Blakstone

I think that the next time that Castle comes back, it will use the new hat for highborn ladies. It is just a great mold but I just dislike the color choice. It limits it to storybook princesses. Hopefully the mold will get reused in blue or red.

Lego-Freak, the best way I heard it described this that each wave gets a budget of changes they can make. Items such as new molds count more than new printing and existing bricks in new or uncommon colors. I believe that each line gets a different budget for changes and the managers for that line utilize them differently as well. We don't know what the change budget is for any of these lines though. My hope is that there is both polybags of an army builder and a main character last the last two waves. It would be awesome to have a Toys R Us or Target store exclusive that we have not heard about yet. Otherwise, we roughly know the contents of the four sets from the London Toy Fair. LEGO gave enough info there so that corporate buyers would know what the wave would be and could decide if they want to carry the sets. Smaug was not done yet so they used a standin. However, there was no mention of any wagons or bears so I don't think we will get that. I just really want a new dwarf soldier mold or elf warrior mold. I don't think we will get both. It just looks unlikely that there will be room for them in any of the two sets we don't have all the minifigure info on.

I look forward to good news no matter where it comes from. But remember that some catalogs called Hobbit wave 3 as Lord of the Rings and Hobbit.

Trunkbass, they have not announced any decision nor has the decision been shared with the customer service department is likely true. But the production schedule for all the factories has to be scheduled very far out. I would guess at least six to eight months out. I would take more hope from the effort that TLG took to promote wave 3 Hobbit at SDCC. That shows that LEGO still values the Tolkein brand. They easily could have done more Star Wars instead. We don't really know how good the sales were for either LotR or the Hobbit. I think the big worry is that LEGO won't continue a line if the media tie-in ends. For example, the LEGO Shareholders report stated that Pirates of the Caribbean exceeded expectations but the line ended anyway. The massive LEGO Movie line likely took the production capacity that LotR would have used (and more). If LEGO still has faith in LotR, they have the ability to continue it. I am just waiting for the Hobbit instructions to see if there is a future for our line.

I know the lines seem to blur between the LotR thread and the Hobbit thread, but specific questions about an item in a Hobbit set belong the other tread..

LEGO had been strongly promoting Hobbit at Comic Con each year and this year is no exception. I think fans of this line are being treated well. That said, we always want more sets, minifigures, and new molds. We still might get polybags like the last two waves. But the second Hobbit film made less money than the first and that combined with lower merchandising revenue is likely the cause of a strinking line, not that LEGO doesn't care or New Line is preventing more merchandising.

Robert, rereading the tread. That was not asked before the answer probably. However, the answer was not tagged so we cannot know for sure which post they were responding. If it is not the ad question, then it was likely Teagen's question about Smaug's head sculpt.

This is the likely response to that question?: "I'm trying to get clarification from LEGO on that....probably, but I wanna get explicit permission first." Five people, including me, clicked like on that post.

I was thinking of some sort of a barrow. However, I would love it if that was a impulse polybag that I could find at Target. Your design is just the right size for that.

This blue coated Bilbo is not the same as the one that came with the Blueray. The Blueray version has open coat with a tan vest and white shirt. The Liar of Smaug version has a closed coat with a green vest and a massive belt. Fortunately I do have the Blueray version already. I compared LEGO-Freaks' photo with Brickset.

Sandmirror, wait. The last LEGO press release omitted exclusive when talking about the Bard but used it for the Collector and the then unknown DC guy. It strongly appears Bard is just a preview like last year.

I only have one NIB Helm's Deep waiting. I got it for $90 on clearance. Like the OP, I figured it was a safe bet since if I cannot sell it, I will enjoy it. I don't know if it will ever climb to the heights of Green Grocer though. I think I would be satisfied to trade it for a modular such as Pet Shop or Town Hall though.

That is a good point. I will build this set to enjoy the build and learn any new building tricks. After a week or a month though, it will become scrap and sorted into my collection. All that will remain will be Smaug and the minifigures. Time to think about what to build with that sand green. There are a lot of good bricks in that build. The build also looks a lot more cohesive build than random ruins. I like it when I am building something and you can really start to get the reason and the flow of the build. I think that is why I hate the Goblin King set. It seemed like a bunch of random bricks.

The left hand side of the build is cut off so I cannot see the entire build. In fact, I will withhold judgment until we get better pictures. Part of what I need in order to buy this is enough bricks that I can part out for something else. But Smaug looks to be very big... even more so than the Castle 2013 dragon.

Still I think it points to new Wonder Woman and Batman (of course) minifigs next year.

I would just ask if there is an ad in the back of the instructions for future sets of any line. A Yes would not disclose much but a No would be better clear to me.

Bjornn, my opinion of the Fire Brigade increased while I built it. If you get FB now, you can still get the Palace Cinema later. That would be my recommendation. Although my current collection is FB and Grand Emporium, the ones that look the most apealling to me are Pet Shop and Parisian Restaurant. I am just slowly working my way through all the available modulars.

As the latest LEGO press release does not call Bard an exclusive, SDCC promotions appear to be handled quite differently. I think it is possible that LEGO will get to preview only promotions for minifigs. Judging by the reaction here SDCC exclusive sets without exusive minifigs would be welcome. I was glad for the Batman set. I still am hoping for that Rocket to show up in a polybag. I guess if there was going to be a theatre promotion with him, we would have caught word by now.

My guess is Thursday. They are treating that as Hobbit day. It is the only day to get the Bard minifig.

At least some of the themes have the minifigure give away limited to a specific day.

I hear of people buying complete sets without the minifigs on eBay as an cheap way to build ones brick collection. You might check out what each set is going for there before deciding.

I missed that part. That is great news.

Here is the source: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/lego-systems-unveils-products-experiences-132900634.html

Regardless we should know once the last Hobbit wave hits the shelves. Either their instructions will confirm LotR wave 3 with an ad or we can be certain there will be no more waves. It is just a couple more months wait either way.

I also think there is a difference between what army building kids want to do and what parents will let them do. I recall arguing with Mom how I needed another Stormtrooper when I already had one. Since my hobby calls for me to spend time in toy aisles, I hear the same arguments playing out today. I think the excitement wore off by the second wave. There was no Target exclusive or a drive to get every Fellowship member out. The drive to get all the new molds for the Orthanc required Wizard Battle (Sauramon's hair), Black Gate (eagle), and possibly Council of Elrond (for those arches). The Pirate Ambush was a bit random but spoke to LEGO's desire to draw more people to the wave. If they had the mold budget a Gondor battle pack would have done better than the ship.