Blakstone

A new popular this week Lord of the Rings set, The Oliphaunt. Unlike Rivendell, I supported this set. While big, it is not too big to display and the mold looks like an actual creature since it does not have obvious gaps in the body. I think it could use more minifigs though. [EDIT] - Fixed Rivendell.

I was rooting for Wall E. I want that one. I may get the Dr Who one, which is odd since I haven't watched but a few episodes during Eccleston's time.

LEGO fans got screwed... I mean the magnets were all pulled and now there are screws that go into the minifig base to prevent AFOL from ungluing them and using them as regular minigs. I bought a Frodo magnet on clearance for just over a $1. I was able to save his arms, Sting, the ring, and hair. I was not even able to pull his head off.

I think LEGO spends a lot of time and money to capitalize on San Diego Comic Con. If they break their word on exclusives, it will damage their reputation. Reputation is everything in business. But the main point lies in what is an exclusive packaging and what is an exclusive minifigure. Each line has their own manager. I wish that the managers for DC and Marvel thought along the line of the Hobbit one and do exclusive packaging. They generate almost the same amount of buzz and news coverage without the huge aftermaket prices. But if LEGO changed the printing on The Collector, for example, they could include him in a set without breaking their word on the exclusive SDCC version.

No, at this point it seems pretty clear that it is the CMF series after The Simpsons 2. I don't think White Fang would have asked our opinion of the leaked photos like that I'd it wasn't. Besides we have seen the Scooby Doo sets now.

This is a good set and I was glad to Support it on IDEAS.

But it is not really our opinion that counts. This stuff is often settled in courts such as when the US Government was arguing that mutants (of the X-Men fame) are human. LEGO wants to avoid getting dragged into court and this is affects their behavior.

That LEGO movie set would give you some more variety of torso in your Sheriff Corp as well. My favorite Space Western was the Galaxy Rangers.

I might have been more critical (especially of the mustache turned backwards for a handkerchief) if it wasn't for the obvious constraint of only using Series 13 pieces. I bought quite a bit of Lone Ranger sets (especially four Calvary Army Builder sets) even though I don't have any plans for a Western MOC. I just want them in case I do. This strikes me as a how to add variation on the Sheriff using only those parts. I would hate to have that many. I am decent at the feel method so I only have one Sherrif. Sadly, I ended up with two Lady Cyclops when I wanted none.

I loved the Forest Hideout, but what made the Forestmen work for me is that their role changed based on my mood. They would be brigands when I wanted and Robin Hood's Merrymen when the Lion knights were wicked (see Arifex's Rule 3A). Wolfpack came during my Dark Age but they are as been as Castle 2013's Dragon Knights. I think coat of arms work on shields but not on everyone's torso.

They are all good points. I think one thing to take from the Uruk Hai Army set is that it was an add on that made since. Castle 2013 had a Gatehouse add on that just made the castle weaker. The next castle should have a siege tower and wall addition such as 6061. I just want the minifigs to be detailed. The CMF King shows that you can have detail and bright colors.

Wasn't there some statement or ad for it long ago? I think it was planned but quietly cancelled.

I have only once found a set without a needed piece. That was the green ball joint on the Lex Luthor Mech. But I have long suffered for missing a piece in an "empty" bag or using the wrong piece somewhere down the line. I think we had all down that. I bought that Lex Luthor set on clearance so I did not bother to request a replacement part.

Nice MOC and very much in keeping with the spirit of the original model but updated for size and new parts. Very inspiring.

I would have preferred a Halloween leaning theme to a direct focus. Take Series 11. I thought that was very Christmasy with the Holiday Elf but also the Gingerbread Man, friendly Yeti, and Grandma. Depending on your tradition even the Pretzel Girl would fit. However, there are still variety for other collectors.

I think of it like the LEGO Movie. In Emmett's world you see dozen and dozens of micromanages fighting all at once, but in Finn's world there was only a few of them visible. People use their imagination to fill in the rest. I think though, if the license was different, we might have ended up with a Star Wars or Lone Ranger style army builder. But I think LEGO had to have a much larger build for this license. I did not mind since Helm's Deep is one of my three top builds and extending it with a very useful wall was great. However, I was never emotionally invested in the MIrkwood Elves and I did not see a lot of potential in the actual build. It was just something to learn the techniques and then to sort into different part bins.

The only Lord of the Rings sets I personally saw on Clearance was the Pirate Ship. That appears to me to be a misstep but overall the comments on this board was the first wave was very good and the second wave should have included things that each fan liked better. As for why the way the line failed, I think the responsibility goes to the movie reception. The first movie came out and a lot of people were very disappointed. Sells of the second Hobbit wave appear to be very bad. One of my local Walmart had wave 2 Hobbit (+ Goblin King) sets on step clearance just a month before last Christmas. I believe that is why there are no Walmarts I know that carried any wave 3 sets. Targets barely carried any of them and I never saw the Smaug set at any. My local LEGO Store yesterday said that wave 3 is selling well there but they are not competing with other stores so that probably helps them. Why did the Hobbit films fail to catch on like the Lord of the Rings films? I think part of that is the uneven tone of the movies. Also there are a lot of sci fi / fantasy films out there to compete for eyeballs. There was not the interconnected superhero films back when Lord of the Rings came out or Hunger Games. When Lord of the Rings came out, it was the biggest thing for three years. We don't know the details of the license so we don't know how much of a build was necessary to include minifigs to still fit in the construction toy market. LEGO cannot sell just minifigs of a licensed brand unless they also obtain the action figure line. In all my time haunting toy aisles checking out LEGO, I only ONCE saw a kid show interest in a Middle Earth set. That is it. Once. LEGO gambled on the Hobbit being as big as Lord of the Rings, but they lost. LEGO moved on to beef up their Superhero lines and support their own brands instead. That is unfortunate for us but a smart move for them.

Different kids want different things. I think that LEGO has done enough research to see the pattern. If the demand is large enough in a line, they can support battle packs without named characters such as Star Wars. I am not sure about Chima since I find them on clearance almost as much as Hobbit. But a kid, heck even as an adult, I can envision a larger army than I actually have. I put three Uruk Hai Armies worth of Uruks with my Helm's Deep and was able to envision an army of 10,000. I lack the space, money, or even desire to want to build the size of army that I see many here have.

Army building was something that I would loved to do as a kid but couldn't afford to. Heck, I could barely convince my Mom that I needed more than two Stormtroopers. I think LEGO handled this line as well as they could as they had to consider different types of fans and different budgets for sets. If the Hobbit films were a large of as cultural phenomena as Lord of the Rings were, they were poised to do very well. Since they weren't, LEGO put more of their focus on other lines. I don't know any kid who buys or receives entire lines of LEGO. They get an occasional set here or there. Many AFOLs can afford to but looking at this board, I still see many that have to pick and choose because of their budgets. There are less than 2,000 people that signed the Save the LEGO Lord of the Rings petition so there are really not that many of us world wide. The casual set purchaser is main target for these sets. There are just so many more of them. I think there were a few places that LEGO could have avoided repeating characters (Gimli in the Pirate Ship Ambush for example) but it is a good way for casual collectors to feel engaged.

It would have both the IDEAS logo as well as a Lord of the Rings logo if it was approved. And if it was there would be a lot of happy fans here.

^ This. People on the board can be too harsh when someone steps forward with a report. You might be right or you might be wrong if your source is wrong. There is no reason to badger or harass you. If you are right this time, people will give my credence to any future reports. That said, this seems likely to me as it is about time for Castle to come back.

I don't think LEGO cares whether we diss it or not. They care about the sells. If there is any minifigs in a series that I want, I will buy those minifigs. There two zombies and one vampiress that I want. So far ,that is all I am going to get. I won't buy minifigs that I don't want in order to encourage LEGO to make more. This series does not appear to be for me or several others on this board; however, LEGO might still have a hit on their hands if the kiddos want them. As an AFOL, I don't begrudge LEGO for making items for the target demographic. That is just good business. I just don't have to buy it if I don't want it.

I would be happier with a return of Forestmen and Black Falcons. That said, any Castle is better than no Castle.

If LEGO went down this path, I would want Lord of the Rings or Middle Earth CMF. However that is hard to imagine. So instead they could do Fantasy which would include GreecoRoman characters, King Arthur charcters, some from the Arabian Nights, and possibly Far East myth. You can get a very wide variety under Fantasy that would satisfy a sizable range of collectors.

The problem with a specialized theme is that it leaves out a lot of fans. I try to avoid the space minifigs in the regular series, but I don't mind them being there as many other fans want them. I army build the Egyptian Warriors and others can have the Space Warriors and Alien Troopers. Both both types of fans by the series. However, there has yet to be any of these Monsters that fit with my needs. Perhaps I will build a zombie mob, but I don't think I will want duplicates of any of them. The Zombie Pirate feels out of place to me with the others as well. While I would personally love a Castle themed wave, I doubt it woudl sell as well as a regular series. Plus Castle has been well served by the regular series of late.