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Fair enough, I guess I have a rather myopic view of the fan base! Not at all trying to insinuate anything about big fans needing to read the books (and certainly not the Silmarillion). I genuinely forgot that people collect physical media as I have never owned a dvd or bluray but the book nook would fit great alongside those as well! I think it’s more accurate to say big fans are likely to have either/both the books and films then. Hopefully my original point still stands, I really like the idea of a book nook, especially for LotR, and was surprised to see such a negative reaction towards it here. It’s really nice as a one off but probably a lot less appealing if you have every other set, at least there’s no exclusive minifig tied to it

I’m quite late to the party but I think the book nook looks great and is one of the best possible formats for a LotR set. I have moved far too many times in the past few years to bring any Lego with me and display room is always subject to change, even within the same space. However, I do know for a fact that wherever I end up settling down will have a dedicated bookshelf where I will be putting my treasured second edition of the LotR trilogy and collector’s edition of the Hobbit. A Lego book nook tucked in there wouldn’t need much extra space and would simply become a permanent fixture on the shelf. I imagine nearly everyone that’s a big enough LotR fan to spend hundreds on a Lego set has copies of the books somewhere to accompany a book nook! As much as I adore Rivendell I still haven’t bought it because it’s simply too big to display anywhere. The set that got me out of my dark ages (Lion Knight’s Castle) was already a challenge to display and barely fit on a mantle unfolded with the front stairs removed. Adding the blacksmith set and a few MOCs completely dominated the little shelf space I had. Rivendell may have fit split apart at a certain orientation but at the expense of displaying everything else, Barad Dur would be unthinkable. And that was in a relatively big place in the states, my current tiny place in Japan could never! All that is to say that, as an adult fan, display room is the primary constraint for me when considering purchasing a set. The book nook doesn’t require any additional shelving or furniture, it can just be placed in an existing bookshelf. Maybe I’m way too out of touch with the average person but I think most people have at least a modest bookshelf and serious LotR fans are almost guaranteed to? The choice of setting and presentation here also perfectly matches the format. Anything sandwiched between books on a shelf is going to be dark, especially towards the back. The balrog is framed emerging from a dark, claustrophobic tunnel towards Gandalf standing well lit in the open. The composition of the build being deliberately designed around the typical lighting conditions it will be displayed in is genuinely remarkable. I don’t think the actual design of the balrog is perfect but is a good bit more accurate than the Jun Chi figure from the Adventurers I used as a stand in as a kid. I think it captures the silhouette well enough which is most important, the details on the black bricks will be partially obscured in the darkness anyway. The price is a bit of a joke but I think it’s justifiable for people like me that will likely only buy this set from the range and display it in perpetuity. I’d rather pay $120 for a well done vignette of one of the most iconic scenes of the trilogy than $500 for a massive single location that cannibalizes my entire display area or requires me to build extra shelving. It’s absolutely for a more casual Lego fan or a more reasonable entry point for LotR fans that don’t have any Lego.

That might be the most exciting news yet! I am primarily interested in cool new torso prints but was a bit concerned about them being fleshie and every other color of non human. This sounds like it has a ton of potential for some really cool figs, excited to see how they turn out!

Well I must admit I'm a little underwhelmed by the official reveal but I suppose nothing they did would satisfy everyone. My biggest complaint is certainly the stickers, the lack of animals can be easily remedied with a PaB order but the stickers can't be fixed. I guess we've just been spoiled by the blacksmith, LKC, and viking village all having entirely printed elements. I was really hoping the Majisto stickers were only a limitation of it being a GWP but it looks like they have no qualms about including them in more "premium" castle sets going forward. I'm still getting it for sure as I've realized I have neither the time or parts to make my own supplemental castle builds. This will look fantastic next to my blacksmith and lion knight's castle and certainly seems well designed enough to justify the price. It definitely feels like Lego is aware that people like me would likely pick it up regardless and chose to cut some corners in the final version to squeeze more profit out of it. I suppose that's "just business" but still doesn't sit right with me

I know most people here are more excited about Gringott's than another microscale Hogwarts but we just received ours yesterday and love it! I probably wouldn't have bought it for myself but my girlfriend was super hyped for it and shared all the pre release pics with me, glad we picked it up! I think it looks much better than the considerably larger and more expensive previous version. Sure, some of the finer details are lost, but I think the overall silhouette looks nicer and I really like the water and terrain of the smaller version. Sometimes less is more and I think the more zoomed out perspective looks better for a display piece. The super micro versions of iconic areas and scenes are still fully recognizable and the instruction pages with little blurbs about them are quite fun to read as you build. Overall very pleased with it and it's a nice change of pace after building the absolutely massive Ninjago gardens/market combo. This is my first and likely only HP set (other than the awesome GWPs that came with it) so I'm probably the exact target demographic for it. I can see it not really fitting in with a larger HP display but it works very well as a standalone piece.

Fleshie Johnny Thunder feels heretical to me but I think it actually works really well here, nicely done! The sunset mosaic makes for a really beautiful backdrop. Aging up the whole cast just makes me feel old though

I have absolutely hated stickers since I was a kid and continue to actively avoid any sets with them. Of the dozens of good reasons provided in this thread, the biggest one for me is the objectively poor quality. Stickered pieces will fray, lose color around the edges, peel, and generally degrade in quality incredibly fast. They need to be handled and stored with extreme care but age will still cause them to degrade regardless. As I rarely keep sets together long and generally buy them specifically for parts, I don't even apply stickers anymore or consider them to be part of a set. Even brand new stickers' colors don't perfectly match with the bricks they're to be placed on and have an obvious silhouette. They look cheap from the start and only continue to look worse over time For example, the upcoming 77013 Well of Souls set would have been an instant buy of multiple copies for me if there was even a single printed element in the set. Without stickers it would look like a very bland wall and arch surrounding a plain yellow 2x4 that's supposed to represent the Ark of the Covenant. As a parts pack it's just some very common pieces in a hodgepodge of colors that could be had for cheaper on PaB or BL. I think I'm better off spending $40 on some of the beautiful printed pieces from the Adventurers line that are perfectly preserved 25 years later! Would anyone be ok with stickers for minifigs one day? The exact same arguments people use to justify stickers now could be applied

The description on the listed sets on S@H explicitly mention scenes from the first 3 movies and later mention the ToD by name and set number. I know everyone loves to assume incompetency and point fingers but I find it hard to believe they'd explicitly mention a cancelled set on their own website and leave it up. Either way speculation right now is pointless, at least we have official confirmation of 3 sets now! I was fully prepared for the entire wave to be cancelled and having to buy some of the sets that made it to shelves from scalpers. Can we all just take a moment to appreciate the 3 fantastic sets we are getting? I'm very pleased with the price points remaining the same and will probably pick up multiple copies of the Lost Tomb for some Adventurers MOCs.

Love a good ravine, especially one with a waterfall! The gold mine is a perfect use of the underground space that would otherwise be hidden. That round tower looks really good, I may have to borrow that technique! Not sure where the cat-thedral is in relation to the rest of the build but it's very cute. Love the giant paw statue behind the pulpit with winch hooks for claws

So many medieval entries this time! Really happy to see the community engaging with the theme so much and expanding on the excellent official sets we got last year. I will say a fair number seem to be following a bit too closely and just look like alt builds of the Lion Knights' Castle. I suppose a level of similarity is expected when the 1x2 bley masonry brick single handedly carries the entire modern castle world though. Top 3 4 castle entries: Travelling Medicus I have a soft spot for any civilian builds and this one is my favorite. Shocking amount of detail packed into an eight stud wide carriage and the little forest scene it goes with is too cute! Medieval Stonemasons Guild A refreshing concept with a great execution- the scaffolding and winches are lovely and could go with any other medieval construction in process. The church and stained glass are suitably detailed without being over the top, also love the miniature church model! Stroggilofanaro Gatehouse A smaller and more restrained build that pulls off a very eye catching and unique shape with a fraction of the piece count most others use Castle Ambush It's big, unwieldly, and directly copies a large number of design elements from 10305. Despite all that, I think it manages to have a very distinct personality with the wide variety in depth and height throughout. The arched stone bridge is a classic and the zipline is so fun! Really evocative of the classic Forestmen feel Top 3 non-castle historical entries: The Lost Temple Beautifully realized Mesoamerican temple with suitably vibrant colors. Technically styled as an Adventurers setting but could easily be used in a more historical context. General Store Of the small number of western builds this is by far my favorite, it absolutely nails the setting down to every minute detail. The angled siding looks fantastic as well as the vegetation and covered wagon Small Shinto Shrine It's a Shinto shrine, what more is there to say? I've seen a large number of Lego recreations but this one does an excellent job despite the piece restrictions for the program. The roof is especially well done!

Wow, I really appreciate the new figs not having any flesh peeking through on the torso prints! I prefer yellow for overall consistency and if not for the dual molded hobbit legs it would be a pretty seamless switch. Even paired with fleshies the printed skin is usually way off in shade while limiting use of the broad range of flesh tones that exist. The original Aragorn is pretty bad in that regard but the Indiana Jones wave had some of the most egregious examples of this:

Oh wow I was just about to buy the dragon from the 76177 Shang Chi set, will hold off until we see the Eastern Palace Dragon. I'm not a fan of the existing chunky Dragon of the East with a shell? and all sorts of blasters attached to it though. Hoping for a more lithe and less sci fi dragon to terrorize (or protect) my Chinese village with!

I hope you're right and the higher costs are isolated to City sets specifically in the US! There are a number of them I've been tempted to get but just can't justify the price and not being able to use a significant number of the other parts. I have zero interest in anything newer than the 1920's so a medieval village with a good selection of animals is doubly appealing to me. Fingers crossed that most of the prototype design makes it into the final product and that the parts make their way onto PAB eventually

With the frankly absurd $70 price tag for the 230 piece 60346 Barn and Farm Animals along with similarly high prices for the wildlife rescue sets I'm quite skeptical of a $250 price for this. One could argue that most of the animal molds already exist with the costs allocated to previous sets but TLG continues to at least give the impression of high marginal costs for them based on a single cow costing $10 on PAB. Even tiny animals like rabbits and birds range from $1.50-2.50 each. If the goat mold truly returns they're well aware of the high demand for it and will likely try to squeeze as much profit out of the set as possible. Since I'm an absolute sucker for castle and animals in general I'm going to buy it regardless of price and I imagine a large number of AFOLs feel the same way.

You raise a good point, I had neglected to consider the incredibly fragmented state of the licensing rights to the franchise. Gotta love intellectual property laws! No reason to postpone making my own interpretation of Barrow Wights then