That is if you compare non licensed LEGO to a licensed line. I would suggest you compare instead to action figures. Back in the day, I wanted the main heroes in Stars Wars and really wanted a lot of Stormtroopers to threaten them with. A random rebel soldier might be nice but I wanted as many Stormtroopers as possible. That was the only way for me to feel that the heroes were in danger. Han, Luke, Leia, and Chewbacca versus one or three Stormtroopers was not an even match. If I had a dozen, that would have been something.

For the Hobbit, you get thirteen dwarves, Bilbo, Gandalf and other allies. You need a lot of orcs to out number them. I think they is even why we got the army builder polybags for Mirkwood Elf Guard and Laketown Guard so that they could threaten the protagonists. In the Bot5A, they might assist the good guys but until then they are an enemy force. Of course, there is more nuance there, but this is simplified kids logic.

Well, thanks for bringing us (and me!) out of fantasy world.

Your probably right, there was very little chance of us ever getting a generic dwarf.

That is if you compare non licensed LEGO to a licensed line. I would suggest you compare instead to action figures. Back in the day, I wanted the main heroes in Stars Wars and really wanted a lot of Stormtroopers to threaten them with. A random rebel soldier might be nice but I wanted as many Stormtroopers as possible. That was the only way for me to feel that the heroes were in danger. Han, Luke, Leia, and Chewbacca versus one or three Stormtroopers was not an even match. If I had a dozen, that would have been something.

This. Exactly this. I don't think kids really care much about good soldiers to bolster their ranks when you already have 9 Fellowship members or 13 dwarves + Gandalf and Bilbo. Bad guys are another story though. Notice how Lego tries to put at least 2 orc grunts in every set they make sense in, yet we don't even get one good soldier in most sets? It's because Lego figures kids already have TONS of good named characters and they need some bad guys to fight. The good guys don't need more mundane soldiers to help them when there are already so many named characters.

Look at the LotR line. Right now there are 21 total orc/goblin grunts you would have if you bought one of every set. There are only a few named bad characters with Saruman, Grima, Lurtz, and Mouth of Sauron. There is also a Cave Troll. That's less than 30 bad guys. How many good guys are there? Around 18 plus 2 eagles, and that's not including doubles or alternate prints. So you are looking at 20 good guys facing 26 bad guys if you buy one of every set. It's even worse with the Hobbit line. In the movies it's generally 10 bad guys to 1 good guy, but with the Lego sets, due to limited space for minifigures, it's not even 2 to 1. Heck, it's even less than 1.5 to 1, it's almost a straight 1 to 1 ratio of good to bad. Imagine if Lego loaded their sets with Gondor Soldiers, Lothlorien Elves, or more Rohan Soldiers? Those numbers would quickly tip in the good guys favor. Why would Lego opt for say a generic dwarf soldier instead of Dain? Dain will obviously have a much larger role than any generic dwarf soldier and kids will surely want him more.

Hmm... Isnt there a "buildable action figure" or "constraction figure" license that TLG could try for that wouldnt be the same as various "normal" action figures?

And while I hardly doubt the Dwarf is Dain, whats this about a signature red axe? Is it canon, or at least PJ-canon, or is it from some non-canon computer game?

It's non-canon. It seems like PJ is adding it to his Hobbit films though, what other axe would Dain be wielding?

Its canon according to Tolkien Gateway

http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Dáin_Ironfoot

Says he used his red axe to behead Azog during the War of Dwarves and Orcs.

Yeah, your right there. I forgot about Dains axe.

Edited August 22, 201410 yr by Jason7189

It's indeed true, In the book there are lots of mentions of Dain's axe being red

Besides, it must be Dain. They have to include the Spoiler> new King

Kevkipo is right between the book and the apendices its is stated a few times.

Any speculation as to what the rest of the Dale structure in 79017 might be? A tower? Surely there's more considering Legolas and Bard are nowhere to be found.

Maybe a catapult to launch Legolas at Azog, or something like that...

^ Classic

the cart Bard rides in the trailer maybe?

I think that tower must be some kind of church thingy...

Edited August 22, 201410 yr by kevkipo

With a catapult, of course?

That idea is great @kevkipo! But, tower, like in DGB, would be best...

With a catapult, of course?

That idea is great @kevkipo! But, tower, like in DGB, would be best...

Thanks but i think it will include a tower, you can see a tiny bit of the tower in the picture

Its canon according to Tolkien Gateway

http://tolkiengatewa...i/Dáin_Ironfoot

Says he used his red axe to behead Azog during the War of Dwarves and Orcs.

I think the name is non-canon, it's from the Battle for Middle-Earth II video game. I just looked in the actual Hobbit book again and I didn't notice the name mentioned anywhere. I didn't even notice them mention he has a red axe? Is it from the appendices, or did I just miss it? It's possible I just missed it in the Hobbit because it was only mentioned in a single sentence.

Edited August 22, 201410 yr by Deathleech

I would think the black arrow would be on the tallest structure. Whomever took the photo did not feel like it was important enough to take care to include in the photo. There is obviously something there but I doubt it is big.

does Crowned Thorin have a pearl gold sword or is just my imagination mixed with poor color quality of the photo?

i'm a bit disappointed on how the wave turned out

79015 - this is interesting , it has a twilight ringwraith and i always wanted one , but why is it grey tough ....

79016 - this was a good set to include Bolg minifig , honestly i doubt anyone wants Bard's son over Bolg

79017 - the set lacks soldiers , where are they : elven armored soldiers ? dwarf armored soldiers ? , orc armored soldiers ? and human soldiers ?

they are just missing , i mean yes u have representatives from each army but they are main characters

- overall i think it was a bad ideea to overlook the grunts in a war for what , 2 - 3 molds

79018 - Smaug well it's just out of proportions compared with the movie version i don't understand who made this decision -> it was a bad decision

overall i will get the sets , lego designers put alot of effort and detail in the building section , the sets have a great display value ( which is what i am using them for ) and i don't want to look back on this moment and wish i would have bought them when they will eventually retire BUT and this is a big one , u didn't perform well on the minifig representation , there are zero soldiers in a battle of 5 army's of soldiers , where are the soldiers ?

does Crowned Thorin have a pearl gold sword or is just my

imagination mixed with poor color quality of the photo?

I also thought so when I viewed it I'm not sure what it is, but it would be amazing in if was pearl gold.

I would think the black arrow would be on the tallest structure. Whomever took the photo did not feel like it was important enough to take care to include in the photo. There is obviously something there but I doubt it is big.

What?? Black arrow on what tall structure?

79018 - Smaug well it's just out of proportions compared with the movie version i don't understand who made this decision -> it was a bad decision

Oh so you rather had no Smaug at all? It's actually pretty big and of course they couldn't make such a big mold?

It would've been a set on it's own!

Edited August 22, 201410 yr by kevkipo

If you look really hard the right of 79017, in the tower you can just see the tip of some ones bow.

Here are some simple changes to the minifigure lineups that I think would satisfy everyone, including LEGO itself:

Lake-Town Attack

Replace Bain with Bolg (everybody wants Bolg, nobody wants Bain, and the bad guys are already outnumbered in this set anyway)

The Battle of Five Armies

Replace Legolas with an Iron Hills Dwarf (Legolas can't be that big of a draw for kids, can he?)

And then we'd all get what we wanted! Except for Beorn, but he'd probably require a new mold anyway.

Edited August 22, 201410 yr by Lancethecat

I like that line up, we have already gotten Legolas and Tauriel and their set only retires in October. Bolg would be good in the lake town set, in the BO5A Legolas should be an armored Elf, drop one orc and give us a lake town soldier give us 2 of each, and give us a 20 dollar for Thorin battling Azog with Dain with a small Dale structure,

(Edit due to double post.)

Edited August 23, 201410 yr by Steph 104th

it's probably too late now for any changes , but lego should re-consider they're policy when making new molds , it is worth it to put out

Oh so you rather had no Smaug at all? It's actually pretty big and of course they couldn't make such a big mold?

It would've been a set on it's own!

Smaug just looks very odd , and it's too different from the movie version , the legs and butt are too big , the front legs are missing , as a fan i am not impressed with the design

79017 - it's probably too late now to make any changes , the set just needs too much change to be an excellent set instead of a poor set which it is right now

I am just saying maybe for future sets these simple ideas will take sets from " poor " to " excellent "

TLG should listen too these suggestion topics , everybody said " bot5a " should contain :

- orc armored soldier

- elf armored soldier

- human soldier ( men of dale )

- dwarf soldier

everything else is just extra , but it';s a battle , and a battle needs soldiers , we got no soldiers except for 2 orcs who don't look like they're going to battle , they look like the the raider type " light armor " so they can ride fast on the wargs

Edited August 23, 201410 yr by agent76484