mirkwoodspiders

This. Minifig scale for the entire city is obviously untenable. Minifig scale for a portion, a la Rivendell, I do not think makes sense either - the contexts are entirely different. Rivendell as a whole is not as much of a focus in the films as are its individual components. I think Minas Tirith, on the other hand, is visually appealing primarily as a whole. The entire facade gets so many camera shots, and rightly so, more so than its individual components. So, I don't think minifig scale for a portion of Minas Tirith would be as welcome as it was for Rivendell because you'd be losing the essential thing that makes Minas Tirith cool - the entire facade. I am expecting something similar to Barad-Dur, which I consider a success.

Yep. Anything other than microscale or a portion of the city is untenable. We're talking tens of thousands of pieces, probably around 4-5 feet in height for a complete city to be even close to minifig scale. Microscale is the only realistic way to go for a full city if anyone wants to afford/display it.

No, it does not always mean this. For example, the UCS Millennium Falcon is "larger" than the UCS AT-AT by both piece count and footprint, but they are priced exactly the same. Minas Tirith might have a high piece count and large footprint but end up being cheaper than Rivendell. A lot depends on piece size, number of prints, etc. I did not say you spoke for others. You did more or less say I am wrong, which made me feel the need to explain what I said. Sorry if I misinterpreted your reply, though.

It is exciting. You're entitled to your opinion, but some of us don't mind the high prices as long as quality follows. Personally, when an expensive set like Rivendell is released, I avoid other sets, save for a lengthy period of time, and get sets like Rivendell that I truly want. Maybe Minas Tirith will be poor value, but I'll wait and see. IP doesn't always equate to poor value. I would rather have Minas Tirith done well at a higher price than something that's a let down for cheaper. Also, higher priced sets don't necessarily exclude the possibility of smaller sets in the future if you want to avoid the more expensive ones.

Where is TandNbricks post about this? I'm having trouble hunting it down. This is exciting news!

I wonder what the release date for Minas Tirith will be. I half-remember getting news of Rivendell about this time of year and seeing it release in April of the following year, so possibly a late spring release? Or maybe it's the big ticket Black Friday item and we'll have to wait an entire year

Don't forget Helm's Deep!

To the shock of no one, the Death Star is still in stock in the U.S. I did stop by my local LEGO store to see it built. It really is impressive in-person. Unfortunately, many LEGO fans won't have the chance to see it in-person, which I believe is a major factor in deciding on a set like this. Further, as I've said before, LEGO really missed the mark in not offering something irresistible as a GWP. Yes, others are thankful there's nothing special locked behind a $1000 set, but from LEGO's standpoint I really think they needed a fantastic GWP to sell much at all in the initial release period. The GWP has nothing printed, no unique parts or minifigs, etc. I truly believe the set is a decent value for what you get (but not so decent one should not hold out for a discount), the display presence is undeniable, and the playability is extensive. I'm not the sort to get hung up on dual-molded legs, etc. However, if you don't give me something compelling to buy it right away, there truly is zero reason to buy at retail or not avoid it altogether if the price doesn't drop.

My preference would be 3). But, I honestly think I'd be happy with any of those options. Minas Tirith is going to be really difficult to pull off however they do it, so I'm trying not to imagine much of anything right now.

Super exciting rumor about Minas Tirith. I hope, if it turns out to be true, it's not as controversial as the Death Slice, as it would probably need to be close to that expensive and have as many/more parts to be done well. The Sauron bust sounds like a great idea. I wonder what other ones they might have up their sleeve

Saw a 360 view of the set and finally got to see the back and... I can see why they kept it hidden lol. Very utilitarian and unsightly. Man, I was waiting for some as yet unrevealed detail to move the needle, but other than a functional elevator - cool but not profound - I can't see anything that moves me to get this any time soon, if ever. I'm thinking I'll hold onto my VIP points and see if some big LOTR set or something else compelling releases next year.

Tie GWP is not appealing in the slightest. I can't think of a GWP that would have pushed me from "maybe I'll get the Death Star for a 3X points or some hefty discount down the road" to "might actually consider getting this day one", but it's not this!

If there is something on the horizon, I wish we'd get some hint soon. As expensive as sets have become, it's gotten more important to know about other themes ASAP in order to know what to spend money on and when. Like, if there's another large set releasing next year, I'll pass on some of the sets I'm considering this fall. LOTR trumps everything for me.

This is an interesting angle, and one I hadn't thought of before. $1,000 should be groundbreaking in some way. Maybe there's more to the set than meets the eye, particularly with functions, that we'll discover it in the reviews. But, so far nothing indicates it's much more than a lot of bricks representing familiar scenes. Interesting, but not compelling.

Same here. I'm not sure what functionality would sway me closer to picking it up, but a fully-functioning elevator (better quality than the one in 75159) would be cool. There's also an entire surface we haven't seen. Probably not much there, but there could be some neat surprises.

This may end up being one of the bigger failures of the entire scenario - failing to make a GWP that's simply irresistible. A TIE Fighter build with no exclusive figs doesn't come close to moving the needle if that's what it ends up being.

The Death Star looks good. I'm working through a few things as I process the leak: 1. Other options were probably a full sphere with little to no interior (wouldn't interest me), full sphere with loaded interior (likely costing way more than $1000), or half sphere with the interior we see in the leak (major balance/structural issues and probably not feasible?). So, for the price and scale, what we see is probably the best option. This still doesn't mean they had to make it, but for the budget I'm not sure they could realistically have done anything else. Thoughts? 2. The value isn't great, but 9K pieces and 38 minifigs isn't horrific. I do understand the desire for new prints, dual-molds, etc., but I honestly don't get as hung up over minifigs as some do. Considering the Titanic was about the same piece count for originally $630, I'd have hoped to closer to 10K pieces. Where would they have gone? Who knows. There are a lot of small pieces in the Titanic (and the Eiffel Tower), maybe the Death Star has lots of larger ones in general. 3. I see a lot of "this doesn't look like $1,000", but wait to see it in person if you are able. The dimensions are massive, perhaps seeing it in person would make a positive impression. Also, what would $1,000 look like? I agree not what we got, but I'm curious what people would want to see that's realistic. 4. I think this will sell poorly, which will hopefully result in a hefty discount down the road. I would be comfortable paying $850-$900 for this sucker. 5. In general, I agree with most people. $1,000 needed to blow me away/have miniscule flaws to justify the purchase and this simply hasn't. Unless the GWP is incredible for some reason (which I don't foresee happening), I'll look for 4x points/discount or something down the road if I do ever purchase it.

Rats. If TLG's desire was to make customers more selective, they're getting their wish. I'm basically down to 1 UCS per year, plus maybe one play set, but even that is getting tough to afford.

I'm a mix of sad and relieved with all the Death Star news. Sad because you want the first $1,000 set to blow you away (pun intended), especially when it's Star Wars and the Death Star. Relieved because I can potentially put that money toward other sets in which I'm really interested. I think the only way I'll be interested is if it's indeed some sort of half-sphere with the laser/shell as a facade and rooms on the other side. I'll wait and see whatever it turns out to be, but I'm skeptical anything else would compel me to purchase it. If it's terrible, I'll probably go for the Black Pearl and Hogsmeade instead.

Yeah, Death Star anticipation is getting buried under all the (merited) August wave criticism. It'll be both the highest piece count and price point ever for LSW. I'm having trouble wrapping my mind around where all the figs will go in the set. I have to think it's going to have an extensive interior to be able to display 38. Then the question is where do the extra 5,000+ pieces go in comparison with 75159? DSI or DSII? Outer-plating or totally exposed interior? So many questions!

Anything, really. Just keep the theme going.

It's either gonna be Death Star, or some combination of Black Pearl/USS Enterprise/AT-ST/Hogsmeade. Can't do all of them, and if the Death Star is excellent, it's the only one I can afford the rest of the year and into next. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I wish LEGO would spread some of these expensive sets out over more time so people could save up more money to afford them.

Yes, please. It's wild how much of a difference that makes with purchasing plans. If the Death Star is good, it wipes out most sets I'm able to get for awhile. If it's poorly executed, that's $1,000 to devote elsewhere. Along with the advocacy for a TIE Avenger, might I add Luthern Rael's ship to the mix? That'd be a heck of a set.

I had my first LEGO quality control snafu in a while yesterday. Jango's UCS Slave 1 had two #9 bags and zero #6 bags. LEGO is shipping me a new #6 bag, but still pretty annoying. Prices are rising and quality is dropping. Of all the August sets, I think the V-19 is the only one in which I'm interested. I'm impressed with the minifgs for most of the other sets but don't have the $$ to buy these along with other sets I'm interested in. Waiting patiently for UCS Death Star news...

I'm a little confused. The "price-per-piece" metric of $0.10/piece (or something close to that) was one of the primary means of criticizing the Shire. Rarely were factors like size of pieces, licensing, prints, inflation, etc. referenced. We now have another LOTR set with almost exactly a $0.10/piece ratio and people are still complaining about the price/value. What am I missing? Btw, I do think it looks a little empty in photos but the Moria construction and the Balrog build look pretty good. I'll be picking this up when a 2X points promo or a discount rolls around.