Deathleech

I never said it would be bad, I was just confused if that was even the set you were talking about. You went on about how Lego shouldn't make a Lothlorien set, then quickly mention how a Gladriel and Frodo set with Mirror would be passable? Here is what you said: "Lothlorien set is a waste of material, literally NOTHING important happens there and even less action than Gimli swinging his axe on Council of Elrond. Galadriel + Frodo + Mirror can easily be 10/15$ set and thats about it from even REMOTE importance of Lorien period! If you really want Lorien imo download Ewok Village instruction and bricklink parts in darker colors instead of tan and you will get a better Lorien than you would if LEGO makes it a set anyway." I am guessing you didn't want a big Lothlorien set and would be fine with a smaller one, but you were a bit unclear and contradicting since you started saying a "Lothlorien set is a waste of material". A big Minas Tirith set could be used to easily re-create Osgiliath too. All you would have to do is take some of the walls and buildings and make them look more ruined and destroyed. It's definitely from RotK since the sets are based on the films, and in the film Shelob Attacks is in the third movie RotK. By your logic Lurtz isn't even in the books so the Orc Forge should be more from TTT then? I don't think the film name should dictate if a set is being strictly based on that film. The eagle clearly shows Orthanc is meant to cover at least a few key scenes spread throghout all three films as the eagles are never seen at Orthanc again in the films. Also, even IF Orthanc is based strictly on TTT that's a good thing since TTT has the fewest sets and least money invstedt into it Lego wise? I think most people would be fine with a Gondor-centric third wave that has 2 or 3 Gondor sets. I think they just want some variety too and not a wave ENTRIELY made of that. Lego could easily do a 5 or 6 wave set that has Minas Tirith, a Mordor Orc/Gondor Soldier Army buildier akin to the Uruk-hai Army set, a third set that has whatever isn't in Minas Tirith (With King, Eowyn, Merry, Fel Beast, Oliphant, etc.), a Treebeard set, Balrog one, and a sixth set with whatever. No need to go overboard with Gondor.

That looks significantly better than just one set! I am guessing 3-4 sets would pretty much be perfect for recreating the scene entirely. Any chance we can get a shot of Arwen with the legs?

Wow, it must be the twilight zone..! Gandalf the Gray vs Gandalf the White in the Wizard Battle set!

Sorry, I saw no mention of a small set nor of anything that ISN'T Gondor in your last several posts. In fact here was your initial post I responded to: Ofcourse! Sorry but Treebeared means another Ent that we get in Orthanc .... regardless of name! Mount Doom means a huge pile of slopes OR it will not be big enough to be plausible. And we get more Hobbits! I'm seriously tired of any Hobbit in LEGO, to me they're half a figure and legs are 99% useless on my MOCs also! We need a Gondor wave, with Gondor Soldiers, Ithilien Rangers and Haradrims/Easterlings... If LEGO would end LOTR line without Gondor(3+ Gondor sets) I would be severely disappointed with LEGO. You blatantly say you want an entire Gondor wave. You then went on to disagree with EVERY set idea that wasn't Gondor related. Treebeard and the Balrog you said could easily be brick built on your own (as could any set in Lego though, that's kind of the idea with the bricks, lol), Lothlorien you said shouldn't be made because "nothing happens there" (you sort of agreed a small would be ok?), you said you didn't want any sets with Hobbits because their legs aren't very useful, and the rest of the ideas you shot down with your above quote. Where exactly was your idea for a non-Gondor theme set? The Galadriel mirror and Frodo set? Wow, the cheapest set in a wave is different while the other 3-5 sets are all Gondor, what variety! These are the numbers I am coming up with: FotR - 5 sets Gandalf Arrives Wizard Battle Council of Elrond Attack on Weathertop Mines of Moria TTT - 3 sets Uruk-hai Army Orc Forge Helm's Deep RotK - 3 sets Shelob Attacks Black Gates Pirate Ship Ambush I didn't include Orthanc because it is featured in all three movies and the set seems to try and depict something from each. The eagle and Gandalf are from the FotR, the orcs and white hand armor TTT, and Grima at Orthanc is from RotK. So, that puts us at 5 FotR sets, 3 TTT, and 3 RotK. That doesn't seem bad at all considering FotR hasn't had a huge flagsip set yet while TTT and RotK both have. Also, FotR has the 2 smallest sets each wave. If we break it down by price, it looks something like this: FotR - $196 TTT - $200 RotK - $180 Not much of a difference there? Of course one could argue Orc Forge is more FotR than TTT because it includes Lurtz, but regardless RotK is still right in the middle for sets made and amount of money for the sets. If they made an entire wave centered around RotK it would seriously throw everything off since things have in fact been pretty even so far. I also didn't include the polybags since they aren't "real" sets, rather an existing minifigure thrown in a bag to promote a line. It makes them hard to place in a wave and kind of irrelevant... is Frodo's Cooking corner from FotR, or from RotK after he returns to the shire? The scene is never really seen in the movies. Is the Uruk-hai suppose to be from TTT or FotK, I would assume TTT because of the ballista but who really knows? The Gandalf poly was from the Hobbit and not even a part of the LotR wave.

Saruman also has different chest printing on the products page for the Wizard Battle set

Ya, I must be confused or have missed it. I don't remember ever hearing or seeing a Hobbit list before the TRU flier/poster went out, I just remember the LotR list. I like how in the Pirate Ship Ambush video, the designer touches on why Lego decided to make the set despite it only being seen in the film a few minutes. As many guessed, it was because people love pirate ships.

They only listed three sets, the Eagle Nest, Frodo and Ringwraith, and Pirate Ship. One definitely was wrong (Frodo and Ringwraith), and the Eagle Nest was questionable (Black Gate = Eagle Nest, say what?). They only were spot on with the Pirate Ship iirc.

I looked into the Guilds of Historica a few months ago. To be quite honest, I was a little overwhelmed with it all. The guild threads were all over 50 pages at the time and on top of that it felt like things were coming to a close. Because of this I voted for the "I am too far behind to get invovled now!" poll option, though I also would have to say I am not a MOCer. I almost enlisted into the Nocturnus guild but then decided against it when I realized I wouldn't really add much to the guild

Nope, we only saw Bag End earlier at Comic Con. The rest of the sets wern't revealed until a few weeks before they were released (maybe a month top?) through the TRU flier/poster.

Exactly! What do you think Lego is going to do Alcarin, make 5 Gondor themed sets that are all $100+? They need at least a couple sets in the 10-50 dollar range. Plus the chances of us getting a 5000+ piece Gondor set seem pretty slim to none considering only 2 Lego sets ever have had over 5000 pieces. If we get a Minas Tirith and an add on army builder or Oliphant, like I said, that would give us plenty of pieces and new minifigure prints to create pretty much anything else Gondor related we could possibly want. No need to make 5 or 6 Gondor sets in one wave, it would be overkill. People want variety. I really just wish Lego would make proper army builders. I think they would sell fantastically. I mean are kids really going to pass them up completely so only AFOLS are the ones driving the sales and buying them en mass? I doubt it. Obviously if we HAD to get an army builder like you described (and kind of like the Uruk-hai Army set) or nothing, I obviously would take that, but I would love some proper army builders. 2 Mordor Orcs, a general in better armor, and a mountain troll as one battlepack, 4 Rohan soldiers and a horse as another, 3 orc Warg Riders and 2 Wargs as another, 5 Easterling soldiers... these types of sets would be my dream. Perfect for army building, only include one or two types of soldiers so you could build each army as big as you want, etc. I can dream can't I?

You could do the same for pretty much anything Gordon-related if Lego gave us 1 or 2 Gondor themed sets. It's really just the printed minifigures needed to recreate them (though the bricks all bundled in a single set makes it significantly easier). All that Lego would need to include is Gondor Soldiers, Faramir, the Witch King, Gothmog, Denethor, and Eowyn in a big Minas Tirith set and Ithilien Rangers and Haradrim in an Oliphant Ambush set (and maybe Easterlings? Dunno where else they could be features since we already got the Black Gate set and really that's the only time we clearly see them in the film). With these you could recreate Osgiliath OR Minas Tirith, and create tons of different parts of Minas Tirith as well as everything that happens at the Battle of Pelennor Fields.

I strongly disagree. While something Gondor related is definitely number one on my list right now, I don't want Lego to focus solely on it for a whole wave. If they did that means they would potentially never make any of the great other creatures/minifigs/locations of Middle Earth. I would be more than happy with a huge +$130+ Minas Tirith set and a Mordor Orc/Gondor Soldier Army builder set like the Uruk-hai Army. If that's all we got I would be plenty satisfied. That would leave room for a Balrog, Treebeard (he would look quite a bit different than the Orthanc Ent I imagine), Oliphant w/ Haradrim/Easterlings/Ithilien Rangers, a Lothlorien set, and something with Faramir/Eowyn/With King/Gothmog/etc. After Lego gets all these sets out, I would be more than happy to see them come back and add on to the existing material. Osgiliath, the Golden Hall, etc. would be great!

I never was confused, but i did think the VIP was a little better when I initially learned about it It's basically just 5% off though. Compared to Amazon who regularly discounts sets 20-25% off and offers free shipping on purchases over $25 (as opposed to free shipping when you spend $75 at Lego S@H), and this isnt all that great. Even double VIP points (10% off) aren't that amazing. Because of this I rarely buy anything directly through Lego.

Oh oh, it has to be A! Everone KNOWS Lego is a petty, bias company that favors the U.S. with lower prices and gouges the rest of the world because they hate them! /sarcasm Seriously though, there are perfectly logical reasons Lego has lower prices in certain areas. Ever shop at Costco or Sams Club? Some of the same principles apply. These stores sell bulk quantities of product at cheaper prices, but they make up for selling it cheaper with the sheer volume they sell all at once. Look at the U.S. population compared to other countries and you will start to see a correlation (plus the U.S. is known for its consumerism). I understand it can be frustrating for people who have to pay much higher prices for product than elsewhere, but bringing it up and complaining about it every chance is a bit tiring for everyone else. Literally every time I see the price of a Lego set announced its followed by complaining how cheap it is in the U.S. compared to soandso.

They don't have to make it based on the Silmarillion material, they could make a set based on the prologue in the Fellowship of the Ring. It would also be a good way to fit Sauron into a set, though it would be much less of an army builder than.

The price you pay for getting incredibly cheap polys through the Sun promotions

Agreed! You will have to update this thread with the back on the official model when you get it. I would love to see how Lego Orthanc looks as a complete structure. I also really like all the details you added inside like the stairs.

I would assume the same. Most Lego stores didn't even have the Pirate Ship out, and S@H didn't have Black Gates so I am assuming there was some sort of problem with production and the initial run has had extremely limited stock.

It also probably has a couple hundred thousand pieces used to create it

Legolas did in all versions!

That's... beautiful!

It seems there are several issues with the second LotR wave all over the world. Here in the U.S. some Lego stores do not have have the Corsair Ship stocked, while online at Lego S@H the Black Gate set was pushed back to June 5th.

They would be pretty alike in that both would be bipedal brick built creatures with similar price points. I don't know if this would deter Lego from releasing both in the same wave or not though. I mean both are big characters and they seem like they would sell extremely well to AFOLS and kids alike so I don't see how Lego could pass up offering both. If there is only one more LotR wave coming out and Lego has to put both in the same wave then so be it I say. Really a Treebeard set would have been PERFECT for wave 2 . Think about it, you get Orthanc with an Ent and then also a $20 Treebeard set with Merry and Pippin to help besiege the black tower. Plus there is no other set currently taking up the 20 dollar price point in the current wave and it was a little sparse with only 4 sets and the exclusive anyways. It seems like a no brainer...

Or just wait another few weeks and get them on Amazon for 20-25% under MSRP. That would save almost $100 bucks vs buying them for MSRP anywhere else.

Those are my thoughts too. A Lothlorien set might be likely, but it would probably be something much smaller. I just can't imagine Lego making a huge $200+ dollar set out of a location that has such limited screen time and very little action or conflict happening in it. I COULD see Lego making a $13 set with Galadrial and her mirror/pool and Frodo, or even a $20-40 set based on the video game depiction with Galadriel, Celeborn, Haldir, and a few Fellowship members. A huge set just seems really unlikely in my mind though. I mean look at Star Wars, most of the huge UCS and play sets are super recognizable locations or vehicles packed with action. The Death Star, Ewok Village, Millenium Falcon, X-Wing, Star Destroyer... most of them are featured a ton if the movies and/or have pivotal roles. Very rarely do you see a lesser known vehicle or location like the Sand Crawler or Luke's Speeder. The B Wing is about as obscure as it has gotten so far, and even then it's still a ship featured in all the movies and in a line that has been going over 13 years. Then again Lego did make a $100 pirate ship and the Corsairs are featured a total of like 2 minutes in the theatrical release of the film so who knows.