LEGO Hobbit 2014

[Ridge Montante]

I was going with looking like another rock / mountain structure. But if its suppose to contain the throne that would make more sense.

Edited January 23, 2014 by Ridge Montante

[jackstatic]

They have done this a few times. The goblins in the Goblin King Battle set had three different torso prints and a two sided head yet they only have appeared in ONE set so far. Not sure what Lego's logic is there.. why do two prints for figures only in one set yet have the Mordor Orc in four sets and all share the one and only print for them?

Those 3 goblins and the, imho, awful build of the set is why its the only set I didn't buy. I eBayed Dori, Nori, and Ori for like $25 total shipped. If the Erebor set is just reprints and gold forges I could probably easily pass up that set if its $100+. Which is why I beleive Smaug would either be in the Erebor set, or the Erebor set relates to the Bo5A. But maybe that is just wishful thinking amd lego is willing to put out a large set with all reprints. It's also possible the set is an all encompassing set which would make some sense as well. But to tie it directly to the final scene of DoS seems to limit the set greatly in terms of mini fig distribution.

Edited January 23, 2014 by jackstatic

[azog15]

I think the new Laketown set might have Bolg and Legolas in it.

[deskp]

I think the new Laketown set might have Bolg and Legolas in it.

Well depending on the size of the set that might not make sense.

[azog15]

Hopefully we'll get some pictures next Wednesday

[Ardelon]

I also think that Smaug makes much more sense in the Lake Town set. Although if the Erebor set is based on the forge scene, that requires Smaug even more IMO. Who knows, maybe PJ added more action scenes to Lake Town, which could mean the set doesnt need Smaug for an action/conflict scene. I assume Bilbo and Thorin are the only certain minifigs in the set, since niether are in Dol Guldur or Lake Town (at least in the book...) and I would be surpised if the designers put Thorin into a Bo5A set (especially if its an army builder set) instead of Erebor. Contrary to others, I dont think Fili or KIli are necessary, why concentrate on their deaths (if they do actually die in the films...)? Im only worried we will get another Gandalf instead.

The smallest set sounds interesting. I wonder whether Galadier will come in her robe/gown, or if she will deck herself out in armor. Though Im a bit disappointed, this seemed like our only chance for an armored Sauron.

Are sets at Nuremberg and NY finalized or still preliminary? (It would be weird if they were finalized with such a short window between the toy fairs.)

[deskp]

I also think that Smaug makes much more sense in the Lake Town set. Although if the Erebor set is based on the forge scene, that requires Smaug even more IMO. Who knows, maybe PJ added more action scenes to Lake Town, which could mean the set doesnt need Smaug for an action/conflict scene. I assume Bilbo and Thorin are the only certain minifigs in the set, since niether are in Dol Guldur or Lake Town (at least in the book...) and I would be surpised if the designers put Thorin into a Bo5A set (especially if its an army builder set) instead of Erebor. Contrary to others, I dont think Fili or KIli are necessary, why concentrate on their deaths (if they do actually die in the films...)? Im only worried we will get another Gandalf instead.

The smallest set sounds interesting. I wonder whether Galadier will come in her robe/gown, or if she will deck herself out in armor. Though Im a bit disappointed, this seemed like our only chance for an armored Sauron.

Are sets at Nuremberg and NY finalized or still preliminary? (It would be weird if they were finalized with such a short window between the toy fairs.)

- I think it's fair to assume the Erebor set is alteast 50% TABA, I mean, The ragged company of dwarves isn't the most exciting minifig selection. And only getting 5 or 8 ragged dwarfs/bilbo in a set seems a little MEH,

- I hope it's a white dress Galadriel aswell. Gandalf didn't put on anything protective when he went into dol guldur, so why should Galadriel, who supposedly is the most powerful being in middle earth. Lets hope!

-Sets are nearly always finalized at new york toy fair. its almost a month after london toy fair, but i think it's more of a "supply chain" thing. If a set uses a part in a new color for example, they will have to wait for that part to get produced before they can show of final sets. It's propably alot of small things coming together in the 3 weeks between toy fairs.

[Deathleech]

- I think it's fair to assume the Erebor set is alteast 50% TABA, I mean, The ragged company of dwarves isn't the most exciting minifig selection. And only getting 5 or 8 ragged dwarfs/bilbo in a set seems a little MEH,

I just find it hard to believe Lego will include any TABA stuff the Erebor set. From the Brickfanatics description, the set pretty much sounds like the last part of the DoS film word for word. He said it was similar to Mines of Moria with a long structure that has transporting baskets, gold melting, a throne room, and hidden caches of treasure. He also said the set had Smaug. I mean sure Lego might throw in some TABA characters, but I just don't see how when it's depicting everything from the end of DoS. Lego has covered two scenes with one set before, but have they added characters to sets that never even appear there in the source material (besides special cases like Yazneg where it was changed last minute and not their fault)? The only way I could see them having TABA characters is if PJ made some big Bo5A scenes take place inside the actual mountain. That would be totally deviating from the book, but not impossible I guess.

I really hope I am wrong about this because I agree, no new minifigures and just new printed dwarves would be kind of boring. I could see Lego doing it though, by the time these sets are out the first Hobbit wave will probably be fully retired and kids who missed it will still want the dwarves. Plus it allows Lego to re-use all those special bear molds from the first wave. It would be an incredibly boring minifigure selection for us, but it makes sense for Lego. Really the only TABA characters we need are Dain and Bolg, and Bolg could potentially be in the Lake-town set. That actually makes sense too, if Smaug isn't in Lake-town they would want to give us some action and what better way than with Legolas, Bain, Bolg, etc.? That would leave the Bo5A set as an army builder which only includes Dain as the unique character. We just got Thranduil, Beorn (not bear form though ), and all the other characters in the Bo5A in the second wave so no real need to put them in any wave three sets.

Edited January 24, 2014 by Deathleech

[Mr. Cube]

"That would be totally deviating from the book, but not impossible I guess." Yeah...maybe they will use molten gold as a weapon again. Just joking.

[BrickBob Studpants]

@Ardelon: Fili and Kili have to die, if they didn't one of them would become king since they're Thorin's nephews and thus next in line In the book, Dain II becomes king under the mountain after the Bo5A.

If the Erebor set is indeed 79018, it has to feature at least 2-3 new minifigs and by that I mean entirely new and not just new variations . Compare it to other big Middle-earth sets they've released thus far:

9473 Mines of Moria: Boromir, Moria Orcs, Pippin

9474 Helm's Deep: Theoden, Uruk-hai berserker, Haldir

79008 Pirate Ship Ambush: King of the Dead, Soldier of the Dead (2x), Pirate of Umbar

79010 Goblin King Battle: Goblins (3x), Dori, Ori, Nori

(10237 doesn't count since it's D2C, and even then it has at least Grima )

At this day and age, it's unthinkable for TLG to release a set this big that doesn't have at least 2 exclusive minifigs, it has become one of the main selling points (even to the point where they throw in exclusive minifigs in sets where they don't even remotely belong, especially in SW, but don't get me wrong, I love 'em for that )

[Deathleech]

Dain and Bolg are the only unique Hobbit characters that haven't been accounted for and that could appear in the set. One of them will probably be in the $30 set even if it's an army builder since Lego insists on including at least one unique character in those sets. That leaves only Dain OR Bolg. I guess we could get some soldiers in unique armor, but I would rather see them in the actual army builder set, not exclusive to Erebor. There really aren't that many other characters we haven't seen yet. Lego has most of the big characters already covered. Sure we are missing some secondaries like Alfrid and Braga, but I can't imagine they are a high priority and they would most likely be in the new Lake-town set anyways, not Erebor.

Edited January 24, 2014 by Deathleech

[BrickBob Studpants]

@Deathleech: Yeah, I pretty much had those two in mind Dain II becomes king under the mountain so it'd be quite fitting to have him in this set Perhaps the named character in the Bo5A set is Thranduil even though it'd be quite weird to have him in two consecutive army sets Or maybe instead it's the "Orc General" that used to be Bolg (depending on how far the production of the unique beard/armor piece was) Or maybe I'm just plain wrong and we only get Bilbo, Thorin and a few dwarves in new fancy clothes

I think there might be another explanation why TLG might have decided to put Smaug into an Erebor set instead of a Laketown one: perhaps the notion of a set that portrays an entire town being torched by a revenge-seeking dragon was not kid-friendly enough? I know there are quite a few sets that depict dragons attacking fortresses (this one e.g. http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=7019-1) but those are scenes that might happen whereas in the Hobbit, the dragon definitely succeeds Of course there's Helm's Deep, where the baddies blow up the wall (which is even a play feature ) but it's not quite on the same level I'd say

[Gibbon]

Bolg to be included in a Laketown set seems something from the DOS wave so if Lego is to strictly follow the episodes of the movies, and the third wave is for TABA sets they have to make room for him in a different set I think.

[deskp]

I do still wonder weather Erebor or laketown is the biggest set, we've only heard people say Erebor looked substantial (or whatever it was) But let's assume it is, I guess

-Bilbo, thorin, Fili, Kili, Dain, Dwarf soldier x2, orc soldier or Azog *Dwarves vs orcs

-Bard, Bain, Alfrid, laketown guard, villager *Laketowners

-Elf soldier x3, orc soldier x2, Bolg, and an eagle *Eagles and Elves vs Orcs

-Galadriel, witch king, Elrond

*This way we end up with all the factions of the battle of 5 armies.

The 30$ "battlepack" set includes a creature as has been the case in the prior 2. We get every important NEW character, the important dwarves, Bilbo the overall hero, Galadirel the last lego piece missing from the white council and Witch king the last piece of the Dol guldur inhabitants.

[KristofBD]

Well, I'm definitively most looking forward to the Lake Town set. Would be great to get some more inhabitants of the town! I have to admit though, I'm not that much of an Elf or Dwarf fan, so that probably explains my preference

[legofreak86]

Huw of brickset has confirmed in the comments of his report 4 sets:

"Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 22 Jan 2014 14:07

I've just listened to the voice recording I made while going round the stand so can shed some more light on the Hobbit sets. I'm also hoping that the other attendees can pitch in and fill some gaps and I suspect Pete will do so in his report at FBTB.

So, there are 4 sets:

The small one with Galadriel and the witch king

Lake town bell tower has some important character something like bain? in it

Battle of the five armies, I don't recall much about that

The Lonely Mountain, the one with Smaug in it.

Sorry it's so vague, there's so much to take in and not much time to do so!"

So going by that Smaug is included in erebor. Quite a good wave if you ask me: Nice big set with perhaps some DOS/TABA variations of the dwarves and Bilbo, Nice add on to lake town, BO5A sounds cool and a small Dol Guldur set. Much more variation than 2013's wave.

Edited January 24, 2014 by legofreak86

[deskp]

If the set ends up being called battle of the 5 armies, do you think lego can get away with not including 1 of each of the 5 in that set?

[Mr. Cube]

It would be nice to see first LEGO LotR/Hobbit battle pack "Battle of the Five Armies" - 1x Eagle, 1x Elf, 1x Orc, 1x Dwarf, 1x Lake-town Soldier. But...is it possible? I think not.

[deskp]

It would be nice to see first LEGO LotR/Hobbit battle pack "Battle of the Five Armies" - 1x Eagle, 1x Elf, 1x Orc, 1x Dwarf, 1x Lake-town Soldier. But...is it possible? I think not.

But theres 6 figures in those packs, so theres room for 2 of one soldier + 1 hero figure. I also think not, but it is possible.

[BrickBob Studpants]

I do still wonder weather Erebor or laketown is the biggest set, we've only heard people say Erebor looked substantial (or whatever it was) But let's assume it is, I guess

-Bilbo, thorin, Fili, Kili, Dain, Dwarf soldier x2, orc soldier or Azog *Dwarves vs orcs

-Bard, Bain, Alfrid, laketown guard, villager *Laketowners

-Elf soldier x3, orc soldier x2, Bolg, and an eagle *Eagles and Elves vs Orcs

-Galadriel, witch king, Elrond

I don't think we need another Azog, but the rest of your list sounds great (except for a lack of Beorn) I think chances for a generic-soldier-focused Bo5A set are pretty good with a lot of named participants (Bilbo, Thorin and co.) being out of the way thanks to the Erebor set I just hope there's not another Gandalf around the corner waiting to troll us

[deskp]

I don't think we need another Azog

I agree, but I'm sure there will be an important showdown in the movie with Thorin, Fili and Kili. Lego might feel the need to put him in a set.

[Pate-keetongu]

Now I'm really confused whether these are DOS or TABA sets. There wasn't any throne room scenes with Smaug on DOS, though it would make more sense if it would be the forge mistaken as a throme room. The furnaces (and Bombur using the bellows), cooling systems, gold river and cable carts. That would have quite a nice array of play features and I guess that kids as a main marketing group like to have the updated dwarves (and I want them too, because I like those guys).

I guess the fig would be Thorin, Bilbo and Balin + x of the hero dwarves. Therefore there wouldn't be need for Thorin in the (assumed) battle set.

Dain seems like a good guess as a hero character to the Battle set. We haven't seen any promotional material about him so it's hard to estimate his importance in the last film, but I hope his role will be bigger than Beorn's (Because Dain is pretty much the badassest Tolkien character). I'm not sure if it would be a good choice to add Fili and Kili to the set to be killed - They didn't do Theoden's Boromir's death scenes neither.

No foggiest idea what the Lake-Town set is about if it doesn't have Smaug, though. Might it be a DOS set like Erebor with Legolas, Bolg, Bain etc.? The reported would likely have spotted those characters, though... We'll see.

[Darth Punk]

Huw of brickset has confirmed in the comments of his report 4 sets:

"Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 22 Jan 2014 14:07

I've just listened to the voice recording I made while going round the stand so can shed some more light on the Hobbit sets. I'm also hoping that the other attendees can pitch in and fill some gaps and I suspect Pete will do so in his report at FBTB.

So, there are 4 sets:

The small one with Galadriel and the witch king

Lake town bell tower has some important character something like bain? in it

Battle of the five armies, I don't recall much about that

The Lonely Mountain, the one with Smaug in it.

Sorry it's so vague, there's so much to take in and not much time to do so!"

So going by that Smaug is included in erebor. Quite a good wave if you ask me: Nice big set with perhaps some DOS/TABA variations of the dwarves and Bilbo, Nice add on to lake town, BO5A sounds cool and a small Dol Guldur set. Much more variation than 2013's wave.

Yes that list is not only vague, it also contradicts what others have said. We have heard there are three lake town buildings with Smaug, a bell tower with Smaug and lastly the lonely mountain with Smaug. Why would TLG just make a bell tower and add some figs? I'm not saying Huw is wrong, I think it is highly likely that the dragon was picked up at some point and moved. I also think TLG is being purposely vague in defining the sets since for one the minifigs are missing and there could be other components missing as well.

There is also the fact that TABA is not due out for many months and they have a history of keeping things secret. So there could easily be something revealed by the sets that they do not want us to know about yet.

It makes sense Smaug is in a lake town set regardless of,whether there are two or three movies. It only makes sense to have Smaug with the lonely mountain with two movies since in TABA, as far as we know, he will only be in lake town. That would also mean the lonely mountain was planned from the beginning and never changed. But TLG has had plenty of time to readjust the third wave to better reflect the movie.

While I personally view Smaug as being part of the Lonely Mountain I think that TLG will ultimately put Smaug in a lake town set to give children greater access. Thus leaving Erebor to represent both DOS and TABA, maybe even AUJ as well,which would reflect an original two movie design that is tweaked to fit the three movie reality. There is no reason a set cannot represent more than the wave it is released with.

Edited January 24, 2014 by Darth Punk

[BrickBob Studpants]

No foggiest idea what the Lake-Town set is about if it doesn't have Smaug, though. Might it be a DOS set like Erebor with Legolas, Bolg, Bain etc.? The reported would likely have spotted those characters, though... We'll see.

Maybe it's a clever selling scheme: If you want to recreate Smaug's death scene, you need to buy both the Laketown and the Erebor set We really wouldn't have this problem if TLG simply revealed the names of the sets I mean they're allowed to show the sets at a Toy Fair but don't reveal their names? With other licensers it would probably be the other way round

[deskp]

Now I'm really confused whether these are DOS or TABA sets. There wasn't any throne room scenes with Smaug on DOS, though it would make more sense if it would be the forge mistaken as a throme room. The furnaces.

I believe the set includes various parts of erebor. Iff they are makign anything from the inside the Throne will be the msto iconic part. These ARE gonna be labelled as TABA, not more "trilogy sets" If it includes the forge thats the added part of the set. The throne plays a part in TABA.