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LEGO LotR - general discussion

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Ya, if Lego wanted to go bare bones. It's really just a dream for Lego to give us a second Rohan helm because it would probably never be used again. So far we only have one helm design and its not really the most common one, it's more of a prestigious helmet seen on higher ranking soldiers. Not the type seen on the vast majority of the Rhorrim which are much more rag tag.

As for the molds yes, they can be insanely expensive ranging anywhere from 10,000-250,000 for the most intricate ones. What does a new print cost Lego though? I am guessing no more than 5,000 so ya, it's understandable why they would be more inclined to do new prints rather than new molds.

I was also reading the soften plastic is cheaper to make molds of and hence why the CMFs almost always have it. It's generally used when the piece won't be reused a ton. Maybe that can also give us an idea how much a particular mold will be reused? We have seen the elf and orc hair/ears reused in at least three sets now and it was a hard plastic piece. The goblins in the goblin King Battle set was softer so it probably won't be used again? And of course all the softer plastic used for the unique elves and dwarves probably won't be used must either. I am guessing there are other factors in deciding against hard vs soft plastic besides just amount of reuse though.

The softer plastic typically is injected at a lower temperature and pressure. As a result it does not require the highest levels of hardened steel tooling. So the molds for it are cheaper to make. The downside is those molds do not last as long and will deteriorate much more rapidly. So the softer plastic pieces tend to be smaller total lots.

While they may use softer plastic for cost control, they also do it if the part has thin, unsupported or sharp protrusions. Things like Kit Fisto's tentacles or the broad Goblin ears. I think most of the Dwarves pieces are harder plastic. Excepting a few such as Oin' hair with the extending braid, and Bofur's hat?

I would guess that the chances of seeing a second Rohan helm to be roughly zero. There is really no calculatable benefit to TLG in doing one. Not when they could do a Gondor or Elvhish helm instead and broaden the potential scenes and scenarios depicted vs simply making something to make settings we already have parts for more accurate.

Edited by Faefrost

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Just reading over the last several pages, it seems the most wanted LotR sets are:

Balrog with Gandalf and some Moria Orcs (archers would be very cool)

Treebeard with Merry, Pippin & Grishnakh

Witch King & Fell Beast with Eowyn in armor (should have both hair & her helmet) & Merry in armor

And some kind of Minas Tirith / Osgiliath / Gondor scene with Faramir, Gondor soldiers/archers, Denethor, Gothmog & Pelennor orcs. This could be like a Helms Deep set with an add on set/army builder like the Uruk Hai army.

I think if those were the final sets, with a Mirror Of Galadriel set if they needed a $12 price point set ... we'd all be happy.

The only problem I see is these 3 sets

Balrog with Gandalf and some Moria Orcs (archers would be very cool)

Treebeard with Merry, Pippin & Grishnakh

Witch King & Fell Beast with Eowyn in armor (should have both hair & her helmet) & Merry in armor

All feel they should be 50$ priced point..... which will never happen and in the end it means 1 or 2 might get either cut out or mangled to adjust themselves to smaller price OR improved alot to higher price point...

Maybe treebeard with merry pippin and Grishnak would be the best suited to be a 26.99$ set.....

Rest need either much more bricks or 2 bigger molds and more figs ....

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I'm pretty much thinking we'll never see a proper Lego Balrog or those flying d00ds. And after the Hobbit is over we'll likely never get future LotR sets in the foreseeable future.

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Do we normally have some info by now? There has been to information for a while, either the LOTR line is finished, or TLG is keeping its cards very close to its chest for some reason...

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Do we normally have some info by now? There has been to information for a while, either the LOTR line is finished, or TLG is keeping its cards very close to its chest for some reason...

Well, do we know about other themes? Lego cartainly haev been better at keeping secrets over time.

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Well, do we know about other themes? Lego cartainly haev been better at keeping secrets over time.

It's really puzzling how we haven't heard any news yet on next year's summer sets, at this time of the year we used to have prelim pictures already and this year we don't even have set lists :cry_sad: Isn't the retailer catalogue supposed to be in circulation already? :sweet:

Edited by Lego-Freak

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It's really puzzling how we haven't heard any news yet on next year's summer sets, at this time of the year we used to have prelim pictures already and this year we don't even have set lists :cry_sad: Isn't the retailer catalogue supposed to be in circulation already? :sweet:

Well, it took a long time before prelim hobbit pictures got around this year aswell.

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I doubt we will hear anything official about TLoR until after the lego movie is launched. There is no real need for TLG to distract from all that they just launched, the hobbit, and all the are about to launch in January and February. I know we are all waiting for that collective sigh but I'm afraid it won't be for awhile longer.

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Maybe treebeard with merry pippin and Grishnak would be the best suited to be a 26.99$ set....

I agree, because it would be very similar set to the Shelob Attacks.

Depending on how the did the Balrog & Witch King / Fell Beast...

I could see the Balrog set very similar to the $40 TMNT Baxter's Robot Rampage - http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Baxter-Robot-Rampage-79105?p=79105#shopxlink

And if they did the Witch King/Fell Beast set like this $50 set - http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Dragon-Mountain-70403?fromListing=listing , they'd probably be able to add in a small wall from Minas Tirith or Osgiliath, a catapult or mini Grond, and Eowyn, Merry, Witch King, Fell Beast, and a couple Gondor soldiers.

So it's very do-able at reasonable price points

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It's really puzzling how we haven't heard any news yet on next year's summer sets, at this time of the year we used to have prelim pictures already and this year we don't even have set lists :cry_sad: Isn't the retailer catalogue supposed to be in circulation already? :sweet:

There cannot be any prelim picture because there is no sets to show even as prelim. :) MaybeTLG finishing some of them maybe not...but if there will be third LOTR wave we will see after LEGO MOVIE :)

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There cannot be any prelim picture because there is no sets to show even as prelim. :) MaybeTLG finishing some of them maybe not...but if there will be third LOTR wave we will see after LEGO MOVIE :)

Ye probably after LEGO movie it is.... If (shortly) after LEGO movie we get 0 news I think its safe to assume no 3rd wave.

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Ye probably after LEGO movie it is.... If (shortly) after LEGO movie we get 0 news I think its safe to assume no 3rd wave.

Yep...

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Yep...

When will the lego movie be launched?

By the way, has anyone here tried one of lego official communication channels in order to find out some news regarding this matter? If there is not a third wave of LoTR coming, I assume there would be no problem saying so. After all, Lego respect it's costumers. Telling us the truth, when there is nothing to hide (commercially speaking), is always a wise choice.

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When will the lego movie be launched?

By the way, has anyone here tried one of lego official communication channels in order to find out some news regarding this matter? If there is not a third wave of LoTR coming, I assume there would be no problem saying so. After all, Lego respect it's costumers. Telling us the truth, when there is nothing to hide (commercially speaking), is always a wise choice.

February 2014

I am also conviced that there will be third wave of LOTR otherwise we would already know that LOTR line was canceled or discontinued...

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When will the lego movie be launched?

By the way, has anyone here tried one of lego official communication channels in order to find out some news regarding this matter? If there is not a third wave of LoTR coming, I assume there would be no problem saying so. After all, Lego respect it's costumers. Telling us the truth, when there is nothing to hide (commercially speaking), is always a wise choice.

Well its not.

I mean some of other people might not buy anything from LOTR (if they wanted to start these days) if they would know thats it....

Best is to leave us in the dark... from commercial viewpoint.

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By the way, has anyone here tried one of lego official communication channels in order to find out some news regarding this matter? If there is not a third wave of LoTR coming, I assume there would be no problem saying so. After all, Lego respect it's costumers. Telling us the truth, when there is nothing to hide (commercially speaking), is always a wise choice.

A few people like Fives have tried to contact the designers and they just said they cannot comment on the future of the LotR theme. I have talked about this before, but Lego does indeed have something to lose if they announce the LotR theme is done. How many new people are going to want to get into a theme ending and buy the second wave of LotR sets currently out? How many would want the Hobbit sets? How many people already collecting the theme would want to continue collecting it knowing it will never be "complete" (we are missing a lot of characters and at least one main faction still)? Lego isn't going to announce anything for as long as possible, they don't want to hurt current set sales.

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I still think we might know what is or isn't up with lotr when the toy fairs start.

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How many people already collecting the theme would want to continue collecting it knowing it will never be "complete" (we are missing a lot of characters and at least one main faction still)? Lego isn't going to announce anything for as long as possible, they don't want to hurt current set sales.

Actually, if I would know, that the LOTR is over, I would buy some multiples of the sets I already own. Now I spare my money for new sets, then I would know, there's nothing to spare for. I want more uruk-hai warriors, orcs, elves, but I am expecting to buy them in the upcoming new sets.

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I don't mind if a theme or series is "incomplete". Really, as long as I have the Fellowship (which we already do), then I feel like it's complete enough for me. TLG could have just one-shotted the Fellowship in one expensive large set and not released anything else and I still would have been happy. I could always make-up missing stuff material from other lines.

I guess my point is that I'm happy with what we got and even though I'm hopeful of the future of this line, if it all ends tomorrow it will have been a great ride for this long-time Tolkien fan. And if t did end tomorrow, I would definitely stock up on LOTR/Hobbit sets, even so far as cracking into my SW Lego money for it.

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Well you guys seem to be the minority, in the other thread a lot of people were saying they would stop buying LotR/Hobbit sets immediately if we don't get a third LotR wave.

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I still think we might know what is or isn't up with lotr when the toy fairs start.

Have to agree with you. I wait for NY Toy Fair every year to get official news and see the upcoming sets.

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I don't understand the mentality that if a given theme ended that people would just stop buying any additional sets from the theme. It almost seems petty, like people feel it's their way of getting back at Lego or something. Why stop enjoying something just because Lego makes a marketing decision to discontinue a line?

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I don't understand the mentality that if a given theme ended that people would just stop buying any additional sets from the theme. It almost seems petty, like people feel it's their way of getting back at Lego or something. Why stop enjoying something just because Lego makes a marketing decision to discontinue a line?

Well for a lot of people it would feel unfinished. Maybe their favorite character is Faramir or Eowyn, or maybe their favorite faction Gondor. To have a LotR line with two waves and not get them when people were expecting to can be very upsetting and quickly make them lose interest in the line.

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I don't understand the mentality that if a given theme ended that people would just stop buying any additional sets from the theme. It almost seems petty, like people feel it's their way of getting back at Lego or something. Why stop enjoying something just because Lego makes a marketing decision to discontinue a line?

something ending or getting canceld is a NEGATIVE news story, so it affects people overall. and negativity gets connected to their product they are still selling (wave 2)

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All we can really do is keep telling Lego what we want next, by emailing whoever or jumping on their Facebook and posting. By keeping it fresh in their eye that there is a demand, we have a much better chance.

I for one think that if they gave us the dream wave of a Balrog, Treebeard, Witchking w/Fell Beast and a Gondor/Pelennor army builder with a Minas Tirith set (comparable to Helms Deep), it would sell BIG TIME. Let this line go out with a BANG for a change (unlike all the other LotR toy lines).

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