Deathleech

Wow, I really wish we could have gotten an official set like this instead of the crap Bo5A set we ended up getting. The play features make sense, it has useful characters, and is an iconic scene from the movie. The only thing we would be missing then is Dain! Excellent work!

Except a "fun pack" includes one minifigure, not two. They offer little more than a polybag in physical content. Most polybags in the $4-5 range have around 40 pieces and one minifigure, the exact same as a fun pack minus the data disks and game content. You added a second minifigure in the way of a CMF or build a figure on top of that. If you are gonna do that, the sets are actually closer to team packs which have 2 minifigures and a small build for $24.99. Also if it's a CMF, they almost always have a new print at a minimum and often have new molds. So if the physical bricks are the same as a $3.99-4.99 polybag, that leaves the data chips and in game content. It seems like a lot of you are vastly over estimating the time and effort it takes to create add-on/DLC/expansions. This is actually very easy to pump out and nets tons of profit for minimal effort. That's why almost every game nowadays has DLC later on, and multiple ones at that. It's easy to model a new character when you already have everything else in the game created. Even if you figure the disc with chips are a few dollars, and the characters in game are a few dollars, that puts the total price at around $7-8. Ok, so maybe it's not $10, but that's still almost double what the polybag and DLC would cost you if you bought them separately.

I guess that is kind of cool, but I'm still not seeing justification for such a big price increase. With most DLC you can still level your character up and use them in the expansion or existing game. All these toy to life figures seem to add to that is that you can use them as portable memory cards? That hardly seems worth the extra $10 mark up over a normal Lego set + DLC if you bought them separate. People seem to be fine with these prices because that's the standard set by other toy to life games? Just looking at the Disney Infinity pieces though, it looks like most of them are currently on sale for 30-50% off at Wal-Mart, Target, and Amazon. Heck, I wouldn't even mind the price so much if the Dimensions sets all had new prints or molds as I have mentioned several times now. You guys keep bringing up the other toy to life games, but you are failing to realize that those Disney and Nintendo figures are ONLY available in their respective game sets. You can't go buy an Elsa or Hulk figure like those in another set without the game chip for half the price. They have to make special figure molds along with the game content for every set they release. With the Dimensions sets, I can go buy a set that has Gollum, Bilbo, and 100 pieces for $5 less than the Gollum "fun pack". I could buy a character pack to the game for a few dollars. Lego is throwing in existing characters they already have molds for that were made before the game. We aren't paying for a new mold and game chip like with all the Disney Infinity pieces, with Dimensions we are paying for a game chip with new game content and re-hashed Lego pieces. For most of these Dimension sets, it seems the ONLY appeal is the exclusive in game content. The physical brick component can be gotten else where for much cheaper for the vast majority of the sets. This is what bothers me. I feel like Lego could easily be offering more new prints and molds in their Dimension sets but they simply aren't. This makes the sets only appealing to those interested in the game. Lego COULD be appealing to Lego brick fans AND game fans if they made the minifigures more interesting. The exception of course being a few sets like the Portal 2 and Doctor Who sets.

The Extremis Soldiers (noticed you used Aldrich Killian for your Lord) are going fairly cheap. You can get them for around $2 a piece new. Just the heads are like a dollar. The Voldermort head you used on the soldiers can also be bought on BrickLink for under $1. Not sure what you were paying for the keychains, but this seems like a fairly cheap (maybe cheaper?) alternative?

Wow, I am really loving this contest. The entries so far are great and it's just a neat idea. I wish we had something for this in the History forums for LotR and the Hobbit. Those lines could really benefit from battle packs, and unlike Star Wars there aren't really any official ones other than the two $30 army sets.

This is really cool, but I must say the Sentinel looks a little off having such a big head compared to the rest of the body. It looks really cartoony, almost chibi like. I know you mentioned it being difficult to find magenta Lego pieces, so maybe you could (have) just done the upper torso, head, and an arm on the side of the building like the Sentinel is reaching over to fight the X-men?

I dunno. If the Lego Dimension sets are truly a better value than the other toy to life games then it seems the whole market is nothing more than a huge cash cow (unsurprisingly). I could buy the DLC for an existing Lego game (say the new Jurrasic World one) for like $10 bucks and a separate 100 piece Lego set for another $10-15 or so. I would be saving $5-10 dollars this way over buying a Dimensions "fun pack" where you are basically getting the same thing, except its all packaged together. Since they are bundled together in the Dimension sets Lego feels like they can sell them at a premium though? Actually now that I am looking more into it, DLC is pretty cheap on it's own. I was just looking up prices and you can get 8 characters for around $1.99-2.99 in other Lego games. In a fun pack you get 1 character and 2 objects, plus the 100 piece set for $14.99. Take out a dollar for the character/DLC and you are left with a $13.99 Lego set that has 40 pieces. That's an astounding 35 cents per piece. Most polybags top out around 15-20 cents per piece and those are considered pricey. If anything shouldn't Lego be offering these Dimension packs at a discount over buying a Lego set and DLC separately? Not at a HUGE (300%) markup? I never said they should price them as Lego sets without the DLC. How they are doing it now though, they are pricing them with an astronomical mark up. I could buy a Lego set and a DLC for a game for significantly cheaper than I could a Dimensions pack. Since Lego is charging so much, I feel the least they could do is offer more new molds and prints. I never said Lego should price these as normal sets and give us the DLC "free", nor did I say that shouldn't be a contributing factor to the price. I am not really sure why you keep bringing up these moot points? The higher set prices on the Dimensions sets (even higher than buying a Lego set + DLC combined) should offset the cost of the new molds and prints? The Chell and Docotor Who sets are perfect examples. As of right now, they offer an exclusive minifigure print, and one or two exclusive molds. Even if you are not a fan of the Dimensions game, these sets offer something of value to their respective Portal and Doctor Who fans that will make them want to pick them up regardless. Most of the other sets don't do this though. The LotR sets have 4 minifigures and they are all re-hashes of existing character printing. The Ninjago and Chima sets offer no new molds or printings from what I can tell. If you aren't a fan of the Dimensions game, there is no reason to buy these sets. Even if you are a fan, the appeal to buy them is limited unless you REALLY want those characters in game. This is my whole point. Lego should have the game aspect, but also be using the Dimension sets as a platform to give fans new molds and prints that would otherwise be unavailable to them. They are certainly priced high enough to cover the cost and it would give them much more appeal outside of just the game.

I am well aware of that, hence why I mentioned the game chips (and their accompanying game content). You figure that most game add-on expansions and DLC cost around $10-15 bucks though? That's for multiple levels and maybe one or two new playable characters. The Dimensions expansion packs offer one new character, a vehicle or two, and one game world. Hardly as much as your average DLC. Even so, if you take the $15 for the game content off the $30 expansion set price you are left with little more than a "normal" $15 set. With that in mind, most of these sets are still going to run you around 15-20 cents per bricks. The "fun packs" are even worse. Most of the time you can get character packs for under $5 in games, and single characters run you like 1-3 dollars. That means the Dimensions "fun packs" are costing you roughly 20 cents or more per brick... My point with all of this? If Lego is going to be charging over 15 cents per brick, surely that off sets the cost of new molds and prints. I feel like we should be getting a lot more new stuff than we are. As someone who has no interest in the game, I am currently not interested in the Dimensions theme AT ALL. Now if Lego were to give us a Witch King or Eowyn minifigure, I would gladly pick them up even without owning the game.

These look AMAZING! I would love it if Lego included some dark elves like this in their next (Fantasy) Castle theme.

For me, it goes: Overall I like the 2012 Dino line significantly more. I am fine with either the yellow or blue color scheme so neither really wins out in this area. I am sure if I MOC'd more, the blue and gray would be much more useful than the yellow though. In terms of minifigures I think the JW sets win. They all look great with their printing and there are more of them in their respective sets to boot. When it comes to the dinosaurs I think the Dino line wins out again, and that's the most important aspect seeing as they are the real stars of these sets. You get two totally unique dinosaurs with the triceratops and coelophysis, and then you also get more dinosaurs in the sets. I really am not a fan of the non-green raptors color in the JW sets and the i-rex and dilophosaurus aren't totally new molds, just frankensteins created from a few new parts and several existing one. Finally I find the 2012 Dino line more well rounded since it has 7 sets rather than just 5 (and a polybag).

Some of the sets for the Dimension game seem really un-appealing unless you are a completionist, or buying them specifically for use in the video game. The Chell and Doctor Who sets are great regardless because they have exclusive pieces or are the only way to get those characters/themes (at least right now), but for example the Lord of the Rings figures offer almost nothing new unless you missed the Legolas or Gollum minifigures. It's still really cheap and easy to find Gandalf and Gimli on BrickLink, or in sets on discount (Council of Elrond). Chima, Ninjago, The Lego Movie, etc. all seem like they could easily be passed up. I fear this will lead to some sets being super sought after and commanding a premium (beyond the already high price), while others flood shelves and collect dust. At 30-40 cents PER PIECE, I think Lego should be offering a lot more new prints and molded pieces in these sets. Surely the game chips aren't that expensive and the high price easily covers the cost of new molds? Especially if Lego is smart and uses said molds in other sets? The only issue I see with that is the Doctor Who minifigures are flesh colored and those themes all use yellow minifigures.

Thanks for the feedback, you were also a pleasure to work with! With that said, I am all out of the Lake-town Guard polybags. I am still looking for more orcs and undead though. I am mostly just looking to buy them as I don't have anything left to trade. I have some older 1980s and 1990s Castle stuff I could probably part with though. If anyone is interested in that, or just wanting to unload some LotR orc or undead minifigures let me know and I will give more specifics!

I would keep trying to get the issue resolved, but if nothing gets resolved then stop ordering from Lego S@H. I have heard tons of stories about them and their site not working. I dunno why people keep ordering from them if that's the case. The 5% VIP isn't really that great of an incentive and you can get better deals at other stores. Amazon regularly has 20% off sales for instance. If it's for the promo figures only available through S@H then just make orders for those, and any other time use other vendors. The vast majority of my Lego purchases come from Amazon, or TRU/Target when they have decent sales. I have never really had any issues and I save a lot more than if I were to buy directly from Lego.

Yes, but that is just sales tax. I pay another $300 a month for health care coverage, $420 a month in property taxes, 15-20% of my paycheck in taxes before I even can spend the money I make, etc. Really about 60%+ of what I make goes to some sort of tax or another and that's pretty average here. This is why I said it's too hard to just look at specifics in each country without the whole picture. I know in some countries they pay higher taxes but health care is covered by said taxes. In others there are really low property taxes, or college is paid for with taxes. The U.S. has EXTREMELY high prices when it comes to anything medical (operations, prescription drugs, etc.) and college tuition (most private colleges run you about $100k nowadays for a 4 year degree, and even public state colleges are nearly half that).

Yup, the helm is the most iconic piece of Gondor Soldier equipment and we have nothing in Lego that resembles it very closely. There also is the chest armor and tree print for the chest, neither of which we have from official Lego pieces. Then you have the shield with it's unique shape and tree print, yet another thing we don't have in official Lego pieces. It's easy enough to get a random flesh head and some black legs, but that's only half the minifigure...

Right, but I think the point he was making was the disparity isn't quite as big as a lot of people make it seem. When people quote prices in places like Europe, that price also includes the VAT where as the U.S. price NEVER includes taxes. Only 5 states don't have sales tax, and they usually have it made up somewhere else. So really the numbers look more like this: Detective's Office: Denmark DKK 1399 ($209.85), Germany 149.99€ ($167.90), UK £132.99 ($205.64) and the US $175.19 This makes a fairly significant difference. The set is actually cheapest in Germany when you factor in sales tax in the U.S. price (at least in my area where it's high and nearly 9.5%). Of course if you want to get into tax rates and health care there are so many aspects to look at that make it near impossible to compare.

I have had pretty good luck in terms of parts smelling bad. That is, up until last week when I ordered a "new" set off of eBay. The seller claimed the box was unopened and in "pristine" condition. When I got it it was wrapped in brown paper and had three cut boxes taped together around the Lego box. The actual Lego box had the tape cut and had a piece of packing tape applied long ways holding the box flap down. That wasn't even the worst part. The smell of the package was absolutely horrendous. It reeked like cigarettes and had a really bad musky smell to it. All of the pieces smelt like this too, even in their sealed bags. After opening them and letting them sit out a few days the smell seemed to go away on it's own, but I was not happy.

I think Gondor soldiers will be the most unlikely, which is a shame because they are what I want most. I think Eowyn and the Witch King are very likely though. They are fairly easy to do, recognizable, and important characters.

I hadn't really been keeping up with how strong currency in every countries was. I had no idea the pound was so weak right now. It's worth almost 2/3 the U.S. dollar? If you look at the only non-licensed set you listed, the Detective's Office, it would be the same in the U.S. as the U.K. if not for the pound being so weak right now. Licensed sets seem to be a whole nother story. It seems in most other countries they have a huge mark up which I guess is why we hear about licensed sets being so expensive in other countries.

The thing is, LotR has many factions within each side. Even with the limited releases we got from Lego we still have representations from Rohan, Rivendell, Lothlorien, Mirkwood, Umbar, Undead, Mordor Orcs, and Isengard Uruk-hai (Saruman planned to take the ring for himself so him and Sauron would have clashed eventually given enough time.. and the orcs look NOTHING alike in skin color, size, etc., they just do with general "orc" stuff). Sure some of these only have one or two minifigures for their faction, but they didn't all agree on everything and fight as one army. Heck, in the Hobbit at the Bo5A they almost fight each other before the greater evil comes and they have to join forces! As per the next Castle wave I agree with you. I liked that Fantasy had several factions, but wish they would have been in each wave. I came out of my dark ages long after all the waves were retired, but even still it would be nice if Lego mixed up each wave and had a few factions. For one it would make the waves more interesting I think. Instead of a bunch of orcs with brown rickety structures vs the knights with gray and (insert heraldry color) in every set, we might also have some dark elves with black and red buildings or vehicles, or dwarves with a different color. It would mix things up. Secondly, it would allow people who might miss a wave to still get their favorite faction later on in other sets.

I completely agree. I can always make a Minas Tirith or Balrog on my own. It may be a lot more difficult and expensive than just buying a nice, neat packaged set, but at least the possibility is there. Making Lego quality minifigures is near impossible though. Sure you can do customs and get pad printed figures or what have you, but they still aren't the same. This is why I don't understand why some people want certain sets so bad. Treebeard for instance... I get he might be a favorite character but we already have an ent you can either MOD with relative ease, or at the very least use as a starting point for your own Treebeard. Even if we didn't have that you could still make your own brick built version as many did for years before the LotR line was released. The set would offer nothing terribly new or exciting besides a Grishnak minifigure who is not that important. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Treebeard and wouldn't mind a set of him.. but I really want to see a set that features Eowyn, the Witch King, and Gondor Soldiers first. After them Faramir and Sauron would probably be next up, followed by Gothmog and Haradrim. Thinking of it from a strategic point of view and not an emotional one, this would be most beneficial.

People seem to complain about Lego prices all the time. This is especially true in some countries where the prices can get pretty outrageous like Australia. In other countries Lego has very limited availability. I know a lot of people think the U.S. has it best when it comes to Lego due to the cheaper prices on sets and wide availability, but what benefits do other countries have? Are they actually better? For instance in the U.K. they seem to have relatively equal pricing to the U.S. (for the most part, on non-licensed themes..), but then they have the free Lego polybag give away with the news paper. Half a pound for a Lego set that should cost $4? Yes please! Meanwhile some other countries seem to stock sets much longer than in the U.S. so you can get a set cheaper when it has long been sold out elsewhere. It seems like on BrickLink sets and minifigures can usually be founder cheaper from other countries than from people selling in the U.S. too (which makes little sense if the U.S. has the best prices, but that's another discussion in and of itself...). So with all of that in mind, my question is what benefits do other countries have when it comes to Lego? Is the United States really the "best" place to live when it comes to Lego, or are there other countries that actually have it better?

Like the old saying goes, if it seems to good to be true it probably is.

I agree. I just know when Sauron was brought up before a lot of people commented that he doesn't appear in physical form as if that matters for making him into a minifigure. Even if it's just an image, i think Lego should make him. He appears in the prologue and his image appears several times in the LotR and the Hobbit. Even if it's just an image Lego does ghost-like figures all the time anyways. And regardless of all of this they threw the Hobbit dwarves in their Bo5A gear in a DoS set so I am sure a Sauron minifigure would be fine.

Yup! Identical twin sister to Jubilee!