Lynx

Just out of curiosity, do you know why a single LEGO mold is that much more expensive than other plastic items? For instance, some board games contain more than 20 finely molded plastic figures. Board games are a real niche market, and some games are considered hugely successful when selling 50,000 copies.

When I see many MOCs, I think I could create something similar if I had the huge amount of bricks used in them. When I look at your creation, I'm sure I could have twice the amount of bricks and wouldn't come close to even replicate - leave alone create from scratch - anything as magnificent. Simply amazing!

Regarding named characters vs. 'random' grunts: Casting my mind back to my childhood, I didn't need any named characters. The only two I had (sort of) were Robin Hood and Redbeard. And yet, my not officially named forestmen had names that I gave to them. Two of my young, not officially named, pirates, became the heroes of my stories when they opposed the evil blue empire and greedy Redbeard. I think the LEGO movie actually follows in the same spirit with the main character being a 'random construction worker'. I don't believe that today's kids have lost their imagination. Unnamed characters might actually spark it! Instead of replaying the adventures of Luke Skywalker, why not create the adventures of aspiring Jedi knight Mirktag, the ewok?

The dwarf's red axe, Barazanthual, is a certain giveaway that the dwarf is Dain II Ironfoot and no generic solider.

Exactly! This is the worst possibly list I could think of (other than no sets at all). If I manage to set this list as my expectation, I can only be positively surprised.

Thanks for your reply! Much appreciated.

I'm usually active in the Historic Themes forum, so please forgive my ignorance with LEGO Star Wars. I just stumbled across LEGO Darth Revan! He's possibly my favourite SW character of all time since he'll always remind me of my favourite stand-alone video game ever, Knights of the Old Republic. Before I frantically search for the best offer on Bricklink, would anybody be so kind to tell me whether there are any LEGO products featuring characters or ships from the same video game?

No worries. Glad we cleared that up.

And he's arguably the most beautiful LEGO rendition of the entire Middle-earth line! The printed armour and helmet are superb!

No need to interpret my post as I hid no messages in it --> "setting low expectations will limit disappointment" is what I wrote and meant. I'm rather sure I've never accused LEGO of not putting any thought into sets and don't think I could ever truly hate anything with intensity.

I'm also a fan of the Council of Elrond. When it was released, I immediately had it in my personal top 3 Middle-earth sets. It's one of those sets I will have on display when most sets will be a fading memory. Cool picture! However, I haven't read anybody's predictions in a while. If you refer to my post, just read it in its entirety and you'll quickly realise that these weren't serious set predictions...

This grasping at straws and hoping against hope is becoming really frustrating and the inevitable disappointment will only hurt more. I'll try to approach this from a worst-case scenario mindset - the lower my expectations, the smaller my disappointment: there will be no more Lord of the Rings sets. And even if there will be a third and final wave, this is what I expect: The Destruction of the Ring (20$) Set: A small rocky outcropping with glowing orange pieces Action feature: catapult function to hurl a character Minifigs: Frodo, Sam (both with new print) and Gollum Galadriel's Treehouse (40$) Set: the Lothlorien set seen in the video game plus Galadriel's mirror Action feature: flick fire missile in the tree house Minifigs: Galadriel, Frodo, Gimli and Legolas Treebeard encounter (25$) Set: brick-build ent and some random bushes Action feature: the ent is highly mobile Minifigs: Merry, Pippin, one orc Battle for Minas Tirith (70$) Set: a white wall structure with green gate and battering ram Action feature: battering ram uses new firing mechanism (similar to Lake-town set) to 'destroy' the gate, flick fire missiles and small catapults on the wall Minifigs: Gandalf the White, Pippin in Gondor armour, Eomer, three orcs (plus one horse)

In that case, I would expect Gamling and Hama on your list. I'm not sure whether LEGO would have the rights for Erkenbrand, Dunhere, Guthlaf or others not explicitly mentioned in the movies.

Beautiful MOC!

That's awesome! My friends and I always said that we will revive our old roleplaying group once we all retire and I've been thinking to run the whole game using LEGO. What better to represent your changing character, depict unique locations and now even have a great beholder figure on the table!

His red axe, Barazanthual, is also a giveaway.

Very nice build! And good to see Boromir surviving in this alternate LotR story.

By far the best Minas Tirith set idea I've yet seen! There are always details one fan will like and another won't. However, this simply simply looks beautiful, is immediately recognisable, and has a great scale for a D2C model.

Two great MOCs of the same scene within one week. You two guys make sure Boromir's heroics will not be forgotten!

And Dain's war pig/ boar, please.

Yes, the backdrop with Erebor pillars, green/ gold contrast and pile of gold make this set appear so much larger and prettier than it really is.

Great list I almost exclusively agree with! I'd move Faramir to #1 with Eowyn and the Witch-king 2nd and 3rd. I'd have bear Beorn a bit further up and would include a generic Gondor ranger and Madril (since Damrod, Anborn and Mablung weren't in the movie).

I support any decent Lord of the Rings IDEAS/ Cuusoo project simply to show that the demand for this line still exists. If even great projects struggle to make it to 3,000 why would LEGO consider making any more sets?

I like picture reviews that are accompanied by a nicely written text outlining the author's opinion.

I'll wait until the set is on sale. Then, I'll see how much Thorin and Dain would cost on brick link after shipping cost. If I feel that getting the rest of the set (parts and previously released characters) is worth the difference, I will buy one set. I see zero value in getting multiples of this set.