Faefrost

Bofur, James Nesbit just injects so much character into him. His quiet conversation with Bilbo in the Goblin cave was just perfect. Balin comes in second to me.

The huge problem story wise vs technical capabilities is they gave Barbossa the QAR. The QAR and the Black Pearl are simply massive redresses of the same ship / set. So it is very very difficult and expensive to put both on screen in the same movie. After the massive profit bomb of the Lone Ranger it is likely that the next PotC movie will not have as huge a budget as some of the prior films.

It may have something to do with the curves or shape of the new helmet in the mold. Putting the holes in may have caused a release problem or not allowed some element of the shape? I'm just speculating, but that's normally the general sort of reason that would prompt such a change. They don't actually drill those holes. They have to be part of the mold. But if the new mold splits or opens very differently from the old the holes may have been sacrificed.

Sam was only available in one set so far. The Shelob set. Lego's license is with Warner Brothers / New Line Cinema via the company Middle Earth Enterprises, not the Tolkien Estate. So they can only make sets of things directly from the movies. They can't use things from the books that do not appear on screen. The Tolkien Estate rabidly polices this sort of thing. J R R Tolkien outright sold the movie, names and merchandising rights to LotR and the Hobbit to United Artists for a flat fee back in 1968, which in turn sold them to MEE. This has long infuriated the Tolkien Estate and Tolkien's relatives. They did not see a direct dime from the movies. (The fact that the movies more than doubled the total global books sales of the property was somehow lost on them.) So there has long been a bit of a licensing war between the two organizations.

It doesn't look like a bad set, assuming it's not grossly overpriced. It's just kinda wildly unsexy for a big ComicCon reveal? I mean it's not like it's an iconic vehicle or scene. Most people have to stick in the DVD and freeze frame to confirm that it is in fact in the movie. It was background scenery and not a hero or villain vehicle or plot device? As I said a strange choice for such a public forum. It must have been the only set they had ready to show off? We assume they have stopped making CW sets. But that may or may not be true. TCW is cancelled, but it is safe to assume that the remaining finished story arcs will be released in some big public manner. Probably as a lead in to the new Rebels show. So we may see a few sets based on or tied in with the release of those stories, be it DVD TV movie whatever. In much the same way that we have Yoda Chronicles or SWTOR sets today. That tends to be a fairly common Lucasfilms marketing practice which Lego goes along with.

Which was sort of one of the root problems to begin with. One shared by Man of Steel and to some degree the Nolan Batman movies. Just who are these movies for? What's the target demographic? These were all based on properties that were traditionally serviced by a very broad audience starting at a fairly young age. Say 7+. Who are these new interpretations targeted at? The aging nerd population? I mean kids can't grow up watching Superman, Batman or the Lone Ranger anymore because the movies are too dark and adult for them? How did we get to this point?

I think there is a slight difference between a gag about canibals, and actually depicting the villain graphically ripping out and eating a human heart? Granted its a fine somewhat blurry line. We tend to be overprotective of kids sensibilities these days and forget what true bastards kids are and how much they glorify in this stuff at a certain age. Heck the "heart tearing out" scene from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom remains one of the deliciously terrifying yet cool moments from my childhood. I often suspect that scaring or grossing kids out is just fine. Just so long as we don't turn it into a "how to" manual. ("Look Jimmy! How to Serve Man. It's a Cookbook. Yum! Chili!" The movie bombed for three reasons and schedule was not one of the big ones. 1. It's not a Western. It's the same stupid action movie we keep getting from these people, just dressed up in western clothing. The first PotC movie worked because it was a really really good classic Pirate movie. It had swashbuckling adventure, great classic tall ships. Simple yet deep characters. Watching it brought to mind a classic Erol Flynn movie. The later Pirate films seemed to miss what worked with the first and just went with wilder and more absurd action set pieces. 2. It's not a Lone Ranger movie. Really they used the name, but somehow missed the spirit and appeal of the title character. We forget that not all Western were ever darker Clint Eastwood movies. There was a time when Westerns were about clean virtuous heroes. Roy Rodgers, John Wayne, Randolf Scott, etc. it is actually possible to make a good fun modern action movie that follows some of those old school themes. In fact that's what a lot were hoping for in this one. Instead we got bumbling fools, cannibals, corrupt government, a vague line between heros and terrorists and a rather ugly caricatured take on mental illness? Yeah, no. Not a great approach. 3. Finally the real reason it failed. Because in spite of #1 and #2, a lot of people did go to see it. Enough to be a rousing success for most other movies. Look at it this way. In two weeks of release The Lone Ranger made $100 million in US ticket sales. In two weeks of release the Sandra Bullock cop chick flick The Heat made $100 million. One of those movies is considered the years biggest surprise success. One is considered the years biggest failure. Can anyone see what the difference is? If you said one cost $20 million to make and the other cost over $200 million you would be a winner! The Lone Ranger failed because its path to success was so narrow and unforgiving that it was all but unreasonable. It cost too much to make. Like most summer blockbusters. Yes a few of them managed to recoup their astronomical costs, IM3, MoS and FF6 being the big positives. But chasing that payout can be a fools errand. If the LR had maybe cut the CGI train sequences in half, and instead tightened up the script just a hair, it would have made money. And just as with the modern AAA video game industry, these movies rapidly reach a point where the money being poured into effects and dazzle suddenly no longer equals a commensurate payout.

I suspect if or when we get a Thranduil fig it will be in a TABA set. In the original 2 movie design TUJ would have ended with the barrel escape, So That would have been one big chance for his appearance. If thy didn't use him then, in those two first wave Mirkwood sets, then we may not see him until the third movie and a set related to the Battle of Five Armies.

Tell that to Aoshima, Polar Lights, Welly among others. It's weird but the BttF time machine is such an iconic model that it probably only sits behind the classic Barris Batmobile in terms of him well it does in a plastic model or die cast medium.

There is a clone wars specific R2 head? I thought it was just "old style" (printed on white) and "new style" ( wider printing on lt bley piece). They aren't viewed as specific for movies vs TV series. Just updated printing on the universally used fig?

You know mine was missing 1 1x2 book piece as well now that I think about it?

Oh I agree. Although I almost wish they had saved and refined GS a little more and used it as a sort of Ninjago in space, space based centerpiece theme some cycle.

He killed poor Jerry!

18 months I would think is nearing the bare minimum for licensed sets. Further compounded by scheduling conflicts because the license holders people would suddenly be swamped by redesigns from the licensee's, and that TLG would have to pull resources back onto this project to do this. It's not just a matter of how long they need to design new sets. It's how long to design them, get them approved, redesign if not, art designs, inventory scheduling, production scheduling, packaging, etc. it's a complicated dance. More so then we the customers will ever realize. We may see a Dol Gular based set. But I strongly suspect that it will not be anything huge. Maybe Gandalf, Rhadagast an undead foe and some grey walls and steps. Some of the visual elements may be known, but the scene certainly isn't and they can't cheat it by using stuff from the book as a basis. And yeah there were a ton of these type cheats in TUJ.

I just got it on clearance at Target for $55. I've been trying to figure out how involved it would be to change the orange color scheme? (It just looks a little too much like Mars Mission for my tastes. I would prefer something that blends better with my ADU troops.

Chima is their big "Showpiece Theme" for this year, that they have invested a ton into various media formats. The sets, the Speedorz game, computer and video games, TV show, Constraction figures, etc. Ninjago is their previous showpiece theme, that still has so much overwhelming demand that they have been forced to extend its life cycle. Galaxy Squad is this years Evergreen Space theme. It's a great theme, and one that they are pushing well. But it was never intended to get the same marketing concentration of their game based Chima or Ninjago themes. It's more along the lines of last years Monster Fighters. A good solid boys play theme. These type sub themes rarely if ever go beyond 2 waves by design. The only ones I can remember hitting a small third ish wave were Atlantis and Mars Mission. And I don't think either did real well in their third wave?

You mean as side from you buying out a third of the production run single handedly? ;) Just from eyeballing it on store shelves the new Castle line seems to be doing well. At least in my area.

My suspicion is this will be a fairly small wave. Remember TLG originally planned sets for 2 movies, hence two major waves. 2 sets based on the contents of this movie haves already been released making two holes in their plans. But further remember that their original production schedule would have had them including sets that are now related to TABA in this wave. So chances are those wave didn't lose 2 sets to fill, it lost 3 or 4. Now some more bad news. These are licensed sets. Even with an accelerated schedule to fill in the gaps, there are still some long lead times needed. Each new set to plug a hole must be evaluated and approved by the license holder. At the same time that said license holder was stressed and stretched to the breaking point turning 2 movies into 3. So there is probably a question of how many new sets they could have done. Add to this that most of the 18 month lead time will be eaten up by actual production needs. Art, packaging, brick making, shipping, etc, and chances are the Lego design team only had a few weeks to make replacement sets. So replacement sets will not be huge complicated or spectacular. They will probably be more akin to Iron Mans flaming golf cart of doom. Any big spectacular stuff will be sets that were already in the pipeline. So maybe 2-3 long planned sets and 2-3 new fillers? Finally there are a few subjects we can all but rule out, and a few that we can kind of zero in on. Remember Lego is working off concept art and early ideas. Stuff that changed or was expanded since they decided to do 3 movies probably will not be made yet as sets. We will not see a big Dul Guldur set (unless they had some real good concept art.) we may see a Beorn's House set however. The art and actual set photos of that have been out and available since TUJ, and I think that Bag End has been the overall top seller of Middle Earth sets. Beorn's House may be thought to have a similar appeal. I am betting against. Mirkwood set just because we already have two. Although that may be a more viable area for a filler set as they have long seen art for those scenes as they were planned for TUJ. Anything that PJ and crew have been very hush hush about is unlikely to make it into this wave. With the big candidate being Smaug. I'm betting if we get a good look at him from any source at Comic Con next week, then we may see him in a set. But if no toy maker has a good detailed Smaug out on display yet, then chances are we might not see him until the next wave. Above all expect that there will be a ton of inaccuracies between any released sets and DOS. Moreso than last time (but hopefully not as bad as Iron Man 3). I think PJ has been changing stuff and adding stuff too fast for the license holders to keep up. I think any elf armor will be printed. Putting any sort of breastplate on the elves will just make them look too chunky. But I do suspect that there might be some nice ornate Dwarf armor in the works. The hairpiece used for the main Warriors of the Dwarven company, Fili, Kili and Thorin was obviously designed to fit over accessories such as armor. Plus hopefully there will be a Mihril clad Bilbo minifig somewhere? (Although that might be TABA)

Then it's probably a good thing that Lego can't touch Tom Bombadil. Their contract is for things featured in the movies only. The Tolkien estate has the lawyers out in force watching for such things. I just wish Lego would realize that comic books and Superhero's are all about the characters, and restricting some, no matter how obscure is a bad thing.

While the exclusives aren't quite as bad this year. I'm still heartbroken to see they are still doing this crp. Spider-Man and Superman are perfect examples of good show exclusive Minifigs. The exclusivity is to the outfit or design. That's fair. We can live with costume variants. But Green Arrow and Spider Woman are character exclusives. Those really are an obscene gesture to the fans and best customers from the event marketing department. "See these favorite characters of yours You're not special enough to ever see them."

GotG will see sets for one very simple reason. (And the same reason we see so many Batman sets). GotG is a Space Opera. At its heart it is a Spaceships and vehicles kinda thing. It's Star Wars meets Super Heros. Which if successful will play very well to Lego's strengths. Right now the single problem that the Superhero line has outside of Batman, is it is almost totally based around figs. Most of the sets feel kind of lacking. There is no real swoosh ability factor. I think the recent Iron Man sets are the worst for this. Boat? Fiery Golf Cart of Doom? It all feels like filler. GotG can actually give us some real ships vehicles and settings to go along with the spandex. Just the thought of a System scale Nova Cruiser is drool worthy. Or how about a Knowhere play set? A base of operations built in the severed head of a giant space god? Now that would be different.

Sign me up for the UCS Red Wedding set!

In theory (if not in this movie) the Rangers were mainly a uniformed outfit. Swap out the heads and hats and you have a whole company of Rangers, more like in the classic LR story.

The point being Abram's first goal with the new movie was to free himself from the burdens of the 30+ years of any prior specific continuity. he could give little winks, nods and easter eggs to it at will to toss out to the nerdlings. But otherwise it had no restrictions on him. I'm betting he will treat SW much the same. The 6 main movies will be honored, but everything else will be limited at best.

Hands are one of the key parts that absolutely cannot be done transparent. The polycarbonate is too brittle for the flex needed to grab things and they would break much too easily.