Delta 38

That's kind of the point, I think. Many Elves have a similar hairstyle with two strands of long hair that come out down the front, and we've already had Legolas and Haldir with more generic-looking hair mould that excludes those strands. If a new piece was created (without a crown) and it was used for characters aside from Elrond, all the other Elves would need their hair replaced. I think Elrond's crown would probably work more effectively as printing, rather than moulded with the hair. But then again, the promotional Elrond figure has that generic-looking hair too, so I'm guessing we will have a new hairpiece with the crown as part of it (yay!). Looking at the two variations of Elrond in the video game, it seems the hair is used to differentiate Second and Third Age Elrond. Still not entirely accurate, but Elrond didn't have a crown in the Last Alliance scenes so there's an obvious reason as to why a second crownless version wasn't made. On a similar note, if we eventually get a Galadriel figure I'm hoping there's a way her crown could be included. It was absent in the game and kind of bothered me, though I can't really see a way it could be added.

Ah, right. It's still a bit odd to me because they were originally released as Clone Wars sets, and now they all seem to be from Attack of the Clones. I don't recall the Tank Droid being in Attack of the Clones. They were in Revenge of the Sith, but Jango Fett had already been decapitated by then. They were present at the Battle of Geonosis itself so I'm hoping they'll still go with the Episode II-style Clones if Jango really is part of the set.

Ah yes, that old photo again. I couldn't see it when the picture first surfaced, but now that the Hobbit sets have been out for a while, I think I see a preliminary design for Bag End. Not too relevant, just interesting. I feel pessimistic for some reason. The picture of Orthanc doesn't look real to me and the measurements seem unrealistic (I was thinking that we'd get a downscaled version, like with Helm's Deep and Weathertop). Pretty much the only reason it looks "legitimate" is the background and the confidential watermark, and I can't quite explain where that comes from, but it seems likely someone could have just done a quick impression of Orthanc as a set and then pixellated it. I'm hoping this isn't real. I can't afford UCS sets as it is, but I'd at least like the "normal" system-scale version to be released first.

Oops, I think I might have made a mistake. Are the Battle of Pelennor Fields and Minas Tirith considered as being one event? But anyway, Osgiliath might also be a possibility for another Fell Beast (though with a standard Ringwraith rather than the Witch-king). I guess a catapult or something could be combined so the Eowyn and the Witch-king set could be possible. But then, what does that leave for the Oliphaunt? I just don't think that the Pelennor Fields segment of the battle has enough background things to build without repeating generic things like catapults to fill up space. I'm changing my mind too much about this. I think I'll just back away from the topic now.

Hmm, these three interest me. If I'm not mistaken, weren't all of those released in 2008? I wonder if there's any reason why they're being remade, and all at once, too. I hope they don't deviate too much from the originals. I don't own any of those, but I did rather like the Republic Gunship.

Disregarding the set (this specific one is almost certainly just a rumour), I'm pretty sure any Fell Beast we get in the future will be moulded. By extension, that would also mean we will probably never get a set like the custom "Witch-king Battle" one because there's not enough scenery. Actually, I can't think of a set based on the Battle of Pelennor Fields that would have sufficient scenery elements apart from maybe something with an Oliphaunt and perhaps some sort of catapult.

I was wondering if perhaps the whole point of the bonus level was to hint at future sets, but they're likely not final models. Minas Tirith, in particular, looks very strange and looks like it's missing the back. Orthanc is also a bit odd, namely the walls. The tower itself looks fine but the walls would be higher if it were released as a set, since I think they were only that low to be in scale with the rest of the model. It's weird though. Are they perhaps giving a bit too much away, too early? If the Lord of the Rings/Hobbit theme is successful, we'd obviously see those iconic structures at some point anyway, but if those are exactly how they'd look in real life, I don't think that's too good for marketing. People could probably figure out how to build the models themselves if they wanted to.

That's true, but if there was any scene in which it would be absolutely necessary, I'd say it would be the Goblin King one seeing as the swords are identified as the "Goblin Cleaver" and "Foehammer". Hmm, that building looks nice and it's possible we might see something like that. At this point, I prefer the Council of Elrond as it's depicted in the videogame (there's a bit more to the side structure thing), though time will tell which design they'll go for.

If Thorin was included in the Goblin King set, Orcrist would definitely be needed there because of the Goblins' reaction upon seeing it. Unfortunately, every Dwarf only appears once, so that may have been a potential chance lost. Something else I personally found strange was the lack of Thorin's wooden shield in the Warg Attack set. It's where he gets his nickname from (Oakenshield) and it was used in the scene, so why not? Even an attempt at depicting it like a printed 1x3 flat tile would've been better than nothing.

Fair enough. The problem for me isn't so much the size, but rather the lack of... stuff. But then again, I suppose there's not terribly much you can do with a scene in which people sit in a circle. A couple of chairs, a few generic Elves or Dwarves, maybe a base of some sort... Edit: I just noticed a number of models in the bonus level of the Lego Lord of the Rings videogame that look like they can be real sets. There's also a Council of Elrond model that looks strikingly similar to the preliminary picture.

Hmm, interesting. I missed both of these sets, so it's nice to see them again. However... The Sail Barge looks really off. The old one, while less accurate around the front, was kind of compact and looked better to me. The new one looks like it has too many straight edges and the top platform thing has been shortened, resulting in a longer nose area. The Republic Gunship, meanwhile, seems about the same. It looks like some things have been modified around the cockpit area. I personally liked the blockier look of the 2008 version, so I'm not quite sure what to think of that. It also looks a bit longer near the front, though that might be the angle. Ehh, I think I might reserve judgement once they can be seen from other angles. In both cases I think I prefer the original so far.

Ooh, news! This is nice as I watched all three Lord of the Rings films (for the fourth time) and The Hobbit recently. The Corsair ship is quite surprising. It was in the movie, yes, but it's only there for a few minutes. I wonder if the inclusion of the Dunharrow King might be a bit early, since he might be more at home in a Paths of the Dead set. It also seems very close to the ship in the Lego videogame, so that could be used to get an idea of what the final model might look like. I'm a bit paranoid about the Black Gate, particularly because it only includes one of those towers. Buying two would be too expensive. Though that said, the inclusion of the Mouth of Sauron is great, especially since he was cut from the film and probably isn't the most well-known character. Regarding Easterlings, here's an idea... Easterlings were actually present at the Battle of Minas Tirith, so if we get a set based on that (particularly if it's in the style of the Uruk-hai Army set as an expandable structure), we might get them there. The scene where they're entering the Black Gate isn't really exciting enough to make a playset from. Finally, if there's any set I'm kind of disappointed with, it's the Council of Elrond set. It seems to just be a portion of a facade, a platform, and a small tree. We could have gotten a really nice bigger Rivendell set in the future. Unless if it connects to some larger thing, there's little structure here for what's meant to be a building.

I personally like the orange, but if every set has a different colour scheme, that's even better. The downside is that some of the figures available only in larger sets would be harder to army-build with. I can't actually see where the multicoloured vehicles thing is coming from. I see a lot of white and the set in the middle appears to have purple figures, but no differently-coloured vehicles.

Hmm... the asteroid field looks horrible, as expected, but I actually quite like Coruscant and Kamino. The mini-vehicles are nice too. I think I've figured out why the AotC Clone Troopers look a bit weird. It uses the same helmet as the CW one, but because of the narrower visor, the frown starts higher-up.

Ooh. The lion stuff is nice (looks a bit Exo-Force-y), but the highlights are definitely the two eagle-themed vehicles. This looks like it'll fit really well with Ninjago. Some of the sets are similar in design and those reptilian characters are rather like snakemen.

Ooh, the Batboat is quite good, as is Nick Fury's car thing. Batman did seem to have a lighter shade of grey in the single minifigure pictures though. I can't see any evidence of it anywhere, but I'm hoping Mr. Freeze has an alternate face with his goggles.

While the sets do look weaker than previous ones, I like the AT-RT and the A-Wing. Maybe that's only because I haven't gotten them before though. Similarly, it's great that we're getting Yoda and Admiral Ackbar in cheapish sets, since I don't have them, either. I'm a bit annoyed with the AotC Clone Trooper minifigs, because they'll look odd with all the CW ones we've got over the years. Any Clones are good Clones, of course, but ehh... Edit: ooh, box art! It's so colourful and everything!

Ooh, the base thing looks nice, even though it's not a proper building. The motorcycle thing is okay too, for its size. From a distance, it almost looks as if the Turtles have non-pupilled and non-irised eyes. Ah well.

I'm a bit slow to comment on these because of the whole downtime, but anyway... The minifigures are clearly the focus here. The rest is nice, but it's too bad there's no battlepack-style set you can army build with. Maybe the Barrel Escape set could be a bit larger, too. It looks like it might be an interesting building, whatever it is, but there's not much of it.

Hmm, a bit disappointing. I think we kind of expected it, but the first wave of Batman was so nice... I haven't watched The Dark Knight Rises and probably won't for quite a while, but the vehicles look a bit blocky/weird. I think they could've perhaps made the Tumbler a bit bigger, if doing so would make it more detailed. As for the Daily Bugle, no clue what's happening there. The building is okay but I have no idea what the jet thing is meant to be. Oh well, let's hope the other Batman sets are better. Arkham Asylum is great, but that doesn't mean the rest should just be filler.

Woah. I thought this was a baseless rumour until I heard of the new animated series. I'm not quite sure what to think of these. The Turtles are nice, at any rate. I'm not a fan of the cartoony style and it's a shame they didn't go with different shades of green, but it's a nice start.

Hmm, nice poster. It's funny how the Balrog's whip thing uses illegal connection techniques (the fire piece was changed some years back removing those two small side things, for whatever reason). Interesting how Lurtz is still brown as opposed to reddish-brown. I thought Lurtz was only brown because he was newly-birthed or something.

Oh, right. My mistake. It seems I've missed out on images, oh well. But from the list, the bird and reptile figures sound interesting. I'm glad it's not just wolves and lions. It also seems "Speedorz" is probably the name of those ripcord motorcycle things. That's an interesting turn of events.

Oh right, yes. Though their appearances are kind of negligible, I suppose, especially since Theodred is already dead....

Hmm. I'm completely lost as to the story so I have no idea what these sets will realistically be like, but my immediate reaction upon hearing "Garmatron" and "Temple of Light" indicates lots of transparent pieces. If this is the last wave of the theme, it seems a bit... small. Still, hopefully we could get one more species before the end of the theme. If not, it'd be nice if they rereleased the Snake Generals in cheaper sets.