The_Chosen_1 Posted January 22, 2014 Posted January 22, 2014 I have to admit, Lego has made some rather odd minifigure choices with their Middle-earth sets. We've gotten (or will be getting) Mouth of Sauron, King of the Dead, Twilight Ringwraith, and pirate of Umbar, but haven't gotten Faramir, Eowyn, a normal Witchking, or old Bilbo. That's the complete opposite of what I was expecting when the line started! Quote
Deathleech Posted January 23, 2014 Posted January 23, 2014 Ya, I was expecting Eowyn loooooong before ever seeing a Lego version of Arwen. I guess it all depends on what sets they make and which characters they can fit in them though. I just find it puzzling why some sets like Eowyn vs the Witch King haven't been done yet. Or the Balrog. Heck, even a simple white wall Gondor Soldier army builder. They seem like no brainers. They would be huge hits with kids, AFOLs, and Tolkien fans alike and pretty easy sets to recreate with TONS of play features. That pretty much ticks off every box Lego has for making a set, no? Quote
Fives Posted January 23, 2014 Posted January 23, 2014 It obviously has something to do with the popularity of the theme. At the start, we got a full wave. 7 sets to jump start the new theme. They had to cover the Fellowship, so certain set choices were obvious to be able to achieve that. The first wave was stellar. But then some of the sets started being put on the 'Retiring Soon' list quite quickly after they were released. Usually, a set stays in production for at least a year before it starts being phased out. But by the six to eight month mark, Weathertop started to disappear. Obviously LEGO anticipated that the theme would be extremely popular, but it must not have done as well as they hoped. The second wave proves that. Only four sets? None of which passed the $100 mark? Sure, we had Orthanc, but one D2C set doesn't mean the rest of the wave can be smaller. Thats never been the case with other themes. And now here we are, with what looks like nothing on the LOTR horizon. And all this same stuff happened to The Hobbit. I wouldn't be surprised if LEGO has tons of preliminary artwork and designs for sets like the Balrog and Gondor stashed somewhere. I want to know why these themes had their waves cut down to four sets per release. What is LEGO's angle? WE NEED ANSWERS!!! Quote
The_Chosen_1 Posted January 23, 2014 Posted January 23, 2014 Yes, I'm very curious to hear some kind of official word. One way or the other, it would just be nice to know. Aside from their current ones, I can't think of a single other licensed theme that Lego could ever do that had as much hype and speculation going for it as this one did. It's like a giant feast that's missing a few delicious side dishes - wonderful, but ultimately incomplete. Quote
Fives Posted January 23, 2014 Posted January 23, 2014 So this doesn't have to do with the upcoming sets, but I noticed the new spider leg pieces in the new Chima sets: http://shop.lego.com/en-GB/Spinlyn-s-Cavern-70133?fromListing=listing Those would be amazing for Mirkwood spiders! I may need to get a bunch of those and make some better spiders. The ones that LEGO released kinda suck... Quote
Deathleech Posted January 23, 2014 Posted January 23, 2014 (edited) I still think Lego only originally had two waves planned for each franchise and had to split their second waves in half when the Hobbit movie went from two to three films so they could coincide. It just seems to make the most sense. Why else would BOTH the Hobbit and LotR second waves only be 4 sets instead of 6-8? And why would they be missing really common priced sets like the $100-130 one, and the $10-13 set (for the Hobbit at least)? And of course the biggest question is why the total lack of anything Gondor related in the LotR waves? If they had to split the second LotR wave in half it would make sense to have a Gondor army builder that attached to a bigger Osgiliath or Minas Tirith in the same wave, not split them up. That means all the Gondor stuff in one wave. My guess is Lego had two full waves for each theme planned from the start. When it was announced the Hobbit would be three films instead of two Lego simply cut their waves in half, kept what they had planned for the most part, and then created 1-2 more sets to round out the waves so there weren't any waves with only 2-3 sets. Of course they probably had to re-design some characters and switch things around or modify builds but other than that it would of been the most logical course for Lego and seems to be what all indicators point to. Now whether we actually end up getting the third LotR wave is anyone's guess. I hope poor wave two sales didn't make Lego pull the plug prematurely. I have seen other companies do it with their lines even when they have everything ready to start being produced. I just really hope Lego has enough common sense to see how much fans are clamoring for ANYTHING Gondor. Edited January 23, 2014 by Deathleech Quote
Artanis I Posted January 23, 2014 Posted January 23, 2014 I want to know why these themes had their waves cut down to four sets per release. What is LEGO's angle? WE NEED ANSWERS!!! More shelf space for Chima, Ninjago & Movie? Kids love it. Win-win, right? AFOLs love that MB too? I still think Lego only originally had two waves planned for each franchise and had to split their second waves in half when the Hobbit movie went from two to three films so they could coincide. Or that. We got what we were going to originally, but spread out over 3 years. Quote
Albus Posted January 23, 2014 Posted January 23, 2014 Ya, it would be great if we could get a report from an actual Tolkien/Hobbit fan Right now everyone who has reported on the Hobbit line seems completely in the dark. A "dwarf" could easily be a number of things. It could be Dain, Bain, or an Iron Hill dwarf soldier. An armored elf might be a soldier or Elrond. The Witch King might not even be the Witch King, it could be Sauron. It's really hard to gather much info when the people reporting have no idea on the source material Also I think it's likely Lego would use a new mold for Smaug since he has a pretty unique shape and it's also the big sending off wave for the Hobbit. Lego should want to go all out with their biggest set and make a proper Smaug mold considering he is such a main antagonist. They make unique molds for other sets all the time that only use the mold once like the triceratops in the Dino line and the Cave Troll and Goblin King who are arguably much less important so why not do one for Smaug? Right, but I absolutely hate this argument. Just because anything is possible doesn't mean it's likely. I mean which seems more likely, Lego sticking to the same set structure they have already used for several past waves or coming up with some totally random one last minute? By this logic Lego might giving us "real" army builder last minute and we will get a bunch of $15 sets with 4 soldiers like Star Wars in the last Hobbit wave. Or heck, Lego might go crazy and just give us a set with 2 Gondor Soldiers, Faramir, Eowyn, the Witch King, Gothmog, and a Fel Beast with a brick built Balrog all for $60. I mean sure ANYTHING is possible, but what reason would Lego have to change their model in the last Hobbit wave where an army builder is arguably most pertinent? I wasn't arguing that "anything is possible" though, at least not on such broad terms. I was saying that LEGO is in no way confined to sticking to a structure simply because it matches the event name with the word "army", which is what you were implying (when you said it would be silly for them to NOT do an army-builder simply because it had the word "army" in it - THAT is illogical). Changing their model is hardly difficult anyway - originally I was proposing that they have a set which is similar to the "army-builders" we have at the moment, but maybe with a different ratio of unique to generic figures, to match a specific movie scene. I still think Lego only originally had two waves planned for each franchise and had to split their second waves in half when the Hobbit movie went from two to three films so they could coincide. It just seems to make the most sense. Why else would BOTH the Hobbit and LotR second waves only be 4 sets instead of 6-8? And why would they be missing really common priced sets like the $100-130 one, and the $10-13 set (for the Hobbit at least)? And of course the biggest question is why the total lack of anything Gondor related in the LotR waves? If they had to split the second LotR wave in half it would make sense to have a Gondor army builder that attached to a bigger Osgiliath or Minas Tirith in the same wave, not split them up. That means all the Gondor stuff in one wave. My guess is Lego had two full waves for each theme planned from the start. When it was announced the Hobbit would be three films instead of two Lego simply cut their waves in half, kept what they had planned for the most part, and then created 1-2 more sets to round out the waves so there weren't any waves with only 2-3 sets. Of course they probably had to re-design some characters and switch things around or modify builds but other than that it would of been the most logical course for Lego and seems to be what all indicators point to. Now whether we actually end up getting the third LotR wave is anyone's guess. I hope poor wave two sales didn't make Lego pull the plug prematurely. I have seen other companies do it with their lines even when they have everything ready to start being produced. I just really hope Lego has enough common sense to see how much fans are clamoring for ANYTHING Gondor. I agree with you here: especially about the Hobbit sets. We know the first sets we got were all supposed to be AUJ, but then the movie was split. I imagine the original second wave was going to be about six sets in size as well (some of the current 2nd wave, plus some of the sets from the upcoming 3rd wave). Whichever of the sets double up in terms of price are probably the 1-2 sets which they had to design belatedly (I reckon Mirkwood Elf Army, and possibly one of the Lake-Town sets, were designed AFTER the split), once the film split occurred. Quote
Deathleech Posted January 23, 2014 Posted January 23, 2014 (edited) I wasn't arguing that "anything is possible" though, at least not on such broad terms. I was saying that LEGO is in no way confined to sticking to a structure simply because it matches the event name with the word "army", which is what you were implying (when you said it would be silly for them to NOT do an army-builder simply because it had the word "army" in it - THAT is illogical). Well of course Lego isn't obligated to do anything (they still haven't given us anything Gondor after all...), and I wasn't saying they need to make a Bo5A army builder set JUST because army is in the title. I was pointing out that it's a clash of five armies so for Lego to skip doing an army builder for the scene would be pretty dumb on their part though. They will make an army builder set out of a small band of elf scouts and orcs skirmishing, but not for the actual armies all tricked out in their armor and having a climactic battle at the end of the film? This is one of the only big battle sequence in the entire three Hobbit films so it seems like a no brainer to give us an army builder set for it. Changing their model is hardly difficult anyway - originally I was proposing that they have a set which is similar to the "army-builders" we have at the moment, but maybe with a different ratio of unique to generic figures, to match a specific movie scene. And what reason does Lego have to do that? They already alienate quite a few fans with even one unique character in their army builders, why add more? People HATE that the Black Gates is marketed as buying doubles yet has so many unique characters. If you add more unique characters to the army builders you are basically doing the same thing. Edited January 23, 2014 by Deathleech Quote
deskp Posted January 23, 2014 Posted January 23, 2014 " the largest hobbit set may have been labeled up as " the lonely mountain", the set was based under the mountain from the last ( what seemed like 2 hours) of the desolation of smaug. it's construction was quite similar to the mines of moria but with the gold melting and transporting basket at one end and the kings throne complete with a dark blue trans crystal as the archenstone. the set was pretty much 1 long structure with hidden caches of treasure within and behind the structure. I believe smaug will be included in that set but none of the figs were complete and only shown as listed images." Sounds like it's another mines of moria/dol goldur battle type set. If we are gonna be hopefull, we can hope that they didn't see the back/front of this and that it has a facade?! Quote
deskp Posted January 23, 2014 Posted January 23, 2014 (edited) Where did that info come from?! Ben Feighery on brickfanatics. No idea if thats someone who went to the fair or not XD edit, he definetley went to the fair! Edited January 23, 2014 by deskp Quote
azog15 Posted January 23, 2014 Posted January 23, 2014 Sweet! I really hope we get all the Dwarves with that set (minus Oin, Bofur, Fili and Kili)! Ben Feighery on brickfanatics. No idea if thats someone who went to the fair or not XD I can't find it Quote
Artanis I Posted January 23, 2014 Posted January 23, 2014 I really hope we get all the Dwarves with that set (minus Oin, Bofur, Fili and Kili)! 9+ minifigs, and a Smaug? Quote
azog15 Posted January 23, 2014 Posted January 23, 2014 (edited) 9+ minifigs, and a Smaug? I think it's possible. As long as the structure/build isn't as large and consist of a lot bricks. Edited January 23, 2014 by azog15 Quote
deskp Posted January 23, 2014 Posted January 23, 2014 atleast a Erebor set has no place for any reused figures, and it seems dol guldur won't resue any figures either. Hopefully bo5a set has no reused figs. Lake town will obviously reuse atleast 2. Quote
Alcarin Posted January 23, 2014 Posted January 23, 2014 I know I've brought this up at least three times so far, but here it is again: If TLG didn't care about Bolg's redesign, they would have released his old design in 79014 They didn't, so they obviously wanted to release the real deal OR They decided not to release him AT ALL... shocking i know :P Quote
Mr. Cube Posted January 23, 2014 Posted January 23, 2014 (edited) Fives: Well, technically, those are not spiders (Chima, Mirkwood spiders)...they have just 6 legs. Only Shelob was accurate. Deathleeh (2:57 AM): This is exactly what am I thinking about the LotR and Hobbit waves. Edited January 23, 2014 by Mr. Cube Quote
Lord Vladivus Posted January 23, 2014 Posted January 23, 2014 Fives: Well, technically, those are not spiders (Chima, Mirkwood spiders)...they have just 6 legs. Only Shelob was accurate. Deathleeh (2:57 AM): This is exactly what am I thinking about the LotR and Hobbit waves. Wait, I'm sat here looking at my Mirkwood spiders and they definitely have 8 legs. Quote
Alcarin Posted January 23, 2014 Posted January 23, 2014 Wait, I'm sat here looking at my Mirkwood spiders and they definitely have 8 legs. Guess they bought other sets :P Quote
Mr. Cube Posted January 23, 2014 Posted January 23, 2014 Lord Vladivus: Sorry, I don´t own that set, I just looked on the pictures and it looked like the Mirkwood spiders have only 6 legs. Now I googled it again and I see that they have really 8 legs...my bad. Quote
deskp Posted January 23, 2014 Posted January 23, 2014 Lord Vladivus: Sorry, I don´t own that set, I just looked on the pictures and it looked like the Mirkwood spiders have only 6 legs. Now I googled it again and I see that they have really 8 legs...my bad. and the lego chima spiders you gotta count the arms of the figures aswell. Quote
Deathleech Posted January 23, 2014 Posted January 23, 2014 (edited) So Erebor will be the biggest set in wave three? That means 8-9 minifigures and the molded Smaug, right? If it's based off the last scenes we see in DoS, the minifigures are most likely going to be Thorin, blue coat Bilbo, and 6-7 other dwarves who accompanied them to the Lonely Mountain. There are really no other possibilities since these are the only characters we see inside Erebor. They could possibly leave Thorin or Bilbo out since we just got them in the last wave and focus on all the other dwarves, but I don't think that's very likely since they are the main characters. Lake-town sounds to be about a $50-60 set which puts it at 5 minifigures. Bain was pretty much confirmed. I could see a number of other characters taking up the other slots. We could get the rest of the dwarves here like Fili, Kili, Bofur, etc. We could also get Bard's two daughters to go with the son. Yet another possibility is Bolg, Legolas and Tauriel. Of course last but not least is Braga and Alfrid. We already pretty much know for sure the smallest $12-20 set will have Galadriel, Elrond, and the twilight Witch King. That just leaves the $30-40 set. I am hoping it's an army builder, but who knows at this point. If Bolg isn't in Lake-town, they need to still fit him in another set. We also need Dain, and preferably Beorn in bear form. That's a possible three characters that need to be covered. I am hoping Bolg is in Lake-town though and that leaves the $30 set a standard army builder like we have seen thus far. Dain, an armored dwarf, an armored elf, a Lake-town militia, and maybe two armored Gundabad Orcs would be perfect. I am not crazy about the molded creature being Beorn, but I think I would rather have him in an army builder and get him then not have him at all. If Lego doesn't do Beorn in bear form in any set I think it will be a missed opportunity. Sure you can use the City bear, but what kid wouldn't love to have a cool printed Beorn bear? Edited January 23, 2014 by Deathleech Quote
Trunkbass Posted January 23, 2014 Posted January 23, 2014 My guess is Lego had two full waves for each theme planned from the start. When it was announced the Hobbit would be three films instead of two Lego simply cut their waves in half, kept what they had planned for the most part, and then created 1-2 more sets to round out the waves so there weren't any waves with only 2-3 sets. I'm following your proposition about splitting the second wave after they announced that the Hobbit would be a trilogy. But I see no reason why they would do it for LOTR. The LOTR theme isn't linked to a movie, so trilogy or no trilogy, why would they split the second LOTR wave too and not give us the second part of it in july 2014? Quote
Deathleech Posted January 23, 2014 Posted January 23, 2014 Good question. I would guess to keep interest going longer for the two lines. Quote
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