Shuebmabow

On a slightly related topic, has the possibility of any 2015 LOTR sets been eliminated?

I personally would rather have a dwarf or elf solider polybag, but one of the waves of the collectible minifigure packets that consists of famous directors or famous people related to famous movies would be nice.

In all honesty I don't exactly remember, but I do believe that it was Amazon.com

I'm thinking late August/Early September, or possibly earlier. Last year, the sets were shown a month and a half before release, so the end of this month or beginning of the next would follow that pattern.

I actually got the last 4 sets nearly a full week before my area's release date I guess pre-ordering can sometimes mean pre-receiving. This year, I have lots of money saved up to, yet again, pre order this wave, all at once. Depending on the quality and quantity of the characters in each set, I might order duplicates of either Laketown or BOFA, most likely the latter.

Continuing the use of marketing skills, they might put a big BOFA hero in Laketown so that people will buy Laketown to complete their battle character collection from BOFA, thus increasing sales for TLG. The same goes for the selection of dwarves and Bilbo that we get in Erebor, as they play a role in the battle as well.

Don't exclude the possibility of Elf soldiers. I know we already have a bunch of elves, but I'd be upset if we didn't get at least one of them in their awesome new armor. Also, if the war chariot were to appear in a set, I'd imagine that it would have been Erebor due to the characters on it and where the chariot is charging from, unless somehow that is the same carriage that Dain arrives in (it's being pulled by rams, which most likely means that it was made by the iron hills dwarves). I'm not saying that your predictions would make a bad set, but don't forget, there's still lots of things from the battle that we haven't seen yet that may appear in the set. :)

The orc general sounds a bit like something from a battle pack, but that doesn't mean it won't happen. I found some pics of models of armored Gundabad Orcs that should resemble what we will get in the BOFA set. http://www.beastsofwar.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Gundabad-Orc-Spearmen.jpg. http://www.beastsofwar.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Gundabad-Orc-Swordsmen.jpg Maybe the figs will be called Gundabad Orc Spearmen/Swordsmen, just like these models have been labeled...?

If they did that, I wonder what differentiation the general would have from the other generic orc(s); I'm suspecting and hoping for armor on all of them, which should be Uruk-Hai armor (without the white hand, of course)

If we get Bolg in Laketown, will there be a recognizable villain in the BOFA set? I know they have Azog, but I'm not sure if they'd reuse him in another large set. I'm sure that we will get an Orc or two, but I'm wondering about major villains.

The red on the chin stood out a little too much, but other than that I love the fig A new Tauriel seems likely if we get the fifth fig, as she will probably be a big character in the BOFA movie. I also like the concept of the bridge connecting the buildings. I doubt it, but do you think we might get a horse for Legolas and a warg for Bolg?

That's actually not an unreasonable array of characters to expect. However, if there's to be a new Legolas, I'd very much prefer new decals, as his current costume differs from any that we have so far. I'd be fine with the video game Bolg.. I can understand why people dislike the design, but I don't find it to be too horrible. SDCC Bard and deskp's suggestions on revising the videogame Bain would be great IMO. The smaller mini fig amount would allow for a bit more buildings, so I'd actually be rather pleased with getting only those four figs.

Yes :) Returning to an older topic, I think he's more likely in the BOFA or Laketown. I do trust that TLG sees the use in a Bolg figure, but the problem is finding a spot for him. Those sets seem packed with figs already...

II don't mind the character, but if that were the final Azog then I think I'd have a problem. The lego minifigure is nice for providing contrast in my Orc army, however. I'd much rather take a Bolg fig though

Oh yes sorry, you're right about that.. I think that we can link the lack of Azog info to the constant changes in his design. I don't think the final design was until rather late in the production of AUJ, which is why we get Yazneg instead of Azog in the Warg Attack set

That is if you're excluding SDCC 2013 Pre-release of Azog

True

If we do end up getting an Iron Hills Dwarf, I'm fairly confident that one of the previously mentioned beards would be put into action. However, Dain II may have a new hair/beard mold, depending on what he looks like...I'm rather shocked that we haven't seen anything at all of him in the past few years beyond some Billy Connolly interviews..