brimbolet

It's much what I expected and quite nice really, but again I'm struggling with the price. A moulded T-Rex costs even nowadays 40$ (76975). The Balrog is brick built and worth even less. No way the rest is 80$. I wonder what the price/weight ratio will be. Out of the 3 bookends this is concept wise the weakest and surprisingly HP is best, since it can be used either as a bookend or booknook and even has expensive transparent pieces for the roof. It's even better than City's new train station. Sherlock Holmes has at least side walls but here even a small pocketbook may crush the mighty Balrog...

I'd rather say people are very disappointed because of the unjustified price, not mad. Even "official" reviewers criticize this. Maybe it's a question of license agreements, but I think it's really a shame that there hasn't been one affordable set with minifigs below 60-80$ aimed at kids since the new Amazon series started. This was the perfect opportunity for various toy companies to make at least something and to reach the younger audience... And nothing happened. Can't remember I've seen any LOTR toys from e.g. Hasbro. That's very odd. Dungeon & Dragon figures flew off the shelves which clearly shows there is still a high demand for fantasy stuff.

Great news and what a relief; I really like how the leakers make the sketches btw. Can't wait for the first image with the Balrog to see how big he'll turn out.

I hope the license will go someday to Megablocks... Happy April fools day everyone!

I really hope we'll get some picture or much better description soon, because I really can't imagine an enclosed book nook with the rumored piece count. Perhaps it's a small bookend after all and there was a (deliberate) mistranslation from Danish? Two small vignettes one with the Balrog and the second with Gandalf, parts of the bridge some wall or stairs. This seems to be realistic for 1200 pieces. Apparently the Sherlock Holmes book nook will include more than one minifigure, so this seems to indicate that some emphasis is put on them. I'm hoping for a brick built Balrog perhaps even reusing elements from the Surtur figure. A relief or sticker would be idiotic. I also expect the price to increase.

Honestly I think it's unfair to say the designer is inexperienced. I didn't plan to buy the set anyway since I'm not interested in Shire settings but apart from the tree the build is good; after all Hobbits are not famous for their architecture but laziness... With 2017 pieces counting roughly 8.5c/p the set would have cost us ca. 175-180$ and everybody would have been happy about it. It would be certainly better than the medieval village (without animals!). For the additional 100$ only the management is responsible and they should work in Saruman's forges for a few months as a punishment...

Thank you for pointing the video out. I'd like to see some day some pics of the early model. A second smaller hobbit home without interior would have been tremendous so that one could recreate more of a path for Gandalf to arrive after all. You're probably right though it's still a shame - after all the T-rex (with license) is 40$ worth so a Balrog should be also possible for that price. The 75005 Rancor pit was 60$ in 2013 that's just 85$ - officially - now! Even for 100$ this would be still an amazing set to have when I see other current offerings.

Ok, I know that much has been said about the price but seeing the lifestyle picture of the 3 LOTR sets together I'm astonished how small The Shire is next to Rivendell and Barad Dur. Looks like 1/2 of a modular at most... The figures are splendid yes, but there are no new moulds like helmets or weapons like in the 2 sets before. The official value of the Smeagol GWP is now 25$, so the booknook will be probably microscale - a minifig sized fragment of a bridge with Gandalf and the Balrog seems impossible.

I've checked regularly this thread but didn't intend to say anything before the final pics but... the price! My goodness. The set is of course nice for Hobbit fans, though Shire settings seem quite boring to me personally so this wasn't on the very top of my buying list. But now the price makes me wonder how the bookend will look like. I just hope it's not an expensive microscale GWP diorama with a 1x1 plate for Gandalf and a 1x1 brick for the Balrog... Any news when we can expect pictures of it?

I want to have an ARC 170 in my collection so much, but somehow I'm not entirely convinced. It looks a bit... fragile? Maybe the wings are too short or the nose too narrow. It's not bulky enough. The lack of a back printing on the droid is no problem for me personally but stickers on the cockpit at THAT price is a huge Hopefully the U wing will be much better.

Here is the English version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tbNkvkmOvc

So the rumors were pretty accurate after all; and it's a very nice modular. Though I'm not sure if it'll fit in my collection. The GWP is unfortunately boring. A vintage British delivery truck would have been awesome. I'd really like to see some Asian style modular in the future, perhaps with a little colonial touch if it's not too political.

First pictures of HP 76447 Hogwarts Castle Flying Lessons are out... now something like that for Gondor please!

I'm still convinced that the complicated license agreements between the various owners, Amazon, etc... are the reason for the overall lack of LOTR merchandise - especially now with a brand new ROP series! If nobody is allowed to make products, there won't be a demand obviously. Kids are easily excited when it comes to new cool things. And dragons, knights and creepy creatures are very cool - just like dinosaurs. Btw. I've been at the Lego store for 2 hours on black friday - big crowds and nobody was buying Dreamzzz.

Yes of course but what about the Balrog? Hopefully not something like the Mona Lisa...