LOTR & The Hobbit 2013 Set Discussion

[Ridge Montante]

Its official, I'll most definitely be getting all four of these sets. They look fantastic.

[Lynx]

Wizard Duel is clearly my favourite of the 12 $ sets so far.

The Black Gate looks alright in itself, but I will mainly buy this for the minifigs and the eagle.

Elrond's Council is beautiful as a display set and the two elves are fantastic!

I still have zero interest in the corsair ship which will be the first Middle Earth set I won't buy.

Now I'm waiting for Orthanc and the retail prices in Australia. Based on previous sets, I expect a doubling in price for all of them.

[Moexy]

I agree with you Lynx, love them all except the Corsair ship, first middle-earth set I will not buy

Council of Elrond I'll buy twice (maybe three times) to make a full building.

[refriedbeans]

I'm not a huge LotR fan but I really like the Council of Elrond set! I will try to pick it up after I get the Lone Ranger sets!

[The_Chosen_1]

The sets looks even better than I imagined! Absolutely fantastic all-around.

[GuntherThePenguin]

The only set I will not be getting from this wave is the Pirate Ship. And Black Gate will have to wait until clearance, but Elrond and Wizard Duel are must-haves.

[ZORK64]

While I do like all these sets (especially the Black Gate and the Pirate Ship), I do miss something here: A Mumak, and also a set with Samwise (I don't want Shelob, partly because I already own 2 Frodos).

But still, these look great!

[BlueberryWaffles]

Pictures! Yay!

Wizard Battle-the best small set I've seen in a while. Saruman looks great, and I KNEW they would use that piece for the Palantir. (BTW does Saruman use Dooku's head? It looks like it.)

Council of Elrond- I like this set a lot. Arwen and Elrond look wonderful. And $30? Are you kidding me LEGO? I thought $40 for sure! It seems with the Lone Ranger sets too that licensed sets are getting cheaper.

Black Gate-this is my favorite actually. The eagle looks good with printing and the whole structure is bigger than I thought. Plus, it's $60!

Corsair Ambush- better than I thought. The Army of the Dead looks very impressive. The ship is huge and has lots of cool details. The little Orc thingy is really dumb but kinda cute. The fact that it's $99 instead of $119 makes this a win too.

Helm's Deep game-I love this. Games based on a theme are really my thing, and I LOVED the Hobbit game, and this exceeded my expectations. I wonder how much it is.

[deskp]

does Saruman use Dooku's head? It looks like it.

Depends wich way you look at it, but I'd say yes

[Endeavour]

I'm in love.

The Wizard Battle looks to be an altogether great set. Hooray for Saruman and Gandalf for cheap! Loving the eye of Sauron which i assume is printed on a minifig head. Definitely getting.

Council of Elrond is just fantastic and IMO the best priced of them all. Really happy Frodo is getting a new double head print. The build is fantastic, and there are a lot of useful new pieces - especially those new arches. Getting this one for sure.

The Black Gate -The Mouth of Sauron looks great, as does the Eagle - just not those feet - or perhaps it's a foot - because there's nowhere to attach a fig to. Again, great build. Not sure about those rubbery spike pieces though, and i feel it really needs that missing second tower to complete it. There's a high chance of me picking this one up.

Corsair Ship is nice, but i just don't feel it's a very iconic display piece. Looks like the 'army' of the dead glow in the dark? If so, it's a nice touch, but i'm not planning on getting this one.

Really liking this wave.

[brodey1]

My only gripes are with the lack of new orc designs and the lack of talons on the eagle. However, you could use part 42446 to attach a fig to the feet of the eagle.

[TeufelHund]

Only the two smaller sets seem like must-buys to me (and I might even skip the smaller set if the rumoured Orthanac D2C set turns into a reality and offers Saruman as I have enough Gandalfs already). The build on the Black Gate looks a bit disappointing and only the Eagle and the Mouth of Sauron interest me out of the figure selection. I like the Ghosts and the Shields from the Corsair Ship but really would have preferred some more corsairs to repeats of Fellowship figs + more orcs plus it's hardly a model that most LOTOR fans have been screaming out for.

[ZCerberus]

First post updated.

[TheDarkness]

Absolutely love it

My only gripe really is the size of the eagle, but otherwise all are must buys for my LOTR collection!

[Missing Brick]

Not liking that single piece eagle mould atall. Better to buy a Creator #31004 Fierce Flyer - looks better, can grab minifigs in its talons, and you get some pieces you can actually use in other models (you know, like LEGO).

Gotta say I'm disappointed. No new mordor orc moulds or prints? Ghost army using 1980's castle helmets? More Gandalfs, Gimli's, Aragorns and Legolases instead of important new characters like Grima, Eowyn and Faramir. Corsairs boat which was only in the film for 2 seconds while iconic scenes at Edoras, Minas Tirith, Osgilaith, Orthanc, Pelennor fields, the Bridge of Khazad Dum, Minas Morgul & Barad Dur miss out.

I think the Lone Ranger sets make better LOTR sets than the LOTR sets - just for the black and white Rohirrim horses.

[Zaterdag]

These sets look pretty good. I wish there were more than 4 though. I'm definitely picking up the Wizard Battle and Council sets ASAP. I'll wait for a sale on the Black Gate.

I honestly don't even remember the pirate ship

[Darth Caedus]

While I do like all these sets (especially the Black Gate and the Pirate Ship), I do miss something here: A Mumak, and also a set with Samwise (I don't want Shelob, partly because I already own 2 Frodos).

But still, these look great!

That's the only way to get a proper Elven cloak for Frodo. And Shelob itself is a superb model - that's one of the best-value sets they've put out on the Tolkien line.

The only set I will not be getting from this wave is the Pirate Ship. And Black Gate will have to wait until clearance, but Elrond and Wizard Duel are must-haves.

Really? I can understand some people's disinterest in the Black Ship - it's a tad price-padded and doesn't exactly fit in with a lot of the other sets. However, the Black Gate has excellent new characters and is a superb price-to-piece ratio - 59.99 for 650+ pieces is surprising and welcome. I will be buying two to make a proper Black Gate.

[Darth Malgus]

Wizard Duel is clearly my favourite of the 12 $ sets so far.

The Black Gate looks alright in itself, but I will mainly buy this for the minifigs and the eagle.

Elrond's Council is beautiful as a display set and the two elves are fantastic!

I still have zero interest in the corsair ship which will be the first Middle Earth set I won't buy.

Now I'm waiting for Orthanc and the retail prices in Australia. Based on previous sets, I expect a doubling in price for all of them.

Its mostly the way down here that the US retail price is half of ours although our currency is stronger than theirs...

[Slobey]

Really? I can understand some people's disinterest in the Black Ship - it's a tad price-padded and doesn't exactly fit in with a lot of the other sets.

I agree this is the set I will keep displayed along with Bag end while the others will be broken down for moc fodder not long after being bult

[DarthPotato]

All of the summer sets look great! (although the Corsair ship's sort of lacking to me) I was planning on buying only Star Wars sets this summer but the Wizard Battle set looks fantastic and $30 for the Council of Elrond is just great.

[Artanis I]

I understand this "officially" belongs in the other themes subforum, but it interests many of those who may only read this topic:

Helm's Deep board game large Toy Fair pics from Toy Ark)

http://cdn.toyark.com/news/attach/6/9/toyfairlego-264_1360507105.jpg

http://cdn.toyark.com/news/attach/6/9/toyfairlego-265_1360507105.jpg

$30 US, ($50 AU I'd imagine, same as Hobbit, Hogwarts & SW) Can't pass this up! (Nor the Batman or Chima games for that matter...)

[katy]

love the sets Black gate has got to be my favorite

Wizard Battle- Love Sarmoun and nice little set would be amazing if it could connect to the Orthanic. BUY

council of Elorod- got to say Arwen and Enrold lood fastic bust buy for them selves. But just love the cairs they are amzing and just like this set looks ovaeroll.

Battle At the Black Gate- i dont evan know where to start off with this set. I gues all start with the figues the 2 orcs im okay with the more bad the better te Mouth looks very insting Aragorn is a really well done fig but my favorite is problay gandalf the White he just looks some much better than grey one. The gate itself i like alot i think its cool how it opens and close and just the feel of the set would look great with the rest of mordor .

BUY

The Courship ship- at frist i said maybe bit now im prety sure im going to get it for army building and to get thoes sick dead soldiers. I now love how the way the boat looks with all the chains looks bid evil which is pirate like MAYBE

[Wolvarie]

Will be getting the Wizard battle for Saruman although another Gandalf isn't ideal. Fave set is def the Council of Elrond of which I will have to scrape together enough cash to get at least 2 maybe three and then do a full sized version of the Council scene with all of the characters present.

I like the Cosair Ship. It has some great pieces and the Black Gate has Gandalf the White, but the Eagle is a disappointing size and would have liked some more orcs. Picky I know but seeing that both sets in Oz will be well over the $100 mark, I want as much bang for my buck as a result I will be giving the ship and the gate a miss unless I can get them cheap somehow.

[howie28]

I love the fact that Saruman and the new Count Dooku fig have the same face print because they are the same actors. Good to see that sort of thing.

[Gryphon Ink]

For me the Council of Elrond is the standout - a wonderful display piece with great minifigs, and the colors make it very different from the rest of the line. Wizards' Battle is a great set for that price point. And it's hard to tell from the pictures, but the corsair ship looks pretty damn cool. I like the Black Gate, but it's not screaming "BUY ME! BUY ME!"

I apologize to all the fans of the eagle, but I'm really not feeling it. It's not big enough, it doesn't belong in that set, and it can't hold minifigs, so I will continue to champion the Fierce Flyer, which only needs a beak mod to become a really great eagle on a more suitable scale.

Overall, it's not as exciting as the first wave of LOTR, but it's not bad. I still believe there is another exclusive set hiding in the wings, and given the extreme lack of hobbits in the sets we've seen I still think it's going to be Treebeard.