Gryphon Ink

So, one guy says he heard from one Lego employee that the theme was ending, and we all just decide it's true? Come on, guys. There is no way this theme is over yet, and there is no way TLG will give up on a very expensive license with a huge fandom three months before the release of the new movie that is driving a massive surge of interest from movie geeks, general fantasy lovers and just about everybody with a pulse. They just bought this license, for gods know how much money. They don't get a refund if they pull out of the deal. NO WAY are they going to eighty-six the theme before it has a chance to get properly started. Look around the Internet, if you don't think people are interested in the adventures of these little hobbits. The Hobbit movies are THE Big Thing for the next three years. People are making plans to stand in line at theaters for a marathon of all three LOTR movies the day "An Unexpected Journey" opens. The Lego LOTR games are kindling major interest. Geeks of every stripe are knitting hobbit feet and brushing up on their Elvish. This topic has almost 6500 posts. Hell, the topic was 200 pages long before the first sets even showed up! Granted, the Hobbit and LOTR are technically separate franchises. The emphasis here is on the word "technically". Yes, the book The Hobbit is more of a kids' book than LOTR. Different styles, different characters, different story. But none of that matters as far as the movies are concerned. From the very first time we saw the costume stills of the thirteen dwarves, it was obvious that Peter Jackson is making these movies exactly like LOTR. Bigger battles than the book ever had. Darker dangers. More romance. Every major LOTR character that can possibly be dragged into the Hobbit, has been drafted. The expansion from two to three movies is at least partly fueled by the desire to link the movies even more strongly to LOTR. This is not a whole separate franchise, it's the Prequel Trilogy to LOTR's Original Trilogy. Sales of the one trilogy WILL drive sales of the other, in exactly the same way every new James Bond movie drives DVD sales of the older ones. I do not know the future, nor do I work for TLG. Maybe it's true. Maybe LOTR only appears to be successful, and in reality the sets are moldering away on the shelves from a complete lack of interest. Maybe TLG's CEO is only pretending to be happy about LOTR sales, and the Hobbit: AUJ will not be one of the biggest movies of 2012. But I wouldn't bet on it just because one guy claims to have inside knowledge about it, when all appearances indicate that this is one of the biggest licensed themes TLG ever launched.

I'm a huge fan of Alien Conquest, but I just can't bring myself to buy the Mothership. Aside from one wicked cool minifig, the set just doesn't appeal to me. I'd say if you like the AC vibe, buy a couple of the other small sets instead and use them to build your own version of a mothership, or save your change for the legendary Earth Defense HQ. It's worth every penny.

I just noticed the "I'm new" part of the review, and I have a feeling I should add to my first post: welcome to Eurobricks, Robin, and nice review!

If only she really did have a cat. I love the Lego cat. That there critter in the set happens to be a rat. Far more common and not as cute.

I think the set is pretty cool, although I can see why it doesn't excite long-term Technic builders who have seen bigger (and better?) tractors. I've already told my wife, who met me when I was still driving tractors myself, that I need one of these for my birthday. I do wish they'd made it in John Deere green instead of the lime, but hopefully I could Bricklink the panels in a darker green since there are only 10 of the lime green parts. I love the PTO connection for the mower. Is anybody out there thinking of building other implements for the tractor? I really doubt that I have the Technic skills to design them myself.

Very nice, Groovemeister. Looks very Battletech.

I hope not to rehash the whole protracted debate about the Friends controversy, but the market research proves nothing except that girls of that age (whatever ages the test group were) are already "programmed" to be interested in those things. You have to understand that society is working on creating gender dichotomy literally from the second a baby is born. Almost all girls in Western society grow up in an environment that teaches them to value beauty, grooming, and certain colors. Almost all boys in the same societies get their own version of color programming, and are taught to value competition, strategy and strength. By the time girls hit Lego's target age, they understand very well that if they prefer green and black to pink and purple, or if they'd rather be warriors and mechanics than princesses and beauty queens, society at large will see them as freaks. This mindset eventually gets internalized and stays very dominant in the majority of girls and young women. By the same token, it's hard to find a five-year-old boy who will admit that he likes the color pink, because people have been telling all boys from the day they were born that real boys and men don't like anything pink. So if you were to do market research on a group of 5YO boys, the research would "prove" that boys don't like pink. Parents have a big part in it, but they aren't the only players. School, daycare workers, friends and their parents, extended family, TV, books, toy manufacturers and random strangers on the street all play a part in creating and reinforcing gender stereotypes. Sometimes, if their opinions are consistent across the board, their influence can actually be stronger than that of the parents.

Thanks for reviewing this, Crazydance. I've been waiting for some information on this set. I don't buy too many Technic models, but I do like to get them here and there, and as an old farmboy I've been very curious about this tractor set. I'm not crazy about the lime green color, but I love the fact that the implement is a separate unit that engages with the drive shaft to get its power. It's a neat simulation of a PTO attachment. I don't have the Technic experience to do it, but it would be neat to see people developing other implements that could be attached to the tractor.

I didn't even think about that one!

The Zombies is a no-brainer if you are definitely getting the haunted house, sort of like you WILL buy Uruk-Hai Army if you plan to buy Helm's Deep. Even though the MF sets don't directly connect, they go together so well you can't pass it up. But I think the Crazy Scientist is a wonderful set. It's got great playability, interesting construction, good minifigs unless you already own all of their CMF iterations, and the car is quirky and awesome. With a few more bricks to build up the walls and connect the pieces, you've got one of the most iconic settings in movie history. And a really weird car to smash it up.

I recommend the cafe. It has a nice selection of parts including the utensils which you can use in a lot of different settings, green plates, curved roof pieces and others, and the detail building is more interesting than the other two. I would say it's definitely worth $30. The beauty shop has nice trans pieces, but overall the build is pretty boring. It has a lot of the colors from the Friends palette, which is good if you want those colors but not so good for general use. It also relies heavily on stickers for its impact. The dog show never interested me at all, so I can't say if it's worth it.

I, too, think this is the weakest LOTR set of all now that Frodo is available in several other sets and Gandalf will appear in the excellent Bag End set later this year. The only other thing that really appeals here is the new brown horse, and that comes in Uruk-Hai Army, a set that is much more enticing to buy multiples of. The way I see it, this set is meant to be the set for all the non-AFOL LOTR geeks out there, who want one Lego LOTR set just because it's cool. They won't buy many other sets, so the one they buy has to have uber-iconic characters in it. For them, Gandalf Arrives is perfect.

I wouldn't say the previous dino themes all left bad tastes. Dino 2012 is actually a good theme as far as the dinos themselves, the sets are not bad either but I don't like that over half the sets are trucks. There are only so many yellow utility trucks you really need. I love the dino models, and therein lies the main problem with the sets you suggested -- Dino 2012 used a number of the most popular dinosaurs, and the sets you listed here feature lesser-known dinosaurs that won't sell nearly as many sets. I think TLG will always want to have at least a few of the big stars in every Dino wave, and they're not going to launch a new Dino theme with those same guys so close to Dino 2012. So I think it will be at least a few years before we see any more dinosaurs, and it will be a whole new direction - we speculated on the direction this could go in the Dino 2012 rumor thread. I like the idea of a time travel team investigating the Jurassic myself. When they do it, I hope they will re-use some of the dinos from the current theme, and introduce more new ones. I'd love to have a stegosaurus, and ankylosaurus would be cool.

Thanks. I ended up getting the Samurai Mech because I like that it's one big build instead of the smaller pieces of the zombie set. I have to say it was a really interesting build - SNOT in every direction, a little Technic, some great parts, and a beautiful mecha. Plus, Nya!

So, might go out later today. Looking for something in the US$40-50 range, right now it's a toss-up between the Zombies, the Orc Forge and maybe Samurai X Mecha if I can find the thing. Open to other suggestions. What would give me the most bang for my buck?

Actually, there is no string of lights in the Post Office set.

Really nice work, Tony. I love the textures on him, and his baleful expression is perfect. The foil gold pile worked out very well, too. The design of this is based on cover art for one of the versions of the Hobbit, isn't it? The pose seems very familiar.

At least two of these sets are almost exactly Cars 2 minis. One of them has the exact shape of Jeff Gorvette, and the F1 car pretty much the same build as the Italian badguy from Cars 2. (Which, I'm guessing, the character was actually meant to be - I haven't seen the movie, but there was a Ferrari subtheme in the first movie.

I'm hoping Beorn will be a standard-sized human in the movie and a normal minifig with a bear. The book says he's a big man, not a giant. But I suspect the movie will exaggerate his size and we'll have another Hagrid-sized fig.

I think that orange is supposed to represent kind of light brown. That's the way it looks to me, at least. But you're right, sometimes I expect a little too much from Lego.

I think it's extremely unlikely that TLG will make a Rivendell set. But I've been wrong before.

I'm betting on Tauriel as the first female LOTR fig, going along with my prediction of Thranduil's stronghold for the biggest set in the first Hobbit wave. Galadriel will most likely come in next year with her big battle scenes coming in the second movie, from my understanding of how they're breaking things up to make it a trilogy. I really don't see them doing an LOTR Lothlorien scene, since nothing much happens there (although I hope I'm wrong, because a Lothlorien tree house would make a brilliant set for AFOLs!)

Great review, Pandora! I wasn't too convinced by my first glance at the exterior of the buildings, but their interiors are delightful. One of the nicest things about Friends is that the sets emphasize realistic (well, more realistic than, say, Ninjago, at least) settings with furniture and things like showers and soda vending machines. So there are a lot of clever ideas in here for useful things you can use in any setting. I love those bunkbeds, and the Coke machine is something I plan to copy as soon as I can. I think my daughter will love this set even though she's a dedicated Harry Potter and LOTR junkie. It's a big purchase, but not too bad for that one ridiculously big Christmasanukah present. Love that van, too. I have to include a big thank you to TLG for diversity. I realise this isn't a big deal for many AFOLs, but it's a very big deal for my family. So thanks, TLG, for including another character of color in the Friends lineup, especially one that doesn't re-use one of Andrea's old torsos - although it looks suspiciously like they did recycle her actual face - um, TLG, you are aware that dark green is a VERY rare eye color for black people, aren't you? Aside from the simple fact that they recycled the face in the first place, now all three of the people of color in the Friends universe have green eyes. But at least Ella has new hair. I still hate the Friends horses. I find them cartoony and distorted, and they won't fit in at all with the rest of my Lego. But I'm sure most kids will like them - my four-year-old sure did. And on the other hand, hey, a hedgehog! And giant mutant marshmallows! Awesome stuff!

Great review, DarthPotato! You really showed off the best features of the set in a way that makes me appreciate the design. The furniture in Palpatine's office is amazing. Your side-by-side comparison of the minifigs is interesting, too. The set itself I probably wouldn't buy, but I might if I didn't already have earmarked all the sets I can afford this year. I really do like the office design.

I was way more interested in Erector Sets when I was a kid (70s) than in Lego. Lego really didn't have all that much going in doing interesting builds, or anything mechanical at all. It was just bricks! With Erector, you could build anything you could imagine. I loved tinkering with it and making all kinds of machines. It was ugly as hell, but mechanically AMAZING. From what I've seen in the stores, the situation is now completely reversed. I haven't seen a single Erector Set that appealed to me at all, and Lego - well, do I even have to say?