MAB

If there is a way of re-using the part, they also do it. They have done it before, such as the SDCC Azog. Now a new headpiece for LOTR Sauron is probably too specific to be reused, but it would be possible to do a flame version of Sauron, using Infearno's flaming headcover.

LEGO can make new moulds for exclusives, they choose not to.

The actual present would just be the ticket, which I thought was a bit boring so I put something fun instead. I'll upload something else. I've removed the original submission as I don't want to break the one entry only rule.

The easel is ice, as is the painting. But they don't really match each other. Mondrian didn't display his work on an easel like that. He used very functional plain vertical easels to work with and liked his work displayed on white walls.

Going on recent retail set trains, it would never be made like that. You'd get the engine, tender and one carriage. I find it quite boring to be honest. This is mainly down to you concentrating on showing the carriages over and over again and not the engine, combined with the fact that the carriages are so plain. Compare it to one of the better trains of recent years - the Emerald Night - and the carriage design is just so plain to the point that there is little of interest in them. They are a plain single coloured box built completely studs up with windows and standard train wheels.

I guess it depends where the existing molds are. The CMF are manufactured and packaged in China, so it will probably be cheaper for them to make a new mold for a hair plus crown plus beard, than it is for them to make a new crown plus hair mold and a new beard mold. Remember they make a lot of new molds for the CMF, especially headgear - we now have many types of exotic headgear due to this range. I'm really hoping it is separate, so the beard can also be used for dwarves and the crowns for castle themes.

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Hopefully the crown and the beard are separate parts, and not like the combined one from Abe Lincoln.

I've supported it. I like it more than the Minas Tirith sets on there. If anything, I'd prefer it to be smaller and lower cost. Lose the left arch, and two orcs (they are common enough anyway).

I'd like to see the signs you need to place around it. DO NOT TOUCH. DO NOT EVEN APPROACH. IN FACT, DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT BREATHING.

DOS gets more than four. AUJ only got four. Barrel Escape and Mirkwood Spiders were clearly marked preview sets - these were both from DOS. Also the Smaug set is really DOS, or shared between DOS and B05A. So DOS has the most sets dedicated to it out of all the three films. Sure, the timing of the sets don't match but that is down to the film being split into three rather than two, and the timing of the production of the lego sets. Lego clearly didn't want vast numbers of the two early scenes from DOS sitting in warehouses until the film was released. I don't mind the Smaug set being in the last wave. It is the highlight set of the series. They might find sales pick up at the end rather than in the middle, which may help to sell the middle wave sets. If Smaug was in the middle, the later sets may not have sold so well. Who knows - lego would have modelled this. The omission is of course the armies of B05A, but lego has history here. We know the key armies of LOTR ROTK are missing, same here. The Rohan soldier now stands out as an anomoly - even though for AFOLs he is probably in the best army building set. Lego presumably knows that they should concentrate on key characters and not do battle scenes for most of the population. To do a battle well you need, what, at least 20-40 minifigs on each side. That puts battle scenes out of reach of the main audience. They'd prefer to have an identifiable main guy rather than an unidentifiable one.

And that is my point too - LEGO will go on putting Shell (and Mobil) stickers on their sets and promoting these companies to kids, but they can say that they have no relationship with Mobil and Shell if they are targetted by Greenpeace again.

I'm normally a show your studs kind of builder, but at this scale it may be better to cover the studs on the rocks with tiles. Having a turret in the corner as mentioned above may also help get rid of the fact that masonary bricks do not look good at corners.

Yes, some people actively avoid watching trailers before seeing the film. There is a spoiler option that can be used for this very reason.

You gave up a hobby because they are no longer producing LOTR sets? Surely you should have held on to the main characters of the Fellowship.

That is kind of my point. Lego has said they will not extend a contract with Shell, and made that as a direct statement as a reply to Greenpeace's action. Yet the have now made a statement that they are bringing out new sets that will promote Mobil (and also Shell on the Ferrari one). They are doing this by signing deals with non-oil companies, that also have Mobil and Shell as their sponsors. Lego hasn't made a public statement about no longer having a relationship with Bridgestone, Pirelli, etc.

The display stand looks pretty much the same as it has done (in the UK) for multiple series now. Three tiers, each containing a box.

That monk is very nice. But how does cutting the head help? Isn't the hood still in the same place so in the way of the cloak?

In the wake of the Greenpeace campaign and after LEGO decided not to extend the contract with Shell, it looks like lego have signed a new deal with three automobile manufacturers: Ferrari, McLaren and Porsche. The sneak peak shows some very nice sets. But a closer look at the stickers on them shows that the other companies' sponsors are also on the LEGO sets - so we are going from Shell to ExxonMobil, another company that Greenpeace has had conflict with about arctic drilling (this time in the Russian arctic). And also this is the day that the UK gets the new Shell sponsored sets in petrol stations. LEGO press article is here: http://aboutus.lego.com/en-us/news-room/2014/november/lego-speed-champions

I hope the paleontologist is not female. The research scientist was female. All the minifigs in the Research Institute are female. Whereas the crazy scientist is male, the MF crazy scientist is male. Will lego do a "normal" male scientist? The only ones so far seem to be old space engineers or the arctic ones. Really? Loads of hot dog vendors are female in the UK.

Do they? It seems to me many people want the minifigs. I'd prefer a small Minas Tirith set, including a Gondor soldier and white bricks, that would allow for army building much more than a large set. I cannot see lego doing a decent Minas Tirith anyway, so I'd MOC the build itself.

That's great, my favourite parts are the cacti too.

I doubt it is the designer that make the decision as to whether a video is put out. I also doubt the designers of the sets that purposely make something substandard (in the fans' eyes).

It is enough, depending on the scene you want to capture - more than one thing happens at Minas Tirith. For example, there is the fell beast attack, the large battle, the crowning, the funeral / death pyre, the lighting of the beacon, ... $10-$50 was enough to capure a scene in Rivendell, enough for a scene in Hobbitton, enough for a scene inside Orthanc, etc. Obviously not enough to capture an accurate representation of the buildings / village, but enough for a scene.

It may be that the videos don't help sales much, and that community engagement can be done in other ways. For exampe, sending out review sets to the multitude of lego bloggers and youtube users that they already use to spread user reviews rather than official views of the sets.