Darth Caedus Posted January 5, 2014 Posted January 5, 2014 (edited) I made a sojourn to my Lego store today and grilled the employees for answers. Both of them are veterans and told me that they strongly expected there to be at least one more wave of LOTR, and were absolutely sure of another Hobbit wave (probably bigger than the 3-set Hungarian estimate) and that things would only 'peter out' once the movies ceased. They also confirmed something else interesting: they said that POTC wasn't cancelled because of poor sales; in fact, they sold through their entire stock very quickly (the 2 ships in particular) - it's just that with only one movie, Lego didn't choose to continue the line after the Black Pearl - mistake, considering that a D2C Dutchman would've sold fast because pirate ships always sell. Upon further discussion, they said that the license that's notorious for being a failure is Prince of Persia - that they couldn't sell any of those sets and they were an incredible "pain" to get rid of. I mentioned the lack of an ad in the instructions, that seemed to not faze them at all, and they stuck by their stance that there will be more LOTR in some form this year. Not an official confirmation, given the limited intel that Lego store employees posses, and I'm still awaiting true confirmation with bated breath, but there's the latest. Edited January 5, 2014 by Darth Caedus
SirBlake Posted January 5, 2014 Posted January 5, 2014 Even with the grain of salt considered, that's great news. Thanks!
Deathleech Posted January 5, 2014 Posted January 5, 2014 Ya, things seem to be turning around a little. All Hobbit and LotR sets save 1 or 2 sold out at Lego S@H, Orthanc a best seller, good sale reports from stores, and now a summer wave which is most likely LotR. Now lets just hope Lego actually covers the stuff people want. Knowing our luck the last LotR wave will probably have sets based on Farmer Maggot's farm.
Darth Punk Posted January 5, 2014 Posted January 5, 2014 (edited) TLG is pushing back the winter release of Star Wars sets in the u.s. in order to,focus on the lego movie. http://www.groovebricks.com/lego-star-wars-2014-set-available-in-march/ So it's understandable why we haven't heard anything about the third wave of TLoR. TLG seems to be going all out to ensure the lego movie is a huge success. Maybe they will show TLoR line some of that love later this year. Edited January 5, 2014 by Darth Punk
Brick Fiend Posted January 5, 2014 Posted January 5, 2014 Knowing our luck the last LotR wave will probably have sets based on Farmer Maggot's farm. Oh God. Don't even joke about it. Just imagine, a $90 set featuring Gaffer Gamgee and his veggie crop ...
Brick Fiend Posted January 5, 2014 Posted January 5, 2014 and were absolutely sure of another Hobbit wave (probably bigger than the 3-set Hungarian estimate) and that things would only 'peter out' once the movies ceased. It's the quality of the final wave of Hobbit sets that concerns me more. I don't dislike the most recent wave for DOS, but they don't exactly get me excited either. I can't see myself leaving any of them on display or wanting to Mod them any further either. Any final wave missing Smaug or the Gates of Erebor will be disappointing to my mind. Now that there are no outside factors (such as those suggested by posters on this forum ) interrupting the design/production/release processes, one would hope that the final wave feels more 'complete' than the recent Hobbit and LOR ones have. (To me anyway)
deskp Posted January 5, 2014 Posted January 5, 2014 I made a sojourn to my Lego store today and grilled the employees for answers. Both of them are veterans and told me that they strongly expected there to be at least one more wave of LOTR, and were absolutely sure of another Hobbit wave (probably bigger than the 3-set Hungarian estimate) and that things would only 'peter out' once the movies ceased. They also confirmed something else interesting: they said that POTC wasn't cancelled because of poor sales; in fact, they sold through their entire stock very quickly (the 2 ships in particular) - it's just that with only one movie, Lego didn't choose to continue the line after the Black Pearl - mistake, considering that a D2C Dutchman would've sold fast because pirate ships always sell. Upon further discussion, they said that the license that's notorious for being a failure is Prince of Persia - that they couldn't sell any of those sets and they were an incredible "pain" to get rid of. I mentioned the lack of an ad in the instructions, that seemed to not faze them at all, and they stuck by their stance that there will be more LOTR in some form this year. Not an official confirmation, given the limited intel that Lego store employees posses, and I'm still awaiting true confirmation with bated breath, but there's the latest. Interesting. I'm pretty sure i've heard one of the top guys at lego have said that POTC did well in the past aswell. And of course we know they made the corsair ship cause of how well ships sell (designer said so in his video) PoP not doing well isn't suprising, a lsience vvery few care about, and it didn't fit into an excisiting theme (like lone ranger did). I am still weary not to get my hopes up for more lotr just yet though, Either way that lego movie is getting all the attention makes sense, kids will love buying EXACTLY what they saw in the movie I'm sure. But it sure is weird seeing all those packaged sets that looks like jumbeled together sets made by a 12 year old.. but i get it.
Faefrost Posted January 5, 2014 Posted January 5, 2014 It's the quality of the final wave of Hobbit sets that concerns me more. I don't dislike the most recent wave for DOS, but they don't exactly get me excited either. I can't see myself leaving any of them on display or wanting to Mod them any further either. Any final wave missing Smaug or the Gates of Erebor will be disappointing to my mind. Now that there are no outside factors (such as those suggested by posters on this forum ) interrupting the design/production/release processes, one would hope that the final wave feels more 'complete' than the recent Hobbit and LOR ones have. (To me anyway) There's always the question of what can they reasonably do with a viable retail set and still keep it within a marketable size and effective scale? Would anyone be content with a gates or Erebor set that is about the same shape as, and maybe half again the size of the LR Silver Mine set? That is probably what we would be looking at for that structure. (and personally I would be happy with it as a playset.) The same thing with Smaug. I think its safe to assume that even if it were to be the largest Dragon Lego has made to date, it would still be well reduced in scale from what is seen on screen. Probably something around the size of HF's Dragonbolt, just more filled in. Anything much bigger than that and you start to run into play issues (kinda like trying to "swoosh" the UCS Super Star Destroyer). And Smaug would probably need to be a retail set. I think we all suspect that to do Smaug they would need some new tooling. The head at a minimum. Unless they do one hell of a Ninjago/Chima style organic build. And the super huge super expensive D2C sets can't support new tooling. Which leads down the path that any Smaug we get would probably have to sit somewhere around a $130 price point max.
Deathleech Posted January 5, 2014 Posted January 5, 2014 Which leads down the path that any Smaug we get would probably have to sit somewhere around a $130 price point max. I think if Lego focused SOLELY on Smaug as the build, anything from the $80-130 would be plenty to cover him. Remember a large portion of Smaug is his super thin neck and tail which shouldn't require a vast amount of bricks to create. Surely he will be scaled down, but I think twice as big as the t-rex in the T-Rex Hunter set would be fine. That set was only $70 and half of it was the helicopter and small buggie build.
SirBlake Posted January 5, 2014 Posted January 5, 2014 I think Smaug could be pretty big if handled like a structure. Less something to be swooshed, more big stable build with giant jaws and claws.
jodawill Posted January 5, 2014 Posted January 5, 2014 I may be in the minority, but I actually think it would be cooler if Smaug was made of a few pieces like the 1990s dragon. It wouldn't be very accurate, but there's no way they'd ever get the scale correct anyway if there are minifigures in the set. It might not be as appealing to some AFOLs, but I think it would be more fun to play with a single piece than some fragile thing with exotic parts I may never find a use for.
Roebuck Posted January 5, 2014 Posted January 5, 2014 (edited) Knowing our luck the last LotR wave will probably have sets based on Farmer Maggot's farm. Oh God. Don't even joke about it. Just imagine, a $90 set featuring Gaffer Gamgee and his veggie crop ... Sounds like a wonderful wave to me (but not very likely..) Edited January 5, 2014 by Roebuck
BRICK NERD Posted January 5, 2014 Posted January 5, 2014 Lego will probably make a set with Smaug, but he would probably not be brick built. Brick built creatures usually fall apart like the Ninjago earth dragon.
Infernum Posted January 5, 2014 Posted January 5, 2014 I'm surprised Thrain was never in either of the DG sets. I have the production book for both movies, and it appears that him being removed from the sequence when Gandalf is exploring DG was a last minute thing, as was the removal of the High Fells from AUJ.
AFOLguy1970 Posted January 5, 2014 Posted January 5, 2014 Thrain could yet appear in the last Hobbit wave. The movies seem to be alluding to his eventual appearance. The whole intro at Bree with Thorin believing that Thrain is somehow alive does not seem like a random scene to me. Maybe they will throw Gandalf in the Dol Guldur dungeon, and there will be Thrain. Just a guess...
deskp Posted January 5, 2014 Posted January 5, 2014 Thrain could yet appear in the last Hobbit wave. The movies seem to be alluding to his eventual appearance. The whole intro at Bree with Thorin believing that Thrain is somehow alive does not seem like a random scene to me. Maybe they will throw Gandalf in the Dol Guldur dungeon, and there will be Thrain. Just a guess... Philippa Boyes said he's in the EE
Floundie Posted January 6, 2014 Posted January 6, 2014 Apparently the new sets are Hobbit ones, and not LOTR, according to chongcheng in the future LOTR thread. I had a look at the trade catalogue, unfortunately, 79015 to 79018 is for The Hobbit: There And Back Again (there is no pictures as to how they look like) and there is no mention of LOTR anywhere. So I must say the situation looks pretty grim for LOTR...
tahoethewhite Posted January 6, 2014 Posted January 6, 2014 Only 3 more sets???? I'm pretty sure that there is a 4th one. It's 79015-79018 right?
Deathleech Posted January 6, 2014 Posted January 6, 2014 I'm pretty sure that there is a 4th one. It's 79015-79018 right? 79017 is most likely a retailer exclusive so it wouldn't show up for other retailers.
BrickBob Studpants Posted January 6, 2014 Posted January 6, 2014 (edited) Well, at least we get four sets instead of three and one of those is quite substantial As long as we get Galadriel, Bolg and Smaug, I'm happy There's one big question on my mind now: are they going to be revealed at the Toy Fairs? The release date seems to say 'yes', but New Line/Warner/MGM surely don't want anything spoiled... Edited January 6, 2014 by Lego-Freak
Fletcher Floyd Posted January 6, 2014 Posted January 6, 2014 I'd love to see a hobbit-Set with Smaug. Maybe in the throne room of Erebor. Wow, there must be lots of golden coins into this one -and the Arkenstone of course;-) The last "Hobbit"- wave was pretty cool I think, especially I liked the "Mirkwood Elf Army" and "Laketown Chase"-Sets.
Blazej_Holen Posted January 6, 2014 Posted January 6, 2014 Maybe it will be the second part of DoS wave...the numbering of the sets is somehow explanation for this..? Hobbit set 5, Hobbit set 6.... Maybe TLG want to push harder on the potential which brings Hobbit trademark, so they split DoS into 2 wawes, and then in december (or january) we will see another wawe from TABA. I'd love to see a hobbit-Set with Smaug. Maybe in the throne room of Erebor. Wow, there must be lots of golden coins into this one -and the Arkenstone of course;-) The last "Hobbit"- wave was pretty cool I think, especially I liked the "Mirkwood Elf Army" and "Laketown Chase"-Sets. Ooooohhh you gotta kidding me, MEA is damn piece of crap except the minifigs. :/
Fives Posted January 6, 2014 Posted January 6, 2014 I just took a look at the new pictures of The Simpsons House set. It's a huge, 2000+ piece exclusive! being released at the beginning of a new license that has no previous popularity to go off of. It's mad me wonder about the future of exclusives within this theme. If LEGO is willing to take the risk of making a big exclusive as the intro to a new theme, perhaps they'll feel the same for the farewell of The Hobbit. Perhaps our chances of seeing a huge Smaug set aren't completely dashed after all. I mean, it's a theory, based simply on observation and fools' hope, but it's still a nice idea.
Cammo Posted January 6, 2014 Posted January 6, 2014 I dont know. Most of the kids will want a Smaug when its released... So my guess is that they will not be doing a huge D2C set. It's more likely that they will make it 120-150 euro max. I also dont think it requires 2500 pieces to make a dragon.
Recommended Posts