MAB

You can make anything and anyone but whether they look right or fit in with existing items is another matter. People made LOTR armies long before there were official sets. It's just that now we have official sets with identifiable prints and specially molded parts, the old style of doing it doesn't cut it. This sort of thing looked good in 2010 before we had anything officially printed with the correct markings.

There are two buckets in shot. I also thought it was rubbish. Becuase you can sell them to other people for lots of money.

US is normally cheaper than UK for most retail sets, even after tax. However, we occassionally get crazy sales such as the whole of Hobbit Wave 3 at 50% off over the last few days (so Lonely Mountain at £50 / $75). That makes it worth it.

It looks like an 8x8 build challenge, so facades are often necessary to convey what is there in such a smal space.

I wonder if I'm the only one thinking you spelt "comparisons" wrong? I had to look up caparisons. :-)

Yeah, definitely fake. Good luck getting your money back.

LDD is not really lego. That may well be popular! I'd like to go further and ban all ideas links.

The other thing yuo can do is put a line at the end of the instructions, that if you enjoyed the build, make a donation via paypal. I have often built other people's models from their free instructions, and though that I would have paid a few dollars for the instructions if I had known the build was as good as it was. Whereas others have been fairly boring builds and I wouldn't have paid for them. Paying if you enjoy rather than upfront means that you only give if you think it is worth it.

Wonderful magazine, definitely the best free lego read out there. I didn't discover it until issue 10, but have been an avid reader since then and also gone back for the previous available editions. It's amazing how much the magazine has improved. The earlier editions were good, the latest superb.

They aren't actually mine. But my view, using what you have is better than nothing at all.

Your wish list contains two Pippin and two Merry, yet no Frodo, no Legolas, no Sam, no Boromir, no Aragorn, no Gimli. There is no chance they will do that, there are too many missing main characters. Missing main characters is bad for sales to new customers.

I'm sure they do know what is missing. I guess it is just down to them deciding if it is financially worthwhile, and whether they will have any similar competing licensed or non-licensed sets. I doubt it is worth them doing a one wave series now. A single DTC set would probably work, btu not a single wave through the normal retail channels. It has been a while (even if just a little while to us), and they will want to attract new collectors as well as old to be viable. If they are going to do it, then they will probably be better redoing some of the older locations (not necessarily the sets) and repeating many minifigs. They'd probably need to do a new / repeat set of 9 Fellowship minifigs at minimum to make sure they attract new collectors. I cannot see new collectors wanting an Eowyn vs The Witch King set if they cannot get hold of Frodo and Samwise. Nor wanting Gondor soldiers if they cannot get Aragorn.

Looks fine to me ...

Any genuine Lego colour is fine by me.

Lego have already tested the water for LOTR sets ... by releasing LOTR sets. The LOTR Lego video games have been quite popular. It makes perfect sense for them to release further LOTR video game material.

Yeah, leave it in for longer. You will find the surface gets a little sticky after a few minutes, but it can take hours to dissolve fully. If you want thick paint, leave it for at least a day, dripping in acetone slowly. You want minimal solvent so less evaporation and minimal ingression of the solvent into the other parts when it is drying.

Of course they still have a (current) license for sets. They (and other retailers) are selling The Hobbit sets, and I believe they have a single license for both LOTR and The Hobbit. The phrasing is a standard and has been used on other projects: Ones without licensing issues ... https://ideas.lego.com/projects/93900/official_comments Ones where licensing was already known to lego ... https://ideas.lego.com/projects/83161/official_comments I don't believe we are getting sets. We are getting video games with small builds. To me, these are not sets. The primary item is the video game, with a small toy to add value so they can sell for an increased price. Indeed, we might see a Balrog, but I bet it will be a fairly insignificant small build with a part count like Marty McFly's skateboard. I'd love them to prove that wrong and do a 500-600 piece or bigger "set" with the video game, but I doubt they will.

There will be repeats. If they do a series with no core characters, it will not sell as well to new collectors. There are so many costumes they could do for just Homer ... http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=93908&st=25#entry1928468

It doesn't clearly mean that the license is still in place for future sets. That wording has been used and discussed before. It means that their initial checks do not find other companies owning the IP or licenses that would conflict with lego doing anything with the set. They always use that wording when someone submits something for one of their current licenses.

It wouldn't surprise me if they use the name Monsters instead of Halloween, or just Series 14. If it is called Halloween, then that puts a sell-by date on it after which stores will need to discount them to get rid of them as they are a Halloween product. Call it Monsters, and there is no problem.

It is a Sainsburys exclusive in the UK.

It might be heavily featured for this console system if the previous lego LOTR video games sold well. Although there is obviously some overlap between them, there are two distinct markets - the toys and the games.

I'm still hoping that Snake will be coming in the next (wave 3) CMF set.

Not really, as you are buying the game part with the minifigure too. It's not really any different to buying a DVD or Blu-Ray for the minifigure only.

It will be great if they are new prints. But the figure pics are also box art. Sometimes lego minifigs aren't exactly as pictured in advertising.