BrickBob Studpants

A Bag End set is definitely possible! However, I doubt they’d include all the dwarves for the simple reason of it being too costly, under the assumption that a vast majority of the moulds are not available anymore. Out of the 13 dwarves, 10 had new parts, only three of which have been reused after that in other themes (Balin’s hearpiece, Dwalin’s beard, and the hairpiece used for Thorin, Fili, and Kili). Sure, they could cheap out and give some of them reused beards, but I’d rather not have them again if they’re THIS inferior to the originals

Crazy to think that we’ve seen two minifigs from this year’s AC while we still don’t have the faintest clue what’s coming in the 2HY Pretty exciting, actually! If more 2HY minifigs leak, we could try to reverse-engineer what sets they might be included in That said, the list will likely end up being revealed before the next batch of leaked minifigs surface

Eh. Speculating is fun, but the information we have is very bare-bones. I want some juicy details to chew on, like what specific property the sets are based on at least! Fingers crossed for Burtman, but I’ll take TAS sets too

“1992” is a pretty weird codename anyway. Why not use the name of the property, i.e., Returns or TAS? Sure, it invokes the “1989” moniker that was used for the other Burtman sets, but in that case, the movie was just called “Batman”, so of course they had to differentiate it somehow I’m excited either way! This bodes well for the actual wave too

Out of the reused faces, Gandalf’s the only one that annoys me a bit. Sure, we can’t see the facial expression, but I still just can’t ignore that frown underneath, knowing it’s there All the other characters that use that faceprint are EVIL! The Aberforth one really works nicely as a replacement though, as others have pointed out. Out of the new faceprints, Elrond’s strikes me as odd. Looks far younger than it should, and the old one captured Weaving’s signature eyebrows better. Still an excellent minifig overall and those dual-moulded elven hairpieces look so crisp! Much better than the old printed ones

This year’s AC has potential to be the best one yet! The minifigs alone are worth it Funny how Aberforth gets a new faceprint and Gandalf doesn’t

Exactly. This sounds like a tie-in with the leaked MotP set, as @bricksbyjim points out An entire wave would be nice!

I think there are two issues here: AFOLs are not the same thing as regular adults that 18+ set are also targeted at. They are intended to appeal to people who‘ve never touched a LEGO set before, in this case LOTR fans. The $500 ultimate “grown-up” Rivendell set might be more attractive to them than a $50 playset Wouldn’t the 2012-13 LOTR sets have been more successful if that was the case? Us AFOLs did buy them, after all, and it seemingly wasn’t enough for a third wave

…the „fleshy“ discussion is still not dead yet? Guys, it‘s been almost 20 years. At some point, you need to get over it

Nope. They‘ve used it several times before While I would like to see smaller playsets too, I don‘t mind the theme returning with 18+ sets only. I suppose the 2012-14 range didn‘t sell too well among kids, but the high demand among AFOLs combined with the recent focus on 18+ display models and the release of ROP resulted in this strategy I think LOTR is in a unique position where a range of 18+ sets only is actually sustainable given its vast landscapes and larger than life unique architecture

Well, the Burrow is definitely not coming out this year then As explained before, I can‘t imagine the new set being an add-on to the 2018 Hogwarts, especially since this one seems to focus on the surrounding landscape. My guess is it’s like an Architecture set à la the Great Pyramids with the entire castle, the hills, the lake, and parts of the Forbidden Forrest. Sounds pretty cool actually! Not a huge fan of having so many non-playsets again, but Gringotts, the BoH set, and the March wave make up for that in my mind

You mean this year?

Bessa has recently shared censored versions of the lifestyle pics online and he has openly stated that he’s working on this year’s Disney range. I think on IG

Despite realising I might set myself up for disappointment, I’m still convinced the leaked Disney sets are scheduled for release this year. I have three reasons to believe that: The 100th anniversary. Why would they release these amazing sets based on three significant movies in Disney’s history a year after the festivities? Unlike some other themes’ anniversaries, they seem to take this one seriously! The London Toy Fair reaction. I forgot who said that, but something tells me that reaction was not due to seeing a 4+ train, a minidoll castle (presumably), and a $70 model of Carl’s house. These leaked sets however would justify it Marcos Bessa is in charge of these, and there was a recent photo session for the lifestyle images. Put 1 and 1 together Sure, that’s not hard evidence. But I believe in it nonetheless

With the Barad-dûr leak in mind, that hint is now about as subtle as Sauron smashing people in the face with his trusty mace Might as well have printed “See you next March” on that painting

This is gonna be an agonizing wait However, for the time being we have this glorious set to satisfy our LOTR needs The number of new parts alone is stunning! Elven hair, dwarven beards, and all those weapons!! As others have pointed out, this has to be one of those Ninjago-style weapon packs And that Sauron tease is fantastic!

I don‘t mind. Looks pretty cool in that colour I have a bigger issue: WHY DID THEY MAKE SAMEWISE A GINGER It‘s not just a simple mistake since Sam‘s and Merry‘s hairpieces are swapped compared to their 2012 counterparts in every picture If we‘re VERY unlucky, never. Otherwise, in about a year

I think it works perfectly, since dwarves are canonically taller than hobbits A prototype of the piece itself leaked months ago, but I didn‘t expect to see it here This is an absolutely stunning set! So many cool details and references And it‘s identical to the leak too!!

Funnily enough, my favourite themes bridged each other: Indy (2008-2009) was „replaced“ by Harry Potter (2010-2011), which was in turn succeeded by LotR/TH (2012-2014), with Star Wars retaking its place as my favourite theme (2015-2017), until it was dethroned by HP again (2018-now). And this year, all of them are back

Whoops, I meant „5“ as in 5 hours, because that‘s how long it would take me to get to the store and back

5. I need to go home too, or shall I say there and back again And then there‘s that pesky meeting. Nasty meetingses, we hates it

While I usually order everything online, I would make an exception for this set Too bad I have a meeting on that day, and the new (and currently only) Swiss store is a 2.5 hour train journey away

It was leaked alongside the others, but apparently came from a different source I would actually like to see a remake of the 2006 UCS AT-ST. Would make for a nice (although out of scale) companion to the AT-AT

Sure, but „real“ chess pieces don‘t get knocked over THAT easily They usually have some felt-like material underneath them to increase friction. Some LEGO models achieve that effect with tires or those orange rubbery pins, neither of which would work here

Impressive how different it looks when you flip the image! So the only thing we definitely lost are the two trees to the right. Not the biggest loss, but I still liked them. Hope both bridges are still there though! And of course all of the minifigs