Brickadiergerard

Like others have said, wave 3 should be the armoured wave - for dwarves, orcs, men and elves. And Fives has already identified the main dwarves from Thorin's company who feature particularly strongly in that part of the book's narrative. Given where the dwarves arm and armour themselves, only getting a small selection should allow for some straightforward head swaps to get a fully armoured group - especially if we also get some Iron Hills dwarves (about whom I've already obsessed elsewhere on this thread).

Now that is a fun figure. Bring on the rest.

Brown and green works as a Wood Elf colour scheme for me. It worked for Tolkien too of course - "There were many people there, elvish-looking folk, all dressed in green and brown and sitting on sawn rings of the felled trees in a great circle." And as for their armour, it has echoes of other PJ eleven designs but with a slightly more organic and woody feel to it, and that's fine for a group who are very far removed from the Eldar in the glory days of the First and Second Ages. And apart from the missing helmets, I think TLG have done a fine job of giving us tiny plastic elvish warriors ready to take up arms against dwarves who try and gate-crash their barbecues/giant spiders/orcish hordes.

I was pretty positive about these sets on first appearance, and I still am in many ways. I think Beorn is ridiculous, but that's PJ's fault, and I really wish that some of the elves had the helmets we saw at the beginning of AUJ, but other than that the wave has some excellent minifigures. As for the sets themselves, Laketown is a lovely looking set, which certainly captures something of the feel of the book and presumably the film too. As for the Dol Guldur sets, they represent a creepy ruined fortress and do a pretty good job of that don't they? In the books there's not much of a description of it, but the sets seem to pick up pretty accurately the look the films have gone for, and they have enough built in play features to make them more than just walls. The set that strikes me as a little underwhelming is the Mirkwood Elf army. The elf outpost is pretty odd. Maybe it captures a structure from the film, or maybe because of the massive tree in the warg attack set in wave 1 TLH didn't want to make another set based around another similarly big piece of timber, but does a beige and brown wall really do much for anyone? Does it seem particularly elvish in comparison with the beautifully simple Rivendell set or the structures in the LOTR game? I'd happily trade all the wall for a modest tree with a platform in it, a couple of elf helmets. And a giant war stag. Now that would have been fantastic. What's not to like about a Giant War Stag in lego form? The thing I miss in the actual sets compared to the rumours is that "Elrond Ambush" set name that appeared a while ago by mistake. I had just begun to hope that we'd get an AUJ set in wave 2 to complement the DOS sets in wave 1, and that it would be a set based on Elrond and his horsemen rescuing Radagast and the dwarves. I hate the scene with Radagast magically appearing from Mirkwood in the middle of the very bush in Eriador where Gandalf and friends are, but I love the arrival of the elf cavalry. Of all the elves in all the PJ films so far, I think those ones in their armour are probably my favourite - probably because they are a really great realisation of the description of the Noldor elves from the First and Second Ages. So for me, it's a shame we "lost" that one.

Beorn! He looks like the Cowardly Lion caught in a wind tunnel. What is PJ doing?!? Whatever it is, it makes for one odd minifigure.

I'm really pleased with the sets - they all look as though they work well together, and there's a clear distinction in the minifig selection between wave 1 and wave 2, something that wasn't quite the case in LOTR. Apart from Bag End, which really is an iconic set, I wasn't too taken with the others in wave 1 but loved the minifigs. For me wave 2 looks much better - more exciting locations, better looking sets. The play features that seem to appear in Dol Guldur sit more comfortably with it than they did in Balin's Tomb (which always suffered from seeming like it was 1/2 a set, but is great when 2 of them are spliced together), and it has more appeal than the Goblin King Battle (chase around a triangle) or the smaller Barrel Escape (roll down a very slope) sets from wave 1. So well done TLG. Gives me great hope for wave 3 for Hobbit (Iron Hills and Smaug) and LOTR (Gondor!)

Not having a third wave would make TLG's take on LOTR the plastic toy equivalent of Bakshi's film. I couldn't bear that! What a missed opportunity it would be - the Orc Forge and Pirate ship instead of the Balrog and the Witch King.... Surely, surely wave 2 was (at least) the middle act of a 3 wave series.

This is an absolutely wonderful ship, DPW, and the interior shots show that you put as much thought and care has gone into the story of it as has into the research and build of the exterior. It's a fantastic achievement, and a joy for the rest of us to study and to see the little touches you've put in there. There's even a cello-playing surgeon! My favourite touch so far. I hope he's tuning up to play a bit of Corelli once the captain's servant has toasted some cheese and Lucky Jack comes back to the cabin (though surely the captain's head is the one to use for Preserved Killick).

This is a really great mod. I'd decided not to get the set because it was so over-sized, and it had never crossed my mind that it could be corrected so stylishly and easily. Now I'm not sure I can stop myself getting it - it's a stage coach made of Lego after all! I'll hold out till I can get it on sale. Thanks KDM, and Mifody, for your impressive work. Now I just need someone to put up some instructions on how to make Lex's aircraft from the Batman II game ....

Probably could be. So I asked them. And they said that things that other similarly priced sets in other ranges could do were "not boring even once you'd done it a few times, but those [Friends} ones were".

Just incredible. All of it. Well done!

Assuming the movie creators have poured similar amounts of enthusiasm into designing the sets that we would have done given the chance, this could be one of the most exciting ranges for 2014 offering something for everyone. A bit of nostalgia for the "older fans" like me, some good sets for the younger ones, and the chance for people with different lego interests to dip into the range. For example, I'm really keen on the set we've seen because of the use you can make of that police vehicle and figures in Batman (swap the robot heads for fleshies and you have a fantastic Gotham PD SWAT team), and my kids are just as keen on the bike and the figures on it. If they mix that sort of set with some modernised takes on iconic lines it'll be fantastic - it would be like having those creations you made/make as a kid where spacemen land on a knights' planet or whatever but them being structually sound and really well designed with enough of the right parts. I can't wait!

We've picked some up in the UK. I'd been a bit indifferent to the range - loved Yeti, wanted Scarecrow for his hat, that sort of thing - but seeing some of them "in the flesh" has changed my opinion. There's some great printing and excellent new parts. Even ones that I don't really care for like the Christmas Elf, Girl Robot and Roller Waitress are big hits with my 2 kids and should be pretty easy to find in their bags. And there's a lot of potential to make some fine custom figures from them: the Policeman's head is excellent for anyone wanting to make a 19th century soldier or explorer; the evil mecha's body and armour is great for a space villain (add the Barbarian's head, Paintball Guy's helmet minus the splodge and a trans green visor and you have it); and you can use Welder's helmet with a LOTR Uruk breastplate to make Ned Kelly or similarly armoured bank robber/steam-punk automaton etc.

"Sigh", more girly-girl stuff then. Nice one TLG. My 2 girls got their first Friends sets this summer - 3 of the room ones with karate, and a design studio and a rabbit hutch. After an initial bit of excitement they've been added to the brick box for use in city-type games and one of the curly hair pieces has been added to a pirate captain (!? - he does look a bit like a 17th century gent now). When I asked why, they said there wasn't much playing to do with the sets once they'd pretended to design a thing, feed the rabbit, karate chop a block. Seems like a fair enough comment really. So I'd hoped the new range might be something more exciting and a bit less insipid; how wrong can you get? Good job there's a cool girl hero in the Lego movie, and in a fine-looking set too!

Just received and constructed the Council of Elrond. It's a lovely, elegant little set witha really wonderful colour palette. I took out the flip feature, the weapons rack and the turntables under the chairs. I switched those for the 2x2 tile with central stud to deal with the chairs on the angle, and a simple 2x2 plate under the one that's straight. I might get another without the minifigs in order to get more chairs and extend the cloister at the back, but they're not essential - it's a very balanced set as it is, and a design triumph to capture some of the feel of Rivendell in such a confined setting.

Thanks for the photos. I was very keen on getting a green-suited Riddler, until I saw them! What is the deal with that jacket? Amazing print quality, but it's bizarre. I'll stick with the Funhouse version after all, maybe with the addition of that yellow crowbar.

A really great design. Never mind Cuusoo, TLG should design an underwater range around it! Well done.

I think if we'd got this series earlier on, more people would think it was fantastic, but we've got used to the concept now, and inevitably compare every range with the highpoints of the preceding ones. Well, I know that's what I do. But there are some figures in it I really like, and some more my kids do. For me it's Scarecrow (got to get that hat and use it for Batman's Scarecrow), Barbarian and Yeti. For my kids it Elf and Gingerbread Man (of course). And there's some good randoms too - policeman, climber, islander. Now when will they reach the UK?

I agree. Do you remember the promotional computer images of the figures from way back when had Legolas with a quiver and a knife on his back? We all (well, me anyway) got very excited about it as it looked fantastic. When the actual figure came out I tried to like the hair without the quiver but ended up deciding the quiver was too important not to have, and the hair was just too long. So I swapped the official hair for the CMF Elf's hair and painted the ears light flesh colour - it means his head can move too. That solution won't be to everyone's taste, but I've altered all my Fellowship figures to try and make them like I imagined them in the books, and have done the same with Bilbo as well. You can carve a slot out the back of a quiver and fit the official Legolas hair over it if you want to keep the figure looking like he does in the film. As for Bard, everyone will use Thorin's hair won't they? Or the black version of the Aragorn/Boromir hair maybe. With a dark brown or black quiver. With that, the figure will be perfect. And that hair/quiver issue aside, Laketown is a great set - best in the series after Bag End I think. Like Bag End it manages to capture the look of a scene from the book as well as the film. One of Tolkien's line drawing in the book is of Laketown with a little long boat in the foreground, crewed by men in pointy hats. I suppose the pointy hats in the picture are where PJ and co got the idea for the pointy hats of the guard and the Dalemen soldiers. Anyway, this set really follows the look of that picture, and for that, maximum marks TLG.

If that torso for the Riddler is his suit jacket, then I'm sold. Funhouse Riddler was an improvement over the original, but I've never quite got the muscly torso in bodysuit look. And a green bowler hat is perfect. I quite liked the Flash in the game, even his bucket helmet, and was lucky enough to get one of Christo's as a gift, so I'm less fussed about his inclusion in this set than I otherwise would be. That said, it's a good sign for the eventual arrival of GL and others, and gives hope to those of us keen to get over-looked characters like Clayface, Mad Hatter and Batgirl. Do we "need" a new Batmobile? No. Do I think it would have been better if TLG had made it into a Nightwingmobile or Batgirlmobile instead? Yes. Will my kids think it's a good set anyway? Yes, they'll love having another Batmobile to chase the dragster around the house and they'll think Flash sliding on the banana is funny. Would most kids their age prefer it to a Nightwingmobile or Batgirlmobile? Yes. Are they the target audience? Er, yes.

Lovely, lovely, lovely. You can almost smell the sea and hear the lapping of the waves. Well done!

I agree they're much better, but part of that is to do with how much the look of lego has moved on since the early western ranges. At the time, those sets were great. If the film has bombed, surely that means it's game over for the range. The prices of them in the UK are very high, the economy is still in a bit of an iffy state so people have less ready money to fling at pieces of plastic, and if the film isn't enough to make people swallow all of that and buy the sets, these'll be left behind as people go for the latest City, Star Wars or LOTR ones. PotC at least began when the franchise still seemed successful, whereas if the reports of the film bombing are true, then the decision to bring out a range based on it is probably closer to Speed Racer than PotC. I'd been hoping for an updated western theme for a while, supported the modular town on cuusoo, and think the LR sets are great (although they're STILL not available in the UK), but I bet that the LR range spells doom for any prospect of a general western range in the near future. Think of the effect PotC had on the wonderful renaissance of the Pirates theme. There was so much more potential for sets there - forts, harbours, more boats, islanders - but PotC stopped all that in its tracks, and gave us some good but over-priced ships, fleshie heads, and some handy torsos for use in LOTR and other historic ranges, and lots and lots of sets sitting unsold on shelves (at least in the UK).

Another great MOC from the greatest ever Batman series. I love the lava, and the double-sided scene is fantastic. Keep them coming!

I really like this MOC, well done. It's interesting to see how far you can get using the sets themselves, and depressing to think you need 6 to get anywhere close to anything that touches a suitably grand scale. I particularly like the shot of the Mouth of Sauron coming through the gate. I wonder if your next steps could be to make the gates and walls higher (maybe 1/2 as high again) to make them that much taller than a mounted figure. I found raising the wall heights on Helm's Deep made it feel that bit more imposing, and it may be that would work on this too. I think that you've done the rocks well, but agree with the other posts about building them up a bit to join the two fortress towers more completely to the line of the wall itself, so that your garrison of orcs can travel from the towers to the walls of course, A possibility would be to work the rocks around the shorter length of wall that's between the smaller towers and the large ones. And maybe add some dark red or black banners to the towers too. Baddies love dark red and black banners.

This is a fantastic piece of work, well done. We've just building ours, and my kids love the open back, but your mod looks so great I wonder if I'll be able to resist trying to follow your example.