Stiel

I just wanted to note that those piece counts are not really confirmed. One retailer had them listed on his site, and that's it. (By the way, here is the link just for the record.) On the number of minifigures: on one hand, historically Castle had more minifigures than other themes. On the other hand, in certain licensed sets, the number of minifigures is also higher than the set itself would justify (I think of this phenomenon as some sort of sweetener to sell licensed sets despite the higher price tag). LotR inherits both biases, and the end result is 6 minifigures and a horse in a $30 set.

Set information with prices now based on more recent information (and thus are likely to be more accurate). Gandalf Arrives Set number: 9469 Ages: 8-14 Piece count: 83 Box size: 19,1 cm × 14,1 cm × 4,6 cm Price: $13 Shelob Attacks Set number: 9470 Ages: 8-14 Piece count: 227 Box size: 26,2 cm × 19,1 cm × 6,1 cm Price: $20 Uruk Hai Army Set number: 9471 Ages: 8-14 Piece count: 257 Box Size: 28,2 cm × 26,2 cm × 6,4 cm Price: $30 Attack on Weathertop Set number: 9472 Ages: 8-14 Piece count: 430 Box size: 48 cm × 28,2 cm × 6,1 cm Price: $50 Mines of Moria Set number: 9473 Ages: 9-14 Piece count: 776 Box size: 48 cm × 37,8 cm × 7,05 cm Price: $80 Battle of Helm's Deep Set number: 9474 Ages: 10-14 Piece count: 1368 Box size: 58,2 cm × 37,8 cm × 8,7 cm Price: $130

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=63576

A Hungarian retailer already has the sets listed with some additional information, including piece counts, box sizes and prices (in HUF). I tried to make an estimate on the prices in USD based on the price of other sets in this shop (like PotC). I'm pretty sure they're not far off. Gandalf Arrives Set number: 9469 Ages: 8-14 Piece count: 83 Box size: 19,1 cm × 14,1 cm × 4,6 cm Price: 3 735 HUF (approx. $15) Shelob Attacks Set number: 9470 Ages: 8-14 Piece count: 227 Box size: 26,2 cm × 19,1 cm × 6,1 cm Price: 6 930 HUF (approx. $25, maybe $27) Uruk Hai Army Set number: 9471 Ages: 8-14 Piece count: 257 Box Size: 28,2 cm × 26,2 cm × 6,4 cm Price: 10 425 HUF (approx. $40) Attack on Weathertop Set number: 9472 Ages: 8-14 Piece count: 430 Box size: 48 cm × 28,2 cm × 6,1 cm Price: 15 825 HUF (approx. $60) Mines of Moria Set number: 9473 Ages: 9-14 Piece count: 776 Box size: 48 cm × 37,8 cm × 7,05 cm Price: 21 150 HUF (approx. $80 in USD) Battle of Helm's Deep Set number: 9474 Ages: 10-14 Piece count: 1368 Box size: 58,2 cm × 37,8 cm × 8,7 cm Price: 38 085 HUF (approx. $140, maybe $150)

With a 30% discount, as many as you can. Without it, one.

Some sort of Gandalf vs Balrog set most definitely. It was one of the more impressive scenes from the movie. I also expect to see a Saruman figure, possibly with an Isengard set (maybe with ents vs goblins). Some peaceful Shire and/or Lothlórien scene (maybe as exclusive). More Elves! I expect at least Arwen and Elrond to make it into minifigures eventually.

My speculation: 15 for the small set, 25-30 for Shelob, 40-50 for the Uruk Hai army, 50-60 for the weathertop (compare the box size with the army!), Moria 80-100, Helm's Deep 120-140. That said, we don't know the price of the LotR license for sure, maybe it's cheaper than SW. It would be nice. Edit: now that I took a look at PotC sets' prices, I would say 12 for Gandalf, 20 for Shelob, 40 for the Uruk Hai army, 50 for Weathertop.

Decent sets overall. 9469 Gandalf Arrives - no surprises, it's fine as it is. Let's hope it's cheap ($10 would be a treat, probably $15 though...) 9470 Shelob Attacks - minifigs are OK, Shelob also looks good, but it's still just a giant spider, so I will skip this one. 9471 Uruk-hai Army - I like this one! Plenty of figures, even the ballista and the wall section have good, usable parts. Hoping it costs no more than $40, then it's excellent value for money. 9472 Attack On Weathertop - the scene was important enough to make into a set, but this version is oversized with too many rocks. Figures are OK again, I like the wraiths, but nothing extra. Probably not worth it, I don't like buying rocks in the licensed price range. 9473 Mines Of Moria - good one. I like the surroundings, the figs are nice too, but one more goblin would have been welcome (instead of one of the skellies). I like that some of the main characters are missing, less doubles this way. 9474 The Battle Of Helms Deep - looks good, too, the fortress is very recognizable, the Uruk Hai army is fearsome, but I miss some common soldiers (hint: buy 9471 too :)). Probably going to be expensive though. Any less than $140 and it's a steal. Edit: now that we are 3 pages away, I repeat the link to the pics: http://www.lordofthebrick.com/

Funny - I always thought of this set as an alternative to the Kingdoms Castle. Those two towers are pretty imposing and I think they can act as a castle-ish background nicely. Anyway, with this Joust set coming, I don't mind that I didn't buy the Castle.

Wow, that lion is fantastic! Amazing parts usage, and the end result is very cool. I also like the wolf. Also sent you a pm.

Maybe dark tan instead of dark red...? The dark green is nice though, and overall, pretty magical build. I like it a lot.

Excellent, high quality set! Most has been said, so I'm just going to add one minor thing: that I like the tents as an idea. I will take out the weapons at once, but after that, they are perfectly reasonable small tents, and if you add more factions to the joust (7187 and 7009 come to mind), you can play around with making new tents in the proper colors with slightly different designs.

I just translated what he wrote literally. But yeah, green cobold is definitely the leprechaun, and the others are mostly identifiable too. Also, I'm not surprised that he didn't recall the more 'ordinary' figs like the mechanic/plumber or the butcher.

I asked them for other figs seen; here is the reply for you: Lady with hand fan... little vague, I know, but this should be new as well. Female figure no. 4 in the series as well, which is cool.

Then you will surely find this impressive (alas, none of these is mine): Folder

Info is second-hand, I personally didn't see anything. But, as noted, one other known minifigure was seen which we already had a picture of.

Gotta be the diver or the race car driver.

According to multiple people who saw it in some top secret catalogue, there is: - a Roman soldier/centurion/phalanx (whatever you want to call it), with the usual long spear and new tower shield, and - a celtic warrior, which should be the same as the highlander already seen. So, anyway, there you go, Roman soldier. Yet another minifig for historic army builders. Edit: I'm talking about series 6, of course.

MMV was released at the end of 2008, not 2009, but otherwise I agree with your thoughts.

There is a shield coming up with a supposed series 6 collectible minifigure: Is that an option?

Yeah, same with the small red cart and mini catapult. AFOLs wouldn't need those, but don't mind, since that's just about a dozen parts anyway.

Yes, they always send sets first and PAB later (by about a week or so).

Heh, right. I could swear I read discounted. Wishful reading maybe?

I don't get it. Once the sets get discounted, why not buy them directly?

Skeletons around the fire are black = charred, right?