Lordhelmet

I think I see a palantir in the lego website pictures. is that the white tree burning?

Do we know if the release will be on June 1st, or will it be a few days early for VIP?

I think the tower looks great, the eye specifically looks awesome (I do like the browns highlighting the fire, will have to look in person). If it is a hair shorter then expectation I am good with that too because I won’t have to adjust anything for it to sit next to orthanc (also orthanc is rather chunky proportionally so I think this fits). Love that we got gothmog, which the set had its own wraith, wish Frodo and Sam had Mordor prints (either torn dirty or orc outfits). Sauron has joined the party 10 years late but is welcome to see and looks great. I don’t remember an orc with a red hat, not sure what the story is there. The orc prints and amor is incredible. Will be a day one for me. The fell beast is pretty good. It feels sized correctly (for the normal Nazgûl). Also this is our first Gondor set that I am aware of (looks like it’s from the osgiliath scene). Outside of a big fig type of fell beast (like dinosaurs) I think this is pretty good (I do like the wings). Happy to get one and a Nazgûl.

I’d be good with the right building blocks but want justice for it too. What I care about are the key elements (awesome minifigs, the tree, the throne area, the trebuchets, the beacon, the gate, some buildings and a wall). I don’t mind needing to buy multiple sets to get it all right and modify it. I bought two helms deeps back in the day then added another thousand bricks to it to build a big helms deep MOC in the spirit of the set. I would t mind doing that again but we need the right things to do it well.

Plus CMFs add extra details that a playset minifigure may not have (side leg printing, arm prints, custom molds, etc.) this would allow for more detailed characters in addition to the dozens of orc options. i do think the hobbit line hurt LOTR at the time. I was buying them and made some decisions to hold off on buying certain sets (multiple copies) because there were a bunch of hobbit sets competing with LOTR. Later in the theme I chose not to buy some of the hobbit sets holding out for Gondor sets which never happened (was saving to buy as many as I could - Lego didn’t make them so I stopped collecting for a long time). I’m one example but I am sure there are others who would have bought more copies of LOTR sets if the hobbit line wasn’t out (and honestly wasn’t as good - bag end was great and the minifigs were but the sets overall were not).

I am good with an every other year approach to get the theme going. We need sets in the $20 range, $50, and $100 to let the theme grow (especially with all the movies coming up). Having 3-4 giant sets on shelves without any lower cost sets seems like a mistake in approach.

CMFs

Fair enough, and getting a gwp made this a day one purchase for me too (verses waiting for a 2xVIP). I just need to go early to the Lego store. what day is it releasing? I know June 1st but does that mean May something for VIP?

I am willing to wait and see on the different colors around the eye. Last year when Rivendell came out and Lego ideas did that competition to win a free copy someone submitted the balrog vs. Gandalf scene using some orange bricks for shading the rocks and bridge (for the fire reflections) and it looked incredible. I’m willing to wait and see but may switch them out to black depending on how it looks.

Agreed, I would prefer it being an extra wring wraith and two orcs or another Sam and Frodo or something like that. If they do the witch king battle I would hope it becomes an official set next year at least (like the Rex y wing is doing). But really hoping for more orcs and a wraith

Still an incredible gwp, really makes up for a brickheadz with Rivendell, could not be happier and will be lined up outside my store.

Ok now it needs to be a minute one purchase vs day one purchase. If we do get the witch king battle as the GWP that would be incredible!

I had the Death Star (now ISD) and x wing sets on my buy list. I do like the ideas but was most excited for the mini fig possibilities. At this point I will likely bricklink one or two figs from the ISD and I am hoping we get a reuse helmet like Wes Janson here too so I can bricklink that and fill out rogue squadron. I thought it was interesting that the UCS Zev was used for the may the 4th advertisements, that would be another helmet I wouldn’t mind.

Orthanc looks awesome with Saruman standing in the balcony above the doors. That is the only figure I keep with it. I also do not have treebeard next to it, fun build but the scale difference doesn’t work for display.

Not sure if this is the right thread, but looking for thoughts on selling some sets. Should I sell my 2013 Gunship, motorized AT-AT, and original Venetor (modified to be thinner - so incomplete, but I have the figs and the sticker parts - could probably make it complete again) to try to get the UCS AT-AT? Is it worth it? From a collection standpoint I collect almost exclusively OT and try to get as close to mini fig scale as I can (Notable missing ships to scale are the UCS-ATAT, UCS Imperial Shuttle, UCS Slave 1, and UCS Falcon which I have playsets for). I currently have the motorized AT-AT as my AT-AT. For Clone Wars I have a small group of 501st (that I am keeping), the old venator, and the gunship. Is the UCS AT-AT worth it? Are those three sets worth enough to get a shot at the UCS-ATAT? Thoughts and thanks in advance. looking for feedback from someone with the UCS AT-AT and one or more of the sets I mentioned. Wanted ro see thoughts after displaying them for a while. Thanks.

It's true and I agree. I am excited for that part and think it is great we get a named officer. I think my disappointment is in the missed opportunities overall. I am happy we are getting another named officer, with a new set of rank insignia. The paywall to get imperial officers from the movies is significant though (cheapest is like $50). Anything that brings that cost down is a good thing. Happy we are getting more named ones from the movies (and hoping it allows for other lesser known ones to get made - like Captain Lennox, about the same amount of dialogue).

Hey good catch I missed this. Happy they named him, we are now up to Veers, Tarkin, Piett, Yularen, and Praji. Now we only have around 12 to go. Good to see another named officer from the OT. Definitely worth a bricklink, I may consider the set but on sale.

Lego avoids named imperial officers at all costs. Outside of Veers, we have a Yularen gwp from almost ten years ago, and then Piett and Tarkin who have only been in expensive UCS sets in the last almost 15 years. (And then the 2006 tarkin).

Fair point, technically they would be in ISDs in universe, the 2014 set at least had a captain though. Just uninspired mini fig selection.

I am wondering if there were originally plans to do a Death Star set that were scrapped (maybe Yavins counterpart but sales for Yavin were not good - but really because of execution). The minifig selection looks like it belongs in a Death Star not an ISD (Vader and stormtrooper are generic to any imperial set) but I don’t think we see the Death Star gunner or Death Star (army) trooper outside the Death Star. The black hat crew members show up in both ISDs and the Death Star but are more visible in the Death Star than an ISD. There should be at least one Navy officer for an ISD vs. the clearly Death Star figs. I am wondering if we were supposed to get a Death Star set with 11-12 minifigs and they scrapped it for this instead. i do think the model looks really nice, displayable, would have preferred a playset with 11-12 figs and then a midi scale ISD but this does look really good.

Have to say the mini fig selection is disappointing on the ISD. Let alone the drop from 11 to 6 figures, but why a Death Star gunner and Death Star trooper on a Star destroyer? Also not getting a captain at least for the Star destroyer? Minifigs are a huge miss on this one. Set looks nice, I might pick up the set from someone who is reselling it after they get the minifigs to save the money.

Wondering why the leakers have been off on the ISD (figures and Death Star vs ISD). Wonder if it changed?

Update, I picked up three of the Luke keychains and popped off the arms and legs to upgrade my red squad pilots without breaking the bank. Will grab more when they go on sale someday.

I picked up some of these recently from pick a brick (the picture does not show up for the item, but I took a risk and ordered some so I am ready for the next thrawn). They were definitely the dual molded white legs with black boots. On an unrelated note is anyone else buying the Luke keychain for the arm prints to upgrade Red Squad pilots? I don't want to use the legs/torso because they are the weird keychain ones but the Arms seemed like fair game as official lego parts.

My first reaction is I was disappointed it is changing from the Death Star to an ISD. I really wanted a midi ISD and preferred the hope of getting Tarkin, Mottie, Tagge, Yularen, Basst, etc. which would have been options in the Death Star. After thinking about it though I will be open to the ISD if it is well executed and it gives us different options for new characters (Needa, Ozzel, updated Piett). Hopefully we get some of these characters with some additional crew members as the price for imperial officers and crew members is way too high on brick link with most starting above $50.