Deathleech

I doubt it as well. So far PJ hasn't left any characters out of the Hobbit films that were in the book, unlike with LotR. In fact he has done nothing but add extra characters. Thinking PJ will leave out Dain, much less the Iron Hill dwarves, seems preposterous. It's the Battle of FIVE Armies and the Iron Hill Dwarves make up one of those factions after all. The 13 dwarves in Thorin's company hardly would count as an army. The Iron Hill Dwarves also need a leader and king so Dain should still be included in the film's. In Lego sets is another story seeing their track record with LotR...

I was responding to the posts above my last about how just because they are main characters doesn't necessarily guarantee we will see them in Lego form. Lego might not give us Iron Hill Dwarves or Dain seeing as we haven't gotten Gondor Soldiers, Eowyn, or the Witch King (yet...).

Well right now we are missing the Witch King, Eowyn, and the entire Gondor faction from the LotR line so I wouldn't be surprised if a few big characters don't make it into Lego Hobbit form

I think Hobbit fans are upset because most of the stuff after wave 1 has been a debacle. Half the sets in wave 2 weren't even based off stuff in the theatrical cut of the film (though probably NOT Lego's fault, it's PJ's for changing the movies around). Dol Guldur Ambush wasn't in the theatrical release and Mirkwood Elf Army won't be in the films at all, extended cut or otherwise. Dol Guldur Battle is literally a gray wall with stairs. The stairs don't lead to multiple levels and there aren't corridors all over like Dol Guldur has in the film. The set doesn't feel like Dol Guldur at ALL imo. As for wave 3 it sounds like we won't be getting an army builder despite fans still desperately wanting armored Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs. Bear form Beorn is still up in the air which is another huge thing fans want. Like Dol Guldur Battle, the Erebor set has a pretty lack luster build. While it's true Lego has done a decent job covering the Hobbit scenes, most the sets are lacking what fans really want or have pretty blah builds. The only problem with this is he is red, not black, so he would require something permanent like painting to change. Not really something I am interested in when he will probably fetch $50 alone on eBay/Bricklink.

The Goblin King Battle was 841 pieces for $100 bucks but had a large molded creature and more minifigures. The Smaug set is what, 866 pieces for $130 with 5 minifigures? I would guesstimate Smaug is in the $30-40 range all by himself. Add him to the Lake-town set which is already $30 and you would probably get a set around $60-70, no? If it should cost more you could always cut out some of the bricks used or something. At any rate I think that would sell MUCH better than Lego's currently planned line up. You say kids will have to buy two sets to re-enact the Lake-town Battle. That is great for Lego, but not when one of those sets is 130 bucks. Most kids will have trouble getting that set alone, let alone another $30 set on top of it. It's true the second movie made less, but they both made around a billion dollars each. That is hardly a flop or "bad" profit. Maybe it's not as good as the original LotR films 10 years ago, but it's still commendable. I just think the source material for the Hobbit and the films themselves aren't near as good as the LotR versions. PJ went over the top with the CGI and silly action sequences and has added so much of his own material. Regardless with being such huge money makers it is a little odd we have so few Hobbit toys...

I totally agree with this. The only thing I would make different is the Bo5A army builder.. make it $30 and have 6 minifigs and a large molded creature like the past two army builders have had. It can still be Dale ruins, just reduce the size of whatever Lego was planning on doing in the $60 set. Heck, it doesn't even need to hook up to a bigger set, Mirkwood Elf Army didn't. You figure if you make a $60 set into a $30 one most people who wanted more ruins and buildings can buy multiples and add on to them. Lego just kinda shot themselves in the foot with their Erebor. Having Smaug in the flagship set made the rest of the set uninteresting and the location pretty bland. Instead of trying to mesh two different scenes together Lego totally should of removed Smaug, included more dwarves in armor, possibly Dain, some orcs, and made this a "Bo5A Erebor". That way they could of given us the huge gate and iconic dwarf statues which AFOLs would of LOVED (just look at everyone wishing they had this instead...). It also would of had plenty of play features and been instantly recognizable. Gate you need to bar from the inside and ram open from the outside to get in? Check. Dwarf statues to climb? Check. Catapult on the top and logs that you let roll off and hit attacks below? Check. If Lego had done it this way it would of been win-win-win. The Erebor build would of been more interesting and contained more minifigures. Lake-town could of been a $60-70 set and woulda FLOWN off shelves with Smaug in it cause its MUCH more affordable to them. The $30 BoFA army builder would of sold at least one copy to most kids and multiples to many AFOLs. And you know the best part? This literally would of been MINIMAL investment on Legos part. You have a few extra printed minifigs, a slighlty bigger Erebor model, and maybe 2-3 new molds depending what they ended up giving us, but in exchange a more expensive Lake-town and a set with multiple purchase appeal. You also have an Erebor build that isn't terribly disappointing and a Smaug in a set that is actually affordable to it's biggest audience, kids.

Ya I forgot Thorin. If Lego sticks to past models and only has 5 minifigures in the Bo5A set we will be lucky to get an Iron Hill Dwarf or Armored Elf then. It will most likely be Dain, Thorin, Beorn in bear form, and then possibly Bolg, armored Thranduil, and an orc?

The first wave had 6 sets though compared to this waves 4, and it also had to fit in all 13 dwarves where that doesn't seem to be the case now. Really the only major characters we are missing are Dain, Bain, Bolg... and that's pretty much it. Sure there are some variants and several soldier types, but if Lego didn't even make Gondor Soldiers I could easily see them passing up more minor factions like the Iron Hill Dwarves. I am guessing the minifigure count will be: 79015 Elrond/Galadriel/Witch King - 101 pieces. $14.99 (USD) $15.99 (CAD) - 3 minifigures (obviously) 79016 Lake-town Tower - 313 pieces. $29.99 (USD) $34.99 (CAD) - 4 minifigures (SDCC Bard, Bain and...? Alfrid? Braga? Bolg? Tauriel/Legolas? Another dwarf (unlikely imo)) 79017 Battle of Five Armies - 471 pieces. $59.99 (USD) $84.99 (CAD) - 5 minifigures and a large molded creature (Dain, Thranduil in armor, 2 orcs, Bolg if not in Lake-town and creature is Bear form Beorn, MAYBE an Iron Hill Dwarf or armored Elf Soldier if we are lucky, but I doubt it) 79018 The Lonely Mountain - 858 pieces. $129.99 (USD) $119.99 (CAD) - 5 minifigures already shown and large molded Smaug This would be similair to past releases. Both Black Gates and Weathertop, the previous $60 sets, only had 5 minifigures each and a large molded creature (or two with the black fel steads in Weathertop). I don't forsee the $60 Bo5A set being much different UNLESS Lego gains some sensibility and makes it into more of an expensive army builder. Realistically I don't see that happening though. I mean look at the Black Gates set, Lego could of easily included some Gondor or Rohan Soldiers in it but instead we didn't get any. We just got the two Mordor Orcs so the good guys had something to battle besides just the Mouth of Sauron. Of course nothing is concreat as the only other $130 set we had in the LotR/Hobbit line was Helm's Deep which had 8 minifigures and this waves one has 5 (and a HUGE creature instead).

That's the US and Canadian price, not the pound or euro price.

Look here. Page 66.

Ya, the tower with the Wind Lance seems most likely. It it a fairly thin, tall tower so would be easy enough to do in a $30 set. Of course it's missing Smaug to be used against... unless you buy the $130 Erebor set

If you have read the book you would know Fili and Kili play a pretty big role in the Battle of Five Armies. It seems Lego was trying to cover two scenes with this set.. the fight against Smaug and the dwarves preparing for the Bo5A, hence their "battle gear". I'm guessing it's some kind of with emerald blades or something that they found in the treasure? It definetly is something Peter Jackson made up. You are like the third or fourth person to link this in the past two pages. Yes, Bard is almost certainly not an exclusive. There is the different stamp on his packaging that doesn't say exclusive like the other exclusives do, the report before the comic con not listing him as an exclusive, and now the insider reports he will be released later in a set. I think it's pretty much safe to say at this point Bard is NOT an exclusive in any way. He is little more than a preview figure like last years Azog.

How would everyone have felt if Lego had put Smaug in the $30 Lake-town set and bumped it's price up to 60 or even 70 dollars? They also could of put him in the Lake-town set and lowered the piece count down to what a $20 set usually has to make up for such a large molded creature being in it? Would this have been feasible? How much is the Smaug mold really worth on it's own? $30-50? The way I see it if Lego had done this then they could of used more pieces on Erebor. We could of possibly gotten the front gate, some statues, and the throne room with more minifigures? It could of been based more around the Bo5A and the $60 Bo5A set could of been a proper $30 army builder one like previous army builders. It also could have been an add on to Erebor, much like Uruk-hai Army was to Helm's Deep.

Very cool! It reminds me of one of those old 8 bit games where you dig through the ground, like Dig Dug or something...

What? I just checked eBay and all the new, sealed Helm's Deep listings that have sold are going for around $160-170. That's $30-40 over retail. If you bought them on sale for $70-90 that's nearly double in a year. It may not be the best Lego return investment, but that's hardly bad either. These would be my suggestions as well. They seem to be the crowd favorites or have multi-purchase appeal. It's really hard to say though. Sometimes sets will suprise you. Sets no one expects to be popular later on or that currently aren't popular usually end up being the best investments because they didn't sell a ton or most people didn't buy them to sell later so having them MIB is rare.

With the Erebor set having it's figure count being so off (was reported 8 or 9 and we only got 5...), this makes me wonder if some of the other sets might be too? In particular the Dol guldur set. It seems weird EVERY $10-13 LotR/Hobbit set so far has only had 2 minifigures and this one supposedly has 3? Another possible explanation is maybe the price was off and it's a more expensive set?

Supposedly the Australian Lego catalogue list some LotR sets or makes mention of them or something? I am still trying to find where this info was from, but that is at least a glimmer of hope...

Ya, and Azog's packaging also said exclusive like the rest of this years 2014 exclusive figs, but he wasn't even really an exclusive (just his packaging was?). Bard's packaging doesn't even say exclusive. I would say that is a pretty sure fire sign he will be in a set.

Notice the San Diego Comic Con stamp on his packaging doesn't say it's exclusive? On the others, like the DC Super Heroes, it says "2014 Exclusive".

Did anyone notice at 0:09 in his video he list the minifigures, but he list Thorin instead of Kili? Of course he just list the piece count as 800+ so who knows... we have gotten three different minifigure list now It definetly looks like Kili and not Thorin. Yup, and I really have no problem with that. It's understandable. Smaug probably is only counted as what, 6 or 8 pieces in the total piece count? But he uses the same amount of plastic as dozens, if not hundreds of smaller pieces would. The problem I have is they skimped on minifigures too. You can't skip on piece count AND minifigures just for Smaug! And that brings me to my next point... Honestly, I feel like Lego could of structured this wave SO much better. Instead of a $130 Erebor with Smaug, why not make this set focus around the Bo5A (or the flashback at the beginning of AUJ as others have said)? Then it would have room to fit all the characters we want, or at least new ones that wouldn't fit anywhere else. Lego should of done this instead of trying to get all the main Bo5A characters in a $60 set and using the 130 dollar one just to give us dwarf reskins. Imagine a $130 set with bear form Beorn, Thorin, Fili, Kili, (all in battle gear), Bolg, Dain, Thranduil in armor, an armored Elf Soldier, an Iron Hill Dwarves, and a few Orcs. Then they could of made the $60 Bo5A set into another Lake-town instead but have it include Bard, Bain, Alrid, Braga and whoever else with Smaug. Heck, if they included Smaug that means they could of even took the current $30 set they have and left everything the same and just added a minifigure and Smaug and that would of justified a $60 price tag (or cut the set down a little if Smaugs price alone is over $30)! It also would of made the set more affordable to kids because you KNOW kids are gonna drool over that dragon but only being in a $130 set makes him really hard to get for them. Finally that would leave the $30 set open which could be made into an army builder.. since you know, a BATTLE of FIVE ARMIES should have an ARMY builder. It could have some named character, an Iron Hill Dwarf, an armored Elf Soldier, a Lake-town Militia, and then two new armored Orcs with an Eagle or Bat or some other creature we havn't gotten a lot of yet. The only issie would be cutting the build down from a $60 set to a $30 one but I am not expecting much from this build anyways so I see no issues. Make it an add-on to Erebor like the Uruk-hai Army set was to Helm's Deep! Ya, he has a fat belly and HUGE legs unlike in the films, but I am sure that is just for support so he can stand up easily when kids are playing with him. Lego does it all the time with their molded creatures. They give them ginormous feet and large bellies so they have a good center of gravity and don't tip over easily.

I don't think anyone is really complaining about Smaug. In fact I think he is generally recieving a lot of praise as the obvious star of the set. It seems most hate is coming from the lack of minifigures. While there isn't a lot of figs Lego could of included, why not at least give us more dwarves in their Bo5A gear? This set comes out to be right around 15 cents per piece. That is really high for such an expensive set, most are around 8-10 cents. I am SURE this was due to Smaug. With a low piece count, why did Lego also have to skimp on minifigs as well? As for the build... I dunno. I kinda feel the same way about this set as I did Dol Guldur Battle. It's like Lego nailed pieces of it, but as a whole it just doesn't really give the feel of Erebor. Dol Guldur had a lot of twisting stairs, multiple levels, and narrow corridors but based on the Lego set you would think it's just a wall with a huge court yard in the middle. I honestly don't even remember seeing the forge part in the film so it must not have been the overall tone the forge had going for it. Why not instead of that wall they included the big blower and maybe a statue? Then the set would of seemed to flow together better?

Oh I totally agree. The $60 Bo5A set is probably only going to have room for 5 minifigures if it is like the past $60 sets. The only way it could have more is if Lego decides to make it some sort of more expensive army builder than their $30 versions, but considering they didn't do that with the Black Gates and it was a perfect candidate I don't foresee it happening here either. The Bo5A set is going to be packed with new characters I assume leaving little room for dwarves. Bolg, Dain, Iron Hill Dwarves, Orcs, etc. I wonder if since the reports from the toy fair earlier this year were off about the sets if that means we might yet see a Beorn in bear form? I hate getting so many dwarf rehashes no matter what, but at least they have new prints. I am kinda surprised Lego didn't include more of them. The could of easily fit 8-9 dwarves in a $130 set.

Ya, this is pretty much what I was expecting. I just knew we were going to get the dwarves again, there literally was nothing else Lego could of put in this set and keep it true to film unless they were trying to include parts outside of the mountain or from the Bo5A. I think the minifigure selection is not only lackluster, but so few figs in such an expensive set makes it that much worse. Why Fili and Kili are here, along with Dwalin having a translucent weapon are anyone's guess. I am assuming Lego is trying to cover multiple scenes in one set? Smaug is obviously the stand out here and cause for the high price. He looks absolutely stunning, especially his face. His wings appear to be made with some sort of heavy cloth/canvas to allow them to fold? Possibly a rubber? That's pretty cool. I am not a fan of his huge stomache and tree trunk legs, he is much more slender in the film, but of course that was done for stability sake. As for the build, I am not sure how I feel about it. I kinda wish they would of stuck with the throne room or the melting chamber rather than cobble both together the way they did. It looks odd. I only have seen the DoS once but thise scene doesn't instantly come to mind. It looks more like a vague Lego creation rather than based on the actual scene? Much like the Mirkwood Elf Army set. All in all this is pretty much what I was expecting. I wasn't terribly excited about this set when it was first announced and was mainly just looking forward to Smaug. In that sense, this set didn't disappoint. Everything else seems fairly bland and uninspired though.

Ya, people sell sets with just the bricks and no minifigs all the time. The bricks usually don't go for a ton though in comparrison to the minifigures which can fetch $5-10 each. If you sell just the bricks look to get about half to two thirds the total cost of a set. I think they are a bit tougher to sell as well.

There was an advertisement at the German(?) Toy Fair, but it was like two weeks after we first saw them in London and they were announced as an October release. We also saw the retailer catalog which listed them as an October release. At this point it's anybody's guess the actual release date.. it's either October or December though.