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When you say gladiator/warrior do you mean the Roman soldier or the highlander chap? Good to see three full sets in a box.

Thanks for the pictures. Didn't realise the sleepy head had a double sided face ?! The plastic does look cheap even in the photos (someone had to say it). Especially the silver on the roman's helmet, or perhaps it's just because it's pearl silver? Anyway, still plan on collecting them all. Brickset has reported sightings/purchases in the UK.

I'm suprised its coming out so early. I guess TLG's hand is being forced sometimes to bring stuff forward when things are leaked etc? Will be nice to see what people do with this set and MOCing it, or including it in displays etc.

“They may take our bricks, but they’ll never take our imagination!” Nice braveheart reference TLG :P Guess everyone was going to make the association anyway.

Chickens or maybe some goats :D! I like the way it's a recognisable set but super-sized! And it I ever need some Banana's, I now know what market to head to.

It's called a Barding. And a quick search doesn't bring anything up, but that doesn't mean there's nothing out there! At first I thought you were going to be sharing horse print decals. That I would be interested to see (if anyone has done them). Having recently got the printed grey horse with the Village Raid set I can't help but think why didn't TLG do something like that earlier! (And those Native American Horses with their freaky eyes don't count, I mean generic horse printing).

Yeah someone had taken some on Flickr. It's Just the standard dragon knight chainmail torso.

I know this is probably as good as read, being that it is in the Star Wars forum, and is for Star Wars prizes... But I'm assuming the rules should say the MOC must be Christmas AND STAR WARS themed? Rather than just a Christmas themed competition for Star Wars prizes ?

What a wonderful review! Thanks for a fantastic 10 minutes of transporting me back to my childhood of flicking through lego magazines longingly. I have/had the fabuland paddle boat which I always saw as the runt of my lego sets... But you have opened my eyes to the greatness of fabuland!

Is the triceratops HUGE, or is this picture just badly scaled? http://smashing-bricks.com/files/2011/11/5585-2.jpg As it would make him about 2 minifigs high judging by this effort.

I'd go for a pet shop or sweet/candy shop, though the latter is quite similar to a bakery. Something along the lines of the general store/hardware store suggestion would also be good, with sleds, trees and other decorations and winter goods on sale (skates, shovels etc).

I thought this would make a good female elf hair, but in tan/blonde. Along the lines of Galadrial (sp?) (Cate Blanchett) in LOTR. It would be nice if an official female elf hair (with the ears) came out with one of the CMFs or something. As currently they have close cropped hair in my collection

So far we've had buildings to fit the traditional past-times of Christmas. Toys - toy shop Food - bakery Sending letters - post office So I'd hazard a guess at either a cosy home scene with chimney and kids asleep with stockings by the fire. Or kids queueing up to see Santa in some sort of grotto. I'd love to see TLG bring out a generic deer mold which could be a reindeer, or just a deer depending on the antlers. A full scale crib scene would fit perfectly but again is too religious. Note that it's a 'winter village'etc not a Christmas one!

Is this saying 'lego sets based on TDKR' or just 'LEGO will release more sets at the time the film is released'? The last lego Batman line used ideas from the new Batman films (such as the tumbler) but you couldn't really say the sets were film merchandise (partly because the film and the sets are aimed at different ages ranges, and consequently the kids who want the sets won't have seen the film, or even been old enough to). I'd guess that this new range of sets will follow a similar pattern (that of being inspired by, but not directly linked to the new Batman film). A commissioner Gordon fig would be fun though.

In agreement with Haltiamieli, if you read the original interview here http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-1018-ct-warner-interactive-20111018,0,7733264.story rather than someones report of a report of an interview, it actually says Warner (who make the lego games) are making a new lego batman game, and a new game based on the hobbit. Someone has read that and its gradually turned into 'a new lego batman and lego hobbit game'... which isn't what it says :( and if anyone was going to be making a lego hobbit/LOTR game it would be them. (edited as link didn't work.)

That's the figure he was talking about... There were some old pictures of an unreleased Lego Theme, set around 1920's prohibition era, somewhere here on the forums but I can't for the life of me find them.

At a point where most of us would have either ran out of bricks, ran out of patience, given up an started to cry or just plain sat back and been satisfied with our awesome work, this quote made me chuckle I thought that WAS the main village. Astounding. *jaw drops*

Yeah I know how you feel, but that's kind of my point. Parents aren't going to buy their kids ANOTHER castle when they already have one they play with. Most kids like what they have and either want something new when they grow out of their current toys, or see something new and exciting. TLG have to respond to that need by tempting them away from their current large castle, possibly with something connected to a current film/cartoon/trend they like, and convince parents that they aren't just buying them the same thing over again. Just my thoughts, as much as I would be disappointed for TLG not to develop the current Kingdoms theme further.

I think it is probably more a case of their target market (ie kids) having the attention span of... erm children If there really are new themes coming out, they need to retire some so as not to compete with themselves (especially if they have indeed paid a lot for a licensed theme).

I remember Warren Elsmore saying that they had been sworn to secrecy about the Royal Wedding figure, so it's cool to see it finally turn up in this theme for all to get access to. It was mainly the hair that I'd noticed was the same, but yes the torso looks the same as well (as opposed to the official wedding toppers, where the dress is indeed different).

Ah I see, I hadn't looked at the original inspiration and can see why you did what you did now. I agree with ^ that sand red would be more in keeping, but I don't think those parts exist in that colour?!

Nice to see that hood in red. And the aztec guy is fab. Is anyone else seeing a boar on the black knights shield? Looks like an ear and the top of a tusk?

I like the tan and sand green. And there's a clever use of parts. I would suggest that the red slopes and dark green look a bit out of place though, maybe try and keep the roofing all the same colour?

Thanks for the heads up. Now we know where the bride figure for the Westminster abbey Royal Wedding MOC came from (it's the same fig as this one, no wonder they were sworn to secrecy. Guess the Space Marine is to satiate those hankering for official Halo Lego. Aztec Warrior, Red riding hood, bag-piper and bunny man are the stand-outs for me due to much wanted pieces!

What happens next?! I was sucked into the story. Great MOC and photography. A real feeling of ancient wonder and intrigue. Will have to take a closer look on flickr.