Deathleech

I dunno if I really buy that. Hasbro holds the action figure license for Star Wars, yet Lego still gets away with battle packs that have 4 minifigures and little more than a cannon or small vehicle in the set. If Lego can do that with a MUCH more popular license, why can't they do something similar for LotR/Hobbit? If Games Workshop owns the miniature/battle game license then surely Lego could have offered some small 4 minifigure battle packs for $12-15 bucks, had a small catapult or other arbitrary vehicle included, and even offered a name character in said set to fill any license agreements. There are enough named characters in the LotR/Hobbit franchise that having someone like Gamling in a Rohan battle pack would work perfect. He is a named character, but not so distinct he couldn't serve as a basic soldier as well. This is what I tried to do, but with the way the sets were layed out it was incredibly difficult. In the movies it's usually around 10 bad guys to every 1 good guy for the major battles. I managed to get about 4 to 1. In the actual sets its closer to 1 bad guy for every one good, or even 1 bad for every 2 good since they have so many named characters jam packed in. It's pretty much impossible to get anywhere near the movie scale seeing as there were hundreds of thousands of soldiers at the Battle of Pelennor Fields, and well over 10,000 at the Battle of Helm's Deep. The most figures I have seen anyone collect is like 2,000 Uruk-hai.

Well if kids WERE to buy a LotR CMF line then surely they would have been interested in the LotR sets released and bought them already? I doubt many kids would just pick up the CMFs if they didn't have any interest in the original sets. Regardless, I brought this up because apparently that is the reason we didn't get more army builder type sets like Uruk-hai Army or Mirkwood elf Army with the normal LotR/Hobbit set releases. Tons of people claim kids don't buy army builders or army build. Personally? i think the LotR line NEVER should have been mass distributed and marketed towards kids. It's based on PG-13 movies that were released over a decade ago. The target age range for Lego with kids is what, like 7-12? That seems like a recipe for disaster, especially when there is no other cartoons or anything to help sell them. Sure there were the Hobbit movies, but they came out a year apart and were pretty meh. I think the Simpson approach would have been PERFECT though. Give us one or two big sets with each CMF release and then just give us tons of characters. Honestly most of the Middle-Earth sets don't have that great of builds anyways and people just buy them for the minifigures so why not focus on the selling points of the sets.. the figs? A business model like that would allow Lego to give the adult fans what they really want while keeping production and distribution costs down. I know other toy companies have done this where they make higher priced sets and market them strictly to adult collectors. And that is precisely why I picked the numbers I did. I tried to be realistic. Lego has NEVER released a CMF series box of 60 that has 20 of one single minifigure type. They probably never will either. Usually the most they have for the more popular characters is 4 or 5...? I went even a little above that with 6. Of course Lego could do some testing or take polls and see what the optimal ratios would be. Maybe they would only have 2 Denethor and 2 Gamlings per box and have 8 or even 10 Gondor Soldiers instead? Who knows. I agree with this, and maybe for the first wave they could remove some of the lesser characters I listed like Gamling, Denethor, the Ithilien Rangets, etc. and replace them with Fellowship characters in different outfits? I already listed Merry in Rohan attire and Pippin in Gondor gear. Boromir could also be in his Gondor garb, Aragorn in his ceremonial king outfit, and Sam and Frodo in their orc disguises. Gandalf with a new hair and/or hat combo. Finally Legolas and Gimli would be a little more difficult as neither has a ton of distinct outfits, but they could also be in their ceremonial/Rivendell outfits. A second wave could have the lesser characters that got replaced. I don't see the entire Fellowship in every wave as being feasible considering the Fellowship has 9 members which is almost double the 5 Simpson family members and over half a wave taken up. They would have to do them every other, or every third wave if they wanted to get any other characters out.

Possibly, but you also have to remember all the kids buying them. Apparently kids aren't interested in army builders and they make up a huge portion of Lego's sales. I could see the army builder numbers being bumped up per case by even a few more, but people are also going to want all the other characters to. You can't make them so rare no one is ever going to get them because only one Denethor came in a box of 60 CMFs. If you do that, then you have a whole nother issue. The army builder prices would be fine but the one per case figures would fetch like 20 bucks a piece. Its a fine balance. Honestly I would be fine paying $4-5 bucks per Gondor Soldier anyways. It's what I had to pay for a number of LotR and Hobbit minifigures like the Rohan Soldiers and Moria Orcs and those didn't even come with their weapons or a base.

There is no concrete information, but pretty much everything points to "not so well". The LotR line presumably cut short before a third wave was released, the last two Hobbit waves being in stores a VERY short time and not stocked much, etc. are indicators the line wasn't near as successful as Lego would have liked. Not bad, but not amazing. The $4.13 price tag makes it really hard to want to buy these in an significant numbers. That's more than the price of an entire CFM! I am hoping BrickForge or one of them gives us a good rendition. they are usually around $1.50, much easier to stomach.

Not necessarily. If Lego were smart and had their figures distributed properly per case it could work out fine. If a case comes with 60 minifures, they would just need to make sure the army builders took up 4-6 slots each.. maybe more. So for example, my dream LotR CMF list would look like this (considering we already have a number of characters already): 1. Gondor Soldier x6 2. Witch King (with black hood so can serve as regular Nazgul as well) x4 3. Eowyn x3 4. Faramir x3 5. Sauron x3 6. Gothmog x3 7. Easterling x4 8. Haradrim x4 9. Mordor Orc in armor x6 10. Ithilien Ranger x4 11. Lothlorien Elf x4 12. Rohan Soldier x4 13. Gamling x3 14. Gondor Pippin x3 15. Rohan Merry x3 16. Denethor x3 For the Hobbit, my list would look something like this: 1. Armored Iron Hill Dwarves 2. Armored Mirkwood elves 3. Armored Orcs (noticing a re-occuring theme here...? lol) 4. Bolg 5. Alfrid 6. Thrain 7. Thror And honestly, after that I could care less who we got to fill out the remainder of the wave... probably just armored versions of main characters we didn't get.

I generally try to read every post in a thread I am following, but that's not the case with this thread. When I see someone posting their wish list for a wave three, or dream set, I generally just skip the post right away. There are only so many variations of a Minas Tirith or Balrog set that can be done. I know right away that the proposed set will be like at least one of the HUNDREDS of other sets people have already brought up before. As for the off topic stuff, it can be fun and something to talk about, but most of it just has just gotten ridiculous in this thread. Plus if people want to discuss it in the future, a new thread can always be made for off topic discussions. I guess what I am saying is I see no real reason to keep this thread alive either... To keep this post at least somewhat on topic, I have to say I am not a huge fan of the Lothlorien set on Lego Ideas. Don't get me wrong, the build is beautiful and I supported it so Lego can hopefully see several LotR sets are still wanted by fans. With that said though, it would offer nothing really new we can't build ourselves. Celebor is the only new minifigure. All the others would be ones we already got in previous sets. The build isn't seen much in the movies. I would MUCH rather see a set like Disco's make it into the review stage. I was bummed when it fell out of the popular this week spotlight. Either that, or a Balrog set. I think along with the Minas Tirith, those two are the next most needed sets.

Ehh, I don't think there is much point. It seems everyone except two or three members are in agreement the Balrog would win. The only argument for Treebeard winning is he is old and still alive.. but that doesn't really matter if he wasn't in many fights himself. I mean sure Treebeard could win if he decided to push a boulder over a cliff on the Balrog below, or they were fighting in a river, but besides these special circumstances a Balrog would beat Treebeard 9 times out of 10. It seems people are also forgetting the Balrog drove out an entire city of dwarves single handedly. Treebeard's ent friends were being brought down by a handful of left over orc workers.. and there were dozens of ents attacking them not just one. As for Saruman not able to kill Treebeard? That isn't saying much. His fireball would have been useless as the ents were all standing in several feet of water from the flooded dam. If they started on fire at that point, they could simply dip down in the water and put the fire out in seconds. Saruman had also lost a considerable amount of his power at that point and had been cut off, trapped in his tower alone with Grima while Treebeard and dozens of ents had him surrounded. It's hardly comparable or a basis for Treebeard being stronger than the Balrog.

Category A: #4 #3 Category B: #4 #3 Category C: #2 #3

Any idea how many pieces you used to create this, minus the base? I feel like this is a really good model Lego could use to create an official Minas Tirith, if they ever chose to do so. My only suggestions would be make the bottom and middle walls slightly higher, the top and maybe middle towers smaller, and extend the top court yard out a bit so it could include the white tree. It would also have to be done in white, but I am sure you know that and just did gray since the pieces are easier to come by.

Me being intentionally ridiculous? Says the guy who is arguing a burning, demonic creature couldn't kill an ent made of bark and leaves? You know, when the Balrog wields fire, the MAIN weakness of the ents and quickest way to kill them? You do realize no one else has agreed with you in the slightest, right? But by all means, I am the one being ridiculous here Also you have yet to provide any way Treebeard could even remotely gain the upper hand and beat a Balrog. Other than defying logic and saying fire doesn't burn wood. You said he has willpower and experience which are vague and don't necessarily mean anything. Who is the one that is really bad at debating? I mentioned the bark skin because I was being sarcastic. It's true SOME beings in Middle-Earth have magical powers or properties. Treebeard doesn't seem to possess any though, at least not that I have read or heard of. He is just a really big, strong ent. He still has the same weaknesses other ents possess though. When I saw the ents march on Isengard there were several being lit up by a handful of worker orcs left behind after the main army had marched to Helm's Deep. They had nothing more than flaming arrows. The Balrog scared away thousands upon of Moria goblins though. He has a whip made of pure fire and is on fire himself. If a few arrows did that, what do you honestly think a Balrog is going to do?

He's old yes, but there is little to no mention of him being in any sort of combat besides at Isengard? What sort of combat experience are you talking about? Furthermore it took a few measly orc grunts with flaming arrows to kill some of the other ents. If you honestly believe a demonic creature that extrudes flame and uses a flame whip couldn't easily bring down Treebeard when some orcs with flaming arrows could take his allies down, then I dunno what to say to you. No this isn't Pokemon, but logic still applies. Unless none of us are aware of Treebeard's bark skin being magically immune to fire...? Of course, location could play a big role. Outside in the rain or near water could definitely sway the battle more in Treebeard's favor. Without that though, I don't think Treebeard stands a chance.

I'm loving the bear Beorn! Very nice work.

Ya, if the Balrog wasn't, you know, fiery with a fire whip that would ignite Treebeard in a few seconds flat. Maybe if they were fighting in the rain or in a river it would be a different story..? Lol

Right, but regardless of his joke it still begs the question if the rep was kidding around or not. Was their misspelling unintentional? I e-mailed Lego myself just a bit ago to see if I get the same sort of response or it's something way different.

Ehh, I am not sure we can really call that an official confirmation considering how little the reps generally know? Just look at when we asked them about the future of the LotR line and the replies that were all over the place. Of course this is a bit different since the set was already released and I know she (he?) claims they sent it to the product specialist, but why would they give an answer? It's better to keep people guessing. If it IS suppose to be Treebeard, it can make the set more appealing to some who might not otherwise find it that interesting. If it's just a generic ent, then it leaves the possibility of a Treebeard in the future and getting multiples of Orthanc is more appealing. The fact the rep butchered Treebeards name and called him "Three beard" makes me all the more skeptical.

Ya, at nearly 23,000 bricks the Helicarrier will NEVER get made. It would be a $1750 set minimum, which is over triple Lego's biggest offering to date? I think the F7A Hornet and the Museum are the most likely candidates, though the Goonies sip MIGHT be possible if it were shrunk down considerably since Lego seems to be big fans of making sets out of older movies (BttF, Ghostbusters). I suppose the Labyrinth might also be possible, but with the Lego games being a flop I am not sure how likely Lego is to make something like this. It doesn't really seem to capitalize on Lego's strengths.

Pippin and Merry are supposed to sit on that branch coming off his head? It perfectly fits one of them, and two can be placed if you have one of them hanging off a bit... As for the video game Treebeard, it looks like he uses a number of "illegal" building techniques. I don't see Lego using those fingers, and his beard is just floating on his face in a number of areas. Look at his mustache, it's not even connected! I'm not saying the ent we got in Orthanc is a perfect representation of Treebeard, but it's pretty darn close. It's not like Lego has made any other character perfect, they take liberties. Gandalf's hair looks nothing like it does in the films and there are a number of colors that are off (Aragorn, Legolas, etc.). The Mordor Orcs used in the Black Gates and Pirate Ship Ambush set look NOTHING like the orcs in those actual movie scenes. The list goes on...

Ehh, two out of seven sets being "meh" is still pretty darn good. I think the Helm's Deep and UHA sets were the stand outs of the wave. Orc Forge, Gandalf Arrives, and Shelob Attacks were all decent enough sets as well. I think Shelob Attacks was actually superb, it just didn't get a lot of attention. That just leaves Weathertop and Mines of Moria. I actually thought both were better than Gandalf Arrives, but that's just my opinion. I think Mines of Moria was actually a really great set, and with minimal modding is a darn near perfect recreation of what it's trying to portray. The minifigures in it were amazing. I wasn't a huge fan of Wathertop due to it's high price per piece or incredibly shrunk down build, but still not a terrible set. People are lemmings. Unless they are SPECIFICALLY told it's Treebeard, they will refuse to believe it. I totally agree the Ent from the Orthanc set is suppose to represent him. He has the same orange eyes, nose, and a green beard. If that wern't enough evidence, there are NO other ents that remotely resemble the Orthanc one. I still to this day have yet to have anyone show me a picture of who the ent is supposed to resemble, if not Treebeard... I strongly disagree. Below is a full shot of the birch ent. He has way more branches on his head, a longer torso, and no beard whatsoever. I think Treebeard in the video game just looks way different because at the time there was no Lego model in production yet so the game designers had to make up their own version. Then Lego decided to make Orthanc and the designers made their brick version which looks MUCH better then the crappy game one, imo....

And plus, I don't think the demand for a $400 set is going to be the same as a $30-50 one. Of course there probably won't be near as many in production either so who knows. Regardless I doubt the set would get made via Ideas either way just due to it's sheer size. I think, like you said, it would just make Lego consider releasing their own version if they know the demand is there. If not a Minas Tirith, as least some other Gondor set.

Yup, now that it has been on the front page and spot lighted as a staff pick things have really snow balled. It's been listed consistently as a popular project. With less than 1200 votes left I could easily see this getting to 10,000 by months end, and definitely before years end. I mean it's not even been a month since it became a staff pick and it has gotten over 2500 votes since then...? Ehh, the only issues I see with the set are it's missing the Witch King and Eowyn. The Witch King could easily be added in place of an orc or something since he was there at different points in the film. I would rather the set stay as is though, and we got a smaller $30 or 40 set with the Witch King on Fel Beast vs Eowyn and Rohan Merry.

There are definitely more than 10 regulars. There just hasn't been any news lately so there isn't much to talk about. When new sets first get revealed you see people come out of the wood work and post and a thread easily jumps several pages in a single day.

Well I mean if all you want are Gondor Soldiers, there are plenty of other sets they could be included in besides a Minas Tirith one. Most could be made into actual sets much easier too. A Grond set, Witch King on Fel Beast vs Eowyn, anything Osgiliath.. all could include Gondor Soldiers. I like the idea of Minas Tirith because it's a pretty unique looking structure, not just a bunch of ruins or walls like the rest of the LotR/Hobbit sets

This is a really nifty idea with some nice play features. My only criticism is, I think if you had a blue looking horse that fell down instead of the tree and it was mostly hidden by the rocks that would of made this set perfect.

We don't see many book based MOCs in general though, do we? It's usually when a movie adaptation comes out that the MOCs start flooding in.

Not bad. About 23% off. I am waiting till closer to Thanksgiving when I am sure tons of Lego deals will be going on. I want to get the whole wave for at least 25%+ off. None of the sets are must haves for me so I can wait as long as needed...