LOTR and the hobbit lego

[Aliencat]

Looking at "Gandalf the Grey"

Gandalf the Bley, no?

No, lego actually has the figure labeled 'Gandalf the Grey'

But Gandalf the Grey, is bley

[AK_Brickster]

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.

lol, I believe the kitty was toying with you, Kev

[RichardAM]

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.

I dont think this will be the case at all. TLG have shown year after year that they're only interested in a license for a year or two before halting production completely. Harry Potter and Batman have gotten reprieves, certainly, but I think the fans expecting a decade long Star Wars-esque handling are delusional.

[DaleDVM]

I dont think this will be the case at all. TLG have shown year after year that they're only interested in a license for a year or two before halting production completely. Harry Potter and Batman have gotten reprieves, certainly, but I think the fans expecting a decade long Star Wars-esque handling are delusional.

I agree that would be delusional. However, anyone who considers the word few (commonly meant to be 3 or possibly 4) to mean 10 years is absolutely misreading my post.

IMHO if you think that the LOTR license is equal to other licenses you are being delusional as well. I have no doubts whatsoever that this line will last atleast 2 years but more likely 3 years so both movies and the DVD's can be released. I wouldn't be surprised at all if LOTR outsells Star Wars in the second half of the year.

I still think they are going to make the theme minifig-centric and use the figs to sell the sets.

[Bruce N H]

I think it's pretty obvious that as long as the sets are selling well, there will be additional years. I suppose it also depends on the agreement between LEGO and the license holder (Warner Brothers? Peter Jackson? the Tolkien estate?) As long as everyone is making money, everyone is happy.

The real question is, will these sets take off in the non-LEGO community. The general Star Wars collector community seems to have really gone for the LEGO sets, and they're willing to get sets with really obscure characters (sometime Google "Willrow Hood Hasbro"). If Tolkien fans do the same, we'll have many years. If not, not.

Bruce

[Formendacil]

The real question is, will these sets take off in the non-LEGO community. The general Star Wars collector community seems to have really gone for the LEGO sets, and they're willing to get sets with really obscure characters (sometime Google "Willrow Hood Hasbro"). If Tolkien fans do the same, we'll have many years. If not, not.

As someone with more than two feet in the Tolkien fan community, I can attest to the fact that there *is* a Middle-earth Collector demographic, and the ones that I know have definitely been excited by the appearance of The Lord of the Rings LEGO promotional posters--and we're talking about a non-AFOL demographic getting excited a half year in advance about the release of a LEGO line-up, so I would agree that there is definitely a collector's market beyond the normal "a new movie is out right now" hype, such as with Pirates of the Caribbean, which is only a decade-old franchise.

So I think it's pretty certain that Tolkien fans come closer to Star Wars fans than most licensed themes. Perhaps not all the way to Star Wars, but certainly into Batman/Harry Potter territory.

[Bruce N H]

Hey Formy,

I certainly understand your points, as someone who also has multiple feet in Tokien-land. I've seen excited posts about the LEGO sets on places like Theonering, etc. That said, I don't know if the Tolkien collector is the same as the Star Wars collector. After all, there is also collectible stuff out there for Harry Potter (e.g. you can get lifesize replicas of various characters' wands, figurines, etc), and of course there's a lifetime (literally) of stuff for DC and Marvel. And we haven't seen a huge non-FOL fanbase develop for LEGO HP and LEGO Batman/Spider-Man in the past. We've yet to see if that is changed with the recent LEGO Super Heroes line. SW collectors, OTOH, can be completely nuts. Yeah, when I was a kid I had a few of the Kenner SW figs, but these were pretty much major characters-Luke, Leia, Han, Darth Vader, a couple of others. But they made a ton of other figs - like all of the different characters in the Mos Eisley cantina, etc. Are there really a large number of Tolkien fans who would go out of their way to get the fig of random Bree hobbit #6 who is at the Prancing Pony, or the long-expected party?

And that raises another issue for me. These sets are, AFAIK, tied to the movies, not the books. So it's not, as noted above in this thread, like we would actually see a Fatty Bolger fig, or a Radagast (well, maybe him, as he seems to be included in the Hobbit movie). And we'll certainly never get Turin, Beren, Fingolfin, etc, or anyone from the appendices, Lost Tales, Unfinished Tales, HOME, Narn, etc. Instead, if they do end up going long and obscure, we're more likely to get Tauriel, or (shudder) Figwit. If you don't know who those are, count yourself a true Tolkien fan, as opposed to a Johnny-come-lately Peter Jackson fan.

So, since among Tolkien fanatics, you have a range of people from those who love Peter Jackson and all he stands for, to those who put up with him, to those who loathe him, that breaks up the possible fan base of those who will go to great lengths to collect.

Anyway, just a few thoughts.

Bruce

[Kev]

6-10 year olds love Star Wars.

6-10 years do not like LOTR.

6-10 year olds are responsible for probably 80%+ of lego sales.

I am excited about the LOTR legos, but their sales will be closer to Pirates of the Caribbean than SW. Fortunately there is the lego castle crossover appeal, which should keep the line going for at least 3-4 years.

[Velliscig]

A fleshy castle line REPLACING the regular line? This is both thrilling and disappointing... I may only be able to use half the torsos they release, etc., depending on if they make torsos with open collared shirts and such... ugh. I'm not inherently against fleshies, but you know, it's either classic OR the fleshies not both... I can't afford to convert to the flesh bandwagon!

Either way, this line would be a dream come true! I shall start saving some extra $$$$ now.

[Elbadar]

6-10 year olds love Star Wars.

6-10 years do not like LOTR.

I disagree. When I was 8, I loved LOTR & utterly despised Star Wars, and I expect that there are plenty of other kids to whom swordfights and large epic battles are more appealing than spaceships and lasers. Not only that, but I bet that there are even more kids who like both, and having already collected their favorite SW characters would like a few LOTR people for a change.

[Kev]

6-10 year olds love Star Wars.

6-10 years do not like LOTR.

I disagree. When I was 8, I loved LOTR & utterly despised Star Wars, and I expect that there are plenty of other kids to whom swordfights and large epic battles are more appealing than spaceships and lasers. Not only that, but I bet that there are even more kids who like both, and having already collected their favorite SW characters would like a few LOTR people for a change.

You are the exception, and, of course, there are exceptions. I've been an elementary school teacher since the mid 90s, and the children that like either the LOTR movies or books are few and far between, even during the peak of the movie popularity. The most I could ever get out of the kids when mentioning LOTR is "my dad likes those movies."

Star Wars has been a constant currency of playground activity and classroom chatter ever since the rerelease of the OT, through the prequels, and especially now with the TV show.

Out of the 800 kids at my school, I can name maybe three that are fans of LOTR. None of them were interested in the idea of LOTR legos when I mentioned the new sets to them. They all said they had outgrown them.

Hopefully, the Hobbit will change this.

LOTR is a teen/adult property. Kids fantasy is dominated by HP and the Rick Riordan stuff. I've not known one kid that managed to finish one of the books, let alone the whole series, though a couple try every year. I think once the core sets are done for the Hobbit this fall, the best bet for Lego would be to get out some UCS stuff, like Saruman's tower.

[Bruce N H]

Hey,

I started a new thread called LotR sets revealed, so people wouldn't have to dig 15 pages in to find these pics. So go on discussing the viability of the line in this thread if you wish, but comment on the new set images in that one.

Thanks,
Bruce

[Cedric the Brick]

It would be great to see UCS Hobbit house. Lets say around 2500 piece set is quite possible...my biggest wish to get such set

[mencot]

Yes, Kingdoms sure seems like it disappeared in a hurry, doesn't it? I may be way off, but it seems like the blacksmith attack and mill raid didn't come out all that long ago. *sigh*

Altough this is a very old comment and clearly a bit of topic but yes I don`t understand why Lego was in hurry to remove all Kingdoms. I have been looking on shop@Lego.com, there is nothing, just Joust and a queen keyring. And we are just waiting here for the summer that LOTR sets start, so why couldn`t they have some more small sets or more of those Kingdoms from last year. It can`t be that they have sold out on every Kingdoms set already? Because there are Atlantis sets still on sale at the website(Atlantis was really bad altough )
It is maybe stupid to whine here but I don`t understand it

[Bruce N H]

You are the exception, and, of course, there are exceptions. I've been an elementary school teacher since the mid 90s, and the children that like either the LOTR movies or books are few and far between, even during the peak of the movie popularity. The most I could ever get out of the kids when mentioning LOTR is "my dad likes those movies."
...
Out of the 800 kids at my school, I can name maybe three that are fans of LOTR. None of them were interested in the idea of LOTR legos when I mentioned the new sets to them. They all said they had outgrown them.

Hopefully, the Hobbit will change this.

I (sadly) pretty much agree here. I was a pretty advanced reader, and I first read Fellowship in the fifth grade (after which I was hooked). Our teacher read the Hobbit to us in the third grade, and it seemed to be well received.
This, of course, was many many years before the PJ movies. I did see the Rankin/Bass animated hobbit when I was younger (say 2nd grade), and the Bakshi animated Lord of the Rings came out around the same time I read Fellowship (and therefore in my mind's eye Boromir will always look like a viking).
I'm surprised the PJ movies haven't made LotR more accessible a couple of years younger.

Bruce