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I bought that Elrond polybag on ebay early in 2013. I contacted Lego about the cape, and they sent me the correct long cape at no charge. Worth a shot if you care about it, he does look better with the longer cape.

I took pretty decent care of my Lego sets, which is evident in the fact that I have no outright broken, and nearly no missing parts for any of my older sets. It is interesting to see the progression of wear though. I received my first sets when in 1985 when I was 4 years old, they were some smaller castle and classic space sets. The parts that received the most wear are the small plates, the 1x2, 2x2, etc. Those things were tough for 4 year old hands to pry off, and hard even for parents since they'd always use a dull butter knife to wedge the pieces apart. When I didn't feel like bothering my parents, I just used my teeth to pry them apart. By the time I started collecting Futuron and Pirates in the later 80's, those sets are in mint-like pristine condition, thanks to the first brick separator:

I've found that people's definition of "slight wear" on used parts differs greatly on bricklink. I've received used parts that look brand new, and other parts that look like they've been through a garbage disposal. It's a learning process, you get to know which sellers are good and which aren't Fortunately I've found everyone on bricklink to be very helpful, and have never had a problem getting a part replaced when it was received in a less than desirable condition.

Here is a similar thread that I posted when I was in the middle of piecing together my old sets: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=83466#entry1618392 As I said, I ended up just getting nice looking bricks, and didn't pay that much attention to specific molds. The only ones I do pay attention to are the 1x1 plates modified with ring, and the 1x1 plates modified with clip. These mold changes are actually visibly apparent as the ring and clip parts look different, so I try to match those whenever possible. Also, be sure not to mix up the grays. You're going to want to replace old gray parts with other old gray, not the newer bluish gray color. The same goes for dark gray as well.

I've been restoring my old sets and ran into the same issue. I wanted to replace with parts from the 80's that had the same mold. However, as I looked into it I found out that sets can actually have a variety of different molds for the same part. This occurs if Lego was transitioning from one mold to the next during the set's production. For me, I stopped being so anal about it. I'm never going to sell my sets, I just wanted to replace the beat up bricks with new ones so that the model looks nice on my display shelf. The only time I try to get "original" bricks is if it's really obvious. For example, if the set has 1x1 modified plates with the thin ring, I would replace it with the thin ring instead of the newer mold with the thick ring. If you're restoring to sell, I'd definitely mention it and take plenty of pictures. No one likes surprises, especially if they paid good money for a set.

From that picture, it looks like the sloped bricks have the classic space logo printed on them, no stickers!!! Although the 'LL929' and white striped parts look stickered... can't tell if the wings are stickers or not. Very excited about this set.

Aside from a chemist doing a test in a lab, I don't think we'll ever know if the ABS being used for Chinese parts is exactly the same as parts made in Europe. So, let's assume it's the exact same plastic. There are still noticeable quality issues: 1) Yellow (especially for hands) is a different shade than non-Chinese minifigs. 2) Mold lines are more apparent in Chinese made minifigs (for example, compare the hands of a CMF to a regular minifig, the CMF has visible mold lines while the regular figures don't). 3) Chinese minifigs have a different sheen on them than regular system minifigs. Not that one is better than the other, but I would like to see my figures be consistent. 4) Problems noted with loose legs, arms, and hands. 5) Some issues with printing. The prints for the Kingdoms battle packs were of a different shade of color than figures found in regular system sets. So, no one is being biased specifically because these are Chinese parts and everything that comes out of China is bad. However, China does have a track record of poor quality control. Lego is telling us that any Lego product coming out of China is up to their quality standards and should be indistinguishable from parts made in other parts of the world. However, it's clearly not the case. That's all everyone is saying, no hysteria, just the facts.

I don't know much about the fantasy era castle sets, but this latest Castle line seems very lacking in creativity. It has a horse-cart raid, a good guy's outpost tower, a bad guy tower, and a big square castle. All of these sets were present in a similar form in the Kingdom's line. Makes me wonder why they went ahead and killed Kingdoms only to rehash the exact same sets with the new line. Would love a return to forestmen. Naval units would be very cool. We can always use civilian sets too. My kids love playing with the MMV and MVR, not everything has to be martial in nature to attract a kid's interest. I would like to see some different castles produced instead of the standard square box that's been a staple in the Castle theme since the 80's.

The only set that has me really scratching my head is the pirate ship. The designer video states that they made this the flagship set of the 2nd wave because "kid's like pirate ships," even though it got 30 seconds of screen time. If they swapped that out with a Gondor-themed set, I could eventually forgive Lego for only giving us 2 waves. However, if LotR is done for, the decision to include the pirate ship will be one of the biggest "wtf" moments I've had with Lego since becoming an AFOL. The ship looks nice, and I own one, but I'd much rather have countless other Middle Earth sets before that one. Honestly, one big D2C Minas Tirith set, which includes the Witch King with fell beast, eowyn, Merry & Pippin in their Rohan and Gondor garb, Gothmog, some random orcs, some Gondor soldiers, to send off the theme, I'd be happy with that. I can deal with not having a Balrog, and characters like Galadriel can appear in Hobbit sets. I just can't believe that Lego would leave Gondor so under-represented, just give us something!

I honestly didn't think I would be buying any new Lego when I got back into it, I thought I would be happy just messing around with what I had as a kid. Then I started buying some older classic space, castle, and pirate sets that were out when I was a kid and always wanted, but never had. So at that point I was going to cut it off at vintage Lego. After my dark age ended, I wasn't fond of the licensed sets, flesh colored minifigs, and some of the other changes that Lego has made to the product. Well, then the kids started getting into Lego themselves, so it kind of forced me to look at Lego's new offerings again since I'd be shopping for them. Let's just say that I'm now an avid collector of Monster Fighters, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Hobbit, and Kingdoms. Monster Fighters was the real oddball for me. I did not like the theme at all when I first saw it, but I loved the Haunted House so I bought that. Then I bought some of the smaller sets so I could fill the house with more creatures. Then it was just all downhill from there, it really is a very nice original theme. Town is the one I've been resisting lately. I'm highly impressed with the modular buildings, and would have probably collected them if I had been out of my dark age sooner. But, I don't have the space or money to get into that now. Also, I know myself and I'm a completionist, so I'd have to eventually get the retired modulars which would be a pretty big financial commitment. I was never really into town as a kid, mostly being a space and castle fan, so I don't feel as connected to the current city/modular theme as I do with some of the other ones.

This is such a great little set. It looks great for having a small number of pieces, I don't think the smaller sets look as good today. I bought Eldorado Fortress on ebay, and this set was bundled with it. I really love the look of the blue coat Imperial sets from that first pirate wave.

I sent Lego an email regarding LotR, and received a response within 20 minutes: Seems strange that they mentioned the movie tie-in, since the LotR wave came out 10 years after it's movie tie-in As for sets, I bought one of everything, except for -Orc Forge - bought 6, but sold 4 without the figs -Uruk-hai army - 6 -laketown guard poly- 5 -mirkwood elf poly- 3 I might buy another barrel escape since it has a lot of neat parts for making a tavern or inn.

This is actually a pretty good start, but what makes Minas Tirith distinctive are it's tiered walls. I don't know how you'd represent this in Lego scale, but I would hope that there would be a 2nd tier behind this wall. Maybe release this set, as well as the main keep with the Tree of Gondor as a seperate set that can be combined? I like the idea of keeping the beacon. Put a light brick in it!

My old minifigs were stored for over 20 years built, and didn't have any issues. I'd much rather store them put together, less likely to lose parts that way :)

The main issue is that there seems to be a wide range in quality for the chinese-made minifigs. I've been collecting CMF's for a while now, and some are good, others have very loose arms or legs, some have very stiff hands that won't rotate hardly at all, while others rotate easily. Also, the yellow is just not the same shade as a regular minifig. If you put two of them together, the difference is obvious. The plastic also has a different feel to it, hard to describe but again, if you put a CMF figure beside a regular minifig, the differences are apparent. This is why it's a bit disconcerting that Lego makes the statement that the quality of parts coming out of the Chinese factory is the same, because there's physical evidence that it's not.

Yes, I have complained about things made in Mexico, just a different product. The first new car I bought was built in the US. It ran like a top, didn't have any mismatched materials on the interior, the fit on the trim was perfect, a great vehicle. The 2nd car i bought was built in Mexico. Parts went out on it all the time. Nothing that affected how the vehicle ran, but because the interior trim wasn't fit exactly, it rattled after a while. Glue started coming out of seams. The quality differences between the two were night and day. There is a definite difference between countries who have stricter labor standards and environmental controls, and countries whose governments let these things slide to attract business. I love Lego, and I support the company, but at the end of the day they are just that: a company. They're always going to tell you that every product they make is up to their rigorous standards, even though it might not be true. It's clear with the CMF line that the figures are of a different quality in terms of plastic, colors, and fit (loose legs, etc), than figures made in other factories. As was said above, if it's too good to be true, it's probably false. You can't just magically make a cheaper product that's the exact same quality as what you were producing. There are quality cuts made somewhere.

My point is not prejudiced nor is it ignorant. Do you remember the massive toy recall Mattel had a few years ago because of the lead paint used on their toys made in Chinese factories? Mattel is a gigantic company, just like Lego, yet they seemed to have little to no control over what came out of that factory. This hasn't happened to Lego yet, but it's a distinct possibility. Now, let's say Lego issues the same kind of massive recall on sets with Chinese made parts because of lead, arsenic, whatever. Now these parts are mixed into your kids big bucket of Lego parts they've been accumulating for years, you have no idea which parts could be dangerous and which are safe. You seem to be saying that there is absolutely nothing to worry about, and because Lego 'might' be picky about the factories they do business with we should all be happy with the product. But, the facts and history prove otherwise.

The reason my parents started buying me Lego in the first place is because they were one of the few toys not made in China, and they had an outstanding quality reputation (along with the other great apsects of Lego like creativity, etc). When I got out of my dark age last year and started buying some new Lego, my parents were like "Hey, are they still making those in Denmark?" I actually hadn't thought to look, and this is when I saw the dreaded "contains parts made in China" on the box. We were all pretty disappointed in that. Lego can pull up the standards by not supporting those business practices and refusing to manufacture there. There have been many cases, some very promininent in the news, about toys coming out of China laden with heavy metals, formeldyhde, etc. As was stated above, this is the product of the environment. I don't think these things are intentionally added to the products, but there are so few enforced regulations that they probably don't know what's in the plastic once it gets shipped out the door. I think most AFOLs would not care if they paid a few extra dollars per set if they discontinued production in Chinese factories. My wife and I recently bought some small rubber Christmas-themed pencil toppers to put in their stockings. When we took them out of the package, they smelled so bad that we both got headaches and ended up throwing them all away. They were made in China. That's all the proof I need to know that anything coming from a factory there might not be safe.

I don't think everything China produces is cheap and crappy, but everything the US (at least) imports from China seems to be cheap and crappy. Why else would a company source parts in China unless it was saving them money? Saving money usually includes cutting corners, using cheaper materials, and as is the case in many Chinese factories, using borderline slave labor to produce parts. Quality issues aside, I think it's disappointing that Lego has chosen to source some parts to China just due to the human rights abuses alone.

I think you have this backwards. If they had a board and shareholders, they would demand that Lego manufacture all of their products in China in order to maximize profits. It's usually the privately held companies that don't have to answer to shareholders that will keep producing a quality product instead of cheapening it to maximize profits. Shareholders don't care about quality, they care about profits. If they think they can make more money selling an inferior Chinese made product, they will.

I think it's interesting that some of the best looking castles that Lego has produced have come from themes other than 'Castle.' Helm's Deep from LotR, and the Vampyre Castle from Monster Fighters. It seems like the designers are stuck on making the big boxy castles with towers on the corners for the official castle theme (maybe this is a restriction in design imposed by Lego?), while they go out of the box a little bit for other themes. I know Helm's Deep had to be modeled after the movie set, but it's still nice to see a castle structure that breaks out of that norm.

On minifig skin tones, I'm a yellowist for life, but I also don't mind the fleshies. I understand their place, licensed materials have characters with different skin tones, and this should be reflected in the minifig. The only place where everyone is yellow is Legoland. I see my LotR and Star Wars as collectibles that happen to be Lego, the skin colors don't bother me that much. I love most of the Middle Earth sets. While some people are disappointed with shrunken structures (weathertop, rivendell, etc), Lego is a toy company and must strike a balance between accuracy and cost. They need to provide sets at multiple price points. We'd all love it as AFOLs if every set was a $200 movie accurate set, but then the next generation of Lego fans wouldn't be able to enjoy these sets. I think the biggest thing that hurts the Lord of the Rings/Hobbit line are useless play features that detract from the aesthetics of the build. The Gimli-catapault in Council of Elrond and Helm's Deep is just unnecessary, kids are more than willing to use their imaginations to act out those scenes. The latest Hobbit sets are a bunch of uninspired walls with great minifigs, so it looks like Lego might have shifted design resources elsewhere and is hoping that the minifigs alone sell the sets. As stated before, all of the Middle Earth sets have great parts for historical MOCing, so any castle fan should probably look at buying a few for parts. I'm a castle fan from way back, I loved the black knights and forestmen. Fantasy era came out during my dark age, but looking at the sets I probably wouldn't have been that interested if I were into Lego at that time. Kingdoms really struck a chord with me. I think the sets had a great classic feel to them, while using updated parts and build techniques. The sets were varied, and included civilian as well as castle and military outposts. The theme had some great minifigs to boot. I was highly disappointed when they killed it for the current castle theme.

I started big, I bought the Haunted House as my 2nd MF purchase. I had been eyeing already as a display piece for Halloween, and figured my Vampyre Hearse needed some place to park and call home. Then I bought the werewolf since I thought it would be cool to have a scary tree with a werewolf next to the haunted house. Then the swamp creature, and the crazy scientist, all for the same reason: to fill the haunted house with monsters . I dismissed the Vampyre Castle for a long time. I actually bought it on sale, and then returned it because I already had the HH, and didn't need two big structures. Then I saw it on clearance at Toys R Us for $70, I knew I would regret it if I didn't buy so I picked it up. It's just a cool looking castle, unique from the other castles Lego has put out in the past.

After coming out of my dark age, I completely dismissed most themes other than Lord of the Rings, Hobbit, and Star Wars. I bought a discounted Monster Fighters set around Halloween just to have something new to build (I think it was the Vampyre Hearse), and the theme really started to grow on me. I ended up collecting most of the rest of the theme. Ninjago is something I dismissed as "for the kids," but after building some of the models with my kids I have a greater appreciation for the theme. I still wouldn't buy them as an AFOL (unless it's for parts), but I have fun building them with the kiddies and I can see why they like them so much. The cartoon is also surprisingly entertaining.

I've seen this happen before. It could happen for a number of reasons. TLC decided to make more to meet some perceived demand. They could be restocks from returned Christmas gifts. If you follow the Lord of the Rings line, the Orc Forge set was sold out for a while, then magically came back only to be sold out again a few days later. Then, a few days later still, back in stock.