Ardelon

Eh, it was basically Blazej and Alcarin who agreed on it. I think it looks pretty cool, if awkward to display beside Orthanc. So, is the petition posted on 9gag yet? And what about all the memes that were suggested?

Thanks a lot just2good! Hope youre feeling better! The final sets are pretty surprising. The bluecoats are simply updated versions of the classic ones, instead of a redesign. Much easier to integrate them. Even more surprising is the green version of the classic blue pirate torso. The ships cook looks great, as does the governor/admiral/whatever. I wonder if the boy in the BB is Bosun Will, or at least a shout out to him. I wonder in general how much of the characters wil be named/specific, and how much of those will be classic characters (Redbeard? Broadside?) So the female imperial really is more of an action girl than a damsel in distress. OK. Palm treees are still pailm trees, frogs are still frogs. OK. Red sails after all - meh. The pirate flag looks OK, but nothing tops the original IMO. The fort is as insubstantial as ever. Strange that the raft has a catapult. In all, I like what weve seen.

I love the skin as well. Hopefully it will continue well into the winter!

Nice sets, though its all about the minifigs, rather than the builds. It would have been great if the DDC "flipped up with coolers underneath". Good to see Ghost Vitruvius (I wonder how hes built) and Batman. I guess a "happy" Lord Business is great, though I wanted him with a cocky smirk, so Im a bit disappointed. The waffle is great, though I will have to rationalize why is it as big as a pizza...

The Lake Town sets do seem to look much better together than each on their own. Not so sure about the Dol Guldur sets.

About the issue of why Dain would have a trans-red axe, I finally got to my copy of TLotR, and buried in the part on Durin's Folk in Appendix A, I found these sentences: Up the steps after him /Azog/ leaped a Dwarf with a red axe. It was Dáin Ironfoot, Náin's son. We can see PJ & co really milked the appendices for every obscure little detail! As for Dains helmet, I guess the designers thought the extra sales from a helmet with a removable plume wouldnt balance the costs of making an extra mold for the plume.

Nice and thorough review, ZC. But while the structure actually looks pretty good, and you did highlight some interesting parts, This isnt a set one would immediately rush out to get. Im also irked about Brds fleshie triangle, as well as the non-removable crest on Dains helmet. Pass.

Well, there never was much hope. Only a fools hope... and for both statements.

Well I for one would want to avoid jelly-bean hulls for ships. Disliked the Armada Flagship and the RBR for this very reason (though otherwise the RBR was OK). To a lesser extent, this also applies to black hulls like the CBC and BP, though they are a bit less garish or cartoonish than white or red or dark blue. (though I thought the BP was too black, and the CBC was cartoonish for other reasons). I say keep the hulls brown and make the cabins and other superstructures as colorful as you want. I could see a hull in dark orange or nougat, as those colors could still pass for wood. Actually, the one color I would understand on my hulls is copper, to emulate the copper plates on sailing ship hulls.

+1 for the pro- orc hairpiece faction. Though maybe a Dol Guldur orc helm would have been better. And I also thought it looks like it would fit Narzug, but opinion on that here seems to be split.

Why, if Castle is a summer theme, we may still see Castle sets nexy year. The set numbers are significant, but are they conclusive? How so? I know there have been a few documented cases of women in the army disguised as males, but I dont know of any openly female soldiers from that era. Yeah, could be. Though I think the promo image of the bowsprit sticking out of the box would have shown black striped sails if the ship was to have them.

At first, I was disappointed by the preliminary pics, but Ive managed to get regain some optimism. Good to see the bluecoats back, to balance out the redcoats. And the swivel gun concept is interesting - well, we AFOLs have been asking for it in the past. I actually like the pirate ship - its different enough from the BBB for me, with a nice color scheme. Will be interested in the color of the sails, but black stripes like the SES just dont suit it as much as red stripes. Maybe there will just be a different skull face on the sails, to match the new flags? The Soldiers Fort looks pretty lame. It isnt a fort even in the loosest sense, just a flimsy tower with a pier. But the dark red masonry bricks are a saving grace, I thought htey were reddish brown at first (that wouldnt be bad either). The one improvement over the 90s sets is the use of brown parts for piers and quays and masts and such. And I dont mind the new palm trunks, it adds to the variety of the local flora. I do wonder what the frogs are standing in for, if indeed they arent meant to be frogs in the first place. I wonder whether going for a younger demographic is really the reason for simplifying the sets so much. Were the previous iterations really that complex for kids? A skull island was a given, I guess. Its not bad. Neither is the Soldiers outpost. But they cant be serious with the catapult on the raft! The smallest set is weird. Did the rock grow around the ship? Anyway, the minifigs look promising. Bluecoat prints, wigs, something in place of the bowler hat (I hope...), and a white bandana so far. I wonder what the female bluecoat will be. Not a fan of PC in history, but I can always leave her out. In sum, the positives somewhat outweigh the negatives. I expect it will get better when the final images appear.

Well since this topic has resurfaced, I would add my 2 cents about my appreciation of this set. It was the first and (unfortunately) the largest Pirate set I owned as a kid, but I played the wazoo out of it. Some of the minifigs have lost almost all their face printing after so many play sessions! Theres just something about the hut that appealed to me more than the cheesy skull-face islands we keep getting.Probably that it wa kind of neutral, good for my pirates, settlers or islanders. Though the palm leaves were rather fragile and used to break off the studded parts. It would be nice to get more of these "beach village army builder" sets.

Id think its more like the entity that created the Gondor aesthetic that could have copyrighted the the designs. But I have no idea if copyright works this way, so...

A pic from the ground looking upward would be impressive as well, I imagine.

That solves it, then . I was wondering whether it was something relating to the third film.

Dorayaki, we might see what makes this theme stand out when the official set and theme backstory comes out; its a bit early to make judgements just yet. Im not thrilled by what I see in the pics. Apart from not being a fan of minidolls or friends-type animals, the reliance on purple, pink and blue looks cold and unnatural to me, for a nature theme. Its just an aesthetic preference. But the treehouse set has plenty of brown, and it looks nicely built. And the bakery moíght be good for earth tones and masonry bricks. The parts are intriguing, especially the carved fence piece and the map. The scissors might come in handy, but they look more like shears - the scale is even more goofy for them than for other parts. In sum, some parts look nice, but Im not interested in the whole, or the theme as it is. Well, I have no reason to think this theme wont be a hit with the target audience, so more power to them.

It is a very nice and imposing MOC that captures the atmosphere of the place pretty well, but it would probably be pretty repetitive to build! Whats the little building supposed to be?

Wholeheartedly seconded, though Im worried that series 13 will be rather sparse on historical/fantasy figs, since weve got quite a few in series 12. Why do you think so? I would say an Orc/Troll is a stereotypical and familiar enough concept in western culture be be made as a minifig... I expect to see one someday, though I hope it will be the same sort as seen in the fantasy line (sand green skin, red eyes) - Im more worried it would be olive or lime green instead. Thats it! TBBW could be an evil+male version of the "Grandma Visitor"! That would fulfill the role of an analogue minifig the designers often give us...

Actually, when I looked closer, it looks like the Arkenstone in there, so I guess it represents the AUJ prologue scene when the Arkenstone was discovered. Though there doesnt seem a way to access it from the from - a gimmick would have been nice here.

Thanks for the early pics, Shuebmabow. Erebor looks just as interesting from the back - whats the transparent blue-orange thing supposed to be?

Compared to this years sets, I find these new sets much more interesting. Unlike say Ultra Agents where the reverse is true. Even though Im not much of a fan of action vehicles these all look more or less good. Though the location-based set "Enter the Serpentine" is the cream of the crop. I wonder if the "snake-cultists" are really humans or preliminary stand-ins for snakes with legs. And I also wonder what these new blades do. Looks like theres a set of four blades/weapons for everything... As for the elemental powers, I prefer Dorayakis suggestion that the run into the Elves...

Well, it looks like Im only interested in the villains. A location-base set would have been nice. Though I do wonder what the power bricks will be. So far, the first wave looked better, but of course, themse are only prelims.

Thanks for the early look. My opinion remains unchanged. Its a useful parts pack, and of course The figs are nice (I like the WK best), but it doesnt sway me into buying the set. Shame the Elvish sword is in gold again.

Another fine review. I dont mind the lack of a substantial back to the house; I see plenty of people wanted a smaller cheaper set, so this is the way to get it. It shouldnt be difficult to build up the set too (albeit without the gothic arches). Nor do I mind Mrs Claus. Of course I would have liked to see a new print, but I think the old torso works pretty well here. I we do get a new Mrs Claus in a CMF series, with new torso and accessory, all the better. A female elf would have been nice, but she might have looked weird without a new hat+hair mold, which is out of the question for WV sets.