Altair1

At the time I made sure to buy all the Hobbit sets which had dwarves in them to get the whole ''Thorin and company''. They really look great together :-)

This comparison is limited and buyest. Here is a fair comparison without discount (if you accept to be objective of course): Hogwarts castle: 469.99 for 6060 pieces. Price per piece: 7.75. Minifigs:4. Microfigs:24. Rivendell: 499.99 for 6167 pieces. Price per piece: 8.10. Minifigs:15. To summarize, the price per piece is almost the same. The main difference is that one set is microscale and has mostly microfigs, while the second one is a playset and has only minifigs. So it all comes down to personal taste. I personally think that both look great, but as I much prefer playsets (and I don't like microfigs) I bought several HP sets to make my own castle rather than this big one. And I will obviously buy Rivendell on day 1 :-)

Agreed. I must say that the amazing Rivendell set makes me quite hopeful for the future :-)

Here is another one, a bit bigger : https://ideas.lego.com/projects/e8dd07a1-ba66-44ac-b411-096fe14b34d7 Otherwise you can go microscale, if you want it to look more like the original. But then you lose the playability with the minifigs, which for me would be a pity...

See, for me this does not do it at all. It has to look like Minas Tirith, not just a portion of it. Here is a good example: https://ideas.lego.com/projects/c8ea2aec-39a3-426e-9951-8fee9a759e67

Exactly, and do not forget inflation too. This wonderful set is worth its price (and I don't say this often about a Lego set).

3 levels is the minimum for Minas Tirith to look like Minas Tirith. Yes, I would much prefer a playset (even if I have to complement it myself later) than a microscale version in which the minifigs would not fit in.

Except the Council of Elrond set was way too limited and not a decent representation at all of Rivendell... The same can not be said for the Helm's Deep and Bag End sets. Anyway I am only talking of priorities here, I would welcome of course at some point a bigger Helm's Deep and a whole Shire/Hobbiton set :-)

I actually disagree. We have seen beautiful MOC submissions (on Lego Ideas and elsewhere) of Minas Tirith which are minifig compatible and could stay in the 500 bucks range. Of course they had to make some design compromises (in particular in the number of vertical layers), but they still represent beautifully the City of Kings :-) The minifigs usually included are of course Faramir, Denethor, Eowyn, the Witch-King, etc...

We already have very decent Helm's Deep and Bag End sets though, so I think Minas Tirith and Lothlorien should come first...

I love this idea, it would totally make sense ! Let us pray that you are right :-) Thanks for this nice comparison! The new minifigs are great, with 3 exceptions: Arwen's face (better in the past), Legolas' hair (better in the past) and... why the hell did they switch the hair colors between Sam and Merry???

Yeah this is my only disappointment, but I am so happy with Rivendell that I can live with that! I will just immediately resell it as I can't keep a BrickHeadz in my house :-)

It is just perfect!!! I am so happy :-) Day one purchase obviously!!!

You know that nowadays you can stay comfortably at home and order online at the very second the set is released, right? Just saying :-)

OK now I really believe it!!! So goooooood!!!!!!!

By the end of this week (I really hope!)

I own all the existing LOTR sets but I will never buy a BrickHeadz, even branded LOTR... I just find them too ugly and not display worthy.

Honestly I don't think they deserve to be counted as LOTR sets...

No you are going to jinxx it ! The return of LOTR is still not official besides a few crappy Brickheadz which do not count :-)

Assuming Rivendell and Barad Dur are confirmed, there are several other locations which definitely require big sets: Minas Tirith, Edoras, Lothlorien... In addition I would not mind some smaller sets of course (such as battle packs for example).

Well, it depends which ones... Amongst all the LOTR and Hobbit sets, only three did the movies justice in my opinion: Orthanc, Helm's Deep and Bag End. The others were way too limited and interesting mostly for the minifigs.

I am not holding off on Rivendell, I will jump on it at the second it is released :-)

Yes, for the actual release

Latest rumors say announcement next week...

And I am so happy that the minifigs have (apparently) new designs, this makes it exciting even for those like me who already own all the existing LOTR minifigs :-)