Lord of the Rings Ongoing Discussion

[RichardGoring]

8 minutes ago, Cyprinus said:

I'm not sure what they'd need to put into the set to make a 2000 piece build like this worth 350$.

They could very easily add a serving of 'corporate greed' and a dollop of people will still buy it' to get up to that number. And then maybe throw in an additional new mould to make people feel better about it.

But hopefully they aren't that cynical. Hopefully.

[hikouki]

Rivendell was a blockbuster, and I think Lego will milk the hype around it with cheapened sets after set after set.

[JohnTPT17]

1 hour ago, Cyprinus said:

I'm not sure what they'd need to put into the set to make a 2000 piece build like this worth 350$.

A Star Wars logo on the box, probably 

[hikouki]

4 hours ago, JohnTPT17 said:

A Star Wars logo on the box, probably 

 

How much did the original 'Unexpected Gathering' set retail? It had 6 minifigs and 5 of them exclusive.

[Lordhelmet]

33 minutes ago, hikouki said:

 

How much did the original 'Unexpected Gathering' set retail? It had 6 minifigs and 5 of them exclusive.

$70. - crazy to see how bad Lego has taken value out for us where we hope for 7-8 minifigures for $200 when we used to get 5 for less than $100

[BrickBob Studpants]

8 hours ago, Lordhelmet said:

$70. - crazy to see how bad Lego has taken value out for us where we hope for 7-8 minifigures for $200 when we used to get 5 for less than $100

The minifigs-to-parts ratio has always been very inconsistent. You can find a $650 set with two minifigs on a shelf right next to a $100 set with seven minifigs. This has never been proportional

It always depends on the context. I imagine most people will be perfectly happy with 7-8 minifigs in the Bag End set, since what can you do with a strictly FOTR-based set? Include a bunch of random Hobbits? The quality and selection of characters matters more, in my opinion. If a highly desired character is featured, people are more inclined to forgive an overall lower number.

And even if it was a $400 set based on The Hobbit, they‘d never include all 13 dwarves as they‘d have to resurrect a ridiculous number of moulds

[vmk]

On 21.02.2025 at 01:04, Balrogofmorgoth said:

Я бы не задумываясь отдал 1000 долларов за огромный Минас Тирит

me too.
it's better to buy 2 sets to build 1 mega-city 
I'm not kidding.

[mirkwoodspiders]

On 2/20/2025 at 4:04 PM, Balrogofmorgoth said:

I would drop $1000 for a huge Minas Tirith in a heartbeat

I think I would as well - I'd just have to make sure I could display it somewhere.

[hikouki]

3 hours ago, mirkwoodspiders said:

I think I would as well - I'd just have to make sure I could display it somewhere.

I prefer placing my Legos in a glass cabinet but with such large sizes, they could only fit on shelves and I have to spend for an expensive acrylic case to protect it from dust.

[vmk]

On 2/22/2025 at 1:14 AM, Lordhelmet said:

I think my biggest hope is two sets, a micro scale one like hogwarts and grounds, and then a Rivendell styled set of some key area or capturing some key areas.  (And then a whole Gondor group of playsets including battle packs, witch king, grond, and cmf series)

This is just an amazing dream.   
But this could happen if there is a full line of LotR sets that will stretch for at least a few years.

Edited February 26 by vmk

[Milan]

On 2/25/2025 at 5:07 PM, vmk said:

Это просто потрясающая мечта. 

Hi @vmk
Please make sure to post in English.
I know your other posts are in English, but we need to have all of them like that. When you get to it, you can edit this one and translate it.
Thanks.

[vmk]

3 hours ago, Milan said:

Hi @vmk
Please make sure to post in English.

Aye aye, sir!
Sorry.
I'll be more careful in the future.  

Edited February 26 by vmk

[Milan]

1 hour ago, vmk said:

Aye aye, sir!
Sorry.
I'll be more careful in the future.  

No problem, thanks for changing it.
Have fun

[Mandalorianknight]

On 2/17/2025 at 9:44 AM, Cyprinus said:

I really hope it isn't. Not the second, not the third, not the fifteenth, not the thousanth $1000 set.

That price point is ridiculous and shouldn't be a thing.

When the UCS Millenium Falcon came out in 2017, adjusting for inflation, it's original $800 retail price would be over $1k today. This one isn't on lego, it's on inflation.

On 2/25/2025 at 11:07 AM, vmk said:

But this could happen if there is a full line of LotR sets that will stretch for at least a few years.

I do think it's possible we get something like that eventually. They'll want to test the waters more and more, but I think it would fulfill a currently open castle slot in lego's theme catalog, and could probably get a lot of kids interested just from that, rather than necessarily needing new content like some other themes. That said, it's a safer bet if they do it around the golumn movie, just because it draws more eyes to the franchise. (I don't have faith in a golumn movie, but if it's moderately successful, brings eyes to the franchise, and gets parents to show their kids LOTR, the revived theme could do well for itself. Harry Potter does well despite not really having much good new content.)

Edited February 26 by Mandalorianknight

[mirkwoodspiders]

4 hours ago, Mandalorianknight said:

When the UCS Millenium Falcon came out in 2017, adjusting for inflation, it's original $800 retail price would be over $1k today. This one isn't on lego, it's on inflation.

This is an interesting point. If one was willing to buy the Falcon 8 years ago, theoretically the door should remain open for $1,000 today. I think 4 digits in front of the decimal is mentally disconcerting, but the real question is the relative value of the product being purchased. If you're getting a decent volume of LEGO pieces, with a moderate variety of brick sizes and colors, an engaging construction experience, a visually compelling final product, etc., perhaps the value is there. It's just, a set at $1,000 needs to be as close as one can get to flawless simply because $1,000 is mentally and financially a huge ask. If there's any source material that could pull it off, it's Minas Tirith.

[Lordhelmet]

11 minutes ago, mirkwoodspiders said:

This is an interesting point. If one was willing to buy the Falcon 8 years ago, theoretically the door should remain open for $1,000 today. I think 4 digits in front of the decimal is mentally disconcerting, but the real question is the relative value of the product being purchased. If you're getting a decent volume of LEGO pieces, with a moderate variety of brick sizes and colors, an engaging construction experience, a visually compelling final product, etc., perhaps the value is there. It's just, a set at $1,000 needs to be as close as one can get to flawless simply because $1,000 is mentally and financially a huge ask. If there's any source material that could pull it off, it's Minas Tirith.

The rumor for the Death Star is 40 mini figures too.  If there was a $1k minis tirith 40 mini figs is the bar.  I would be on board for 40 Gondor mini figures. 

[hikouki]

2 hours ago, Lordhelmet said:

The rumor for the Death Star is 40 mini figures too.  If there was a $1k minis tirith 40 mini figs is the bar.  I would be on board for 40 Gondor mini figures. 

If there is any other set from an IP that I collect, with a price tag of $1k, I would also expect 40 minifigs. Bespoke heads and prints. Count me in.

[MAB]

10 hours ago, Mandalorianknight said:

I do think it's possible we get something like that eventually. They'll want to test the waters more and more, but I think it would fulfill a currently open castle slot in lego's theme catalog, and could probably get a lot of kids interested just from that, rather than necessarily needing new content like some other themes. That said, it's a safer bet if they do it around the golumn movie, just because it draws more eyes to the franchise.

If LEGO wanted to 'fulfill a currently open castle slot' and get kids buying that type of set, I imagine they would do Castle sets again instead of LOTR.  LEGO would have full control over content and time lines, and they could do building sets, minifigure packs, and associated merchandise.  If they do Gollum movie sets, I expect them to be on shelves only briefly like most previous movie tie-ins rather than part of an extended much larger LOTR plan, and that they would keep adult sets for LOTR separate from kid sets for the new movie. 

[TheDoctor]

2 hours ago, MAB said:

If LEGO wanted to 'fulfill a currently open castle slot' and get kids buying that type of set, I imagine they would do Castle sets again instead of LOTR.  LEGO would have full control over content and time lines, and they could do building sets, minifigure packs, and associated merchandise.  If they do Gollum movie sets, I expect them to be on shelves only briefly like most previous movie tie-ins rather than part of an extended much larger LOTR plan, and that they would keep adult sets for LOTR separate from kid sets for the new movie. 

I actually think it's quite likely we'll see a Hunt for Gollum set at this point, as the hype around the movie begins to ramp up and LEGO continues to support LotR.

It's allegedly supposed to premier next year, which likely means they're well into pre-production and have concept art to share with Lego.
That would also make sense with the current annual release of these sets.


I doubt it would be a full wave, more something like the Netflix Wednesday tie-in and one set for each film.

Edited February 27 by TheDoctor

[Cyprinus]

15 hours ago, Mandalorianknight said:

When the UCS Millenium Falcon came out in 2017, adjusting for inflation, it's original $800 retail price would be over $1k today. This one isn't on lego, it's on inflation.

The 2017 Assembly Square clocked in at 4002 pieces retailed for 299,99$ while the late 2023 (counting for 2024 IIRC) Natural History Museum was the same for 4014 elements. This year has the Tudor Corner (3266 pieces for 229,99$) which is the price of the Boutique Hotel (but it has more pieces). That adjustement may be true, but it clearly doesn't apply everywhere.

 

10 hours ago, Lordhelmet said:

The rumor for the Death Star is 40 mini figures too.  If there was a $1k minis tirith 40 mini figs is the bar.  I would be on board for 40 Gondor mini figures. 

I believe the current rumor is 36 figs and 2 brick-built droids.

[Blazej_Holen]

46 minutes ago, Cyprinus said:

The 2017 Assembly Square clocked in at 4002 pieces retailed for 299,99$ while the late 2023 (counting for 2024 IIRC) Natural History Museum was the same for 4014 elements. This year has the Tudor Corner (3266 pieces for 229,99$) which is the price of the Boutique Hotel (but it has more pieces). That adjustement may be true, but it clearly doesn't apply everywhere.

 

I believe the current rumor is 36 figs and 2 brick-built droids.

It wont be 40 Gondor figures even if that hypothethical set get 40 minifigs. I can see 6-8 soldiers at max. The rest would be orcs, main characters, perhaps Rohirrim + few horses… 

[Lordhelmet]

Heard hunt for gollum is delayed a year (good for hopefully a better product of a movie - bad if we were hoping for a real LOtR range of sets next year)

[JohnTPT17]

12 minutes ago, Lordhelmet said:

Heard hunt for gollum is delayed a year (good for hopefully a better product of a movie - bad if we were hoping for a real LOtR range of sets next year)

It might be a better sign for sets in general, though. There's a lot of high-profile movies in 2026 that could make for some good new Lego themes with existing partners (Shrek 5, Toy Story 5, etc), so 2027 could be a little less "busy" and have more room in the profile.

[Black Falcon]

13 hours ago, Lordhelmet said:

The rumor for the Death Star is 40 mini figures too.  If there was a $1k minis tirith 40 mini figs is the bar.  I would be on board for 40 Gondor mini figures. 

Some Gondor minifigs would surely be in it, and actually since they would look all the same aside from the head, they wouldn´t cost as much budget, but you shouldn´t forget all the named characters and orcs.

7 hours ago, MAB said:

If LEGO wanted to 'fulfill a currently open castle slot' and get kids buying that type of set, I imagine they would do Castle sets again instead of LOTR.  LEGO would have full control over content and time lines, and they could do building sets, minifigure packs, and associated merchandise.  If they do Gollum movie sets, I expect them to be on shelves only briefly like most previous movie tie-ins rather than part of an extended much larger LOTR plan, and that they would keep adult sets for LOTR separate from kid sets for the new movie. 

Well they have the Lion Knights Castle for the Adults and seem to use the Creator theme for the kids, so I would say from their point of view they have enough castle on the shelves. Of course many of us would still prefer a own theme again.

[MAB]

On 2/27/2025 at 8:45 AM, TheDoctor said:

I actually think it's quite likely we'll see a Hunt for Gollum set at this point, as the hype around the movie begins to ramp up and LEGO continues to support LotR.

It's allegedly supposed to premier next year, which likely means they're well into pre-production and have concept art to share with Lego.
That would also make sense with the current annual release of these sets.


I doubt it would be a full wave, more something like the Netflix Wednesday tie-in and one set for each film.

Sure, it wouldn't surprise me if they do a Hunt for Gollum set, or maybe 2 or 3. But will it spark a new range of smaller and cheaper LOTR sets aimed at kids? I doubt it. LEGO knows LOTR is doing well with large sets for the adult market.