Deathleech

Best case scenario would of been Lego making a new face print for the goblins in the Warg set, and then a separate print for the goblins in the Goblin King set. I am sure with all the dwarves they were trying to keep costs down where they could though. If they didn't use the Mordor Orc heads, I am guessing Lego would of just used the ones from the Goblin King set. We would of gotten five goblins this wave that were all identical other than a couple different torso styles, and one with different length legs (who is actually a special character named Scribe, so he technically shouldn't be included like Yazneg). They all would of had the same head and head cap though, and same legs with a loin cloth. Personally I am fine with Lego's choice of parts. They reused some pieces to technically create "new" goblins/orcs and they reused the Mordor Orc head which had relatively little use in the first LotR wave (I imagine this could change with future waves though). Personally I would of loved for them to use the Moria Orc in the Hobbit sets, but after seeing how different the goblins in the Hobbit look I guess it was a good idea not to. Plus at this time we don't even know if the Warg riding goblins will be some kind of special ones or not, or if the Goblin Town ones are, so maybe the Moria Orc head and torso makes more sense on them?

I think there are a lot of things to take into consideration. Lets take look at the Harry Potter Burrow set that you mentioned in your previous post for an example. It has 6 minifigures, a nice building, and is just below 11 cents per piece. At first glance it seems like a MUCH better deal than Weathertop. While it's definitely a great set, it doesn't have any big molds like Weathertop or the Warg sets do though. With that in mind of course it makes sense the set is right around 11 cents per piece. In comparison Weathertop seems rather high, even for a licensed set at 14 cents per piece, but when you take into account other factors it doesn't seem quite so bad. Honestly even with all this taken into consideration I still felt like Weathertop really was a bit high though. I feel like the Attack of the Warg set is a much better deal. It has a tree almost the same size as the house in the HP Burrow set, only 1 less minifigure, 2 more big warg molds, and is 10 bucks cheaper. Sure they could of done without the two rock formations, but I am sure some people like them and to some it gives the feel of a more lively forest or a better deal (a couple rocks and tree vs 1 huge tree). I mean most little kids probably wouldn't even notice a few extra branches on the tree in place of the rocks. And, if you would rather the rocks be connected to the tree that is a super easy fix you can do yourself. As for the other sets you mention... I agree Helm's Deep is a great set, but even still a lot of people who have criticized it because the scale is way off. The walls are only as high as 2-3 minifigures, yet in the movie they are as tall as 20 or so Uruk-hai. The front ramp is also dozens of feet tall in the movie yet in the Lego set a figure could jump up on it from the ground. In comparison Mines of Moria is all pretty much done to minifigure scale, and what would Lego of gained from adding 1-2 more gray, plain walls to the set? It would of jacked the price up 20 dollars easily, if not more, and added no play features to the set. It would of just made the set look nice but added nothing to playability. That's great to us AFOLS, but to kids I doubt how the set looks on display is their number one priority. Unfortunately for us Lego is made for kids first and foremost. It seems lately Lego is trying to find a perfect balance. They try to make a large chunk of set that is recognizable, can have tons of play features, and all the while not be too expensive and still fill each price point in a wave. Arkham Asylum and the Daily Bugle sets are perfect examples, they are only one wall of a huge building with a few rooms inside. They aren't a full enclosed buildings and don't even have much for side walls as that could easily double or triple the price of the set. The City sets aren't much different either with most only being a small half enclosed structure and vehicle. And why do these sets need this other than to jack up the price and look a little nicer? They add nothing to the play value. I am sure everyone would love a fully enclosed building in each set like the Haunted House or Pet Shop, but at the same time they definitely don't want every set costing $150+. And really that's the balance. Personally I wish they would just do like Helm's Deep/Uruk-hai Army sets and make 2-3 sets that are all meant to connect to form one super set. Make the sets so they can be just as good stand alone sets as they are when formed up with a few of the other sets they are meant to go with. That way people can only buy 1 if they want, or they can buy all of them, with everything in between. Of course even then I am sure people would complain Lego is forcing people into buying all the sets to complete anything, so it's not like they can win no matter what they do.

It does sound a little strange, but then again I don't think "Uruk-hai Army" was a ton better

Eww, the back of that goblin looks atrocious. You can clearly see the mouth and some of the details on the back, even with the head cap on. I seriously hope the head piece isn't pushed down all the way or that is going to really bug me Also, it doesn't looks like that guy has the correct torso on the goblin minifig. I believe the one with the bare chest and bloated belly is supposed to go with the shorter legs and be Scribe. It makes sense they didn't do a Hobbit troll set if you think about it. They JUST released a troll with the Mines of Moria set, and while not a troll, the Goblin King does somewhat resemble one (or at least has a larger mold). Also there really isn't a Stone Giant scene in the books per say, they just see the giants hurling rocks all over in the distance and take cover. It appears in the movie PJ has done a little more with the giants as we can see one falling by everyone as they lay flush against the mountain wall so they don't get knocked off by it. I would of liked to of seen them combined the Riddles for the Ring and the Goblin King Battle sets into one and just made it 110 bucks. After all, they take place in the same cave and right after one another so why not? To me, the Riddles for the Ring set just seems like such a waste and really offers nothing besides a different face printing on Gollum. If they would of scraped that set they could of easily made a $15-$20 set that included 1 Warg, 2 goblins, an elf (if they are even in PJ's version the movie much at that point in the story), and an eagle with a small tree piece. Imagine how well that would of sold and it makes sense since the Wargs and goblins were amassing a sizable force to attack the humans when they encounter the dwarves and eagles.

I really like a lot of things about this MOC... The circular stairs, the arch ways, the destroyed and crumbling buildings, the feel like evil orcs are swarming over the city, etc. My only criticism would be the tops of the buildings. They look too flat and plain, especially the smaller one. If you look at the below picture you will see most of the tops are curved, have roofs/walls coming up, or have some kind of design that is usually damaged. Other than that though, I think the MOC is fantastic!

I know, I was saying I wouldn't buy ANY of them because to me personally there is no reason to. If for some reason I was absolutely forced to buy two of a set, I would probably pick the attack of the Wargs set. It has 2 orcs and a common Warg, plus I could always use the tree parts to build on to a forest MOC or something. I would assume so. How else do toy companies know about characters like Yazneg and Scribe when we have heard nothing about them ourselves or through the media?

I don't plan on buying multiples of any of the sets this time around, there just isn't any reason too. Every set has a minimum or 3 special characters while most have 4, 5, or more so they just make terrible army builders and such. At least the Orc Forge and Uruk-hai Army sets only had 1 named character in them. I guess if you really want a number of the parts there might be reason to buy them, but for me this wave just does not lend itself to buying more than one set each.

Yes, it was suppose to be October 30th in the U.S., but they delayed it 2 weeks back to mid November.

Because they laugh in the face of danger?

The changes are definitely nice to Kili, but the hair is the one that stands out the most. Luckily for us, that is also the easiest change with a quick hair swap!

I know it's difficult to do now with there being so few options available, but I would of preferred to see all the pawns as Moria Orcs OR Mordor Orcs, one or the other. The same with the Rohan Soldiers, I would of preferred they all match or at least use the same weapons. This is really just more of OCD thing than an actual criticism as I like all the pawns to be the same. I also would of loved to see the Cave Trolls used somewhere, but I can understand how that would be hard since they are so large and probably wouldn't fit in their spaces very well. Really though, like I said in my previous post with the tower changes, these are more personal preference rather than things that are actually wrong with your chess set.

Unless Lego decides to make it into some huge, several hundred dollar D2C set like the Death Star, I can easily see them splitting Minas Tirith into multiple sets. If they don't it's going to look ridiculously small and not do the grand white city justice. It would look MUCH worse than the Helm's Deep set, which isn't good considering a number of people already are complaining the LotR/Hobbit sets look too small and fragmented. You make it sound like Lego would need to create several Minas Tirith sets that combine like a huge puzzle, and you need to buy every one to complete the set, but I don't think that's necessary at all. They could easily just do two large sets with an optional third that is much smaller and serves as a battle pack/city expander. The first set could be the top tier of the city and the citadel with the white tree. The second set could be a lower level with two walls or so that stack and the main front gate. These could each be $100-150 depending how big Lego wants to go. Doing all tiers of the city would be too costly and not feasible so they could just make the city three or four levels with the top. The Uruk-hai Army wall and the Helm's Deep wall with the stream running through it look almost identical. The only difference being the water and the exploding feature of course. With all the different parts of Minas Tirith I am SURE Lego could come up with a $30 set that looks different enough from the two large main sets and yet could still be bought in multiples to further add on and expand the city. Plus I garuntee if they made it have 3 or 4 Mordor Orcs and 2 Gondor Soldiers it would sell like hot cakes for the minifigures alone, just like the Uruk-hai Army set has done. What would be REALLY cool imo is if they had an Osgiliath set, and a Minas Tirith set, and then a small "Mordor Orc/Gondor Army" set that could be built in one of two ways, or even three way... it could be built as two different parts of Minas Tirith or as an add on to Osgiliath.

Very cool! I like how the cabin looks like it was made of brick/stone with a wood frame. It gives a very nice appearance. There are tons of little details too that really add to the feel of this MOC! As for the smoke, I don't think it looks bad, but how would it look with some light and dark gray pieces strategically placed in it?

Ouch, those Australian prices are ridiculous, some being as much as double what they should end up being here in the U.S.!

This is DEFINITELY the back. The other side has a much bigger belt buckle and designs going down vertical the middle where he buttons the shirt. The back has nothing but a horizontal line.. I don't know of many shirts that button up in the back

The pic you posted seems slightly too small and the one I posted seems slightly too big, maybe something in between would be perfect?

I've seen at least two sites that have claimed the Barrel Escape is a TRU exclusive, which would make sense everything considered (it wasn't available for pre-order form any other foreign sites, it's a mid sized set, etc.). I've also seen prices for everything listed from a few different sources that seem to match up. It appears that the site claiming there would be a Lego LotR/Hobbit exclusive was wrong then? I haven't found ANY news on it and haven't seen anything on eBay. Not that I am complaining, I am glad there wasn't an exclusive. It just seemed like there was next to no news at NYCC for the Lego Hobbit/LotR sets.

Any updates for this project? The last one was posted a little over two months ago and I have been eagerly anticipating the next ever since then!

Maybe.. but most of the dwarves are only mentioned once or twice through the entire Hobbit book. Tolkien could of just as easily named off 4 or 5 of the dwarves and left the rest as no named grunts. Also in the book most of them don't even carry any weapons besides small knives until the final battle, and most have absolutely no distinguishing features besides their cloak color. For this reason I think Jackon is going to take a LOT of liberties with The Hobbit, much more so than he did with LotR. It would make sense too considering the Hobbit is much more a children's tale and doesn't have the same amount of detail or plot development LotR does.

What? That's the second most voted for set so far! This seems to be a sentiment a lot of people are feeling. I personally expected the sets to look exactly like they do, and stated so in my expectation thread. It doesn't surprise me at all the Mirkwood Spider or Warg sets only have a couple rocks and trees. If you read the book, most of the setting are huge, sprawling, outdoor environments. Other than Bag End, Beorn's house, Goblin Town, the elf palace, Lake Town, and maybe Lonely Mountain, everything else takes place outdoors in a forest, valley, or cave. Even then the last 4 locations I listed are pretty huge and each could easily be a $100+ dollar set and still not be "complete". With that being said, what do people expect to see in The Hobbit sets? How could Lego do a Mirkwood Spider, or Attack of the Wargs set so that they feel more complete without making a set that cost hundreds of dollars?

Bombur's torso does appear to have man boobs though...

What's the yellow thing hanging from the tree above the dwarves? Is that suppose to be a bee hive? While your MOC is nice, I am not sure how well it conveys Mirkwood Forest. You used a lot of brighter colors and when I read the book I got the feeling Mirkwood was much darker and less lush and alive looking.

Here is a fantastic rendition of the tumbler by another member. The parts are available, you just have to be creative and find them: You have a great start and with some more details I think they could be fantastic looking!

I think that is actually part of the problem though. Lego is trying to duplicate the source material which is a highly stylized, CGI cartoon. The problem is they are trying to copy it with blocky lego bricks and minfigures. I just feel like it clashes too much and doesn't really make for appealing sets. Some of the minifigures look alright like Shredder and the Foot Soldier, but the rest just look odd. And as I said before, the vehicles look like a mish mash of parts that an 8 year old threw together (even if it is an exact replica of the vehicles in the show). Ehh, I would suspect Lego unveiled the set they found most appealing first, much like they did with Bag End. I mean it's possible the other sets will look better, but why wouldn't Lego show them off first to get the hype going?

What makes you say that? Is it just because the set looks kinda small with only the one tree and the two rock formations? If so I agree there, I think the second rock formation could of been ditched to add an extra limb or two to the tree. Really though, the set doesn't seem like a bad deal. It has 400 pieces and is $49.99, bringing the price per piece out to be just under 13 cents. That's not bad at all for a license set that has several unique minifigures and 2 totally new, fairly large Warg molds. Attack on Weathertop only has 30 more pieces, the same amount of minifigures and animals, and yet it was 10 more bucks. The prices have already pretty much been confirmed through a game give away and through a couple news sites.