Lancethecat

If the 2015 DC set rumors are true, it could turn out to be the best year for LEGO Superheroes yet...

Another similarity between the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogies: both had second movies with climactic battles that ended up becoming $130 LEGO sets. And on the subject of the Bag End set, if you ever come across it at your local store, BUY IT. Everything about it is incredible- the minifigures, the design, and the parts are all amazing. I own one and it's awesome.

Please count me in! I've been reading everything I could about New York Comic Con over the past couple of years in the hopes that I may someday be able to go there. I've never been to a Comic Con or even a LEGO convention before, so this would be a totally new experience for me. P.S. If I happen to win two LEGO-sponsored contests for tickets to New York Comic Con, what happens then? I'm not saying that it's likely, but you never know...

I have all the pictures saved on my computer (not sure if I should upload them to Flickr yet...), so I'll try to give detailed descriptions of each: The First Night: Includes a small hut with an adjoining pig pen and a tree. The hut can fold open like the Haunted House. Minifigures include Steve, a Creeper (with that new leg piece), and a pig. Crafting Box: Mostly just some Minecraft parts (Steve, Skeleton, red cow) mixed in with regular bricks. It's supposed to be '8 in 1', so you can build eight different models from it. The Ender Dragon: A tan brick base with three black pillars, each topped with a transparent brick (one of them has a light brick). Figures include Steve in a light blue suit of armor, three Endermen, and an Ender Dragon. The Mine: Figures include Steve in a grey suit of armor, a Skeleton, a Zombie, a Creeper, and a Spider.

Your Doctor Strange looks especially nice!

Here's what I think Peter Jackson should have done with The Hobbit: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey- Climaxes with Bilbo saving the dwarves from the spiders (a really redeeming moment for him), ends with dwarves imprisoned in Elven-King's halls (a much less infuriating cliffhanger than the one in DoS) The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug- Climaxes with Battle of Five Armies Dungeons of the Necromancer (or some other name)- a spin-off film that runs parallel to the events of The Hobbit, includes Radagast, the White Council, and everything in Dol Guldur. Hollywood would get the three movies they wanted, Hobbit fans would get a story that isn't bloated with extraneous scenes to make more money, and Dol Guldur fans would get to see the White Council fighting the Necromancer! If Hollywood thinks that a Necromancer movie wouldn't be popular because it's non-canon, they're kind of proving to themselves that nobody wanted all of that extra stuff in the first place, aren't they?

Here are some simple changes to the minifigure lineups that I think would satisfy everyone, including LEGO itself: Lake-Town Attack Replace Bain with Bolg (everybody wants Bolg, nobody wants Bain, and the bad guys are already outnumbered in this set anyway) The Battle of Five Armies Replace Legolas with an Iron Hills Dwarf (Legolas can't be that big of a draw for kids, can he?) And then we'd all get what we wanted! Except for Beorn, but he'd probably require a new mold anyway.

Here are some custom figures that I made for a LEGO Ideas project: Old Bilbo is shown here in the outfit he wore at the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring. He's a pretty important character in the trilogy, and I'm surprised that LEGO hasn't made him yet. Old Bilbo by lancethecat, on Flickr Gandalf is decked out in full Santa garb, with a red cloak to match. Santa Gandalf by lancethecat, on Flickr If you like these figures and want to see them in a future set, there's a link to my project below.

Ninja pirates... you know, I could see that working out pretty well...

I'd like to see a Mixel- or Woody-size Groot with a Rocket Raccoon microfigure.

(Leaked pictures of the sets are still available at Groovebricks!)

I'm not a fan of Minecraft myself, but the sets do have a certain charm to them. Do you think it would be cheaper just to build your own Minecraft world with regular bricks and then Bricklink the figures?

If you say that the mine area is worth $50, the throne room $40, and Smaug $30, The Lonely Mountain is only about $10 overpriced, which isn't that bad when you think about it.

Does LEGO normally announce store exclusives at the same time they announce wide-release sets?

This has been brought up in the forum multiple times, but I don't think it has its own topic yet... we still have a lot of important characters from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings who haven't gotten their own minifigures yet. The minifigures for the third Hobbit wave have already been revealed, and we're not sure if we're getting another LotR wave yet, so we have a pretty good idea of what we're missing. Here are the minifigures I'd like to see in future sets, by order of least to greatest importance: Pippin and Merry in Armor- So far, these hobbits have only appeared in casual Fellowship attire, but they both play major roles fighting for Gondor and Rohan in Return of the King. Pippin would fit right into a D2C Minas Tirith set, and Merry would be the perfect character to round out a Fell Beast set. Old Bilbo- I actually have a custom-made Old Bilbo minifigure myself (I made it for a LEGO Ideas project), but I doubt that we'll get him in any future sets. Gondor Soldier- Half of Return of the King basically revolved around these people. They deserve their own battle pack by now. Faramir- He'd go into the Minas Tirith set along with Pippin and a few Gondor Soldiers. Bolg- They made new hairpieces for the orcs in the upcoming Lake-Town set but they couldn't even make Bolg? How does that even make sense? Random Mirkwood Elf- So far the elf soldiers we've gotten aren't very movie-accurate. They should have replaced Legolas with one of these in the Battle of Five Armies set. Random Iron Hills Dwarf- They should release a $30 battle pack with just these guys. Eowyn- We already have Arwen and Tauriel. Galadriel is coming soon. Why, then, has LEGO decided not to give us an Eowyn figure yet? Balrog- A brick-built Balrog would be able to be an entire set in itself. Tom Bombadil- Just kidding. Witch-King- By now, LEGO simply has no excuse for not releasing a Witch-King minifigure. We even have the Mouth of Sauron already, for crying out loud! They can't end the LotR theme without this character appearing at least once; he's just too important. What about you? Are there any other Tolkien characters who you think deserve their own figures?

Which character did Bill Murray get as a minifigure?

This model looks incredible! Amazing work!

The advent calendar actually includes seven minifigures, but I only posted pictures of Santa Gandalf and Old Bilbo because the others can be found in existing sets. Although making more exclusive figures might not be such a bad idea... does anybody else think I should update the project with new characters like Faramir and Eowyn?

$24 for any minifigure seems pretty ridiculous, especially if it's in a set that hasn't even been discontinued yet. You can get Benny and his spaceship (Spaceship, SPACESHIP!) for the price of four Benny figures at your local retailer. I would wholeheartedly recommend doing that instead.

I don't watch video reviews because they use up too much internet data. Picture reviews are better because you can easily switch back and forth between different parts of the review.

I've heard about people adding back walls to their Tower of Orthanc sets, but I've never seen anyone add extra floors before. Nice work!

I don't know if anyone else has mentioned this yet, but I've noticed that LEGO seems to be printing too many details on this summer's Star Wars minifigures. Take Luke, for example: he has so many lines on his face that it makes him look downright ugly. What was wrong with his previous face prints? Other examples include General Veers from the AT-AT and Owen Lars from the UCS Sandcrawler. Does anyone else think that these figures are becoming too detailed? Or is it just me?

I also think that a Middle Earth Advent Calendar would be great, but we definitely won't get one this year. I built one myself and put it on LEGO Ideas, so here's hoping...

I would love it if they created a polybag with a minifigure-scale Groot. That would make a great promotional set...

I feel the same way about the sets in this theme as I do about the Hobbit movies: they had all the materials they needed to make great things, and they did deliver most of the time, but sometimes, it seemed that they went out of their own way to anger fans and screw things up. That being said, I'm glad that LEGO was able to acquire the Hobbit license and make these sets. That Lake-Town Attack looks especially nice.