Deathleech

I'm fine with different faces and armor. Obviously those would be different. I don't want all green goblins in LotR though, and suddenly they are all pink.

I don't mind if there is variety, I just don't want goblins in the LotR being green and now suddenly in the Hobbit they are a pale pink color and look totally different. I like continuity. Who knows though, maybe it will be explained in the movie somehow, or the great goblin will be a different color because he is a special case and so he is more easily distinguishable like the dwarves all are (not that he needs to be with that ugly mug!), while the rest of the goblins are the normal greenish coloring. Also, other than a Balrog set, we prolly won't see any other sets with Moria goblins/orcs so I do hope they reuse the same design at lease a few more times

I dunno if I would consider the first LotR wave a "greatest hits". I know they have limited wave spots to fill, price ranges, and there are TONS of iconic scenes in the LotR trilogy.. but Orc Forge over a Treebeard set? Gandalf Arrives over the Balrog encounter? And almost nothing at all from RotK other than Shelob Attacks (which wasn't even in the RotK book, it was in TTT)? And then to top it off we get three sets centered around Helm's Deep (it makes sense since they are meant to be used together, but still). I mean I understand why they did it all (set interaction, price points, etc.),and I am sure Minas Tirith will be like Helm's Deep where it's the huge flagship set of the next LotR wave, but I just wouldn't consider the first wave a "greatest hits". There are too many FotL sets and not enough epic RotK scenes. Oh, I agree completely that we can make good educated guesses. Speculating the way the waves will be structured based on past Lego offerings definitely gives us a great idea what to expect with the LotR/Hobbit lines. I just see a lot of people talking about specifics like they know for a fact what's coming out, when really we have no idea. For instance someone was saying they know LotR and Hobbit waves will never be mixed, and someone else was claiming they know exactly how long the line will last. This isn't directed at you or anyone else in particular, just as a whole. Like I said before, when Lego first announced their LotR Lego line I doubt many people expected an Orc Forge set, or a wall set to attach to Helm's Deep an act as a battle pack. What happens over the next few years is anyone's guess. I couldn't agree more. Personally I hope the LotR/Hobbit themes last for as long as the Star Wars one has, that would be amazing. There definitely is the material for it so I don't see a problem there.

I saw a Youtube review of this set where the reviewer was also complaining about this. I simply do not agree. Sure it might be good to include the whole fellowship in a single set for people who only want to pick up 1 or 2 sets, but for everyone else it would suck. We already have 4 Frodos (2 of each version with the polybag), and I know I personally do not want that many of every fellowship character. I really have no use beyond the first one. Plus, that would really jack up the price of each set. The fellowship has 9 figures so that's almost 30 bucks alone just for them, not including any bad guys. Personally I am really happy with how Lego did their sets. You get a portion of the fellowship in each set, and then several bad guys for them to battle. There also are multiple set options for some of the figures like Gimli,Aragorn,Frodo, and soon to be Gandalf. I am sure more options will open with future waves.

At this point everything is pure speculation. We don't know if they are going to mix LotR and Hobbit waves, if they are going to pull material from the extended editions of the films, how long the line will last... heck we don't even know what the next wave will contain besides the Bag End. The other leaked sets still aren't confirmed and the source isn't terribly reputable. The best we can do is make educated guesses but even those could be totally off.

If you have a decent computer I am sure you can play it, plus the PC version is only 30 bucks vs $50 for the PS3/Xbox versions. I dunno about others, but I am a completionist. I am sure they will make another Elrond sooner or later, but they might not offer this version ever again.

It doesn't look like it. I checked Wal-Mart and Amazon and both have the LotR game available for pre-order, but no mention of a minifigure anywhere. Personally I am glad, I wouldn't want to have an exclusive minifigure from each retailer, it would be expensive and near impossible to get them all since each would cost 50 bucks a pop.

I don't know if I totally agree with that. Yes, the minifigs are for sure the main selling point of this set, especially with the Cave Troll and all the exclusives figs (which really is every one of them other than Gimli). However, I think Lego covered pretty much all the main action sequences in the scene with their set. You have the skeleton falling in the well, the tomb Gimli can flip off, pillars that fall over, and chunks of wall that explode. What more is there? Does it look pretty with all the pieces being separated and nothing connecting them together? No, it doesn't look amazing, but I am sure it also kept the price of the set down. And really what point is there to fully enclose the square room when Lego already has all the main structures covered? Just to make it look slightly better but not add any play value? Kids don't care about that. If you really want to make it look better just get a gray base plate, it makes the set significantly more visually appealing. I will say the stickers were a definite down fall, and I do agree some people seem the be rating the LotR Lego sets higher than normal just because they are LotR-themed. I don't find Gandalf Arrives or Attack on Weathertop to be particularly great sets personally, but everyone else seems to love them. However I think Mines of Moria is a pretty good set. It has great minifigs, a lot of movie-accurate play features, and decent price for what you get (especially for a licensed set). The stickers were the only big downfall in my eyes.

It would make the most sense if the summer waves were all LotR inspired, and then the ones around Christmas were all Hobbit since the first two Hobbit movies will be released in December of 2012 and 2013 respectively. Who knows what they will actually end up doing though.

True, and there are several other differences as well like the hobbits all having skin colored feet instead of brown throughout their legs. Ahh ya, I see it now. That is the ONLY one out of all the Rohan soldiers that I see though. I wonder why...

I can see it fine when I make the image full size, I don't see the different Rohan helms though... It's still has a lot more going on at the top than the staff we got with the Gandalf Arrives set, despite the crystal.

I can easily see them making a molded Mumak and Fel Beast. I mean look at the recent Dino sets, they have some fairly large dinosaurs in them. The T-Rex Hunter set has the huge t-rex and is $69.99, while the Triceratops Trapper has a slightly smaller, but still fairly large triceratops for $49.99. I too could see them making a Mumak set for $50-70 and include a Mumak with a few Haradrim on it's back, and maybe a couple Rohan soldiers on horseback. An Eowyn/Merry vs Witch King set also seems likely. I could see them making it into a set similar to Shelob Attacks. The Fel Beast is about the same size as Shelob was and you get three minifigs as well with Merry, Eowyn, and the Witch King. The only problem there being I don't know if that would qualify as a building set with no brick parts to really build a creature or structure, and that is the only license Lego has for the Hobbit/LotR. Btw, I haven't seen anyone mention it, but is that Gandalf the White on game cover? He kinda looks like he is still in his gray garb, and has his hat on from when he was Gandalf the Gray... but his staff looks like the one used when he becomes Gandalf the White?

No matter what the case may be, Lego could just give the current Mordor Orcs some chest armor and helms like they did with most of the Uruk-Hai and they would be battle ready.

Someone was saying they thought the Orc Forge Mordor Orcs would just be workers, and we would see new "soldier" versions. Looks like they used the same Mordor Orcs from the Orc Forge set though.

Ehh, that's how a lot of Lego accessories are though so they aren't ridiculously small and impossible to use. I mean look at the carrots, they are bigger than entire minifigure arms!

Here is what I did: Either can be achieved by just adding 1 or 2 pieces to the end of the staff. It's another super easy change you can do yourself (like with the wagon seat and back hinge), but it just seems lacking on Lego's part that they didn't do it themselves.

Here is what the staff looks like in the movie though, which the LotR sets are based on:

Ya I can't either. I think this is the picture he was trying to post though..?

Under the picture of Bilbo on the left it shows January with all the days in the month. At the top it says "calendar also includes a free wallpaper download for your computer". I think it's pretty safe to assume that's a calendar... lol.

I already posted my thoughts on this set in another review, but I guess I will here as well. Personally I find this to be the weakest LotR themed set in the current wave. I would say it is average at best which is a shame considering how great I think all the other sets are. The wagon design looks alright but isn't very functional. Like you said the one peg seat is kind of silly considering you can only fit one minifig in the front. What point does it serve other than to off center the driver? And not only that, the back wagon doesn't open or anything. Both of these issues could of easily been fixed with some slight modifications. Sure you can do them yourselves but it just reeks of laziness they weren't built into the original design. As for the price point, at 16 cents it's WAY higher than any other LotR set. Sure the set is smaller so it's going to have a higher price per piece point, and sure it's a themed set, but still. Every other LotR set is around 12 cents per piece. Even the cheaper Shelob Attacks set, which is also a smaller set at 20 bucks, is only 9 cents per piece. Finally there are the minifigures and the new horse. This WOULD of been the saving grace of the set since both Gandalf and Shire Frodo were exclusives, but not anymore. Soon you will be able to get Gandalf in the Bag End set which seems infinitely better than Gandalf Arrives, and Shire Frodo is currently available in the polybag. Personally I would of passed this set up if I wasn't such a competitionist.

Yeah you are right, I added a year on.. lol. I still stand by my statement though, I highly doubt they will end the Lego LotR/Hobbit-themed sets the minute the last film comes out. I am sure it will have a lot more (i.e. EVERYTHING) to do with when the license expires and how well sales are doing.

Ya, a full fledged film might be difficult, but they could always do something else with it. Maybe a sort of miniseries, or a bunch of short stories on a direct to DVD release like the Animatrix? Who knows.

The first movie comes out in just under four months. Two and a half years after that the last Hobbit film in the trilogy will be in theaters. That puts us at just under three years, with the last DVD being released approximately six months after that. That's roughly three and a half years, give or take a few months if nothing gets delayed/pushed back. I am sure Lego will continue producing sets for a few months after that as they won't halt production the second the last DVD hits stores.

Ehh, maybe. With 3 scheduled Hobbit movies though, that gives us at LEAST four more years (a new film in theaters each year, then the DVD/Blu-Ray release about 6 months to a year after the last film is released Also the LotR line was released nearly 6 months before the first Hobbit film is to be released, and there is currently nothing LotR related in media.. but it seems to be doing great? So who knows, maybe both lines will continue long after the Hobbit films end (or maybe Jackson will just make films out of all Tolkien's work like the Similarian, etc. )

My thoughts exactly. I would of probably gave it an outstanding rating even with a few stickers. Over 30 stickers is just too many in my eyes though Also I dunno what you guys are talking about, those Intelli-Box LotR sets rocked!