Toy Fair report, part 1

  • Toy Fair report, part 1

    Posted by Huw, 24 Jan 2012 11:51. Filed under Miscellaneous.

    LEGO stand decoration at the London Toy FairI'm back! It was excellent!

    Although photography was not allowed on the stand, there was nothing stopping photos being taken of the stand: the sides and, for that matter, from the balcony above. This picture was decorating the side of the stand and as you can see it shows the whole Fellowship of the Ring.

    So, what was on display inside the stand? Everything. Or at least everything that LEGO will let normal retailers sell. Of particular interest to us was the Marvel Super Heroes; LOTR; Summer Star Wars, Technic, and Ningago; Monster Fighters and Friends.

    In this article I'll tell you about LOTR and will discuss other themes in later articles.

    First, to answer a quesion I can see has been asked in the comments of the article below, the ring IS a real gold-chromed ring with a hole big enough for Frodo to grip it in his hand. All seven sets were on display and I'll tell you what I remember of them. Actually, before I do that THERE IS A NEW HORSE! Yes, the minifig horse has been redesigned and its hind legs now swivel so it can be made to rear! I'm not sure if all the horses in all the LOTR sets were like this but the ones in Attack on Weathertop certainly were.

    9469, Gandalf Arrives: 2 minifigs: Gandalf and Frodo, Gandalf on horse and cart with fireworks and snake in the back. I think the price was £9.99.

    9470, Shelob Attacks: 3 minifigs: Frodo, Samwise and Gollom! Gollum looked great, hunched over with movable arms, a bit like skeleton arms but different. Shelob the spider looks fantastic and scary!

    9471, Uruk-Hai Army: 6 minifigs: Eomer, Rohan soldier and 4 Urak-Hai. The set consists of a small section of wall, a horse with moving legs and a small siege machine. The wall can be joined to the Helms Deep castle, apparently, so this will make a great battle pack to extend the castle and build your armies. 

    9472, Attack on Weathertop: 5 minifigs: Frodo, Merry, Aragorn and two Ringwaiths on horseback. The set builds a small section of Weathertop with spiral staircase and ruins at the top.

    9473, The Mines of Moria: 7 minifigs: Pippin, Gimli, Legolas, Boromir, a cave troll and two Moria orcs. The set builds a selection of sub-assemblies for mine walls, doors, pedestals etc.

    9474, The Battle of Helm's Deep: 8 minifigs: Gimli, King Theoden, Haldir, Aragorn and 4 Urak-Hai warriors. The castle itself is fairly substantial, complete with the 'side door' used to gain entry

    9476, The Orc Forge: 5 orcs with a forge, various metalworking tools and weapons.

    Overall I was VERY impressed with these sets. Legolas' ears were attached to his hair like the elf in the collectable minifigs but looked to be slightly bigger and better quality. The sets were well designed and highly desirable. As was pointed out to me by the stand guide dressed as Gandalf, you need to buy every set to get the whole Fellowship but I suspect many of us can't wait for the day when we can! They are to be released in August.


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Comments

Posted by LostInTranslation in United Kingdom, 24 Jan 2012 12:34

Thanks Huw! Hyper hyper excitement from me at these descriptions. Sooo want all of these sets, thank God I've got til August to set up a LOTR Lego piggy bank.

Posted by bezley in United Kingdom, 24 Jan 2012 12:34

This is very very exciting news Huw :-D This is also my first post on Brickset since being a member. Hello everyone!

I'm very keen to know about thos Monster sets since those pics that surfaced looked great! What about the Marvel Superhero ones? Any good? I know as a massive Superman fan I'm both incredibly excited at the set that got released (and purchased last weekend) with Lex and Wonder Woman, but are there to be any more substantial sets with Superman in?

PS. Love that LOTR pic!

Posted by Jon_Brick in Canada, 24 Jan 2012 12:37

I can't wait to see the pictures of the superheroes sets. Really want to see Deadpool and spidey in lego form.

Posted by TheCahleySlash in United Kingdom, 24 Jan 2012 12:37

^^
Welcome to brickset bezley!
Looking at the previews sets of LOTR, I find the sets made to be made very well, minifigures however do not really impress me.
Whilst not being that much of a fan of Marvel's works, I do await to see what they have to offer

Posted by max villano in Greece, 24 Jan 2012 12:40

possible prizes for the sets??Btw l heard the sets will come out at june.

Posted by Toyz4me in United States, 24 Jan 2012 12:49

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My preciousssssssss... )))))))))))))))))))

Thanx for the great news!!!

Posted by shawn1818 in United States, 24 Jan 2012 12:51

I am so getting gandalf!

Posted by jesusdlagarza in Mexico, 24 Jan 2012 13:01

this its amazing.. some new about new heroica setS?

Posted by Ernst in Netherlands, 24 Jan 2012 13:07

What to add here, the minifigures look great. A shame Gimli was hiding.

Posted by wunztwice in United States, 24 Jan 2012 13:08

Excellent! I am even more excited now, if that is possible...

Posted by Morgan19 in United States, 24 Jan 2012 13:08

The obvious "make consumers buy every set" tactic aside, I *really* hope LEGO comes to their senses and releases a single large Fellowship "battlepack" that includes all members, perhaps after the first wave's been out for a while. It's a painfully obvious set idea and it stinks to think it won't happen because they want to make sure we're spending the most money possible. =\

@BigHobbit – Okay, granted... But my point was more wishing to have them available from one set, not multiples. :)

Posted by BigHobbit in United States, 24 Jan 2012 13:11

Technically, if the above descriptions are accurate, you only need to buy 4 sets to get the whole Fellowship:

9469, Gandalf Arrives: Gandalf and Frodo

9470, Shelob Attacks: Frodo, Samwise

9472, Attack on Weathertop: Frodo, Merry, Aragorn

9473, The Mines of Moria: Pippin, Gimli, Legolas, Boromir,

Posted by Gandalf1 in United States, 24 Jan 2012 13:11

Awesome!! :{D}

Posted by goldfish in United Kingdom, 24 Jan 2012 13:13

Huw,

You seem very enthusiastic about these sets. Can you confirm (if possible), how different the sets appeared to the grainy preliminary images that surfaced late last year. These had a rather luke warm response, so I am hoping there have been some improvements?

Please confirm!

thanks!

Posted by jabbermabber in United Kingdom, 24 Jan 2012 13:15

Shelob seems, from preliminary images, like he'll be good for Aragog because the one in Hagrid's Hut sucks. On that note, any Harry Potter?

Posted by Be-Burger in Israel, 24 Jan 2012 13:21

I'm just going to get all of the Fellowship from Bricklink a month or two after the sets come out :P

Doesn't matter though, I'm still getting some of those orc-packed sets! :D

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 24 Jan 2012 13:34

^^^ I have a retaliers' catalogue where the lo-res images came from and I'd say the structures were pretty much as per the images but the minfigs are completely different: the box-art just shows mock-ups/substitutions of them, e.g. the old castle orcs.

Posted by Either23 in United States, 24 Jan 2012 13:38

Awesome! Soooooooooooooooo getting all of these awesome sets! Forget about star wars and ninjago, LOTR all the way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by deskp in Norway, 24 Jan 2012 13:38

Can you tell us more about the Orcs? I hope they werent just more goblins or uruk-hai

Did boromir minifigure have blue arm like he does in the cg art? (cause its wrong)
Also was gandalf all light gray? cause he looks better in darker shades with light gray beard.

Is the ORC FORGE in the retailer catalogue? aprox how many pieces and/or aprox price. compare it to a similar sized set?

Thanks for report!! so excited for this theme!

Posted by DocDanCan in United States, 24 Jan 2012 14:26

BigHobbit, I was thinking the same thing. Going to buy those sets or wait until someone posts the minifigs on eBay or Bricklink to get the whole Fellowship into the collection. Doing the same with the Batman series, I think 3 sets gets all of the (current) minifigs with the exception of maybe one henchman. Very excited about this series, I actually started putting together my own Fellowship once they came out with the Elf, but I should have figured it would only be a matter of time before these came out, what with The Hobbit coming to theaters this year. (Another strategic move, similar to splitting up the minifigs.)

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 24 Jan 2012 14:43

The Orcs looked fab and have olive green head/hands. Boromir appears to have dark blue torso and dark red arms.

Posted by Nightshroud99 in Canada, 24 Jan 2012 14:49

Wow my personal predictions for all of these sets; from what I could see from the blurry preliminary pics were completely 100% true. o_O

And I am Happy!!!

Posted by Markey in Belgium, 24 Jan 2012 15:13

Those figs are epic : )

LOTR > Star wars

Posted by Commander Jaller in Netherlands, 24 Jan 2012 15:14

Is Gandalf's clothing in dark grey, and does he perhaps show hair from beneath his hat now?
Just curious as for that - and are the orcs you meant the Moria goblins from the Moria set,
or those from the Orc Forge?

And what I'd also like to know is, were the orcs in the Orc Forge mostly different from each other?
I hope so, since orcs rarely look like one another. (Counting the armor as well)

Oh, and uh.. sorry for overloading you with all these questions, but I really want to know, and so do many others:
Were Gollum's legs moveable like the NinjaGO skeletons, as far as you can remember?
Or were they placed together like battle droid legs?

Thanks in advance for responding, and thanks for the news you've given us so far.

@Markey "LOTR > Star Wars" - I completely agree. And then to think I used to be a huge SW fan...
Still a SW fan, but not much anymore compared to LOTR now. LOTR all the way!

Posted by BTappel in United States, 24 Jan 2012 15:28

Thank you for this much needed info!

Posted by bruce n h in United States, 24 Jan 2012 15:36

Hey Huw,

Thanks for the reports! I hope you don't mind, I quoted the whole thing both on Classic-Castle and on my blog TolkienBricks (with links back here and attribution to you) (I also quoted your Marvel report on my other blog ComicBricks).

One quick question. What is the branding on the Tolkien sets? Are they being listed as "LEGO Lord of the Rings", or something a little broader like "LEGO Middle Earth"? Basically what I'm asking is, do they leave themselves open to also including sets from the Hobbit?

Also, is that Ring a Clickits ring? It looks thinner, but I don't have any Clickits for comparison.

Thanks,
Bruce (Classic-Castle, TolkienBricks etc)

Posted by goldfish in United Kingdom, 24 Jan 2012 15:39

Lego should do a promotion and hide some limited edition chrome, copper, gold etc rings in special packets.

Posted by yys4u in United States, 24 Jan 2012 15:53

Wait so is that Boromir in the pick??

It hardly resembles him IMHO he looks more like king Theoden. Still looks like an awesome figure though, I'll be buying all of them.

Posted by Zander in United Kingdom, 24 Jan 2012 16:33

Thanks for the intel, Huw. Very much appreciated.

You said that Legolas's ears were attached to his *head*. Can I confirm that you meant his *hair*?

Also, did the hobbits have any printing on their feet to indicate that they are barefoot? I hope not as that would mean more to correct.

Thanks,

Zander

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 24 Jan 2012 16:33

@Bruce, no problem...

> Also, is that Ring a Clickits ring?

The ring was thinner than a Clickits one.

> Is Gandalf's clothing in dark grey, and does he perhaps show hair from beneath his hat now?

Gandalf's torso, legs, hat and cloak are dark grey. Can't remember about his hair and beard. The mockup image for the preliminary artwork shows a normal beard but the sketch in the catalogue shows a different design.

> Were Gollum's legs moveable like the NinjaGO skeletons, as far as you can remember?

As far as I can remember, his legs/hips were fixed, only his arms were jointed.

> "LEGO Lord of the Rings", or something a little broader like "LEGO Middle Earth"?

The former. I think my guide said Hobbit sets would be out next year although I'd be surprised if there wasn't some out in time for movie's release in December given these come out in August.

> You said the Legolas's ears were attached to his *head*. Can I confirm that you meant his *hair*?

Hair, now corrected, thanks.

Posted by Jay Kenobi ZX in United States, 24 Jan 2012 16:45

AAAHHHH! As far as I can remember, Sam had orange hair, not blonde..... oh well, still excited. I've collected every LEGO LotR image released/leaked yet and the picture at the top will make a great addition to my little slideshow.....

Posted by deskp in Norway, 24 Jan 2012 17:00

@Huw

Do you know if Eomer and Theoden uses the same helmet?

Does the uruk-hai and goblins have new swords?

generaly any new molds you remember that havent been confirmed yet? particulary swords

ohh and was Theodens armor any good?

Posted by Balthazar Brannigan in United States, 24 Jan 2012 17:01

These look awesome, and I'm really looking forward to their release in the market. I notice, and am suspicious of, the lack of a set numbered 9475 (they have 9474 and 9476, though). I wonder if there's another set planned that hasn't yet been revealed.

Posted by ngclarkiv in United States, 24 Jan 2012 17:37

Goodbye Star Wars and hello LOTR!!!

Posted by Orthobotrex in Philippines, 24 Jan 2012 17:51

WOOOHOOO! I am so liking the minifigs! YEAH!!!

Thanks, Huw!

Posted by deskp in Norway, 24 Jan 2012 18:48

@Huw

seeing as you have the retailer catalogue are you 100% sure that is Eomer in "uruk-hai army"

after seeing the set images it appears that minifigure has been placed on the wall figthing an uruk.

Posted by sebulba in Australia, 24 Jan 2012 19:10

Awesome! My only disappointment is the absence of Saruman. I was hoping that he will be in the orc forge set.

Posted by ngclarkiv in United States, 24 Jan 2012 19:19

@deskp

Where did you get the set images?

Posted by sebulba in Australia, 24 Jan 2012 20:41

@ngclarkiv

I think deskp is referring to the preliminary images of the sets. They have been around for a month.

Posted by deskp in Norway, 24 Jan 2012 20:51

@ngclarkiv

brickset's flickr account!

Posted by emilewski in United States, 24 Jan 2012 20:56

^^^^ I am sure Saruman will come out in a later set.

I am soooo excited!

Posted by Niku in Guatemala, 24 Jan 2012 21:05

Completely AWESOME.

I am so excited about this theme.

Posted by jonbuddy in United States, 24 Jan 2012 21:19

Here comes the explosive fanbase...

Oh wait, it's already here. :P

Posted by blomper in United States, 25 Jan 2012 01:10

Can't wait, this is going to be another expensive year. Everything sounds like a must have for Lego or LOTR fan. I am both. Thanks for all the info. Great as always.

Posted by Zelyonii-Zaktan in Russian Federation, 25 Jan 2012 05:29

Thanks for the news! But what sets do containt the One Ring piece (Weathertop? Or Shelob Attacks? Or any other?) And what's about new sword for Aragorn?

Posted by legobuilder5463 in Netherlands, 25 Jan 2012 06:01

Thank for the very detailed description Huw.

I will definitely get this theme.

I expect that there will be sets from the Hobbit (pre)released in December / January. Further more there are no sets from the third movie. So I also expect more sets from that movie next year or so. And of course more set when the second Hobbit movie comes out. So I guess we can have a lot more of cool sets in the next 2 or 3 years.

Thanks again, even for answering all our questions.

Posted by Jrad in Australia, 25 Jan 2012 07:30

@ HUW; hey are the minifigures in that photo of the fellowship of the ring the same as the ones seen in the actual sets at the toy fair, if you dont mind me asking??

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 25 Jan 2012 07:58

^ They are pretty much identical.

Posted by pincer in United Kingdom, 25 Jan 2012 08:42

Hi Huw,

I was planning on going to Olympia myself but your descriptions are so good that it may have saved me a trip.

Hopefully there will be some photos up soon from the other international toy fairs which seem to be more lenient with photographers.

I'm really looking forward to this theme.

Do you think you can supplement these LOTR sets with Kingdom and Castle? To increase the Helm's Deep set for example?

There are so many potential sets to hope for - Isengard, Hobbiton, Rivendell, Mordor, Minas Tirith etc..

and characters - Saruman, Treebeard, Lurtz, Sauron etc..

Great Job..

Posted by jarakin in United Kingdom, 25 Jan 2012 09:27

So, how long after August do you think these sets will be in the sales and hit the magical 30% mark? Think they'll be mixed in with the Christmas sales and possible TRU 3for2's in UK?

Posted by Commander Jaller in Netherlands, 25 Jan 2012 11:12

Also, I hope you don't mind me asking another question,
but were the head-shapes (and general shape) of the horses the same as the old ones,
or were they rounder and/or perhaps renewed versions?

I'm really wondering if I can use these in my army along with the other old horses I have,
thanks in advance.

Posted by ngclarkiv in United States, 25 Jan 2012 14:46

@Huw

I'm sorry, I understand you're busy answering everybody else's questions but are the minifigs of Legolas, Aragorn, and Gimli the same for the battle of helms deep and mines of moria sets or are they wearing armor in the battle of helms deep set?

Posted by Jrad in Australia, 25 Jan 2012 15:43

sorry if this question has aleady been asked but has gandalfs staff been designed to look like the movie version and what ngclarkiv said about the legolas aragorn and gimli too

Posted by Jay Kenobi ZX in United States, 25 Jan 2012 18:48

There are pictures of the sets from the Toy Fair at http://www.lordofthebrick.com/2011/12/lego-lotr-premiers-visuels-preliminaires-de-la-gamme-2012/

Posted by JaseTJ in United States, 25 Jan 2012 19:01

Did they have prices listed? That's the biggest thing I'm worried about now that I know they have Merry and Pippin...

Posted by ngclarkiv in United States, 26 Jan 2012 01:21

@Jay Kenobi ZX Thanks!

These sets look amazing, especially the battle of helms deep. It looks like legolas does look different in battle of helms deep because he's got some red in him or perhaps it's Haldir? http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Haldir_%28Lorien%29

Posted by ngclarkiv in United States, 26 Jan 2012 01:27

Also I'm hoping we get to see a Eomer minifigure. His armor is freakin awesome. http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3349184512/ch0000144

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 26 Jan 2012 03:29

@Jay Kenobi ZX, LOL, they are taken from the illicit picture I posted on flickr, taken from the balcony above :-)

Posted by BrickBob Studpants in Switzerland, 26 Jan 2012 14:30

@Huw: Did Gollum have a new head mould à la Dobby? And what did his eyes look like? I really can't wait to see how Gollum turns out as he's clearly the most tricky LOTR character to portray in minifig form ;)

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 28 Jan 2012 10:07

^Completely new mold, not minifig based. One piece body/head and then new arms.

Posted by BrickBob Studpants in Switzerland, 28 Jan 2012 11:21

@Huw: Thanks a lot! Now that sounds interesting :)

Posted by Pulpdiction in United Kingdom, 29 Jan 2012 13:55

Any other pricing known on the other sets? I'm getting all of these. Can't wait for LOTR.

Posted by ngclarkiv in United States, 31 Jan 2012 00:10

Man, I want some more Lord of the Rings news... I can't wait for the New York toy fair. I wanna see what they look like!

Posted by Tintin14 in Netherlands, 31 Jan 2012 08:37

Great! Olso I'am curious to the videogame! I can't wait!

Posted by 1GJJ in Canada, 31 Jan 2012 12:32

Hey Huw,

Love that LEGO finally decided to make LOTR sets. I was even thinking about sending LEGO a letter that they should start making them. Anyway I was checking out your post when you said only one set's price. Would you be able to tell me the rest of the sets prices. Oh and thank you for making my day when you posted that. Sooooo exited!!
Thank you,
1GJJ

Posted by bruce n h in United States, 02 Feb 2012 15:27

Hey Huw,

I have one additional question. Are all of the orcs the same? Or in a set like Orc Forge are there multiple torso and/or face designs?

Thanks!
Bruce

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