Deathleech

And it's currently sold out directly from Amazon after only a few weeks, you can only get it through third parties on Amazon right now.

I really like the idea. I would try to get it closer to $400 though and instead make an additional $30 set that goes along with it and includes extra orcs and Gondor Soldiers, as well as brick pieces to bulk up the walls. Pretty much a Gondor Version of the Uruk-hai Army set. That way people have an option to army build and add on if they so wish. I also would include 2 exclusive Fountain Guards in the main Minas Torith set and get rid of a Gondor, Rohan, and/or Orc Soldier. That just gives it more appeal with exclusive characters and they totally make sense. While I really like the idea I am not sure it would be as big of a hit as you imagine, strictly because of the price point. That's a lot of money in one go ($100 more than the already über expensive Death Star). I don't think a lot of teens or kids would be able to get it. They would most likely lose interest long before the set is released, or opt to buy several smaller sets for cheaper where they get way more minifigures and perceive more value. It would also be unobstainable for a number of adults on tight budgets. I think you should make it into a really polished Cuusoo ide as that probably has the best chance of getting Legos attention. Showing them something and having 10,000 people backing the idea goes a lot longer ways than simply writing them a letter explaining the idea.

I think Lego could get the best of both worlds. People love modular sets so why not do a Gondor themed one? Osgiliath and ruins, different sections of Minas Tirith like the gate, citadel, etc. It would have just as many play features as the pirate ship (if not more), what with all the catapults, break away walls, battering rams, ladders, figure flippers, flick fire missiles, etc. Not only that, it would also appeal to die hard LotR fans AND castle/modular set fans. Don't get me wrong, I am sure this is EXACTLY why Lego made the Pirate Ship Ambush into a set, the designer even says its because kids love pirate ships. If the sets really aren't selling well though, they obviously are doing something wrong. There is a large Tolkien fan base which seem to be eating the sets up but Lego has done next to nothing to sell the sets to kids. I doubt most of the sets even look that interesting to them outside a few selections. Heck I was even uninterested in a few and I LOVE both Lego and Tolkien. With the first wave I bought two every set the day they came out plus 5 Orc Forge and 20 Uruk-hai Army. With the second wave I bought two of everything except Black Gates which I bought 3 of total and I waited several months to get them. If Lego were to release a few battle packs and a Witch King and Mumakil set, as well as Minas Torith or Gondor I could easily see myself getting two of everything and dozens upon dozens of battle packs, plus 3+ Witch King and Oliphant sets just for extra Fel Beasts and Oliphants alone (if molded or made with some specific new molded pieces).

When there is no official news it seems people get bored and suddenly the rumors start flying. Watch, if there is an advertisement in the Hobbit instruction books saying more LotR sets coming summer 2014 I am sure all these people will suddenly be saying their "Lego store managers" have been having trouble stocking the LotR sets since they are flying off shelves so well. I'm not saying the rumors may not be true, it's just hard to believe much of anything without any actual proof or evidence, and without a good track record.

Ya, there are only four sets currently rumored, my bad.

The only problem with that theory is, if you include Orthanc as part of wave 2 for LotR, it was actually bigger price and piece wise than the first wave. It had fewer sets sure, but it's not like anything else about it was smaller. And as for the Hobbit sets, we currently have a (rumored) list of 5 sets. That is only 1 less than the first wave and we could still easily get a store exclusive not yet named. Generally the first flagshi/intro sets are larger so having a second wave for each line almost as big as the first should bode fairly well I would think. I mean heck, look at the new Castle theme, it only had 5 sets total.

I read the thread and it looks like his "little bird" is just a friend who is a sales manager, or worse a cashier/assistant employee at a Lego store. So nothing concrete and nothing we haven't heard a millions times before. He also goes on to say there will be no Castle next year, nor a wastern or pirate theme so apparently Lego is going to do away with all themes except Friends, Ninjago, City, and Star Wars and they will just be running their company on that Lol, as sad as it is, that's what sells sets these days. They could have the best license on earth but if there is no cartoon or video game to coincide with the release, it's pretty much dead in the water. I agree. I don't think anyone was really clamoring for a Black Gate or Pirate Ship Ambush set. I know a lot of AFOLs wanted a Rivendell for the scene and characters, but to kids it's probably not enticing. There is no conflict or real action.. what are they going to do after they flip Gimli away from the ring? Have everyone sit around in their swirly chairs for a half hour discussing how to destroy the ring? If the line is indeed dead, Lego pretty much shot themselves in the foot with this one. A Balrog, Oliphant, or Fel Beast would have sold by the boatload to kids without them even having a clue what the theme is. And for AFOLs, ANY real battle pack type sets would of flown off shelves, as would some nice Gondor related sets and main characters like Eowyn, Faramir, and the Witch King. I find it hard to believe Lego is ending the line before even covering one of the main factions or before offering some of the sets that seem like no brainers.

I don't really recall how well the Castle stuff sold on the Lego website when it first came out, I just know at my local store they seemed to be stocked as much as the next Lego theme. For awhile they had a ton of Chima in the Lego aisle and on an end cap, and then when I checked recently they had moved the castle stuff there. They had to have at least 3-4 of every set on the end cap and then another 1-3 in the main aisle except for the big Castle set. The second LotR wave, on the other hand, only has 1-2 of any given set in the aisle and sometimes none are sitting out on shelves. Of course I don't know if this is due more to lower stock being shipped to store, or it selling well. All I know is the LotR stuff seems to be selling significantly better than the Castle stuff according to Amazon's sales ranks. Of course neither is doing as well as say the Minecraft stuff or the BTTF set, but then again both of those are much newer too. I know last year the first LotR wave was in the top 100 building sets on Amazon for several months after their release. It's really hard to say without actual sales figures for each line though and production costs for them. I know, I was talking more in general than specifically to you. I see a lot of people make claims that a theme is selling well or not selling well based on their own personal experience at their local stores. I will often see someone know a friend of a friend of a friend who is a Lego manager and they say soandso is doing poorly at their one store they run so that theme MUST be doing poorly overall. Of course I then see these same people suddenly later claim the exact same line is doing well if we hear news another wave will be produced. A number of people have said the LotR line is doing poorly but I find that hard to believe when we have NOTHING to base it on except rumors. So far we have gotten 2 LotR waves and will be getting 2 Hobbit waves, as well as a big D2C exlusive. The CEO also said the LotR line specifically was doing very well last year when asked about licensed themes in general. This leads me to believe the line is doing better than the doom and gloom crowd would have us believe, but only time will tell...

Any Castle sets coming out next year based on the MMO or movie will probably be a random mix with other themes, much like the actual minifigures are. We might get one castle set or minifigure, but anything besides that is unlikely since they will have so much other stuff to jam in the wave from the other themes. I gotta agree with SheepEater here, if nothing else because after the LotR/Hobbit license ends the chances of Lego coming back and doing sets based on the license are pretty much zilch to none. Castle on the other hand WILL return, maybe not next year but sometime in the future no doubt. And, as Flitwick points out, it is fairly boring when they do the "generic" Castle line up. We have gotten dozens of square castles over the past several years, a slightly different shape or design and color doesn't make it terribly appealing. Now if they do something new like they did with the Vikings or Fantasy stuff, that might peak my interest, but a generic castle theme is kind of boring to me at this point. That's one of the main reasons why I have no desire to get the new Castle sets. Plus seeing my favorite movie locations in Lego is just great! How can you NOT want to see a Helm's Deep or Weathertop in Lego? Sure it may be from a book or movie, but it's generally something very different than the generic Castle stuff Lego does. Lastly I dunno where you live, but I have not seen the Castle sets sold out once at my local Target. Actually, if you look online at Amazon, the biggest Castle set is only ranked 2,573 in sales while the Pirate Ship Ambush is 1,607. Sure it's on sale for $15 off, but it's also one of the least appealing LotR sets to many. Helm's Deep is still 2,799 after being out over a year. If you look at the smaller new Castle and LotR sets, the only Castle ranked under 2,000 is Dragon Mountain which is just barely cracking it at 1,928. Other sets like the Forest Ambush and Gold Getaway are doing rather poorly, both being ranked over 7,000. The Worst wave 2 LotR set is only 4,200 (less than half Gold Getaway's 8,700), while Wizard Battle is also under 2,000 in rank. Even Orthanc is currently 1,879 on Amazon and is nearing being sold out with only 18 currently left in stock. That means we have 3 of the 5 current LotR sets all cracking the top 2,000 sales rank while only 1 of the 5 Castle sets is. Keep in mind too this LotR wave have NO advertising like the Castle did. The first LotR wave was much higher for a longer amount of time. Sorry to get off on a tangent there, but without any sales numbers on a theme basis it's hard to judge how well a theme is actually selling. Just because it's sold out at your local store doesn't mean that's what's going on all over your country, or the world. I find Amazon somewhat helfpul for this because they rank the sales against other toys. It's still not perfect but gives you a bit of an idea of how a set is doing as a whole in your country.

Brickset currently has your model displayed on their front page as part of their Tolkien Week Showcase. You should be getting 10,000 votes in no time with that publicity!

I seriously doubt Lego has a licensing agreement with Star Wars that only allows them to make battle packs for that theme and no others. If anything they probably have a license with Warner Brothers for the LotR/Hobbit licenses that states they can only create building sets based on those properties since another company holds the action figure license or Lego didn't want to buy that one as well. And actually, Lego can't even create minifigure only sets/BPs for Star Wars since they don't hold the action figure license for that line either. They have to have some sort of building component otherwise strictly minifigue sets are too much like action figures which Hasbro has the license for (see Lego's response here). Also, as Blakestone has pointed out, other lines DO have battle pack like sets. So, while we have SPECULATED on why Lego hasn't released any LotR or Hobbit battle packs, we really have no idea the ACTUAL reason. Maybe the license with them is more strict and they need a higher brick to minifigure ratio than with Star Wars? This just seems odd though considering there are currently no companies producing LotR action figures to my knowledge, yet Hasbro is still actively making Star Wars ones (the Hobbit's another story).

It would be awesome if Lego could stagger the info for new sets leading up to them being available at retailers. Maybe release info and pictures for one set every month for 3-4 months before hand (this would vary depending how big a wave is obviously)? They could even keep some sets secret like the ones they think will be super popular, or the flagship sets. I know they have to be careful not to reveal any movie spoilers, but that shouldn't be an issue seeing their recent license releases... This would at least give us something to talk about. Instead it seems we get bombarded with all the new set info all at once (from this theme and others)

Amazon currently has a number of the Lego Hobbit and LotR sets on sale. It's kind of hit and miss though, and the discounts vary greatly. For instance the Pirate Ship Ambush is almost 20% off at $82.50, but the Black Gate set is only a few bucks off and going for 56 bucks. the Wizard Battle and Council of Elrond are basically MSRP being discounted only a few cents. Some of the older sets have much better discounts going on right now. Mines of Moria is only $63 and an Unexpected Gathering is $55. The Goblin King Battle is down to $75 and has been there for some time now. Of course if you wait I am sure you can find even better deals as these sets regularly get discounted 25% off or more if you just keep an eye out. They are pretty random though. As for the Lego store, the October flyer with promos was revealed a few weeks ago. They have double VIP all month for October and the second part of the month are offering a free 115 piece winter set if you spend $100 or more.

I agree with jamesn, some more texture on the swamp would make it feel more realistic and life like. Doing water different colors helps, but all flat doesn't really give any depth. Real water has ripples, waves, etc. Cheese slopes and SNOt are great for achieving this. Also, just try to add more detail in general to the foliage and rocks to make it feel more like a lush jungle or swamp.

I think the Saruman minifigure is the main driving factor behind the Wizard Battle sales though. The only other way to get him is in the big $200 Tower of Orthanc set. Without the Wizard Battle set being around he would be unavailable to many children (and adults) due to the high price of Orthanc that they might not be able to afford. He is a main antagonist so of course everyone who is a fan of LotR is going to want him. Now that's not to say the set itself isn't good, because it definitely seems to be the strongest of the 3 cheap sets releasedso far. But you know as well as I that if Lego made a Sauron minifigure and put him in a $9.99 set with a rock, and that was the only way to get him, he would FLY off shelves. If Saruman was available in another $30 or $40 set do you think the Wizard Battle would sell as well? I don't. This is why I don't understand why Lego doesn't do a battle pack and just include a main character (permitting they are allowed to through their license agreement). Make a Mordor Orc battle pack for $12-15, include Sauron or Gothmog and 3 generic orcs in it and it would be a hit. A Gondor Soldier BP with Faramir could be done too. Sure this would make multiple purchases a bit redundant, but it would at least appeal to all age groups. Children could still get an important main character to play with in an impulse buy set, and AFOLs could get an army builder with only 1 redundant figure they don't really need.

Ahh, I was unaware of that tax. In that case I might as well just buy it at the Lego store with double VIP. Plus I just remembered they have the Christmas bonus when you spend over $100 so there is at least that bonus if we can't use the 10% off coupon anymore.

Amazon doesn't charge sales taxes for most states

It's not like the 10% off was anything amazing anyways. Many stores like TRU and Amazon regularly have the normal (not exclusive) sets on sale 20-25% off within a month of them being released. I don't see why Lego would limit the coupon. I mean with a 10% off coupon, double VIP points, AND a special set being given away they almost compete with Amazon having 25% off and no taxes.

Wow, thats lame. I guess there is no point in me waiting then, might as well buy it on Amazon and not pay any taxes as that saves me about 15-20 bucks, about the same I would get from double VIP.

I am sure Lego could squeeze in one or two battle packs per wave no problem. I imagine battle packs don't require near as much designing as a normal $40+ set so I would think Lego could make a 4 or 5 set wave into 6 and just include an extra battle pack. They could also ditch the cheapest set each wave (Riddles for the Ring, Gandalf Arrives, Wizard Duel) and replace it with a battle pack since they don't seem to sell near as well as the normal sets and are often redundant with little to offer besides a cheap option.

My TRU had them about a week before they were officially released. I remember because they had a 25% off everything deal going (bringing them to slightly below MSRP) and I was debating getting them at TRU or waiting and getting the VIP points and buying them through Lego. K-mart had them all significantly earlier (but none near me had them in, go figure). I got a 10% off one item in store coupon in the latest Lego catalog and plan to use it in October when they have their double VIP points. That will make it roughly 20% off. Still nothing amazing, but better than paying full price I guess.

Now if only we could get something like this for the LotR line. *Sigh* a guy can dream, can't he?

I believe here in the U.S they were released at the end of Nov officially (I want to say Nov 27), but as usual TRU had them a few weeks early.

To me it seems pretty obvious why some Disney themes get made into Lego sets and some don't. If you look back, Lego generally likes to do licensed sets that fill a gap they currently have from a generic theme. PotC was basically a licensed pirate theme and Lone Ranger a licensed cowboy and indians theme. Lego also seems to go after the big mega block busters for obvious reasons (the movie alone gives ton of advertisement and helps sell the sets, even if some like LR turn out to be huge flops). Some films like Secretariat and the Odd Life of Timothy Green won't get sets made because the subject material just does not lend itself to Lego sets in the slightest. For others though, it's a no brainer (big hits + genre Lego already sells). Still I am sure there are some Disney movies that have good potential to be made into sets but don't for any number of reasons. Maybe Lego doesn't feel they can adequately make or market the sets. Maybe they would rather pool their resources somewhere else where they think they will make more money. You have to remember Lego now covers tons of movie and tv show licenses, as well as dozens of their own unique properties so making a theme from every Disney movie (especially less popular ones or ones that might not be as lucrative), isn't always feasible for them.

I would prefer some Gondor sets over anything else at this point. Lego needs to do at least one big Gondor city, either (a part of) Minas Tirith or Osgiliath. They also need to go a battle pack/wall add on similar to the Uruk-hai Army except with Mordor Orcs and Gondor Soldiers. I would take these over more Rohan stuff any day of the week. IF the line goes beyond a third wave though, and we get some good Gondor representations, I would love to see a Golden Hall set. I think it would make a perfect set for Lego to do because it's a building they can shrink down and it would still look unique and "complete". It could be missing the back wall and have a removable roof similar to Bag End. This would look fine if Lego wanted to hit a lower price point around $80-100. Sure it's not the most action packed setting, but neither was Rivendell or Bag End and they still got sets. I could see several scenes and play features being depicted in the Golden Hall anyways. Pippin looking into the Palantir, the feast/celebration after the victory at Helm's Deep, and of course the cleansing of mind controlled Theoden. There could also be several unique characters or outfits, the obvious being sickly looking Theoden, but also Eowyn in a dress and Gamling. Heck, they could even include a wounded Theodred (though unlikely). Lego could also include another generic Rohan soldier or two. I feel like Rohan could use at least 1-2 more generic soldier prints with a new helm. This would probably be better suited for a "proper" battle pack though.