BrickPrick

I just got gifted the V-19 Torrent Starfighter plus Cobb Vanth's Speeder and could hardly be any happier right now.

Yep, this would have been my bet as well. Although owning everything is much easier for The Lord of the Rings than it is for Star Wars, it must still be an impressive display. Given your enormous private collection, have you ever considered to get some commercial usage out of it? Less selling some of it and more like for presentation purposes. Or is that not something you would be ever interested in and rather keep your private collection as such?

Ha, you know I already had the honor of asking you this, so now I will ask you again for this theme: how many LOTR sets do you own; is it the majority again?

Just because it makes more sense to do some things for certain themes than others, in this case to include a single minifigure in an 18+ sub-theme, doesn't necessarily mean it isn't still missing in the first place. As for Star Wars helmets, if you look at the line-up as a whole, you can see a mixed bag regarding the availability of the characters the helmets are based on. Sure, you've got your common everyday main characters like Darth Vader and the Mandalorian, which wouldn't make the inclusion of a minifig terribly relevant. But then you have helmets like Boushh Leia and Kylo Ren, which haven't had minifigures in ages at this point. You have cookie cutter troopers like the Stormie been on steady supply on one hand, but the AT-AT driver is no longer available as the helmet released. Cody is locked behind a set twice the price as the helmet is. Rex wasn't available in a cheaper set until later on. So I don't see this topic as quite one dimensional as it may seem at first. Not that it would hurt anybody to just include a single minifig anyways. Especially at the high price points Lego is asking for.

I was about correcting your comment but thanks to it, I only now realized that it indeed might have been just an random Ent. Could have sworn it was Treebeard all along. Maybe it's supposed to be? I mean the likeness is... uncanny for sure! The new Sauron helmet instantly including a minifigure is the stuff of distant dreams. Take notes, Lego Star Wars. The time of finally getting one of these helmets might be finally here for me. I just want some LOTR minifigures, man. Though depending on how much it settles, purchasing the figure separately might be the wise thing to do. =)

Yeah, I feel this way too. We have to think about the fact that lots and lots of people grew up with The Lord of the Rings during their childhood. In other words, they weren't necessarily at an age with disposable income back then, but they are adults by now. And like it's already been mentioned, Lego wasn't the same company that it is nowadays. It has significantly broaden it's reach to speak to much more targets groups. There wasn't this explicit focus on the "adults welcome" mantra and no regular D2C sets. So you now have to factor in all these additional casuals who may have never touched anything brick-built in their lives. But as far as anyone is concerned, they never had to. As they may just be big enough TLOTR fans and wanna impulse buy Rivendell because it looks very beautiful and appealing to them. So no, in no world would "many people already owning the 2013 Orthanc set" be a good enough reason for Lego to don't do a remake in the 2020s or beyond. That'll make $35, good sir.

Yes, exactly. I would be hard-pressed to name any other relevant licensed theme where remakes feel as significant and justified as it's the case for The Lord of the Rings, which was put on ice for a decade. While it's a brutal way on Lego's behalf to ask some people to break the bank to return to brick-built Middle-earth, you can definitely build upon these D2C offerings. So yeah, I'd like to have some of that metaphorical Landspeeder magic. Though not having anything Gondor-related for all this time has been crazy for sure; your X-Wing comparison is rather fitting. Very excited for the official Minas Tirith reveal.

Given I come from the Lego Star Wars theme, don't mind me when "too similar" is something I have to chuckle at. Like when did this ever stop Lego from releasing another set, a long overdue remake no less. And no, I don't think the fact some selected hardcore fans buying off the old Orthanc set for a fortune would prevent Lego to release a new one either. If anything, these sky-high collectors prices might work in their favour when they can offer a cheaper alternative.

Okay, gotta say, with my personal The Lord of the Rings fever slowly but surely reigniting, it's time to step in some yet to be explored Eurobricks corners. I always said to myself if Lego was to bring back play scale sets of this undercooked theme again, I would even put my favorite franchise, Star Wars, on ice for the time being. So many opportunities for great remakes waiting to be re-released. Leak-wise, though, I'm not quite as engaged for this one as I used to be, so nothing new on that front, I guess? We are still at a single expensive D2C set on a yearly basis, plus a few gimmicky products along the way? Helm's Deep can only be a matter of time. So is a new Orthanc to pair with Barad-dûr. So I see either of those for next year. Here's hoping they won't touch anything from the Hobbit anytime soon.

Yeah, that's where I am at this too. Though I wouldn't outright define it as crazy in terms of getting a fourth figure, it definitely isn't something to be expected. And I would be pleasantly surprised if it happens. Hmm... That every so often is and isn't the case. In my personal experience, it's more about solidly executed sets in practice, but badly priced sets on paper. Besides the pricing which I already alluded to, what could they possibly screw up in such a set? It's been 24 years since the original and a lot has happened since then. And that should be visible when it comes to clearly improved builds. We just got Plo Koon and General Kenobi, though. In regards to getting long lost Jedi minifigures, Lego is clearly making moves forwards. Although not as obscure as background characters, I would add Taun We and Lama Su into the mix. While you can obviously always wish for certain characters to show up again or at all, the last couple of years we got plenty of either never before done or long overdue remade minifigures.

In this day and age, given the amount of similar priced sets that only include three minifigures, I definitely would be surprised about a 4th figure. And regardless of how nice or even justified I think it would be, I don't think there will be. The ludicriously long overdue Zam Wesell minifig will be the main attraction and enough of an selling point for many collectors out there. So I don't see why Lego would go "the extra mile" so to speak and include an additional desirable character. Oh no... I know you are not supposed to shoot the messenger, but why did you have to say that? To say, my hype is now killed in an instant, would be an overstatement. But to say it didn't affect my excitement, would be a straight up lie. It better be exactly what we all expect it to be, or else! Hence why it ~99% won't happen. Realistically speaking, everyone you just listed except Jango. Yep, exactly. We also need to consider Lego will be investing in an expensive brand new helmet mould for Zam. So I further lack any fantasy on why they would put a "bonus figure" in there as well. Ha, I actually thought of that, you know. But first and foremost, I need to get it. And second, I would need to figure out how I can get images in here without any complications. So far, as a phone user, I had some trouble working with the size limit of any given picture.

15 days until I will admire the most beautiful boyo Bane there ever has been and quite possibly ever will be... happily.

You got me. I will be the first proud Lego Star Wars owner commanding a fleet of space jetskis. Yeah, that's true. Oh, you are right, that's even more crazy then! I just remembered the set being raised from 30 to 35€ shortly before it even released. Somehow thought it was the same for America, but it actually was unaffected. You every so often see it vice versa nowadays. Cobb Vanth's Speeder is a good example of that. Which also only includes two, albeit stellar, minifigures. Though I guess that doesn't really compare to one minifig and a droid, so yeah... it might include two regular minifigs besides your obvious R2. Top priority for me is the arm printed General Skywalker minifig, though. If they do that, I wouldn't mind the lack of another figure all that much. It truly is beyond aid already. I usually don't hope for someone or something to fail, but this BS system is a very strong contender. The only positive thing I can say about it is the box art... and the now spinnable R2 head is neat, I guess.

So the three initially revealed BS sets are now available for pre-order on the Disney/Lego Shop and Amazon. Turns out the X-Wing is gonna retail at only 90€. Well, this changes absolutely everything. Time to get that sucker immediately. Also, since we talked about this @Mandalorianknight, there actually will be an Assist App to take advantage of more of the action, because of course there will be. I don't know if it's an "officially used term" yet by the community. I just made that one up. The "Tiny Tank" obviously exists since the leaks. In any case, it should be used to describe sets where they just went too far with the downsizing. And thus, makes it a erigiously overpriced product in the first place.

By the maker, I can't stress enough how painfully Lego accurate this one sounds. From the piece count, to the price point to it being potentially Tiny Turbo-tanked and infused with some terrible usage of technology, you've set in motion our worst nightmares now. Well, isn't that quite the upgrade compared to last year? To be fair, it could almost only go up for you at this point. Let's just see how this all plays out. =)