Lord of the Rings Ongoing Discussion

[MAB]

1 hour ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

I imagine people would be FUMING. Limiting a battlepack to one per customer is a bit antithetical to the idea of an army-builder, no?

It depends on the options. If no battle pack vs one battle pack (exclusive as a set but all parts come from the big set, so nobody misses any exclusive minifigs if they are not day one buyers), I'd go for one!

[Alcarin]

My main gripe is with the decision of the shields being oval instead of square same as Roman shield... I know the shields of Gondor were not totally square, but were far from Oval aswell... 

Also minifigure count is abyssmal for 8k pieces... Id rather see it be 50$+ and add 4 more figs tbh...

[MAB]

54 minutes ago, Alcarin said:

My main gripe is with the decision of the shields being oval instead of square same as Roman shield... I know the shields of Gondor were not totally square, but were far from Oval aswell... 
 

Without a new mould, the shields were always going to be a compromise.  Personally, I prefer the ovoid to rectangular, especially from a distance. 

[Meaf]

Looks like I missed it, still have only seen a super low res pic so far. I like what I've heard though, definitely interested (assuming I end up having that much money to drop on a Lego this year, which is a very big assumption haha). 

4 hours ago, Alcarin said:

Also minifigure count is abyssmal for 8k pieces... Id rather see it be 50$+ and add 4 more figs tbh...

I think ideally we'd just get another set to bulk up the roster, but yeah, if this is all that we're getting (which seems likely going by precedent), then I do wish it would have included a few more minifigures. 

[Black Falcon]

On 1/26/2026 at 9:01 PM, MKJoshA said:

My plan is to use one for display and the other to part out. I'd use the figures and pieces in MOCs. At that price, it's going to be a great PPP and with figures I couldn't get for decent prices on the aftermarket. I really want to keep one for display, but I also love making my own scenes. That's why I ended up getting a 2nd Rivendell. With Barad-Dur I just ended up buying a 2nd set of the orcs. I don't need more black pieces and I'm not going to MOC often enough with the Mouth or Sauron to justify paying $60 each for them. Though the helmet is tempting me...

Ah, I see, especially if you sell the second GWP - or use that for partout to that should be a good source, yeah.

On 1/26/2026 at 11:20 PM, MAB said:

I think the biggest problem with doing the Mines of Moria again is the minifig selection. They have already done the whole Fellowship in their regular outfits and the Balrog. So the only missing characters (for the recent releases) are a cave troll and some orcs.  I think that could impact sales quite badly, especially if it is just a large grey room. Doing just interiors is difficult as so many bricks are needed to enclose the space. Not particularly good architecture and repeated minifigs wouldn't be a good combination. Maybe if it was two sided and had the Watcher in the Water and the Doors of Durin on one side and the mines as a single open room on the other it could be a little more interesting.  

Well, but most of your problems won´t change if they do the set in 2, 3, 4 years instead of next and I just don´t see them not doing Moria at all (unless they would stop with the theme but that also seems highly unlikely to me at this point)

I would definitely expect the watcher to be included, but personally I would probably prefer it on the left side of the build rather than on the back. Personally I have no idea how they would do it so it looks decent but looking at Rivendell and Minas Tirith I am pretty sure they can make it look great, as you can build some rock face and dwarven architecture - biggest question probably would be if it would have an open top as that would need a lot of pieces or come up with another idea, on what to display there.

[Altair1]

38 minutes ago, Black Falcon said:

I would definitely expect the watcher to be included

Indeed! We already have two inside builds, the initial Moria set with the Troll and the recent one with the Balrog, so it would be nice to get an outside set showing the battle against the Watcher in front of the Doors of Durin.

[Blazej_Holen]

6 hours ago, Alcarin said:

My main gripe is with the decision of the shields being oval instead of square same as Roman shield... I know the shields of Gondor were not totally square, but were far from Oval aswell... 

Also minifigure count is abyssmal for 8k pieces... Id rather see it be 50$+ and add 4 more figs tbh...

There are quite enough figs since the build is more for display than play… Its focused almost exclusively on Gondor so absence of Orc and Rohan is understandable. And since you have no place to display showdown between Gandalf and Withch King, it make sense that he is not there as well…

[RichardGoring]

1 hour ago, Black Falcon said:

I would definitely expect the watcher to be included, but personally I would probably prefer it on the left side of the build rather than on the back. Personally I have no idea how they would do it so it looks decent but looking at Rivendell and Minas Tirith I am pretty sure they can make it look great, as you can build some rock face and dwarven architecture - biggest question probably would be if it would have an open top as that would need a lot of pieces or come up with another idea, on what to display there.

At this kind of size, you could easily do the outside and then a cut away into the interior. You'd be missing a lot of the path, but you could get to the last stand room and I think it would be very satisfactory to have those two major scenes shown together with just a thin mountainside wall and door between them.

[MAB]

1 hour ago, Blazej_Holen said:

There are quite enough figs since the build is more for display than play… 

Minifigs are for display too! :-)

[Lordhelmet]

10 hours ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

It was originally introduced for the Friends reboot, but has since been used for minifigs too. Examples include Sir Isaac Newton, Igor Karkaroff, Xenophilius Lovegood, Sméagol, Chu, and more ^^ Dark orange is a new colour for it!

11 hours ago, MAB said:

Thanks, I just think the color chosen is too orange (not bad that it's a color, but I will probably grab a tan one).  

 

What a great year for sets - Suaron looks great and has the minifigure then Minis Tirith looks almost perfect, hopefully the prices are correct.  Only thing we could have to make it all better is a CMF/Battle packs and a few small sets but for what we are getting it is great.

[Black Falcon]

4 hours ago, RichardGoring said:

At this kind of size, you could easily do the outside and then a cut away into the interior. You'd be missing a lot of the path, but you could get to the last stand room and I think it would be very satisfactory to have those two major scenes shown together with just a thin mountainside wall and door between them.

Yeah, there are basically three things I would expect to be displayed in the Set:

1. The watcher in the water with the doors of Durin
2. The chamber of Mazarbul with Balins tomb
3. The bridge with the Balrog

[Lordhelmet]

24 minutes ago, Black Falcon said:

Yeah, there are basically three things I would expect to be displayed in the Set:

1. The watcher in the water with the doors of Durin
2. The chamber of Mazarbul with Balins tomb
3. The bridge with the Balrog

My preference is for the doors of durin unless we get another cave troll big fig.

i think with minas tirith coming out my new wishlist is the following (in order)

1) Edoras

2) grey havens (really just the ship)

3) Loth Lorien

4) watcher in the water

5) helms deep

6) prancing pony

7) orthanc

8) black gate

9) ent moot

This is assuming we are just getting the big sets and not play sets.  Play sets and a small but stand alone theme would change this list and order.

[Vindicare]

On 1/27/2026 at 5:49 AM, BrickBob Studpants said:

• No GWP: „Why is there no GWP for this expensive set?? Rip-off!!“
• There is a GWP: „Why is there a GWP for this expensive set?? FOMO!!“
• ‚Essential‘ GWP: „Why isn‘t this already part of this expensive set??“
• Non-essential GWP: „Why is this unrelated / lame / boring thing the GWP for this expensive set??“
• Exclusive prints in GWP: „Why is this print paywalled behind this expensive set??“
• Nothing exclusive in GWP: „Why don‘t I get anything exclusive for purchasing this expensive set??“

I could continue, but you get my point  No matter what they do, people will be angry.

You forgot GWP’s are a scam born of greed. 

[Altair1]

7 hours ago, Lordhelmet said:

My preference is for the doors of durin unless we get another cave troll big fig.

i think with minas tirith coming out my new wishlist is the following (in order)

1) Edoras

2) grey havens (really just the ship)

3) Loth Lorien

4) watcher in the water

5) helms deep

6) prancing pony

7) orthanc

8) black gate

9) ent moot

This is assuming we are just getting the big sets and not play sets.  Play sets and a small but stand alone theme would change this list and order.

I fully agree with your order of priority. I would just add the Argonath to the list.

[BrickBob Studpants]

6 hours ago, Vindicare said:

You forgot GWP’s are a scam born of greed. 

You can dislike GWP sets for multiple reasons, but a scam they are not. There is no trickery or deceit involved, and the conditions are transparent: buy set x or meet a threshold, and you get an exclusive set valued at a certain price as a bonus. Not sure where the scam’s supposed to be  Creating FOMO is questionable ethically, but it still doesn’t constitute a scam. You get what you pay for

[MKJoshA]

2 hours ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

You can dislike GWP sets for multiple reasons, but a scam they are not. There is no trickery or deceit involved, and the conditions are transparent: buy set x or meet a threshold, and you get an exclusive set valued at a certain price as a bonus. Not sure where the scam’s supposed to be  Creating FOMO is questionable ethically, but it still doesn’t constitute a scam. You get what you pay for

I wouldn't go so far as to call them a scam, but I think your analysis is too lite on Lego. The reality is that you get that exclusive GWP only if you buy the set on the first day, sometimes within the first few hours. And yes, the terms and conditions say "while supplies last." But to create a limited number of copies of a highly valued GWP and then create a history of there not being enough to last past the first day and you get the nightmare that GWPs have become. It's not a scam and there's no deceit. But I would say there is plenty of marketing trickery going on.

What Lego should do is mass produce the GWPs to ensure they have enough to last the entire promo period. And then any left overs get sold at retail price (I've seen many of them listed at $30 retail value). They can even wait 6 months before selling the remaining stock to ensure day-one buyers get to enjoy it more before the general public.

[BrickBob Studpants]

52 minutes ago, MKJoshA said:

What Lego should do is mass produce the GWPs to ensure they have enough to last the entire promo period.

That is indeed an issue. Some GWP sets run out of stock within hours and others are still available at the end of the period, sometimes even returning a few months later! By now they should have enough data to definitely know which kinds of GWP sets will run out quicker than others and adjust production accordingly. Even without sophisticated analyses it’s become super obvious that licensed ones are guaranteed to run out quicker than any other GWP.

I didn’t imply that the way GWP are handled is flawless, as there is certainly a lot of room for improvement. My point was merely about it not being a full-blown scam

[Virginia_Bricks]

1 hour ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

That is indeed an issue. Some GWP sets run out of stock within hours and others are still available at the end of the period, sometimes even returning a few months later! By now they should have enough data to definitely know which kinds of GWP sets will run out quicker than others and adjust production accordingly. Even without sophisticated analyses it’s become super obvious that licensed ones are guaranteed to run out quicker than any other GWP.

I didn’t imply that the way GWP are handled is flawless, as there is certainly a lot of room for improvement. My point was merely about it not being a full-blown scam

There has to be a production run limit. Like they can only run 2,000 copies per production run. So increasing the # of copies would require it be stepped (10,000 to 12,000 to 14,000).

Also these decisions have to be done before the set is "released" so they aren't always sure on reception. Last year the Shire GWP lasted forever because the set had a mixed reception. This accidental leak might give them a chance to prepare better because they can tell general sentiment on the set. Also fair to note, that the Fell Beast GWP was the first true LOTR GWP so they were still figuring out how many copies to produce. It ran out fast, but they prepared better for the Shire.

I think the only GWP in the US that sold out on Day 1 was the Star Trek Shuttlepod. So a theme debuting and therefore difficult to predict demand.

[BrickBob Studpants]

Just now, Virginia_Bricks said:

I think the only GWP in the US that sold out on Day 1 was the Star Trek Shuttlepod. So a theme debuting and therefore difficult to predict demand.

In my opinion, they should crank up the production anyway. There can never be too many copies of a GWP. If it’s attached to a set which then proceeds to bomb, simply attach it to another one  They could probably even produce enough to provide one for each purchased set for its entire lifespan, and still come out on top! It’s a win either way, since the goal is to get customers to buy directly from LEGO

The artificial scarcity to induce FOMO is the issue in my book, not the idea of a GWP as such.

[Black Falcon]

3 hours ago, MKJoshA said:

What Lego should do is mass produce the GWPs to ensure they have enough to last the entire promo period. And then any left overs get sold at retail price (I've seen many of them listed at $30 retail value). They can even wait 6 months before selling the remaining stock to ensure day-one buyers get to enjoy it more before the general public.

That would go against the whole concept of encouraging people to buy at Lego to get the GWPs though. And keeping the rest of the GWPs in logistics for another 6 months, isn´t really something a company would want to do, as that isn´t exactly cheap either.

1 hour ago, Virginia_Bricks said:

There has to be a production run limit. Like they can only run 2,000 copies per production run. So increasing the # of copies would require it be stepped (10,000 to 12,000 to 14,000).

Also these decisions have to be done before the set is "released" so they aren't always sure on reception. Last year the Shire GWP lasted forever because the set had a mixed reception. This accidental leak might give them a chance to prepare better because they can tell general sentiment on the set. Also fair to note, that the Fell Beast GWP was the first true LOTR GWP so they were still figuring out how many copies to produce. It ran out fast, but they prepared better for the Shire.

I think the only GWP in the US that sold out on Day 1 was the Star Trek Shuttlepod. So a theme debuting and therefore difficult to predict demand.

Yeah that and the Creel House GWP this year were gone quite quick. In the end it is hard to really calculate the demand of certain sets and we don´t have the numbers of Sets/GWPs produced anyways, but I would expect that there are larger numbers of GWPs produced if they expect higher demand. Just sometimes it is still not enough.

56 minutes ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

In my opinion, they should crank up the production anyway. There can never be too many copies of a GWP. If it’s attached to a set which then proceeds to bomb, simply attach it to another one  They could probably even produce enough to provide one for each purchased set for its entire lifespan, and still come out on top! It’s a win either way, since the goal is to get customers to buy directly from LEGO

I think you are missing an important point here though. They would have to keep GWPs in production to have stock to cater them to every sold set for its lifespan meaning they would also have to keep exclusive Parts in production and logistics, while if they produce them all within a short timespan and then have the capacities free for the next one.

56 minutes ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

The artificial scarcity to induce FOMO is the issue in my book, not the idea of a GWP as such.

I don´t actually think that is really happening though. In the end sure if someone knows GWPs are regularly gone fast someone might be more easily ready to make a order to get a GWP. But you shouldn´t forget that with every GWP that is sold out to fast, they don´t make more money by selling the exclusive Set that it comes with. So I doubt it is actually in Legos interest to have Sets/GWPs gone within less than a half day.

[BrickBob Studpants]

1 minute ago, Black Falcon said:

So I doubt it is actually in Legos interest to have Sets/GWPs gone within less than a half day.

It is, because if a GWP is expected to sell out in half a day, some people will get the respective required set on day one, who otherwise probably would’ve waited for a sale. Of course you can argue that few people overall act like this, but it’s still a rather questionable tactic

5 minutes ago, Black Falcon said:

[…] while if they produce them all within a short timespan and then have the capacities free for the next one.

No, I didn’t mean they should continue producing the GWP sets, but rather create a large enough supply that lasts them longer  Of course storage space is an obvious problem here.

[Virginia_Bricks]

48 minutes ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

It is, because if a GWP is expected to sell out in half a day, some people will get the respective required set on day one, who otherwise probably would’ve waited for a sale. Of course you can argue that few people overall act like this, but it’s still a rather questionable tactic

No, I didn’t mean they should continue producing the GWP sets, but rather create a large enough supply that lasts them longer  Of course storage space is an obvious problem here.

Not to continue almost a page of discussion on just GWP practices, but I wonder what having a new distribution facility and production facility in North America allows Lego to do. Its only the second distribution center in the US so adding 2,000,000 sqft of space is significant.

Don't think it would be used to store more GWPs, rather growing existing product lines and maybe new product lines (Smart Brick).

[RichardGoring]

5 hours ago, Virginia_Bricks said:

I think the only GWP in the US that sold out on Day 1 was the Star Trek Shuttlepod. So a theme debuting and therefore difficult to predict demand.

And the radio station from Stranger Things.

[MAB]

1 hour ago, RichardGoring said:

And the radio station from Stranger Things.

And the Pokemon one.

[ShaydDeGrai]

From an economics standpoint, TLG should TOTALLY have larger production runs on GWPs, especially when it's a real exclusive tied to a high-end "flagship" set like Barad Dur or The Enterprise.  I'd even go so far as to say that from a marketing perspective small production runs to capitalize on FOMO actually work _against_ the company. 

Any fan who's going to spend $500+ on some exclusive, near-to-their-heart-themed set is going to buy that set whether they get a GWP or not; some might hold off  (or save up for it) , others might and wait pray for a lightening deal on Amazon, but everyone (including TLG) knows they are "destined" to get it eventually and typically have two years or more to follow through.  BUT if TLG offers an exclusive minifigure or cool shuttlepod (or both) and only makes enough to elate a handful of fans and disappoints (or pisses off) everyone else.  like (several of) their Comic-Con exclusives strategies, it might create buzz, but it's lousy customer relations.

Let us not forget that LEGO wholesale distributors typically buy kits in bulk at somewhere around 60-65% of MSRP .  They then take their cut and resell the items to retailers who honor (or even discount) the MSRP and make a profit for themselves.  If I were TLG, and I had the option of selling a kit like Minas Tirith for sixty cents on the dollar so it could eventually end up on Barnes and Noble or Amazon versus selling it myself at full MSRP, I'd like more of the money to come to me rather than middle-men and competing retailers.  Now the guaranteed bulk sale is really nice and TLG certainly doesn't want to walk away from this revenue stream, but the margin is low.  Let's say the kit sells for 650USD, at sixty cents on the dollar that kit could be wholesaling for $390 ($240 less than MSRP)  If TLG can convince people to buy directly from them, they make rake in two-thirds more money than they do on the wholesale market.  Moreover, since "profitability" is already factored into the wholesale price, every dollar they bring in above the $390 threshold is (nearly - still have the overhead of running the website, shipping and handling) pure profit.

Enter the GWP.  If I can bundle a high priced item (or high enough priced collection of smaller items) with some sort of exclusive and convince a customer to buy direct (where I get, say $200 more per transaction than I would have if they shopped at Amazon) then a decent GWP (FOMO or not, from a marketing perspective) is totally worth their time and effort.  I'd make the GWP production run for the same number of units the initial run of sets is going to be and go on bundling them until the set is back-ordered.  If the set turns out not to be as popular as expected (or Amazon sales - without a GWP - are cannibalizing the supply chain) and they have extra GWP sets, put them on hold for a year or so then make them available as insider rewards once the scalpers on eBay have driven up demand.

As for a GWP for Minas Tirith, without going so far as to tap something that could be a recognizable set in its own right, I wouldn't mind a siege tower or a decent trebuchet and some rank-and-file minifigs.