Ardelon

Nobody was fighting. Your posts have been the most aggressive on the subject so far. You are pefectly free to ignore the 1-2 posts per page that mention the sunject and concentrate on the 23-24 that dont. Accusations of childishness are alwayus funny when posted on a forum for kids toys. I would have no problem counting the eagles and the bats as armies, however small. I always wondered why not count the eagles and bats and have it called the Battle of Seven Armies. Its just that the Tolkien is pretty clear: he calls it the Battle of Five Armies and immediately lists the 5 factions. The meeting to attack the woodmen was presented as ad hoc, similar to many such raids before. The Bo5A alliance between them seems just as ad hoc. I wonder if a 60USD BoFA set would merit an eagle, a warg and Beorn in Bear form. I see the eagle as the most redundant, but if they really will be one of the 5 armies, it should be included. The warg has the benefit of being both a mount and a combatant, unlike a boar or elk/stag would be. And is there any official word on a bear Beorn at all? The no photo rule at the Nuremberg toy fair is unfortunate, as again we will have to rely on the knowledge of the attendees when/if they describe the sets.

I must say I was actually pleasantly surprised with the Great Goblin in the movie. Being an Orc/Goblin with actual speaking lines in the book, he was already intriguing, but sadly undeveloped. And I never knew how to picture him with his huge head without him looking comical in my mind, like a bobble-head figure or something. The move version gives us a version that works, both i looks and in personality. I actually find him a more menacing villain than Azog. Azog just appears to be a big dumb brute, with a "Hulk smash!" mentality. I see nothing that would make him a suitable candidate to lead Saurons armies. He fights almost in the nude, without any armor, so naturally he gets a limb chopped off. Wearing no armor mioght be prestigious, but putting honor over reason is not a mark of a good commander IMO. Whbats worse, he knows exactly where the Dwarves are headed, but it doesnt seem to occur to him to cut them off (Bolg, on the other hand, surprisingly knew that the Dwarves would escape by way of the river gate...). He kills his top lieutenant for failing to capture the/kill the Dwarves, even though Yazneg had a good reason to withdraw, as his Orcs were hunters, not soldiers equiped to to fight Elvish cavalry. The Great Goblin on ther other hand, actually captured the Dwarves and his slick and deceptively jovial manner (even asking their opinion on his song!) makes him seem like a more developed and intelligent character. This is actually more like how I pictured Azog and Bolg from the books - the way Azog killed Thror and taunted Nár, the Dwarf that was with him, showed that Azog had a taste for political theatrics, and Bolg was genre-savvy enough to surround himslef with a very effective bodyguard, what actually casued the death of Thorin, the deuteragonist of the book. Otherwise, yeah, I thought the stunts, especially in Goblin Town, were over the top, sometimes crossing over into slapstick. Its one thing that the Dwarves are immortal because the story requires it, but that didnt have to mean the Goblins were made into such a pathetic non-threat. But I cant really complain, we all know that the book, and thus the movies, are meant to be more light-hearted, and so far Im ok with hown the movies are playing out. TL/DR: Azog sucks (btw, so does Bolg). The Great Goblin is boss. Over the top stunts and slapstick are annoying. Otherwise, the movies are neat.

I assume thats how it will be in the film, where the Wargs are nto shown as an army in their own right, but as for the book, Tolkien had this to say: "So began a battle that none had expected; and it was called the Battle of Five Armies, and it was vey terrible. Upon one side were the Goblins and the wild Wolves, and upon the other were Elves and Men and Dwarves." (p237 of my edition of The Hobbit, chapter The Clouds Burst) To me, thats pretty conclusive proof that the Wargs are a separate army in the books, and the Eagles and Bats are not counted. After all, earlier in the book, the Wargs wee supposed to meet with the Goblins to carry out a raid on the Woodmen, which shows the Wargs were independent from the Goblins. This actually has on-topic significance: a 60USD BOFA army builder should include at last one member of each army, thus apart from the figures also a Warg or an Eagle, depending on which is an army. (Though preferably both, in any case!) This is true, though I would guess its to fit the quivers on the figs, as mentioned above. But I saw the Elves-shouldnt-have-hoods arguments elsewhere on this forum, outside of this specific context. It just seems like an unfair criticism to make against TLG.

Bizarre crew... just like the movie itself. I should have known - I was hoping for some actual pirates, but so long as they dont appear in any TLM sets, we arent actually being missing out on any new pirates. The one on the extreme left looks like the cmf S1 magician. I guess some people will have an easy time manning their Sea Cow with previous collectable minifigs, should they choose to be accurate to the movie (something the movie itself kind of discourages...).

I was wondering, could Lord Business' kooky hat be another real-world item, like the battery, "kragle", lollipop staff or his own cape, which seems to be a tie? No idea what it could be, just a thought.

I never quite understood this criticism. While no hooded Elves appear in DOS as far as I recall, people are acting like hooded Elves are an impossibility. Why can't Elves in general wear hoods? After all, an Elf wearing a helmet would be indistinguishable from a human wearing a helmet, so why can't the same apply to hoods? I myself see hoods as a very Elvish type of headgear. Not that I'm begrudging you guys, hairpieces in other haircolors would be neat, though not being an Elf-collector or fleshie collector I can't really appreciate it. Helmets, on the other hand, would be inappropriate for these scouts. It's just odd to hear the arguement apporached from this angle of Elves not being Elves if they wear hoods.

Yes, sorry if I wasn't clear, I was talking about the two-handed sword, which I'd like to see in a silvery or bley color. Though I would rather see a more accurate sword, if it was up to me.

That behind the scenes clip was awesome hilarious! But something seemed a bit off in the actual movie clip with the train and Batman, not sure what. Is the movie going to be in 3D? As for the sets, I hope there will be some smaller ones to go along with the four big ones.

I like that idea, though I would prefer the Witch-King and fell beast in a separate set with Eowyn and Merry. This would allow the Osgiliath set to be more of an army builder. If we don't get the Eowyn set, though, this does sound like an optimal way to get the rest of the figs we're missing Nope, the main point of the confrontation was to have two "non-men" kill the Witch-King. Theoden and Snowmane are ther just to get themselves killed. Not sure if TLG want this immortalized in a set. Not that I would complain if we really got them, though...

True, but it's not unprecedented to name the whole after a component - a fire engine is much more than the engine. But that's just me nit-picking. I could go with "wind-lance", it's just that as Gryphon Ink mentioned, the word doesnt make any sense in context, unlike windlass. For all we know though, it might just be spelled "wynd-lanse" (Yes, it's bugging me more than it should...) As to the helmet issue discussed here, I assume an elf-helm will be made for the TABA wave. As mentioned, the reason it didn't come in the MEA set was that there were no such soldiers in the movie. I'm more curious whether we will get a new dwarf-helm or orc-helm. And I hope we will finally get Elrond's sword in silver or bley. Not sure what to make of the new set info, I'm a bit disappointed that Lake Town wont be as substantial as previously reported, but oh well.

I believe the spoiler tags look just like the quote tags, but with spoiler instead of quote between the brackets (and /spoiler in the ending pair of brackets). Ive never used spoiler tags before, so lets see if it works: And it does!

So I assume it's definitive we won't be getting any in-house Castle sets this year apart from the Creator set? Or is there still a chance we haven't see all the themes for this summer?

I assumed they were saying "windlass" - to quote from wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windlass): The windlass is an apparatus for moving heavy weights. (...) By the Late Middle Ages most European crossbows employed a windlass as a cocking mechanism, which helped to pull heavier crossbows, but were used in England as early as 1215. Now the apparatus from the film doesnt literally fit the definition, but after all, it is a heave crossbow, which would need a cocking mechanism to draw the "bowstring" to fire the heavy balck arrow, so I think its close enough... I see four possibilities for Iron Hills Dwarves: 1) printed torso, molded beard piece 2) a molded beard+armor piece 3) beard printed on head, molded armor piece 4) printed beard, printed torso, I wouldnt bet on shoulder pieces, I think the Dwarves would look weird with shoulder pads but no armor piece. Im more interested in whether they will have a new helmet mold or reuse Gimlis or he fantasy helmet. Oh, and another possibility is a helmet+beard mold, like Radagasts hat+beard Look at it this way... These are book spoliers, not movie spoilers, none of us know what the movies will bring. But if you consider "Smaug dies over Laketown" or "Dain arrives with an Iron Hills army" as spoilers, then you really should stay away from any Hobbit thread, as these these bits of info are so basic they will not be treated as spoilers in any case. (P.S. *spoiler alert* Gandalf survives the quest.) (originally posted Bilbo, but Tolkien above beat me to that particular spoiler...)

What's that on the sabre-tothted tiger's cheek? It looks somewhat like muscle fibres, in the style of Nolan's Two-Face or Thranduil. Would be a bit extreme if it is so...

I also think that Smaug makes much more sense in the Lake Town set. Although if the Erebor set is based on the forge scene, that requires Smaug even more IMO. Who knows, maybe PJ added more action scenes to Lake Town, which could mean the set doesnt need Smaug for an action/conflict scene. I assume Bilbo and Thorin are the only certain minifigs in the set, since niether are in Dol Guldur or Lake Town (at least in the book...) and I would be surpised if the designers put Thorin into a Bo5A set (especially if its an army builder set) instead of Erebor. Contrary to others, I dont think Fili or KIli are necessary, why concentrate on their deaths (if they do actually die in the films...)? Im only worried we will get another Gandalf instead. The smallest set sounds interesting. I wonder whether Galadier will come in her robe/gown, or if she will deck herself out in armor. Though Im a bit disappointed, this seemed like our only chance for an armored Sauron. Are sets at Nuremberg and NY finalized or still preliminary? (It would be weird if they were finalized with such a short window between the toy fairs.)

Looks really great, and like others have said, instantly recognizable! For details, I would suggest the grand piano from The Castafiore Emerald, suits of armor and maybe a rose garden for Calculus/Tournesol to cultivate his Bianca rose...

The pieces Ive long wanted are as follows: headgear (not sure if these are accessories, but they are often the defining feature of a minifigure): - white bonnet for ladies of the wild west, milkmaids and sheperdesses - straw hat for sailors and vaudevillians - cloth cap for gangsters, paper boys, golfers and old-fashioned industry workers (in some tan, gray or brown color) - tudor style bonnet, with hole for a small feather - a sombrero in a more natural color (tan, dark tan, yellow, or the dark yellow of wolverines costume) - the wolfpack cowl/hood in different colors (white, red, blue, green, dark green, tan, dark tan, dark orange or nougat...) - the jedi hood in tan and/or dark tan - the musketeer hat in more earth tones/colors - a traditional Arabic headdress / keffiyeh, best in white - new version of a middle eastern helmet in contrast to the Prince of Persia one, with neck protector on the back, and probably no feather-hole other pieces: - acoustic guitar - a smaller scimitar, in contrast to the oversized ones we get today - a hook-shaped cane, which could also be used as a candy cane - a recolor of the seagull, with pigeon and wild/mallard duck prints - the penguin and turtle mold from Friends, printed so as to be compatible with system animals (no cutesy eyes) - pliers - handsaw - 2x1 tile with bacon print - cheese slope with cake print - the ring piece as a doughnut - a large mug, tankard or stein Id also like to voice my support for the pilgrim hat and drum attachable to a minifig, as mentioned by others above.

The this is, a non-conflict safari theme would hardly be an action theme - it would most likely be a leisure theme, like paradisa - thus more likelz to be made as a friends theme with minidolls and cutesy animal prints. To be a system theme, I imagine some kind of conflict would be needed. To reiterate my idea from the first page of this thread: "I think a theme of conservationist good guys vs poacher bad guys could work. The poachers wouldnt even have to be trying to kill the animals, just capture them for a private collector (think Sam Sinister / Baron von Barron) or a circus." The bad guzs could basically use the same vehicles and "weapons" (tranq guns, nets) that the most recent Dino hunters used; no actual weapons necessary. Now how would the designers do the native Africans, I assume they simply wouldnt. After all, there are no Africans or any other races in LEGOLand, just yellow minifgs. All the aleternatives are pretty messy: - brown minifigs alongside yellows - just the scenario TLG wanted to avoid by introducing flesh skin tones - all yellow minifigs, with Africans distinguished by traditional clothes or facial features, like printed flat noses or full lips, like the 1997 Native Americans - an even worse solution than different skin color, probably the worst possibility - flesh skin tones in a non-licensed theme - against TLGs policy of presenting LEGOLand as a world without racial differences, this would mean the designers would have to assign race to specific minifigs, which could reduce identification of kids with specific characters So, the way I see it, its either all yellow figs, or TLG gets a license and creates figs with skin tones based on the IP...

Like the others, I have to say, the willow is the highlight f this MOC! I also like the techniques you used to break up the monotony of the tower walls. Is that old gray mixed into the wall bricks?

Could it be that the designers couldn't come up with acceptable sets? Most of the sets we want that appear in this thead include a big creature (balrog, treebeard, fell beast, mumak), and maybe the designers couldn't justify the expense for new molds, or in the case of brickbuilt creatures, couldn't find a balance between sturdiness, posability, aesthetic and price point. And then they just might have thought that it wouldn't be worth it just to release 1-2 Gondor army builder sets. Not a very likely scenario, I'm just thinking out loud about why TLG wouldn't make another LotR wave...

LTC, both for the aesthetic and the figs.

It's all because of the lack of job opportunities... Basically the biggest employers are the police and fire departments... No wonder so many citizens turn to a life of crime! On topic, I'm excited about the Arctic sets, not so much about the others.

Apart from the box art, I really don't see what makes this theme particularly gold-centric. Fights over gold and treasure were present in Castle sets for a long time, and it's not like there's that much more gold in these sets. Furthermore, only the smallest set seems to be about the bad guys ambushing the good guys for the treasure. Apart fom that, calling this theme the „golden age/era“ is quite an overstatement compared to the themes immediately before this one. The thing is, I don't really have an idea what to call the theme. Like rogueang, I also call the good guys „Crown Lions“, but that only covers one faction. My best call is either „Castle 2013“ (if there won't be a new wave this year) or stick with „Lions and/vs Dragons“ like bartneck originally suggested – yes, that could apply to Kingdoms as well as older themes, but since they have their proper names, we would all know this one applies to the 2013 theme.

I wouldn't pay either. I don't have the means, and this won't change for another year at least. Even if that wasn't a problem, I hardly notice the ads at all, and like someone already mentioned, I wouldn't mind them becoming more prominent if that was a way for the site to get needed funds. I don't think I'd be interested in any perks.

This is a terrific MOC! It even made me look up the story on the net! (as well as several pictures of roosters...)