Nicker

I'm hoping that the new Heroic knight in series 9 will have the moveable visor. I plan on etting many multiples of him if he does. It would be cool if the design of the shield and armor hint at the new Castle theme though!

I'm going to make an official prediction. I think we will likely see the Black Falcons return in at least 1 of the new sets. If this theme is similar to Kingdoms in it's design and concept then I think we will see the return of the Black Falcons and maybe even a modern rediesign and remake of the Black Falcons Fortress! Even though I'm a LOTR fan I didn't like the fact that Kingdoms got sidelined for the most part to make way new LOTR theme. If I had to choose I would have much rather had a new wave of 6 or more Kingdoms sets in 2012 instead of the LOTR sets. I think it's great that Castle sets are going to be back!

I hope they aren't action themed sets like Ninjago because if they are I won't be getting them. I see how Ninjago and Chima may appeal to some people but I'm not one fo those people.

Those same bardings can also be found in set 6085 Black Monarchs Castle from 1988.

I thought I read that the 2nd wave of LOTR sets are rumored to be released around March. If that turns out t be accurate then a castle theme release in the summer makes sense. The castle sets would end up being released between the 2nd waves of LOTR and Hbbit sets for 2013 spreading out releases to maximise sales. It seems like most Lego sets tend to have a very short shelf life these days compared to the 80s and 90s with more frequent waves to try and keep sales momentum and interest.

That would be awesome! 6086 is one of my favorite sets.

This is great news if it turns out to be true! I like the LOTR and Hobbit sets but they just don't quite seem to fill the void left by not havng new Castle sets. I wonder if the ne sets will be a reimagined Black Falcons line of sets with reimagined Forestmen as adversaries to go along with it. Hopefully we will start seeing or hearing more about these sets early in the New Year!

I would expect that Minus Tirith will be a very large exclusive set if and when it does come out. I would also expect it to be similar in scope and price as the Super Star Destroyer or the Death Star set for Star Wars. Minus Tirith is definitly one I'm hoping and waiting for.

I think it would be great to see the return of the forestmen! A Kingdoms II with falcon knights and forestmen themes would be great!

I plan on getting at least 1 if not 2 of these new Kingdoms chess sets once they have a free shipping promo again. The thing that still irritates me is that the Canadian price is $60 vs $50 in the US when the cdn dollar has been on par with the US dollar for years now.

This is probably my favorite set from the Fantasy era besides MMV. Nice adaptation to the Kingdoms theme. The only thing your missing is the Kingdoms red/white Jester.

I believe the first time the helmet with the movable visor came out in various Castle sets was way back in 1990 and it's been used off and on since then.

One of the Kingdoms sets "Escape from the Dragon's Prison" http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=7187-1 released last year had the helmet with movable visor in the dark grey pearl color. I just ordered a second set of that one mainly because I like the Dragon Knight horse barding and the helmet.

I have to say the minifigs look pretty good in this computer graphic rendering of them but I will reserve my final opinion until I see the real minifigs.

I agree this would be really nice to have both the Falcon Knights and Forestment return in some form.

Very nice! I really like the part you built on the side that juts out over the water. It matches the rest of the castle nicely. The huge tower is also very handy for being able to defend the castle much better than before. This set is one of my favorite castle sets and to see it added onto is inspiring me to come up with a few of my own ideas to modify and add onto it.

I doubt we will see anymore Kingdoms sets this year but it's very possible we may see another Kingdoms exclusive set next year if they want to continue Kingdoms on some level until they are done with LOTR sets. My guess as to why we aren't seeing Kingdoms sets alongside the LOTR sets is because they have limited shelf space in stores that needs to be freed up to make room for LOTR and Hobbit sets and TLG only has so many designers and may simply not have the resources needed to keep Kingdoms going at full force while designing LOTR and Hobbit sets.

From what I've seen int he past there are very few if any changes from the preliminary versions to final versions. Most of the LOTR prelim images will most likely end up being final box art.

I definitely agree with you about LOTR having as much or more fans than Star Wars but I just don't see this theme doing as well as a building toy set. I think Star Wars lends itself much better to being made into Lego sets. I predict the LOTR/Hobbit sets will not last any longer than 3-5 years at most.

I would like to make a suggestion here that I think many would hopefully agree with. I personally don't think any LOTR topics should be discussed to any length beyond mention in the "Historic Themes" forums since the LOTR has no more to do with Castle and other historic themes than Harry Potter or Prince of Persia do and there happens to be a special separate forum for discussing all licensed themes which is what the LOTR them is. It would be nice to have some of these LOTR threads moved to their appropriate forum so it does not dilute and pollute the "Historic Themes" forum where Castle, Western and Viking themes are discussed. Does this suggestion make sense to anyone else here besides me?

The LOTR films were epic and done very well I wouldn't say they were perfect. No film is ever perfect. I watch all of them at least a few times every year and always enjoy them for the most part. Peter Jackson and his team probably did a better job of these films than any other group of people on this planet could but they definitely not perfect. I guess with these LOTR sets will also come die hard LOTR fans like you who see no fault in anything with the LOTR game stamped on it.

I'm a big fan of the LOTR and also be an big Lego fan and I wasn't all that impressed by the preliminary images of the LOTR sets. They look just OK to me but nothing I would want to buy myself or consider above average for a Lego set design. I highly doubt these sets will change much if at all from the preliminary images we have already seen since any prelim images of other sets I've seen in the past never changed much if at all. There is no doubt that these LOTR sets will sell fairly well but I have my doubts that they will sell much better than Pirates of the Caribbean sets and won't sell as good as the Star Wars sets. LOTR is a good franchise for Lego to sell for a limited time but I think it's revenue stream and profitability in the long term is limited even compared the Castle themed sets. I have to agree that a large number of LOTR sets could be designed since the movies have so many great scenes and locations but the main problem is that many of the scenes and locals in LOTR are large in scope and complexity which can be very challenging to simplify into a good Lego set.

I just received the Kingdoms Joust set today! Here are some photos of the box in my blog if anyone is interested http://nicksbricks.blogspot.com/ Sorry about the glare from the flash in the one photo. I will try and take better ones when I get a chance.

I ordered up mine today.

I finally had a chance to see the preliminary pictures of the LOTR sets for myself and from what I was able to see I definitely won't be purchasing any of them not even for some of the unique pieces they may have. The sets definitely don't and won't fill the Castle/Kingdoms void if it in fact does replace the Castle line for the time being. As far as I'm concerned the only thing these sets have in common with Castle themed sets is a few of the same pieces here and there but not any more than some of the other themes do. I'm going to go ahead and order my Kingdoms Joust set and hope there are at least a few more Kingdoms sets that come out this year but those prospects are starting to look really grim now.