scottjs

Last time I checked my local Walmart (Edmonton) they didn't have anything but that was a week ago so you never know. Nothing on their website yet either. The rest of this year is going to be stupid for Lego purchases, and my wife just told me to buy any super hero set (which blew me away). I was avoiding them to save money but now I'm just waiting to spring on an Arkham.

This is the same reason I keep buying the whole set rather then BL'ing the minifigures. It's cheaper if you can find them for a good price plus then you end up with a bunch of free bricks essentially. I'm up to 17 Uruk-hai Army's and if I can keep the price low I'm going to just keep buying more.

Yeah that is super creepy, I love it! Nothing in my area yet (Edmonton, Alberta) but I expect things will take a little longer to filter up to Canada. I almost hope there isn't any good sales soon, otherwise I'm going to have to buy them and I need to slow down with my Lego spending.

Are most people here buying the sets as soon as they come out? I try to wait for a 20% off sale before I buy sets but I think that's going to be next to impossible with Orthanc, maybe just a double VIP day.

Have you had a look at the high res pictures of the army of the dead minifig's? I personally think they look fantastic but to each their own. I am really curious what Lego has planned for the next wave of Hobbit sets. I mean do they continue with their original plan and release everything in December and that's it (if that was their original plan)? I really hope not, but once they found out PJ was splitting the Hobbit into another film did they immediately get to work on more sets or did they wait and see how the current sets would sell first? If we presume that Lego had planned for another 5 sets with a total value roughly the same as the first wave what would you expect to see? I would want to guess that a big set was planned for the Battle of the 5 Armies, however would the supposed "no action figure clause" or whatever is preventing Lego from releasing Battle packs, limit a set like that? Would a burning laketown with Smaug be the big set of the year? I just finished reading The Hobbit last week (it's been a good 5 years since I read it), and I couldn't believe the differences between the book and the movie (and I loved both). But now I'm curious as to how PJ will have the other movies play out and what sets Lego will have for us.

Exactly. I think everyone that's asking is in pure awe of what Altezza is doing. I don't sense any "criticism" towards how much he's spending on Lego. This is a Lego forum after all kibosh, I can't see anyone "questioning how someone spends their time and money" when we're all doing the exact same thing.

Having a look through BrickLink prices the cost per minifigure isn't that cheap and you still have to factor in shipping which will really vary from country to country. In my case shipping is high and you're looking at close to $5 US without weapons (but with armor) and you still have to factor in the shipping costs. Depending on how large of an army you want you're going to have to order from multiple sellers which again makes the cost per minifig go up. With 5 generic minifigures and Eomer who can be modified to look generic enough, you're at $30. If you hit a good sale you can pick up sets for cheaper and in my case I would rather buy the sets. So if you averaged the cost at $20 per set (which is amazing imo) and you wanted an army of 500 Uruk-Hai you would have to spend $2500. Is it bad that I kinda want to spend that much to have an army that amazing? What I'm trying to say is keep up the good work Altezza.

Wow this is an epic MOC to say the least. How the heck did you aquire that many Uruk Hai?! I'm guessing BL here and there?

Thanks for this pic Cammo, I may have to pick up this set sooner then I expected. Wouldn't it be nice if Lego did this for all sets in a theme (a size comparison shot), although in LotR's case it would sure make Gandalf Arrives look puny. I'm surpirsed at the amount of people that aren't impressed with the Corsair ship, I'll be picking up at least 1 for myself and probably a few more to stash away. I expect it to be an amazing seller, and I don't necessarily think it's the best "LotR" set but it's the only ship for the moment as well as the only way to obtain some of the minifigs. Let's face it ships sell, especially when there isn't any competition. Overall like most people here I'm impressed with what Lego has been releasing for the LotR/Hobbit themes. I'm buying at least 1 of every set (2 Black Gates). I could nitpick things I don't like but I know Lego is a TOY first and foremost and TLG is a business with a strategy to sell. Plus that's the great thing about Lego, if you don't like it, MOC it! I would have loved to have seen a $500 Battle of Helm's Deep or a $1000 Orthanc. Heck any of the current sets (besides Gandalf arrives and the like) could be doubled, tripled, quadrupeled in size and I would still buy them. BUT I'm in the minority and TLG is going to make way more money selling smaller sets to a larger amount of people and when it comes to the Lego/LotR addicts, we'll just buy multiples and spend hours and hours MOC'ing and enjoy every second of it. Whenever (or if I should say) Minas Tirith is released it's going to dissapoint some people. Heck I'm sure I'll wish it was bigger, but I want whatever TLG is willing to release. And if I don't like it I'll buy 2 or 4 or however many I can sneak past my wife and then I'll MOC that bad boy until I'm happy with it (or I run out of bricks and I have to buy more lol). I'm expecting/hoping that TLG does something similiar to Helm's Deep when/if they release Minas Tirith. A main "fortress" and an addition like Uruk Hai Army to help fill the ranks. I don't care what they do, I'll be handing over my credit card for anything Lego LotR/Hobit related. You know what set I really want to see the light of day, The Prancing Pony. Don't get me wrong there is a lot of other sets I would rather see first (Barad Dur, and Minas Morgul in epic proportions come to mind). However the Prancing Pony I could see becoming one of those "best Lego sets ever" because it would appeal to so many fans as a historic city building set. One other set comes to mind that did this before, MMV, and that set sold very well did it not? The bottom floor could be the Tavern with rooms above, that's the easy part. And they could make it "modular" which seems to be a selling feature these days. The hard part imo would be choosing the minifigures. Would we get some generic fleshies (a first right?), Strider, Hobbits, Nazgul?

WOW just WOW. I'm a big fan of the books/show and my jaw dropped at the sight of these pictures. Fantastic job to both of you!

Based on the fact that Lego has released battle packs for how many other themes but still nothing for LotR means there has to be a reason why. Normally I wouldn't necessarily give credit to something someone's "colleague" said however the shoe seems to fit in this instance. Not that that doesn't mean I think we should stop pleading Lego to make them, as I hope they'll do Uruk-hai Army type expansions at the minimum for future big sets (if the line continues). But hear this TLG employee(s) if anyone is listening If you start making battle packs with generic orcs, Uruk-hai, elves, etc. I'll be buying dozens upon dozens as will many others . I can't see any way that battle packs would fail but I'm not holding my breath that they'll ever see the light of day. On the matter of LotR continuing, if (because I still don't want to get my hopes up) Orthanc is announced this summer I think we can all relax for a bit. I mean making a UCS set for a theme that's getting discontinued soon doesn't make a lot of sense does it (Haunted House comes to mind but I think TLG knows that because it resembles a modular somewhat it will do well, but that's another topic). The thought has crossed my mind however that Orthanc may just come out next summer as a cheaper smaller set or god forbid never come out at all! Again I'm really trying to keep my expectations low. Who knows though, some people hear LotR is doing well and others not so much. And without TLG saying much more on the matter we just don't know. I know when I was last at a local TRU I was speaking with the woman who orders from Lego. We got to talking and she said they had a hard time ordering in LotR sets as Lego wouldn't fulfill them. They had barely any LotR but all the Hobbit. Now is that because TLG didn't make enough, were they low from the holidays, was this woman feeding me a line or are they just selling that well? Only time will tell and in the mean time I'm going to droll over Deathleech's amazing Middle Earth army and hope I can amass that many minifigs before they're gone.

Huge thanks for the post, I was confused on the pillars on the outside of the throne entrance but I see they're somewhat like the tower how they expand out (Wow that probably doesn't make any sense). I'm also trying to recreate Eurolock's design which is my first ever MOC and my building techniques aren't quite there yet (which means I have to buy more sets to learn right??). Plus I don't have nearly enough bricks to re-create the cave section or finish off the mountain back drop (again coming back to buying more sets lol).

It's funny because Weathertop hasn't seen any clearance prices around me but I managed to get my first from the U.S. for $40 and 4 more (price matching) for $35 to complete the Nine Nazgul. I've gone a little over the top with LotR/Hobbit sets with 1 of each except the 5 Weathertop's, 2 Helm's Deep, 3 Mines of Moria, and 6 Uruk-hai Army. If Lego would just release Battle Packs it would ease my army building efforts. Wow those images of the Corsair and Black Gates make me want those sets even more! The ship was already my favorite of the bunch but those pictures really show off it's true awesomeness. The Battle at the Black Gates isn't my favorite, but I'll be buying 2 regardless to give that completed look. I can't wait for (fingers crossed) Lego to announce Orthanc and I hope they go over the top on that set. I'm guessing TLG won't push it into Death Star/ISS territory but I would really love it if they did. Am I alone in that train of thought or is anyone else hoping for something larger then what is currently rumoured?

I was going to save the set for my son but I guess I'll "have" to build it lol.

Can someone do me a huge favor? I just received a Vampyre Castle from Amazon that was mangled and I'm wondering if I have all the parts. I have bags 1-7 (a single bag for each number), Instructions with stickers, and the 2 seperate castle tops (black with tiles/shingles). My concern is that the castle tops were loose within the Lego box (which was broken open on the end) so I'm wondering if they should be part of another bag. Does anyone know if I may be missing something? Thanks in advance!

This was my first Lego set in 20 years which is almost a bad thing. I've since picked up 2 Helm's Deep, The Goblin King Battle, Mines of Moria, Troll Assault Wagon, and Attack on Weathertop. For me non of them compare to the joy I felt building MMV. I must be strange but I prefer the non numbered bags, and spending hours sorting and building. I say it's bad because now my brain is telling me I need to buy more sets preferably big sets to feed my addiction.

Thank you to everyone who had been contributing to this thread, I just came back to Lego and Kingdoms was always my favorite theme growing up (I just didn't own much if any). After buying MMV just before Christmas I've been craving anything Kingdoms. I'll definitely be picking up at least 1 of each of the kingdom sets when they're released.