Lord of the Rings Ongoing Discussion

[Black Falcon]

1 hour ago, MAB said:

Yes, but then Star Wars has a much wider age range as fans, same with HP. 

I remember the complaints the first time around - the Uruk-Hai Army set was complained about a lot as they made the ballista way too big so it appealed to kids (this set was very heavily discounted here). Same with the ship, that they made it because they thought ships appeal to kids, even though it was barely in the movie. How they aim, design and market sets is very important. 

Hard to say IMO. I mean sure there are many Kids that have Star Wars Sets, because they got it from their Parents. But the Theme always seems dominated by Adult fans kinda. For Harry Potter I would think there really is a big number of Kids and Adults as fans. But without real numbers it is just a guessing game. Anyways I would think LotR would be somewhat near to Star Wars, not in total numbers ofc, but in the relation between adults and kids.

[Mordarch]

I actually think they might still use molded pieces for armour, LEGO has been kinda good at making lots of new molds lately, there might also still be some current pieces that could be used for orc armour, the Marrok shoulder/chest piece comes to mind for instance.

[MKJoshA]

Something to keep in mind about the survey leaks (including Barad Dur) is that they came from a survey. Often times those kinds of surveys are used to gauge interest. So I think we need to be careful about setting expectations on Barad Dur. My guess is many of the survey leak sets will never see the light of day. Just a guess, and I hope I'm wrong. But I think it's the likely outcome.

[Balrogofmorgoth]

Honestly Barad-Dûr, Jabba’s Sail Barge, and The Burrow are the only survey sets I would even consider buying so I hope those three at least make it 

If that big ugly brick built Sorting Hat gets released but not Barad-Dûr, I’ll be livid

[MAB]

5 hours ago, Seaber said:

Something Lego is excelling at now which it wasn't so much in 2012-14 is big location based sets, which is much more what LOTR is about, rather than vehicles. 

Indeed, which points really to large 18+ sets rather than play sets.

[Balrogofmorgoth]

3 minutes ago, MAB said:

Indeed, which points really to large 18+ sets rather than play sets.

Not necessarily. Plenty of location based playsets out there, it wouldn’t be hard to do for LOTR at all

[Balrogofmorgoth]

Honestly I mostly blame the fan base for the failure last time, if poor sales was genuinely the reason the theme was cancelled. They were remarkably well made playsets with fantastic minifigures. I bought every set and have very few nitpicks considering when they were released. 

Edited September 20, 2023 by Balrogofmorgoth

[McMurder_them_softly]

5 hours ago, Balrogofmorgoth said:

Honestly I mostly blame the fan base for the failure last time, if poor sales was genuinely the reason the theme was cancelled. They were remarkably well made playsets with fantastic minifigures. I bought every set and have very few nitpicks considering when they were released. 

I would have bought them if I had the means. I do now, which is why I got Rivendell. Put my money where my mouth is. 

[Mordarch]

1 hour ago, McMurder_them_softly said:

I would have bought them if I had the means. I do now, which is why I got Rivendell. Put my money where my mouth is. 

I'm in the same boat, I was too young with not enough money or apreciation of the LotR brand, I only bought the Shelob and Wizard battle set in the end, mainly due to the cheap way of getting great figures. Now I'm hoping they bring back the theme in a similar capacity, now that I can actually buy the sets.

[BrickBob Studpants]

19 hours ago, Balrogofmorgoth said:

Honestly Barad-Dûr, Jabba’s Sail Barge, and The Burrow are the only survey sets I would even consider buying so I hope those three at least make it 

I hope all of them make it! If I could pick just three, it‘d be Barad-dûr, the Deku Tree, and The Burrow. If it was just one, I‘d have to go with Barad-dûr, as much as I like TLoZ

17 hours ago, Balrogofmorgoth said:

Honestly I mostly blame the fan base for the failure last time, if poor sales was genuinely the reason the theme was cancelled. 

I do believe that was the reason. Why else was there no third wave in 2014?

[MAB]

1 hour ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

I do believe that was the reason. Why else was there no third wave in 2014?

One of the proposed reasons discussed by fans at the time was based on The Hobbit being split into three movies instead of the planned two parts, that LEGO had planned three waves of LOTR sets interspersed with two waves of The Hobbit. Then late changes meant that they had to rebadge the Barrel Escape as a preview set and use one of the planned LOTR slots for The Hobbit to fit with the three movie releases. Whether a sixth wave didn't appear because they only had a deal for five slots or Warner only really wanted their current movie promoted or it was poor performance of the LEGO sets or the movies not being as popular as LOTR was, who knows. Remember for LOTR they did cover all three movies, just not one movie per wave like The Hobbit. So they might have thought they had done the trilogy in those two waves. The problem for fans being they did the 'wrong' bits especially for ROTK.

Edited September 21, 2023 by MAB

[CallumPears]

On 9/20/2023 at 9:50 AM, Seaber said:

Aragorn appeared in 4 sets, 2 variants. 

Gandalf appeared in 7 sets, 2 variants (basically). 

Indy, Jack Sparrow and Harry Potter from a few years previous are worse offenders I think, however Galdalf is the big one for LOTR above Aragorn.

The difference is that Gandalf didn't wear different outfits in the sets he appeared in. Except for the Black Gate where they included Gandalf the White, his grey outfit fit the scenes so there was no need for a different variant.

Aragorn, however, had several different outfits. His outfit at Helm's Deep for example was very different from his outfit at Weathertop and so it wasn't accurate for LEGO to use the same minifigure design in both sets. 

 

The biggest offender to me though is the standard Orc design. They were originally made as the Orcs of Isengard in the Orc Forge set but then they started being used in many other sets, e.g. as Hunter Orcs in Attack of the Wargs and as Mordor Orcs in the Battle at the Black Gate. These Orcs are supposed to have very different designs from the Isengard ones and it's one of my biggest criticisms of the 2012-2014 sets. 

[MAB]

2 hours ago, CallumPears said:

The biggest offender to me though is the standard Orc design. They were originally made as the Orcs of Isengard in the Orc Forge set but then they started being used in many other sets, e.g. as Hunter Orcs in Attack of the Wargs and as Mordor Orcs in the Battle at the Black Gate. These Orcs are supposed to have very different designs from the Isengard ones and it's one of my biggest criticisms of the 2012-2014 sets. 

I found their reuse as Hunter Orcs to be a bonus. They were a good source for more Isengard Orcs! I'm not even bothered by them being used for the Battle at the Black Gate. Once you stick them in some armour and a helmet, they fit in fine. In fact, LEGO once sold off the tan version of SW Emperor Palpatine heads really cheap. I bought a load of those to use for orc heads where just part of the head shows under a helmet and I save the orc heads for when more of the head is visible.

 

[Balrogofmorgoth]

23 hours ago, MAB said:

I found their reuse as Hunter Orcs to be a bonus. They were a good source for more Isengard Orcs! I'm not even bothered by them being used for the Battle at the Black Gate. Once you stick them in some armour and a helmet, they fit in fine. In fact, LEGO once sold off the tan version of SW Emperor Palpatine heads really cheap. I bought a load of those to use for orc heads where just part of the head shows under a helmet and I save the orc heads for when more of the head is visible.

 

The problem is they used the Uruk-hai helmet for Orcs. It would have been a lot nicer if they had given Orcs their own style helmet 

[Mordarch]

I managed to get my hands on a sealed 79006 The Council of Elrond this week and am now considering slowly gathering the rest of the sets even though the prices of some of these sets are insane.
This set did make me realise why they moved away from the rubber hairpieces, the Arwen hairpiece was a bit bent out of shape, nothing too major and putting it on the figure does straighten it out well enough. I'm also glad to have my first ever Gimli, the amount of detail in the helmet is amazing. When I eventually get the big Rivendell set I'll definitely have to consider which pieces I should use from the older figures and which of the newer. (Arwen's hair is definitely going to get changed, face probably too)

[MAB]

18 minutes ago, Balrogofmorgoth said:

The problem is they used the Uruk-hai helmet for Orcs. It would have been a lot nicer if they had given Orcs their own style helmet 

Even if they did that, we would probably only get one style. I use a load of random helmets to randomize my orcs. Even if not movie accurate, it gives the impression of a ragtag army rather than all looking the same. I use ones from Castle, the new viking one, but also some from Space Police, and even some sci-fi ones like Ultron sentries work OK. And if you are not purist, Brick Warriors make some nice medieval ones that go quite well too.

 

[Balrogofmorgoth]

4 hours ago, MAB said:

Even if they did that, we would probably only get one style. I use a load of random helmets to randomize my orcs. Even if not movie accurate, it gives the impression of a ragtag army rather than all looking the same. I use ones from Castle, the new viking one, but also some from Space Police, and even some sci-fi ones like Ultron sentries work OK. And if you are not purist, Brick Warriors make some nice medieval ones that go quite well too.

 

Sure but one accurate helmet is still better than none

[Unknown Jedi Master]

21 hours ago, MAB said:

Even if they did that, we would probably only get one style. I use a load of random helmets to randomize my orcs. Even if not movie accurate, it gives the impression of a ragtag army rather than all looking the same. I use ones from Castle, the new viking one, but also some from Space Police, and even some sci-fi ones like Ultron sentries work OK. And if you are not purist, Brick Warriors make some nice medieval ones that go quite well too.

 

Speaking of helmets, the new Marrok minifigure from the Star Wars T-6 Shuttle has a pretty good one for LotR customs. Almost the entire minifigure could be repurposed for Middle-earth. 

[Unknown Jedi Master]

Thinking of getting Rivendell from Amazon, as it is the cheapest there for me. However, dents and scrap marks seem to be common, and Amazon also seems to send the sets in just the original box sometimes, which I've heard from others and had happened to me. 

With this being said, does anyone know of a way to avoid Amazon sending Rivendell without any protective box outside of the original box? Would also be interested in hearing others' experience with ordering collector's sets from Amazon. 

Would greatly appreciate your help!

[RichardGoring]

4 hours ago, Unknown Jedi Master said:

With this being said, does anyone know of a way to avoid Amazon sending Rivendell without any protective box outside of the original box? Would also be interested in hearing others' experience with ordering collector's sets from Amazon. 

Would greatly appreciate your help!

If you choose the 'this is a gift' option, they will always ship it in a cardboard box.

[BitByBrick]

Additional sets for LOTR would be spectacular, in whatever form they happen to come in (with one possible exception being mini-doll/friends-style 🤢) Any more news to the rumor of a Barad-Dur D2C set in 2024? Saw the Rivendale set on display, but have yet to pull the trigger. What are the chances that this set would see a discount soon Nov/Dec or early next year (in US)? Still saving up. 

[Black Falcon]

10 hours ago, Unknown Jedi Master said:

Thinking of getting Rivendell from Amazon, as it is the cheapest there for me. However, dents and scrap marks seem to be common, and Amazon also seems to send the sets in just the original box sometimes, which I've heard from others and had happened to me. 

With this being said, does anyone know of a way to avoid Amazon sending Rivendell without any protective box outside of the original box? Would also be interested in hearing others' experience with ordering collector's sets from Amazon. 

Would greatly appreciate your help!

You should check if the seals are intact or better if it is for yourself just open it right away. I´ve heard from people that they got Rivendell Sets that got opened, resealed but the minifigs were missing.

[hikouki]

18 hours ago, Unknown Jedi Master said:

Thinking of getting Rivendell from Amazon, as it is the cheapest there for me. However, dents and scrap marks seem to be common, and Amazon also seems to send the sets in just the original box sometimes, which I've heard from others and had happened to me. 

With this being said, does anyone know of a way to avoid Amazon sending Rivendell without any protective box outside of the original box? Would also be interested in hearing others' experience with ordering collector's sets from Amazon. 

Would greatly appreciate your help!

Bought some SW sets in the past from Amazon and some of them were shipped 'as-is' with just a label slapped on the box itself! Of course the entire box was scratched and dented! Some sets I have bought were not padded inside the boxes as well.

7 hours ago, BitByBrick said:

Additional sets for LOTR would be spectacular, in whatever form they happen to come in (with one possible exception being mini-doll/friends-style 🤢) Any more news to the rumor of a Barad-Dur D2C set in 2024? Saw the Rivendale set on display, but have yet to pull the trigger. What are the chances that this set would see a discount soon Nov/Dec or early next year (in US)? Still saving up. 

We've had the invasion of the mini-dolls in the Disney line. I'm just so glad we have not had them in LOTR or Marvel/DC!

[Mordarch]

19 hours ago, BitByBrick said:

Additional sets for LOTR would be spectacular, in whatever form they happen to come in (with one possible exception being mini-doll/friends-style 🤢) Any more news to the rumor of a Barad-Dur D2C set in 2024? Saw the Rivendale set on display, but have yet to pull the trigger. What are the chances that this set would see a discount soon Nov/Dec or early next year (in US)? Still saving up. 

I have been wondering about that as well. What could they do to pad out the waves besides regular storybased set? I'm mainly thinking battlepacks. I was wondering what they could do similar to the books/banners from Harry Potter. The only thing I could really come up with is a sort of Hobbiton collection, with different Hobbit holes, but I doubt that would be popular if you only get random Hobbits.

[Unknown Jedi Master]

On 9/23/2023 at 3:49 PM, RichardGoring said:

If you choose the 'this is a gift' option, they will always ship it in a cardboard box.

Thank you!

 

Could anyone do me a favor and check if the hairpiece used on the Hunter Orc (piece 18166) can be worn together with a  breastplate (2587)?