Alcarin

The thing is..... It will be near ''impossible'' to me Erebor.... Unless they will use the style of Mines of Moria..... Erebor is another ''Mine'' I think it is far more likely that it will be Laketown with that ''tower'' holding the Crossbow and Smaug in the set..... It also depends how will the Dragon be done that is..... If its a molded creature 90% then 1100 pieces can be used for Erebor... if its half Brick built I just dont see anything else but Laketown Tower with Bard, Laketown Archer etc....

The best thing to sell collections is by selling same stuff together.... So pretty much bundling generic figs together and so on and on.

Its popular belief that Galadriel, Elron and Radagast and Saruman will come back to save Gandalf. and hence Galadriel since we got all other figs already.

Elrond fights in Dale?

Well this looks interesting... 1. a small set likely 3 figs if its 14.99 (might indeed be Gandalf, Galadriel Necromancer/Sauron 2. army builder... lets hope for dwarves of Dale and Dain in it! 3. Looks something like Weathertop style of set... 4. Looks like Smaug with 130$ price point.

In quoted with red...

Still missing the in the 2nd part... TLotR if anything.

typo 3/3 times? I dont think so :D

I dont understand why the usage TLoR ... its LOTR - Lord of The Rings As for the rest... its possible but unlikely.

It is highly unlikely or a minimal if any chance at all that LOTR would come out in 2015.... nothing supports such theory except ''mad mans hope''

Yeah but LEGO atleast did hogwarts(Minas Tirith), Hogwarts express (Fell beast :P) and so on and on and on.... How many sets did HP line have when ended? 67 according to first glance in catalog of Bricklink granted a few are polybags and those multibox kits etc... lets say 50..... 50 is still over 4 times more than LOTR had so far.... Big difference imo. Exactly... that logic holds nothing ....

My point of such ''speculation'' or better said comparison was so that you would perhaps understand that limitation were used poorly inside LOTR theme overall where MoS is the prime example.... but my whole argument falls if we get a 3rd wave... figs are figs yes I agree there is nothing we can do about it or ever could but to say they are minor part of LEGO that is kinda unfounded ... it perhaps hold some truth for the 1990s but today figs are possibly even more important than the structure or build itself.... figs sell the set alot of the time.

You might think its a little failure and not apocalypse but in a LEGO line that takes LOTR movies as a source that is a huge failure.... LOTR fans want to recreate either Fellowship scenes or make huge battle scenes.... or they want Display worthy sets (Bag End for example) Ofcourse they are limited with new printings/molds.... But to use a mold + printing on Mouth of Sauron instead of Gondorian Soldier thats a HUGE failure.... Tell me if we made a poll (granted LOTR is done) and community had a choice for Black Gates.... Either Mouth of Sauron or Gondorian soldier with new shield and helmet.... which one do you think it would win? and what would the ratio of votes be ??? Well i remember as a kid my parents and grandparents never wanted to purchase 2 or more of the same set.... even if those were 15€ sets...... they always told me ''you already got that pick something else there is loads to choose'' So the price factor was not the real issue... it was the fact I had the same set already... and I continue to see moms/dads who tell their sons they already got firefighters and police so pick something else when they want to pick another firefighter set.

Black gateis the definition of failed set design and marketing contradiction.... having named characters 3/5 and promoting double purchase to make structure look better or appropriate even is the epitome of fail in my book.... No LOTR collector wants 2x Gandalf/Aragorn or mouths of Sauron.... Now if Gate had only Gandalf and put Troll instead of Mouth and Gondor soldier instead of Aragorn we would have a ''winner'' of the 2nd wave.... But no....

LEGO has only themselves to thank for poor sales really.... If they did their research they'd knew the demographics for this line and they'd also knew what to design.... sadly they punched in the dark with their design choices..... for LOTR to ultimately succeed they should've done 1 - Bpacks 2 - Iconic locations that are DISPLAY worthy (+ occasional play features) If they followed these 2 simple steps the line would be WIN..... instead they want to make kids LOTR (Mines of Moria, Elronds council throwing feature, etc.) and adult LOTR (Orthanc, Helm's Deep, Bag End etc.) Black Gate will forever be prime example of LEGO LOTR failures... you cant have set with 3/5 named characters that is advertized as ''BUY 2 and make bigger structure'' its just against common LEGO logic for any AFOL out there.... and we all know Moms wont buy their kids 2x same set because they will tell the kid he already got this.... so we got what? An ultimate ''failed'' attempt of bolstering sales thanks to figures inside. Obviously barely any LEGO LOTR fan stand away of LEGO LOTR because of no Gondor... but that was the main thing... everyone or huge majority expected Gondor to arrive within 3rd wave... If people would sat out they would have to then pay above retail for retired sets .... I must admit if this is the end of LOTR and I knew only these sets come out I would probably purchase 5 times less..... I would get Helm's Deep and 2x uruk-hai army and bricklink entire Fellowship and tons of extra Uruks/Rohan soldiers .......... instead now i will probably be left with a half completed line without atleast 3-5 million time more iconic scenes than Pirate Ship Ambush and/or Gandalf arrives and without atleast 3 important named characters and atleast 3 types of generic soldiers (possibly more) While I am LEGO fan and LEGO LOTR brought me from Dark ages I spent majority of LEGO purchases on LOTR.... I have little to no interest in other lines except for a few extraordinary minifigures from other sets (Darth Malgus, Satele Shan, some CMFs) so without LOTR sets to atleast finish the line I have no big interest in spending for LEGO overall... but then again that might be a good thing for my future lol

I dont see how there can be 35€ retail priced set... its either 26.99€ 29.99€ or 39.99€ and the last is the most logical... since all Mirkwood/uruk hai armies and Elronds council were 39.99€ ... I never ever seen a set retailing for 35€ so its weird. If 79016 = 35€ (more logical to be 29.99 or 39.99) then I can only see the exclusive be 49.99€ or same in $ ..... Wasnt Barrel escape 50$ ???

How is the third set RRP 35€ is beyond me... this just cant seem to fit logic... usually sets go 9.99-14.99 26.99-29.99 39.99-49.99 69.99-139,99 Those seem to be the logical brackets.... how can the retailer exclusive be between 12 and 35 € sets is beyond my logic but then again LEGO is full of illogical decisions regarding both LOTR and Hobbit

Thats possible, however unlikely.... I mean if they could justify Troll in Mines of Moria there is no good reason why not justify Fell beast which would be an instant winner for all who bought LOTR (or huge majority)

Yeh how funny can this be.... making a Ship that lasts a few minutes on the screen in the flagship LEGO set in a trilogy so full of epicness and battles and everything else.... If this line ends now which seems so this will be the biggest missed opportunity of LEGO ever... and it will be hard to beat it from the top spot....

We could try organise that LOL :D

I doubt LOTR is/was as popular.... Sure we love it.... but LEGO lovers of LOTR theme/line are in my opinion a minority.... I might be mistaken but thats how I feel.

Fixed it

Yes Bag End is top seller... why... because us AFOLs bought them like ''crazy''..... It looks GREAT for display.... Why do you think a play-set like Goblin king battle or Mines of Moria are ''poor'' sellers... because they are filled with play features and look unfinished and lacking and undisplayable... how no Nazgul... what were those black guys on horses in Weathertop then? Orcs?

I think its not about Minas Tirith but more about Gondor soldiers and possibly rangers and Tower Guards.... Balrog = old figs (except Balrog)

Updated! Still trying to sell/trade (or half/half) Black Knights Castle from the 90s... 100% complete... and includes additional 49 soldiers (Dragon Knights!) Check original post with pictures!