wonkyeye

LOTR & The Hobbit 2012

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I got Barrel Escape today, and it's much larger than I expected. Very happy with the minifigure design, and the set is pretty darn good too. More of my thoughts in a review to come...

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Doh .. I need to disassemble the LotR sets before even thinking about ordering TH sets. Beware the sorting. I need more storage....

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My impression is that pointy pieces (with potentially painful eye-poking ability) are often made of softer rubbery plastic.

There's actually slightly more to it than that. Any piece that tapers to a long point has a greater chance of breakage than a more solid piece. This of course poses a danger to kids (since the point at which it breaks could have a sharp edge, and if they get stabbed by the piece itself part of it could break off inside them!), but it also means that the piece could more easily break as part of the molding process. That's why, for instance, certain hair pieces have to be made out of a more rubbery plastic: the Exo-Force hairpieces were some of the first, but others like the "mad scientist" hair from Agents continue to be produced with this in mind.

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I bought Riddles for the Ring and escape from the mirkwood spiders and was so impressed I made plans to buy Attack of the Wargs and an unexpected gathering as my next lego buys. While Riddles is small it was worth the $10 and escape was just a delight... both were instant hits with the little ones too.

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Gah! The wait is killing me! I have Mirkwood Spiders and Riddles but my wife has told me to wait on the others so people have something to get me for Christmas. While I appreciate this, it does nothing for my instant gratification nerve! I might bust a blood vessel if I have to wait too long after seeing the movie.

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Gah! The wait is killing me! I have Mirkwood Spiders and Riddles but my wife has told me to wait on the others so people have something to get me for Christmas. While I appreciate this, it does nothing for my instant gratification nerve! I might bust a blood vessel if I have to wait too long after seeing the movie.

I know the feeling. I am waiting until after Christmas for the Hobbit sets as well. But that did not stop me from hunting down the Mirkwood Elf Guard polybags.

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Gah! The wait is killing me! I have Mirkwood Spiders and Riddles but my wife has told me to wait on the others so people have something to get me for Christmas. While I appreciate this, it does nothing for my instant gratification nerve! I might bust a blood vessel if I have to wait too long after seeing the movie.

I feel your pain, I have put a halt to my buying as well... until after christmas.

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My wife has also stoped my purchasing.... even though money isnt an issue, she thinks its silly... (my excuse) To give my lego collection to my son when hes 10..... hes only 7... I also have run into a problem regarding display space as well... I NEED MORE SPACE!!!!!

puchased riddles of the ring/13 Mirkwood Elf Guards + 13 Green capes from BL/ Mirkwood spider set. I have the whole LotR collection as well

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There's actually slightly more to it than that. Any piece that tapers to a long point has a greater chance of breakage than a more solid piece. This of course poses a danger to kids (since the point at which it breaks could have a sharp edge, and if they get stabbed by the piece itself part of it could break off inside them!), but it also means that the piece could more easily break as part of the molding process. That's why, for instance, certain hair pieces have to be made out of a more rubbery plastic: the Exo-Force hairpieces were some of the first, but others like the "mad scientist" hair from Agents continue to be produced with this in mind.

I figured it had something to do with this. What I find odd though, is some pieces like the Goblin bald cap with ears is rubberized while the Orc Hunter one with hair and ears is not. If anything I would think the hair/ears would be more likely to be rubberized than the bald/ear combo since the hair comes to a point in the back as well as at the tip of the ears, wherever the bald cap doesn't.

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I saw some of the Hobbit sets on an endcap at Meijer yesterday. They were mixed in with the LOTR sets. Goblin King, Wargs, and Mirkwood Spiders were there for sure. They all looked to be the SRP.

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Deathleech

I would assume it is dependent on where they were produced? Maybe LEGO has a good deal on the soft rubber and used it to save some costs on this new theme? I really have no idea why they do anything. I think some molds probably are just easier to form using hard plastic vs flexible rubber.

brodey1

I don't know about the website, but I know in-store The Hobbit sets were on the sale, at least here in Nebraska, USA. They may have appended their original sale. Stores are known to do that to avoid selling their actual wanted sets....business is business.

I'd check with a local store if you can. Otherwise, you may have to wait for another sale sometime for those sets at a discount.

Edit: When I wrote this I didn't see any of these other posts. Now there is a flood of them. Very odd. I think you have your answer Deathleech, sorry I was of no help. But that does make sense about breakage.

Edited by TheLegoDr

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Germans might be interested to hear that I saw The Hobbit sets today at Karstadt in Giessen

I just checked today and they've also hit Galeria Kaufhof and Karstadt in Leipzig. The prices, as far as I remember them, are as follows:

Riddles: 11,99 / 12,99

Mirkwood: 26,99 / 29,99

Wargs: 54,99 / 59,99

Bag End: 69,99 / 79,99

Goblin King: 89,99 / 99,99

Sadly, neither has the Barrells' Escape and my hopes of finding Mirkwood Elves at a local retailer got crushed.

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Well the Gandalf polybag is listed at the TRU site. Oddly, my TRU has it but no Hobbit sets...

Hmm, I find it wierd that they show him with the Sting sword mold instead of a full size sword in the first picture.

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That's about the best parody I've ever seen. It's both absolutely epic and ridiculously funny at the same time :cry_happy: Thanks for sharing :thumbup:

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I don't know if I break forum policy by this but here's a tip for Dutch and Belgian 'Hobbit-set-buyers':

There's a reduction action on amazon.de: -20% when you buy for + € 80.

I just ordered 79002 Attack of the Wargs + 79003 An Unexpected Gathering for only 104.74 euro

Compared to the official store ( 159.98 euro), that's a huge saver.

Also the 79033 (Shire set) is out of stock in Belgian stores and not available before December 27.

Edited by Cammo

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Great video. Thanks for sharing.

I bought Unexpected Gathering yesterday. I totally fell in love with this set. It is just beautiful and a great representation of Bag End.

It even looks good as a "architecture" type display piece (without any minifigs). This is the best set Lego released for the Tolkien licence in my opinion.

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I don't own any Hobbit sets currently, but even my wife stated she wanted Unexpected Gathering. So I guess that says something.

Edit: Fixed errors in typing. My computer must be glitching.

Edited by TheLegoDr

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There's a reduction action on amazon.de: -20% when you buy for + € 80.

How do you get the 20% off? Does it come up at the checkout? I couldn't find any note on the promotion.

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Here's a nice video including the Uruk-hai Army and Helm's Deep set:

{vid}

Ah, this was by 'BrotherhoodWorkshop'!

They have a lot of other hilarious LOTR Brickfilms, too! :laugh:

Edited by just2good

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I don't know if I break forum policy by this but here's a tip for Dutch and Belgian 'Hobbit-set-buyers':

There's a reduction action on amazon.de: -20% when you buy for + € 80.

That's a pretty neat deal. The reduction appears at the checkout. Adding the free shipping makes this an excellent deal. Thanks for the tip!

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I just got Gandalf Arrives last night, and built it this morning, and it's amazing! I really like how they did the sides of the cart, and as usual the Minifigures are amazing!

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