HawkLord

Two pages but only four people have actually voted. Kind of odd. I went with Legolas - I've wanted a Legolas figure since I was a kid and then again after seeing LOTR.

I honestly don't know anything about Ninjago, but I will say that I prefer to spend my VIP points towards something big. I know I could drop $15 on a Lego set without any problem, so I'd see it as more worthwhile to use those $15 to knock down the price of a larger set. I have about $35 worth of points right now and everytime I go into the Lego store they ask me if I want to use them. Each I just say "no thanks" because I know I'm saving those points for something big one day.

There's nothing wrong with the Polybag sales model. It's a great gateway piece to get new people into Lego and it's a cheap impulse buy for people who don't want a full set. The only annoying piece we see here, is that the Uruk is an army-builder type and is a figure that hasn't been done to death - since it's brand new. The recent Thor, Hawkeye, and the updated Batman polys were also very rare, but the Stormtrooper from a couple years back didn't move as quickly; because by that time the Stormtrooper was already around. As for the UK getting it - I think that's fair. We in the US already get great prices on sets, have more alternatives for buying sets, and have our own hard to find exclusives compared to the rest of the world. Now that's not saying I wouldn't hope the Uruk reaches here soon...

Harry Potter Polybag (potions set 30111) x3 from Target. Hadn't seen them there before and it looks like they were just put out.

TRU has the following sales this week, which aren't too bad: City Fishing Boat: MSRP $20 / Sale $15 City Passenger Plane: MSRP $40 / Sale $30 City Police Dog Van: MSRP $35 / Sale $30 Target has the following sales: DC Super Heroes The Batcave: MSRP $70 / Sale $56.09 (note this is listed as an online price, but their ad lists Super Hero sets on sale) DC Super Heroes Battle Over Gotham: MSRP $35 / Sale $29.49 (see above) Marvel Super Heroes Hulk Breakout: MSRP $50 / Sale $43.79 (see above) Star Wars TIE Fighter: MSRP $55 / Sale $40.79 (see above) Star Wars Anakin and Sebulba Podracer: MSRP $90 / Sale $70 (see above)

That's an interesting thought. I know when I got into Legos as an adult, I really didn't look at gathering up any of the old sets I had as a kid. I'm mostly interested in where Lego is going, so to speak. With that said, as the Friends line is something brand new, I could see some nostalgia for it in the future. I'm sure there's people right now stock-piling Friends sets to flip in the future.

Maybe Orthanc could work as an UCS set, like what we see in Star Wars. Alternatively, it be nice to see an Architecture line for Hobbit/LOTR. WETA makes some really great scaled statues of important buildings and such, so it would be great to see something similiar in Lego.

You know, the more I think about it - it's not as sad as any other time that Uncle George tried to change the Star Wars universe. Star Wars is alot like comics these days. For example, it's not so easy to just say you like Batman. Do you like Silver Age Batman? Dark Knight Batman? Who is your favorite Batman artist? Who is your favorite Batman writer? The same is very true with Star Wars. Do you like the old '80s VHS verions? Special Editions? The '04 DVD edits? The Blu-Ray edits? This Disney era is just another example of Star Wars being taken in a new direction. Granted, I won't really be going along for that ride, but I can still watch and appreciate classic Star Wars anytime.

Robin: "He says he wants to borrow your cape to cover the back of his purple thong".

This is very true, but it also depends on who holds the license. If you look at Harry Potter action figures, they were huge in the UK because Popco treated the series like Star Wars and made a ton of characters. Meanwhile, in the US, NECA had the action figure rights for the last few movies (previously it was Mattel) and NECA is knwon for not running large figure lines - with a few exceptions they mostly make one-offs. Had a company really ran a strong HP action figure line, I'm sure it would have done well. The Indy action figure line suffered because the quality was really low and case assortments were terrible. Having three Indys and three Mutts in a case of ten figures was bound to hurt the line. Hasbro just didn't treat it the right way. We may also be seeing the same thing with The Hobbit figures. Bridge Direct just posted that wave two of their action figures should come out in the summer or spring of next year - that will be way too late. If they don't keep the interest going with products coming in at a more regular fashion, the Bridge Direct Hobbit line won't be as sought after as the old Toy Bz LOTR line was back in the day.

None of those are even a blip on the radar for me, with the exception of the Grenadier figures and the Middle Earth action figures. When you start to get to modern times with $300 Sideshow statues, then you're talking collectibles. A couple calendars? Not so much. Anyway, LOTR and Friends...

Not neccessairly. I think Lego is doing a really good job adding in second or third string characters to their sets. Just look at Iron Fist and Nova in the Spidey sets - both aren't really household names, but Lego had the great idea to throw them in. You could even make an arguement for Deadpool - I mean, how many soccer moms are going to know who he is?

There have been one-shot pieces here and there since the '80s, but nothing substantial. That's my point - LOTR has never had an ongoing collectibles focus until the past ten years because of the movies. Once the LOTR movies ended, Toy Biz stoped their action figure line, WETA and Sideshow stopped making high-end statues, United Cutlery stopped making prop replica weapons, Games-Workshop slowed down with their minis game, etc. Harry Potter was a bigger cash cow than both of those franchises and yet it's line ended the year the last movie came out. PotC ended pretty quick, as well. Part of it is that you never can tell and part of it is what the fanbase will support.

See, I never said there wasn't enough LOTR to be made. If I thought about it, I too could come up with 100+ LOTR Lego sets. The problem that LOTR has is a race against time. This isn't like the Star Wars license which gets locked in for 10+ years at a time. LOTR will be finite as I'm sure Lego didn't lock it in for as long as they did Star Wars or the like. At best, we're factoring the Hobbit movies until the summer of '14 when the last movie hits. I bet they don't run LOTR/Hobbit past the end of '14 or maybe thru the first wave of '15. I've been into Tolkien books since I was a kid and back then there was no Tolkien related merchandise to be had anywhere. Occasionally, they'd come out with a new book edition with extra appendices and the like, but there were barely any toys or anything close to what we have today. Look, I love LOTR/Hobbit, but it's never been a merchandise machine without movies - once the movies go, the line will end.

Very clever! Without Uncle George in the pool of gold, it's pretty good. But with that last piece, it's excellent.

Are you stating that Lego needs an action figure clause in their licensing agreement in order to make battle packs? If so, you're mistaken. Lego has continually stated that they make building sets and do not cater to action figure type arrangements. As for battle packs, look at Star Wars. Hasbro owns the rights to make Star Wars action figures. And the one time Lego came close to infringing on that with their removeable figure magnet line, Hasbro was able to shut them down. Lego's arrangement is to build sets, so as long as Lego is able to do that with TMNT then they can make any types of sets they want. Technically, this could mean we'll see the usual keychains and magnets, as we have with other recent lines like Marvel, DC, LOTR, etc.

Normally, I have low expectations when watching Youtube clips, but all of those were actually really good. The Halloween one was the clear winner, but they were all well-made with good quality.

I like the idea, but it wouldn't give TMNT a huge lift. If anything it would hurt it. Putting all the major eggs in one basket and offering that will detract people from buying the other sets, thus less sales. I could see putting all four Turtles in a large $80-ish set, but a battle pack would be far too cheap for Lego to really make a strong profit on and for most people that would be all the TMNT stuff they'd need. I like the TMNT, but if they made a small Turtles battle pack, that's probably all I'd buy.

I'm disappointed. For one, I don't like two of my favorite hobbies/movies/licenses/etc now being stuck under one roof. First Marvel and now Star Wars. If Disney ever got Star Trek and Tolkien, I'd be handing over a good portion of my paychecks to Disney. Plus, I like Star Wars movies where they are. There's no need to have a movie describing what happens to Luke, Leia, and Han next. Where would they go? New Jedi Order? Is Disney going to be the ones that kill Chewie? Or will they re-write that out of the EU history? Star Wars was great before all the fluff, like the Clone Wars cartoon and such. If Disney made an Old Republic movie, I might be interested, but Lucas has been man-handling the OT for years. The last thing I want is Mickey Mouse man-handling Star Wars. Ugh. I could go on and on about it, but what's the point?

Lego lowering their prices almost feels like they would be stooping to the knock-off company's level. These days, almost everything gets knocked-off. Sure, companies can spend alot getting their legal teams to pursue the knock-off artists or they could just ignore them entirely. Look at other toys like Transformers - those get knocked-off the time and yet Hasbro and TakTomy don't really pursue the knock-off companies to the fullest extent they could. It's not worth their time and they know they make a superior product. Lego should feel confident in the same position.

Pretty much looks perfect to me. Really great job, man.

I've been reading about price drops in the LOTR and Avengers lines at Walmart, but haven't found any myself after checking a couple locations. But at $57, I would have cleared the shelves...

I'm not sure the Technodrome could work. One of the reasons that the Death Star is so good is that each level depicts a classic scene from the movies. A Technodrome could try to do the same thing, but I doubt there are that many memorable levels of it. At most, I can just remember a couple bits from the cartoon and video game. If Lego makes a classic set, I'd be happy with just a sewer section with all four Turtles, Shredder, and April. Then make another add-on section that has Splinter, Casey, Bebop and Rocksteady. Lego could, of course, split up the Turtles into each set and maybe add a Foot Solider to each. Basically, make it a combinational set, like the Star Wars Jabba's Palace and Rancor Pit, but alittle smaller.

I find it odd that we're not seeing more AOTC sets. This year we had the Sith Infiltrator, Battle of Naboo, Naboo Starfighter, Sebulba and Anakin Podracers, and Gungan Sub. We also had the Republic Frigate, which while it was advertised as a CW set, it was also a prominant ship in TPM. So far, it looks like we just have the Clone/Droideka battle pack that is really AOTC. Seems like Episode Two will have alot of catching up to do in the summer wave.