Ardelon

@ Elander: Keep in mind that TLG can only do stuff from the movies. AFAIK, All those other Hobbit Characters werent in them. This raises an interesting question: Can TLG release e.g a generic house and say "this is Sandymans mill / Maggots farm /..." even if these locations werent in the movies? Could the holders of the rights of the LotR movies green-light such a project?

I'm a purist myself, and I don't like the idea of “modifying” (in my view destroying) bricks and parts. I agree that part of the challenge in LEGO is to express yourself with what's available. However, I realize that military MOCs for example (mainly the figs and accessories) would be very difficult to create without some help of 3rd parties. So I acknowledge that non-LEGO elements have a permanent place in MOCs (at least until TLG scrap its non-violence policy...). I'm also willing to use sting and rubber bands, and paper too. As for clone brands, though I dont own any, I have the same opinion as on 3rd party suppliers and other non-LEGO elements. The level of disgust they get on this site is pretty funny... In a nutshell, my opinion is that LEGO is best, LEGO+other is fine, modifying LEGO is . But, live and let live.

Yep, very genre-savvy. Especially the Frank Rock reference to .

Agreed, Doctor Brik Daddy is the best reviewer out there. Yet, he says Moria is all-sticker, so the wood/plank pieces there are stickers, while in all other sets they're printed, or are they printed in Moria too? If the orc hair could fit a quiver, TLG could have made Legolas's hair that way too. It might have looked awkward, but the play value would have been worth it. As far as Legolas's alternate face, it seems he discovered one of the perils of questing - constipation!

Not only that, but it shouldnt be alcohol in a "present day setting", which is what TLG object to. I dont think this set trespasses any guidelines. So congratulations and thanks to marshal_banana, for having made the set! Hopefully, it will get TLG thinking about a relaunch of the Western line...

I actually hope it will be in the style of Adventurers or PQ. If not, I would prefer something more like the Arctic theme than Alpha team, since I think it gives more opportunities for new animals and new scientific-type parts, whereas an action-theme would be more vehicle and combat oriented.

I miss the 3D baseplates. I was kind of hoping they would appear in the mining sets, but oh, well. Still, not happy to hear theyre all but gone.

Really cool trucks, vean! I agree with the crowd - the giant hotdog is the highlight. Supported. The black vans look positively sinister after the colorful and innocent food trucks!

So far, the only set I'm really sold on remains the swamp monster, and probably the zombie set, if it shows up here (probably not). The others are unappealing or beyond my budget. It is a nice theme though, I'm glad the non-licensed themes are high in quality, if not quantity. As for the set names, I for one like that they kept them simple and to the point.

A Europa-syle theme with focus on soldiers vs highwaymen seems palusible to me, but given the option, TLG would simply do Pirates instead, they're just more iconic and thus a bigger seller. I could see this happening as a filler wave between 2 pirate waves though - Once TLG has produced too many ships and pirate stuff, they could go for this to keep the line fresh and take a break before launching new ships. The point is, it would be as an add-on to a pirate line, since that's the big seller. It would be useful for Napoleonic MOCs though, for instance they could include cavalry, like dragoons and carabiniers, unlike in pirate sets. As for a redcoat vs bluecoat conflict, I can only see it happening indirectly, by making sets with bluecoats vs bandits and sets with redcoats vs bandits, leaving it to the customer to imagine any conflict between the 2 colored factions (just like tho old single faction castle sets, or the slightly overlaping bluecoats and redcoats vs pirates).

I'd say it's a cow, though i did think it was a pig at first because of the story. But the body and overalls are very well done, in any case. I highly recommend you read the book, Stefan, I read it as a kid and it had a pretty big impact on me - thanks to it I realized there were no 100% good guys in politics!

Since this thread has been revived, I'd like to add that it was only after this review that I realized how much the name "Black Knights" doesn't fit the faction at all. At the time of their release, the only black thing about them were the castle walls, which were later seen in the Wolfpack, Dragon Masters, Royal Knights, and the new Dragon Knights factions. They hardly wore any black (less than the preceding Falcons, for example), and they didn't seem dark or evil "in spirit" either. In hindsight, it looks like TLG came up with a decidedly undistinguished faction, then slapped a cool name on them to compensate. Not that I'm criticising or anything, they still have the best castle (6086) yet, as well as the best boat of the Castle line (the Sea Serpent 6057), IMO, not to mention my fond memories of 6034.

I'm also thinking of using the sets as parts packs. But we've only seen the first wave, maybe if I see more of what's coming to us I'll do LotR MOCs in their own right (though I will probably stay primarily an original LEGO Castle fan).

I would also be suprised if this made it through. I might get it for the parts, if at all. Ganondorf would look better as a Hagrid-sized fig.

Since the zombies are called out as bride, groom and driver, I'd say none of them is the witch doctor. Should there be one, anyway? Was a witch doctor officially mentioned? BTW, I'd say the red around the brides mouth is lipstick, not blood (though I guess everyone would see it as blood). EDIT: I see its been pointed out already, ah well.

You mean this set? Where can you see them? Is there some new info out on the set?

Nah, more like its a winning formula: heroes collect the macguffins, customers collect the sets with the macguffins. As for the zombie set, I like the male zombie better his CM counterpart, because of the empty eyes. That's my one issue with the female zombie, but I'll wait for reviews before I make up my mind on it.

Frodo's and Merry's torsos would be great as pirate-era civilian torsos, shame they have the flesh triangle on top. Pippin's and Sam's could work too, I guess. Is the back of Theoden's shield reddish brown or dark red? It clashes too much with the green. Dark brown would have been better.

My thoughts exactly. Im generally skeptical of changes (I preferred the old dog to the new one), but this upgrade was well thought out.

If you have no preference, don't vote (yet). And I would say the King's Mountains Fortress had an outer wall (which looks pretty lame, sure, but it's good enough to protect a crossbowman!) around an inner keep. To add my two cents to CallMePieOrDie's interesting suggestion that we might see a turning point as far as parts go, I could see TLG retiring the chrome longsword, and maybe the short sword, in favor of the highland sword. But I don't think the gladius will replace the short sword, since it's kind of specialized – good enough for Antique or Dark Age settings, when swords didn't have prominent cross guards, but not for stereotyical medieval settings. Also, I'd say the helmets won't be replaced either, since they are generic and fit the medieval setting wonderfully. We haven't seen any generic helmets in LotR yet, and I don't think we will, since all the LotR helmets are pretty stylized.

Really? I thought the Hazmat Guy was regular orange, he definitely doesnt look as yellow as the Wolverine costume... (Maybe someone could post a pic of both of them, for comparison?)

I rather schizophrenically voted for a) original Castle as my preferred theme but b) for more LotR in the future. I prefer Castle because of 1) a larger "universe" than the LotR sets (understandibly, since its 24 years of Castle vs 1 wave of LotR) 2) yellow figs 3) the genericness of the themes, vs the (admittedly subjective) somewhat constraining LotR theme But Im glad TLG took tho opportunity to make LotR sets - it just had to be done - and I hope the theme gets a decent (at least three-year) run. Plus I agree that its going to be a bonanza for new parts and prints.

We're still missing hi-res pics of the Orc Forge, I'm pretty excited about that one. And of Theoden's torso too.

Thats a nice way to welcome a new member . I didnt make a welcome post either, as well as many other members.

I wonder what the zombie set will be about - after all, the rest of the sets have a moonstone to be collected, and the castle shows us that all 6 moonstones are accounted for in the smaller sets.