Blakstone

Gray Havens would be an excellent capstone for the line. In addition to the oft mentioned Eowyn vs Witch King, I really want the Golden Hall of Theoden and Bree / Inn of the Prancing Pony.

There are LEGO Shareholders Reports but the most recent one I found was from 2011. Here are the sales info from that report. Please keep in mind it predates the LotR sets. I think the big disconnect is that while the LotR / Hobbit sets are selling well, LEGO may have been hoping for something as big as Star Wars. Lord of the Rings might come as close as any license to the popularity of Star Wars as any other license among adults but it does not appeal to kids anywhere near as much. 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%2FAnnual%2520Report%2Fts.20120301T121813.Annual_Report_2011_UK.pdf&ei=TgICUbrrJqm2yAG5i4GIDg&usg=AFQjCNE2lwXmVI0KRCaZZRXZkD3tbmZbNw&bvm=bv.41524429,d.aWc

I think it would be great to move discussion of how well the LEGO Lord of the Rings and Hobbits sets from the "LotR & Hobbit 2013" thread to this one. I frequent various Walmart and Target stores in my area. Some of the stores often have lots of these sets on the shelves while others have empty space where these sets use to be. That could mean that sells vary dramatically depending on the store you check. Or maybe some stores just don't reorder as quickly as others. How about the rest of you? What are your thoughts?

I see no mention of a horse for Forest Ambush in that report. The cart mentioned is similar to what October said. They also did not mention a dog in the set. 70400 Forest ambush, £8, two knights pulling a cart loaded with gold being ambushed by two baddies from behind a tree.

I too wish for more accessible army building sets. Uruk Hai Army is too much for such a set though I did buy three. It seems inappropriate to insult the LEGO managers because you don't like all that they do. I am sure that Warner Brothers would not mind if LEGO released sets consisting of only minifigures EXCEPT they sold the Lord of the Rings / Hobbit action figure license to another toy company and the figurine license to a second toy company. Personally if I bought the action figure license and LEGO released a set of only minifigures I would sue Warner Brothers for breech of contract. Somehow the promotional Elrond figure with the LEGO video game does not count. Does anyone think we will get any pirate polybags with the June release?

While I would also like some new Mordor orc minifig prints, I am happy with the three different Dead minifigs and the one Corsair. If I could change anything, I would drop Gimli from this set and have a second Corsair (new print or not). We are already getting a Gimli in the Riverdale set where he was much more important. I was not planning on getting this set since I am not into pirate ships. However depending on the re usability of the build, the inclusion of Corsair and orc minfigs might just convince me.

I enjoy the Roman minifigs as well and am looking forward to the Series 10 Roman Commander. Good idea using the owl as the Roman standard.

No Romans in the 2013 Castle. However, the Series 9 minifigs out right now have Roman Emperor and the Series 10 will have Roman Commander. For the sets featured in the catalog, I am likely to get the gatehouse and forest ambush. The others really depend on what they look like close up and how much of a LEGO fix I am craving. The Castle line comes after LotR for me. But in June I will be skipping the Pirate Ambush at least.

I picked up Bagend today. I am only through the first numbered bag of the build but it is very enjoyable.

To make it pop, I suggest that you add some red detailing around the bay windows. I also think it needs medieval shop sign so that minifigs walking / riding down the rode know what kind of shop it is. That said, this is a really beautiful set.Like many into Historic Themes, MMV is my absolute favorite official set and this would be the perfect companion. I would definitely support it if you post it to CUUSOO.

I got two Forrest Maidens and one Fortune Teller from CMF Series 9 today.

FYI, the TRU in north OKC had a bunch of these in today. I got four more. So if you guys are still interested, some stores are just now getting them.

For Christmas 2011, I got my niece the 7187: Escape from the Dragon's Prison since she loves horse. For Christmas 2012, I got her 3186-1: Emma's Horse Trailer for the horse again. I agree that LEGO needs to help promote female minifigs in the regular sets otherwise the girls will stay in the girl aisle and miss plenty of great sets, many of which have females even if they are not promoted at all. 10656 My First LEGO Princess cannot be the end of the attempt. Does anyone know if it is being stocked with the regular LEGOs or the LEGO Friends aisle?

Correction. I only thought I had supported it. I just double checked and added my support.

I voted for this project some time ago. I think it deserves to be made. I think that it benefits from being a smaller project than many, making it more appealing than some niche or expensive projects. I think what the project is missing is a large group of non CUUSOO members to rush the site and vote for it. LEGO would get a lot of the Castle and Historic fans to buy these. However, they would not develop any new markets with it. I do not know how to crack that nut.

The LEGO store in Oklahoma City has them but they have already been pretty felted up. That is unless you think it was random chance that 3 out of 5 of the minifigs I bought today was Caesar. I really wanted one of them but not necessarily three. Not when I still need a ton of the Forest Women and the Fortune Tellers. I figure after Series 10 comes out, LEGO will have a monthly set with Roman Soldier, Caesar, and Roman Commander in it. That would be excellent. I could always use more Roman Soldiers.

I for one will likely get the Gatehouse and Forest Ambush. Though there is a chance that I will be jonesing enough for a LEGO fix that I might buy the rest too. After all I never figured I would buy the Kingdom Joust set, but since the LEGO store was out of MMV, I bought it instead. I enjoyed it and it's numbered bags too but it is not quite the treasure of MMV. LEGO LotR will get most of my love this year. I do not have any dogs yet so that is a pleasant addition to Forest Ambush. I could see a MOC in the future where a Duke is leading a hunt. A lot of dogs would be needed for that.

I was doubtful of the legitimacy of the Tower of Orthanc at first. But the measurements appear to be added later. It also matches a design that we know that LEGO did. I am about 80% convinced of it. As for the four titles from the catalog, I am convinced that they are real. The only one I am not interested in is the Pirate Ship Ambush and that is because I am not interest in pirate ships, even though in LotR. The other designs I cannot make much out either but I know that I want them. I do wish I knew how well the LotR and Hobbit sets were selling. It seems hit or miss in my area. I did a quick tour of all the Targets(2) and Walmarts (4) in my area after Christmas. Some sold almost all their LEGO except for the Hobbit. One had only Uruk Hai Army and Shelob left. One had Mines of Moria on clearance, the rest still had all those sets at full price. If this line lasts long enough, I think we will see all the sets they had designed. I know many want the Gondor stuff. Personally, I want more variety of the Rohan stuff.

Zoom in near the top middle of the photo. The Lord of the Rings section is to the left of Woody and Buzz. http://cache.lego.com/r/aboutus/-/media/About%20Us/Media%20Assets%20Library/Workplace/PMD/ts.20120921T112930.High_Res_%20Product%20Development_View%20of%20the%20Open%20Room.jpg

The Lord of Horse will not wear a saddle or bridle. So unless there is a Lone Ranger horse without any bridle printing, I doubt it would be a suitable replacement.

No, just LotR. They came out in June while Hobbit came out officially in December. Check as many Walmarts as you are able. I am in the OKC area and the NW Expressway Walmart did not discount any LotR sets but the Mustang Walmart deeply slashed Mines of Moria. Neither Weathertop nor Uruk Hai Army was discounted. If it was not for the holiday, I would check the North May store.

I bought my first Hobbit set, Attack of the Wargs, last night. I avoided them before Christmas in case anyone wanted to gift me one (No one did). While I was picking it up, I noticed that my local Walmart gathered a lot of the LotR sets in a shopping cart near where they normally do their clearance items. I went back after work and got an additional Mines of Moria for $54. Perhaps I should have gone before work as there was no Helm's Deep left. I stopped at a different Walmart during lunch and got 9 Star Wars bags (Tie Fighter and Star Destroyer) for $1.50.

October, was there more than one Lord of the Rings page? Someone else posted about Eowyn vs the Witch King. Any word on that?

This is a very nice MOC. I especially like how you staggered various green plates to make a base. I am very curious in your roof. How did you do that particular SNOT? I agree that some of the rounded windows would look more medieval than those windows.

Regardless of whether the banner goes onto the second page or not, you can tell from the Star Wars page that the photographer only took pictures of certain items. The sets on the page to the left of that page had the same 2013 Yoda bar across them. In Star Wars case, it could be that those sets were already public knowledge and he felt we did not need grainy photos of them. If there are more LotR sets on the following page, I would assume that it would have to be a larger set than the Pirate Ship Ambush since LEGO generally goes from small to large on these pages. I doubt there would be a larger LotR set released as the same time as the Pirate Ship Ambush. I hope that there are four Hobbit sets released at the same time. Some of them could plug the missing price point holes in the LotR sets. Otherwise it seems strange to me that we get two small sets and two very large ones without any medium size sets. Personally, I plan on skipping the Pirate Ship Ambush at least unless I find it one good clearance. Hopefully it will be a good cross over buy for LEGO Pirates fans though. The other three sets are a must for me.