Darth Caedus

Not even popular belief, we know for a fact that Saruman will come to save Gandalf, as evidenced by Christopher Lee's 2013 Christmas video where he reveals that he will show up in TABA with 'lots of action.' That can only be Dol Guldur. And Saruman won't show up alone - Galadriel will be there for sure as well (since Gandalf sends Radagast to fetch her specifically), and likely Elrond.

Lego making an LOTR CMF series would be inordinately profitable given just how many would be purchased by AFOLs. Let's dream for a second... Lego LOTR CMF Series: 16 figs, $2.99 apiece I've marked after each listing how many of each I would purchase at minimum. Free Peoples: Gondorian Warrior: Helmet, Shield, Gladius. x10 Man of Rohan: Helmet, Battleaxe, Green cape. x2 Numenorean Warrior: Helmet, Shield, Spear, black cape. x6 Last Alliance Elf: Helmet, Shield, Elven Spear, blue cape. x6 Guard of the Fountain Court: Helmet, Spear, black cape. x4 Galadhrim Warrior: Helmet, Elven Spear, grey-blue cape. x4 Ithilien Ranger: black cape and black hood, bow, quiver. x3 Oathbreaker: deathly green cape, helm, green-colored weapon. x5 Forces of Darkness: Morannon Orc: Grey skin color, crude sword, Great Eye shield. x4 Morgul Orc: Pale green skin color, crude polearm. x5 Corsair of Umbar: ratty black hair, cutlass, corsair torso. perhaps a bow and quiver. x3 Mordor Uruk: crude mace, ratty black hair, blueish skin. x6 Moria Goblin: iconic Moria Goblin shield and helmet, crude sword, dark green skin. x8 Haradrim Warrior: black ninjago headwrap, spear, bow, quiver. x4 Easterling: helmet, tower shield, poleaxe. x10 Nazgul: same as in Weathertop (most people still want/need to collect 9 of them) x9 And I can definitely see myself scraping up every spare penny to buy more Last Alliance, Gondorians, and Easterlings. Lego Unlicensed is about the bricks, but Lego Licensed is about the minifigures - and minifigures are the coolest way the build armies. Smaller and less goofy than action figures, bigger and easier to manage that Games Workshop stuff.

I am a huge fan of the Mouth of Sauron but it's a travesty that they wasted a helmet mold on him and not a Gondorian Soldier helmet. Literally, if you strip everything else away, this line needed most of all a Gondorian soldier helmet in an affordable battle-pack, and they haven't done it. Mouth can't be used as a Nazgul either, his torso is too distinctive - as is Aragorn's, nobody else wears the colors of Gondor in that unique blue. However, Alcarin, I both agree and disagree with you about the Black Gate - making it a "Buy 2" set was a supremely stupid decision on Lego's part since it's too costly for kids to get 2 and has no minifig incentive to buy 2 for AFOLS (3/5 uniques and 2 terrible orc rehashes). It should have been a little more expensive and included a second tower and a couple more minifigures or an Olog-hai. Putting in armybuilders wouldn't have been ideal there; when it comes down to it, the Council of Elrond was a slot wasted on what should have been an Osgiliath armybuilder. Elrond is unnecessary since he can show up in a White Council TABA set and Arwen...we can live without Arwen. Especially when there isn't an Eowyn.

Mount Doom could therefore be a 2nd Age Mount Doom - same exact play features, and it could have Elrond, Isildur, Sauron, Elendil, and Last Alliance warriors of both races, plus some Orcs. Sidenote: I don't know about anyone else, but have you looked at Polybag Elrond vs Council Elrond? Council Elrond is a VASTLY superior facial print - it actually resembles Hugo Weaving (compare to real version) and the hair is correct. Gamestop Elrond really doesn't look that much like Elrond at all. Thus, since the Council of Elrond is the 'superior' Elrond, I've been using my Gamestop Elrond as a Gil-Galad minifigure.

I made a sojourn to my Lego store today and grilled the employees for answers. Both of them are veterans and told me that they strongly expected there to be at least one more wave of LOTR, and were absolutely sure of another Hobbit wave (probably bigger than the 3-set Hungarian estimate) and that things would only 'peter out' once the movies ceased. They also confirmed something else interesting: they said that POTC wasn't cancelled because of poor sales; in fact, they sold through their entire stock very quickly (the 2 ships in particular) - it's just that with only one movie, Lego didn't choose to continue the line after the Black Pearl - mistake, considering that a D2C Dutchman would've sold fast because pirate ships always sell. Upon further discussion, they said that the license that's notorious for being a failure is Prince of Persia - that they couldn't sell any of those sets and they were an incredible "pain" to get rid of. I mentioned the lack of an ad in the instructions, that seemed to not faze them at all, and they stuck by their stance that there will be more LOTR in some form this year. Not an official confirmation, given the limited intel that Lego store employees posses, and I'm still awaiting true confirmation with bated breath, but there's the latest.

If we get the rumored 3-set LOTR wave this year and then a roughly 6-set TABA wave, I'll buy all of each of them, and more of any armybuilders or relevant polybags. If we get more Lego Tolkien after that, I'll buy that too. Otherwise, my Lego purchases are essentially limited to armybuilding from the CMFs, though this is a dry year given the weak Lego Movie Series (only need to armybuild the awesome Mexicans for illegal immigrant army) and the upcoming Simpsons series (gag, complete pass). I might grab one cool Star Wars battle pack but that's it for the time being.

Fellowship members are pretty much the last priority (behind armybuilders, major unique characters like Eowyn/Faramir, and epic giants like Treebeard and the Balrog) but since they're the big names, I'm sure we'll get some included. Here's a look at what's left for the Fellowship and my estimation of whether they're desirable or not: Unproduced Versions of the Fellowship: Desirable, Yes or No? -Boromir Captain: Yes - an excellent minifig on its own or for reuse as a Gondorian -Aragorn Casual Rivendell: No - we have two Aragorns already and this is a pointless outfit only seen at the Council and romance scenes -Aragorn Casual Edoras: No - though the maroon style is slightly more interesting than the above, still not an outfit featured in any particular crucial scenes -Aragorn Elessar Telcontar: Yes - King Aragorn is "Ultimate Aragorn" and would be a great edition to any display piece -Legolas Casual: No - Legolas' casual outfit, seen at the end of ROTK and elsewhere, isn't particularly special and has no distinguishing features -Legolas Poncho Rivendell: No - Legolas' poncho-style thing seen at the Council is slightly interesting but not really necessary, and it wouldn't look good in lego form -Gimli: No - we do not need any other version of Gimli whatsoever since his outfit is essentially irrelevant in lego form, as the beard and helmet are the defining features that cover most of his body -Gandalf: No - we have both Grey and White versions and he never looks any different. -Frodo Orc Armor: Sure - if they chose to do it, it'd be interesting, and you could reuse the armor for a generic Orc if need be -Frodo Crack of Doom: Yes - if they're going to make another Frodo, let it be the battle-damaged Mordor version with a cool alternate "evil" face from when he finally succumbs to the Ring. -Sam Shire: No - Sam wears some different Hobbit clothing in the Shire but it's really nothing special. -Sam Orc Armor: Sure - see above -Sam Crack of Doom: Yes - Sam delivers his iconic Can't Carry It For You line while in his most bedraggled form, so it'd be cool to get him in that style. -Smeagol Nice Face: Yes - Smeagol is *sort* of a Fellowship member and since they have the mold, they might as well toss him in another LOTR set if there's an opportunity - we have two Mean Gollums and no Nice Smeagols. -Merry Party: No - Merry wears suspenders during the Party and it's a look we could just use Bag End Bilbo's torso for to be honest. -Pippin Party: No - see above -Merry Rohan: Yes - The most sorely lacking version of all the Fellowship members, Rohan Merry does epic, important things in this outfit. -Pippin Gondor: Yes - Not as desirable as Merry Rohan but still an excellent version to get - plus it can be reused as a Gondorian torso in a pinch. -Sam/Frodo/Merry/Pippin Triumphant Princes: No - When the Hobbits return to the Shire in ROTK they all have elite princely gear but it's a 30-second scene and one that we don't need minifgure slots wasted on. Now, Lego being Lego, they're more than likely going to give us at least a couple pure repacks of existing Fellowship members. Which of those do we need to see again? -Aragorn Ranger: Heck No - Already an overused minifig, his print isn't even that movie accurate (too tan). Fix the print or drop it altogether. -Aragorn Black Gate: No - Can't be reused as a Gondorian, and though it's a cool outfit, there's literally no other scene it could appear in - and Black Gate is a solid set as it is, so it's not a minifigure a lot of people who want it are going to have missed. -Gandalf the Grey: No, No, 1000x No - The most overproduced character in the entire Tolkien Lego line. But if we get a Balrog, he's guaranteed to appear, and I accept that - just please, let him not show up in any other LOTR set. Ever. (he'll make one more Hobbit set appearance, no doubt, nothing to be done about that) -Gandalf the White: Yes - If you're going to give us Gandalf, another Gandalf the White wouldn't go amiss - and it'd be an opportunity to include Shadowfax. -Gimli: No - with LOTR Wave 2 already having 2 Gimlis, and 4 in the line total, we've officially OD'd on Gimli. -Legolas: Meh - though both have been expensive sets, he's popped up twice now, and he continues to appear in Hobbit merchandise. Not a priority, but I can understand some people still missing out on him. -Merry: Yes - If they're not going to make a Rohan Merry, repacking Merry in some random set wouldn't hurt, since he's only in Weathertop. -Pippin: Yes - same as Merry. -Frodo Shire: No - been in a cheap set AND a polybag, no need to repack. -Frodo Normal: No - been in multiple lower-end sets, not necessary. -Sam: Yes - unless they give us a new one, Sam has only seen the light of day once. -Boromir: Yes - although they should use a new Gondorian torso and give us a Captain Boromir, he's still a rare fig. Actually, a cool idea for a Gondor battle pack would be Osgiliath with Captain Boromir, Gondorians, and Orcs - a battle that we see just having ended in TTT flashback, and who cares about canon when it comes to getting the minifigures we need?

Solid Braga. I still hope he survives Smaug's attack and can show up as the unique in a BO5A armybuilder (LEGO! LISTEN TO US! THIS IS A GOOD IDEA!). Actually, who cares if he survives or not, Lego doesn't care about movie or book canon either way. Seriously, and this is to any chance of any Lego rep ever reading this, as slim as that is: people are going to buy a $30 Battle of Five Armies set because it has Battle of Five Armies warriors and has the iconic name "The Battle Of Five Armies." Nobody is going to be buying it for the uniques. A minor fellow like Braga is perfectly fine and would make it the ultimate armybuilder. I mean, seriously, it's as simple as this: BO5A $30 set with an unusable unique like Armored Bilbo or somesuch goofiness. I'd buy 2 and maybe bricklink a few more of the non uniques. without an unusable unique? 5 sets or more. Kids are definitely the target audience, but the sets that reach them best are the impulse buys ($13 sets with a couple iconic uniques), flagship sets (Helm's Deep type stuff), and ultra-desirable locations (Bag End). The armybuilder sets are AFOL gold, and we still have no problem with tossing in all the kid-friendly stuff that makes it appealing to the younger audience (look at UHA's ballista, nothing wrong with that and we still get a proper ratio of good-to-evil in a near-perfect armybuilder). Come to think of it, I have to wonder if we'll get two Bilbo's for this last wave - Bilbo's blue coat might get skipped wholesale in favor of whatever armor he dons for the Battle. It's certainly not a particularly interesting outfit, I wouldn't mind it being dropped. It's a shame that cool blue market coat was blu-ray only... And on the subject of modding Laketown people, just completed my headswaps of Laketown soldiers tonight. 17 Laketown Guards (LTC + 16 polys), and only one retains the original orange-bearded face - I harvested peach faces that were appropriate from a wide variety of sources to make an ultra-realistic force. No clone-army stuff going on.

Getting another Warg is quite likely in my opinion - there are tons at the BO5A and Lego might as well get as much use out of the mold as they can - it costs them zilch, not even the price of a new print just to cast it in black or tan this time around and it adds a fresh draw to any set it's included in. It's rather like saying they've made horses for Rohirrim and Nazgul so we won't get any more - of course we'll get more horses if there are relevant sets including cavalry in any Hobbit or LOTR wave to come. As for DG, you are correct. The Orcs peace out at the end of TDOS, I think it's going to be a White Council fight, not a large scale battle - certainly not armybuilder material. Too many uniques, not enough minions. Besides, at BEST we could get some rehashed Gundabad Orcs, some Galadhrim reusing Haldir's body, and Galadriel, who is too unique to reuse effectively. We have enough Elves already, what with the polybag AND the MEA armybuilder. Let any armybuilder be BO5A centric.

Worst LOTR Lego Idea 2013, victory to Darth Punk. ;P In all seriousness, I think we have a few possible scenarios: Existing sets: Summer 2012: LOTR Wave 1. Major Sets = 7 Winter 2012: Hobbit Wave 1. Major Sets = 6 Summer 2013: LOTR Wave 2. Major Sets = 4 + 1 Uber Winter 2013: Hobbit Wave 2. Major Sets = 4. WORST CASE SCENARIO: Summer 2014: nothing. zilch. nada. Winter 2014: Hobbit Wave 3. Major Sets = 4-5. We get no Smaug, or a crappy Smaug. No BO5A armybuilder. No armored Elves or Iron Hills Dwarves. Lots of repacks - another identical Bard, Tauriel, Legolas, Thranduil, Bilbo, etc. BEST/DREAM CASE SCENARIO: Summer 2014: LOTR Wave 3. Major Sets = 5. Gondorian/Orc armybuilder(s). Faramir. Eowyn, Merry, Witchking. Fellbeast in an affordable set that can be bought multiple times. New print for Orcs. The Balrog. Winter 2014: Hobbit Wave 3. Major Sets = 6. New Orc helmet and/or print. Armored Mirkwood Elves. Iron Hills Dwarves. Cheap BO5A army builder(s). Galadriel. A proper Sauron. Bolg. Summer 2015: LOTR Wave 4. Major Sets = 4. Anything Lego wants - cool stuff to fill in the gaps like a 2nd Age Sauron, Isildur, Elendil, Numenoreans, Last Alliance Elves, Denethor, Celeborn, Galadhrim Elves that aren't Haldir, Fountain Court Guards, Gondor Pippin, Old Bilbo, Coronation Aragorn, Gorbag, Shagrat, Ugluk, Grishnakh, Gothmog. Tom Bombadil for maximum lulz. Winter 2015: Hobbit Wave 4. Major Sets = 4. One final exclusive Orthanc-scale set from either trilogy sometime in 2015 or 2016 at the latest. Hobbit stuff they've missed, like Radagast's house, or a proper pale Azog (a fantasy), A Goblintown Goblin armybuilder, a better Warg armybuilder (with black and tan wargs), Azanulbizar Orcs/Thorin/Dwalin/Balin, Thror, Thrain, Erebor Dwarves, Girion of Dale, Bain. Ultimate fantasy - anything that shows up in any kind of flash-back in TABA (anything 1st or 2nd Age that is mentioned in LOTR/Hobbit that they have the rights to, literally anything from Silmarillion stuff would be beautiful.) LIKELY SCENARIO (at this point in time, with the knowledge we have): Summer 2014: *something* - either a medium or small LOTR Wave 3, a Hobbit superset, or quite possibly just a single set. Maybe nothing at all. Winter 2014: Hobbit Wave 3. Major Sets = 5-6. Smaug of some sort. Dain, Bolg, armored Thorin are really the only guaranteed appearances. Summer 2015: equal chance of nothing at all or a final superset or wave from either/both trilogies to close out the line.

rule out Dwalin since he has a mohawk which would need a new mold. Rule out crazy Thrain because he isn't in AUJ or TDOS and this Hobbit game is only based on those two movies. A Warrior of Dale would be cool, since they're basically just a recolor of the Laketown guard.

Whatever it is, it won't have a new mold. But it could be a wide variety of options. Let's consider the possibilities, since it has to be a Hobbit character: -Ian Holm Bilbo in red vest: likely but not particularly desirable IMO. -Thrain (not-insane): could reuse one of the existing Dwarven beards. Thror is off the table, he'd need a new beard. -Bolg: only if he's not molded like Azog. Unlikely. -Girion of Dale: This would be a particularly cool one - use Kili's hair. -Casual Thranduil (crownless) -Galadriel (blond version of Arwen's hair would work) -Gundabad Orc General (a brilliant place to release that old Bolg mold, come to think of it) -Lindir -Goblintown Goblin (a new printing, perhaps the one that falls down to Gollum's cave) -(Any Dwarf) with Cobweb effects added onto their print for a 'Mirkwood' version -(Any Dwarf besides Thorin) in Casual wear from the second half of TDOS -Thorin in regal robes (departing Laketown) -Thorin in tan-brown gear (Erebor infiltration) -Alfrid from Laketown (doubt that he would need any new mold) -Braga, Laketown Captain (though if he survives the attack on Laketown he'd be the ideal BO5A battlepack unique) -Bain, son of Bard -either of Bard's daughters

Isn't that like winning a dollar in the lottery? ;P As for Bolg, remember that he needs a quiver! Bolg has his mace but it's his bow that has the most dramatic impact on TDOS' plot.

He appears in the flashback to Azanulbizar in the Hobbit, Dwalin fights and wounds him. If Lego wanted to get truly wacky they could give us an Azanulbizar battle pack - Gundabad Orc General, Orcs, and Erebor Dwarves. But that's the only way his design could show up, unless he pops up again in the Battle of Five Armies (he isn't definitively slain in the AUJ flashback)

Bolg will come in the TABA wave for sure, so I'll wait patiently until then. There's no proper way to capture his unique torso and head appearance with any existing elements.

Sit on them for a year or two until DGA is retired, then resell on eBay for a modest profit :P I bought all the TDOS sets for myself and my brother for Christmas; plus an extra MEA and 16 Laketown polybags. Have not built Bard's Riverboart Chase yet but Dol Guldur Battle was a truly surprising set: on the box it looks pretty crappy, but it's a solid size and the build is good one. Even without DGA latched on it's a pretty good display piece with some cool features. My dream to make DGB and DGA better is to get a TABA set, 'Dol Guldur Rescue' or something like that's only a tall ruined tower of Dol Guldur with a battledamaged Gandalf, Galadriel, armored Elrond, and fiery Sauron - that could be attached to DGA and DGB to flesh out Dol Guldur even more. I had something of an amusing thought process while building Dol Guldur Battle - what a mad, mad world we are living in: when Lord of the Rings came out in theatres, we dreamed of ONE Hobbit movie. If anyone even dared to envision Hobbit Lego, it would have been Bag End or Smaug, perhaps Goblintown or Laketown, at the most. Dol Guldur was a relatively obscure location in the Tolkien mythos, and it was a lot of fun to see what the video game designers imagined for it in The Battle For Middle Earth II. I remember thinking, "it would have been cool if this ever could have appeared in any of the movies." And now, cut to 2013, where the flagship set of the Hobbit Lego wave is a battle in Dol Guldur with Azog and Radagast. Crazy times.

They could get away with only one mold if they really wanted to. Merry and Eowyn both deliver their fatal blows to the WItch-King sans helmets, so it's really just the WK himself who has to have a new mold.

This is a good point. In most fandom there's almost somebody who knows a guy who knows a guy, or simply has a connection to someone in the franchise's PR (for example, in the SW action figure collecting fandom on rebelscum.com, there were several high-level members with 'connections'). Lego would only be advantaged by informing us if an LOTR wave is coming, because many will budget their cash ahead of time to prepare for a large purchase. The more time in advance to know something's coming, the more money can be saved, the more sets can be bought.

No idea. Not really an in-demand item, but one good thing is that it will help increase the supply of blond elf-hair out there on the market.

3 months from now, who knows - but if there's no Lakemen armybuilder come Dec. 2014, prices will definitely soar. These are probably a pretty good investment, much better than the Mirkwood Elves. I bought 8 of those and opened them, and then 10 more to hold on to - as soon as MEA was starting to get leaked on here, I sold those 10 as fast as possible for $10 apiece. It was worth it because they were all purchased for BOGO50 in-store, so each poly cost under $4 initially. But those polybags wouldn't be worth much now that the vastly superior MEA is available everywhere. Lakemen, on the other hand, have been a little more online heavy, appearing for sale on TRU.com over the past month intermittently, and they haven't really been available during an in-store BOGO50 - so the cost of acquiring them initially is higher, but if you want to resell them down the line, they'll be worth much more than any ME polybag will ever be. As for the store pickup, I can't emphasize the value of this enough, people - I just reserved 8 more for myself (not even to resell) at my local TRU, it's easy as can be. Demand will increase once they leave the shelves, since they're the perfect Laketown armybuilder. In the initial flurry it was all about striking while the anvil is hot; I paid the exorbitant shipping from TRU when they were first available and sold the 1st and 3rd bags ever to be listed on ebay and sold 'em for about $30 apiece - they've dropped a lot in price now, but I was glad that I was able to recoup all of what I spent on 8 of them over two different TRU orders (one normal, one BOGO50) by selling just two of them.

It's a valiant effort, but it'd be a waste of time - better to get Gondorians in an armybuilder-size set. I was thinking about this and it occurred to me how one could maximize armybuilder potential AND fulfill Lego's one unique character requirement. In fact, there's two ways around this: $29.99 Osgiliath Attack Osgiliath ruined archway, Orc boat 2x Gondorian Warrior (new helmet mold at minimum) 3x Morgul Orc (new print at least, gray/green facial coloring) 1x Fully armored Faramir on horseback (combines from the scene where they attempt to retake Osgiliath, but it doesn't matter - and Armored Faramir is a simple headswap away from being a generic Gondorian Warrior) They could also pad the price by 10-20 bucks and add a Fellbeast with a generic Nazgul, but that's optional.

Absolutely! That's a much better general set design, it's just in stupid colors. Make a Dol Guldur more like that, with proper redbrown rust colors and green-grays galore, some bridges and crevasses, trapdoors and cages and stuff, and it'd be awesome.

Ah,the days of baseplates. Alas, those days are behind us, as glorious as they were.

Polybag is a rare promotional item, so we could definitely still get one. And Lego loves to make the most out of molds while they still can. As has been discussed previously, any $30 BO5A pack should have an equality or plurality of Dol Guldur Orcs included. Lego should really just make a 'Good' and 'Evil' armybuilder like Star Wars, which would be far more practical. $14.99 The Free Peoples of the North: 1x Lakeman, 1x Iron Hills Dwarf, 1x Armored MEA, 1x beast (Eagle, Elk, or Boar, whatever's appropriate) $14.99 The Necromancer's Army: 2x Dol Guldur Orcs 1x Goblintown Goblin (if they go to the BO5A, if not, just another DG Orc), 1x beast (warg, bat swarm, whatever)

<screams of frustration> been calling my Massachusetts TRU for days with no luck. What part of the states are you in? I hope they get here soon.