Fives

Saw Les Mis. Amazing film. The performances were outstanding, and the fact that the singing was live on set rather than pre-recorded made the whole thing feel more like a live show. If only it had been filmed at a higher frame rate same as The Hobbit, it would have been a lot better. I sense it will triumph at the Oscars.

It's the same skirt piece used on the ARC Clone Trooper from last years Clone Wars Battle Pack. It may be slightly modified to resemble more of a dress, but the design is generally the same. It's a cape for the legs, essentially.

That animatic showing rough versions of scenes from the Battle of Geonosis, showing the CAT droid, is real and I think can be found on the AOTC DVD somewhere. The design and use for the droid was originally part of AOTC, much like Pol Koon and Mundi's covert attack and destruction of a CIS ship during the battle, but were ultimately scrapped for time constraints. Lucas then decided to put those droids in ROTC because he wanted to use them somewhere.

That looks more real than fake. The reason is the confidential mark. If someone had just made p some fake image to stir up discussion, then it is not likely that they would've gone to the trouble to put the watermark there. It looks to me like this is just a smaller part of a more complete image showing the prelim version of Orthanc. I desperately hope we see Wormtounge, Treebeard, likely Saruman (which seems really redundant) and plenty of worker orcs. Also, it would be interesting if there was a way to incorporate the Wizard Battle set into the interior of Orthanc.

I have been listening to the TRON: Legacy soundtrack, and I came to the realization that A) TRON is a Disney franchise, B) Disney is making a TRON sequel, and C) LEGO has the rights to Disney. All of this adds up to a very nice chance of a TRON theme, which would be absolutely brilliant and likely sell well due to its sic-fi feel and abundance of cool vehicles.

And the fact that the Bag End set was the number 1 toy this Xmas season should be taken as a very good sign that these themes will last.

Just watched a review of the AOTC battle pack on YouTube, and to my dismay, it appears that the AOTC Clones share the same helmet as the CW Clones! The only difference is the printing. This significantly reduces my desire for this fig. I was really hoping that LEGO would have made a completely new mold.

The Nazgul is a PLACE HOLDER fig on the box art. The figs in the minifig line ups on the prelims are the FINISHED VERSIONS. This was the same for the first LOTR wave.

Wow! I'm loving the AOTC sets! Sound awesome! Definitely gonna be tough to not buy them all!

I would love to see the new armoured orc in a polybag. Also, a Nazgul polybag would be an amazing way to collect the Nine. Perhaps both. They did a good and bad polybag for the first LOTR wave, two good polybags for The Hobbit, so why not two bad? And when I say good and bad, I mean the good side and the bad side, not the actual quality of the polybag itself.

deskp, I see that your avatar image is of what looks to be a custom Mirkwood Elf as seen during the Hobbit prologue. I am very interested in it, it looks very well done. Do you have any full minifig images that you could post? Or have you posted them already? And if yes, where?

While there is no source, there is a set number, so this could be the exclusive set of the wave. If this set is a TRU exclusive, then it wouldn't have been shown in the catalogue, so this number and fig count could have trickled out somewhere. If this is true, which I have a hopeful hunch that it is, I am ecstatic! Getting the Mouth of Sauron, Witch-King, Gandalf the White, King Aragorn, King of the Dead (plus soldiers), Elrond, Arwen, Saruman, Eowyn and Merry in armour makes this an absolutely amazing wave! It covers three of the major villains, most of the secondary characters (no Faramir) plus variations of past Minifigs. Outstanding!

The Mallorn trees of Lorien should be white or grey with yellow leaves.

The keychains are usually at every LEGO store, hanging by the till. But they don't always have the ones you're looking for. Sometimes they have a bunch of one or two themes, and sometimes they have a big assortment.

For Mordor orcs, the Egyptian swords from the Mummy theme look good. For now, I'm just using the ones they were given, and I'm planning on buying a bunch of the Orc keychain and cutting the chain off, so then ill have a bunch more orcs. Then I'm just gonna give them all sorts of random weapons, since I feel like Mordor orcs (or orcs in general) are less uniformed than Uruk-hai.

deskp, you've done it again! That Rivendell is really nice, perfectly fit with LEGO's Council set. I would really love to see that as a set, only it would be better if the inside was Frodo's room, with a bed and a couple chairs, which would mean the set cold have Gandalf, Frodo in casual clothes, and a Rivendell Bilbo.

Yeah, I have a very good feeling about this as well, but do you think the hair at the back will jut out slightly to accommodate a cape, or will the capes be the new design that work with armour, like Malgus or Shredder has? I would rather the hair be altered to fit a normal cape.

Just took a look, and it appears that the NY Toy Fair is happening from February 12-15, meaning we will likely get pics of the sets from the fair a day or so after that. So, about a month and a half to wait until we get our first non-prelim pics.

The best way would be to wait till the spring. From the looks of what we are in for in the next wave, two sets have two new armored Mordor orcs each. It would be much better to build up an armored Mordor army than to have a bunch of the worker orcs. But if you are really desperate and don't care about the armored orcs, I'd guess Bricklink would be the best place. I've never used it, and I'm not sure what the prices for Mordor orcs would be like on there, bu it's likely your best place to get a bunch of orcs.

I have a strong feeling that the Castle theme is gonna be a one wave deal. It looks way worse than both Kingdoms and the2007 Castle line, so I don't think it will have a major impact on the sales of LOTR and The Hobbit. As for the prelims, the SW ones only show the two flagship sets of the summer wave. But, in that image, if you looks closer at the bottom left corner, you can see a bit of the other page and what looks like the edge of the Yoda box art, meaning there is an entire second page of prelims. That being said, this could be the same for LOTR. We only have the image of the one page, but there could be a strong chance that there is a second page that contains either more LOTR prelims or The Hobbit prelims. Unfortunately, whoever took these catalogue pics must have been in a rush and didn't get time to get pics of all the pages, which mean that we aren't gonna have any real confirmation on the finality of this wave until the NY Toy Fair in mid January (which really isn't that far off). I also find it interesting that the Rivendell set is getting so much negative criticism. Sure, it's a small set, but the scene it's depicting is only of a small portion of Rivendell. There is a serious chance that we could still get other Rivendell sets, but maybe based on the Hobbit. They could have a set with the balcony that the White Council met at, and maybe the Moon Runes area, with Gamdalf, Galadriel, and maybe an armoured Elrond, and possibly Lindir. Also, they could portray the little feats they have and create an Orcrist mold. I just have a feeling that this one Council set will not be the end of the Rivendell sets. I feel like LEGO could milk Rivendell the same way they've milked Hoth in the SW theme over the years.

That is definitely an Eagle! Amazing! That makes the Black Gate set soooooo much better, and even before I realized the Eagle was there I thought that it was the best set of the wave!

Just had a thought. I wonder if the Mouth will have a double sided face. One side has a closed mouth, and the other has his signature creepy, wide smile. I hope they do this.

One thing about these sets is for sure: it will provide what looks to be our first barding for the new horses. Other than that, this looks like they have brought back the old Lions from the days of King Leo, and thrown in a witch with a dragon that looks startlingly similar to the dragon from the 2007 Castle line. Thanks to LOTR, I don't think I'll be spending any money on this theme.

Wow! I would count these pics as a great late Christmas gift! All of these sets look amazing! My initial opinions: Wizard Battle- while it isn't a full Orthanc, we still get Saruman, which is a much have figure! Also, this allows for a future Orthanc with Ents. Council of Elrond- the set itself, while not super exciting, is very visually and aesthetically pleasing, and will make a fantastic display piece. Unfortunately, it looks like we get another Gimli, but Arwen, a red-robed Elrond and possibly a Rivendell Frodo (yet, at the Council, he was in full outfit) greatly make up for it. Also, I really hope we get a one handed elf sword, much akin to Elrond's sword in the film, Hadhafang. Black Gate- AMAZING! The best of the group, I think. It has a much needed and desired Gandalf the White, Aragorn in his kingly attire, and the one mini figure that I hoped LEGO would make but feared would never actually become plastic: The Mouth of Sauron. Just fantastic. And to top it all off, it looks like we get two Mordor orcs in armour! The gate part itself looks good for the scale, but I do believe that they have mushed the Black Gate and Barad-Dûr into a single set. And while that's a bit annoying and looks cramped, it allows for a play feature that is ridiculously essential to the scene: drawing Sauron's gaze. Although it looks cramped, I love the fact that LEGO went to the effort to do that. Corsair Ship- Ok, I'm not really a huge fan of LEGO pirate ships. While they look cool, they don't add a ton of value to my collection. That being said, this ship looks amazing! The reason is that its from LOTR! Plus, the fig selection is great! The King and soldiers of the Dead will become great additions to any army. Aragorn and Gimli are getting stale to me, but they are necessary for the scene. And Legolas has only had one other LOTR appearance. Also, it looks like we get two Mordor armored orcs, and what could be a Corsair or another Orc. Can't quite tell. Now, these are obviously all prelim pictures. But, the minifig line ups on the boxes are final versions of the figures. The ones on the artwork are prelim. It was the same for the first LOTR wave. So look to the line ups to get a bit of a better sense of what the figs will be like. Also, the corner of the box now features the Eye of Sauron instead of the Ring on his finger. And lastly, if these are all of the LOTR sets coming out next year, then I have two greatly opposing views towards this. 1) LEGO is hiding something. Perhaps they are planning a large exclusive set and are keeping it under heavy wraps. Or 2) LOTR hasn't become as popular as The Hobbit sets, or has just underperformed unlike LEGO and all us fans had hoped. I really want the answer to be the former of the two, and if that is the case, then I would want some more smaller sets, battle packs and army builders, and possibly one Two Towers set. But it is still December. We will get a full sense of what LEGO has in store for us in the coming year when the January NY Toy Fair rolls around and we get some good, up close pics of the sets and figs. We have gotten our prelims, and that alone gives a lot to the discussion, but I think I'm not gonna speculate too much on LEGO's further intentions with this wave, on whether this is it or there is more, and just leave it and see what happens.

Firstly, deskp, that looks fantastic! I would much prefer that on my Yazneg the the current piece LEGO provided. Secondly, in response to Gryphon Ink, I also find it crazy that a whole year has past since the initial discussion and speculation started for this theme. Honestly, I think this is the best license and theme they have ever made. For the longest time, LSW was my first and foremost theme I bought, but I always wanted LEGO LOTR, spending hours thinking about what sorts of sets LEGO could make and how they would be dispersed in a wave, so the fact that some of my dreams are coming true, along with The Hobbit sets which I never even began to imagine, I couldn't be happier! I really hope that this theme lasts at least a year after the last Hobbit film is released, and by the end of it, we have been given not only some amazing new pieces and army builders, but also all of the essential scenes and characters to span over all six Middle-Earth films. Amazing job, LEGO! Keep up the fantastic work!