Deathleech

Ya it looks pretty cool. The only problem is the bullets seem to be WAY off in scale? They should be much bigger.

Short bendable legs would be nice, and not just for sitting. The difference between a normal sitting minifigure and short legged standing minifigure is negligible. Without bendable legs though, short legged figs lack tons of posability. They can't bend forwards or backwards at all, stand on one leg, etc. As for the slope dresses making the females taller, I dont really buy the whole high heel explanation. The average woman's height (in the U.S.) is around 64 inches while the average male is around 70 inches. That means they are wearing at minimum 8 inch heels (keep in mine the slope makes them a few inches taller than the normal minifigure height)? Sorry, that seems fairly absurd. I would love to see Lego minifigures have more flexibility in their shoulders but I don't think it's really possible without changing the look of the minifigure too drastically. They wouldn't mesh well with the past 40 years of minifigures we have gotten. With that said, I dont think the fragility would be too much of an issue. Sure it might take Lego a lot of work to get it right, but the stronger ABS plastic they use means it wouldn't be anywhere near as fragile as say the Megabloks figure.

Actually what I said was the Sandcrawler isn't as iconic in the Star Wars universe as Minas Tirith is in the LotR one, BUT it does come from a more popular theme as a whole. I would say that makes them fairly even and sales seem to support that when comparing the Sandcrawler to Orthanc. Keep in mind that's Orthanc too, not Minas Tirith. I would say MT is more popular, but that is up for debate. If Lego can do a Sandcrawler why not a Minas Tirith? Also the Sandcrawler came out on May 2014 so it's 13 months old, not a year and a half like you claim. Orthanc came out July 2013 which is 22 or 23 months old. That's nearly a years difference yet they are only about 40 sets sold per month apart? Seems comparable. If anything I would give Orthanc the lead there. If it were Minas Tirith instead it might have even more sales at this point.

Maybe, but it's not one of the top vehicles that comes to mind when I think of Star Wars. Heck, it's not even in the top ten. The first vehicles I think of when it comes to SW are the Millenium Falcon, X-Wing, Tie Fighter, Star Destroyer, Death Star, etc. On the other hand I would say Minas Tirith is one of the top three major cities from LotR. Heck, it might even be the most iconic. It definetly is a toss up between Minas Tirith and Helms Deep when it comes to free people's cities. Well it doesn't help those sets don't seem as polished or nice looking as some of the bigger ones. You are comparing a set that came out in 2013 (Orthanc) to one that came out over half a year later in 2014 and nearly two years later in 2015 That's not a very good comparison. Of course sales are going to dramatically decrease after the first couple months. They are going to be especially low towards the end of a sets run like which is where Orthanc is at. The fact it's only selling 40 less sets a yeay behind the Sandcrawler release when the Sandcrawler is newer and comes from a much more popular line says a lot though.

Didn't Lego discontinue their game division due to poor sales? Yet they picked the marble game as their Ideas set this period? I know the project is not exactly the same, but meh. It seems like such a waste. I can't say I am surprised though. Most of the sets were pretty much not going to pass based on size alone. Size automatically knocked like half the potential projects off the list right off the bat. The next round of reviews doesn't look to be much different.

Maybe they are not commercially viable as Ideas sets, but they certainly are as D2C or UCS. Heck, Nuju estimated his Minas Tirith to be around the $250 price range. That's in line or cheaper than some of the bigger Star Wars sets like the Ewok Village and Sandcrawler. It's vastly cheaper than the Helcarrier. His Minas Tirith could have even been scaled back with the large trebuchet and Fel Beast being shrunk to get it closer to the $200 mark. Of course Star Wars is vastly more popular as a theme than LotR, but Minas Tirith is MUCH more iconic and longed for than a more minor vehicle like the Sandcrawler i would say.

That's what I fear as well. None of the LotR Dimension packs offer anything really exciting or new unless you want those characters in game. I doubt they will move much stock and Lego will take it as a sign that there isn't much interest when in reality their offerings just aren't that great. Its the same that happened with the second LotR wave and pretty much all of the Hobbit ones. I would love to see Lego have a Sauron, Witch King, or Eowyn Dimensions fun pack and see how well THOSE sell. This is also how I feel. The Ghostbusters and BttF Ideas sets weren't bad and I use to love those movies, but they are pretty old now. I just bought the Ecto-1 as an impulse buy for nostalgic reasons Most of the other sets they have are fairly easily made using existing bricks such as the birds, rover, etc. Nothing I am terribly interested in anyways. This shouldn't really come as a surprise to anybody that they didn't pick the Minas Tirith set. It would be almost triple the cost of the biggest Ideas set to date, and it's for a license Lego still already owns. Hopefully the Minas Tirith makes Lego see the demand for such a set though, and eventually make a UCS version or some decent Dimensions sets.

Except we don't know for sure what Lego is doing for their next Castle theme. There have been a few rumors it's a Fantasy Era reboot, but no hard evidence. Heck, we don't even know for sure when it will be released. At this point it's all speculation based on some vague, second hand info. Again this is not a fact, this is your own assumption. We have no idea exactly how well LotR sold. The fact they are doing several Dimensions sets based on it makes me think it did better than some might have originally thought. And while it's true an in-house theme gives Lego more creative freedom, a license gives them broader appeal and free marketing. LotR is a huge hit movie trilogy and one of the most popular fantasy novels ever written. I and many others came out of our dark ages specifically because Lego was doing a LotR theme. I didn't come out for Fantasy Era despite being aware of it. Yes but Chima has fewer Dimension sets, snd LotR has a minifigure in the core game bundle on top of that. Also Ninjago, Simpsons(?), and a few other live and well themes don't seem to have any new prints or molds either so I don't think that really means much at this point. We will have to wait and see what we all get.

Not necessarily. I know when I ship stuff through the USPS they will give me an estimated date of arrival whether I get a tracking number or not. Maybe he was just using that? Either way you should ask him for at least a picture of the receipt to confirm he actually sent your order. Personally I only have ever had one BL order not come. It was an international order and the guy kept telling me it was being held by customs for over a few months. Finally he just refunded me my payment, no questions asked which was kind of weird.

The wizard zapping the chained werewolf reminds me a lot of the scene from Van Helsing. Nice little MOC.

And why couldn't Lego have just kept all minifigures yellow? Lando could have been yellow too? I mean all minifigures are the same yellow color, but not all "white" people are the same white. You have skin tones that have more pink hues, yellow in the pigment, are lighter, darker, etc. but all non-licensed Lego minifigures are the exact same yellow and don't represent these variances so why should they for black people?

Maybe a slime covered museum? A painting of Vigo? A terror dog?

Do you mean Velma?

Sorting by parts can lead to dozens upon dozens of piles, and some will only have a few pieces in them. In most sets it's easier to sort by color as you get far less piles and they usually have few enough pieces that still are manageable and easy to find what you want. Of course in your case that might not be the case MOCing since that involves many more parts than an average set has.

I would hope so. Anyone who is sane or does the least bit of research will know they can be bought for a fraction of that price in a few months time if they just wait...

When I was younger they didn't have the numbered bags so I did the more chaotic style back then because it was the ONLY way to build a set. After I came out of my dark ages, every set I had bought had the numbered bags so I started doing it that way and got use to it. That is until I got a few Ideas sets that didn't have numbered bags and built them recently. I forgot what a pain it can be trying to find a certain pieces when they are ALL piled together. It literally took me twice as long to build the Ghostbusters Ecto-1 as it did the Hobbit the Battle of the Five Armies set I had built a week earlier. They both had almost the same number of pieces, but the Hobbit set had numbered bags while the Ghostbusters one did not. Now I am not sure which way I prefer. I like taking longer to build a set so I get more enjoyment out of it, but at the same time it also means sitting there searching much longer for that one piece to continue your build. With the numbered bags everything is broken down more so this doesn't happen nearly as often, and when it does it only takes several seconds to find whatever you need.

Yup, it seems all those 1 and 2 star reviews finally got Lego to fix the description. They still need to fix the picture to reflect the actual color though. Younger kids probably have no idea the difference between Lego bright green and green and will think they are getting the darker based on the pics. Personally I find this absurd. A huge price increase, changing the color without notice, AND labeling it wrong on the packaging and on their own site? Seems like a huge blunder by Lego at every turn. About the only good thing coming from these new base plates is they seem to be widely available at stores like Target and TRU, not just through Lego. Now if we could get the old dark green back and a $1 price reduction we would be in business.

Wow, this is excellent! Instantly recognizable from the show! I love how you made his armored parts smooth while keeping the studs showing on the kilt. It gives a very nice contrast in texture. The armor looks hard and shiny while the kilt is more soft and threaded looking.

When did you get it on sale? Checking Brickset's buyer guide, I don't see when it ever went on sale. You can click the little graph icon next to the set being sold at Amazon and it will list any sales it has had. Of course the info might be wrong but I don't really recall any Ideas sets going on sale myself. In fact if you look at the graphs they are pretty much dead even with the set staying the exact same price (or within a few cents) per it's entire run.

I think the pieces included will also have a huge impact. Right now the LotR sets seem lacking since they don't have any new prints or molds. No Lego LotR fans want to get them unless they are getting the game as well. With the Portal, Doctor Who, and now BttF packs though, they all offer an exclusive print or mold only (currently) available in that set. That means Lego fans who have no interest in the game will buy them up as well just to get these new pieces.

Why do people keep saying this? Lego brought back Ninjago and that is sticking around after Chima ends? I don't see why Lego would also extend any Chima influence to their Castle theme, especially when they still have a similar property to Chima (Ninjago) on shelves.

It was...

That's my number backwards... and missing the 2, lol

Interesting ideas. I have seen the key holder done in Lego before, and done much better to boot: No drilling or cutting required!

You know, I was thinking about this and I wonder if it is why the LotR and Hobbit lines are so heavy on elves? Maybe they tried to give us more elves in those themes since Lego never got around to releasing their own versions in the Fantasy Era theme? I mean look at all the named elves we got.. a few versions of Elrond, Legolas, and Tauriel and then Haldir, Arwen, Galadriel, and Thranduil. We also get the elf butler/key holder, an elf servant, several Mirkwood Elf soldiers, etc. in sets. Some of these characters are givens like Legolas... but Haldir? Arwen? Even the elf butler? They have fairly minor roles in the films, especially when you consider we didn't even get characters like Eowyn and the Witch King. Furthermore the number of dwarves seemed to be pretty light in the Middle-Earth themes all things considered. Maybe that was just because they aren't featured as prominently in the movies (they aren't even shown in the prologue when they are supposed to be there)? Maybe it's because we got Thorin and his company which was 13 individual dwarves? Or maybe it's because we DID get dwarves in the Fantasy Era theme? I just found it weird we didn't get a single dwarf soldier.