LOTR & The Hobbit 2012

[thefyfe]

Is it just me or does the 'very nice as you can see there' sound like the episode of South Park where they all say 'they took our jobs!'

[just2good]

I wondered the same. If you obviously have zero interest in the Hobbit, why would you purchase these expensive sets? Oh well, to each his own, and I'm happy for each review (although this set is a must-buy since July anyway). However, I must admit that I turned this particular review to silent after hearing "very nice, as you can see here" for the tenth time within two minutes.

That's why he's

.

Also, LegoLee329 reviewed the Warg set!

[ZCerberus]

Yes, well let's not bite the hand that feeds to hard. At least he was nice enough to give the review.

I am very excited for the Unexpected gathering set. As you can see here, it is very, very nice.

[Archer]

I could have sworn that earlier pics of Ori looked like his hair was dark brown. The change (if there was one) to regular brown, is a very nice improvement.

[Endeavour]

Can anyone tell me how many stores in Ontario are known to have the Hobbit sets in stock?

Thanks in advance.

[Fives]

Can anyone tell me how many stores in Ontario are known to have the Hobbit sets in stock?

Thanks in advance.

I went to the Toys Toys Toys at the Eaton Centre today and got all the sets except for the Barrels one. In total it came to around $450. I know I could have saved a lot and gotten VIP points if I had waited and got them at the LEGO store, but I couldn't wait for these sets any longer. I have built all the figures and the Riddles set, and I must say these are just plain amazing! The dwarves are all awesome, especially Thorin, Fili, Kili and Balin. The goblins are really epic too, and the Great Goblin is really cool. Also, the Wargs are just fantastic.

[Endeavour]

I went to the Toys Toys Toys at the Eaton Centre today and got all the sets except for the Barrels one. In total it came to around $450. I know I could have saved a lot and gotten VIP points if I had waited and got them at the LEGO store, but I couldn't wait for these sets any longer.

If i lived in Toronto i would without a doubt pick up the sets there but unfortunately i live around 2 or 3 hours by car from Toronto. It isn't a long way but it's a fair distance to go for the sets alone.

I find it strange that Toys Toys Toys would be one of the first stores to have the sets on shelves?

[Legonardo]

Massive Gandalf knocking on Bilbo's door (6 or 7 meters tall?) up on the embassy cinema today, 10 days till the premier!

any die-hard fans traveling to NZ? i'll be there!

ahh the whole city is hobbited, i'm very excited!

[Hrw-Amen]

Just out of interest, and not knocking it in anyway, but why is LoTR and Hobbit in History and not the Licensed theme when clearly it is a licensed theme and not historical, although admittedly with some leanings towards castles, but no more than some other licenses lean towards other themes? For example I am pretty sure that the Lone Ranger stuff will not be under the train theme even though it sounds like one of the sets has a train in it? Like I said not a complaint, just wondered?

[Captain Settle]

Oh not again. The regulators decided to put it in here. I think it's because it replaced the castle theme.

[just2good]

Found all the sets at my local Kmart in Boca Raton, Florida. It was not in the LEGO store, but in the back of a toy aisle.

[Captain Settle]

Thanks for putting that. The Mirkwood spiders box is surprisingly small. How many sets did you buy?

[just2good]

Thanks for putting that. The Mirkwood spiders box is surprisingly small. How many sets did you buy?

Sadly, none. I spent all my money on the Wii U today.

[Philip Robin]

Anyone heard anything of sets in Atlanta?

[Infernum]

Anyone heard anything of sets in Atlanta?

I'm in Atlanta-ish and I haven't seen any. I'm waiting till the North Point lego store gets theirs.

[Doctor_ocks]

I've been keeping an eye out here in Omaha and haven't seen a single set :( I'm chomping at the bit!

[Deathleech]

Just out of interest, and not knocking it in anyway, but why is LoTR and Hobbit in History and not the Licensed theme when clearly it is a licensed theme and not historical, although admittedly with some leanings towards castles, but no more than some other licenses lean towards other themes? For example I am pretty sure that the Lone Ranger stuff will not be under the train theme even though it sounds like one of the sets has a train in it? Like I said not a complaint, just wondered?

I was wondering the same thing for awhile. There is a thread that explains it though, and it makes perfect sense. Basically there was no new historic theme being release for 2012, so rather than have this part of the forums pretty much be vacant an entire year, the mods decided to put LotR in it. There were tons of other license themes in 2012 so no worry about that section of the forums being empty!

[Hrw-Amen]

Thanks, It took me a while to find them originally when I was looking as I kept checking the Licensed theme section and nothing was there. Then when I looked in here a while back I found them and thought that it was odd as I had been waiting for the threads to appear. For a long time I thought maybe I had imagined that they were making LoTR sets until I found them here a few weeks back. I was going to ask at the time but thought someone else would bring it up and did not want to look silly, but as it seems no-one else had asked each day when I checked i thought I would. Sorry if I offended anyone like I said it is not a problem, it was just that I kept looking in the Licensed theme and was not finding anything and missed the a lot of the pages of this thread, far too many to read over but I have been reading them for a month or so now. As a train person myself I don't spend too much time reading the other themes, just a quick scan where I think something should be to see if it is. Again apologies for any annoyance I am sorry. I'll see if I can add something constructive from now on.

[TheLegoDr]

Thanks for the video of the boxes. I am also really surprised at how small the Mirkwood box is. Isn't that a $30 set? I definitely wouldn't feel like I was getting my money's worth out of that, but maybe that is LEGO trying to cut down cardboard costs. It's like the POTC Cabin set and I think Ninjago Venomari Shrine, granted those were cheaper but I recall seeing different sized boxes for them.

Too bad we don't have a K-Mart here. They always seem to have good sales for some reason. We have ShopKo (which is very similar but they mark up their sets like TRU). But otherwise I haven't seen any Hobbit sets in this part of NE yet. They aren't due out for another 2 weeks almost so I'm not surprised. Plus I won't be buying any until after the 1st of the year anyway.

[Doctor_ocks]

Have there been any TRU or Walmart sightings? They still don't have anything on their webpages and now I'm not even seeing any on KMarts site.

[Deathleech]

Thanks for the video of the boxes. I am also really surprised at how small the Mirkwood box is. Isn't that a $30 set? I definitely wouldn't feel like I was getting my money's worth out of that, but maybe that is LEGO trying to cut down cardboard costs. It's like the POTC Cabin set and I think Ninjago Venomari Shrine, granted those were cheaper but I recall seeing different sized boxes for them.

I think it was mentioned in another review that Lego is indeed trying to cut down on their packaging size. It makes perfect sense to me, the Orc Force set was in a box that looks to be almost as big as the Unexpected Gathering, yet it was almost half the price and had tons of empty space inside. For those of us who keep the boxes, it's also beneficial.. more room to store the boxes!

Too bad we don't have a K-Mart here. They always seem to have good sales for some reason. We have ShopKo (which is very similar but they mark up their sets like TRU). But otherwise I haven't seen any Hobbit sets in this part of NE yet. They aren't due out for another 2 weeks almost so I'm not surprised. Plus I won't be buying any until after the 1st of the year anyway.

I checked a Super K-mart by us that had nothing, and a smaller regular k-Mart that only had the Mirkwood Spider set left. Kind of disappointed but it's only another week and a half till every retailer should be getting them in.

[Venkefedo]

I think it was mentioned in another review that Lego is indeed trying to cut down on their packaging size. It makes perfect sense to me, the Orc Force set was in a box that looks to be almost as big as the Unexpected Gathering, yet it was almost half the price and had tons of empty space inside. For those of us who keep the boxes, it's also beneficial.. more room to store the boxes!

It's a double-edged sword; we get used to a certain size being associated with a certain price, so when there's a size change to a smaller box at the same price, we feel like we're not getting our money's worth, that kinda thing. As an example: Target and Wal-Mart both have the Star Wars TIE Fighter marked down to $35, a great price for the set compared to the original $50-$55 tag, which most felt was overpriced. The Gungan Sub is in a box exactly the same size, but costs $15 more than the TIE's original high-end price, or $35 more than the current price--TWICE the cost of the TIE, in the same size box with the same number of minifigures (to be fair, Amidala's got more newly-molded parts, and one of the TIE's minifigs is just an astromech), and with only 50-ish more pieces than the TIE. A lot of us judge a set's value by piece count or other 'content' factors before box size, but the boxes do play a role in that assessment; I think it's probably more prevalent with non-AFOLs who don't know all the ins and outs of judging a set's value (I'm still learning 'em myself!). Helm's Deep could probably fit in the box of a $40 set (a Ninjago vehicle or something, rather than Orc Forge), but then you'd be paying $120 for an awfully small (if heavy) box. That would probably give many consumers pause, if they don't know how to price by piece count.

I remember a couple years ago, TLG changed several themes' boxes to smaller ones, so they have tried somewhat. I noticed it particularly on the $12-20 range in Star Wars and POTC. Even after the change, there's still a LOT of empty space in the boxes. The plastic bags take up much, and the instruction manuals, but I recently got a friend hooked on Lego and he bought several small sets (SW Planets, Endor Battlepack, the Mining polybags, a $12 Mining truck, and a $6 Creator plastic-case set). Instructions, planet shells, and a couple other things aside, he fit the rest of all that into the plastic Creator case. Two $12 sets, a few mini-vehicles and figures, AND the original Creator set in one plastic case.

There's room to shrink the boxes quite a bit more, I think. It'll just be tough getting everyone used to the idea of paying $20 for what's normally a $6 set. I wonder if Uruk-Hai Army would fit, instructions and all, in a $9 Racer box?

[Deathleech]

I got my last several Uruk-hai Army sets after already opening and assembling a bunch of the sets before them. As such I decided to just take out the minifigures and put them together and take everything else and put it back in a box. Rather than stuff it all in several boxes I tried to fit as many pieces in a single box as I could. I ended up easily fitting the contents of two sets in a single Uruk-hai Army box with a little room to spare. The amount of empty space Lego leaves in their boxes is a little rediculous.

As you mention, I am sure some people feel like they are getting a better deal with that huge box, even if its less than half full. For others like myself, I am totally fine with smaller boxes since it means an easier time finding room to store them. I am sure it saves Lego a lot of money with cardboard cost and shipping since they are smaller boxes. It also allows retailers to have more sets out at once since each set takes up less shelf space and storage space. I would think all of these benefits would outweigh the small negative but then again who knows. Perceived value can be a HUGE deal in making sales.

[Wolvarie]

Any sign of Hobbit sets in Oz?? Prices?

[greenpaw]

_{Hi Guys}

_{Not sure if this has been posted by anyone but I found the} Lego 30212 Mirkwood Elf Guard Hobbit Set _{at Toys R US online today.}

There is a bigger image on my site here: http://www.thebricklife.com/lego-30212-mirkwood-elf-guard-hobbit-set/

Or just head over to Toys R Us.

Cheers

Inger