Lynx

My wife would roll her eyes and replace "impressive" with "nerdy" - and she might be right.

Thanks for the link. I'm quite the Hobbit fan and read the book various times in its multiple forms. It still took me some tries to improve my initial B+ to A- and finally A and the notion that Bilbo would be proud. Some of the questions were related to the wider world of the the Hobbit. I got one I could answer due to playing a Lord of the Rings Video Game (War in the North), for example. I'd be incredibly happy to get LEGO Bilbo or the Thorin statue. :) But knowing my luck with winning in games, I put that down as "fun". :)

Thanks for sharing! A set of the Witch-King with molded fellbeast, Eowyn and Merry would be off-the-charts! I'd hope for a properly dressed Merry (Rohan armor), though. I guess it will be a long while before we see them in plastic, but that's alright. After all, there are seven more dwarves to be revealed in the Hobbit sets. I can't wait for pictures!

I'm pretty sure he ("Bilbo Baggins") referred to the blurry pictures of Nori and Thorin.

Sweet! :thumbup: Only things I don't like are the catapults (too large for my taste), the fell beast (I'd prefer a hold rather than brick-build) and the tree. Would still buy it in a heartbeat! I think it's your second best so far (Edoras being number 1).

Big Ugly Rock Piece (according to Google, anyway) :)

Exactly! The interior was a nice surprise to many Lord of the Rings fans. As for Aragorn being "the same as in Helm's Deep", the critique (if any) should be the other way around: The minifigure in Helm's Deep is the same as in Weathertop (Aragorn wore some purple and chain mail in the Battle of the Hornburg, if I remember correctly). And regarding the "flatness" of the set, I didn't expect to get a LEGO hill. By the same token, you'd have to critique the lack of walls in Mines of Moria, the lack of a hill and cave in Helm's Deep, the lack of tunnels in Shelob Attacks, the absence of a lot in the Orc Forge and so on. LEGO's Weathertop obviously only intends to depict the Watchtower of Amun Sul, not the highest hill of the region.

Pricing aside, Weathertop is the best set of wave 1 in my opinion. A very interesting build, complete feel to the set and great minifigures along with two new horses.

Thanks for the link! I like Elrond's look. Only hoping for a calm alternative facial expression.

Nice to see close-ups. I think Bilbo looks very similar to Sam due to the colour of hair and clothing, only. I'm looking forward to see Bilbo's adventuring version and will pick up both (presumably in Bag End and Riddles). How anybody can pay 100+ $ on this Minifigure (which we'll get in a few months in an amazing set) is beyond my comprehension, though.

Rivendell comes to mind. I'd love to see Rhosgobel, maybe complete with Radagast, his bunny sled and many forest animals.

What is anybody's take on Bilbo's hair colour? On the official "Unexpected Gathering" photo, it appears brownish while the Comic Con exclusive appears to have the same colour as Samwise.

The trapdoor element is included. The only modification I made on the set was to cover up the LEGO Technic parts with two grey slopes near the main entrance.

Wonderful! I love the water, the use of fish and accessories on the riverbed, the minifigures and their expressions and Sam's cape. Well done!

The minor modifications I made were to... ... give Aragorn a brown cape (might change it to black once I get a chance to access my Darth Vader minifigure in my hometown overseas) ... change Boromir's brown cloak to red ... take off the green cape of Eomer and ... ... give it to the Rohan Soldier ... give the Rohan Soldier a spear ... give one of the Moria Orcs quiver and bow ... give the hair piece of one Uruk-Hai to the Moria Orc lacking a hair piece ... give the spare uruk-hai helmet from The Orc Forge to the Uruk-Hai with long hair (I have two Uruk-Hai Army sets, so I only wanted Lurtz and one additional commander type) I experimented with... ... giving a grey cape the Three Hunters (Legolas and Aragorn from Gandalf, Gimli from Frodo). It didn't work that well on Gimli since the beard is in the way.

I really hope you're right. It certainly seems that one part of the sword's guard is elongated, and the curvature is only present on one side. But I'm thinking (fearing?) it could just be the blurry picture. It would be almost too good if this was a new mold.

Yes, the possible "Warg Attack" set seems ideal to introduce one. I could see it featuring four minifigures (2 goblins, 2 dwarves) as well as two wargs and one eagle.

Thanks for posting! Regarding Thorin, I hope to see him wielding Orccrist. At the moment, it looks as if he's holding Sting. Another question I have is whether he wears a cloak. In the second picture from the left, it appears as if he has a cape, and I see reflections of a cape in all but one picture. Then, I wonder what happened to the colour in three pictures. The background shows the green of Bag End, so why is Thorin's blue taken out? Anyway, I hope for a blue cape on Thorin, although I fear the reflection only comes from his hair piece. As for Nori, my only concern is that the hair piece will look too much like a hat rather than hair.

Thanks. I hope it'll be produced eventually.

Can anybody tell me whether LEGO has or will produce large baseplate in the typical colour used in the LotR sets (the brownish colour)? I'd love to put some sets (Helm's Deep, Orc Forge) on those plates.

Yes, that could be a good looking minifigure. I hope it'll be exclusive to the "Riddles in the Dark" (or similar title) set. Would be a smart business decision for LEGO, and it would free room for more bad guys in other sets. Really looking forward to see all 13 dwarves!

Yes. I played around for a while since I don't have any LEGO parts aside from those in the LotR sets. I used the curved parts on the outside of the wall since they will be invisible on my display. Overall look with Helm's Deep in the middle, an unmodified Uruk-Hai Army set to the right and a modified Uruk-Hai Army set to the left. Frontal view. The baseplate is aligned with the original Uruk-Hai Army set. I originally had it in line with the adjacent Helm's Deep part, but I like this look better. The outermost part of my Helm's Deep, showing the curvy parts. Rear view. I had to make the most of any tall bricks to get the correct height. Some bricks are poorly connected since I just took the set out of the overall display.

Yes. I suppose it has been literally translated from German and should rather read "Riddles in the Dark" (as the chapter name in The Hobbit) or something similar including riddles. Looking forward to Bag End and the Orc King most. I hope those orcs will look like the Moria Orcs. A couple more of those and a leader would be great!

Have a look at the preceding pages, or google "fbtb Bag End" to see interior shots.

I absolutely adore this set! I'd even say I prefer it over Weathertop and my all-time favourites, the Forestmen sets. The set looks like a complete building, which already sets it above some of the other LotR sets. I love the round windows and door, the huge amount of green, the flowers, the bench, the generous supply of food and the many more details. The designer(s) really captured the look of Bag End with the tree on top and the little chimney (about which I love that it actually extends from the interior to the outside). The interior is also gorgeous with a nicely sized table. I love the shelves (with Sting on it?), the broom and hearth, and especially the red book. The only downsides of this set have to be the stickers. I don't understand why we don't see printed wooden fence pieces similar to the Uruk-Hai Army and Orc Forge sets. The maps are likely "stickered" as well, and I fear that those stickers will come off (partly, anyway) when you put them into the hands of minifigures too often. Speaking of minifigures, I never expected the incredible love LEGO put into each and every dwarf! Balin reminds me of Santa, but that's exactly what he looks like in the movie. He also comes super close to the image I had in mind after reading The Hobbit. I like Dwalin and his tattoos but find his weapon too large. Wish there would be a new mold. The buttons on Bombur's shirt seem too high, but I love how LEGO gave him a proper belly. And Bofur's hat is simply awesome! By the way, you can see high-res images of all dwarves (movie version, not LEGO) here: http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2011/07/17/46272-tornstaff_talk_dwarves/ Having been to Matamata, aka Hobbiton and sleeping in a Hobbit hotel in New Zealand even increases my intent to purchase this as soon as I'll see it. Now, I really hope for images of some other dwarves, particularly Thorin and Ori. I love what you're doing there, deskp! Hope you keep updating! :thumb up: Edit: 60 USD? That's the same as Weathertop, right? That would be 100 AUD. Steep, but a must-buy, nevertheless!