Blakstone

I got Barrel Escape from TRU today. That completes my LotR / Hobbit sets until the Hobbit Blueray comes out at Target. I picked up a two more Series 9 minifigs hoping for a Forest Maiden and Fortune Teller. I think my feeling system is off. I got another starlet.

Minifig: Fairy Theme: Fantasy A ring of mushrooms is also called a fairy rings as they are a gateway to the realm of fairy. Because in this realm and eat nothing, drink nothing, and take nothing... not even the magical rings. All this stuff is cursed and you would not be able to ever leave. For more pictures, including the missing minifig, visit my Brickshelf page.

Brickshow today says that Orthanc is coming in June. The rest of that piece is speculation though.

Here is my entry for the contest. Minifig: Computer Programmer Theme: City This is one of hundreds of cubicals. I am sure many of us spend more time in one of these then with our own families. If TLG was to release this MOC as a set, AFOLs and TFOLs could customize the name on the side of the pod. Mike is for Michael Bolton in Office Space. The back and one side also have points where additional office cubes can be attached. I really enjoyed making my MOC. The contest constraints were ideal to unleashing creativity. Without them, I would also want to build larger and never actually start building.

I like it. Is that Aragorn's head resting on the ground?

I predict that it will come with six minifigures. Unfortunately two of them will be Gimli, another two will be Gandalf, and the last two will be Aragorn. Seriously though, Saurman and Grima would be nice but not necessary. Looking towards the UCS Tie fighter, it comes with a tie pilot (makes sense) and some other Death Star characters. This tells me that the minifigs for such a set do not have to directly match. For most LotR and Hobbit sets,my interest is in the minifis. However, the Orthanc is really about the tower.

That is beautiful. I would love to build that sometime.

While I can give reasons why I believe this to be true, none of us really know for sure. If LEGO decides to expand the line past the first planned sets, I can see TLG doing Sauron. I believe Sauron and the Necromancer would have to look different as Gandalf cames to believe that they are the same but is uncertain.

I doubt we will since they already released one of the minifigs from that scene as a promo. Still if the line outlasts their initial plans it is possible.

What I take away from this is the LEGO does not get into a discussion of production lines in the stockholder reports. For 2012, they only mentioned Star Wars, City, Friends, and Ninijago. For 2011, they mentioned those sets plus Pirates of the Caribbean. We lack the ability to truly know what the Hobbit and LotR sets are doing. We can only speculate. The only incite I could draw is that LEGO is willing to retire lines such as Pirates of the Caribbean and Ninijago even when they are exceeding expectations. I believe that TLG has designed all of the LotR sets they will do. The only thing that would prevent them from releasing those sets is if LotR under performed.

I found the 2012 LEGO Shareholders Report, finally, but Lord of the Rings and Hobbit were not mentioned. In fact there are only two paragraphs covering any line. "LEGO Star Wars™ and LEGO City continue to be the best selling product lines, with LEGO Ninjago, launched in 2011, following closely. The new product line LEGO Friends that was launched at the beginning of 2012 has performed considerably above expectations." "LEGO® sales It has been a challenge to attract more girls to the LEGO play experience. In an attempt to solve this challenge, the new product line LEGO Friends was launched at the beginning of 2012. During its first year on the market, the product line has proved a huge success, and in spite of a considerable increase of production capacity on this particular line during the year, the very strong demand could not fully be met. LEGO Ninjago which was launched in 2011 continued its popularity in 2012 as the third largest product line in the portfolio, while LEGO City and LEGO Star Wars™ topped the list of best selling lines again in 2012." http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&ved=0CE0QFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcache.lego.com%2Fr%2Faboutus%2F-%2Fmedia%2FAbout%2520Us%2FMedia%2520Assets%2520Library%2FAnnual%2520Reports%2FAnnual_Report_2012.pdf&ei=7_kmUdu-Aeie2AXWl4CgDA&usg=AFQjCNH4NvqVf-1fD_Ykf1BGOlgdnnx5Fw&bvm=bv.42768644,d.b2I

I think it would take one main character to draw more LEGO fans to the set. A set designed to appeal only to the AFOL and army builder will not sustain sales. I am willing to sacrifice one of the minifigs to a main character in order for LEGO to make the battle pack in the first place. LEGO has already put some of their Legends of Chima sets on Retiring Soon.

I doubt that LotR could support a purely battle pack. I play SWTOR so I bought a couple Knights of the Old Republic battle packs. For $12 I get two unnamed Republic Troops and two unnamed Sith Troopers. I would be completely happy if I could get one Aragorn, Rohan soldier (not archer) and two orcs for the same amount. True army building AFOL don't need another Aragorn but we can get some unnamed soldiers for our armies. Even the rumored Frodo and the Ringwraith would have been good for that. We need a small set that has some unnamed characters to go with the named ones.

The polybags have only been of existing characters in the past. The only variant I have seen is the MIlkwood Elf Guard where they replaced the hair with a hood. I believe it would be unrealistic to expect a new character. Also the polybags can be very hard to find, even in countries where they are available. The Avengers polybag had a Thor minifig. You would have to buy a very expensive set for him otherwise. Lord of the Rings (Wave 1) Frodo (Shire outfit) Uruk Hai Hobbit (Wave 1) Gandalf Mikwood Elf Guard

My hope is that there is a Corsair polybag with different face and hair released in June. They have been releasing two each wave, one is a main character and the other is an enemy. Aragorn in his Gondor armor would be a good second polybag.

Weathertop was a fun build but did not capture the spirit of the set for me. Broke it down for pieces but I would buy another one if I find it on a good sale. Mines of Moria is a better set for my taste. I have picked it up due to the amount of space it takes. I did buy a second one because I found it on clearance. The only other set I bought in multiples is Uruk Hai Army for the Rohirrim. What draws you to LEGO sets the most? Is it the beauty of the build or the minifig selection? For me it is the minifigs.

I have all the LotR sets and bought all the Hobbit sets except for Barrel Escape. Out of all of them, I kept Helm's Deep and An Unexpected Gathering intact and on display. Since you already have Helm's Deep, I recommend Bagend. All the other sets are just about the figures for me.

Even US Amazon has the same sale for Goblin King Battle. I just ordered one for $77.21 which is $22.78 off.

If you read why CUUSOO rejected that Star Wars idea, you will know why LEGO would ever do your idea. But if you work on an army builder or battle back with enough construction work to satisfy their license, I would support it.

I really doubt that that we will get that this summer. This set was not in the retailers catalog. If it was an exclusive, why would a small German site have it? I think it was a proposed set but that LEGO decided to release a different one, such as the Council of Elrond, instead. Besides Frodo and the Ringwraith sounds like Frodo avoiding the Ringwraiths in the Shire, not Arwen vs Ringwraiths. That said, the more LotR sets the merrier. I would love to get more Ringwraiths at a lower price point. I only bought one Weathertop.

One of the many leaks were the 2013 Advent Calendars. There will be the normal Star Wars and City. This year they are adding Friends. I agree with jmagaleta that is is highly unlikley but not impossible. It is kind of sad since there was a very nice MOC LotR advent posted in 2012. I doubt it will show up again. There are not likely to be many more waves and there is so much left to do.

I never expected that the Castle line would appeal to me like the LotR line does. I think the Castle line was designed for much younger fans. My wife will do various product testing and ad testing. I would think before LEGO finalized on the overall look of the line, they built some models and then showed them to kids in the target age groups. Based on that feedback, they proceeded to design the actual sets.

Hopefully the Cosair ship in the LotR line will help Pirate fans. I think the 2013 Castle line look okay but I do miss Kingdoms. I am sure to get some of the smaller sets. The castles themselves looking more brown might just grow on me.

In the 2011 LEGO Shareholders Report, they said that Pirates of the Caribbean was performing better than expected. Still the line concluded once all the planned sets were released. I believe the same will happen to LotR. I do not know how many waves were planned but it is reasonable to assume that they will match roughly the Hobbit movies releases. If sales were terrible, LEGO could end the line early. If sales were overwhelmingly great AND if there were enough time to start designing new sets, LEGO could extend the line further. However, LEGO did not extend PotC or Ninjago. I think part of it is that LEGO always needs the next new thing. Star Wars has proven to be the exception but as many have mentioned, Star Wars has had new material for quite some time. I think we will get all the planned sets, those that passed LEGO's internal review, but then the line will end.

I believe you are correct; however, the ones we have seen were very grainy and hard to make out. If Sered takes a photo focusing on one set at a time, then we can get real detail and form our own opinions on how good the sets might be. Sered, thank you for taking your own photos of these. I look forward to seeing them.