Ardelon

Clouse is the top villain for me, though I think at least Skales should be included in the list, which would make it harder for me to choose. Garmadon was cool in the Skulkin season, but they made him much less menacing in later seasons. Pythor is the only other villain id consider. The rest are comic relief, ineffectual or un(der)developed. Not sure about the army - Id have to decide between the Serpentine, the Stone Army and the Cultists. Its a bit too early to have the ghosts in the poll, and I think Ronin and Skales should be included.

Have you heard about the Lord of the Rings LEGO line? I would be all for a 3rd series, if it didnt take the place of a regular CMF series. Being as it is, I would rather see the Simpsons minifg series retired, and see the return of the usual CMF Series. The focus of the Simpsons theme can be on the large sets (or a regular wave of sets).

Do we know Fantasy Era was axed because of LotR though? For all we know FE ran as long as it was meant to (with no plans to make the elves on the map). In any case I really hope the new theme wont be Chima-fied or too fantastical.

These criticisms only apply if you absolutely necessarily have to copy the movies. In the books, nothing stated that the helmet was shaped like it was in the movies (nor were the shields), so the classic helm is as good as any. The lack of charge in the form of the tree is the biggest problem IMO.

Most of what has been said are pretty conservative and sober suggestions, backed up by past experience and the like. So no grand theory-building. Furthermore, one of the things that makes humans the dominant species on the planet is not only recognizing facts, but extrapolating from them and identifying trends. And while you may prefer a (possibly unrealistically) positive and optimistic discussion, other fans like to keep their feet firmly on the ground, to exchange info that would lead to the most accurate possible future scenario. Unwarranted optimism and high expectations will also „lead to nothing“, as you say (well, except future disappointment).

Not for the 5-12 year-olds it isnt. And since thats who TLG is catering to, we probably wont see any change. Not counting that the long gap between pirate themes also means that the formula doesnt seem so repetitive (and Pirate-starved fans are glad to get any theme at all). Oh, and PotC...

The torso seems to be from this figure, that was part of a keychain made as part of the KK1 theme: http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/lego/images/f/f7/850076.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110126144542 link to page: http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/850076_Robber_Key_Chain And since Im not allowed to post the above pic direcly, heres another one: another,larger image, with the keychain: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=613166 Though im not sure if its the lighting, but the torsos in this MOC seem to lack th silver dots on the scales. Or maybe the torso has been modded? Thing is, Im not sure how separable torsos are from the rest of the keychain. Here si some discussion on it: http://www.classic-castle.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=475 And Im sure theres something on the topic here on Eurobricks as well. Nice MOC, by the way!

Wow, the MOC is Great, but the story really sells it, and breathes a lot of life to the build!

Thanks for all the reviews just2good! Are the dark-skinned minifigs nougat or a "dark flesh" color?

^ Pretty much my opnion as well. Id rather see TLG concentrating on Ninjago and Scooby Doo rather than adding another theme (unless it would be an adventurers style theme), or putting any extra resources to the Castle and Pirate themes.

Well, I dont think Legolas hijinks were any worse here than in the LotR trilogy. And the LotR trilogy had its share of deviations from the book, not least with the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, just like with this last film. I can swallow the addition of Tauriel for a female character (though the love triangle was pushing it too far), and Legolas because he is from Mirkwood after all. Its Alfrid who bugs me the most of all the added characters (and maybe Bain as well). Azog and Bolg I would have condensed into, well, Bolg. Azog would have been killed by Dain as in the books, to estabish Dains badassery. The plot of the film reflects the title, so I cant complain there. Though I really would have liked to see an epilogue with Dain as King.

While all good points, we have to remember about the discrepancies between movies and sets that we dont know how much material the designers had available to work off of, nor how much of what they had was changed at the last minute by the moviemakers. And of course there is the thing with the movies splitting from two to three. So its not like it was a choice between what we got and a perfect wave. Smaug seems to be a dilemma. Im sure if he was in the LT set, there would be an equally great outcry among AFOLs about him not being in the Lonely Mountain. Both locations/scenes are iconic, the designers just went with one of them. Putting Smaug into a beefed-up LT set and making a TBOTFA-based LM set would give us ´two large sets, which might not work with TLGs price-point wave structure. As for Gwaihir, another reason he might have been included was to give every army a representation in the set (though I would have preferred a warg to an eagle, even though there were no wargs in the battle). But I wont complain about us getting a crowned Thorin, even if he is inaccurate. Battle packs would have been great, and the designers obviously recognize this as seen in the Star Wars theme, so I guess there was a licensing restriction on them. Of course I have my gripes as well. I too would have liked to see the entrance to the moutain, in the style of the Fantasy Dwarf mine or the Lone Ranger silver mine. Less ballista and more Dale in the Bo5A set, Or, like bungeshea suggested, dropping/combining the DGA set, which has no counterpart in the movies,though I dont know what they would do for Beorn in this case.

It might be a Heroica theme? Still a fantasy Castle fantasy theme, with characters based on the character classes, etc...

Well, I think the results showed that it was just subtle enough. But at least for me, the difference was that Disney wouldnt allow such a blatantly "subversive" presentation as was done. Whereas with Ameribricks,the site was still run by the same staff, being responsible to no one, and thus could afford to be irreverent. (I say this as someone who probably would have been fooled by Ameribricks, if I hadnt scrolled down to read the comments before the actual announcement)

Hmm, seems like i missed out on the filter fun. Oh well, the glorious kerfuffle that was Ameribricks casts a long shadow, so everyone was prepared; and I doubt we will see something of that magnitude for a few years yet. But this one was actually believable (though the first post was too over the top; whats an April Fools day joke if noone is fooled?)

I think any „negative“ influence of military toys is way overblown. If toy soldiers havent turned our kids into brainwashed child soldiers or our societies into militaristic jingoists, I dont think that LEGO military sets would do that. My own opinion is that TLGs stance is more a PR ploy than anything else. Not sure if its hypocritical, since formally, they have done the mental acrobatics to justify all other „types“ of violence (historical, contemporary licensed, sci-fi) except the contemporary nonlicensed „type“ . (How ridiculous to classify violence like this). So I would call their stance more cynical than hypocritical. Thats not necessarily a bad thing if it helps TLG thrive. I recognize that theyre a company that needs to make money, not an NGO or a Church. I believe that this stance is not as unchangeable as some here claim. We went from a time when TLG didnt want to produce gray and green bricks to what we have today. And since this isnt the end of history, I belive the already fine lines will get more blurred until they will disappear altogether. A step in this direction could be stand-alone vehicles or aircraft devoid of context, like the WW1 fighter planes or the recent Creator jet (but in more practical colors). Or a theme inspired by films like Independence Day or War of the Worlds, with realistic and contemporary miltaries fighting a non-human threat. Why couldnt the next Alien Conquest theme come with Human vehicles in olive green, or the various tans and grays, rather than blue? At the end of the day, none of this really matters. The parts are mostly there, and as someone said above, we are free to build whatever we want. Its more a theoretical question than one with any practical implications. As to the bolded part: Well, that is kind of the purpose of this thread. And since both sides have relevant arguments, their repetition isnt a bad thing, it shows us which of them are the most accepted and thus most relevant. As to the rest: Yes that is a shame, but i think we can all handle some rough words, since theyre usually (I hope) born out of a passion for ones beliefs. It would be a bigger shame to lock this thread, since it would deprive new members of having an equal say on the subject. And after all, argument and controversy are the seeds of progress.

For the purpose of feedback, I have to say plainly, I dont like it. I know it takes a lot of work to do, but still. The combination of pink and blue is too garish. And the colors seem too "hygienic" and cold/sterile to me, they evoke stuff like hospitals, bathrooms, hospital bathrooms, etc. And toothpaste - the extra minty and unpleasantly strong kind. But I expected somethng like this; thats why i was hoping the winter banner would last as long as possible. Any chance of an autumn banner (my favorite), for solidarity with our comrades from the southern hemisphere?

I would love to see Johnny Thunder & co. back as well, for continuitys sake. It would be a great nod to AFOLs, and it wouldnt detract in any way from the play experience for KFOLs or newFOLs. But I do see the problem that the Adventurers already were in Egypt, and you cant keep returning them to an Egyptian setting. So if TLG wanted to make an ancient Egyptian theme, which I suspect was the reason for Adventurers in the first place (since only Egypt got a retread with the PQ theme, the other Adventurers subthemes didnt), they would have to come up with a new group anyway.

Just a suggestion, but shouldnt this thread be pinned?

That depends, is there official material confirming itthe guy as Captain Pete? (I kind of assumed so, but Im not sure). That would be the one necessary & sufficient criterion for inclusion on this list, IMO. For the record, I do think both juniors set pirates are meant to be captains, Im just curious.

Id wager the Ideas set will fail just as surely even if there is no wave of JP sets. I forget who the company behind JP/JW is but their interest is to have TLG sell their own sets, not a similar set by a third party that would draw sales away from the official sets. Arent there clauses in license deals that enforce this?

Are we sure hes a captain, though? It takes more to make a captain than a fancy hat - there was a pirate in the 1997 Pirates Perilous Pitfall set with a captains hat, and I wouldnt advocate adding him...

How so?

Hm, maybe an Islander faction could work? Otherwise, all very good ideas, with the integration of the fantasy elements, and the game dynamic of occupying new lands.

While I hope we will get more waves, LotR/Hobbit is an example that wealth of material doesnt necessarily mean more sets...