LEGO LotR - general discussion

[RAKRONDEWL]

Lego clearly did not do enough research or did the wrong research about the Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and which sets to make.

1/ Mines of Moria or Balrog. Balrog wins every time for LOTR fans.

2/ Dol Guldur ? No fan of lego and Hobbit or LOTR would have chosen this set over the Iconic Minas Tirith.

3/ The Black Gates or Eowyn destroying The Witchking. For LOTR fans the Fell beast, Witch King and Eowyn win every time.

And

Battlepacks, Battlepacks, why no Battlepacks?

I couldn't agree more. I love all the sets but believe some better choices could have been made. To name a couple strange choices, what use is the Umbar ship without the place it was supposed to be attacking or the black gate with out anything from the land it is a door to? I love all the sets but the logic in some of the choices baffles me.

[RetroInferno]

Any hope remains regarding future official LOTR sets? Came back of the dark ages too late to pick up on LOTR and wondered about the pulse in the comunnity: seems they did release a couple nice sets but too many holes are present to start collecing them on the third market without further official support...

[MAB]

I know the chances are slim but LEGO still has the license and hasn't released sets for awhile, making me believe it is possible.

...

LOTR is also the only one of those three that doesn't have sets being released for it. We still might be able to convince them to cash in a little on this license.

I think the opposite. The fact that they haven't released sets for a while makes it less likely they will release others, in my opinion. Who would buy them? They'd only really be bought by people that have the originals. Why would anyone want a Witch King vs Eowyn set if they don't have Frodo and the other hobbits. Why have Faramir if you have no Boromir? And so on.

If they do anything again, they'll have to rehash all the existing (main) figures again if they want to appeal to new buyers.

I think I said this over a year ago. And now I feel it is even less likely.

[RAKRONDEWL]

I think the opposite. The fact that they haven't released sets for a while makes it less likely they will release others, in my opinion. Who would buy them? They'd only really be bought by people that have the originals. Why would anyone want a Witch King vs Eowyn set if they don't have Frodo and the other hobbits. Why have Faramir if you have no Boromir? And so on.

If they do anything again, they'll have to rehash all the existing (main) figures again if they want to appeal to new buyers.

I think I said this over a year ago. And now I feel it is even less likely.

Hmm, I didn't think of that; I always just considered the possibility of getting another set as a continuation of the theme, but I see now what you mean. LEGO could give us bigger sets along with a couple minifigures lines, like they did for the Simpsons.

Your probably right, but I'm not going to stop trying. If nothing else, we can show LEGO that we are still interested in the theme and would like more even if that means the "rebooting" of previous sets.

[MAB]

Hmm, I didn't think of that; I always just considered the possibility of getting another set as a continuation of the theme, but I see now what you mean. LEGO could give us bigger sets along with a couple minifigures lines, like they did for the Simpsons.

Your probably right, but I'm not going to stop trying. If nothing else, we can show LEGO that we are still interested in the theme and would like more even if that means the "rebooting" of previous sets.

It would of course be great if they did give us more. I wouldn't say no to new LOTR sets, although if they did I'd hope that they do new / different versions of the minifigs rather than repeat the old.

I think the most realistic thing is a single figure through Dimensions, although they don't seem to use new pieces for Dimensions so Witch King is probably out.

Edited July 4, 2016 by MAB

[dzidek1983]

I don't think we wil lsee any new LOTR or HOBBIT sets. The LOTR movies are now prehistory and HOBBIT had the last one in 2014. There are no advertising actions about these products currently. Lego always goes with the market opportunities (like the Angry Birds movie) and there are none currently with these series.

[RAKRONDEWL]

It would of course be great if they did give us more. I wouldn't say no to new LOTR sets, although if they did I'd hope that they do new / different versions of the minifigs rather than repeat the old.

I think the most realistic thing is a single figure through Dimensions, although they don't seem to use new pieces for Dimensions so Witch King is probably out.

With the introduction of duo-molded pieces, I believe they could make the characters much more accurate (we could see Hobbits with their feet).

The second season is full of new molds exp: Sonic's head, Gismo and Stripe's heads, Adventure Time pieces, Mr. T mohawk...We don't know if these will be exclusive for Dimensions, but they were clearly made for it first. So it isn't impossible, it's just not probable; I still cling to a dying hope.

[Sorrelon]

I have a question about wargs. I've ordered some wargs recently, and when I checked them out, I found out that there are some numbers printed on their bellies. Is that usual, or have I been duped?

[RAKRONDEWL]

I have a question about wargs. I've ordered some wargs recently, and when I checked them out, I found out that there are some numbers printed on their bellies. Is that usual, or have I been duped?

No worries, that's completely normal.

[MAB]

No only is it normal, but it shows that they are genuine. The fakes don't have those numbers.

[TheLegoDr]

I didn't know there were fake wargs..interesting. How do those prices compare to the official versions? Last I checked, the official wargs were not cheap.

[Sorrelon]

No worries, that's completely normal.

No only is it normal, but it shows that they are genuine. The fakes don't have those numbers.

Thanks a lot for the answers. Good to know those wargs aren't fake, now I can buy more of them without any worries!

Edited July 9, 2016 by Sorrelon

[joekrell5]

Hi,

I am a new user. I just recently sent Lego an email for confirmation the the LotR theme is done. Hopefully they will send a personal letter back, not just a conformed one that is sent to most people.

[sahidko]

And what makes you think you should get different answer?

[bartneck]

Hello,

I would like to let you know that a dedicated Middle Earth LEGO Minifigure Catalog is now available. It has the best photographs of all the LOTR/Hobbit Minifigures in it. I hope you enjoy it.

[MAB]

I didn't know there were fake wargs..interesting. How do those prices compare to the official versions? Last I checked, the official wargs were not cheap.

Look up SY206 on aliexpress or similar.

Edited July 11, 2016 by MAB

[Zilcho]

Might use the Disney Castle as a Minas Tirith.

[Darkslayer]

I would say Minas Tirith but we already had one that made it to the review without success + 3000 pieces limitation is probably a dead end. Therefore i vote for the Battle of Pelennor fields as well.

I just don't get it. Clearly LOTR has a lot of people wanting to buy it yet Lego won't make more :(

[sahidko]

It may look like lot of people since you are in the community that shares your point of view. :) However even here you can read plenty of relevant arguments for no more LOTR sets (change from 2 to 3 Hobbit movies, assumed lower sales, appeal mostly to older kids/adults etc).

[Jacked Lego Maniac]

I couldn't agree more. I love all the sets but believe some better choices could have been made. To name a couple strange choices, what use is the Umbar ship without the place it was supposed to be attacking or the black gate with out anything from the land it is a door to? I love all the sets but the logic in some of the choices baffles me.

And why did they never make any Gondorian soldiers? They went to the trouble of reproducing the hideous, blink-and-you-miss-them Laketown guards in minifigure form, but the Gondorian troops, who probably have more screen time than any other soldiers in the films, got completely stiffed.

[RAKRONDEWL]

Might use the Disney Castle as a Minas Tirith.

Is this a joke?

And why did they never make any Gondorian soldiers? They went to the trouble of reproducing the hideous, blink-and-you-miss-them Laketown guards in minifigure form, but the Gondorian troops, who probably have more screen time than any other soldiers in the films, got completely stiffed.

The actual reason is because the Hobbit had films to "boost" sales and LEGO doesn't have full control over what they could make (the other party has a big say in what we get, for exp. no Azog in the first Hobbit wave because it would spoil his reveal in the movie).

I really don't believe it was just because of LEGO that we didn't get anymore LOTR sets, I think it had more to do with the marketers on the other end.

[Jacked Lego Maniac]

The actual reason is because the Hobbit had films to "boost" sales and LEGO doesn't have full control over what they could make (the other party has a big say in what we get, for exp. no Azog in the first Hobbit wave because it would spoil his reveal in the movie).

I really don't believe it was just because of LEGO that we didn't get anymore LOTR sets, I think it had more to do with the marketers on the other end.

You think someone involved with overseeing the license has some kind of vendetta against Gondor? What's really odd is that the Lord of the Rings theme is pretty much tailor-made for army-building, but the only faction that ever ended up being released in appreciable numbers was the Isengard Uruk-Hai.

[Lord_Tyrannus]

Jacked Lego Maniac, we've discussed this before =) The original idea was to make only 2 Hobbit movies (perhaps using only the book material). With this in mind, LEGO purchased the license and the plan probably was: 1st LOTR wave, 1st Hobbit wave, 2nd LOTR wave, 2nd Hobbit wave and a 3rd LOTR wave.

That's why we got the odd set choices, including some irrelevant locations (they expected to have more waves and probably Gondor would be in the 3rd wave). Off course some choices are inexplicable (the Corsair shipp was expected to attract children's attention, but we can't understand other choices).

In the middle of this, Peter Jackson decided to make 3 Hobbit movies, instead of 2. Probably LEGO had already started planing the LOTR sets, so they could't invert the wave order.

So we got a fantastic LOTR wave and a very good Hobbit one. After that, as you can see in the movies, Peter Jackson had to put a lot of things that were not in the book, invent a little, etc. The movies didn't do so well (compared with LOTR), and LEGO couldn't attract children attention (as much as they expected). So we got a not so good 2nd LOTR wave and, with bad sales, they just did a not so good 2nd Hobbit wave (with a few new molds and poor set choices, in opinion of some). With bad sales, we never got the 3rd LOTR wave.

Off course they could use the 2nd LOTR wave to add Gondor, but PEHAPS at this time things were going OK and a 3rd wave was still in the game.. Probably things started to go down hill with the 2nd LOTR wave, destroyng the chances of future waves (and Gondor sets).

I hope you could understand (english is not my native language), but overall it's more or less what probably happened.

[Darkslayer]

One thing I am grateful for in regards to how things worked out is the Dol Guldur sets. It was my favorite part of all 6 movies and something I always wanted to see done justice since I read the little that Tolkien wrote about it, and to have 3 sets based around it - awesome! Plus I think they all look and fit together great!

[RAKRONDEWL]

I just discovered that general Hux's pants work perfectly for Ringwraiths. Just wanted to share this info.