HawkLord

I'd say almost any of the flesh color faces that look stern, with no expression. Lex Luthor's head comes to mind and that set is also pretty reasonably priced.

Winter wave usually hits just before Christmas or shortly after, though your mileage may vary.

That's one thing to consider. Lego didn't make these with a specfic edition size, so they could churn out a few more to meet the demand. Especially, if Lego notices that people are paying so much for it. Essentially, the same could be said about the Death Star - people keep buying it, so Lego will just keep making it.

The only reason I could understand would be cost. If they wanted to keep the costs down, they might have to skimp alittle on the sets, as maybe going all out might be too expensive.

Good call, but I'd be swapping out the white bricks for something more in brown or black.

I like the way you think. An Ewok Village Leia is very high on my wishlist, whether in a huge Ewok Village set or even a smaller god C-3PO scene set, I would be thrilled.

I can understand this. I've sold things on Ebay that were valuable out of neccessity and felt bad when they went for double the MSRP. Sometimes, when you find a good deal or buy something that's limited, you can get alot for it later on. Especially, if it's still alittle hot - where not alot of time has passed, but just enough to make people still want it when they've missed out. The thing to remember is that people who bid are doing it by choice. They want the item and they have an amount they are willing to go to. It may seem crazy, but to someone who doesn't have the item and really wants, it might be perfectly reasonable to go that high. Plus, it's the holidays and you can always rely on last minute gift-buyers who will pay just alittle bit more to get something they know someone else reallys wants. The buyer may not even really know what it's worth or what the MSRP on the Minecraft set is, they may only be getting it as a gift at any cost. In any case, don't feel bad - someone out there is getting a chance to buy something that's sold out that they really want at a price they can manage.

You must be new to shopping at TRU - horrible inventory and/or in-house scalping is their specialty.

The distribution hurts alittle, because I would like more of the Fortune Teller and Forest Maiden, but I am happy with the amount of Heroic Knights and Cyclops. Overall, I think it's a much more solid set then I originally thought it would be.

Actually, I really liked the cartoon. For the time it wasn't all that bad.

Not bad, but Faramir never wore scale armor. He was either in ranger attire with leather armor or plate armor in ROTK. I'd go with the ranger look with a cape and maybe a hood. Though I understand the LDD has limited pieces.

The current Hobbit/LOTR polybags are: Frodo, Uruk-Hai solider, Elrond, Mirkwood Elf, and Gandalf. Out of those listed, the only really unique ones are Elrond and the Mirkwood Elf - neither of those are currently offered in any set. The other three you can get in some form from boxed sets.

I like either head from the two on the left, but I like the arms from the grey one on the right with the skeleton torso. So, I guess my vote would be more for a hybrid of the skeleton torso with hanging arms and the head and legs of the one on the far left (and the messenger bag). Probably not quite the answer you were looking for, but I think IG-88 looks better with the hanging arms and stylized head and maybe even some way to make him a tad bit taller.

In case it hadn't been mentioned yet, TRU is offering the Gandalf polybag with a $25 Lego board game purchase this week (Dec 2nd-Dec 8th). Kind of wierd adding it in with the board game stuff, when usually the polybags are connected with a regular Lego purchase.

TRU is offering the Gandalf polybag with a Lego board game purchase of $25 or more.

I would go with: Forces of Good: Aragorn (King), Arwen (Queen), Gimli and Legolas (Knights), Gandalf and Elrond (Bishops), Boromir and Faramir (Rooks), and Gondor and Rohan soldiers (Pawns) Forces of Evil: Sauron (King), Witch King (Queen), Lurtz and Gothmog (Knights), Saruman and Wormtongue (Bishops), Ringwraiths (Rooks), and Uruk-Hai and Mordor Orcs (Pawns)

I don't usually use this term when I speak of Lego, but that Hoth set looks lazy. It feels like it's trying to be a Snowspeeder set and a glorified battle pack all in one. If it ends up being around $30, then I'll pick it up just for extras to my Hoth stuff. If it's closer to $40 (which is likely given the number of figures) I'll probably pass altogether.

That was a pretty funny interview. The actors seemed to take it in stride even though the interviewer didn't do his homework and asked for a photo.

I currently don't have a Death Star, though the set has been on my "wants list" for as long as I've been back into Legos. The major obstacle for me is that there is so much else I can check off my wants list in place of the Death Star that it's hard to consider it economic. Over the years, I've been collecting Star Wars, Harry Potter, and LOTR and each time a wave of sets come out I plan what I have to buy. Some waves are light on the Star Wars side, but then heavy on the Harry Potter or vice versa - the point is that I always have something to buy (and other things aside from Legos). The Death Star is one item I can check off my list or I can buy several other sets and be able to check multiple items off my list. Being able to clear an entire wave of sets against a Death Star is a tough call - though with the first Star Wars wave of '13 looking alittle slim, now might be a good time for the Death Star for me. Going back to your original question, I would have to choose the multiple set option. Granted, Legos are one of the best toys and learning devices out there, but putting all your eggs in one basket can be a tough call. What if the child grows out of Star Wars? Would a non-licensed theme have a better chance at keeping their attention over the years? Are you prepared for the time when something on the Death Star breaks or becomes damaged and might need to be replaced? I would also add in that the price-per-brick count on the Death Star is pretty attractive for a licensed set, but there alot better deals out there on the non-licensed sets. Hope that helps.

Yes, you are the only one that is not impressed with the LOTR line. I've been waiting years, even well before the movies, for a LOTR Lego line and I'm happy to say that Lego delivered very well with this line. I'm not sure how you think Helm's Deep is overpriced - it's actually right at the ideal 10 cents per brick price-point. Lego has to have a ceiling. For as much as I'd like a Helm's Deep that takes up a whole dining room table, I know that's not realistic with what they can offer at retail.

Depends on why you'd want to get it. If you just need it for Sam, then you can probably just get the figure cheaper somewhere else. Otherwise, it sounds like you don't have a use for Shelob and you probably already have a Frodo and maybe a Gollum. Personally, I think it's a worthwhile set.

Huh? Actually it was Kenner who established the SW action figure base in the '70s and '80s. Hasbro didn't get it till they took over Kenner in the late '90s. Hasbro's work on the license is not in debate, it's a matter of how much more money Disney could make by extentding the Lego portion of the license. It's already well known that Lego minifigures do not damage Hasbro action figure sales, it's just Hasbro being paranoid.

That's the thing with truck days - even if you do get there at opening the entire contents of the truck may not have been put out yet. I've walked into TRUs first thing and have found cases of figures and whatnot just laying on the floor close to the areas where their to be stocked because workers haven't put them up yet. Of course, at that point I just dive into the cases myself. I'd also recommend checking the overhead shelves - the TRUs around here are stacking Lego cases up there with prices showing. If you see a box with $4.99 on the side, chances are it's a polybag and might be the Mirkwood Elf.

*Sign*. The Frodo bag was mass released at all TRU stores, the Uruk-Hai bag was only offered in the UK thru one newspaper. Sorry, the Frodo bag came out first - I had him in hand well before reports or in hand pics emerged for the Uruk-Hai bag.

I'd say because at the time, the Frodo bag was all we had. Then came the Uruk-Hai, Elrond, Mirkwood Elf, and now Gandalf. No one really complained about the Frodo, because we didn't have anything to compare it to. Now that we've had a sample of how good things can get, it becomes disappointing when every bag isn't a great army-builder or rare character.