SheepEater

If you are really THAT disappointed in the set, maybe you should ask Lego (or whoever you bought it from) to give your money back. The rest of us enjoy the set the way it is just fine.

A few questions/speculation about The Hobbit: - How the heck are they gonna handle Bombur? A normal minifig, with or without stumpy legs, simply won't do. He's way too fat. - How about Beorn's human form? He's s described as being way taller than men. Maybe a modified Hagrid mold? Hagrid was a ripoff of Beorn anyway.

:classic: :classic: :classic:

Well, you do have a point. My bad. I came out of my dark ages (october 2002) less than a year after the first LOTR movie (december 2001) came out, and I had already read the book earlier than that around 1996-98. I'm sure hardcore Lego fanatics made LOTR Mocs long before the movies came out. I remember seeeing Star Wars MOCs pre-1999. Can't find those anymore. The only detail I remember from those photos is an ugly yellow C3P0

City Garage. Because it makes me nostalgic of the 80s. All 7 of the LOTR sets. Why? Because we waited 11 years for it and they rule.

:thumbup: It would surprise me if it WOULDN'T be a set, since it happens fairly early in the book (so will definitely be in the first movie), and it's one of the most iconic and memorable chapter of the story, if not the most. (Side note: I love the book The Hobbit, but am I the only one who found the "Barrels out of Bond" chapter very boring?)

I forgot to add that this doesn't necessarily apply to brick assembly, but to stickers, as well. 8285's large red stripes stickers on the sides of the truck is a good example: if you do it as per the instructions instead of the box art, it looks plain stupid IMHO.

Ah, ok. All's well, no harm done. Just a simple misunderstanding.

A good example of what I'm talking about is this set: 7733 Truck & Forklift. (But there are many others) The yellow liquid containers' top lid are displayed on the box art (and on the photos on the back as well) as green on top of gray. But the instructions make you build it as gray on top of green. Me, whenever that choice happens, I ALWAYS choose the box art. How about you?

Anyway, regarding the inclusion of Merry in the set (while Sam and Pippin are absent): I think it's worth noting that Merry is the only member of the Fellowship of the Ring who successfully manages to seriously harm a Nazgul (their leader, no less). Way, way later than in this scene, but still.

One of my Nazgul has a silver belt buckle thingy on the bottom right of the torso, the other Nazgul is just gray. Are they both supposed to be silver? All of the official Lego images show it as gray, but the BrickLink image shows it as silver.

First off, before calling me dishonest, know that although being new on Eurobricks, I have been an active member on Lugnet, Brickshelf & Bricklink since 2002 and I have 100% positive feedback on Bricklink. I have never tried to sell my rope as genuine, nor have I sold any sets including rope. I would gladly sell completed sets with fabric store rope, but I would clearly indicate it so - while also pointing out that it's impossible to tell the difference. I did try to sell my fabric store rope once, but it was clearly identified as such, but was forced to remove it due to not being genuine Lego. If you want to point the finger at someone, look at those few sellers currently selling the long rope off 8288's set and the price they charge... I'm merely trying to give people an alternative to being ripped off.

For high torque technic crane MOCs, it's been well documented that fishing rope is the way to go. The advantage of fabric store rope is that it's completely undistinguishable from official rope. So you could use it to restore a set and sell it on bricklink without anybody ever raising an eyebrow.

I find that there is a huge difference between dust that is 6-10 months old and dust that is 1-2 years old or more. The former will just disappear after blowing on it and lightly dusting it with a soft brush. The latter is much worse, especially if humidity had time to mix itself with the dust. In that case nothing short of washing with a cloth + soap does the trick, but it's tedious.

Great! I loved that Went to a very small toy store today. They had neither LOTR or Friends. Bizarrely, they said that they couldn't get any Friends sets from Lego at the moment. I was carrying my helms's deep set in my backpack that I had just gotten from Purolator and showed it to her. She was in awe. Being the geek I am, I said, don't it look ten times more impressive than all the other Lego you're selling?

In all themes (Town, Technic especially) I see lot of people complaining about breaking their strings used in cranes, winches, etc Well, I came up with my solution 10 years ago. Just go to a big name fabric store (Rossy in Montreal is perfect). You'll find rope in the exact same quality & thickness Lego is using, for very cheap. But it probably won't be black (My store only had light tan at the time). So I went to buy some black dye. They sell those in small black boxes and are very cheap. Pour the contents in hot water, simmer the rope for a few hours. Voila, a lifetime of black Lego rope! And I am still not even close of using up my original batch made in 2002 that I tainted myself. And it's still black as ever. So for those looking for those ultra long ropes from set 8288 - crawler crane, don't pay those ridiculous prices on bricklink - the ropes you taint yourself end up identical!

Mindstorms vs Friends?

Woo-hoo! Finally completed my LOTR collection! Turns out that I did got to pay only 79.99 for helm's deep (from Toys R Us Canada)! I was so angry when they sent me a cancellation email that I phoned them demanded to the lady to let me talk to her manager, at first he was offering me the $45 rebate he offered everyone else, but I said NO WAY, I'm entitled to a $100 rebate, I said he was breaking the law and I threatened to sue him with the help of the office of consumer protection. He balked. I gave up on my other order of five Helms deep's though - not worth the hassle. Got the 3 smallest sets from Walmart about 3 weeks ago, and got the 3 remaining sets (Orc Forge, Weathertop, Moria) directly from Lego to get the Frodo poster. So far I've had minor printing issues. Once I have built every set I'm gonna give Lego a call. Shelob attacks: Frodo's eyebrows on his serious face are off (the same face is fine on my Weathertop) Weathertop: Aragorn's pants pattern is misaligned with the torso pattern One of the Nazgul has a silver belt buckle thingy on the bottom right of the torso, the other Nazgul is just gray. Are they even supposed to be silver?

Love it! Now what I wanna see is the Rancor slowly devouring that helpless green skinned slave girl (Oola) now that she has a minifig. We don't even get to see that in the movie!

I was thinking of the Mirror of Galadriel. With tons of cute forest animals, flowers and accesories (her "gifts" to the fellowship). With Stephanie playing the part of Galadriel. I would need to borrow my niece's Stephanie to do that, though, and require many pieces for forests, trees, flowers.

Would be a great weapon to give to the Orcs in a lord of the rings siege battle!

I really don't get the hate for fleshies... and even less the need to modify (possibly permanently) a perfectly good minifig. Good luck trying to sell it after that...

I hope you aren't referring to LoTR as a 'fad'. The books have been around longer than most of our parents have been alive!

Friends vs Lord of the Rings, two 2012 lines... Which theme will be the most lucrative? Which theme will last the longest? Let the speculation begin! I for one think LOTR will bring in the most money for the next few years, it being popular among adult Tolkien fanatics, teens, and little boys will be attracted to the cool looking castle/fantasy action, and will be interested even more after the Hobbit movies come out very shortly. But I think Friends has a chance to last longer, not being tied around a particular movie or license. With that said, it will shortly face HEAVY competition from the announced Megabloks/Mattel alliance (Barbie Megabloks? Polly Pocket Megabloks?), and Lego's girly themes have never been all that successful in the past.