Deathleech

I agree, a few standard sizes for the instructions would be great. Maybe a size for the $5-20 sets, the $21-60, and then the 61 dollar and up sets? As for the instructions being bent and folded, I can't stand this. Especially when they are bent in half. This makes the pages flip when you try to lay them flat on a table and are building. You have to constantly flip the page back, try to bend them the other way, and place objects on them to keep them in place. It's pretty annoying for something that could easily be fixed.

Actually all of those minifigures could be gotten in other normal sets for much cheaper. There is nothing special or new in the starter set other than the game, is there? No new prints or molds...?

This looks to be the biggest Orthanc, and possibly the biggest LotR Moc yet in terms of height. You handily beat out the other massive Orthanc from a few years back which clocked in at 7 feet 2 inches: Truly amazing. I would love to see some shots with people next to it to really get a feeling for the scale.

I'm arguing there is a reason that three totally separate companies, all who make similar toys to life games, don't make their game for the PC. If they don't, why would Lego? We aren't talking one or two companies here, we are talking four totally separate companies and their very similar products, none of which have PC support at the moment. There is obviously a reason they are doing this. I would be willing to bet it's because toys to life games generally target a younger crowd and console games are generally geared towards a younger crowd as well. PC gaming on the other hand is more targeted at hardcore older teens and adults. That's not to say adults don't play toys to life games, or young kids don't play PC games, but it's a general rule of thumb. I am sure these companies have much more research that has justified their decision. Of course this could all change in a few years if PC gaming surpasses console gaming by enough, and the target demographs switch preferred systems. With that said you would be surprised how popular certain types of games are on systems. Just because the Wii U may not be near as popular as say the PC as a whole doesn't mean most of the people playing the PC are actually interested in something like Dimensions. Also you vastly under estimate the number of PS3 and Xbox 360 owners. As of right now, there are over 80 million Xbox 360s sold. In comparison Xbox One only has around 12 million units sold. The PS3 has around the same as the Xbox 360 (85m), but it's PS4 has sold around 22 million world wide to date. That's a TON of people with older systems that are still using them. This isn't a few decades ago where everyone updated their system asap because it was such a huge leap in technology. Now people are holding on to their old systems much longer and waiting for discounts before upgrading.

I think a big reason, at least for me, is the teeth and mouth. Missing the whole bottom row makes him looks more goofy and dopey. Having no facial lines gives the impression he has a very smooth or babyish, cartoony face since it lacks any definition.

Dimensions on the WiiU means little more than Lego expects it to be a popular sell on that system. It doesn't mean the WiiU is more popular than the PC, it just means the sales on that system are a better match for Lego's target market. I have said it three times now.. why are NONE of the other toys to life games on PC? Amiibo, Skylanders, and Infinity are all strictly on consoles. A fact you keep totally neglecting. Why would Lego decide to be the only one to make their toys to life on the PC? In fact they have already told us what systems will support Dimensions and the PC is not listed. Of course things could change in a few years if PC gaming gets immensely more popular among children, but as of right now it just seems like a pipe dream. People who don't own a console are trying to justify it being made for the PC for their own gain. Sure PC sales may over take consoles, but even then that doesn't mean it's a good fit for the Dimensions platform. Mobile games are also immensely popular, should they make Dimensions for that as well?

I think my point still stands regardless of what the market is projected to do in a year and a half. Even if it turns out to be true, PC sales will only be slightly ahead of consoles by the end of next year which is a year and a half away. It will be that way until several years later when they can really build momentum. PC gaming is more targeted at older teens and adults anyways. It doesn't have the same ease of use and a large part of why that article says PC gaming is growing has little to do with kids who are the main targets of the Dimensions game. An 8-12 year old cares little about e-sports or online gaming, and I don't think Lego is huge in India (though it is getting bigger in China). Furthermore not a single one of the other toys to life games are offered on Pc after several years so I wouldn't expect Dimensions to be either. At least not for several more years, if it is even around after that.

I did the same, but rather than taking away detail from the Moria Orc I added some to the CMF Goblin, here are the results: Sorry, it was a quick job so it's a bit sloppy. I am not sure about the nose. I think the rest looks significantly better than the original though. I think the mouth is the biggest improvement. Maybe a nice medium between the over detailed LotR minifigures and the under detailed Castle would be best...?

I know it was asked if you had plans to do the Fellowship before... but do you have any plans to do more of the bad guys? Maybe some generic orcs in this style, or even Azog/Bolg? I would love to see Sauron, Saruman, Azog, and Bolg!

I would also like a Steam Punk Space or fantasy Castle theme. Lots of wooden and metal looking steam powered vehicles.

How much is "too much" facial printing though? When I said that I was thinking specifically of the Moria Orc compared to the CMF Goblin: It looks excellent imho. It's not too much at all, and has nice detailing compared to the CMF goblin who, in contrast, looks silly to me.

I don't think so. Video games usually have pre-sales because it takes a few years to get them out, and there are only a few games released from a particular developer or in a particular franchise every few years. People also want to ensure they get the game on release day and it's not sold out (though I can't even remember the last time a game was totally sold out.. maybe a console when it's first launched but not a stand alone game..). Video games are also much more expensive than your average toy set, costing around $60. Lego on the other hand has dozens upon dozens of sets released every year and they range from a few dollars up to a few hundred dollars. The vast majority though are under $60 I would say. Regardless, when new Lego sets are released they never seem to sell out right away unless they are the more limited run Ideas sets. The last mass released item I can even remember being hard to find was the Elsa's Sparkling Castle set, and that was due in large part to Frozen's immense popularity. It was fairly easy to find a few weeks after the initial release. Pre-orders seem like they would just be too much of a hassle on Lego given Lego's release nature. That and it would lead to even more promos and exclusives which I don't think most people want to deal with trying to collect.

Uhh, what? First off, these video games are mostly aimed at younger children where consoles are hands down the preferred method to play Secondly, PC video gaming has been becoming less and less popular for the past decade or so, even among older teens and adults since consoles have been getting more and more powerful and popular. Plus, none of the other toys to life franchises have PC releases and they seem to be doing just fine.

Yup, Blondie-Wan has it right. They are the official Lego branded containers by Iris. I bought them off Amazon a few years ago when they were heavily discounted. I got them for something like $27-35 apiece when MSRP was 60? Unfortunately it doesn't look like Iris is producing the "official Lego" ones anymore, and the aftermarket prices have sky rocketed. The $10 cases are $20+ now and the drawers are $120+.. more than double MSRP. Of course you can get the same styled ones without the Lego branding for around MSRP still. Here are a couple of updated shots since a few months ago. I didn't bother taking pictures if little or nothing changed, like with the Uruk-hai:

I agree and would say the Bo5A set is the second worst from the line. I feel like Lego was fine with representations from each faction such as Thorin and Dain for the dwarves and Legolas for the elves so they didn't feel the need to include soldiers. This really disappointed a lot of fans though. No dwarf or elf soldiers and the orcs we did get weren't even the properly armored versions. The Dale ruins were passable at best. The bolt thrower was a complete waste of pieces for something not even featured in the film. The set was just a mess all around.

Me too, but with how secretive they are I am not surprised. Still, it would have been nice to see more of the non-specific stuff like generic moldings and how the factories are run and such. It was nice getting a glimpse of the hiring process and some other aspects of the Lego company.

Yup, that's one thing that stuck out to me as "fan made". The other is the Oliphant. It has over 13 Haradrim on the platform on the Oliphant's back. Lego would NEVER give us anywhere near that many of the same grunt soldier type in a single set. Maybe 2-4 max, but no where near 13. It would be loaded with named characters too like Legolas and Theoden or Eomer. The Balrog being red also doesn't seem likely, but I suppose is possible if Lego was just messing around with early pre-lim builds. EDIT: There are also 2 Uruk-hai Army sets shown... not sure why.

Looks like all the sets re-created in LDD, with some of the fans own MOCs?

That would be shipping... today? If it said it would ship around June 15th, you shouldn't get it for a few days as the mail carrier has to physically transport your package after it has been shipped out and left the Lego building. Unless they have enough demand at one particular warehouse (but not enough stock) and the items instock at another, I don't see them redistributing stock. Why would they send a handful of items from one warehouse to another just to fill a couple orders? They deal with millions of bricks a day. Often times warehouses and such are operated by different managers and they have certain inventory they ordered too so they can't simply exchange stock like two kids trading baseball cards. Anyways I had a bad experience myself with Lego S@H the other day. All the items came except the PaB order, which was fine and expected as it says those orders can take several weeks. However, I ordered a few of the tan baseplates and for some reason Lego decided to mix tan and green and throw a few green in there instead of tan ones.

If you are talking to me... he's in a different container, along with the Cave Trolls. They are too tall and don't fit in those shallow cases.

It's amazing how much better the Lego Gandalf minifigure looks with a simple hair swap. I really wish Lego would have created the Thorin/Fili/Kili hair sooner and used it on Gandalf, as well as Lurtz. the hair they ended up using doesn't look that great on them and looks kind of lame.

If Lego really wanted to capitalize on 2016 Castle sales they would give us a Fantasy theme, but make it somewhat LotR compatible. What I mean by that is offering slightly more realistic looking orcs (more facial detailing than the 2007-09 Fantasy versions or goblin CMF), armored elves, new armor for the orcs, and armor for the human faction that faintly resembled Gondor armor. This way they could really make a lot of LotR fans happy who felt like Lego left the Middle-Earth line half done. Lego could give us some shiny metal pointed helms, a chest piece, and a square-ish roman looking shield. Obviously they couldn't use the white tree emblem, but if done right all LotR fans would have to do is replace the yellow heads with flesh heads on the human minifigures and voila, Gondor Soldiers. New armor for the orcs and more detailed print would allow them to effortlessly be merged with existing LotR orc armies, and nice elven armor could be used for a variety of things (elves at Helm's Deep, the prologue, Bo5A, etc.). On top of pleasing LotR fans, this should make Castle fans happy because they are still getting a new Castle theme with tons of new molds and prints and something vastly different than anything else done before. Kids would be happy because all of this stuff could be in sets totally created by Lego and catering to them with lots of play features and vehicles. Lego wouldn't be confined to only doing sets based on film scenes either. Of course I doubt Lego will go this route. At the very least I am hoping we get builds that take a cue from the LotR sets and use more bricks and detailing and less wall panels. Some new orc armor and more detailed orcs also seem in the realm of possibilities too.

It's not a great, or even good set by any stretch of the imagination, but it hardly is the worst Hobbit or LotR offender. That would have to go to the Mirkwood Elf Army. That set was a completely made up set, and to make it worse most of the minifigures in it weren't good. Gundabad Orcs without hair or armor, Mirkwood Elves with hoods instead of armor, etc. It could have been awesome if they had gave us some armored elves and based it on the water gates or something. It would have fit perfectly from the movie AND gave us useful figs.

I said "but I don't know if that is necessarily true" because I don't know what Lego's plans were. Maybe LotR prevented more Castle stuff, maybe not. I just know that the latest Pirate theme was a lot like the 2013 Castle in that it was very generic and seemed like it was aimed at younger children, yet there is no licensed pirate stuff competing with it so Lego had no reason to make it that way other than by their own choice. Also there is no Castle stuff in 2015 when there is no Middle-Earth waves either so Lego seems to have chosen to skip this year for Castle again by their own accord. Either way if LotR DID make Castle take a back seat, I am fine with that seeing as there will be more Castle sooner or later.

A lot of the promos and polys had extremely limited availability, or weren't available at all in some countries. I am not sure on the general consensus, but I have a feeling most people don't consider those "official" sets. I mean the SDCC Azog only had 100 pieces released at the comic con. Most of the polybags are just re-hashes of characters from other sets, thrown into a plastic bag with a simple build, and sold in limited quantities at one retailer or another. It's hard to really view those as normal sets. They are called promotions for a reason. Fair enough. My point was that people complaining about LotR or Hobbit sets really have no reason to complain though. Sure it's been four years with limited Castle releases, but there is supposed to be new stuff coming in 2016 and there was at least SOMETHING in 2013. The 2013 offerings may have been kind of lame, but I don't think that was necessarily LotR's fault. I mean look at the latest Pirate theme, there is nothing competing with it and it was done in much a similar fashion to the 2013 Castle stuff. I just don't think LotR or Hobbit necessarily prevented Castle from being released. I mean why didn't Lego release any Castle this year (2015)? There were no LotR or Hobbit sets and haven't been since last October (not counting the Dimensions stuff). I have a feeling if there would have been no LotR or Hobbit, there still would have probably been a few year hiatus for Castle as well. People blame LotR or hate it because they think it kept them from getting Castle stuff, but I don't know if that is necessarily true. That's comparing apples to orange. LotR and the Hobbit are licensed themes. Lego pays for the license and only has it for a limited time. They have to pump out as many sets as they can in a certain time frame. If they could buy the license indefinitely I doubt we would get near as many sets in such a short amount of time. Heck, they would probably even skip a few years every now and then like they do with their in house properties. When Lego is trying to get the LotR stuff out on top of the Hobbit stuff to coincide with the films being released though, they kind of have to release it fast. Regardless, like I said before, LotR and Hobbit sets will probably never be made again by Lego. Castle has years and years ahead of it, plus the past few decades. With that in mind I am totally fine with Castle taking a back seat. I mean who cares if you don't get Castle stuff a few years? You will eventually, and you will get lots more. Heck, I would be fine not getting Castle for another two or three years if it meant we got another wave or two of LotR stuff. In the grand scheme of thing Castle will always be around and has tons of future possibilities. Middle Earth does not. At least not in Lego form. It just seems like people aren't looking at the grand picture some times, or are only considering their own interests.