Blakstone

Well, the ad in the back of Hobbit wave 2 said that the adventure concludes this year. Still, I take some hope in Dain. LEGO likes to reuse molds and I hope his helm shows up in a polybag. The only set I love out of this entire wave is the Witch-King Battle though I will likely, over time, get them all.

Kevkipo, I meant a store exclusive similar to the Orc Forge in LotR, although you are right that many of the licensed lines do have a massive D2C exclusive set. In either case, it would not have shown up in a toy fair. Still I think a D2C has to be even larger and still cannot have any new molded pieces. They just don't move the same volume as the smaller sets.

I would just go for a Target or Toys R Us exclusive with a cave troll in a new print. We know the basics of our four sets. Any large molded creatures would have been noticed. But an exclusive set would not have been seen at London Toy Fair. While they could not have a new mold for such a limited release item, it would make for a good, smaller army builder. However, I don't think there was an exclusive set for the first two waves of this line.

I am not concerned about the Modular line ending. While it is not their biggest money marker, it highlights what people can do with LEGO better than any other line and it drives a lot of other spending as AFOLs attempt to create their own Modular style buildings. I think what is happening is that LEGO is doing a better job of stopping leaks either from being pulled from their servers or other sources. We may not know exactly what the next Modular is until its announcement.

Deathleech, I would assume that Peter Jackson came up with that look for him in DoS long after LEGO has finalized on the minifig design. Otherwise, they would have included that version in the DoS set. The late changes to character appearances have impacted the merchandising throughout. LotR hasn't been impacted since those movies have been out for quite some time before the sets were designed.

Vikings would be great, but I don't see any hints that it will go that way. The only new mold was for Brünnhilde which can either be a Viking or the classic opera singer. Mythology seems to be a focus in the Minifigures MMO but my guess is that they are a staple in that line instead of becoming their own line. I would be happy to be wrong. I think the younger LEGO fans are drawn to Ninjago and Chima so hopefully LEGO will aim a for the 10 - 12 year (as well as the AFOLs) with a new line.

I can see why both sides feel the way they do about yellow and fleshie. However, I don't think LEGO will change to allow fleshie into the non licensed lines. It was brought about to aid kids in recognizing characters such as Lando Calrissian. Kids could not tell that minifigure was him with a yellow face. The sad thing for me is that the most detailed minifigs are the licensed ones and the CMF ones and they do not look good together. To bring this back on topic, does anyone else worry that return likely return of Pirates next year means there will not be shelf space for Castle? We know that there will be at least a big pirate ship. Seeing how shelf space in stores is always at a premium, I worry that Pirates and a continuing LEGO Movie theme will shut out Castle.

I hope for both the new Catwoman and Harley. I like the more realistic Two Face too. I skipped the orange one intentionally.

Trunkbass, in an infinite universe, all things are possible. However, it has been over a year since the last LotR item was released. Brotherhood Workshop would not have to know about it, but since LEGO contracted with them for a Hobbit video, it make sense that they might. But their answer is a firm one. They have not knowledge of a future line.

I think there will be a reemergence of Castle in 2015. LEGO seems to want to use the CMF as a way to build molds they want for other lines. The new princess hat and even wizard hat would be very useful in a reinvigorated Castle line. I would love a return of the Black Falcons, Vikings, and Forestmen. However, if they cannot, I think they need to avoid lion and dragon heraldry for a while. This way new factions could coexist easier for people's existing collections. They would have stags, eagles, and wolves for example. But what ever they do, skip the cartoony heraldry. Please.

Brotherhood Workshop is working on a new epic Lord of the Rings video. When I asked them yesterday about it, this is what they said: "Brian, no new LEGO LOTR from what I know :'( I believe that line has run it's course."

These are incredible MOCs but there is no way they would ever be IDEAS or any other kind of LEGO sets. The Balrog set earlier would actually work.

I think LEGO will stick with just one MCU movie a year. However, they did a tie-in of sorts for both X-Men Days of Future Past and Amazing Spider-man 2. I would expect an Avengers Assemble set next year to include Antman with other comic / cartoon Avengers though.

No, there will be a free download to add the last movie to the game you already bought.

I think Old Bilbo should have been a PreOder bonus (LotR or Hobbit game) or included in the Unexpected Journey Bluray. Although a Shop@Home promotion would work. I just don't see kids getting excited by getting him.

SMC, actually there is one credible in universe explanation for the difference. The Hobbit is a story that Bilbo is telling. He is an unreliable narrator. This actually true to the books too. When Tolkien wrote The Hobbit, the first edition has Gollum willingly handing over the magic ring. When his publisher convinced Tolkien to write a follow up work, Tolkien rewrote the Riddles in the Dark chapter since the magic ring becomes the One Ring, Gollum would not willing hand over the ring. Tolkien also has Bilbo recount how he got the ring to The Council of Elrond in the Fellowship with an apology if they heard the story differently before. It is also truthful for Peter Jackson's films as The Fellowship of the Ring shows Bilbo stumbling in the dark and finding the ring (matches the later editions of the Book) but the first Hobbit film has him catching it on his finger. Bilbo continues to embellish his story with each retelling. But to the films, Peter Jackson keeps working on his special effects going up to the release date. So he had not finalized the design of Smaug and later changed his mind. It sounds like it was "corrected" in the DVDs though. The constant changing of Smaug's appearance apparently affected this LEGO appearance too.

If they created molded elk for Bof5A, would they be able to reuse them as reindeer for the next holiday set. It appears the change budget for holiday is zero. Their Santas were horrible until they got a new print and mold from CMF and new they have elves thanks to CMF. If they already knew where they could leverage an elk mount, that might help us get one. I don't see another place for a ram mount. It is even worse than the warg since this will be the final wave for The Hobbit.

Agreed. I would have already used the existing bear mold but I cannot find one for a reasonable price. Also a new print would make it better. Unfortunately I do not recall anyone mentioning an animal mold during the London Toy Fair. I would love it if they had it though.

I think the market is moving on from Tolkien. WB just signed for a Dragonriders of Pern movie and Game of Thrones is a big thing now. I really don't see the market being interested in another writer to create new Second Age stories. One of the reasons for licenses needed a media tie in is to piggy back off the marketing for the film. I don't see a major ad campaign for DVD / Bluray releases any more. I don't see that as supporting a new wave. I still hope that we could get a third and final wave. But talk about a cartoon series or a new trilogy seems silly to me. Lord of the Rings might get remade in 20 - 30 years, but I don't plan on waiting for that.

While I enjoyed Agents of Shield, it only brought in 5.4 million viewers for their finale. Despite watching every episode, they never explained why they continue to let the Avengers believe that Coulson stayed dead but was later returned from the dead days later. I agree with Numbuh1Nerd that live action superhero shows likely won't get any sets. There might be comic sets that are influenced by the shows. Even then, Coulson is just a guy in suit. There is not much distinctive that they could do for the guy. Feel free to make a purist custom though.

No word on any future sets besides that there will be Avengers 2 sets. Since Coulson is no longer in the MCU Movie Universe, I doubt he would appear there. I think it is a slight possibility in the Spiderman cartoon sets.

Any word on a polybag for Shredders minions? I can see a lot of uses for them

I think we are pretty close on our thoughts. However, Star Wars has been flat for the last three years with 43 to 46 sets. I don't think they will get more sets even with a new movie. Instead I think LEGO will skip the Clone Wars, Original and Prequel Trilogy sets. But I think that The LEGO Movie likely took all the production capacity that LotR had. Despite our views in this forum, that proved to be a very good decision for them. And we don't know what other opportunities that LEGO is looking at. I think many here were brought back from our Dark Ages by LotR. Speaking for myself, I will stay after LotR is done. I think to grow their business LEGO needs to constantly look at other properties that can grow their customer base. One thing I see in LotR favor is that the next wave is likely designed. If a gap appears in their schedule, LEGO could take advantage of that. We know that happened when Batman V Superman was pushed back a year. That caused LEGO to expedite a whole new wave as they had completed their designs for that movie already.

Even if stores dedicated an entire aisle for Star Wars sets with even more sets than is offered now, I don't think they would sell more. It would just fragment the sales for each set. So I do not feel that giving LotR / Hobbit space to a large line would expand their sales. But if they gave it up to a new line that brought in new LEGO fans (e.g. Top Gear) would.

Fortunately LotR does not really compete with Star Wars, City or Friends. It does compete with Castle 2013 but that was missing this year. That might be a good sign that LEGO does not want LotR / Hobbit and Castle to undercut each other. I think that LEGO examines the different age demographics and appeal. So if they wanted to bring in a line that targeted a slightly older (or MUCH older) demographic, then LotR would be the line to remove. The LEGO Movie had taken over so much of the shelf space in my local stores though and it will get a third wave in January.