Balrogofmorgoth

Pure heresy

$270 is crazy, but still a day one purchase I have to say I’m very worried that “Sméagol and Déagol” is a Brickheadz set

It’s Odo Proudfoot and his wife I love getting Odo but I would trade his wife for Lobelia for sure

I REALLY love how this set looks. I love that every character gets new prints. Gandalf has a new face print (at least new to him), and everyone else gets new torso prints and new face prints mostly. Sam is the only one who seems to have the same face as Rivendell. I didn’t get Lobelia or Farmer Maggot but we got Rosie Cotton and Mr. and Mrs. Proudfoot which is a huge W! Also basing them all on the party is perfect, that’s exactly what I wanted. The build looks amazing, I like the side builds, and I’m super excited to see the inside. My biggest gripes are they didn’t give Gandalf the new hat/hair combo mold he really needed and they still refuse to give Bilbo accurate hobbit hair. But other than those two things and the lack of Lobelia (I always knew Maggot was a long shot) I absolutely love it. All the new prints are so good! I’m curious if Merry and Pippin will have alternate hair pieces. I get what they were going for but I don’t think it really worked lol. I can’t tell if their faces are dirty or not, but it looks like they might be? Which is something I wanted to see. All in all I do have some big nit picks but I really love the set and can’t wait to get it!! Can’t wait to see what the GWP is

I disagree with the notion that there isn’t a market for smaller LOTR sets. Tons of people are begging for smaller LOTR sets. Contrary to what some people think, there are plenty of kids who love it, and that number will continue to grow with new adaptations like Rings of Power and Hunt for Gollum, not to mention video games. There is also huge demand for it among adults. I don’t think it makes sense to say the demand isn’t there. It absolutely is

I’m really surprised we don’t have a price confirmation for Bag End yet to be honest

I’ve seen so many people over the years say “lego wouldn’t be able to do that” over and over and over and they still manage to come out with something awesome and prove those people wrong. They have some really good designers. I can easily see a $1000 Minas Tirith set in the style of Barad-dûr being done justice.

I would drop $1000 for a huge Minas Tirith in a heartbeat

I don’t like Brickheadz but I did buy the LOTR ones and I do like them. I wouldn’t say no to more but I’m also not dying without them

Hopefully next year. I feel like a broken record at this point but we really need regular sets

Anyway, all that to say Ringwraiths in a Bag End set wouldn’t be all that outlandish. But with it being a smaller set there’s just no room for that since hobbits would be the priority

Honestly that would be awesome if we got travel Bilbo in the set and then party Bilbo in the GWP

If it were a generic Shire set I would say include Ringwraiths. But being just Bag End it doesn’t need them. That doesn’t mean it wouldn’t make sense to include them, lego does that all the time if characters are in close enough proximity. By that logic, Barad-dûr shouldn’t have come with Frodo and Sam. Also the Ringwraiths do go all the way to Bagshot Row in the book. But since the sets are strictly movie based, I digress

I’m talking in context of it maybe happening again

I could see the GWP being a Ringwraith from when they’re searching in the Shire for the Ring. But I also think it’s about time some Ringwraiths make it into sets instead of always being locked behind a GWP

Hasn’t made the rounds in the usual places yet. But I trust the source. Probably won’t be long

I have heard there is indeed a GWP

Yeah only five minifigs would be an insult In my opinion, the bare minimum needs to be Gandalf, Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, and Bilbo

I mean yeah, a playset would be ideal, but they e showed no signs of that happening. And if they would include Éowyn then they would have to include more Rohirrim. Making a huge Minas Tirith strictly about Gondor and its enemies would be the best move. There has to be a limit somewhere. But it just goes to show how badly we need playsets

I think the best way they could do it without doing an absolutely massive D2C would be several playsets. One for the top few levels with courtyard, tree, tower, and citadel. One for the bottom few levels with outer walls, main gate, Grond, etc. Both can have buildings, streets, houses, etc. And then a battle pack with a section of wall to expand it however much you want.

This would my ideal $1000 Minas Tirith set: Probably about 9,500-10,000 or so pieces (for reference Barad-dûr has 5,471 pieces at $460). Highly detailed build at a playable scale, but has some micro scale elements, like Barad-dûr but much bigger. Playable scale interior including library, citadel throne room, secret Palantir room, tombs, houses, Pippin and Gandalf’s room, armory, storeroom, stable. Exterior includes tower of Ecthelion with the upper citadel entrance and courtyard with the White Tree and promontory with flat platform at the top. Scattered houses and entrance ways, streets, walls, windows, rooftops, statues, banners, gates, trebuchets. Outer walls for each of the seven levels, with room for soldiers to stand, with a tall outer wall for the lowest level including the main gate to the city. Additional builds are an Orc siege tower and Grond the great battering ram, along with a couple catapults and a Fell Beast (new molded head). Molded creatures would be Shadowfax, two brown horses, a Warg, and a war Troll. Minifigures would be Faramir, Denethor, Gandalf the White, Pippin in Gondorian livery, Irolas, Gondorian Fountain Guard x2, Gondorian Soldier x5, Orc soldier x3, Guritz, Gothmog, Witch King. New molds: Armored troll Warg Gondorian helmet Fountain Guard helmet Gondorian shield Fell Beast head Fell Beast wings Witch King helmet/hood (Maybe something new for Gandalf’s hair and beard) I don’t feel like any of that is too much to ask for a $1000 set The biggest thing I think I’d be ok with then skipping in a set like that in favor of saving it for a future set would be the Witch King and Fell Beast (as weird as that sounds). But assuming we’re only ever getting big D2C style sets, a Witch King vs Éowyn set seems unlikely to happen. So Minas Tirith would be the next best place to include him

Well of course, my point isn’t that she will definitely be in the set (although I really hope she is) but rather that a set like this almost always has budget for some new molds and a handful of new prints, and it’s highly unlikely that a new hairpiece is going to take anything away from other parts of the set. And also that it makes no sense to wish for lower quality to save a few bucks. Why bother collecting at that point

The best way would be to balance new molds with new prints. Like I said, what other new molds does it need besides hopefully a hat for Gandalf? Face prints already exist for all five main hobbits and Gandalf (although I would hope for a specific face print for Gandalf). I think there’s plenty of room for new prints and a couple new molds

I would actually be totally in favor of a $1000 Minas Tirith set. That would ensure that they can really do it justice and include a lot of minifigs “It adds to the cost though” well yeah….why would you want them to sacrifice quality for a lower price.

I guess I’ll just never understand the mindset of “a piece exists that doesn’t exactly look accurate but could maybe work so I don’t want them to make a new piece even though the set doesn’t really need any other new pieces” Just doesn’t make sense to me. If the set doesn’t require a bunch of new molds, and a character could use a new mold, just give it to them. It doesn’t take away from anything else No one is saying they’ll boycott the set if it doesn’t include Lobelia with a new hair piece. But she and other named hobbits like her would be wonderful additions to what is probably the only Shire based set we’re going to get. It’ll definitely be disappointing if some of those other hobbits aren’t included