LEGO Hobbit 2014

[General Magma]

Pretty disappointed, although I probably wasn't going to buy the set anyways.

Gonna have to snatch up the figures somewhere else.

Though it seems like they couldn't be bothered to give Fili a new, neutral facial expression and instead gave him the smiling one again... shame.

And yeah, the black-haired one is definitely Kili:

I'm pretty sure something is missing from that picture, though.

I highly doubt that's 800 pieces...

Edited July 24, 2014 by General Magma

[Blazej_Holen]

Is it a trans-white ring as arkenstone?

With some blue in in the circle...

[TheWorldAhead]

Is it a trans-white ring as arkenstone?

With some blue in in the circle...

It looks to me more like a trans-white 1x1 circular plate with blue printing.

Anyway, this set exceeds my expectations in the sense that Smaug is incredible, and the rest of the set is actually worthwhile, if not "$130-worthwhile." I can't wait to buy it save up for it. That brings me to two questions, though:

1. Has this set been officially revealed at Comic-Con? If not, we might see what is missing on the left of the image. (Like others, I am hoping for a "collapsible" gold Dwarf statue)

2. Is the release date for this set actually October or December? All the contradictions in the news are really starting to irritate me.

Thanks!

Edited July 24, 2014 by TheWorldAhead

[Blazej_Holen]

IMHO this is biglet down in comparasion to the other great sets. Even the small set of Laketown, tiny Council of Elrond, or other sets like Bag End, Wheathertop and so on, are maded with a high details and acuracy. But this is just bunchof bricks, nice bricks but that doesent means that this price 130 ucks is ok. It is true that for the first time I didn like Laketown Chase set, but this is complete disapointment. I like Smaugs head. But as I afraid, the neck is tiny, the body is fat, nad legs... minifigs are great I expect great printings but only 5 of them? I expect at least 7-8 minifigs not this.

1. Why is the throne conected with mines?

2. Why the set loke like so incomplete?

3. WHY they give Balin trans green axe????

I will buy it when the set will be in discount but only because I want to have my colection complete. Big let down.

[Brick Fiend]

As for the build, I am not sure how I feel about it. I kinda wish they would of stuck with the throne room or the melting chamber rather than cobble both together the way they did. It looks odd. I only have seen the DoS once but thise scene doesn't instantly come to mind. It looks more like a vague Lego creation rather than based on the actual scene? Much like the Mirkwood Elf Army set.

Yeah can't say I'm too impressed. I think I'll be breaking down the Dwarf Smelt section of the build, and using all the Sand Green, Grey and Gold elements to beef up and remodel the Throne section.

[BrickBob Studpants]

The Arkenstone is a clear 1x1 piece on top of a Chima crystal: It's kinda hard to tell whether the 1x1 piece is printed or not The crystal itself is probably just there to give the Arkenstone a "glow" effect

@TheWorldAhead: The article says Fall, the press release says October and so does the Australian catalogue according to brickset user Albus

[dyntar]

I kind of expected to see more gold and treasure in the set. How is Smaug supposed to bury himself in treasure when it barely covers his foot?

[Blazej_Holen]

And no single lego coin ...bummer. I dont understand, is it so hard to put there at least 40 - 80 coins????

[Trunkbass]

Yeah, I know right?

But it has been a long time since I saw those LEGO coins used in new sets ( at least in the ones that I've bought.. )

Edited July 24, 2014 by Trunkbass

[BrickBob Studpants]

Maybe there are coins in the set but they're just hidden Didn't one of the Toy Fair reports state that the model includes secret compartments to store treasure?

[Alcarin]

Must say I am greatly disappointed especially with the lack of figs (it should be 7 minimum) the lack of Thorin suggests he will be in bo5a and bo5a will be another useless set in terms of army building.....

So the good things I see in this set are 2:

1. Smaug looks gorgeus, allthough not perfect, but I wont nitpick that.

2. its an amazing parts pack for people like me who are Landscape, hills, mines, builders....... cannot ask for more than whats inside :)

[Blakstone]

That is a good point. I will build this set to enjoy the build and learn any new building tricks. After a week or a month though, it will become scrap and sorted into my collection. All that will remain will be Smaug and the minifigures. Time to think about what to build with that sand green.

There are a lot of good bricks in that build. The build also looks a lot more cohesive build than random ruins. I like it when I am building something and you can really start to get the reason and the flow of the build. I think that is why I hate the Goblin King set. It seemed like a bunch of random bricks.

Edited July 24, 2014 by Blakstone

[Wardancer]

Could Smaugs wings be made from fabric? They have sort of a silky surface, maybe this is not plastic?

His belly is a bit round for my taste, he should be more snakelike.

[Trunkbass]

Okay, Smaug is definitely the coolest molded LEGO dragon ever, but compared to Helms Deep - about the same retail price - this is completely lacking.

Edited July 24, 2014 by Trunkbass

[ZCerberus]

Smaug does almost nothing for me.

Same ol' molded dragon legs and round little body is just not how he was represented in the film.

The folding wings could be interesting, only reason he does ALMOST nothing for me.

The new molds also contribute greatly to the price. Think about Rancor Pit, Jabba's Palace and the Sail Barge. Big molded creatures mean big price tags. One of many reasons I wish he was more brick built.

[Alfadas]

I love the set. Yes, it is overpriced for 130 dollars, but I still love it. Smaug is great, and who cares about the figs? If they look nice, I don't care there are only 5 of them. One thing i don't understand, why give Dwalin a green/gold axe? What's wrong with normal, metal coloured axe? Or is his axe in the movie made from some weird mineral? It could represent a mineral. But I like the set. Great work LEGO, do not mind the other people that don't like it. There must be a lot of time and money put in this set, and I appreciate that.

[Darth Caedus]

I really don't understand the complaints about getting reskinned dwarves in this set. Aside from Bilbo and Smaug, who else were you expecting to see?

Looking at how this mediocre this set turned out, it's clear now that if Lego really could only include 5 minifigs, this should have been a Prologue set. Thrain, Thror, Young Balin, 2x Erebor Guards. From weak set to solid set, boom.

compared to Helms Deep - about the same retail price - this is completely lacking.

Yep. Helm's Deep should be a benchmark for the big Tolkien sets. If they knew they could only do 850 pieces with the Smaug mold, they should have made some cohesive, impressive facade, like just the Gate of Erebor with the statues, rather than a half-finished looking throne and mine diorama.

Smaug does almost nothing for me.

Same ol' molded dragon legs and round little body is just not how he was represented in the film.

The folding wings could be interesting, only reason he does ALMOST nothing for me.

This is really how I feel. Depending on the price I might end up just buying Smaug seperately, but damn if that body isn't a disappointment. The wings are cool but same ol' same ol' for the rest of him just makes it feel unimpressive.

I love the set. Yes, it is overpriced for 130 dollars, but I still love it. Smaug is great, and who cares about the figs? If they look nice, I don't care there are only 5 of them.

Who cares about the figs?! When you're shelling out $130, the figs matter more than ever. And the point is that they really can't look that appealing because they're rehashes of Dwarves we already have. There's a key issue with Dwarf costume changes. Contrast LOTR. When we got a Black Gate King Aragorn, it was awesome because it was a full, cool new outfit that was also an iconic look from the films. Or when we got Gandalf the White or Rivendell Elrond. Strikingly different costumes that were memorable and important. The Dwarves are inherently short and stubby, and most of their outfit is hidden by the beard anyways. Also, the Dwarf outfits in the Hobbit films just aren't as important, since we spend much less time with each of them. So getting Dwarf variants is exponentially less significant. With Hobbit sets, whoever is the project lead is clearly putting very little effort in. The first Hobbit wave was cohesive and delivered all 13 Dwarves. The logical objective after that for Hobbit sets would be to deliver as many NEW characters as possibly. Anyone who takes a second to look at the Dwarves as characters versus the Fellowship as characters will realized that their outfits in Lego form matter much, much less. Really the only essential one is having a BO5A Thorin (getting Fili and Kili is alright but not hugely important). Furthermore, whoever gave this set the OK didn't think it through how it would be received. The set has 3 core aspects: the setpiece monster, the setting itself, and the figures. The dragon is a strong element, but not worth $130 alone. So either the SETTING has to be strong or the FIGURES have to be solid to make up for this. Instead, the setting is weak and undercooked - a Mines-of-Moria-esque diorama where only the throne and pillars are sort of cool, and the figures are an almost total bust (Bilbo's boring garbage rando Laketown robes, useless Balin and Dwalin rehash, armored Fili and Kili are alright but not impressive). So what you have is a set that's meh on the set itself, crappy on the figures, and good but not mind-blowing on the setpiece monster. That adds up to an overall fail. The only hope for this set is that gullible parents will be whined into buying it by their kids who just want Smaug and it won't cause the line to fail. Because this is a set that could have gotten a lot of love from AFOLs and casual lego fans across the board, but it's not primed to do that.

here must be a lot of time and money put in this set

They definitely put some cash into the Smaug mold, but I feel that this is one of the laziest, rushed sets we've seen in the entire Tolkien Lego line. The mine chunk is literally recycled from Isengard and the old Dwarves' Mine. The throne is a pretty mediocre chair with 2 cool pillars. And bam. That's it. That's the entire set. If you're Lego and you know you have to overcharge because of the Smaug molding, you need to use those 800 pieces to create something stellar, not a gray-green mishmash.

Sigh. I've ranted enough about this for the time being. It's just so tragic and infuriating that when Lego finally got their hands on the Lego line, they made two spectacular waves and then really began to drop the ball after that. There's still a snowball's chance in hell that the BO5A set will be alright and the wave could be acceptable overall, but with a strong likelihood of being stacked to the brim with just main characters, it's not looking promising. At least the Dol Guldur set is guaranteed to be good.

[ROAK123]

there's some new stills released from BOFA.

http://www-images.theonering.org/torwp/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Kz0snpr.jpeg

http://www-images.theonering.org/torwp/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/lIul7TE.jpeg

those elves sure look promising, as well as Thranduil. Hope to see those elves in this new wave

[Mike S]

Smaug is the main reason I will buy this set. If TLG had made a brick built Smaug, I would not even consider buying the set as I hated the Ninjago dragons. The folding wings is an unexpected bonus and the new head in my opinion is spot on for the movie. So all in all the set turned out a bit higher than my expectations.

[Mencot]

This set could had(should had) been better. I don´t like it, I like the colors used but there should had been more and also more treasure!

But everybody knows why the price is that high, it has been stated in this thread a few times. That d*rn dragon

I think it would had been a better idea to sell Smaug in another diffrent set that could be combined then with this set, just with Smaug and a few figs and pieces.

And then TLG should had made this set better. Better in the way that it could reflect to all three movies.

But Smaug and the moulds to make him haven´t been cheap so selling him in a cheaper set would be stupied in a point of business.

[AFOLguy1970]

Perhaps Faefrost is right. It is not necessarily a bad set. It is just that the price is not bad, rather it is downright terrible.

A lot of people speculate the price is so high because of Smaug. By the question must be asked: is Smaug that much larger than the Castle dragon? Looking at both dragons, I do not think Smaug is leaps and bounds larger.

In Dragon Mountain, they managed to make a set with a molded dragon, 5 minifigures, and a reasonable build for 49.99. Now we are looking at a $130 set for a dragon that is not much larger, and we still have 5 minifigs. Looking at the released photo of Lonely Mountain, a LOT of the pieces are cheese slopes and round 1x1 plates. Lots of greebles in this set.

If this thing had been $80-90, i would probably be raving about this set. The only complaint left would probably be the exclusion of Thorin.

On the topic of main characters, hopefully they will continue to sell the DOS sets coming into the next wave. That way, they would not have to rehash Gandalf, Azog, Thranduil, and Beorn. Otherwise, I fear they will take up valuable slots in BOFA. My worst case scenario for a BOFA set would include Gandalf, Azog, Thorin, Dain, a Gundabad orc, and Thranduil. Add either a warg or eagle to that and a wall build behind it. Who wants to see that? Oh yeah, dont forget about Legolas and Tauriel. If they get major action in this last movie, they are going to appear again as well. The Lake Town windlance (without its intended target) set might absorb them.

It is beginning to look like the Witch King vs Elrond/Galadriel set will be the best deal overall.

[BrickBob Studpants]

In Dragon Mountain, they managed to make a set with a molded dragon, 5 minifigures, and a reasonable build for 49.99. Now we are looking at a $130 set for a dragon that is not much larger, and we still have 5 minifigs.

There's a major difference here: the latest castle dragon was released in three sets (two in 2007 and one in 2013), each one having a different color style (black, dark red, red) but the same moulds. Smaug on the other hand only appears in this set. The more they can produce of a certain mould, the less it costs Besides, it's not necessarily the size that counts, but the amount of new moulds, and Smaug consists of at least 6 new ones (upper jaw, lower jaw/neck, wings, legs, main body, tail)

[kevkipo]

This looks completely amazing, im stunned... glad we get Fili and Kili but will we get Thorin? is my main question.

I want Thorin really badly, will we get to see more of this amazing set?

Also does this mean Kili and Fili will face Smaug?!

I won't believe that

[The Real Walkers]

I personally love the power-rangers theme emerging in the set... green ranger Dwalin, red ranger Balin, blue ranger Fili, black ranger Kili...s'all good in my books...

[Legoman123]

I really like the set form what I've seen so far, however there does need to be some more to the main structure for me to invest in it.