LEGO Hobbit 2014

[MAB]

Creativity in part use is just as much for Lego as it is for moccers.

I don't get why chima, agents, space,etc are closer to Playmobil than Lego. Is it because you can tell a story with the set? That has always been the case with lego.

Making a one piece part such as a long boat is lazy, in the sense that they would be showing no creativity or knowledge of existing parts, and just making a new part every time they need a solution. What if they made a 20 stud boat, then in the next set needed a 24 stud one ... Another new part? That is when things become like playmobil. The manufacture of many single use highly specialised parts was also one of the reasons Lego were in trouble a decade ago.

[kevkipo]

To all a happy new year lads, it was an exciting year

[bungeshea]

I found this as well:

[Hypernova888]

Creativity is more for the users, and not for TLG themselves? I understand most of your points but that's just ridiculous. And your point of LEGO making other unnecessary moulds licensing more is flawed: just because they've done it before it's okay to do it again?

Creativity in part use is just as much for Lego as it is for moccers.

I don't get why chima, agents, space,etc are closer to Playmobil than Lego. Is it because you can tell a story with the set? That has always been the case with lego.

Making a one piece part such as a long boat is lazy, in the sense that they would be showing no creativity or knowledge of existing parts, and just making a new part every time they need a solution. What if they made a 20 stud boat, then in the next set needed a 24 stud one ... Another new part? That is when things become like playmobil. The manufacture of many single use highly specialised parts was also one of the reasons Lego were in trouble a decade ago.

Bingo. I hope you don't feel that we're attacking you, but as AFoLs and TFoLs, defending LEGO makes a lot of sense to us.

Hey guys check my latest creation :)

I love it!

[kevkipo]

Really cool axe, so sad it wasn't used

[Balbo]

The axe is really cool. I'm wondering why they gave Dain the hammer in the movie instead.

Unfortunately the Dain minifigure is very frustrating for me. In the first Hobbit wave TLG gave every dwarve a unique face printing and new molds for the beard/hair. The fact that they used the head piece of Gloin and the beard of Dwalin for Dain is really a pity - a unique character like Dain deserved more in my opinion...

[Dragonlego27]

To all a happy new year lads, it was an exciting year

Yep, and this year's going to,be even better ;)

Except for Middle Earth :(

Still, we still have to have hope.

[kevkipo]

Yep, and this year's going to,be even better ;)

Except for Middle Earth :(

Still, we still have to have hope.

We still have Marvel don't we

[Batsy]

I can't decide what to get... Again :)

I will be visiting a Lego Store and in Germany they got really much on sale, and I still have some Christmas Money to burn. So should I get the Black Gate, The Dol Guldur Battle or the Mines of Moria or The Warg Attack (local toy shop still have them in stock). Or should I save for the Lonely Mountain? What do you think? :)

[Bugbot2008]

I can't decide what to get... Again :)

I will be visiting a Lego Store and in Germany they got really much on sale, and I still have some Christmas Money to burn. So should I get the Black Gate, The Dol Guldur Battle or the Mines of Moria or The Warg Attack (local toy shop still have them in stock). Or should I save for the Lonely Mountain? What do you think? :)

I would get the sets that are no longer in production, so mines of moria first (but you will be getting it for the figures, unless you resell it where you can easily make a profit)

[kevkipo]

I can't decide what to get... Again :)

I will be visiting a Lego Store and in Germany they got really much on sale, and I still have some Christmas Money to burn. So should I get the Black Gate, The Dol Guldur Battle or the Mines of Moria or The Warg Attack (local toy shop still have them in stock). Or should I save for the Lonely Mountain? What do you think? :)

I'd say warg attack and Mountain, both some of my fave sets (mostly because of Thorin )

[Balbo]

I can't decide what to get... Again :)

I will be visiting a Lego Store and in Germany they got really much on sale, and I still have some Christmas Money to burn. So should I get the Black Gate, The Dol Guldur Battle or the Mines of Moria or The Warg Attack (local toy shop still have them in stock). Or should I save for the Lonely Mountain? What do you think? :)

Honestly I would buy the Mines of Moria set - the minifigure selection is great because there are many exclusive figures and it's nearly sold out.

Or I would buy the Lonely Mountain set because it's difficult to say how long it will be available - due to the fact that the sets aren't in the latest Lego catalogue it's possible that the new Hobbit sets are disappearing quickly....

Edited January 1, 2015 by Balbo

[Hypernova888]

I'd say warg attack and Mountain, both some of my fave sets (mostly because of Thorin )

Mountain doesn't have Thorin. But it is a dwarf haven.

I can't decide which for you...they're all pretty good to me. Mountail has Smaug, which may be important to you like it was to me...Gate has Gandalf more orcs and a pretty good build (as do all) Moria is best in terms of value for characters included, and Attack o' wargs is good for parts and some good figures.

[Batsy]

Thanks for your counsel! Actually I´m getting sets to display and play with them and to impress my friends (my friends really like my Bag End )

As for now it´s a tie between Moria and the Lonely Mountain. Issue with Moria is, I got Boromir and Pippin last Christmas as a gift, Issue with the Lonely Mountain is the price. Great advantage for Moria is the Cave Troll, and for The LM Smaug. And both sets probably won´t be there until summer, so I have to choose, although I want both

Which set will probably impress more?

[bungeshea]

If you already have Boromir, Pippin and Legolas, I would say to go for the Lonely Mountain, as the main advantage of Moria is to complete the Fellowship. The Smaug figure will certainly impress, plus all of those sand green bricks

Oh, and Bag End is awesome!

[Batsy]

If you already have Boromir, Pippin and Legolas, I would say to go for the Lonely Mountain, as the main advantage of Moria is to complete the Fellowship. The Smaug figure will certainly impress, plus all of those sand green bricks

Oh, and Bag End is awesome!

Well I´ve got Legolas in his Hobbit-Attire but Legolas is still Legolas The only one from the Fellowship I don´t possess is Merry but I will fix that also soon, I hope...

Oh ok, well maybe I should consider saving for the Lonely Mountain.

It is indeed awesome amd very lovely Glad I´ve manage to pick one for Christmas

[AFOLguy1970]

Since you have the key Fellowship figures that come in the Moria set, I would then recommend the Lonely Mountain. You could always use Bricklink for the cave troll and Moria orcs. The build for Moria is mainly parts in grey and dark grey and loads of stickers. The dwarven mine in Lonely Mountain is far better in my opinion than Moria, although it is nice to have both. Chances are you would certainly want to have Smaug, so I too would vote the Lonely Mountain.

[Ardelon]

I have to defend the single-mold longboat issue. I would much rather have a longboat mold than two rowboats (or a detailed Smaug, as someone suggested), for the simple reason that it looks awkward, exactly like two rowboats struck back-to-back, with no way to go from one end to the other.

Arguing that it would be lazy or redundant to design a single-mold longboat is pointless, since we could say the same about rowboats themselves, or horses, as Mazin pointed out. And a longboat would have plenty of reuse potential, unlike many other LotR/Hobbit molds - of course, provided TLG would be able to use the mold outside the licensed Hobbit sets anyway.

Also, coming up with a new mold, modeling and sculpting it and working out how it will work within the LEGO system is much more creative than using whats available. Im sure any inventor can attest that coming up with new and improved things is more creative than using the same old things. Of course, this is all in the case of TLG. For consumers, who dont have the means to design new parts, I allow that using a more complex solution is more creative than a single mold, but that just brings us to the brickbuilt rowboats argument. So those against a single mold just be equally against the two-rowboar solution, and should build their longboat entirely from simpler bricks.

Of course, this is a minor issue, I just wanted to show the "two rowboats are great!" opinion isnt nearly as universal as it would seem, and I turned this into a little debate exercise for myself.

Edited January 2, 2015 by Ardelon

[dranguish]

If there was ever ANY sign that Lego considered the 3rd wave of Hobbit sets as a complete throwaway line, just look at the January 2015 catalog. There is not even ONE MENTION of the sets, and this catalog is printed and distributed in December 2014. So the movie is still in theatres, and Lego has already stopped promoting those products in their official catalog. I think these sets just set the record for the least amount of time advertised in the catalog.

[bungeshea]

I never saw the sets advertised in the catalogue - there was a teaser image in the July-December 2014 catalogue, but that's all.

[bachamn]

Wow, so I was just at Target and saw they have already put Hobbit Wave 3 sets on clearance. Of course they only ever had WKB and the Lake Town sets so they weren't that invested in this wave, but it seems very hasty considering the movie was released like two weeks ago.

Apparently they had to make room for the new Chima sets since these were taking the entire section of shelf space where they'd crammed the 2 Hobbit sets.

Makes me sad, and I'm thinking I might need to pull the trigger on Lonely Mountain soon...

Edited January 2, 2015 by bachamn

[HawkLord]

In slightly unfortunate news, I found The Hobbit Witch-King Battle on clearance at Target for $10.49. All copies of the set were red stickered clearance, as was the shelf tag. They had no other LOTR/Hobbit sets out.

This was only at one Target, so your mileage may vary...

[Faefrost]

In slightly unfortunate news, I found The Hobbit Witch-King Battle on clearance at Target for $10.49. All copies of the set were red stickered clearance, as was the shelf tag. They had no other LOTR/Hobbit sets out.

This was only at one Target, so your mileage may vary...

We often blame Lego for the lack of more Middle Earth sets. But the sad truth is it is the intermediate customers, the big box stores, who really were not that interested in the product line. Target and Walmart got burned badly by a lot of the Hobbit TUJ merchandise (not so much Lego, but everything else.) even with the stuff that they did not end up bargain bin blowing out on clearance, it was hitting outside their desired target market for that shelf space. The Middle Earth sets tended to trend older, which becomes a problem for the merchant as something younger trending such as Chima generates more repeat and growth sales. In other words even when the Hobbit sets are selling, it is the wrong people who are buying them. Target and Walmart expect those people to be across the store in the video games and consumer electronics aisle. They expect the young uns to be buying from the shelf space that the Hobbit is sitting in.

Retail can be complicated and often seemingly insane.

[Flieger]

I have a question: in your Tolkien displays (assuming you have one) do you prefer to set up your figures in action sequences (my preferred route) or lining them up for better viewing? Or do you just scrap the sets and display the figures on their own?

I think that is a very important question! To me, Lego is a building toy. It is all about the builds, and the minifigs are accessories to the builds – indispensable, but nothing on their own. They are cute and amazingly accurate for their size and limitations, but if I wanted the characters only I would go for Hasbro or model companies. So imo the minifigs are primarily for decorating the sets. I have to admit some adorn my fridge and working desk, though.

For the Hobbit, Lego obviously chose to represent the locations and the adventures of the main characters, rather than battles and armies, which I think is a sensible decision. It did not work out perfectly, but that is another topic.

BOFA---No better evidence than this set that Lego did not get all the details before producing the set. I somehow missed the importance of the ballista. Also, the whole confrontation with Azog did not occur in Dale. If they could leave Gandalf out because they assumed we already had him, why could they not have done the same with Legolas and Tauriel? Thranduil clearly should have Legolas' spot as the Elvenking. Azog does not have the sword/arm, and Thorin only wore the crown in the Lonely Mountain while he was suffering from dragon sickness. No one fought with a golden sword either, because gold is a soft metal.

Oh well, generally you are absolutely right! Just a few minor details: Thorin does use a golden hilted sword with a gilded spine in the movie (like his grandfather did, btw.), so a multi-coloured piece would have been nicer, but I appreciate getting a golden sword.

Ballistae could be seen in the early trailers, so I assume they have been cut from the theatrical release and I fully expect to see them in the extended cut. Likewise the Red Axe of Dain (book accurate, too) was changed for a war-hammer etc. So yeah, Lego definitely worked with preliminary info and the set is imo one of the weirdest ever. But whenever physical stuff is concerned which WETA really did for the movie, the regal armour of the dwarves e.g., Lego recreated it very well. It is mostly the last minute changes in CGI that Lego had no chance keeping up with.

it's really a pity that we didin't get a Ironhill soldier.

Again I agree, but I think we should appreciate that Lego did create all the named characters needed except of Bolg, albeit with some gaps when it comes to special appearances. I would have liked all 13 dwarves in regal armour, but having the most important five is ok. And when in doubt, I just create the rest myself (not optimal for the lack of helmet moulds, but ok).

I know I keep stressing the aspect of character completeness a lot, but after what I had to see with LotR (and to a lesser extend even with Star Wars, which is much better funded it seems) this really is a positive thing to note. Furthermore we must remember Lego initially did not even want to create all 13 dwarves! The wealth of new moulds we got to achieve this goal is just mesmerizing!

The axe is really cool. I'm wondering why they gave Dain the hammer in the movie instead.

There are a lot of departures from the book when it comes to weapons, and I guess PJ just wanted to see another weapon on a dwarf than an axe, which we have seen enough already. But I am glad we got the red axe as I can build a war hammer easily.

[Hypernova888]

We often blame Lego for the lack of more Middle Earth sets. But the sad truth is it is the intermediate customers, the big box stores, who really were not that interested in the product line. Target and Walmart got burned badly by a lot of the Hobbit TUJ merchandise (not so much Lego, but everything else.) even with the stuff that they did not end up bargain bin blowing out on clearance, it was hitting outside their desired target market for that shelf space. The Middle Earth sets tended to trend older, which becomes a problem for the merchant as something younger trending such as Chima generates more repeat and growth sales. In other words even when the Hobbit sets are selling, it is the wrong people who are buying them. Target and Walmart expect those people to be across the store in the video games and consumer electronics aisle. They expect the young uns to be buying from the shelf space that the Hobbit is sitting in.

Retail can be complicated and often seemingly insane.

Really good points here. You're probably right.