Ardelon

With all the steampunkish embellishments, it looks like the LEGO movie pirate ship wont be more of a parts pack than something that fits into the Pirate theme. Not that its a bad thing (three cheers for steampunk!), but an actual Pirate set would have been nice.

I'd say the focus of the scene was the death of the Witch-King, specifically that no man can slay him, and a woman with a Hobbit doing just that by working around the prophecy. Theoden was just an excuse to get Eowyn to face the Witch-King - basically, his role in the scene was to be defeated (and killed). And since we already have him in his armored version from Helms deep, he would just take up a minifig slot that could be better filled by another named character or a basic soldier. Now if we had battle packs for the soldiers, then by all means, let's have another Theoden, but in this uncertain situation any new fig would be appreciated more.

Apart from a UHA-type Gondor army builder I most expect to see a Balrog set and Witch-King set. Both the Balrog and the Witch-King are major antagonists with a strong presence in the films. The army-builder set could include a Gondor soldier and Faramir, and/or Gondor Pippin - basically another soldier, but with short legs (that would probably be best for those who don't like characters that are too unique in army-building sets). The unique fig would probably depend on whether the set is set in Minas Tirith or Osgiliath, though TLG does sometimes put figs in scenes where the don't belong. The balrog set would have to include Gandalf, but who else? My favorite choice would be another chance to get Boromir, but he doesn't do much in this scene (not that this would stop kids from enjoying it). Legolas shooting down a Moria goblin would be the most movie-accurate choice, but we're practically drowning in Legolas figs by this point. A collapsing bridge should be enough for the bruck-built component, apart from the balrog itself. The Witch-King set would include the Witch-king himself, Eowyn and Rohan Merry, with a fell beast. Theoden or Snowmane aren't really necessary, since we already have armored Theoden and his purpose in that scene was to die anyway. If the fell beast was brick-built, this is all the set would need. But if the fell beast was to be moulded, the question is, what would the brick built component be? Maybe another stretch of wall or tower with a trebuchet for the fell beast to knock down, and a Gondor soldier to be swept up in the beasts claws and dropped to his death?

Great review, I would never have guessed It's your first one! I'm not a big fan of this set. Even though it's an army builder, I would only be interested in the set as a parts pack, since I don't collect elves. It's a shame the set didn't come with a silver or bley "elf-sword". The warg's black eyes bug me in relation to the blank eyes of the other two wargs, but this one is probably still the best-looking of them all. I find it weird that the designers wouldn't have access to information that they were designing the water gate (it doesn't seem like that much of a spoiler that the moviemakers would have to keep it under wraps), but they obviously didn't. As for the preferred color of the Elvenkings gems, I'll quote from my edition of The Hobbit: "If the elf-king had a weakness, it was for treasure, especially for silver and white gems; ..." (since the page number might vary according to edition, it's on the second-to-last page of the Flies and Spiders chapter). I actually don't know where the idea of his preference for emeralds comes from.

Thanks for the pics and reviews, just2good! I'm glad to finally see the good cop face.

I assume TLG is just wary of releasing any info which might benefit the competition. Not sure how that would work, and I'd like to see sales info and plans as much as the next guy, but it still seems more legit than them trying to screw over their customers, and I'd give TLG the benefit of the doubt.

Here we go again - Alcarin vs. the world on a Minas Tirith set. I feel the need to say Nuju Metru's Minas Tirith is the best one I've seen so far. That said, I belong in the camp saying that TLG won't release the whole city, but rather different smaller builds: the gate, a portion of wall, the throne room and courtyard, or the signal tower that Pippin lights. So long as we get a Gondor soldier, I don't really mind what we'll get.

I hope Captain Pete won't be one of the collectable minifigs, at least not as he is seen in the image. He would bring no new parts or prints, except for the hat, which isn't very attractive with the childish skull print, IMO. The Barbossa torso would be nice to have, but plenty of people already have it, so it doesn't seem like a smart choice. The only way to make the fig worthwhile would be to give it a really neat accessory...

I would prefer there were no named characters, but I doubt the fans that build massive armies are that much of a market for TLG to reconsider their strategy of including one such character to increase the sets' appeal to buyers of single sets.

I would be interested in a return of the Black Falcons or Wolfpack if the factions kept their original crests, otherwise no. Having crests that are almost the same but just different enough that they are not the same crest/faction just bugs me. For this reason, I'm not a fan of the falcon knight in the Kingdoms joust set. I doubt we'll see a return of the Forestmen so long as Mirkwood Elves are running around, they might cannibalize each other's sales. I think this is a nice chance to get a Castle theme based on the Middle East or the Far East (preferably China rather than Japan, for a change).

I really think the DGB set would have looked much more impressive on a raised baseplate; specifically I have this one in mind: or this one:

I would think a BoFA army builder set wouldn't include Lakemen, as they are already available in one set and a polybag. That should leave us with armored Elves, armored Dwarves, and armored Orcs, hopefully two of each. Not sure about what moulded creature they could include. There is no horse-based cavalry in the battle (at least in the books), wargs and eagles have already been done in two sets, and a megaloceros/deer/elk/whatever would mean another Thranduil, which I wouldn't particularly like (though I *would* like a megaloceros...). Actually, I would best appreciate Dain as a named character, giving us a mohawk option in addition to a Dwarf with a helm. I assume the helm would be just a recolor of Gimli's helm; one less mould to make and it's not like we'll get armies of both Erebor and Iron Hills Dwarves that we would need to differentiate between them. Besides, the Morranon Orc got an Uruk helmet and all three Rohirrim share one helmet mould. But another reason for Dain would be that we could get a boar as the moulded creature - if the rumors of him riding a boar are true...

Minifigs with articulated short legs would be nice ad achievable, as shown in the Brick Fortress link provided by AmperZand a page back. Minifigs are meant to look a bit silly, and I dont think a sitting short-legged minifig would look any worse. A purely personal issue for me (as a pro- yellow fig partisan) is to have torsos showing as little flesh color as possible. But the designers do seem to take this into account, so this issue seems to be getting better. Having yellow options of fleshie torsos would be great, but probably not justifiable. As for more (or more detailed) printing, I say less is more. If the printing gets too elaborate, the older figs would look too out of place next to the new ones.

Lets wait until we've seen the movie before we judge how well a location is represented in LEGO form...

We'll see how it plays out. Maybe there will be more than one battle with the spiders - one for Bilbo to shine in, one for the Elves to give us some kickass action. Or the Elves might simply finish off the spiders that Bilbo already drove off. And we don't know yet how big a role Legolas will play, either (well, those of us that haven't seen the movie yet, anyway). As for Smaug, I'm OK with him not dying, it means two movies with Smaug... And pushing his reveal to the end of the movie means more screen time for the Mirkwood Elves and Lake Town, which is great in my book. As for Thorin, I think the scene makes sense. He has to get the Lake men on his side, since the Dwarves are dependent on them for aid (and to prevent the Lake men to simply turn them over to the Elvenking). I also believe that at this point he really did intend to share the weath of Erebor, and his descent into "gold-sickness" and greed will be an interesting plot point. Furthermore, though it wasn't stated in the book, the company spent quite a bit of time in Lake Town, so I imagine that even in the book he would have had to make some promises of this sort... Eh... it just might be a nod to book fans, similar to the portraits and rods of the five wizards in the Orthanc set.

I recognized Marx instantly! Adam Smith has the problem of looking like all the other 18th century dudes with wigs and shaved faces (just switch out the head and you can cross Kant off your list as well...). When The LEGO Movie sets come out, you can use the robo-cowboy moustache to make an iconic Nietzsche. Looking forward to more...

Yep, I agree as well. I would also hope for a Mordor/Morgul Orc with a new print and new helmet mould. A great (though unlikely) bonus would be Easterling and Haradrim figs. Armored Pippin and Merry would be nice, but if we get a Gondor soldier, we could make both from other parts. As for the Gondor soldier, I guess that while a breastplate would look better, we'll most likely see a torso print like in the game. I'm also afraid we would get a plain torso under the armor. Maybe we would get a new shield mould to compensate? I always thought the mould for Theoden's shield was unnecessary, the designers could have used the mold for Boromir's shield or the Castle Skellie shield, and yet we got a new mould instead... While true, Angmar is the name of his realm in the north, not the name of the guy himself. Its interesting that only Khamul the second banana was given a name. And his post as lieutenant of Dol Guldur (or something like that, anyway) makes him somewhat important in his own right - in addition, wasn't he the one that chased the Hobbits to the Bucklebury ferry? (all book stuff anyway, so not relevant to the movie or LEGO license)

I would guess the designers simply made the MEA set to appeal to fans of Elves in general (and of course, to collectors of all the sets), not just to fans of armored Elves. In that case a new mould wouldn't be necessary or justified. After all, they have a limit on the number of new moulds and prints per wave (or is it per year, or per theme?). And I would wager that they're right when it comes to the average buyer, who simply wants some Elves, and not necessarily "Elves of a particular service branch of Thranduil's army". As for me, I'm not interested in Elves, so I wouldn't buy the MEA set with or without armored Elves - that's already one counterexample to the half-dozen unsatisfied examples on the last page, so even with AFOLs/Ringers, it's an iffy situation...

I'm a bit skeptical - first of all, it's mentioned under Past Projects, and second, this description is so vague it could refer to many Castle themes. It could for example mean the current one, which has plenty of fairy tale elements: a wizard, a dragon and a princess needing to be rescued...

Or maybe Legolas will somehow surf down Smaugs neck and shoot him in the back of the head...

For me, it as a close race betwee Shakespeare and the Tacoó Tuesday guy, but in the end, the Taco guy won - the new prints of the sombrero, poncho, plate and pants means almost every part looks nice and useful to me, even across multiple themes and time periods. As for the othe answers, I would prefer to see this as Series 12, since it basically is the 12th series of 16 figs (I dont count Mr. Gold as a necessary part of series 10). And while I would prefer non-licensed (or even in-house "licensed") series, it all depends on execution - this series is cool, but Im a bit afraid whether the Simpsons series wont be a bit cartoonish / simplified (apart from the heads) compared to the current aesthetic - the leaked Lisa and Marge figs make me uneasy on this count.

Point taken. I actually started to wonder if something like this actually happened and whether this was TLG's line of reasoning...

Can't say any of the new sets interest me, apart from the camper and maybe the logging truck. Otherwise the sets are nice, it's great to see the designers adding fires to put out and hideouts for crooks. Though as much as I like to see this kind of improvement, I can't help wondering whether the previous non-inclusion of fires and hideouts, with the implication that the builders should build these elements themselves, wasn't more in the spirit of LEGO.

Not a fan of part customisation, but I have to say that you made a surprisingly good-looking Orcrist.

I agree. On the fat piece, though, I expected at least a print indicating Homer's beer belly, like the sumo wrestler had.