Deathleech

Me either. I tried removing the first number, the last, the first two, the last two, etc. and nothing. I guess it's not meant to be

I'm sure Lego can whip something up. A number of the Dimension sets have builds that are never seen in any of the source material. Gimli comes with an axe chariot? Superman with his hover pod? Aquaman with his sub scooter thing? They could also make a brick built Slimer or something if they don't want to make a vehicle or building for the Ghostbusters.

Ya, that cake looks terrible. It doesn't even look like a cake. Everything about it is off... the color, shape, even the minfigure included. A jester? Why not a clown or something? And why no legs? About the only redeeming quality is the numbers that you can use to put any age from 1-99.

I dunno. Based on this picture, I think Eomer's torso/legs could work for her along with this head and this hair in blonde. That's pretty darn accurate looking? I am sure there are better torsos too, I just am not familiar with a ton of them and threw this together quickly. Alright, I wasn't sure as I never actually played the game. I just remember seeing the image below a lot and it looks fairly different from the Balrog in the Dimensions trailer?

Here is a quick update of my evil orc horde since it's been awhile. I was kind of in a rush, hence none of them having their weapons equipped and the crappy pictures (they don't look nearly as imposing without them ). I will get better ones once I finish the bases/scenery I am working on.

I would LOVE a Sauron Fun Pack. I actually would prefer him over Eowyn since he would require a new mold or three. Eowyn is fairly easy to create yourself using existing pieces. The olpihant is mostly molded pieces, not brick built. Does the Balrog in the Dimensions game look different than it did in the LotR video game?

I just noticed the logos on the chip pieces. Do we know if those are stickers or printed on yet?

Buying just the bricks seems much more reasonable in terms of their price in relation to a complete set. It seems like they will run you about half of a sets total cost. Compare that to the minifigures which, when sold individually, run about 75% of a set's total price. If I were just after the bricks I would do this in a heart beat. The minifigures seem to sell pretty fast and easy, and can go for quite a bit. They are the main draw of most sets. The Bo5A set has all the minifigures selling for nearly $48.50 as the cheapest, that means if you bought the set for the MSRP of $60 you would get over 450 bricks for $11 bucks. That comes out to a almost 3 cents per brick... The Lonely Mountain set and a number of others are similar. You can sell Smaug for $60, the minifigures for $30 and that leaves you only paying $40 for nearly 850 pieces. That's just under 5 cents per piece. You can't buy pieces anywhere for much cheaper than that nowadays.

Why is that surprising? The sets have only been released officially for a little over 2 weeks. Give it a few months and I am sure the sales will hit.

Helm's Deep is missing it's back as well though? Heck, it's missing a huge chunk of the keep and the entire mountain backing? It's even missing some of the side and doesn't look to good from any angle other than straight on from the front? Orthanc on the other hand actually looks great on display from the front OR sides. If you have it at a back angle or straight on from the back it looks a little lacking, sure, but it's pretty easy to place it so it looks like a full tower. Plus without a back kept the price under $200, if it had a back it could have easily been $250 or more. This seems to be the same complaint with the Mines of Moria set that has plagued it since it's release. I honestly don't understand it. Sure the set is disjointed, but it's not like adding two more walls and fully enclosing the room would have added much to the set besides a lot of extra gray bricks and a much higher price tag. If you look at it, the set actually hits a lot of high points. It has the pillars, well, and tomb which were all key parts from the movie. All three of these have play features that actually make sense and are seen in the film. The room looks fairly close to the movie version too. The minifigure selection is absolutely amazing. The only thing it can really be faulted for is the insane amount of stickers, but I think that's the only real issue with the set. Sure the two walls included could have been hinged or something, or the Moria Orcs could have had helmets, or it could have came with more orcs, or it could have had a base... but for what it is I think the set is pretty amazing. You get a big fig cave troll, almost every minifigure is exclusive save Gimli and Legolas, and the play features are all true to movie. I agree, but you have to remember these are toys aimed mainly at kids. Lego can't realistically make every set $100+ just to make them more movie accurate. It's easy to look at everything Lego offered and imagine what they could have done better. I was really upset for a long time about their offerings until I tried to look at it more from a childs' perspective and from their point of view as a toy company. As adults we want a lot of army builders, the same main chatracters in only one or two sets max, and beautiful display pieces. That's not what kids want though. They want main characters spread across several sets since most can't afford to buy entire waves, lots of play features, and cheaper sets. I will say I think the LotR and Hobbit films are particularly hard to do in Lego. Not only are most scenes large environments or buildings, there are lots of organic creatures. These aren't things Lego bricks are particularly well at replicating. Lego is good at making vehicles and smaller square buildings in their sets. With that said I think the LotR would have done much better as an adult oriented line. Lego could have done limited production runs and made most of the sets UCS or D2C. I feel like they tried to cater to both AFOLs and kids with their sets and sadly didn't really leave either camp super satisfied. Lego should have had a clear focus from the get go. I also think they could have handled some things better. As you said, Gandalf Arrives has a cart that doesn't even fit two minifigures. The Black Gates set has the Mouth of Sauron and the same worker Mordor Orcs we got before with Uruk-hai helms. Lego gives us two new prints for orcs only used in one set and never again then uses the same Mordor print in six different sets. It's like wtf? We really could have benefited from a Witch King, armored soldier Mordor Orcs, or Gondor Soldiers in the Black Gate set but instead Lego made some really questionable decisions. I also feel like they really missed their mark with giving us brick built creatures. Shelob Attacks is an amazing set. Lego should have given us a $20 brick built Treebeard, a brick built Balrog, etc. The idea of doing the LotR and Hobbit lines as a CMF series has been thrown around. I think this would of actually been a better route for Lego to take with their Middle-Earth license. They could have handled it a lot like they currently are the Simpsons. Give us a wave of CMFs and then one big $200 set each wave to accompany them. Imagine the first wave having Helm's Deep + 2 Uruk-hai Army sets as one big $200 set. Then a 16 minifigure CMF series with the 9 Fellowship members, a Uruk-hai bag, a Rohan Soldier, Theoden, Haldir, Mordor Orc, Gollum, and Lurtz. I think this would have been a much better model to follow for the Middle Earth stuff. After all, like you said, the minifigures are the real selling point of the sets anyways.

I see. Were you trying to sell them on the bigger sites like BrickLink or eBay? Or just on forums and such? That's the same issue I am running into. It's hard to justify spending $20 on just a Dain and King Thorin minifigure when I can get 5 more minifigures, a molded eagle, and 470 pieces for a mere $40 more. With the Lonely Mountain set I haven't found Smaug for under $50 (though admittedly I did just start looking). I feel like I would be better off just buying the whole set rather than paying such a high premium for one or two of the most sought after figures in a set. That's why I was wondering if the bricks actually sell decent. Even if I could buy say the Bo5A set for $60, keep Dain, Thorin, the two orcs and maybe Gwaihir, and then sell all the bricks for $35 I would still be saving myself like $5-10 over trying to buy them on BL or eBay and paying shipping and all that. Of course it seems like the bricks are what go dirt cheap. Selling just the bricks looks like it gets you around 6-7 cents per bricks.

Thanks for the replies guys. I actually do look up the "sold" listings when trying to check the price on stuff (since you can list it for whatever you want, but what it actually SELLS for is another story...). I can see that in May and April it looks like 5 or 6 Bo5A Hobbit sets sold w/o the minifigures. That seems a little low, but then again there are only 4 available right now for sale. If there aren't a lot for sale then obviously not many will sell making it hard to judge. This is what I am worried about. How long have you been trying to sell the bricks? What are you trying to get for them (if you don't mind me asking)? The Lonely Mountain is one of several sets I was thinking about doing this with since Smaug and the dwarves alone would cost nearly $100. I want some extra of a number of minifigs (and creatures), with little use for all the extra bricks. Unless the set has some super rare or useful pieces, then it doesn't seem like it would sell very well just selling the bricks though. You can find similar bricks in a number of other sets but many minifigures are exclusive to only one set and that's the only way you can get them. Logically that would mean the demand and price for the minifigs will be much higher than the bricks. It seems that way too.. but if you were to buy everything pieced out it would cost you MUCH more than MSRP. Using the Bo5A set above as an example, the figs from it alone would cost you nearly $50 and then the bricks seperately would set you back another $25-35 or so at the absolute cheapest. That's $75-85 for a set still fairly easy to get at the MSRP of $60 online. Seems like people try to sell the minifigures AND bricks for a lot with these sets.

eBay seems like it can suck for everyone involved. As a seller you pay astronomical fees. You get charged around 10% of the final sale price from eBay, a 10% charge on the shipping, and then another 3% or so from Paypal when the person pays you. That's nearly 15% leaving very little room for profit unless you can sell it for over 20% of what YOU paid. You also run the risk of buyers lying and trying to scam you since as of late eBay is so buyer driven and seems to usually side with them so they can live up to their buyer protection they tote about. As a buyer, you run the risk of items smelling horrible and smokey, being dirty or broken, or missing pieces. This doesn't just go for Lego either. One of the first items I ever bought off eBay was a set of action figures and they were missing several parts, were disgusting and dirty, and smelled horrible. The seller just threw everything in a box with no organization or cleaning of any of it. It was a huge turn off.

I come across a lot of these sets when I am looking on eBay or BrickLink for specific minifigures. So much in fact I wonder if it would be easier to just buy a new set myself, remove the minifigures I want, and then sell the bricks off seperate (and any figs in the set I don't want). Before I do this I want to know how well do these sets w/o minifigures actually sell though? I ask because the price of the minifigures alone seem to be 70-80% of a sets value. For instance I can buy a brand new Hobbit Bo5A set for $60 OR I can buy JUST the minifigures for almost $50 (Dain and Thorin are $10 each, 2x Gundabad Orcs are $3 each, Azog is $8.50, Bard and Legolas are $4 each, and Gwaihir is $6 as the cheapest). That means I could sell the bricks, nearly 450 of them, for $10 and be coming out about the same as if I just bought all the minifigures alone on eBay or BL. Of course most sellers still ask about 50% of the sets value for just the bricks, making it much cheaper to buy a new set, keep the figs, and sell the bricks if they actually sell. So my question is, how easy is it to just sell a complete set of bricks minus the minifigures? If they actually sell decently, this seems like it would be WAY cheaper for me than trying to buy up all the extra minifigures in sets I want.

Honestly, I felt the same way... All well, at least the Lego sets were all pretty spot on, unlike with some based on the last Marvel films.

I agree Castle is aimed more at kids than say other themes like LotR or Star Wars (and the UCS), but Castle still has some adult oriented sets as well. Medieval Market Village and Kingdoms Joust are two good examples. Both were ages 12+ and $100+ sets. That's not to say they were made exclusively for adults, they just seemed to be geared more towards them than a regular set, and more for slightly older kids.

Adults may not be the main audience, but Lego still tries to cater to them and throw them a bone when they can. The Council of Elrond set is a perfect example. That wasn't really a hit amongst kids (or so we assume seeing the deep discounts it received), but according to this thread it was the hands down the favorite wave two set amongst AFOLs (and was fifth overall). Adults really wanted a Rivendell set and they got one. I don't think kids were really clamoring for Rivendell or Arwen. Similarly we got the Mouth of Sauron in the Black Gates set. That character was only from the extended editions of the film and most find him pretty scary for younger kids. Speaking of which, the age for the LotR movies is PG-13 which is a suggested age of 13+. I think it's pretty safe to say some lines, like the LotR, are definitely designed for children but have adults in mind as well. They have things that are specifically made to appeal to adults in their sets. As others have said, the big D2C sets like Orthanc are also geared more towards adults. Is a kid really going to go into a store and buy an elaborate $200 tower? I think not. Most will buy the $30 or 50 dollar X-wing with lots of minifigures and play features and leave the more model-esque $200+ X-wing to the adults.

I love the chain mail. Absolutely stunning!

This is a terrible example. You do realize a licensed theme is NOTHING like an original theme in which Lego holds all the rights to? Furthermore the number of sets released for LotR and the Hobbit is in line with the number of sets released for other themes we know were a success. Indiana Jones only had 17 sets while Pirates of the Caribbean had 14. Neither of which received a huge D2C set like LotR.

It probably just came down to cost and budget. Lego figured they could re-use most of the raptor pieces if they kept it that size and then just give us a new head mold rather than having to give us new molds for everything to get the size exactly right. Honestly I don't see the issue. Lego minifigures are constantly sized wrong compared to vehicles, buildings, and other animals. Most of the time you can barely fit one minifigure in a vehicle. Heck look at the Lego LotR eagles, they are like half the size they should be as seen in the movie.

Rumors have it the Hobbit line didn't sell near as well as the LotR waves. That could be why they are only focusing on LotR in Dimensions and why they ditched the DLC for the Hobbit game?

I actually considered that and even had them as separate options originally. I decided not to break them down in the end though. I figured if I started separating the Orc Hunters, then why not the Gundabad Orcs who have different face prints, shoulder armor, hair/ear pieces, etc.? Or the Mordor Orc variations? While the Orc Hunters are quite a bit different from one another, there still are only two options and both use the exact same torsos and legs. The only difference is the face and hair piece.

I absolutely love all the orcs from the LotR and Hobbit line. They are so detailed and I feel like they look so much better than the Fantasy Era trolls. Heck, they even look better than the more recent CMF goblin IMO. With that said, I was wondering what orc is everyone else favorite? Why is that particular orc your favorite? Is it your favorite from the movie, because Lego did the best job representing them, because the orc just looks amazing, or what? If it is an orc that has different versions, like the Mordor Orcs with and without hair, or the Gundabad Orcs with different face paint, which one of that particular type is your favorite?

Honestly, I would just hold off a few months until we get pictures of the rumored 2016 Castle wave.

Ok, well you mentioned the CMF and BAM, then mentioned the polybag, and right after said "that's already eight or nine dollars for content". Really a polybag OR CMF puts you at $4 dollars though, that's why I thought you were including both otherwise how did you come up with 8 or 9 just from the physical bricks? I am not sure how you are getting "within a couple bucks or so of Fun Pack pricing". A couple bucks is $2, not $8. A polybag is $3.99, 2 game chips are $2-4, and the in game content is like 2 bucks. At most that puts you at $10, but more realistically it's like 8, as I said. Nowhere near "a few bucks". I will give you that their pricing can be a bit iffy. It's hard to really get a good feel since a lot of the polybags are promotional items and not available for individual sale. But, if you look at the 2015 polybag sets so far, you will see they are all priced around $4. Wish Fountain, Ice Bear Mech, and The Joker Bumper Car all have around 40 pieces and include one minifigure. Almost the exact same brick and minifigure count as a fun pack. The City ones are even cheaper at $3.50. The polybags that don't include a minifugre, such as the Creator Tiger have around 30 more bricks than the polybags which include a minifigure.