Deathleech

I was going to say the same, but then I did a search and these customs don't look to bad really... Of course any printing on them might be really hard to make out.

Well there are at least a dozen more orcs coming out of the Black Gates, but ya, the sides of the poster seem to include the figures from just this wave and the evil side is pretty badly out numbered

It looks like K-Mart has the Weathertop set online and it's only $51 there. Even with taxes and shipping g it is cheaper than at TRU, and if you spend $75 you can use the discount code KMART10PSAVINGS to save 10%.

Did they get delayed or something? The retailer catalog had them listed as being released in June and that's when last years wave was suppose to be released as well.

Do you plan on showing this off at any conventions or shows, or is this just for your own personal display?

It doesn't have to be massive to be charming. Eurolock's Helm's Deep MOC is still one of my favorites because of how he integrated the original Helm's Deep set without a ton of modding and just built everything up around it. For the same reason I like your MOC a lot too. As for critiques, I think the tower looks a little odd being so tall next to Helm's Deep. Also, the mountain wall facing the keep might looks a little better with some jagged rocks rather than being totally flat and smooth?

It was rumored on a small online store website (I forget the country). I doubt it is an exclusive otherwise it most likely wouldn't have been listed there. They also listed an Eagle's Nest set and "pirate ship", but so far only the Corsair Ship turned out to be an actual set.

It's nice to know for that reason, and also if he has some way he is getting them cheaper which he could share with us to help others out in amassing bigger armies. Sometimes there are deals or ways to get things cheaper people are not always aware of. I don't think anyone has really gotten too personal such as asking what he makes a year or criticizing him for spending so much on Lego. It's more just curiosity about how he got so many minifigures and pieces.

It was around June, yes. I can't remember the exact date though. I wanna say either the 1st or the 15th.

Ahh, good point. Legolas must have learned his Oliphant surfing skills from someone after all.

Jet skis seem all wrong for Thranduil, I think an Apache helicopter would better suit him.

I was just looking around online and Wal-Mart, Target, Lego S@H, and Amazon (directly) all have Weathertop out of stock or no longer listed on their sites. The only one with it still is TRU. Like others have mentioned, I would definitely check in store before ordering it, but if you can't find it and don't wanna miss out I would act fast and get it online. It's kind of odd Weathertop is the only wave 1 set out of production, every other LotR set is still available all over online. Is this an indication they all will be retired soon as well and Weathetop sold out first, or was Weathertop just a poor performer and got retired earlier?

Don't forget something centered around Smaug!

I think part of the reason is because it's really hard to see the actual model with so many minifigures on it. I wish they would of took some pictures with and without the minifigures (I can only imagine how long it takes to put them all on or take them all off having 1700 figs). I do notice some things though, even with all the minifigures. It looks like the path to the front gate is straight with a single 90% bend rather than being curved like it appears in the movie. The deepening wall also seems tall, but it does not seem near as long as it should be. I am guessing both of these things were done simply to save space though as this is a huge MOC. Some better picture quality would of definitely helped too. I saw this MOC a few days earlier when Eurolock posted it in the other Helm's Deep thread. I am still in awe. I don't understand how people can afford to invest so much money into a single scene. I mean I know some of those minifigures are the CMF elves and other yellow figures from previous themes, but it looks like at least 1000-1300 are Uruk-hai alone. Unless these guys bought up tons of Uruk-hai during the Sun promotion, that's so much money spent on Uruk-hai Army sets. I know there are two of them and they probably combined armies, but still... if they bought Uruk-hai Army sets that's 1000/4=250x$25=$6250/2=$3125 bucks alone spent on JUST Uruk-hai! And that's a conservative number and considering they bought them all in the U.S. where they are cheapest at a nice 20% off sale. If it's 1300 Uruk-hai combined that's over $4000 spent per person! Of course if they were bought through the Sun promotion that's a much cheaper price to get a thousand Uruk-hai and could of actually been done for well under $1000. I would be interested in knowing how they went about them and how much money was spent to make this thing per person. I thought my armies were pretty substantial spending over 2 grand on them (both LotR and Hobbit) but these guys spent that on a single scene alone!

I'm not a fan of the dragon because of the feet. I think they look silly being so big. I am not sure if Lego did this for stability, for stylization, or a combination of the two, but I am not a fan at all. I do like everything else about the dragon though. If Lego made the feet so big for stability I wish they would of just designed it to be better balanced using the tail. As for there not being a big evil castle, I think it makes sense. When I was a kid that was one of the main driving forces behind the evil soldiers attacking the good.. they wanted to take over their keep! Plus I think it's harder for most kids to afford two big $100 Castles from a single wave. If this line gets a second wave maybe they will include a proper dragon castle then? Lastly, at least for me, it's not just the colors that bug me about this Castle line. It just doesn't strike me as terribly interesting. At a quick glance everything looks too similar to some previous Castle sets and is kind of bland. Sure there are some new techniques used in building and some different shapes and models, but nothing that really sticks out to me. Fantasy had all the orcs, skeletons, trolls, etc. to give it a unique spin on Castle. Other waves had Vikings, Ninja, and even the power rangers to give them a breath of fresh air (even if they were ugly). What does this line have? If the Dragons would of had the white faces and been undead/vampires like they appeared to have early on, that would of at least been something to differentiate this line and pique my interest. As is it's just just two pretty standard armies war-ing. Add to it the fact the great LotR/Hobbit waves are out and this line just doesn't really draw me in at all.

Well if he got most the Uruk-hai from the Sun promotion, that would of only been roughly $0.75 per Uruk-hai. 370x0.75=$277.50. The Rohan Soldiers have gone as low as ~$4 on BL, but I'm not sure how many of those he has. If he got the best deals possible he could of easily amassed all these minifigs for well under $1000 assuming he has under 100 Rohan Soldiers. Of course it doesn't look like he went that route considering all the Uruk-hai shields and swords he has, as well as Eomer's. I too would be interested in knowing how he went about amassing such an army, how many of each minifig he has, and if he has bought the other LotR sets or amassed armies there (Mirkwood Elves, Mordor Orcs, etc.) or just focused strictly on the Uruk-hai and Helm's Deep.

It seems like it's better suited to just add a back like Missing Brick is doing. Plus it's a lot cheaper. If you buy two you would need to mod the top and it might look too long on the sides.

I would have guessed he was from the U.K. and got them dirt cheap through the Sun promotion, but he said his English isn't very good so that is probably not very likely. Plus he seems to have a ton of Rohirrim.

Yup! The battle of Dol Guldur and the White Council are in other books like the LotR appendix, but not specifically mentioned in the Hobbit.

From what I have read the main reason they created her was just to add a female to the story since the Hobbit is severely lacking any. Of course they also added Galadriel with the White council and Battle of Dol Guldur.

Who knows if she will even be in another set though? She may be a fairly minor character since Peter Jackson added her.

That's a shame you took it apart, I would of liked to see some different angles and more clear shots. It looks interesting and not something a lot of people MOC.

I would be fine with Lego breaking Minas Tirith into a few sets and having one be the Citadel and White Tree like in the MOC Yooha posted. It looks really good. I don't think they would include everything in that MOC though, it looks like it easily would cost as much if not more than Orthanc and isn't even all of Minas Tirith. I would suspect Lego would only have the Citadel and the tree and probably opt not to include any of the side buildings or the (large) gray base. If they do make a base, they might give a thin one leading out to a point at the end to give the overall shape of the top of the city. That could be a nice $80 set that includes Faramir, Denethor, Pippin in Gondor clothing, Gandalf the White on Shadowfax, and 2 Gondor guards. I would still want at least a gate set though, and I am not sure how they would make the two connect without making the Gate set huge, or making a third set that includes most of the middle of the city. Minas Tirith has a really iconic look, just like Helm's Deep does so I would like to see a set that includes the whole city if possible, even shrunk way down

Very nice, and absolutely massive! This might be one of the biggest Helm's Deep MOCs I have ever seen when finished. Do you plan on doing any of the mountain behind the keep or on the sides? Also a suggestion, when you start making the base maybe you could use some more of the sand green and darker gray bricks to help break up the monotone light gray a little?

Ya sorry, I meant you would need a third ruler and to mark a starting spot on it, then move the rulers but I went back and re-edited my post twice and forgot that part when I was copying and pasting yours. Which is probably why I haven't focused on that point at all and only mentioned it quickly as a side note. I am glad we agree on something though. Now if you could just be less condescending.... Maybe that's where the confusion is coming from then? I am focusing on the max difference at each end of the spectrum, not the average, which I stated before ever getting into all of this. Like I said before, just re-read Str0ngbad's post for another explanation. I understand where you are coming from, and I understand his explanation, but you seem to be really hung up on this and seem like you can't or don't want to understand my point. Basically you are doing 14 (LotR max age) - 12 (Castle max age) = 2. 8 (LotR min age) - 5 (Castle min age) = 3. 2x3=6/2=2.5. The age difference is 2.5 years. I am saying LotR is recommended 8-14 years, Castle is 5-12, 8-5=3 and 14-12= 2. 2+3=5. I'm not looking at the average age difference, I am looking at the max at each ends of the spectrum (lower and higher). And the saying is whatever floats your boat, boats don't fly I completely agree, even though I haven't helped at all the past few pages. I apologize for that.