Blakstone

I didn't mean that was your intent. But that was my reaction. And there are several on this thread that make those accusations every few pages.

If the Bluray minifig is another polybag that we already have, I will skip it like I did the DoS Bluray. In fact, I have yet to see DoS. I plan on getting the Extended Edition this fall.

When I read your post, I could just see the cycle of absolute glee followed by intense hate and than declarations that LEGO gave no thought to it and that they hate making money that such a wave would cause. But it would be worth it for just one new print on an existing character.

I opened three Uruk Hai armies but bought a fourth on clearance. It and a second Helm's Deep (also bought on clearance) are in a closet. I am not sure if I want to trade them for a modular set, sell them, or open them for extra minifigs. Theoden is my favorite character in Middle Earth.

I think the Council of Elrond was perfect as well. Instead of sacrificing it, I would have just hoped for an additional army builder set in wave 2. I bought many repeats of wave 1 but only one repeat of wave 2 (Wizard Battle), We really don't know about what the sells for LotR was, but I think it was the LEGO Movie needing the development time and shelf space that caused the premature demise of this line. If so, LEGO made the right decision. I just wish it went the other way.

Bachamn, is that a metaphor for the futility of the circular discussions that occur so frequently here? On that note, the minifig designers do consider the impact of multiple set purchases. You only have to see that video they produced for LotR where he explains the high number of unique Uruks you can make from the wave 1 sets. But the minifig designer does not control which sets each one goes into.

I think the Orthanc is the only LotR D2C set. If there is another wave (odds are against it), then it might be $120-130 in size. If you go over that size, you won't sell enough volume to justify any new molds.

I would buy a Rivendale D2C. I cannot think of anything else that we get me to drop $200. D2C sets do not get any new molds but they can include new prints.

I want two versions of Eowyn: one in full armor with a new helmet and one in the white dress to put in front of Thoeden's Hall. I also want a Hama minifig though one of the Company of Dwarfs has a suitable hair to use.

It will be pulled when the license expires. So it will be around as long as the Hobbit sets are. Your bigger concern should be when they sell out. I doubt LEGO will produce another batch.

The IDEAS rules says that you can submit items for an existing theme but the likelihood of it being rejected due to it being something they are already working on it much higher. For most of us, we just want it to continue. If the only way to get new LotR LEGO was to drink Tang and send in labels, I would do it.

It is extremely optimistic hoping for a store exclusive. I guess that optimism in the LotR thread is wearing off on me. My ball park guess is there is a 75% chance of those polybags and maybe a 20% chance of a store exclusive.

Atreyu, there is still a little hope. The other two Hobbit sets had polybags in the US at least. None of them had any unique prints, but they did move around pieces on the Mirkwood Elf Guard at least. I believe we can see one main character rehash and one army builder. The main character might be Thorin or Bard. (Wave 1 was Gandalf and Wave 2 was Legolas). In those waves, the army builder would not have been friendly to the Company though. The Mirkwood Elf Guards were in opposition as were the Laketown Guard. While I hope for an Iron Hills dwarf using the new dwarf helm (minus the mohawk) we might get an orc instead. Store exclusives are also possible though unlikely. Wave 1 of LotR had the Orc Forge, the LEGO Movie had three different store exclusives, and I believe that Star Wars has different store exclusives as well. Such exclusives do contain new prints. However, the leaked photos came from a factory. Those are the actual sets were are getting. There will be no changes to them.

This is the quote from Meiko on Brickset when they pulled the images. I bolded where they directly quoted the LEGO request.. I don't have any special knowledge but remember the license holder had requested the embargo until then. LEGO normally promotes their stuff well in advance and even does not mind if images are shared provided that they are not stamped confidential. But I did not guess the Oct 15 date. That is the date that LEGO is bound to in their contract. They could always wait longer than that. Obviously they got WB's permission when they shared Smaug's Lair early.

By contract LEGO cannot release images of the sets before October 15. After that, they will likely stagger the release of the images a set at a time.

Oederland, I don't think three new prints would be stupid. But LEGO did not anticipate this demand when they made the initial print run. They wanted to keep their change budget very low and I suspect that they determined that the astronomy chart was more important. I think LEGO would do well to introduce a lot more new minifigure prints but unless it is for a large line where they expect to move a lot of units, it just doesn't happen very often.

Unfortunately we did not see the back of the box photo of that set either. Still I think that the majority of the set was in frame. That was true for Smaug's Lair as well.

Picture reviews for sure. There is so much more detail in them. I want to get a little studio so I can try my hand at them as well.

A female Thor is a temporary change in the comic... just like Dick Grayson as Batman or Doc Oc as Spiderman. But I would take a Superior Superman franchise over that "amazing" one any time.

Whitefang's reviews are more than just a tradition that we enjoy. Between being both exhaustively thorough and the fact that he gets them early, I don't see how anyone can compete. Not that I want to. But his review will go live when LEGO says it is okay and not before. He tells it like he sees it, but it is a promotion event for LEGO.

We don't really know how well any line sells. LEGO does not share that information though there are hints in the yearly Shareholders report. Everything else is speculation and we do that very well here. The Hobbit line concludes this year as the media that helps promote it also ends this year.

The photos are still out there. One of the most frequent thread regulars has most of them in his Flicker stream. However, none of the big LEGO fan sites will post them. That is partly due to the relationship between LEGO and the site and partly to protect LEGO from a breach in contract with WB.

LEGO trail blazed their licensed CMF line with The Simpson's. I think if they just got the LotR, they very well may have done that. Too late for that.

The odds have been slim for a long time. I am just waiting for The Hobbit instructions. Still the 2015 retailers catalog will be the final word.

If you want those pics, you best save them soon. Brickset removed the wave 3 issues at LEGO's request.