LEGO Hobbit 2014

[BrickBob Studpants]

Ha ha, I love how they specified that Bain is Bard's son (on the box, it says "Bain, son of Bard"), probably so he doesn't get confused for a dwarf based on his size and name

[wesker]

Galadriel's hair seems darker than what we usually see on blonde characters. Tan might have suited her better, but this colour does look more natural than the bright yellow Legolas has.

[kevkipo]

Okay AWESOOMMEEE...!!

Firstly Bo5a set with Legolas? No. But Dain, Thorin, New Bard, New Azog HELL YEAH!

Bain looks rather dissapointing, and we have a Burnt Bard there!|

Great sets :)

[kevkipo]

This I found

Dude WHERE DID YOU FIND IT?

I can't wait to edit and MOC the sets a bit! a little Smaugie for the Lake-Town set here, a little war chariot and a Erebor + Bo5a set comby there

I'm loving it :3

Wait does Dain have Dwalin's beard?

Edited August 13, 2014 by kevkipo

[Darth Malgus]

Sometimes you just wish you could get in touch with the designers to jusy ask whst they were thinking? I dislike this keeping people away from endless discussion it would just be nice to get some answers from time to time for their set design and to let them know when things suck. That email is just a lipservice option that does nothing to improve quality of lines... disappointed in this for a final wave of a line potentially.

[Lynx]

The disappointment of Beorn's absence will take some time for me to digest. However, I'm starting to think whether these sets imply anything about the movie plot. Thorin will surely have another showdown with Azog - as fitting for a Hollywood film. I wonder if Jackson will alter the details of his demise (chronology aside). I think it would help to show Dain killing him off, since the only detail movie goers know is that he didn't want to take part in Thorin's quest. I'm afraid he could come across as an opportunist jumping on the bandwagon after the hard work is done and claiming the throne.

Bolg, Tolkien's main villain in the battle is not even in any set. Nor is his nemesis, Beorn. Jackson has already demoted Bolg to second in charge after Azog. Will Beorn's importance suffer as well? Is there any theoretical chance for another (exclusive) set? Surely, details would have emerged by now but I still don't want to believe this is the end of LEGO Middle-earth.

Tauriel is in the Lake-town set, and I totally expected her to get scorched by Smaug. The big dragon has to kill at least one character of importance, right? And Tauriel, as a fan-fiction addition could be easily taken out without consequence for the story. However, the trailer suggests that she survives Smaug's attack and Smaug might go down as one of the most whimsical movie dragon of all time. After what he has shown in Desolation of Smaug, I would expect Fuchur kicking his scaly bum.

Most intriguing might be what will happen in Dol Guldur. I wonder if the White Council will decide to have a small attacking force instead of tugging an elven army along for the ride. I'd love to see Saruman, Radagast, Galadriel and Elrond nuking it out with the Witch-king. That has Marvel feeling to it. Superheroes of Middle-earth unite! I hope Radagast will survive, although Gandalf holding his staff may suggest differently. As much as I hated large parts of his portrayal as faeces-covered fool, I think he has a good heart and showed promise in Desolation of Smaug, when some of his wisdom shone through. Altogether, the three Dol Guldur sets could make a nice display with some modding - all relevant figures could be there in LEGO form.

[KristofBD]

Here's some pictures of the back of the box for witch king battle and attack on laketown:

Great find! I must say I'm starting to enjoy those two sets quite a bit. Especially the 'let's swing the witch king around feature' is pretty hilarious

[Lynx]

Sometimes you just wish you could get in touch with the designers to jusy ask whst they were thinking? I dislike this keeping people away from endless discussion it would just be nice to get some answers from time to time for their set design and to let them know when things suck. That email is just a lipservice option that does nothing to improve quality of lines... disappointed in this for a final wave of a line potentially.

I'd love to read their thoughts! They are obviously talented people: just look at Bag End, Orthanc, Helm's Deep, Weathertop etc.. In general, I wish LEGO was more transparent and in contact with their consumer/ fan base. Their financial success might be our loss, since LEGO simply doesn't need to care about the wishes of a (presumed) minority of customers. I'm still hoping for more Middle-earth to come but if it won't, I must admit having lost my trust in the LEGO brand entirely.

Wait does Dain have Dwalin's beard?

I suspect that's because Dwalin's beard allows for a helm to fit on top of it. Hopefully the movie design will be close enough!

Another observation from the box back (thanks for sharing those!) - does Elrond wear an olive coloured cape similar to the Ithilien rangers and Faramir in the video game? If so, I can slowly assemble Faramir. :) Boromir's hair, Elrond's cape, Bard's bow; keep them coming!

[BrickBob Studpants]

Has anyone else noticed that the orcs in the Lake-town set look like Narzug?

http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/Narzug

So we can't get Bolg, but instead Narzug TWICE in the same set?! Speaking of the Lake-town set: Bard is totally wasting his precious black arrow, Smaug is clearly in the background going (flying?) his merry way

Edited August 13, 2014 by Lego-Freak

[Seaber]

The extra Legolas, Azog and Brown Bard are the only minifigures which are disappointing. I'm even happy we got the new Tauriel, but it's a shame about the lack of an army builder. The dwarves might be easy to make from other parts, but not the elves.

We've missed Last Alliance and Rivendell knights, Galadhrim and Mirkwood Sentries, all of which had distinctive helmets. I know we wouldn't have seen all of these, unless the waves went on for longer, but that's now a fourth helmet we won't be seeing.

Is it possible Azog is a placeholder for Bolg?

[Lynx]

Speaking of the Lake-town set: Bard is totally wasting his precious black arrow, Smaug is clearly in the background going (flying?) his merry way

Who knows? Maybe Jackson took inspiration from one of the characters in Guardians of the Galaxy. That arrow seemed pretty useful. ;)

Is it possible Azog is a placeholder for Bolg?

And the eagle for Beorn? Please, please, please. Unfortunately, those boxes don't look like preliminary images to me.

[BrickBob Studpants]

Is it possible Azog is a placeholder for Bolg?

Nope. Lynx is right, those boxes don't look preliminary in the slightest. Besides, Azog features a new facial expression which he obviously wouldn't if it was just a stand-in

[Deathleech]

So we can't get Bolg, but instead Narzug TWICE in the same set?!

Narzug twice and the front of the package list them both as.. Mordor Orc it looks like. Wtf?

[deskp]

So we can't get Bolg, but instead Narzug TWICE in the same set?!

That orc deisgn was named Narzug in the game. but it's not him. Thats not what he looks like.

[BrickBob Studpants]

@deskp: Looks close enough to me:

http://www.moddb.com/members/aron1488/images/narzug1

They just simplified the hairpiece

[deskp]

@deskp: Looks close enough to me:

That your opinion. but it's wrong.

It isnt Narzug.

[Pate-keetongu]

Heck, I don't think these are that bad. Alright, extra Legolas, lack of orc helmets and so on, but at least we've got Dain with awesome helmet and recolored Dwalin beard (and a... ruby axe?), armored Thorin with Thror's crown, and a Galadriel to (likely) finish the Middle-Earth LEGO sets. The builds are not that bad neither, probably not at good as the first wave of LOTR or Bag End, but I mostly like them. Of course, licenced theme fans seem to care mostly about the minifigs, which is understandable because the sets would be way too expensive to be bought for the build or parts alone.

I think I'll wait until clearance or something and get the Battle of Five armies. The price will be something like 80€ in Finland, but I got Weathertop for 36€, Moria for 45€ and Goblin King Battle for 57€ so I guess the price will drop somewhere sooner than later. Or then I'll just Bricklink Dain and Thorin.

Actually, the saddest thing here is that we see Dain first time in minifig form in a blurry picture rather than in some cool official photo. Alright, he might have been on the trailer, but that wasn't very clear anyway.

[General Magma]

There are a few cool minifigs in there, but overall, this wave is a huge disappointment.

We get those stupid Gundabad orcs again while the orcs are supposed to be armoured and could've had new helmets and torso/face prints,

instead of even a single generic Elf figure we get ANOTHER Legolas, we get a total of 2 Bards (they could easily have put the only Bard in the Laketown set using the new blue outfit),

no Bolg whatsoever, no bear Beorn, those meh Eagles again instead of a new War Ram (or bear Beorn), no generic dwarves at all... (And with the mohawk thing on Dain's helmet, none can be made)

Not to mention that Bain's hair should've been replaced with Luke Skywalker's new hairpiece.

For Star Wars they made two different stormtroopers for ONE singular wave, who are not even supposed to look different from one another,

and with Middle-Earth sets they can't even be bothered to do one new, unique orc print except for another Gundabad face variation - a slight one at that. We've been asking for a new orc helmet mold

since the beginning of the LOTR theme, and what do we get? Hair that none of the orcs should have during the big battles (we could've had a great new helmet) and yet more re-used orc torsos.

Sure, there are some positives, such as King Thorin and the Witch-king, but to me, they are outweighed by the negatives..

Edited August 13, 2014 by General Magma

[KristofBD]

That your opinion. but it's wrong.

It isnt Narzug.

An opinion cannot be wrong, as it is not a fact. I agree with LEGO-Freak, it is definitively close enough to consider the orc Narzug. In essence that is also what lego is about: it is what you make of it.

[Ceroknight]

These sets are highly disappointing.

Come on, these may be the last Hobbit sets ever and this is all Lego is giving us?

[Speedboat]

The Laketown set is disappointing, but the other two sets I like quite a bit! The one thing I had hoped for in the Battle of the Five Armies set is dwarven ram riders like we have seen in the movie teaser. But it seems we're getting a new dwarven helmet which is awesome. Too bad there's only one helmet in this big set. Witch-king Battles looks good, too. Nice selection of useful pieces plus three minifigs I want to have for my collection!

[deskp]

An opinion cannot be wrong, as it is not a fact. I agree with LEGO-Freak, it is definitively close enough to consider the orc Narzug. In essence that is also what lego is about: it is what you make of it.

Alright then. but the fact is its not Narzug. Lego sure is alot of thigns, but licensed minifigures are what they are. if you want to play pretend go ahead.

[Kez]

The witch king battle is a must buy for me but the rest are meh imo, I need to see the rest of the battle of the five armies set but other than that I think I shall be saving my money for other themes.

[Alfadas]

Are we absolutely sure there is not coming another wave? Or some huge exclusive set, like tower of Orthanc was for LOTR?

The more I look at the sets, the better they become. Still, I wished for Iron hill dwarfs, but the sets are growing on me.

[KristofBD]

Alright then. but the fact is its not Narzug. Lego sure is alot of thigns, but licensed minifigures are what they are. if you want to play pretend go ahead.

Well, it's lego he, so to a large degree it is always playing pretend, I have no problems with that . But I agree that it 'is' not Narzug: he looks different and would have had been labeled as such on the front of the box.

I guess at this stage though, it will all be about the modding and the moccing. I'm afraid this is what we've been given, so we'll have to deal with it. Honestly, when I came out of my dark ages I would have dared to hope to get LOTR, I'm happy with what we've got. And my guess is that if the line-up of the smallest set had not leaked earlier we would all have found this a great set - as it is - I mean it is a real bonus to get Galadriel, the Witch King and a moddable Elrond in such a cheap set.