DragonKnights

I am pretty convinced we are getting one more LOTR wave in the summer and one more Hobbit wave in December of 2014 to finish it off. I'm hoping for a minis tirith 2000-2500 piece set DC2 in 2014 and a big DC2 for the hobbit sometime between Feb 2014 and Feb 2015 to finish it off, probably involving smaug. That's my best guess. Anything less is a slight disappointment, and anything more is bonus. I think LOTR and Hobbit are selling just fine, but six waves is an good number of sets. I wish it could go on forever, but I'm running out of display space!

Assembled MEA and LTC so far this week. MEA has very little value beyond the mini figs and warg, but the figs and warg are great. LTC seems to be the winner of the wave, great figs and great build. Will work as a great addition to any medieval town. I'm looking forward to building the Dol Goldur sets next in order to see if the build has any value beyond the mini figs. With close to 1,000 pieces certainly there are some redeeming qualities. The more I think about how guarded the image of smaug has been throughout the first hobbit movie and lead up to the second movie, the more I hope there is a DC2 type set coming soon involving smaug. This hobbit wave seems strangely small compared to the previous three hobbit and LOTR waves. I'm still holding out hope that something more is forthcoming. Either way, a big smaug set is coming by then end of 2014.

Hobbit sets were selling well today at my local lego store, LTC and MEA seemed to be the most popular.

I think the final Hobbit wave will come at the same time as the movie in December of 2014. No reason to expect more than one more hobbit wave. No word yet on LOTR 2014, but you have to think there will be at least one more wave, there's just too much major material to be covered. I think there will be one more in Summer 2014 with a Gondor focus. The Hobbit sets seemed to be selling well at my lego store today. I showed up at 4pm and picked up the last MEA, and the next to last LTC set. So they must have sold a good bit on opening day.

I'm headed to the Lego store today in Texas to pick up the new sets. From what I gather, people have been able to order the lake town guard poly bag online from TRU, but we have no confirmed sightings in store yet?

So by today's VIP event you mean you bought them at a lego outlet today?

Went to my local TRU in Texas today, no sets on display and no polybags. Any polypag sightings out there, or any idea when and where they will show up? Thanks.

Wow. MEA looks so much better as a four set fortress. Very tempting!

After taking a look at the pictures, I'm interested to see how Dol Goldur sets can move and hinge. The two side walls appear to hinge and I wonder what the structure looks like when you fold it together...if it has any resemblance to the fortress in the film. We also don't get to see the backside of the playset, although I'm not expecting anything dramatic there if they don't even display it on the box. But it seems like the back of the playset would be the "front" of the building. This leads me to believe the set is designed to represent the courtyard only and not the entire fortress. I agree that the sets are just OK but the minifigures are fantastic. The sets seem to indicate the main climax/action of the second film will center around Dol Goldur, and I think because it falls outside of the book material it's hard to get as excited about the locations. I also hope there is some kind of UCS set coming as the wave doesn't feel as complete as the first one. Of course, Lego is probably considering Barrel Escape and Mirkwood Spiders as kind of a part of this wave. If not, I hope there is some huge Smaug set on the horizon, though we will probably have to wait until Dec. 2014. Hopefully they will send the theme off with a bang next year. With regard to the Necromancer, Lego's representation are rarely off by much if you look at the detail they put into the minifigs on LOTR and The Hobbit. I think the Necromancer will just be a kind of ghostly black outline who floats and flies around, without much definition or personality. Of course, the Nazgul have black minifig heads that are blank but in the movie they show some ghostly faces in some scenes (Weathertop I think?). So there could be more to the character when it hits the screen.

I am all for interlocking Dol Goldur sets...the bigger the better. I doubt Lego would make two concurrent sets focused on the same location and not create the ability to combine them.

I think something along the lines of a larger Weathertop style build would be appropriate for the old fortress. Hopefully it's not just a wall with a tower, I would prefer something will a little more dimension to it. here's a decent look at a screenshot of the fortress: http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130709135854/lotr/images/d/dd/2_(2).png

I would love to see a very large set, possibly a UCS set, of Smaug attacking the city with a few buildings and a large brick built dragon. I don't think we will see this until Dec. 2014. I'm starting to think that Smaug will survive the second film and the climax of DOS will be the battle at Dol Guldur.

The ambush and elf army sets I imagine to be relatively small, so I am most looking forward to seeing the large Dol Guldur set. At $80, I am wondering whether the set will resemble Mines of Moria (a few movable walls), Weathertop (a rounded or fold out set with multiple levels), or Black Gate (one large structure). I wish it was bigger, but I am a glutton for large sets.

One thought that hasn't been mentioned I don't think: there haven't yet been any Hobbit sets to approach the size of Helm's Deep and Orthanc. I think at some point we are going to see one or two very large sets come out of this line, and would have to be released sometime in the next two waves probably. The prospect of something really big coming along excites me. I am re-reading the book right now for the first time in years and assume it would have to be a big set piece from something in the final two movies. If Dol Guldur, Dale, or some other large fortress could be released in a $150-$250 set that would be great. I love building the giant sets. With the addition of Helm's Deep and Orthanc to the LOTR line, I think it's only a matter of time before we see something large from the Hobbit that dwarfs the Goblin King set.

I am pleased with the look of the Lake Town Chase set. At first I thought it looked small on the rendering, but after seeing the MTV video and some pictures it looks like it has some good color to it and I like the look of the Lake Town denizens. I would be really pleased to see it attached to an even larger Lake Town scene if the attack on lake town becomes a set. I'll be interested to see what polybags they come up with for the Hobbit sets in the fall.