RichardGoring

Well, well, Variety is reporting that Warner Bros is talking about new LOTR movies - Lord of the Rings New Movies Set at Warner Bros - Variety As with all of these things, you have no idea whether it's ever going to amount to anything, but the money involved in their previous films, and how much Amazon is pumping into it, suggests that they think there is value in producing content. And LEGO has the relationship with Warner Bros for sets (and probably not with Amazon, yet), so it might lead to more LOTR sets in the future (although these films, if they ever happen, could be ten years away still).

I'm afraid that you're just going to have to not get all of them. Probably drop the Dilophosaurus Ambush to make it more affordable...

It's just the size seems very small to fit in the entrance hall, dining room, and the lab, so none of them will likely have much detail or scale to them, which is a shame as those locations are all very large in the movie. Then again, if you did it to scale, it would be a $500, and we probably don't need ANOTHER one of those right now.

These sound really good, with the exception of the visitor center, which sounds good, but the scale suggests it will be disappointing. Looking forward to seeing images.

I find that reviewers tend to to fall into two camps. There's the Brickset, Jay, and JANG approach, which is snow, deliberate, and methodical, going through the components of the build, linking in some detail of the subject matter, and also insights into the LEGO aspects like the building techniques and element history where it's interesting. I personally like these, as do probably many AFOLs. And then there are the more 'mainstream' reviewers like Emmasaurus, Solid Brix Studios (not for Star Wars stuff, but the other things that LEGO send), Bricksie, Hollyonfilm, and Brick Fanatics who maybe do a higher level review, and maybe follow the press kit a bit much, and can be a bit saccharine. But you know what, they do a great job at producing content that many thousands of people enjoy and I appreciate them for doing it. It feels like Emily at Emmasaurus especially can get a hard time of it because she's relatively new to LEGO, but she's jumped in headfirst and shows a level of enthusiasm that is bringing a lot of joy. I don't watch it probably, but for LEGO it's opening up lots of new customers, so it's great for them. And watch as the people who view her channel buy loads of Rivendell sets and allow new sets to be made. Yes, they pronounce the names incorrectly, but go to JANG or Brickset for the quality in-depth reviews that people here tend to want.

It could still be a render, but prototypes make physical models a feasible option too. In this case as the goat is a single grey piece, it might actually suggest a physical model with a 3D printed prototype, rather than a render, which would probably have used a coloured and printed goat.

But they were, all of them, deceived, for another set was made. In the land of Mordor, in the fires of Mount Doom, the Dark Lord Sauron forged in secret a Master LEGO Set of Barad-dur...

But they 3D print or sculpt prototypes without the expense of the mould. Although that it still probably more expensive than a digital render, it's not terribly expensive in comparison.

So, there are nine designers assigned to this set. Are they supposed to be the Fellowship or the Nazgûl?!

In one of the designer interviews for the castle I think they said that one concept also included a village, but it was removed as the set was too large.

Maybe that suggests that it's a LEGO exclusive, but the rest are general release?

Quite a flare up there, but glad that it's speculation. I'm still really looking forward to the car chase scene. I love it when we get vintage cars like that.

I kind of assumed that if they did a CMF, they would have other sets to go with it, which include the Fellowship. But yes, if it was ONLY a CMF (and Rivendell), then you'd have to have the Fellowship. Also agreed that they're very unlikely to do it.

How many people will do a goat bonsai tree, do you think? Will they move onto a goat cypress tree?!

And it's probably just a bit too early for any of these to have been sent out either, unlike the Osprey, so we probably won't get any, nor the instructions for it. I hope the plane is still on. That was my only definite buy of the playsets (although mostly for the car).

Really? Personally, it was the one I was least interested in (it's also my least favorite movie in the franchise), but to get this far and then cancel it is such an odd decision. They've presumably got them produced and stacked up ready to go. Into Hangar 51 with them? It's also a shame because now the line is an 18+ set and two pretty small playsets, only one of which has a location. And it's not as if you can't predict any controversy that might come from things associated with Temple of Doom.

If they did a CMF, I hope they'd go back to 18 like the upcoming Disney 100. Because we all know that the CMF would have to include the entire fellowship, but at the same time, no one would want that. Or maybe, maybe they could be brave and do a Marvel where they ignored the movie characters and focused on the TV shows. What would sell better? Fellowship appeals to more general audience, but are they interested enough in LEGO LOTR CMFs? Other characters probably appeal more to AFOLs and serious LOTR fans, who would likely buy them out quickly, but there aren't as many of them.

I like the concept roof, but it reminds me of an opera house, and the rest of the facade doesn't match. It would be great for them to do something more ornate in the future though.

It got my vote. I only have the original Caribbean Clipper and a few smaller bits from my childhood, and would love one or two more things to provide support against Barracuda Bay and my original pirates.

I'm just so glad that I don't care for Star Wars or Minifigures (the Bugle, I think, is only great if you like figures, which it delivers in spades, but the build appears average, and I'm hoping NWH is similar, so I'm not tempted). Good luck on the lottery! Yes, good logic. And it also spills over into people wanting to expand their modular collection with other buildings, opening the market to non-Batman fans.

Gosh. Part of me hopes that at least one of these (Marvel/DC) is a terrible dud, so I don't have to consider $1000 on two sets, plus another $500 for Rivendell. But most of me hope that they're amazing. Is another vehicle really feasible? The piece count is 'only' 500 more than the 1998 Batmobile, but 1500 more than the Batwing and 1800 more than the Tumbler. And it's double the price of all three. It doesn't feel like they'd need that much extra budget to make a bat vehicle. Whereas I can see them making a location using that many pieces and warranting the price tag. Price per piece suggests a larger number of decent sized pieces, which might point towards something structural, like a batcave.

Ssshh! They've still got the Indy 5 wave to go. Don't spoil it! ;)

Lovely looking series. I won't be getting all of them, but they generally look really good, and do pleased that it is a full 18 characters. Cruella looks much better than the original leaked image, as does the Queen to a certain extent.

The nice thing about a $500 D2C is that it's either going to be an amazing must have that people look back on for years and we all save to get it, or an opportunity to do a crazy experiment that can be quite polarizing and fewer people 'have' to get it. I'd love an Avengers' Tower at this price point, because I think it would work really well. But if be happy for fans of a $500 building object and admire it from afar as I build something else. If this is a dud, there are plenty more amazing sets to get. Even if not necessarily in Marvel or DC (having said that, still haven't built my 1989 Batmobile or Batwing).

It may be worth checking at 23:00 then, as they sometimes put things out at midnight European time. Not that I think this will sell out immediately, as has been the case for some things over peak pandemic. They've got much better with inventory management, so if you tried first thing in the morning you'll likely be fine.