Page 14 of 16

Re: LOTR and the hobbit lego

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2012 11:51 pm
by Bruce N H
Sir Kohran wrote: I’m just concerned that future sets won’t be able to avoid continuously featuring the same Fellowship and Rohan characters and generic Orcs. The rest of the sets won’t consist of much beyond trees, rocks and walls, with the only distinctive feature being a baddie specific to a certain area like Saruman, the Mumakil, Denethor, or the Witch King.
If the Star Wars and Harry Potter licenses are any guide, yes, we will get multiple copies of the main characters. Actually we're in better shape here compared to HP, since there are more main characters to include. Again looking at other licenses, we'll probably get different torsos for them, to encourage people to get new sets to get new versions of the figs. E.g. Merry and Pippin will eventually be clad in the liveries of Rohan and Gondor. After Lorien the whole company picks up new cloaks, Gandalf will certainly have gray and white iterations, etc. Then, of course, there are tons and tons of more minor but still significant figs to include. For instance, we have yet to see any women (Arwen, Galadriel, Eowyn). And even with these we should get multiples. For instance, we'll get Eowyn in a dress at one point and in armor at another. Plus the SW line has shown that collectors will be happy to pick up fairly obscure characters. Fatty Bolger, anyone? How about Gildor Inglorion? Farmer Maggot? The Gaffer? Rosie? And that's without even leaving the Shire.

I also don't agree that all we'll have will be "trees, rocks and walls". I predict that there will be several sets located around Minas Tirith, that will hopefully fit together to make a larger scene. Plus we haven't seen almost any of the major structures: Bag end, Prancing Pony, Rivendell, Meduseld, Orthanc would all be good sets.

Bruce

Re: LOTR and the hobbit lego

Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 12:29 am
by Sir Kohran
Bruce N H wrote:Plus the SW line has shown that collectors will be happy to pick up fairly obscure characters. Fatty Bolger, anyone? How about Gildor Inglorion? Farmer Maggot? The Gaffer? Rosie?
Rosie aside, none of those characters made it to the movies, upon which the line's based. I can't see Lego going that obscure.
Bruce N H wrote:I also don't agree that all we'll have will be "trees, rocks and walls". I predict that there will be several sets located around Minas Tirith, that will hopefully fit together to make a larger scene. Plus we haven't seen almost any of the major structures: Bag end, Prancing Pony, Rivendell, Meduseld, Orthanc would all be good sets.
In theory there's plenty of places, but I doubt many of them will make it to set form because there's just not the required conflict there. Problematically, quite a lot of the action occurs in the open wilderness.

Having said that, there's definitely loads of potential in Minas Tirith/Pelennor; I imagine there could (and in fact predict there will) be an entire wave of sets covering it.

I'm not saying the line has nowhere to go in future at all, of course it does, I just wonder how it can progress once all the obvious sets have been done.

Re: LOTR and the hobbit lego

Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 4:41 am
by DaleDVM
The back legs are posable. The horses can go from flat to near vertical from the reports. I think the new horses are one of the biggest things to happen to castle in a while. Now my scenes can involve actual moving cavalry units and jousting knights. (that actually look like they are moving!)

The new 1x2 piece with the brick facing is now coming in light bley. Another big event for us castle builders! :eyebrows:

Shelob looks great from that angle.

I agree with Bruce if this was a castle for the actual castle line it would be met with critical acclaim. With all of the new molds, I think this will be great developement for a lot of us castle fans. :)

Re: LOTR and the hobbit lego

Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 4:48 am
by Kev
If just the back legs swing as a unit, I don't know how useful this will be beyond rearing. I think you'd really need to be able to move the front legs too. At that point, you'd also really have to make the legs bendable.....and then you're making action figures, not legos.

Re: LOTR and the hobbit lego

Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 1:52 pm
by DaleDVM
If you can attach the horse down at the fron legs you could make him bucking like a rodeo horse or just have them going straight back like he is running? Not sure though...

Re: LOTR and the hobbit lego

Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 4:10 pm
by Medieval Guy
Kev wrote:If just the back legs swing as a unit, I don't know how useful this will be beyond rearing. I think you'd really need to be able to move the front legs too. At that point, you'd also really have to make the legs bendable.....and then you're making action figures, not legos.
I definitely see your point. Where should the line be drawn for something like this?

Re: LOTR and the hobbit lego

Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 8:09 pm
by mencot
Kev wrote:If just the back legs swing as a unit, I don't know how useful this will be beyond rearing. I think you'd really need to be able to move the front legs too. At that point, you'd also really have to make the legs bendable.....and then you're making action figures, not legos.
Yes this is absolutely true, but it seems like Lego is going in that direction (I don`t like it :( ) with products they are making, like those speed racers, (or what their are named) my wifes, sisters son has got one of those and the car consisted of 3 parts.
Back to topic.
These sets are looking to turn out great, considering it is a licenced set and has fleshies. But it has some great parts and new orcs and trolls :woo:

Re: LOTR and the hobbit lego

Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 1:06 am
by Knight Man
DaleDVM wrote:The back legs are posable. The horses can go from flat to near vertical from the reports. I think the new horses are one of the biggest things to happen to castle in a while. Now my scenes can involve actual moving cavalry units and jousting knights. (that actually look like they are moving!)
The new 1x2 piece with the brick facing is now coming in light bley. Another big event for us castle builders! :eyebrows:
great developement for a lot of us castle fans. :)
Has anyone seen pictures of the horse and what colors is it coming in? What new 1x2 piece and whats light bley?. ~KnightMan~

Re: LOTR and the hobbit lego

Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 1:38 am
by wobnam
Brick, Modified 1 x 2 with Masonry Profile (Brick Profile). Bley = light bluish gray = light gray since early 00s.

Re: LOTR and the hobbit lego

Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 2:17 am
by Knight Man
wobnam wrote:Brick, Modified 1 x 2 with Masonry Profile (Brick Profile). Bley = light bluish gray = light gray since early 00s.
Oh I get it and that brick in grey, Nice. ~KnightMan~

Re: LOTR and the hobbit lego

Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 11:10 pm
by andhe
Knight Man wrote:
DaleDVM wrote:The back legs are posable. The horses can go from flat to near vertical from the reports. I think the new horses are one of the biggest things to happen to castle in a while. Now my scenes can involve actual moving cavalry units and jousting knights. (that actually look like they are moving!)
The new 1x2 piece with the brick facing is now coming in light bley. Another big event for us castle builders! :eyebrows:
great developement for a lot of us castle fans. :)
Has anyone seen pictures of the horse and what colors is it coming in? What new 1x2 piece and whats light bley?. ~KnightMan~
If you go back a page there are pictures of the sets from the German toy fair. Admittedly the horses are rather hard to make out but we may get more photos from the New York toy fair this weekend.

The hip joint is a good solution without going fully poseable. It works well with the new bear mould (which I had hoped would turn up in a castle set before the LotR bombshell scuppered those dreams). My main fear is that the horse head also looks moulded, similar to the cows... Which were decried for being too 'duplo'. This would also make using them alongside old horses quite awkward.

Re: LOTR and the hobbit lego

Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 7:38 am
by Aliencat
Kev wrote:Looking at "Gandalf the Grey"
Gandalf the Bley, no?

Re: LOTR and the hobbit lego

Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 11:00 pm
by BTappel
Those sets look really well done, and not too pricey either! So many rock and castle pieces and new weapons and armor :twitch: Very few themes could have replaced kingdoms and kept me happy, but this is one of them! I will be glued to my computer this weekend.

Re: LOTR and the hobbit lego

Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 1:07 am
by Kev
Aliencat wrote:
Kev wrote:Looking at "Gandalf the Grey"
Gandalf the Bley, no?
No, lego actually has the figure labeled 'Gandalf the Grey', which means that a 'Gandalf the White' figure is already being planned.

Re: LOTR and the hobbit lego

Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 1:14 am
by DaleDVM
I would agree Kev. It is purely speculation but I would imagine that LOTR will take a tact similar to the Star Wars license. The continued release of new versions of the minifigs over the next few years, will encourage sales of the sets over the entire run of the line.

A minifig centric theme is what I am expecting. Luckily so far, the parts and new molds included in the sets will work well for my MOCing needs as well.