Faefrost

One thing that struck me was a few of the recent designer videos have given a little bit of insight into how some of the decisions are made in set budgeting and pricing, and also what sorts of things will count against the piece count if you will. In others words eat up the design budget in ways other that adding more pieces. We are all well aware that Minifigs take a bigger bite out of the set budget than simply the number of their pieces. But complexity of printing can increase that bite. We also are aware and acknowledge that the large specialy molds such as Dino's, Jabba's , hulks, trolls, etc deeply cut into a sets budget / part count. One that we often miss is new elements and molds. Especially unique new elements. Molds are a huge production cost. Pieces that are not general use, but rather limited to one theme and a handful of sets will take a huge bite out of those set budgets. This more than anything is probably where Star Wars gets the biggest price per piece hit. They have tons of specialized heads and similar. And none of them can be used outside of SW. Compare that to an unlicensed line like Chima. While it has a ton of special molds for heads, they don't have to be restricted to Chima. We may be seeing those lion croc and bird heads for years as CMFs etc. on the other side, while LotR is licensed, they don't have anywhere near some of the numbers of complex or limited molds that SW has. What new stuff LotR has offered can for the most part be used across broad product lines and is not theme specific. Not even the Wargs. The real thing that drives up set costs is exclusivity of parts. There are definitely license fees that increase the costs. But the actual pricing is I suspect a lot more complicated than we can ever imagine.

I'be never had an issue with Bricklink. The site managers there do a good job of enforcing honest representation of the product offered, and a strong feedback system that actually has an effect. Plus everyone there knows what they are dealing with Lego wise. E-bay is the Wild West. You never know what you are going to get, and those too good to be true deals are often just that. At the very least expect that the quality of any parts bought from eBay are substantially worse that described. Never ever buy a set from either Bricklink or more importantly E bay, if it is still available for online purchase from a first party merchant. S@h, amazon, Walmart.com, TRU.com etc. the drop ship scam runs rampant.

It may be 8 sets combined. A mixed bag between LotR and Hobbit. With a more spread out release.

I like the new revolvers. and that cow skull is great. I'm not crazy about the outfit in the Ranger. I am more of a traditionalist and prefer the classic Blue Suit.

Future (or these days "Pledge with Future Shine") is Liquid Acrylic. It's basically the same stuff as some of the main ingredients in the clear plastic. It will fix micro scratches very easily. These are the normal wear and tear that fog the piece, or even when fresh out of the box new, make the pieces appear more plasticy or toylike. A dip in an Acrylic bath fills in the scratches and makes the pieces look like glass. So canopies look real etc. Results with deep scratches may vary. You may have to handpaint the acrylic onto the scratch in multiple coats and then buff to level it all when done.

Actually the old chromed Kings sword would probably work well for Anduril. It's longer than the new CMF longsword that Aragorn currently has and stands out as something important. The only problem with it is the rounded tip..

I never understood the point of that when comic collectors started doing it. It just seems absurd to do it to toys. I can't follow the logic of sealing something that is meant to be enjoyed in plastic. (And I really doubt that gluing 6 slabs of lean around a toy box really does much to increase its value or longevity beyond discouraging an accidental squashing.)

Yeah, the problem piece is the Horse Head armor. While the new horses head is overall pretty much the same size as the old, just a little rounder, the ears are much wider and the head armor will not go over them. The old barding will fit the new horses. It just prevents you from using the new position-able rear legs. So you can put the Barding on, but can't have the horse rearing when you do. I think it is sort of assumed that we will be seeing new horse armor at some point soon. Probably in a LotR Pelinor set. (Faramir's Charge hopefully). But with new Castle sets coming it may show up there first.

The Corsair ship is a minor element of the films. But for our purposes here it services a broad range of ideas. The ship itself is something that works well in Lego. They do them well and they make for exciting play environments. Plus it gives a way to easily give us the Army of the Dead figs mixed with some others such as Hero's or Pirates or Orc's (depending on which end of the journey they are depicting), and finally it is a set other than a gray wall or a cave setting. Something that can shake things up a bit from the consistent darn Middle Earth earth tones. Plus it attracts a broader customer base into the LotR line. Not only will the typical Hobbit/LotR/Castle fans pick it up, you can be guaranteed that every Pirate fan will as well. They like ships. And once they have Legolas and Aragorn and Gimli... well they still need Borimir and the Hobbits don't they? and Oh look isn't Hems Deep such an awesome set...

I think the Fantasy Era Dragons are a little small for the Fel Beasts? Something more along the lines of the smaller Ninjago Dragon's is probably getting closer to where they should be. (Granted Lego does often reduce scales for play purposes and just making it all fit) http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=70503-1

In a 50 dollar set the Black Gate would be more of the Black Subway Turnstile. "Everybody line up, single file please! No shoving! One at a time through to the man with the big sword! WHACK! NEXT!" Have you seen the variety of weird weapons they made molds for over in Ninjago? Or Chima? They just need something to make Aragorns sword stand out. (For that matter Orcrist and Glamdring too. They created a new mold for Sting but ignored those others) OK you won me over with Peter Jackson Minifig It must be so! I still suspect that we will see the Felbeast in a Battle of Pelinor set with Aeowyn, Merry, Theoden and the Witch King. We already know (or suspect) that we will be seeing an eagle in the next Hobbit wave in the Eagles Nest set. So they probably won't do a separate LotR eagle set.

Lets see Yeti - Kinda interesting. I'm hoping for a face like the Rudolf Abominable Snowman Evil Mech - More of those Space combat bots are good. I can find uses for those. Welder - Kind of a nice all around useful city fig. I bet the helmet will be awesome. Can't see needing a lot though Lady Robot - What exactly defines the "Lady" in Lady Robot? I mean really are we talking a "full featured" household appliance? /winkwinknudgenudge? Who am I kidding I can always find room in my vast robot army Jazz Musician - I'm betting this fig will have a lot of personality and will be good for MOC'ing with. Plus a nice new instrument. Sax? Constable - A classic British Bobby? Could find a use for one or two Holiday Elf - Much like Santa, a little goes a long way. Maybe use em as gnomes in some sort of Fantasy Era MOC? Bavarian Lady - Dirndl to go along with the Lederhosen. Could be real useful in Medieval and Fairy Tale MOC's. Now if she comes carrying a tankard I will love Lego forever Scarecrow - A cool useful fig depending on how they do it. Mountain Climber - I'll have to see this one. Sounds cool, but could be yet another skier type. Grandma - Sounds great, but you really only need one. OK maybe the grandma hair will be useful. Tiki Warrior - Cool looking figure of somewhat limited use? We'll see. Gingerbread Man - Yum! Barbarian - Hell yes! More please! With a big Ahnold type sword! Dinner Waitress - Could be cute. Could be a decent way to use some of those Friends sets with traditional minifigs. Scientist - Haven't we had a few scientists already? Oh wait you mean this one isn't evil, or mad, or turned into something horrible? Do they come like that? The Zulu or a generic African Tribal Warrior Americans would have no trouble with. And it could probably be pulled off in yellow. It's just a matter of the clothing and accessories. The key item would be the hide animal print shield and some way to really differentiate the hair piece from the native american figs. Now if you asked an American to pick out the various distinctions between African tribes, we'd probably be at a loss unless we had some first hand contact. And that's kind of the same with the European Military uniforms. Americans could probably tell you that the soldier is 18th century European, But unless they are holding a flag most would not be able to pick out the distinctions between a Swedish Carolean or a Spaniard. (Yes yes we know they all wear different funny hats. Just don't ask us which funny hat goes with which?)

I think the MF sets were sort of designed to be a shorter seasonal run for Halloween. They may not be restocking them, at least not yet or not at this time? Not sure why, that seems like a very small sales window for a theme. It may simply be that that specific exclusive set was made in certain limited numbers to meet the anticipated need, and sold out far faster than they expected, with no plans to restock since it was a store exclusive set?

Yeah Kings Castle is a name they have re used repeatedly. And even if it is a similar Castle, it doesn't mean it is a wholesale duplication. Look at how many releases and returns some Star Wars subjects have gotten over the years? I would imagine at a minimum a new version of the set would have a few changes, such as the new horses. (Heck we just got those in the Black Friday giveaway sets).

In their eyes the theme has never been discontinued. Remember there were two new Kingdoms sets issued this year. Joust and the Chess set. It still has an active theme on s@h and a spot on shelves in Lego stores.

I've always assumed that's because hey need to feed a name to Marketing while the sets are still being developed and finalized, so they keep them as vague as possible. Whereas with licensed sets they are working from something specific. Just look at all of he MF names. Very vague. Obviously all they had decided on was which monster figs went with which sets. Not the scenes themselves. I mean "the crazy scientist"? Not the Mad Scientists Lab? Or simply The Zombies.

True, but at a minimum the Black Ship version of Aragorn should include Anduril. So that's something to hope for. I think the key draw for the ship set will be the Army of the Dead.

One other tangential piece of evidence that the new sets are a new wave of Kingdoms. I had posted this a few weeks back, but it seems to make more sense now. My local target recently redid their Lego aisle, and put up some new Lego marketing banners and displays. The most prominent is an arch that hangs over the aisle featuring a bunch of Minifigs. Modern current city figs, Batman, the MF Frankenstein monster, so this was obviously a very new piece of signage. And right there standing with the brand new figs and themes is the Kingdoms Lion King.

While always better to get a set at discount, that is one of the best sets Lego has made. If possible it should not be missed. It's worth $90. (Although cheaper is always better.)

Wasn't there a Weequay in the skiff set? Also I don't think Lego views it in the vein of "not counting Clone Wars". And we have had three or four Weequays over there, including Hondo.

The problem there is Lego only has the license with WB for stuff from the movies. They don't have the different license from the Tolkien estate for the books. So for Lego to make and sell it, it must be on screen. With only 5 figures mentioned it sounds like a fairly small set. Probably more of a figure pack, character scene, with Aragorn and Gandalf facing off against the mouth. Which kind of begs the question of what the build could be? What possible play features? There just isn't a lot there to work with. On the heroes side it is bare grey and flat. Totally featureless desolation. And then there is the massive spiky wall that kind of just sits there.

I always got the impression that the Green Dragon knights were a force that had lost their lands and castle. They were getting scruffy, raiding and ambushing from the woods, and raiding farms. They weren't quite Forrestmen, but were getting there. The few buildings they had seemed more like old jails or watchtowers.

Yes it just takes a little more work. The trick there is to basically paint the acrylic onto the clear parts then let it level and dry, then buff it a bit to clear up any uneven spots. The alternative is to dip the part and then buff the excess off the ABS. If you have ever seen one of those "as seen on TV" type commercials about the magic stuff to fix scratched CD's and glasses, its the same stuff, just repackaged at 1000% markup.

Yes. Anything that is made of the clear acrylic plastic (as opposed to the ABS plastic that normal bricks are made of.) As a test take a few of the various colored gems that you get as treasure. Even new ones straight from the box, and dip them. Once dried they will sparkle and glow like real gems. It really makes the colored trans pieces pop and glow. The only pieces I have seen that need a little bit of finesse are the ones where the trans clear part is embedded in an ABS part, such as some train windows and cockpits. In those cases instead of dipping the whole part, use a swab to paint the future onto the clear part, let dry and then softly buff it. I have never seen an instance where the future discolors printing, but I do recommend testing on a small area before going into full production, just to make sure that no color shift occurs. It shouldn't as the printing is normally an acrylic paint itself, so the future just acts as a sealant. Using it on ABS won't do any damage. It just wont bond to the bricks and will wear off and have a funny feel. I do also recomend that after you dip the parts, let them not just dry but cure. (as with paint, which it sorta kinda is, sorta). By curing we mean let the acrylic completely out gas all of the suspended liquid. Not simply dry to the touch. This will take a few hours, possibly a day or so. Future is thin enough that it is self leveling. I dip the part and then lay them out on a tray with a sheet of bakers parchment paper, with the mold edges facing down. Give it a few hours and the parts will look better than new and need very little buffing or cleanup, all with almost no actual work to achieve it. If it makes you feel any better, this really is a very old very well known trick extensively used by plastic model makers. It was used on many of the Star Wars studio models to enhance the clear parts and make sure they looked real.

Thank you!!! My nieces will love to see that. Were you able to build it mostly from the parts in those three sets? or did you need substantial extra sources?