Gryphon Ink

I would go for the Watcher since it's a brilliant boss battle scene and could help flesh out the pitiful representation that Moria currently has. The Doors of Durin are an iconic image from the books, since they are one of the very few things Tolkien actually drew a picture of, and I think this would be a great set. There wouldn't be any new minifigs, though, so no one here will vote for it. Insert sad minifig face here.

Great idea and nice design. I love the clocks!

From a non-technical standpoint - no pun intended - I think the fact that studless Technic looks less "Lego-y" is actually one of the reasons the company switched. Studless models look much sleeker, more modern and less like "that toy you played with when you were a kid". All of those things are advantages for a system that is meant for older kids and adults. Studded Technic was invented, flourished and was phased out during my Dark Age. When I rediscovered Lego, studless Technic was the norm, and I found it extremely cool. It's an amazing system that looks very different from "traditional" Lego but can still be integrated with System. The older studded models just don't wow me like the newer ones. They may be the same or even better mechanically, but they look clunky and old-fashioned compared to studless. Studless looks like the 21st Century.

My wife always gets me sets for Christmas and birthdays. Hoping for either Helm's Deep or a modular this year, but more likely I will get something a little smaller from LOTR or the Hobbit. Update: I got Dol Guldur Battle!

I've heard that a scene like this was filmed, but didn't make it to the final cut. If so, it will be in the extended edition DVD.

Yup, completely empty Friends shelves here. It's kind of funny, when I went to Target a few days ago I thought they must have moved Friends to a different aisle or something. Then I realised that the great big empty section was where Friends was supposed to be. All that was left was the display case. Good thing I already bought the sets I wanted to get my girls for Christmas. I'm hoping my wife did the same for my Christmas Lego.

You're one of the very few people I've found who felt the same way as I did about this movie. I feel like there was a good movie in there, but I couldn't enjoy it at all because it was NOT the Hobbit. It was like the movie version of a well-written Middle-Earth fan-fic, complete with name-dropping obscure ancient kingdoms and the author writing himself into the story. If my emotional atachment to the Hobbit hadn't been so strong, I might have liked the movie a lot more. I do think the Lego sets are a lot better than some people are giving them credit for. I'm really pleased with this wave, especially considering the difficulties TLG was facing with two movies turning into three, characters changing appearance and turning into other characters, the high level of secrecy and the ongoing tinkering with set designs. I like the Dol Guldur design, the fact that it came as two separate sets and captures several different scenes, and the fact that it's not supersized and is therefore affordable. It could have had more levels and looked more like the complete fortress, but then it would have been significantly more expensive. As it is, it will look good on the shelf, my kids can play with it, and it has a really nice range of characters. The only significant characters we're still missing from the Hobbit movies are Bolg and Smaug, and I have no doubt that they're being saved for TABA. The same goes for the armored Elves who will undoubtedly show up in force at the Battle of Five Armies, and do more than stand around Thranduil's front gate.

Now that I've seen the movie, I think Beorn is a really good minifig. Because, A - his hair truly is like that. And B - he needs to be taller than normal minifigs without being a giant (like Hagrid) or being all massively built (like Azog). "Woody Legs" would not have looked good IMO. So the odd one-piece head and Big Hair work really well to give him the right look. The Gundabad Orcs are also spot on.

Yay!

This is a bit of a tangent, but seemed like the best place to mention it... I'm never really sure about the market research that TLG says led to the conclusion that girls don't like minifigs. I can readily agree that the minidoll looks much more like what we ("we" meaning society in general) think of as a "girls' toy", and am not disputing the success of Friends. The sets are evidently selling, and I know my girls like the minidolls, so the proof is in the pudding, so to speak. But going back to my own girls and personal experience, the fact is they also really like minifigs. Those same girls went absolutely nuts when they discovered the Gingerbread Man CMF, and they have plenty of minifigs that they are every bit as fond of as they are of Olivia and Co. My five-year-old is traditionally in charge of putting together all the minifigs in every new set that I buy. She covets this job and oohs and aahs over every new accessory. When I was putting Dol Guldur Ambush together last weekend, she put the minifigs together and immediately started to play with the set. She loves those hammer-and-axe-blade booby traps! It ended with me having to drag out every single LOTR minifig and all the sets that I still have assembled, and for over an hour she sat and played out grand battles in the realm of Middle-Earth. This is a 5YO girly-girl Disney junkie who is scared of Gollum and has never seen any of the movies - they are way too violent and scary for her. But she wanted to play. The only thing she needed for complete satisfaction was a female hero to play with. After we started assembling the hordes, she asked me, "isn't there a princess in the Lord of the Rings?" I said, "well, there's Arwen, she's kind of like a princess." So she demanded I find Arwen, and as soon as she had her the story kicked into high gear. Arwen was fighting Orcs here, busting prisoners out of jail there, switching her skirts for pants so she could ride a horse, teleporting to safety when the Nazgul approached... I introduced her to Tauriel, and she played with her plenty, but not as much as with Arwen. Was it because I told her Arwen was a princess? Maybe. But I also think it was partly because Tauriel is not identifiably feminine. She looks almost exactly like any other Elf warrior. My kid wanted someone that you could tell was a girl. Arwen was perfect. Tauriel was definitely in the sidekick role. She never complained that the minifigs were too blocky or not cute enough. She never suggested that we get out the minidolls. She was perfectly content to play out her five year old version of Lord of the Rings with the standard Elf, Dwarf and Orc minifigs. All she needed was one or two women in the cast. I can only imagine where this would have gone if Eowyn and Galadriel had been around in minifig form. I know that I have raised my girls a little differently from most, encouraging them to do whatever they want regardless of gender stereotypes, explaining that people can be whatever they want to be and introducing them to epic fantasy fiction. But it's not like I've brainwashed them into complete gender neutrality. This kid wears pink and purple and glittery sparkly frilly EVERYTHING. She wears skirts all the time, even in sub-zero weather. She has at least a dozen Barbies, a massive herd of MLPs, and enough baubles and hair accessories to fill the treasure vaults of Erebor. She LOVES being a girly girl. And, she loves Lego. Minifigs, minidolls, Pirates, Orcs or Friends. She just likes it all. I know TLG did the market research. They aren't stupid, these Lego guys. And I can't say they went wrong with the minidolls. Personally, I like the minidolls. But I'm wondering if they really needed them. Market research is not infallible, and major companies make poor decisions all the time. Remember New Coke? People will say look how well Friends is selling, there's your proof. But the fact is, we'll never know what factors were responsible for the success of Friends. Let's not forget that Friends wasn't just a new product, it was also a massive marketing campaign, with TV spots, sticker albums, all the accessories and everything else that goes with any new product launch these days. All that, plus some very well-constructed and attractive Lego sets. Would the theme have done as well with standard minifigs? I don't know. And I don't think anyone else knows, either.

I guess I'm just never going to grok monster trucks. I don't see any appeal in jacking a car or truck sky-high and putting gigantic tires on it. It's kind of like zoot suits - I can't even understand how people find them attractive or cool. But I do like the body shaping you've done here. It really looks like a Charger. Nice colors, too.

Priorities are always important. Parents just don't have the freedom to buy whatever they want or spend their time however they want. But I don't get the feeling the OP was about making ends meet, spending too much or impacting relationships. It seemed more like a simple, "I'm embarrassed to tell my loved ones that this Lego set is really for me", and my response was based on that.

I think the olive green fits in very nicely, and I agree that we now have a very nice assortment of Orcs. The Gundabad Orcs have really changed the picture and made it more fun to assemble an Orc horde. I just got this set, but I'm making myself wait to open it since I promised my wife I would. I'll open it the night before I go see the movie. I'm finally getting really excited for the movie, and the set looks great IMO. Going to play the LOTR Card Game tonight instead. I love that game.

For the record, I agree with you on every point. I was just joking around.

Bard is like Chuck Norris. He only needs ONE arrow. (Yes, I know he really fired more than one arrow - but only one really counted!)

Sweet way to come out of your Dark Age! Enjoy your new addiction. Today I got the new City Tow Truck (sorry, too lazy to go and look for set numbers now) and Dol Guldur Ambush. TRU are doing Buy One Get One 50%, so I told the missus I'd build one now and keep the other until next time I have The Craving. That should be a week or so!

My advice is, just own it. It's something you like to do and it IS a worthwhile pastime, no matter what anybody tells you. You'll feel a lot better once you've "come out" as an AFOL. But you'll also find that most people will just shrug and leave it if you just say, "hey, this is what I do." I knit. A lot. Like on the bus and on breaks at work and at movies before the movie starts, I'm pretty much constantly knitting. Let me tell you, if you think people judge you as an AFOL, you should try being a man who knits on public transit. People stare, people whisper, and some "friends" make fun. I'm like, whatever dude. I'm making something useful and unique, and I'm spending my free time creating things instead of just sitting there watching TV or reading comments on Yahoo. What's not manly about that? Lego may not be "useful", but most hobbies aren't. We do them because they're fun. You are still spending time with your daughter, even if you bought the Lego for yourself. That's a good thing. It's also good that she sees you making things. This is good parenting. Own your passion!

Good luck with that. My wife will never stop saying that I'm "playing with my Legos". I don't mind though - when she gets on my nerves I tell her, "you need to go play with your beads". (She makes beautiful beaded jewelry).

Money, time and space are all factors that have occasionally made me stop and rethink my priorities. I don't see myself totally quitting Lego building, but I feel like I have enough parts that I don't buy very many sets these days. I get a craving for Lego, go to the store and suddenly remember a million other things my family needs more than plastic bricks. We're not starving or anything, but I definitely have to prioritize my spending, and there's not a lot left over for Lego. And I don't have a lot of time or space in the home to leave out half-finished MOCs for weeks on end, so when I'm doing my own thing it has to be very small creations that I can finish in one sitting. The biggest thing I've built in the past year was a minifig-scale Batmobile, and I could only really do that because it's almost 100% black, so all the unused parts can easily be swept into a single container in between building sessions.

As usual, you know more than I do! I wish it was Khamul, though. Changing it to the Witch-King makes Middle-Earth seem smaller. I wish PJ and Co. Would stop changing every single thing from the books.

At the time of this story, most of the Nazgul are in Minas Morgul, rebuilding Sauron's armies and fortifications. There are only two or maybe three Nazgul in Dol Guldur, and the Witch King isn't one of them.

Very nice review. I will definitely pick up at least one for the orcs - Beorn is one of my favorite characters in the book, but the PJ version of him, and Lego version of same, are a bit meh. The build isn't all that great on its own, but looks like it will add nicely to the DGB set. That round 2x2 tile is also featured in the new airport fire truck set, by the way.

Definitely buy Olivia's House. It's a nice build, a sweet dollhouse and a future collector's item. Your daughter will be thrilled with it.

Okay, Scribble Face is creepy awesome, Gail is excellent, and I can't even believe TLG made a second cat lady in so short a time. It's great because I never found a Grandma in the last series, and I really really like the new cat. Wyldfyre is a pretty cool steampunkish character. Most of the others don't excite me too much, and the distribution is not a plus.

That makes sense. It doesn't exactly look like mail, more like a metallic woven cloth. Very Elvish!