AFOLguy1970

A Mordor Battle Pack would certainly have orcs, preferably in new prints. Maybe the other factions such as Haradrim or Easterlings could show as deskp has mentioned. Maybe include a mounted Nazgul to lead them? After all, I never bothered to buy 5 Weathertops to get them all. Like others have said, the inclusion of Galadriel in the Hobbit sets helps sway this decision, thus the Morder Battle Pack.

Brickshow does a fairly decent job of showing the aspects of all the sets. Sometimes, the commentary does not match the set, however they have been helpful in exploring a set's details before I can try to get one. They sometimes give ratings for children, teens, and adults separately, therefore they intend to have an audience of any age range. There is an individual on youtube known as Jangbricks. He has done quite a few reviews recently and does a good job.

I think you are certainly on to something as far as building style is concerned. All of the buildings so far have been a representation of the past. They seem to range from about the turn of the 20th century to the 1930's. Perhaps the Parisian Restaurant is even a bit "older". Therefore, a modern building would likely and hopefully not be produced. The City line has more modern structures covered, especially in its police and fire stations. This is not to say that a Police Precinct is out of the question, especially if it is set in an old style structure. A toy store would not be too bad, however the GE basically has an entire floor devoted to a toy department. There do not seem to be any redundancies in the modular line so far. Yes, Cafe Corner and Parisian Restaurant may have somewhat of a similar function, however they are different enough. I would really like to see something like a bank or a post office. Actually, what would really interest me would be an old fashioned newspaper complete with a printing press that operates based on power functions with moving belts and everything.

Interesting information from London. Although it has been said that Smaug will be included with the Lonely Mountain set, I have some doubts. SPOILER alert Since these are supposed to be TABA sets, it seems like the final wave would be based on that movie. Most of us know that when Smaug left Erebor to attack Lake Town, that he will never return to Erebor. His final scenes are going to be in Lake Town. If Smaug were left out of Lake Town #2 set, then what action will we have left for the set? Another prison cell for Bard to break out of? The windlass tower would be kind of useless without something attacking the town. I think it would be cruel of Lego to force kids to buy both Erebor and Lake Town to reenact the scene we are all waiting for. Also, like others have said, if Erebor is based on the end of DOS, then it will really be a wasted opportunity with the minifigs. An Erebor based on BO5A would allow both the treasure hoard and new minifigs to be produced. Hopefully, Dain and the Iron Hills dwarves could make an appearance. As for the BOFA set, it will hopefully have army builder potential. If it had Bolg, Thranduil, Thorin, Bard, Gandalf, Bilbo, and Azog, it would be the mother of all disappointment. Ideally, it will have some more generic factions that can be purchased in mulitiples for those who desire a larger conflict. Again, I am hoping the Smaug placement was simply just to get the point across that he will appear in a set. How they could miss putting him in Lake Town against Bard and the windlass is beyond me. But then again, we did get that pirate ship....

Since the Hobbit is a licensed theme, I could not imagine a Smaug mold appearing in regular castle sets or anything outside the license. Therefore, if they do make a unique mold, and I hope they do, then it will be just for this set. That is the hope, but the fear is that they will use the castle dragon and simply try to modify the color and printing to match Smaug as much as possible.

Reread my post. I did list the Gondor helmet as one of three critical parts needed. The shield would be nice as well. They could use the same mold as in the Mirkwood Elf Army set and maybe make a print for the shield.

As an absolute minimum, I would say all we need is the Witch King's helmet, a printed torso with the White Tree of Gondor (different from Aragorn's in the Black Gate), and a Gondor Helmet. Once you have these three things, you should be able to assemble the key missing characters. Witch King: Use a Nazgul body and insert helmet in place of hood Faramir: Use the White Tree armor torso, and have hair instead of helmet to distinguish him Gondor Soldier: White Tree armor torso and helmet combined with weapons of choice Eowyn, Technically, she can already be made from existing parts

Very nice review. I totally agree that the alternate build, the van, is the way to go. This will make a nice addition to the modular town setup just like the Ice Cream Machine. The micromanager seems to add to the fun, and the kids will certainly enjoy it. I like the way that Lego has also included a third figure not related to the vehicle in the three sets that are 2 in 1 builds. Ice Cream Machine has a jogger, this one has the doctor, and the trash chomper has a chef. All of those minifigs will also enhance a city setup, making it a lot more than just cops and robbers. After looking at this review, Joe's truck will probably be my next vehicle purchase.

When in LDD, I have Bricklink open to actually verify that some of the parts exist at a reasonable price or quantity. Several times, a design change has been done, because something either did not exist in that color, or it was really rare and expensive.

Hopefully Smaug will not be exactly the same size as the castle dragon. He does at least need to be a little bigger. If they go down the noncreative route and just rehash the dragon mold, then the color and print would really be the only difference. Maybe they can somehow incorporate Smaug's weakness into the design.

Went to Target today and bought the Ice Cream Machine, Riddler Chase and three collectible minifigures (not the new ones. My two sons got a policeman and the Forest Maiden. I was quite lucky, because I got the French waiter. He is now part of the Parisian Restaurant.

This is a close one, but Lothlorien would take the edge for me in this case.

Unfortunately, I do not have room to display all purchased Lego sets, therefore some have had to be taken apart and stored until we can one day get a bigger house with a dedicated "Lego room". I did notice that the cheese slopes seem to be the worst offenders when it comes to cracking, therefore I did not remove them from the parts they were attached to before placing into storage. The assumption is that perhaps not cycling (taking apart, putting together, taking apart.....)the bricks and slopes will help.

Don't forget that Lego also has kids in mind when they designed these sets. Let's face it, a pirate ship or a Black Gate with the Mouth of Sauron would not be the most wanted sets for AFOLs in general. In fact, that is yet another mistake they made with the pirate ship. Sure, kids like pirate ships, but I do not know many of them who have $100+ to spend in one sitting. The last trip to Walmart revealed a shelf full of pirate ships and a handful of Council of Elronds. Kids typically like to save for smaller and mid range sets, because they do not want to save money for an extended time to get the larger sets. Sure, most of my son's classmates who enjoy Lego would like a pirate ship or an Orthanc, but very few actually have them. That is an awful amount of time and allowance money to invest for one of them to get these. If there was to be a third wave, and we can only hope, I would expect the usual assortment of price ranges. You could potentially have a $100+ Gondor set, but there would be other offerings as well.

Your friend is wise. As far as fire stations go, the FB is probably going to be the best one Lego has for a very long time. Each modular is new and unique, therefore I would not expect a repeat of this concept for quite some time (if at all). The chances of the City line producing a fire station better than the FB is essentially nil. Therefore, getting it now would be best. Yes, FB can grow on you. It has some nice colors, good detail on the inside and out, and some interesting pieces not found in other modulars.

I might actually buy this. Even before the Lego Movie was announced, I was kind of wishing there was an ice cream truck build. That giant cone could eventually be used to make some type of ice cream shop modular in the future. It would be great on the side of a building.

Oh, how I wish.....There would be a lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth from investors. Probably will never happen. I am also wondering if the PR and Maersk ship were produced in comparable quantities. The ship is a stand alone product, while the PR can either be stand alone or placed with the other modulars to build your town. With the PR being viewed as part of a series, maybe more were made. If the ship was produced in a significantly lesser quantity, then it could easily be perceived as a better seller, because it is running out of stock quicker. Before both came out on January 1, I saw a lot more talk about the PR. Of course, the speculation (and likelihood) that the ship will have a shorter run than the restaurant comes into play.

Ha! I did this as well. The GE was assembled on Christmas Day. At the end, I placed the little boy with the remote control, the two airplanes, the tugboat, the bulldozer, and the train up there along with the boy that came with the set. The toy department certainly looks well stocked at this point. Eventually, I will probably add stuff to the housewares section and the ground floor. I had no interest in modulars until I bought the Palace Cinema back in late September 2013 with a bit of extra money. Fire Brigade came next, because I knew its time was limited. Now, all I need from the current offering is the Town Hall. Welcome to the club!

For a Laketown vs Smaug set, I would expect (hope) the minifigs would be: Bard (absolutely necessary) Bain Maybe Bard's daughter as well Two Laketown guards, possibly with bows or something to fire projectiles into the air A citizen or two (with very frightened second faces) Alfrid Maybe Tauriel depending on her role here

Mt Doom

The ship went out of stock online just days after January 1 and remains so as of today. Lego.com states it will not be back in stock until the 23rd. I agree that Parisian Restaurant is more attractive, and yes, it will likely be around longer than the ship. Many of us ordered the PR right at midnight in fear of the situation that did happen with the Triple-E. For now, the PR remains in stock. The ship looks somewhat interesting, but I will pass in favor of other things. I am no fan of stickers, and this seems full of them, even the dreaded STAMP-stickers across multiple pieces.

Sometimes, the GE gets criticism for having a repetitive build or for a somewhat sparse interior. It is liked well enough by collectors, and I think it is a fantastic model to have. As for the most popular of the modulars, I hear a lot about Green Grocer. Unfortunately I came in on the scene after it had already been retired. The new Parisian Restaurant is certainly well received in general. Everyone of course will have their favorites, and for some it is the Grand Emporium. If you have the means and plan on getting as many as you can, the suggestion would be to start with the oldest set available and work your way to the more current ones. The advice about the Fire Brigade is sound. Get it now before the price really goes up. It is no longer available on Lego.com, but they are available on certain sites.

Grand Emporium will probably be the next one to go. I built this one on Christmas--a nice build. Even if this is not a favorite in the modular series, it does strike me as one you would hate to miss out on. Getting it now would probably be best ahead of the other modulars.

It appears that the cockpit could be the only interior section of the ship. Depending on how seats are done inside, it seems either two or three could be seated, with the third most likely behind Wildstyle in the photo. The ship certainly looks like it will be successful. It is an AFOL magnet due to the nostalgia of the 1970s-1980s as well as something that will impress children as well. Something that appeals to multiple demographics will be highly sought after. Many people would like to have one of these. You have the colors/logos of the past combined with the parts and play features of the present (detachable sections?) Now, I am wondering if I should hold off on Town Hall for a little bit, bite the bullet, and bricklink a Galaxy Explorer so that I have have the legacy ship to go along with Benny's ship. This is going to be an expensive year.

Its predecessor, Galaxy Explorer had no stickers. The LL928 piece was printed. It is possible to have parts printed and meant for only one set. Most recently, the Chez Albert sign in Parisian Restaurant comes to mind. With that said, yes, there is the distinct possibility that the Benny ship will have stickers. As long as the slope pieces are printed, it will probably work out OK.