LEGO Hobbit 2014

[nymmerod]

I am super glad to be getting my Thorin in his crown. I've been hoping for him since I first unlocked him on the 3DS game.

I would also advise against making any plot inferences based on these set reveals. Last year I was convinced that Beorn was somehow going to charge into Dol Guldur and be captured along with Gandalf and Radagast. I thought they would be finding Thrain or maybe just his ring of power and that would be a part of the plot. And i thought that Radagast would be killing orcs with force-lightning shooting out of his staff. And then Radagast and Beorn were only in about 1 minute of screen time, Thrain and his ring were nowhere to be found and my wild speculations were proven to be way off track. And my brother mocked me for it.

[Carlos S]

*wink* my Flickr *wink*

Carlo S old buddy, old pal.

Where did you take/find those pics

From a local seller, my gues its that he has a relative working in the LEGO factory here in Mexico

[Alcarin]

The Battle of the Five Armies: ok, so this one is where most of my cries of anguish come from. While the build itself is fine and looks pretty cool, with an interesting war machine, LEGO messed up so badly in the Minifigs department. First, swap Azog for Bolg. Second, swap the eagle for Beorn as a bear. Then get rid of one of the orcs and give us armored Thranduil, and lastly get rid of the Orc and give us an armored elf or dwarf, or at least give us a new armored Orc. Pretty mad at LEGO for this one. I desperately hope we get at least one battle pack, but the likelihood of that is so so very slim.

So you would have like 6 good guys vs 1-2 bad guys.... thats not logical :)

[azog15]

I dig 'em.

[Kez]

Anyone know what that piece on the door underneath bards arrow shooter in the Lake town set is? It reminded me of the zip line piece used in the original batcave set.

[BlueberryWaffles]

Okay. New sets. Yay! My thoughts:

Witch King:Galadriel. Seriously, she's worth $13. Or $15. Or however much it is. Finally. Plus two more really awesome minifigs.

Lake-town: really happy with this actually. I loved the last set and this is in he same style. New Tauriel, Bard's son, crossbow, more buildings, and only $30.

5 Armies: SDCC Bard. Crown Thorin. More eagles. The rest is....pretty awful. Do we need more ballistas? And the main build are some STEPS? What?

Edited August 13, 2014 by Tolkien

[8BrickMario]

Anyone know what that piece on the door underneath bards arrow shooter in the Lake town set is? It reminded me of the zip line piece used in the original batcave set.

It is the zipline piece, most recently seen in Spinlyn's Cavern and Battle for Ninjago City.

[Fives]

5 Armies: SDCC Bard. Crown Thorin. More eagles. The rest is....pretty awful. Do we need more ballistas? And the main build are some STEPS? What?

I think there is more to the ruins than we can see. Both Legolas and Bard aren't visible in the pic we have, which makes me assume that they are past the steps on the rest of the ruins. I have a good feeling about the ruins. I think they'll look great.

[Darth Caedus]

So you would have like 6 good guys vs 1-2 bad guys.... thats not logical :)

Honestly yes. There's a lot of ways to get Orcs, and the forces of Evil really aren't the highest priority - it's the Free Peoples that needed armybuilders in both lines: Gondorians for LOTR, Armored Elves and Iron Hills Dwarves for the Hobbit.

But in a perfect world (a world where Lego actually put more than half an hour of work into planning) this wave looks like this.

$15 WKBattle: Same as it is, this set is fine. Witch King could be swapped out for a TDOS Sauron if Lego was feeling generous.

$30 Battle for Dale: modular Dale buildings/rubble. Armored Elf x2, IH Dwarf, Armored Dol Guldur Orc x2, Gundabad Orc General (since we know that old mold is probably still kicking around somewhere).

$60 Attack on Laketown: Basically the same Laketown set with armored Bard, Bain, Smaug, Alfrid. Throw in either the new Tauriel or Braga to round it out.

$130 The Battle of Five Armies: Large Dale structure or Gate of Erebor. King Thorin. Armored Fili. Armored Kili. Bear Beorn. Armored Bilbo. Bolg. Dain. Armored Thranduil. An armored Dol Guldur Orc or two. A warg. Perhaps an Eagle.

[Mahtion]

Honestly yes. There's a lot of ways to get Orcs, and the forces of Evil really aren't the highest priority - it's the Free Peoples that needed armybuilders in both lines: Gondorians for LOTR, Armored Elves and Iron Hills Dwarves for the Hobbit.

But in a perfect world (a world where Lego actually put more than half an hour of work into planning) this wave looks like this.

$15 WKBattle: Same as it is, this set is fine. Witch King could be swapped out for a TDOS Sauron if Lego was feeling generous.

$30 Battle for Dale: modular Dale buildings/rubble. Armored Elf x2, IH Dwarf, Armored Dol Guldur Orc x2, Gundabad Orc General (since we know that old mold is probably still kicking around somewhere).

$60 Attack on Laketown: Basically the same Laketown set with armored Bard, Bain, Smaug, Alfrid. Throw in either the new Tauriel or Braga to round it out.

$130 The Battle of Five Armies: Large Dale structure or Gate of Erebor. King Thorin. Armored Fili. Armored Kili. Bear Beorn. Armored Bilbo. Bolg. Dain. Armored Thranduil. An armored Dol Guldur Orc or two. A warg. Perhaps an Eagle.

That would be a lot better and sell a ton in comparison to the inevitable poor sales we will see this year. Shame that Lego is killing the license and that they would rather not have extra money for some odd reason. We know MEA and UHA sold out almost everywhere! So what's the deal with Lego. Only reason that makes sense is that Lego wants this license to end hard and justify not seeking to renew it.

[djmangunz]

I love you for typing that

Thanks for the love, brother! (Interweb fist bump)

Yes, we should be happy for Middle Earth sets but that's like saying we should be happy to have had love in a bad relationship. Already many sites are saying that BoFA set could be the worst set in the entire LOTR/Hobbit themes.

The problem I have with the hate on the Bot5A set is that we only see part of it in the pictures. Everyone freaked out over the early images of the Lonely Mountain set because we only saw part of it but that turned out fine IMO. Plus the set comes with 7 figures for $50 so obviously the focus is on the mini figs rather than the build.

[Mahtion]

^^^^

I have hope that BoFA set will have a decent Dale ruins build and it has good elements like Thorin, Dain and Bard. But it has supremely negative elements as well like a 200 piece ballista or catapult and a ton of rehashes and of course Legolas. His inclusion with an old print from 2 years ago is atrocious and indicative of lego's laziness. I take off 2 points out of 10 just based on this decision alone. So yes there's hope the set could be maybe a 6/7 rather than a likely 4.

[BrickBob Studpants]

The problem I have with the hate on the Bot5A set is that we only see part of it in the pictures. Everyone freaked out over the early images of the Lonely Mountain set because we only saw part of it but that turned out fine IMO. Plus the set comes with 7 figures for $50 so obviously the focus is on the mini figs rather than the build.

Exactly We have no idea what the ruin looks like and yet the set is criticised like mad Maybe there's even something else included?

[Gremer]

Is Bo5A $50 or $60? I've heard both.

[Deathleech]

Do you guys realize that the eagles were not even one of the five armies? The five armies were humans, elves and dwarves on the good side and orcs and WARGS on the bad side.

This is not true. We discussed this awhile back. The five armies were the elves, dwarves, humans, orcs, and eagles. If the wargs were considered their own army, why weren't the bats who fought with the orcs also considered their own? I believe they are categorized the way they are because of how each faction arrived to the fight and their previous alliance before the battle happened. What I mean by this is the orcs came with the wargs and bats already in an alliance. The eagles just came out of the blue on their own accord, they weren't in a previous alliance with the elves or men or any of the other factions. No one even knew they would show up.

Here is a little further evidence: "As the battle was turning fully against the Free Folk, a number of Giant Eagles of the Misty Mountains arrived (the fifth army), led by the Great Eagle." If that weren't enough, PJ has apparently stated the five armies are the men, dwarves, elves, orcs, and eagles. Lego's set supports this claim by making sure to include at least one figure from each of the five armies. With that said I agree the eagle is a lame creature, and probably the worst molded creature of all the Middle-Earth ones. I would have MUCH preferred Beorn in bear form.

I'm wondering why... TLG are probably requesting this on behalf of WB/NL/MGM, but there's not much spoilerific in those sets (except of Dains design)

Probably out of shame. Hehe, jk... sort of.

[Brickadiergerard]

Oh well.

I like the Witch King set, Dain and Smaug. I'm really pleased we're getting them. I can't understand the logic of some of the other figures though, especially Bo5A.

[Steph 104th]

Just had the thaught, for the past 8 odd months we have had the general consenses that the armies sets was to be this great army builder set, now we've seen it, and now only 2 generic characters in it it has some possibility, I'm interrested to see what the rest of that structure turns out to be.Here's hoping as we don't see 2 of the minfigs (Legolas and Bard) in the image maybe there's somemore we arnt seeing where they are perched.

[Blazej_Holen]

Honestly yes. There's a lot of ways to get Orcs, and the forces of Evil really aren't the highest priority - it's the Free Peoples that needed armybuilders in both lines: Gondorians for LOTR, Armored Elves and Iron Hills Dwarves for the Hobbit.

But in a perfect world (a world where Lego actually put more than half an hour of work into planning) this wave looks like this.

$15 WKBattle: Same as it is, this set is fine. Witch King could be swapped out for a TDOS Sauron if Lego was feeling generous.

$30 Battle for Dale: modular Dale buildings/rubble. Armored Elf x2, IH Dwarf, Armored Dol Guldur Orc x2, Gundabad Orc General (since we know that old mold is probably still kicking around somewhere).

$60 Attack on Laketown: Basically the same Laketown set with armored Bard, Bain, Smaug, Alfrid. Throw in either the new Tauriel or Braga to round it out.

$130 The Battle of Five Armies: Large Dale structure or Gate of Erebor. King Thorin. Armored Fili. Armored Kili. Bear Beorn. Armored Bilbo. Bolg. Dain. Armored Thranduil. An armored Dol Guldur Orc or two. A warg. Perhaps an Eagle.

Just insane wish u have...

[AFOLguy1970]

Just had the thaught, for the past 8 odd months we have had the general consenses that the armies sets was to be this great army builder set, now we've seen it, and now only 2 generic characters in it it has some possibility, I'm interrested to see what the rest of that structure turns out to be.Here's hoping as we don't see 2 of the minfigs (Legolas and Bard) in the image maybe there's somemore we arnt seeing where they are perched.

As far as the build itself is concerned, there is certainly more to it. It would be hard to critique the Battle of Five Leaders based on the set as a whole, but the minifigures and ballista are fair game since we can see them in completion. I think the official release of the Lonely Mountain images is where many of us got the clue that this was not going to be an army builder. We knew from the London Toy Fair that Dain was in it, so we expected that. However, the omission of Thorin in the Lonely Mountain set was the red flag that this set was likely to disappoint with two of the slots now locked up as mains. There is the good, the bad, and the ugly. The good: Dain and Thorin with crown The bad: Bard taking up a slot when he appears in Lake Town as well, Azog rehashed instead of the introduction of Bolg, and the ugly: the elven representation and no generic good guy soldiers in the whole set

I get the whole thing about having this geared to kids, but just like us, they really do not like getting the same people over and over again any more than we do. If they are interested in The Adventures of Legolas and Tauriel The Hobbit film trilogy, then they have probably by now have seen the other two movies and collected at least some of the Lego sets associated with them. So, just like us, they are not going to be excited to get another Azog, Legolas, and Bard

[BrickBob Studpants]

I've just realized how lucky we've been: according to lordofthebricks.com, TLG has requested that the pictures not be published before October 15th That means, if the factory leak hadn't happened, we wouldn't have gotten to see anything for the next two months Now that would have been agonizing!

[legofreak86]

Damn! Got here too late! Missed the pictures before they were taken down! That's really annoying!!

[Fives]

Just realized there's no Gandalf! That's a plus!

[Blazej_Holen]

when will be those sets available to buy? October? December?

[just2good]

when will be those sets available to buy? October? December?

October 15th.

[Deathleech]

The problem I have with the hate on the Bot5A set is that we only see part of it in the pictures. Everyone freaked out over the early images of the Lonely Mountain set because we only saw part of it but that turned out fine IMO. Plus the set comes with 7 figures for $50 so obviously the focus is on the mini figs rather than the build.

I believe it's $60, not 50. Most people are really unhappy with the minifigure selection, not the actual build (though it looks like a large-ish part of the build is a catapult that no one really wants). What we can see of the build just isn't helping matters. Also what do you mean everyone freaked out over the early images of the Lonely Mountain set? We saw the official image first which gave us a great view, then saw some additional angles. I don't think it really changed many people's opinions...? Most still think the build is garbage, it has too few minifigures, and is over priced at $130?

In retrospect the minifigure count seems to be decent in the third wave. The Erebor set has far fewer than normal, but the other sets have more than you generally get at those price points. If my calculations are correct, we get 20 minifigures this wave (excluding any possible promo items like polybags). That is the same number we got in the second Hobbit wave and the second LotR wave. Obviously the first wave for each theme had more since they had more than four sets.

However, the omission of Thorin in the Lonely Mountain set was the red flag that this set was likely to disappoint with two of the slots now locked up as mains.

I dunno about others, but the red flag for me was at the first of the year when the sets were unveiled at the Toy Fairs with their prices were revealed. A $30 "army builder" is hard to swallow, but a $60 one? Ya, I didn't see that happening. Most people will have trouble affording one set at $60 let alone multiples.