Belchher

I suspect the Uruk-hai army we've seen the prelims of is the battle pack for the first wave. Given the orc forge was not in the catalog the utube guy supposedly got those images from, I think maybe it will be an exclusive perhaps with something along the lines of Saruman overlooking the foundry under orthanc.

Early Feb I believe is the most likely, couple of Toy Fairs then and given its a summer release the timing is right. I don't think anybody could say for sure when TLG will do it though, they might take pity and do it earlier

I wouldn't worry too much about the ugly colours. If you look at both Helms Deep and Weathertop in that video, they use the new "brick brick", which is currently only available in a couple of colours, and it looks to me like they've just thrown the medium dark flesh ( dont crucify me if I'm wrong! ) version thats currently available. While as an AFOL I'm not a huge fan of the Weathertop set, I think from a kids point of view its actually pretty well done. They've managed to squeeze both the top of the hill and the dell where they camped into one very small set, so its got a good amount of playability for the size. The use of the micro figs is also a good compromise vs giant statues for keeping detail while not blowing the price.

Oh gawd, please please keep the topic to the upcoming sets. Even the thought of PJ getting his filthy hands on the Silmarillion gives me the shudders. As for the rumours of the trilogy being re released, the way hollywoood is these days it'll probably be in 3D, seems to be the done thing. For those waiting on the girls, I think your best bet would probably be for Eowyn in the 2nd wave. Given the lack of RoTK sets in those prelims, a "fall of the wraith king" or some such set seems like a reasonable chance. Neither Galadriel nor Arwen did anything exciting that would make a good playset for kids ( I guess if I face reality and the fact that these are based off the movies, they might do Arwen in some sort of "Ford of Bruinen" set, although I'm hoping TLG's license always them some leeway in choosing between sticking to the book rather than the movies for accuracy ).

Are you in Australia? If so then that's probably right for this time of year. I order a few things around that same time and for whatever reason a couple of the smaller sets where sent regular post instead of UPS, and those smaller ones only showed up a couple of days ago. That was always a risk with choosing the cheaper post option though, the big sets will ( or sounds more like used to ) be shipped using UPS, but if the smaller ones where delayed they came regular post with all its hiccups and delays and higher chance of being squished.

The difference between the various types of orc is far less than a lot of people seem to be making out. Given the limitations of lego, I'm guessing the only difference between them in TLGs addaption will be the colouring and face prints and armor. Short legs for the "goblins" would be inappropriate, they where smaller than the Uruk-hai but not so much smaller as to justify the use of the child legs as is being done ( we all assume ) for the hobbits. Personally, from a parents perspective, the prototypes are looking pretty good. Far too many people on here have unrealistic expectations for TLG to include figs and scenes that would of limited use to AFOLs making MOCs, let alone kids. Anyway, Feb isn't that far away, we'll hopefully get a better look at what will be hitting the shelves then during the toy fairs.

Some of these are brilliant Doc, but the last one....is it just me or does it remind anybody else of Bender from Futurama? ( not that thats a bad thing )

I wont hold my breath on this being true just yet, but it does sound promising and makes sense in a way. LoTR has no traditional castles, and both afols and kids like their more historic castles for big wars. Sounds bad for the wallet though, I just know I'll want some of the LoTR sets, and if the new line of castle in some form proves true I might want that as well. If only they'd bring back fantasy, I could get my orcs/dragons/dwarves and avoid paying licensed tax on LoTR altogether ( Yeah, my dark ages ended at the same time fantasy did, worst timing ever )

Defineatly interesting for pre-lims, and I'm guessing some of the train lovers will be happy to get more of the black steamer wheels in a set. Alot of parts in new colours there as well I believe, the castle looks like the HP castle roofs in black? Personally Im not interested in the vehicles, but both the monsters and the parts ( in some of the sets at least ) look great for helping out with fantasy/castle builds!

I was thinking if they show up in target before the end of the week the buy one, get one 50% off might make them worthwhile. I agree about the recycling truck though, $50 is kind of horrible, city is getting more over priced than the licensed themes these days

For those interested a handful of the new 2012 sets ( city and technic where all I found so far ) are up on S&H. Will do a scrounge around the usual suspects later in the week and see if they're on shelves yet, I really want to grab a handful of the new mini technic crawler crane which is only $24.99 RRP, less than I was expecting for once edit: Just to make it clear why I'm putting this here, when I say up on S&H I mean with region set to Aus

No its not, in the book at least the Hornburg is on the Right when you're looking at it from out front of the place. If you want it on the other side you can just moc it anyway. And just because I've seen a few people comment on various Helms Deep mocs saying the hornbrug should be on the other side, and just to be a LOTR nerd, from the book : "At Helm's Gate, before the mouth of the Deep, there was a heel of rock thrust outward by the northern cliff. There upon its spur stood high walls of ancient stone, and within them was a lofty tower.... ...The Hornburg it was called...... ... A wall, too, the men of old had made from the Hornburg to the southern cliff, barring the entrance to the gorge." around about pg164 in book 2. Anyway, I agree with others who have said these are just prelim pictures that shouldn't have been released. The number of plain white prototype figs showing up in the box art makes it pretty obvious there's still work to be done, so taking these as anything more than a rough guide to how they'll end up is getting a bit ahead of yourselves for now.

Looks pretty legit alright, and about what folks had been guessing was in the sets. The orc army builder set looks pretty sweet, and helms deep seems better than expected, with 9 figs which will be nice if true. edit: on 2nd look, the army builder set has what would seem to be a modular piece of wall included, guess they're hoping we will buy Helms Deep and a huge number of these to make a big long wall. Going to have to padlock my wallet and hide it from TLG!

Will be interesting to see what approach they take, with something like the Moria set they could go so many ways. The Balrog and the bridge, the entry doors with the watcher in the lake, or The Chamber of Mazarbul and a cave troll perhaps. Lets just hope it isn't something lame like Pipping sitting next to the well with a stone in his hand! I still have very mixed feelings about this, but given it says summer 2012, I'm guessing the chances are pretty good we'll see the sets come the February toy fairs.

I agree totally about the price, I'd much rather have less expensive non-licensed sets. That said, I suspect TLG might have been getting us ready for this, just look at the pricing on some of that last wave of kingdoms. The carriage in particular was priced more steeply than pretty much any star wars set, and they know perfectly well that even if the kids don't care in the slightest that its LORD OF THE RINGS!!!, the parents will, so a lot of people will buy because the kids want a castle and the parents like LOTR. Evil marketing department people attack our wallets again!

Lego have tricked you, number 4 is the helicopter, 3658.

Amazon fr ship larger sets using UPS. The battle of endor i ordered was purchased late on a thursday and arrived the following tuesday, another large set arrived in 4 days. Both of those where using the standard shipping order, so yeah, 4-5 days sounds right, especially if you're in Sydney ( I'm on the GC, and the UPS tracking shows they go through syd, so an extra day right there ).

You're right, I did forget those two, although having two boys who accuse anything with even a hint of pink or purple as being "FOR GIRLS" despite my best efforts to prevent that sort of attitude, I think its fair enough that I forgot about Friends Still, I'm guessing this action theme you mention is the one you've hinted at a couple of times already, and is a new one. I have to admit I'm kind of over buying sets from new themes as more often than not these days they seem to last only a single wave, two at most, which personally I find kind of annoying. Ah well. As for the whole LOTR license, as said before I'm just not convinced, even though TLG could just use the orc and troll molds from the fantasy theme, along with the obligatory licensed theme fleshies for the "heroes", I don't think there's enough suitable material for a sustained output. In both LOTR and The Hobbit events of note tend to occur in huge, extravagant locations, with everything else happening in vast tracts of wilderness. The number of smallish locations of note, I suspect, are simply not enough to make it viable. I don't know, maybe I'm just being overly pessimistic, or its my natural tendency to play devils advocate coming through

All this talk about amazon.fr led me into trying it out for one of the kids Christmas presents, and all I can say is you guys are evil! Battle of Endor ended up costing AU$104 delivered ( its $179 RRP here for those in other countries, assuming you can even find it now ), and UPS had it here in 5 days, perfect condition. Now I have my wife breathing down my neck every time she spots me browsing the site, telling me not to spend all our money, and she made me wrap it right away to avoid temptation! Thank you, though, for pointing out about the VAT not being taken off till the last part of the purchasing process, or I might not have used it. The only thing I regret is that I had a senior moment and forgot to order it through the EB star wars shop. I'll be sure to next time though.

I must admit I'm a fair way from believing a LOTR license is forthcoming. That being said, it occurred to me today that pirates, castle, and space are all missing from the currently revealed 2012 lineup. Surely they wont just leave us with City and the new Dino theme as the only non licensed, non technic themes?

That's a lovely tower! You've captured the snowy mountainous look perfectly, and I believe you may be right, I don't think I've ever seen a round tower done that way before ( 1x2 thin technic is it? ). The overall tower has a slightly middle eastern look to me, I think that's the top. Anyway, brilliant work, and I hope your fingers aren't too sore from shoving all those bars into the technic pieces

While I'd love to see a smaller motor, I'm also of the opinion that Cuusoo isn't the way to go about it. Truth be told I'm not convinced that Cuusoo will ever really amount to more than a publicity gimmick. For those still wondering about the inside of the micro motor here you go.

Totally agree with Lightning, that's some beautiful woodwork you've done. Everything from the details on those gears to the lovely finish makes me wish I had the wood working skills you obviously do. Well done!

1 point each to: Mr Blue and his lovely train station Igorlando, whats not to like slacker int, at least partially because space themes are what I'd make if I could get the kids to like them more than cars, plus because it's smooth and swooshable