Deathleech

With the TRU markup it should be (actual MSRP in bolded parenthesis): Riddles for the Ring - $12.99 ($9.99) Escape from Mirkwood Spiders - $34.99 ($29.99) Barrel Escape - $44.99 ($39.99) Attack of the Wargs - $59.99 ($49.99) An Unexpected Gathering - $69.99 ($79.99) Goblin King Battle - $114.99 ($99.99) As you can see markup ranges anywhere from 3 bucks, to $15 at TRU with the Hobbit sets. Even with the BOGO 50% off sale TRU is running you probably are better off buying them somewhere like the Lego store and getting the 5% back UNLESS you are buying 2 of everything in the line to maximize your discount. Otherwise the 50% off is the lower of two purchases so if you bought say the Goblin King Battle and Unexpected Gathering sets that's gonna cost you $165 (115+(80/2=40)). You could get them for $170 (100+70) at the Lego store, and 8% back with the VIP. Apparently TRU is running a few other deals which might be worthwhile though, such as 25 bucks off a $150 purchase if you use a Mastercard, their own TRU credit card which gives you 5% off I believe of any purchase, and you can get a kid's meal at Wendy's for 2 bucks and you get a free 10 dollar gift card to TRU with it. I need to check out that last deal as it might be pretty good pending the terms and conditions. EDIT: You need to spend $75 or more to use the $10 gift card from Wendy's... I figured it was too good to be true. Still, if this stacks with the BOGO and such it might not be a bad bonus.

When was the order placed? I have an order from almost 2 weeks ago I still haven't heard anything on. I contacted TRU yesterday via e-mail but have yet to receive any confirmation or response. The order was placed for 5 polybags the exact same time an identical order was placed. I received one of the orders this past Saturday but am still waiting on the other. The tracking info doesn't show any info other than UPS recieved the request.. no actual shipment though. I am guessing this order will be cancelled, which is fine by me considering I bought extra polybags in store, for cheaper, anticipating such results.

Ya, the two TRU stores I went to had tons of Mirkwood elf Guard polybags the first time I stopped in. Probably 20+ polybags at each store. The second time I visited, a few days later, one TRU had no polybags left at all and the other only had 10. I may check later this week, but if they don't put more out by the end of the week I would assume they aren't getting any more.

I believe the Orthanc tower model from the game was just broken into two sections since it's so tall and wouldn't all fit on screen at once unless you zoomed way out. It had the top/upper part of it in one screenshot and then the base/lower level in another with the surrounding wall.

Where did you get them from? Are they selling them somewhere now, like an actual store or did you just get em from eBay/Bricklink?

This pretty much nails it on the head. I am not exactly sure how a game license would work, but I know Lego can't offer strictly minifigure packs without some building pieces. Just minifigures would be considered an action figure toy and Lego only has the rights for the construction license. Someone made a pretty good one several weeks ago. Personally I would LOVE to see a LotR/Hobbit chess set, no matter how unlikely it may be. It would be a great way to army build and also get the entire Fellowship without having to buy all the other sets (another reason Lego will prolly never make one besides the licensing issues). I think the most likely choices if a dream LotR set were ever made are as follows: Sauron and Saruman as the King/Queen for the dark side Lurtz/Womrtongue as the Bishops Nazgul on horses as Knights Orthanc and Barad-dûr as the Rooks Mordor Orcs as the Pawns Aragorn and Gandalf as the King/Queen for the light side Frodo and Sam as the Bishops Gimli and Legolas as the Knights Treebeard and another Ent with Pippin and Merry on their shoulders as the Rooks (GREAT idea other guy use in his chess MOC) Gondor Soldiers as the Pawns

Why exactly did you have an empty Mirkwood Elf polybag with you in TRU? Personally I have seen the polybags at every TRU I visited at least once. Maybe it's just karma getting you back for your unsavory acquiring of so many Elrond polybags?

Ya, I got charged for an extra polybag when I bought them in store. I didn't notice till I got home, and at that point I figured there wasn't much I could do. I also received one of my online orders for the polybags a few days ago, but not the other order placed the same day a few minutes later. Luckily that has a tracking number showing no shipment ever sent out so I can prove it's not been shipped or received yet. You would think with the way TRU jacks up their prices they would be more careful, but it seems they are sloppy and end up ripping people off quite a bit in other ways besides high prices too. A real shame...

It depends on the set and what you buy with it. Some sets you literally don't save anything at all, even with the BOGO 50% off sale. Take the Riddles for the Ring set as an example. That set is normally $9.99 MSRP and TRU has it for $12.99. If you buy two with the sale you are getting them both combined for $19.50 ($13 + 6.50). Normal MSRP for 2 without any sale would be 20 bucks.. hardly a savings at all. Other sets are much better though. The Goblin King Battle is $115 at TRU and half of that is $57.5. For two of them you are only paying $172.50, which is 17.5 bucks under MSRP, or 9% off. The Unexpected Gathering is 15% off if you buy two at TRU. The percent off ranges anywhere from 1-20% off, it all depends what combination you go with.

So has anyone actually gotten the long blue cap? I mean actually gotten it and has it in hand, not simply being told by Lego they are being sent one only to receive the short version?

I would guess Eowyn will have legs, as the most likely Lego set rendition of her would be when she faces the Witch King.

It's done to actual minifigure scale, about. The only thing is it's missing most of the rooms, it's like one decent sized room inside when the real thing has several.

If you can, I would get the polybag now while it's at TRU. TRU usually jacks the prices up, but since they are running a BOGO 50% off this week it brings the price for every 2 polybags down to only $3.75, which is actually 25 cents cheaper than the MSRP. Not bad at all for such a great polybag!

Long or short caped?

I just got back from my local TRU today and it seems they finally put out ALL the Hobbit sets, including the Barrel Escape set! I quickly snatched everything up as TRU is currently running a buy one, get one 50% off sale. Even with marked up TRU prices it still comes out to be about 10-18% off MSRP for most sets. I also picked up 10 more Mirkwood Elf Guard polybags, and 2 Gandalf polybags since EVERYTHING was on sale.

Strictly army building. I posted some pics awhile back of my LotR armies in the LotR army picture thread. I will post new pics of my LotR armies there, as well as my Mirkwood Elves later this week. I have only opened a few so far as I haven't had time to open the rest. I'm also waiting on my online orders still. When I get those and open everything I will post the new pics.

*double sigh* Did you miss the part where I talked about the Legoland Discovery Centers? The Sun promo wasn't the only place the Uruk-hai polybag was available, it was available a few months earlier at Discovery Centers here in the U.S. (and apparently the only place it was released in the U.S... so far). Exactly when it came out am not sure due to it not being talked about much. I would be inclined to agree with you that the Frodo polybag 'officially" came out first, but that's not really the point. My point was both polybags were REVEALED at the same time. That negates your argument about us only having the Frodo polybag to go off of and hence why people didn't complain about it as much. We knew about both Frodo and the Uruk-hai at the exact same time. Huw at Brickset found the instructions for both the Frodo and Uruk-hai polybag when he was searching Lego's database , as well as many other new ones yet unreleased at the time. Here is but one example of a link to the news. It was revealed a month or two before either polybags were available anywhere. I even made a thread talking about how bad I thought the Frodo polybag was and how good the Uruk-hai one was before either sets were released. Tough question! It's especially hard to say right now since we have no idea what's in store for future waves. For instance right now I would LOVE a Gondor Soldier in full armor, but if Lego releases a set like the Uruk-hai Army one, except with Mordor Orcs and Gondorian Soldiers my longing for a Gondor Soldier polybag would plummet. With that being said, based on what has been released my top three are: Gondor Soldier Mordor Orc (preferably in different armor than what we have seen so far, can never have enough orcs!) Easterling (they just look so great in their armor, I think a minifigure version would be fantastic plus they don't really have any big scenes Lego could use to create a set based around them, unlike the Haradrim and Mumakil)

Well I can gladly say this line doesn't interest me at all after seeing the pics (I say gladly for my wallet's sake!). I find some of the human ships kind of cool (Vermin Vaporizer, Swarm Interceptor), but most of the insect ones are terrible. Especially the Star Slicer set that looks like the mantis inspired ship has WAY to thin appendages and is anorexic. Also I am a little turned off by the complete lack of alien minifgs in each set, what would of been a huge selling point for me personally and imo one of the coolest aspects of this line. Seriously, only 1 alien per set while you have 2-3 humans/robots? How are we suppose to "swarm" with these aliens when we only get 6 total after buying the entire line? Lame.

Actually the Frodo and Uruk-hai polybag were both first revealed at the same time when their instruction files were found online. I am not entirely convinced the Frodo polybag came out first either, since the Uruk-hai one has not been talked about much at all here in the states. Supposedly it was also released at Legoland Discovery centers some time ago, but other than that it's availability/release are pretty much unknown. The UK Sun release of it that has been publicized and over shadowed any U.S. Regardless of it's release order, we still knew about the Frodo AND Uruk-hai polybag at the same time. While the Uruk-hai may not have been considered as good as the Mirkwood Elf for a number of reasons (other options to get Uruk-hai for almost as cheap being the main), it's still a great polybag by any standard. True that. I called last week asking about the Hobbit sets and the woman on the phone came back after a 10 minute wait and was reading off the LotR sets they have available.. get this, on their online site! Yes, I am well aware of your online sets available, I have checked and seen them many timers. I also am aware you have the LotR sets there. What I want to know if you have the HOBBIT sets available IN STORE!

I think the Rivendell set looks most realistic for something Lego would do based on what we have already seen with their offerings. It makes more sense for Lego to take an iconic piece of the location and make it into a small-ish set rather than it does for them to try and recreate the whole place and fail miserably. I mean can you imagine trying to create all the vegetation, mountains, waterfalls, and actual architect of Rivendell in a single set? It could easily cost hundreds and still look extremely unfinished. As for the other sets I'm not impressed. Minas Tirith looks like some cartoon chibi version of the real thing. Edoras is mostly focused on the villager houses and not the actual keep which should be the main focus. The Orthanc tower itself looks ok, but the gate around it looks thrown together. Also why do most of these look like huge blocks/surfaces with no texture or distinction between bricks? They look horrendous from those screen shots. Is this how bad the rest of the game really looks?

Gandalf's torso, beard, hat and legs could be used for a number of different things as well. Oh don't get me wrong, I will too. The only reason being I am an OCD completionist though, not because it offers anything of real value I couldn't get in another set. Don't get me wrong, I don't think the Gandalf OR the Frodo polybag are any better than one another, I just find it odd how no one really complained about the Frodo poly like they seem to be doing over the Gandalf one. Regardless I think 2 amazing polybags (Uruk-hai and Mirkwood Elf) and 2 terrible ones (Frodo and Gandalf) are better than 4 mediocre ones. At least I can pick and choose which I want and how many of each to get (except the Uruk-hai since it wasn't readily available here in the U.S. )

I got 21 Mirkwood Elf polybags, 2x An Unexpected Gathering, 2x Attack of the Mirkwood Spiders, and 2x Riddles for the Ring sets last week.

I don't find the Gandalf polybag quite as bad as the Frodo one from the last LotR wave. Sure Gandalf is in 4 sets now, but at least only one other is a cheap set available for under $50. Frodo on the other hand was available in a 13 and 20 dollar set, the two cheapest ones available at the time outside the polybag. What I find it odd is how people have so many problems with the Gandalf polybag, and not the Frodo one. Both are equally as horrible imo, considering the alternative options to getting Frodo in shire clothing or Gandalf. Come on.. give us a Legolas or Thorin and make the poly at least somewhat useful! I can't complain too much though considering both the other polybags are amazing. We get one superb polybag each wave, and one terribad one it seems.

Ya, I haven't even bothered because I assume I would get the same results as you did. I don't understand how so many people are apparently getting free minfigures and extras.. why would Gamestop just give them away? I'm pretty sure that's grounds for firing, or at the very least being reprimanded. I mean I could see giving them to you if you bought something there, even if it's not the LotR videogame.. but just giving them away when asked? Really? REALLY???

Well at least it's not as bad as with the Uruk-hai polybag that is still going for SIX TIMES what people originally paid for it, and this is a month later. The Mirkwood Elf polybag just came out not even 2 weeks ago so give it some time and I am sure prices will fall. I am already seeing them for 8 bucks on eBay, which is only $3 over retail (remember retail is $4.99 here, NOT 3.99 since it's a TRU exclusive and they jack up prices). Exactly my reasoning for the Frodo polybag from the first LotR wave. I get people want a cheap way to get an iconic character.. but for 7 more bucks you can get BOTH Frodo and Gandalf, AND a new horse, plus double the pieces of a polybag. Why would ANYONE EVER get the Gandalf or Frodo polybag? There is next to no incentive. They should of at least put Thorin in the poly as that way you are getting a super iconic character from the movie who also comes in a more expensive set the target audience wouldn't otherwise buy, and the Warg Attack set still has a number of exclusive characters in it. Exactly my reasoning too for wanting an elf ear hairpiece. Without the hairpiece, it doesn't look like an elf at all, it just looks like another human. The elven ears are the only way to distinguish the elves from humans on the small Lego minifigure scale. Don't get me wrong, the hood is incredibly useful and probably more so than the elf hair since you can use it for more things (Ithilien Rangers anyone??), but it just doesn't make the fig look like an elf.