It sels better when you have a movie to came out. What will they do when Hobbit ends? It is possible for all of us that they (TLG) will produce somemore sets in any case, but more likely this line will ends same as POTC line did.

To the Treebeard think:

Good point, but did they made exact same copies of proper characters from the movie? it could be treebeard, but also it could not. If they made another wave I suppose that they will focus on more expected sets like Gondor themed structures with new characters any arguments are based on experience with last wave so maybe I am wrong. But its almost clear that there wont be any set from LOTR next spring/summer...

Or there will be some further sets, and they keep all of this informations in secret :)

[tacozftw]

I think the most valuable piece of information to know in regards to theory-crafting about a third LOTR wave is this: How well are the LOTR sets selling? And not to be rude, but please don't respond with anecdotal evidence

[biancawong]

I think the design of most of the sets are more of an elaborated backdrop for the minifigs. Please don't get me wrong, but if there were more sets like the bagend, helm's deep, and the Orthanc tower, I for sure would be one of the first in line to pick more of them up to help boost the sales.

[Faefrost]

No, I'm failing to see how it's any different. They're all major franchises with devoted fanbases consisting of both kids and adults.

The Star Wars license has been a merchandising juggernaut since 1978. Empire and RotJ were literally paid for from toy profits. And they have barely let off the throttle since then. There is something in the Star Wars stuff that calls to a very broad range of toy consumers. From the 6 year old desiring something swoosh able, to the nostalgic father, to the AFOL. There is a reason why SW is the primary gateway drug for AFOLs that drags them back out of their dark ages.

LotR's is a great license. But it is a darker more complex story that skews older. It doesn't have as broad a base. It is a book selling juggernaut. Not a toy selling one. Much like Harry Potter. To be viable as a toy property it really does need, or at least greatly benefit from a contemporary media tie in such as movies. Without those the broad interest level returns to the printed pages. The best we can do is hope and pray that we get what we want while the theme is available.

To put this more in perspective. When Harry Potter was at its peak around 2003 it was the third most portable line TLG had. Now look at 2013. A fairly safe estimate probably puts the list of profitable themes something like this, 1. City, 2. Star Wars, 3. Ninjago, 4. Friends (also highest growth), 5. Super Heroes, 6. (At best and if taken together) possibly LotR and Hobbit. (And this leaves Duplo and Technics out of the equation). And that's being generous to the Middle Earth stuff. We really don't know if it cracked the top 10. We can just safely estimate that it is not in the top 5. We know what those are. And those rankings will impact where shelf and production space is allocated each cycle. LotR's has probably been a reasonably profitable line. But not a runaway license to print money. So it will get its time in the sun, and then be replaced by something new. At least until Peter Jackson and the Tolkien estate make peace and agree to make a Silmarilion or War in the North type movie (just imagine the fan outrage)

[DragonKnights]

I am pretty convinced we are getting one more LOTR wave in the summer and one more Hobbit wave in December of 2014 to finish it off. I'm hoping for a minis tirith 2000-2500 piece set DC2 in 2014 and a big DC2 for the hobbit sometime between Feb 2014 and Feb 2015 to finish it off, probably involving smaug. That's my best guess. Anything less is a slight disappointment, and anything more is bonus.

I think LOTR and Hobbit are selling just fine, but six waves is an good number of sets. I wish it could go on forever, but I'm running out of display space!

[Lynx]

Information regarding the Hobbit is official: the line concludes in 2014 (see new instruction manuals).

As for the Lord of the Rings, I would be puzzled if LEGO finished without releasing anything related to Gondor, but the lack of information makes me fearful of a premature cancellation of the theme.

[Deathleech]

It's my concern, too. It bothers me that between MinasTirith and Edoras, Minastirith seems a safer bet. Since we already have two major sets (helm's deep and orthanc) in the first two movies released, more people are expecting a major set from the third.

I don't think it has so much to do with what movie the sets are in, I think it has to do more with the fact we haven't gotten any Gondor related sets while we have gotten at least 2 with Rohan minifigs/locations (Helm's Deep and Uruk-hai Army). The only thing we have gotten that is remotely related to Gondor is Aragorn in his Gondor attire in Black Gates, and Boromir. That's it. No soldiers, no sets based on it, nothing.

While I would love an Edoras/Golden Hall set somewhere down the line (maybe a wave 4 or 5 set if the line lasted that long?), I just think Minas Tirith, or SOMETHING Gondor related, is more important right now seeing the huge absence it has had.

[wesker]

Hopefully we won't have to wait too much longer to find out the fate of the line. The names of the Summer wave sets are usually leaked during December.

[Alcarin]

To put this more in perspective. When Harry Potter was at its peak around 2003 it was the third most portable line TLG had. Now look at 2013. A fairly safe estimate probably puts the list of profitable themes something like this, 1. City, 2. Star Wars, 3. Ninjago, 4. Friends (also highest growth), 5. Super Heroes, 6. (At best and if taken together) possibly LotR and Hobbit. (And this leaves Duplo and Technics out of the equation). And that's being generous to the Middle Earth stuff. We really don't know if it cracked the top 10. We can just safely estimate that it is not in the top 5. We know what those are. And those rankings will impact where shelf and production space is allocated each cycle. LotR's has probably been a reasonably profitable line. But not a runaway license to print money. So it will get its time in the sun, and then be replaced by something new. At least until Peter Jackson and the Tolkien estate make peace and agree to make a Silmarilion or War in the North type movie (just imagine the fan outrage)

You are absolutely correct....

but the statistics is kinda ''screwed''.... now you may ask why and let me tell you.... this statistics is based on the number of sales (TOTAL) not based by set.....

It is easy for City/SW/even Friends to be so high.... just look at the number of sets out there that are available for all those lines....

LOTR/Hobbit had like 5 sets released...... how do you hope to achieve and surpass SW sales with 5 sets vs 20...... not to even compare to City lol....

I would be a huge disappointment if LOTR ends with wave 2.... LOTR was the line that brought me back from Dark ages.... in the end it will not even matter so much as what sets we get but which figures we did NOT get.... and LOTR line without Gondor troops, Faramir, Denethor, and possibly Haradrim/Easterlings and Galadriel (granted she is not in Hobbit) just feels incomplete.... Especially Faramir/Gondor soldiers/rangers/guards will be sorely missed....