AFOLguy1970

I am curious how they will do the Tusken in the T-16. An earlier version of it is simply a bald minifig head with printing. Perhaps this one will be molded? It seems like there have been a lot of new alien molds as of late. Either way, I think the Tusken Raider will be a big draw in this set. I would like to get one of these and maybe the Shadow Troopers BP. If ITT has OT stormies, that will probably warrant multiple purchases, but I am expecting the worst case scenario since it is a Rebels set.

I looked at the photos and am really drawn to some of the parts and color schemes. That 9.99 small set with the scissors, tan arches, golden wings, and other pieces is definitely on my radar. I have a niece, so she might be the recipient of the actual figures (minus the golden wings ). As for purple leaves, they too could be useful. Where I live, the redbud tree has a purple blossom to it in the spring. It certainly could be used for something like that.

Yes, as long as the building is not the featureless architecture that is modern style, I am in. From the beginning, modulars have featured nice detail, so I have full faith that this will be an "older" appearing structure. Nice detail on the outside combined with a story featuring a detective would be expected. Hopefully, some of the cliches one would expect in a private eye agency will surface. I cannot wait to see the designer video when it comes out.

This certainly validates my desire to buy this set. It still appears to be the best set of the wave with 2 original minifigs and a new version of another. All the minifigs look really good. As for the build, it does contain some useful parts. I am tempted to run to Toy's R Us, but will probably wait until October to start buying some of these sets in order to get the double VIP points. I do have to ask though, did the Toys R US prices match the retail price, or did they inflate them?

It seems like Toys R Us always releases the sets a couple of weeks ahead of the others, including Lego Store and Lego S@H. Some of the youtube reviewers get their sets from Toys R Us so they can do a review right away before most of us will get to one. Of course, they do pay a premium in the form of Toys R US inflated prices. This could be a legitimate agreement with Lego that they are allowed to do it. The very nature of the final four hobbit sets does not seem to spoil the actual film. Dain is the only character in the new sets we have yet to see, and a Lego version of him is not going to really give much away in the the way he will appear on film. If one has never read the book or is familiar with the way this story turns out, the sets really are not going to spoil much, especially what happens with Smaug.

This guy also has created a Faramir and Witch King. They are not cheap, but I bookmarked his site. The Witch King looks really good.

I have mixed feelings about the sandtrooper, in particular relating to the detail including "sand" on them to give them the weathered appearance. One one hand, it looks really great with the detail. On the other hand, the "sand" prevents them from being used in other settings such as Death Star, Cloud City, etc. Although it would be funny to set up an inspection scene in a Death Star hanger and plug one of these guys in with the "clean" troops. If they did not have the sand detailing on them, the capes would be easily removable to make them more generic.

Probably Bricklink would be your best bet.

So far, the Lego online site has only the Lonely Mountain as an October 15 release set. Is it possible that this is the only one out of four that will be released two months ahead of the movie? In the past, it seems like they have revealed 1 set at a time weekly ahead of the release. We are quickly coming to the one month mark prior to October 15. I would find it hard to believe that Lego would not promote the sets and they suddenly show up for sale on the 15th. Guess we will know soon enough.

Neither the new OT stormies or Rebels stormies were used in the photos even though both versions are already out now. They used old style OT stormies as stand ins regardless of which categories they fall into.

Not only that, but they are not the latest version of the OT stormies due to the missing legprint. Although I would still buy that set with or without leg print if they use the OT design. In the worst case scenario, this might be the first time ever I would prefer the preliminary image material over the actual product released.

If confronted with the choice, I too would rather have the castle helmet and printed tree than have the "real" helmet with no tree.

As an AFOL who really likes the OT and am finally getting around to collecting some of the SW sets, the thing I find frustrating about the Rebels stormtrooper is this: I would like to have a few more stormies to augment the two I have from the new ISD. Those really look good. Currently, there are no battlepacks or cheap sets with so much as one OT stormtrooper. Slave 1 is coming out and it will provide another OT stormie, but it is a $200+ set. I get that Lego wants to capitalize on the Rebels cartoon and that they would design the Rebels stormtrooper. I am not really OCD, but the difference between OT and the Rebels design is highly visible. I have had a retinal detachment surgery in my right eye, cataract surgeries in each eye, and I have lots of floaters, yet the difference is obvious to me. They just are not compatible. Along comes the news that there is going to be a set (ITT) that will have four stormtroopers. I was excited until I found out it was going to be a rebels set. One could fairly assume the stormie will look like that frowntrooper in the Phantom set. Similar to Darth Vader, it almost seems like Lego is deliberately making it hard to get OT stormies. I doubt that Lego would release another battle pack with OT stormies when they have something they consider to be similar enough coming out. That is probably why many of us (and I realize I do not speak for everyone) are frustrated at ITT being a rebels set. To get the nice new OT stormie, my two choices are ISD at $130, Slave I at $200+, or get them individually on Bricklink at an expensive price.

I totally agree with all of this. On the LOTR end of things, there is plenty to thank the Hobbit trilogy for that we would not have received otherwise. Without the Hobbit, there would not have been Bag End, Bilbo, Galadriel, Twilight Witch King, Battle Elrond, wargs, and a new variation of orcs. There is certainly a significant overlap between the two stories. The Shire and Rivendell particularly come to mind. Between the two lines, my favorite set is Bag End. As far as Hobbit and LOTR goes, it is hard for me to understand how one could like one and dislike the other. They are both great stories. The Hobbit was well covered by Lego, while the LOTR line has a glaring omission of Gondor and key characters such as Witch King, Eowyn, and Faramir. If there could ever be one more set, I would hope it would be Gondor.

I have kept Bag End, Orthanc, and Helm's Deep together so far.

Cloud City would be nice. My preference would be that it is sold in "modular" fashion with multiple sets like they did with Jabba's Palace, rancor pit, sail barge, and desert skiff. This would make it more affordable for the target audience. With the Darth Vader factor, that would imply that there would be at least one $100+ set or it will be a very large single set such as Death Star, Ewok Village, SSD, etc.

I think Lego did a much better job covering the Hobbit than they did LOTR. Almost all main named characters are covered. Bolg is the only one left out I would consider an "A" lister. With LOTR, they tried their very best to impress younger kids with pirate ships, Gimli launchers, flick fire missiles, and other assorted gimmics. The problem is that younger kids are not the main audience for these sets. The main audience actually cares about army building, getting different characters (they dislike getting the same ones over and over again--yes Gandalf and Legolas, I am looking at you), and sets that depict the most important scenes in the movie. How in the world Lego missed the whole Osgilliath/Minas Tirith/Pelennor Fields is beyond me. As stated in the other thread, I think the second wave was not intended to be the last wave. Giving me Mouth of Sauron and no Witch King is like giving me Blue Snaggletooth, but not a Darth Vader in the Star Wars line. There was also a lack of advertising for these sets. I saw Chima, Star Wars, and Ninjago on the TV, but never the LOTR sets. I signed the petition, although am not expecting too much. It probably would take thousands to get someone's attention to at least get a response.

I mostly collect sets, however I am working on two large MOCs, one being on the backburner. I have yet to try a MOD, but it is not out of the question in the future.

This is about what I was thinking. Having the anteroom and then the office proper would be difficult to do in a 16x32 arrangement, however the 32x32 would be easily no problem. My guess is we will not get the Pet Shop type split. However, it is reasonable to think that there could be a ground floor business of some other type. For some reason, when I think of detective agencies, I think of flashing neon signs in seedy parts of town.

I would have to agree. In itself, the ship is interesting enough to display and has some nice details. Especially at a reduced price, there are a lot of minifigures. You will unfortunately get the redundant Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas. I would have to agree that the 3 Army of the Dead guys and the lonely pirate are nice minifigs to have. It is also true that the pirate ship is going to absorb a lot of the blame for the complete omission of Gondor. Discounting the Tower of Orthanc, it took the highest price point in the wave at $99. Then you build the ship and apply a sticker to a tile to make a map of Gondor

Welcome to the forums! I agree about some of the characterization in your suggestion. Although, I do have a good first impression of Dain. Now all that is left is to see the movie to determine how well the Lego minifig matches the character. Agreed that Bolg would have been better than Azog, at least in my opinion. I will give Lego credit for covering almost all of the main characters in the Hobbit over the three waves. Bolg may be the only major character not introduced. Much better coverage than LOTR, but dont get me started I too would rather have blue Bard in Lake Town and not make two of him this wave. Perhaps replace him with another human to represent that faction. Then we get to Legolas, who in my mind is now the Jar Jar Binks of the Hobbit series. Armored Thranduil or an armored generic elf would have been so much better. I do not think the set should necessarily be 1300 pieces since we already have the $130 Lonely Mountain set covering the large set for the wave. Speaking of Lonely Mountain, the description is now on the Lego website. I am saving some money so I can buy it on October 15 and get the double VIP points and hopefully the monthly bonus if there are any remaining by then. Does anyone know if Smaug is the largest creature mold ever made by Lego (excluding Duplo)?

Someone could make a fair profit providing that custom helmet to Lego LOTR enthusiasts. Also, the instructions to that Fell Beast would make a wonderful addition to the MOC pages on Bricklink. Very nice design. To this day, I have no idea how the Mouth of Sauron at the Black Gate could have trumped this.

So frowntroopers it is. I guess on the bright side, that will save me money. In fact, Lego will soon be helping me tremendously with my spending habits. With the end of the Hobbit, LOTR, the decline of OT sets in Star Wars, and no news of an interesting new line, about the only buying I am going to be doing is for MOCs via Bricklink.

Bought the Mos Eisley Cantina yesterday at Toys R US with a coupon. Oddly enough, TRU did not jack up the price of the set like they normally do, so the coupon actually saved me $10. Usually, I get my sets from Lego S@H or the Lego store, but the savings was better than even getting the VIP points. Needless to say, TRU purchases are rare. They have several Coruscant planet series sets for 12.99 just sitting on the shelf.

I totally agree that there were probably other sets planned. I blame the end of the line on two things: PJ splitting the Hobbit into three films, and Lego releasing Pirate Ship, Wizard Battle, Black Gate, and Council of Elrond in front of the Gondor sets. Had they reversed the order of release and stuck with the main scenes first in the second wave, we might have had Gondor sets and would then be getting the more obscure ones in a third wave as a sort of bonus. Disclaimer: I acknowledge this is just speculation, but I simply cannot believe wave 2 was originally planned to be the final group of sets. Lego is smart enough to hire designers who have actually seen the films (I hope)