TheWorldAhead

Just ordered 79005 (Wizard Battle) and 79006 (Council of Elrond) from Amazon. I won't have time to build them for a while, because I'm going on a long trip, but I didn't want to take even the SLIGHTEST chance of missing them.

Sorry if this is off-topic, but why make Lothlorien exclusive? Do just mean because we've had two other $40 exclusives (Orc Forge and Barrel Escape)? Come to think of it, I'm surprised we didn't get an exclusive in this wave--though I suppose Orthanc is going to fill that gap in a major way.

It seems like everyone has pretty much similar expectations at this point. I imagine TLG is thinking along the same lines.

That's a good point about availability and affordability. Heck, I couldn't afford Minas Tirith if it's as expensive as Orthanc! Nuju Metru's design was outstanding, in my opinion, but at the same time I can't imagine making the city much smaller. I mean, Helm's Deep was just a castle; Minas Tirith is literally an entire city. I don't know, has there ever been a regular-release set in the $150+ range?

At the moment, I'm using Elrond's short dark-blue cape for Pippin, though it makes his outfit too monochromatic. The light-green one is definitely wrong, though. The one that would probably work best is Gilderoy Lockhart's lavender cape from 4730 "Chamber of Secrets" (although I doubt very many people still have that cape). My own is practically ruined...

I think the Prancing Pony would be very similar-looking to Medieval Market Village, but since some people might have missed out on that set, this could potentially be a good thing. Then again, the Prancing Pony would be a fairly large set, and I think TLG must know that everyone wants a Minas Tirith set. I don't think they would waste time/sets on the Prancing Pony, which would only have one really new minifigure, namely Barliman Butterbur. Here are my hopes/expectations for Summer 2014: $20--Treebeard Travels $30--Bridge of Khazad-dum/Balrog Battle $40--Lothlorien/Caras Galadhon $70--Golden Hall of Meduseld $300--Siege of Minas Tirith (LEGO Exclusive)

Hm, I called the LEGO Store and they said they aren't allowed to put new sets on hold; not that it mattered in this case--there were tons of Wizard Battles and Councils of Elrond.

Hi, all! I've just been wondering: will the Series 4 Planet sets be released in the United States? I assumed they will be part of the summer wave, but I'm not so sure; the my local LEGO Store manager said they've been selling horribly, and that he heard a rumor that Series 4 was cancelled. I don't know whether he thinks the sets don't exist (in which case he is obviously wrong), or if he simply meant that they won't be released in this country. Has that ever happened before, except for the Battle of Hoth board game? I actually love the Planet sets; they are a great novelty, and a relief from wanting to buy huge sets that I can't afford. I have Series 1-3, so I hope they don't stop now...