Most of the affordable sets are targeted towards younger consumers and half of them don't work as display pieces. And then you have the adult section of LEGO that is just too expensive. Adults don't really have enough options for good LEGO sets. Even when they do have the money to spend it's very reasonable not to do it because the price is simply too much for a LEGO display piece. The Barad Dur set is absolutely amazing and I don't want it to receive criticism because of this because this isn't a problem that has to do with the set itself. However I do hope that the conversation it has sparked becomes loud enough so that LEGO will start releasing smaller, more affordable sets for adults
Yeah I think I view sets like the Dune Ornithopter as the true ‘Adult’ line of sets. Up there in price definitely but acts as a decent middle ground when you compare a Star Wars Battle Pack vs a Starship or sorts vs Barad Dur. Every year I hope more and more LEGO announces some sort of change due to this kind of feedback. It’s ultimately about their budgets and schedules and management, I guess up until lately they figured they were covering all bases.
This is the most sane take. I think that criticism towards Barad-Dur as a set as well as people reviewing it is not justified. There's not much you can criticize this set for, apart from maybe reusing Frodo and Sam prints. What's actually bad is LEGO the company and them not providing any choice for the customer - you either go with Rivendell or Barad-Dur and go broke. My biggest fear is that they are well aware of the LoTR demand and not releasing smaller sets is strategic. The insane fear of missing out on these LoTR releases will push a lot of people into buying something they can't responsibly afford.
Normal non lego desplay pieces are mental money. My partner spends hundreds on pictures and rugs...... I told her that's fine but do it with your own money after we've paid all the bills... Haha
Lego LOTR fans: "Barad-dür, where is Barad-dür?" Their logical budget plan: "I let Barad-dür go" Lego LOTR fans on June 1.: "Then you did what I could not. I tried to buy Barad-dür on release for the GWP but my wealth wasn't enough" Lego shop on June 1. at 2pm: "The GWP is beyond our reach now." Lego LOTR fans to their wallet: "Forgive me. I did not see it. Lego is pushing out overpriced sets through FOMO"
I have no issue with TH-camrs getting sets for free and being connected to Lego as long as the audience is made aware but they absolutely quickly forget how much the prices hurt regular people. It only takes a couple of months of financial privilege and getting sets for nothing where suddenly they start saying "£500 isn't that insane" which is in of itself insane and deeply out of touch. They are certainly the 1% of Lego enthusiasts.
You can't trust reviewers fully as most of them don't have to make the tough choice of which one, two, or maybe handfull of lego sets they are getting for the whole year. It really changes your opinion on things.
I know there’s still a few channels operating right now who aren’t involved with ambassadors and still make full purchases. I’m just always surprised to learn LEGO are in fact willing to send out sets line this one. I assumed massive sets like this would be taken off the table.
I could never afford the lotr sets back in 2012 when they released. Last year I bought Rivendell and absolutely loved it. Being a completionist I couldn't help myself but start collecting all the original sets. I ordered all the pieces through bricklink and built the sets. I then had to have everything else so I've now bought all the boxes, instructions and minifigs. It is very pricey but knowing what I've paid to catch up with the originals I know I will grab it day 1. I don't collect any other themes so I just save a bit each week in case another set comes out. Hopefully we get them annually
I’ve always wanted to do this with the SpongeBob line and finish what sets I’m missing. The idea of prioritising one theme is the best way to go about doing that. I’m somewhat of a completionist myself so I imagine because I have Rivendell, and Orthanc thankfully, I’ll probably be getting this too.
I applaud you for doing this. As I've only been back into lego for about 5 months or so, I completely missed the whole LOTR original line and a whole lot else. Looking into the prices, I think this line, however much I enjoy lord of the rings, is just a little too pricey for me. Just the price of one minifigure can buy you a couple of hundred pieces to build something with, which is exactly what I did. Still, it is great to focus on one theme (or maybe two) to keep the costs down and make sure you can fit everything together in a display. Because I owned a lot of older Castle stuff from my childhood, I chose to focus on building that out. I hope there will be enough releases so you can continue to grow your Lego LOTR collection.
So I’ve heard! That’s awful news honestly. I’ve seen it listed already at $200nzd aftermarket, the Barad Dur set itself being $750 for comparison is insane.
@@RayLilySeries geez, with such a big purchase i would like the maximum worth of my money. At some point i also think of scalpers as egoists, i would have loved to have something like this as a kid, and i am sure others too
A good rule of thumb: avoid any LAN channels. That whole setup is ethically sketchy, with TH-camrs profiting off the sets Lego gives them in exchange for promotion of their product. And rarely do these TH-camrs make it clear to the public what's going on behind the scenes. At best, you usually just get a quick, throwaway "Thank you, Lego, for sending me this set." All those videos should have the "Includes Paid Promotion" stamp since they're in essence sponsored by Lego, and items and sevices with monetary value are changing hands between both parties.
I think most people have it in the description? Not being an ambassador myself, I don’t know the rules. Maybe they don’t have to really push the message that this set was provided for free? But definitely, I’ve always seen it as this amazing privilege where all income made from videos can be used for your living cost bills. Especially as we go forward and sets are regularly becoming more and more and literally costing the same amount as a months worth of rent or groceries.
@@thegreatpiginthesky3904 Not sure why people would defend TH-camrs making money that way, but some of those channels are certainly popular :( I find the whole thing really icky and dubious. Of the big English-language channels, I stick with Jang, who is independent, and then watch smaller independent channels. I've found that the best coverage by far actually comes from Germany, where the a lot of attention is also given to Lego's competitors. But obviously, the language barrier is going to be a problem for many.
@SO-ym3zs because a lot of the people don't even know that they get the sets for free. Years ago SolidBrixStudios was getting everything and never said a word about being sponsored. After @MandRproductions called him out he started putting it at the bottom of the description lol
This is why I don't go to Ashnflash or LAN members for reviews. They're usually out of touch and don't have to deal with money going out of the bank account when one of these massive sets are released. They claim they will be fully honest but it's hard to do that when you're not the one paying for stuff the way regular consumers are and you're always afraid that Lego will cut you off. IMO the only thing they're really good for is seeing sets shown off early. They're basically just an advert. That's why a lot of their reviews have EARLY in the title. Because if they were to release their reviews at the same time as others, they wouldn't hold up. Look at Ashnflash's Lion King set review. One of the biggest criticisms that set has got is the nose. It looks great but Simba's nose looks off. Outside of that, the face looks almost perfect. In his review, he's saying the nose looks great. The set even falls apart in his hands and he barely even acknowledges it even though the quality of a build is something we'd want to know about
What's there to criticize about Barad-Dur? Did we want it to be smaller and not do it justice? No. Don't we just want more LoTR sets so that there is a choice?
Yeah I can understand why viewers feel that way. I look back at how much I’ve spent over the years while I was studying and at University around the same time I was watching and engaging with creators. And realising how much these guys have saved is just an amazing number. I’m actually surprised LEGO are willing to send large scaled sets out like that.
Look at Tiago Catarino's reviews, he worked at lego and at least is honest when price doesn't match what you will get from the set, he tends to be more truthfull on how he reviews the sets
@@marcosj.garciaperez6643 I would generally agree, but I think Tiago did one of his worst reviews to date with Barad-Dur. He missed multiple references and criticized design choices based on lack of research, misidentified rooms, criticized subjective color choices (i.e. myself and all of my friends much prefer chosen colors on the tower instead of all-blacked out) and so on. While price per piece is a good metric, Barad-Dur is not "expensive" in that regard either. 😵💫
@@marcosj.garciaperez6643 Tiago is one of the better ones but I feel like he's gotten worse lately. Like with a lot of the sets that they send him, he won't even do a full review for them. He'll just write up a short community post as his "review" with no video
turned 16 recently, and am starting a job soon and so hopefully i get enough to purchase this in time to get the fellbeast gwp bc it feels more justifiable and if i dont get enough in time then im gonna either get rivendell or the ghost, millenium falcon and maybe the star destroyer releasing in august
Thank you for making such an amazing comment about how the community helps you buy sets with views. I think I have found a new favorite channel. This was a great video!
Thank you so much, I appreciate it. I’m in a very lucky position and I think it’s important I acknowledge that it’s all only because of everybody here.
It's weird that for Lego Harry Potter, there have been three waves of various sets that you can use to build your own Hogwarts, with some variations in build style. There's also the UCS version and the mini one. Same with Diagon Alley, there's the £300 version, and then there's the cheaper option for various shops. They could easily do that with LotR sets since there seems to be a high demand for it. I can imagine Minas Tirith is next on their list, but as one set, that will be ridiculously overpriced. If they did a hogwarts style range of sets that you can combine together, it'd appeal to a wider audience and, like star wars, you could army build at the same time. Lego know what they are doing with these big sets.
Oh this is exactly where my head is right now. I think LEGO have tested these waters and noticed how successful Lord of the Rings still is. So they must also see people want small scaled sets. Take Rivendell, downsize it, split up the build, release to the masses.
It is rough, but I can't deny that I do love getting at least 1 big build a year like this where I spend the start of my vacation just building it. In my opinion, more options makes it more fun.
Also, its been a year, and Rivendell hasn't been on sale yet. I'm afraid both these sets won't go on sale at all, and they'll just retire at these prices
Has it really not? I think sets like that usually stay available for a good few years though. It’s possible at some point this year we may see a nice discount.
3:35 LEGO has been doing colored eyes like that for over 12 years. It's suitably in their style since minifigures generally don't have pupils unless we count the white glint in their eyes. Black pupils with for colored eyes seems to be most effective on characters intended to look creepy (Palpatine, Anakin, Bib Fortuna, etc.) although I think the orcs from 2012 could have benefited from black pupils as well.
The problem with the fell beast gift with purchase is that they didn't make enough of em', so even though I bought the set the 2nd day after it became available to insiders, I still didn't get the fell beast since they ran out
I my home in Gernany, the Lego scene has actually turned to many non-Lego brick brands and they tend to be both far more affordable and also often more customer conscious. Funwhole for instance has pretty decent Minifigures and always includes light in their sets and are quite a bit cheaper than Lego. Cada makes Technic-like cars at the same price as Lego, but usually quite a bit more pieces, electronic features, sturdier builds and more accuracy. Bluebrixx - a German company - has a fantastic medieval line (Burg Blaustein is a massive castle that comes with several add ons and the base set is 200€ for 5250 pieces; the fully build castle with 4 add ons has I think some 22.000 pieces now). They also have secured the Star Trek licence and have released fantastic sets of many iconic Star Trek ships in different scales - I recently got a Defiant at 20€ which is about the same size as the recent midi millennium Falcon. They always come with prints! All I'm saying is, there is Lego like sets that are at least as good and more affordable. So paying 500€ for Lego - unless it's massive - is definitely a big ask. Barad Dur should be at about 250-300€ with what we see here. And at 460€€, we have too few minifigs - only 2 or 3 of them are truly interesting for collectors - 2 reused figures from Rivendell (with wrong outfits), a gaudy sticker sheet, a light brick that probably won't do much, and an outsourced fell beast & ring wraith that should have been part of the set. At 460 there is just too much issues with this set imho- and that's a shame because it looks really cool and seems really well designed and has some cool things in it. I'd like to refer to it as heavy metal LOTR 😅
Alternate options are always a choice but some of them aren’t as readily available for other consumers. Hearing there’s alternative ways for Star Trek sets really intrigues me, sounds great. I wish there wouldn’t be nearly as many nitpicks if you’re to spend soooo much for a set. Ideally the larger the set, the less issues. I really don’t like the reuse of Frodo and Sam here and they really bring it down for me.
@@RayLilySeries exactly. If the set was at around 250-300€/$ stickers and reused or "missing" figures just wouldn't be an issue. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to simply order some Star Trek sets in Germany, but Bluebrixx is still relatively small and afaik they have not stretched beyond the borders of our humble country. But they are really good.
@@fgdj2000 This looks and feels like a 200 dollar/euro set, not a 460 one. I think Rivendell, while being a lot better in terms of the design and minifigures, still is worth no more than about 300. Are Bluebrixx compatible with regular lego? So far, what I've seen from 'fake' Lego pieces is that the quality is very rough, especially over time.
I turn to German-language TH-cam channels like Merlins Steine, Steinküste, Held der Steine, BloxxStar etc. for most of my brick-building reviews and news these days. They usually give way better reviews and coverage, and they talk about all the other brands as much as Lego. If you only stick with Lego, you're missing a ton of awesome sets--and will likely end up poor :)
3:49 That's the Uruk-hai design. There were two 2012 orc designs, the moria orcs and the mordor orcs. Still, you are correct that the variation was extremely limitet.
I have been saving up for this set and I am still hesitant to purchase it! It is definitely hard to throw down that kind of money on 1 set. But, you can certainly get it used a little later if you want to save a few hundred dollars and don't mind sorting pieces 🙂
Agreed. In some ways I wish these sorts of sets would be officially announced months in advance so we would have more time to adjust to the idea of spending so much in one go. A couple of weeks to get $750nzd together isn’t impossible but it still leaves me hesitant.
Hey, i've gotten into LEGOs recently, even got myself couple of botanic/insects sets for my summer house, but I keep asking myself, why are LEGO minifigures so valuable? Everytime i see review of any set, be it a huge castle or whatever, a great deal of attention is given to minifigures, and whether there is enough of "worth" in minifigures for a set price. Whats that all about? I understand that there is a market for old/rare minifigures, but what does it matter for a adult LEGO fan if he gets 3 orcs or 7 of them in a Barad-Dur set? Please explain someone.
From my experience I think Minifigures help sell the idea of quantity and quality. You may sometimes find sets with the same amount of figures in two different sets, but both sets have different prices and piece counts. For some people the idea of spending $ on a set with less figures is less value than the one with the most figures. I’m fascinated too why we hold so much weight on the minifigures inclusion even if I myself am guilty of letting the minifigures sway my purchases one way or another. I think it’s partly due to the rarity of inclusions now. Back when LEGO started doing licensed sets you used to get re-releases of the main characters across all sets. Nowadays it’s more likely LEGO will hold a figure for an exclusive because it will increase the desire. The value of figures also effects the price in aftermarket’s because sets like the Scooby Doo line or the Ninja Turtles sets will be expensive later down the line exclusively because they had a desirable figure included. So this pushes the idea that you need to buy these sets now, because if you miss it later, you’ll have to pay someone a lot more. I’m sure everyone has their own unique perspective on why the minifigure is so important to them. I’m always eager to learn.
Right of course, tall lady! I wish I knew the behind the scenes for why some themes receive accurate parts like that and why some don’t. I’m expecting the Nightmare Before Christmas set will also use the long parts.
From what I have seen, the Lego community as a whole is very happy this set is out. I've never bought a Lego set over 150$, yet I vouch for these large sets viability, as do many others. Obviously all people cannot afford extremely expensive ones, but that is why there is variation in the price for the adult line. People are buying these sets, and until they stop, Lego won't stop making them.
As a collector myself I fully agree with flash here and the first guy who commented. I’m fortunate to be in a position where I can buy a lot of the big sets I want but I also think smaller sets should be released with them for those who either can’t or aren’t willing to spend that much on LEGO. At the end of the day it is just plastic but it’s something I value a lot and don’t have a problem spending a lot on
I got the DnD set however so many people bought it that I never got the gwp with it luckily Lego gave me points for it but it annoyed me that I didn’t get it
Well even worse the GWP was already sold out today. So not only are you now pressured to get it in advance but you'd even have to rush your order to get the GWP. I am disappointed.
Yeah my worry was besides the pressure of getting this at release, you also only had a couple of hours of a window. Hearing from the streets that this thing was gone in less than an hour
I had planned money for this for a few months and I was able to get it within the first 30 minutes of its release online. But I had to wait in a queue for a bit like waiting to get Taylor Swift tickets. I was fortunate enough to be able to get it but a lot of people really did miss out on it and it sucks. Lego should offer more time for people to get the GWP. Offer it for a couple of weeks or something like that so more people can have the opportunity to get it. If not then people will be at the mercy of the after market and pay well over $100 for the GWP. There really needs to be better opportunities for everyone.
Looking at this set in TH-cam videos Vs IRL is two totally different things. I was absolutely astounded how good this set looks in person and do not regret buying it tbh.
@@RayLilySeries I forgot to mention the location I went to sold out in 15 min lol I was so confused like yeah the set is expensive but people really went in on this set I drove another hour to another place
I think some of your final comments ring true. We don't have huge piles of disposable income to buy everything so we need have a strategy. So when I started out in lego again a couple years ago, I had interest in Marvel/Spiderman and Star Wars, I bought a little from both. Then Rivendell was announced so Marvel, LOTR, and Star Wars. I knew I couldn't do all three. So I looked and decided that simply Star Wars was releasing too many good things so frequently that I cut out the choice all together and decided I would be a Marvel/LOTR lego guy (I still love SW and dabble in other merchandise). Less sets released per year for adults for these two themes so it makes me spend less while still feeling fulfilled, that I'm "keeping up". For example, in 2022, I bought the Daily Bugle (used at a great price) and the Guardians ship. 2023, I bought the Sanctum and Rivendell. This year, I'll probably ONLY get the Avengers tower or Barad Dur. So that being said, I probably only buy 1-2 large sets a year with a few small ones sprinkled in. But thats what I can do and it makes me happy. I think a lot of people just need to get comfortable that it may take some time to save up if that what you really want and that you CAN'T buy everything, just like 99% of the rest of us. So make your choice. I'm an ICONs guy, I'm a castle person, Marvel, Star Wars, Batman, Ninjago etc etc etc. Or even go more niche. I'm a star wars guy but just ships or just minifigs or just helmets, just original movies, etc. And just be happy! Lego exists. Thats a good thing. Do what works for you. If it doesn't, don't buy and find a different hobby that makes you happy :)
This is how I think of things too :) I basically stopped buying LEGO based on properties I don’t have much personal attachment to. I also started buying things outside of LEGO so those needed to be figured in as well. It’s hard accepting that you have to skip something but then you end up getting something important and remember you probably couldn’t have this if you got the other. I’m debating between Dungeons and Dragons and Lion Knights Castle because I really want a LEGO castle of some variety but I don’t want too many due to prices and size. So eventually I’ll pick one, and the other will be skipped.
Im buying it day 1. I saved money and saved up over $200 in VIP points that will go towards it. $500 is a lot for LEGO. But LEGO wants to make money and the designers want to make money too. Wouldnt you after working on sets like this?
I bought Rivendell last year because it was an amazing looking set but also because I thought it was a one-off, meaning they would open up LoTR with this $500 stunning build and then dive into play sets after the surge in popularity. Never would I have thought they’d do another $500 (w/taxes) set a year later and gatekeep some of the best, most sought after figs. I’m not interested in paying half a grand on a Lego set that can’t fit anywhere on my shelves.
My mind here as well. Loved buying Rivendell because I partly assumed that would be it for the massive sets, and buying it would lead to affordable playsets. I’m still interested in Barad Dur but the prices mean I would have spent over $1k.
Sad thing is, the lower the value of a country's currency, the more expensive Lego gets. I live in a third world country and a 300USD set would be about 1500 in local currency, yet its 3000, i don't think thats "compensating for an unstable currency" because it usually hovers around a 5th of a dollar. So what else? Import tax? Maybe, but even for a proteccionist country such as mine, it would probably only add ~40-55% more, so what's left? *Straight up greed* sure a couple of the cheaper sets get a chip taken off, which im grateful for since Ninjago and Minecraft have some banger cheap sets but still, 10x more than the "avarage" price, sheesh. Ps: its not just Lego, because the economy is dogwater most dollar store plastic cars sit around 100 and name brand metallic cars usually 40-60. But even the most expensive car tracks don't surpass 1200, which is still a lot(an entire grossecerie trip) but it doesn't reach values that dwarf the avarage salary like Lego, no wonder the only stores are in high middle class to extremely rich zones in the biggest city here... Also sorry for the essay.
It’s the fact so it’s so much more sometimes is why it’s confusing. Example provided where a set should be 1500 local currency once converted, if we factor in things like import tax or shipping ect, then maybe you see it increase by 30% or so, but when it’s doubled its surprising because there’s so many sets like you mentioned, Ninjago and Minecraft that do translate and convert the way we assume. Very interesting and I would genuinely just like to know how the prices are calculated for each country.
The thing is these sets are basically designed as display sets. Well I do agree that they need to make some smaller LotR sets that can give people access to the minifigures, I do not think these ones should be less expensive.
The GWP absolutely sours this for me. I’d love to save up and buy the set down the line but if I ever do I’ll feel like I’m getting an incomplete product since I won’t get my Fell Beast. If I can’t scrounge up the cash to buy this in the GWP window then I’m probably never going to buy it.
Man this is EXACTLY how I'm feeling. Only have a few days now to decide but part of me keeps saying if I buy this in December like I plan on doing, I miss an additional build that I would get for free if I swap around my purchase dates. Unwanted stress.
Ghostbusters in storage… the aftermarket affects even people with the sets because you feel that $1200 hit breaking that seal…. I’m an AFOL and could summon the funds if need be but damn, even for us you can’t justify even three sets at these prices a year and feel good about it.
I really like the way you explained things in the video. I'm a huge lord of the rings / hobbit fan and I'm so excited for this set. I will be buying this on day 1 just like I did with Rivendell, I'm so excited it looks amazing. from looking at it and looking at the piece count I would say the price is definitely justified and worth the price. of course, it would be nice if it were cheaper but I can't really complain much. the one problem with the lord of the rings theme though is the hole entire theme is expensive there are no cheaper / affordable sets. if you want to purchase the tower of Orthanc today that's gonna cost like maybe 400$ and buying it new would cost 500$ today so it's basically the same price as Rivendell and Baradur. don't get me wrong it's such a great time to be a lord of the rings fan but for people who can't spend all that money on expensive sets we need smaller, more affordable sets like we got back in 2012 to 2014. and I'm speaking for everyone when I say everyone would love some smaller sets. 😊
Getting giant sets for free makes for bad reviews. Makeup reviewers gush about products rather than be honest. Cynicism is waranted. I don't want Lego to turn into Disney
My only hope is they release the fell beast and witch king separately, and I feel it would be a better gift with purchase if the witch king had his helmet from ROTK.
I have to assume the reception has made its way to LEGO and they've seen how many feel about all of this. Like some have pointed out, these sets could be used as an indicator for them to show how popular the theme still is. We could possibly see a genuine wave with more affordable options in the future.
@@RayLilySeries Sorry to hear, but I understand. I would now wait for double Insider points, a big Rakuten reward weekend or another good Gift With Purchase (or all 3) before buying a set at that price.
@@OTHDogDad 100% that's the plan. If the price wasn't so big I would consider grabbing quicker but at $750nzd, the best thing to do really IS to wait for extra VIP points
Honestly LEGO should have put out a few cheaper LotR sets at multiple price points when they did Rivendell. See which price points will make them money.
@@CysgodAstuaexactly, LEGO is at the point where they sell sets at $1,000 usd plus, it sells like money printing, despite so much people suffering people always have disposable income to throw at LEGO. 18+ icon sets are just a toxic FOMO mess
Rivendell in fact in split in areas where a downsized display could have been released as smaller sets that could connect together to be the same size as a Hogwarts Castle. In fact, looking at Harry Potter and the reception the fans are giving here towards LEGO and Lord of the Rings, maybe LEGO will follow the same idea as the Diagon Alley sets and start making smaller scaled Rivendell sets for us.
Lego targets the rich and and well to do and always have. When I was a kid I got my lego out of a dumpster because I was to poor to afford anything. Now I have done well for myself and the economy doesn't have as big an effect on the top 10 percent and that who lego targets.
I don't get the complaints, in the uk it's about £50 cheaper then rivendell plus it comes with a gwp if you do get it near to launch. piece count is pretty good and all the figures are really good with the exception of frodo and Sam who should've been in their full disguise
I don’t think people are complaining that the set is expensive necessarily. It is very big and all. But it’s the fact that it’s all we currently have for Lord of the Rings and a lot of people don’t have that sort of income right now. So yeah, we can spend months to maybe a year or two saving up for it, but now there’s this added bonus of a GWP but only if you buy it at this very specific time. It’s tricky.
It’s definitely one that can be skipped. That’s actually a good thing really, I think the reception would be far worse if the original rumours were true and this set was going to release with 3 exclusive figures.
@@stefanbcpalmer Everything can be skipped, I'm going to skip the whole set. That doesn't work for the people that are serious collectors and want to have it though. Sure, you get some extra value with the GWP, but at this pricepoint, it probably should have been included with thte set.
He's in Minas tirith hanging out. If the map tiles mean anything it will be the next large set. Rivendell had a tile for this set, Barad Dur has a tile for Minas Tirith. If ots made it hope they go all out and make it the biggest set ever.
Oh man, I genuinely didn’t see it coming like this lol. Star Wars has their GWP last at least a day or two usually, I was shocked to learn this was gone within a few hours.
I go back and forth lol. On the one hand, its great they didn't make such an important character exclusive but on the other hand, they just didn't make the character period so maybe this would have been the best place for him. It basically feels like the GWP is such an on the fence extra where I and many can't justify getting this at release but it also seems foolish to miss this if we plan on buying the set anyway.
Yeah I always mean to clarify this in videos but there’s obviously other countries with a worse price conversion than what I have to deal with. In that sense, I am pretty privileged.
@@KingTiger2000 China produces products they don't develop themselves, breaks copyright law, child labor, slave wages, and usually produce lower quality goods to cut costs.
It makes for a great single released set. Always possible the theme gets sets later down the line and maybe we see a Fell Beast release on its own this way 🤷♂️
It’s a brilliant idea and something I also do. It helps that LEGO only have like 3-5 big releases schedules a year so you have some good amount of time to put aside something to get sets on release day if you want.
@@RayLilySeries this will be asking far too much, but the best sets for him I think would either been minas mogul or the battle of minas tirith, or make him a bit more affordable by make a more detailed Nazgûl set that isn’t gift with purchase!
I think the whole pricing debate is never gonna be resolved either way. At the end of the day, LEGO is a community pretty well split between kids and young adults without any spendable money, and adults with jobs making enough to easily pick up something like Barad Dur, especially if they don’t have kids/family yet. So it’s kinda crazy, bc w the right job, this sets an easy pick up for me. Thanks LEGO! 10 years ago, I would’ve despised the company for doing that. Just something interesting to think about, someone is always gonna feel left out, but I am glad sets like this exist for ME as an adult fan. Just also want the kiddos to have some good options for themselves but tbh, not sure how many brain rotted tiktok zombie kids know what barad dur even is
I think this is what people mean when talking about our privilege of being able to have options like this. Even as recently as 5 months ago I would not have been able to afford this set but now because of TH-cam, I actually can afford this. It's lucky we do actually have the option on whether or not we want to spend the money for this really.
@@RayLilySeries As I understand the post modernists and their conception of privilege, it is something afforded to you intrinsically which you did not earn for yourself. You working to grind out youtube money, getting a difficult degree which opens up great career opportunities, or just generally working and becoming an adult makes us privileged? Yes I guess I see the point, but then again, we too were unable to touch these top dollar sets most of our lives. So to summarize, I just think these massively expensive sets, very specifically geared towards the “us” of the world who’ve earned disposable income, are a great opportunity for a historically underrepresented demographic of adults who want some premium products. I love it personally. That said, like I said, would still be cool in the case of LOTR to have some more affordable ones available. To be totally honest, I think LEGO doesn’t trust playsets would sell well with kids… not sure how popular tolkien is these days w kids but what do I know. They know w out a doubt tho, that adults who grew up on tolkien and have worked for a while will wanna buy the TWO sets they’ve made for us Sorry for the ramblyness… appreciate the dialogue
The Lego Death Star was 399.99 USD back in 2018, it had 23 Minifigures and 3,803 pieces. The Lego Barad-Dur set is 499.99 USD for 2024 with 5,471 pieces and 10 minifigures. It is worth more by parts in volume and with inflation adjusted prices. It’s an accurate sale that reflects its scale and times. If it’s so important, save for it, don’t complain. If Lego marketing believes that these sets are too high priced, they won’t lower the prices, they’ll stop producing good quality sets, then no one is happy. I love this set and it’s worth saving up for if you are a fan, but complaining about prices is a personal issue, not a Lego one.
LEGO was always an expensive hobby. I think that's what many people who only got into it during the pandemic don't realise. Sure, you can democratise a hobby but you have to accept the entry fee. Wanting cheap LEGO just because YOU (this is a generic "you") can't afford it is the same as starting to collect cars and then complain you can't afford a 1970's Panther De Ville. As for the minifigures thing, I don't think timed exclusives are good. A minifigure should either be an exclusive or not be an exclusive. I understand having exclusive minifigures locked behind expensive sets. You also have to think about the people who CAN afford the sets. You must give them a reason to part with their money. Just because I can give you 650€ for a Venator without problem, doesn't mean I will unless you give me compelling reasons to buy it. And if one of those reasons is "you will have this exclusive minifigure", then you can't release the same minifigure in a cheap set. Otherwise you'll be deceiving your customers and, maybe, losing them.
I can afford this, no problem for me, but same as alot of People i want cheaper sets between 20$-200$ sets. Never heard anyone not wanting this line back as playsets
This Lego set is completely out of touch with the customers. It's far too expensive and far too big for any regular person to acquire. Even if you were senseless enough to throw down $400USD or so on it, where are you putting it? It would stand on a table and dominate that entire space. It would become the most prominent part of any room and demand all focus in your home, unless you're already drowning in plastic. If you're an American and somehow have expendable wealth and the house with a floorplan as a big as a mansion, then sure I guess. But who is this product for? Why haven't Lego made a more micro version, 1/3 the size, and 1/3 the price? I'd have bought a $100 ish value Barad Dur set with a few important figures if I could display it on my desk or on a bookcase shelf. But this? What is LEGO honestly thinking. I hope they take a loss of profits on this, as only commercial buyers or die-hard Lego fans will ever buy this.
Completely agree. The fans who are most likely buying this are AFOL who collect sets to display, which means they probably have standard book shelves or display shelves with a height clearance of 1-2 ft…. This mega tower can’t be displayed on any standard display shelf because it’s 3 ft tall. Plus all of the points you made as well. I just don’t get why they went this route - yes it’s a popular building in LoTR but they didn’t think about the logistics of it
as a huge fan of LotR and Lego i will probably pick this one up at some point. but it will have to wait a while for it to be on sale, luckily the GWP is not super great so i dont have to feel bad about waiting a bit. got Rivendell day one, and i think it is by far the better set. but i do want to have this as well to balance it out. and i do think the tower is properly menacing and well made.
Yeah thankfully if the GWP doesn’t interest you then awesome, no need to rush. I think I waited about 9 months on Rivendell using Christmas vouchers and deals.
I think Lego fans have gotten entitled more than anything. Nothing Lego does makes them happy. They want complex builds, exclusive minifigs, side builds, and to afford the entire wave. I’m glad they stopped listening to us cause we don’t know what we want.
But even still, that’s an insane amount for rent. Mind telling me what area in the US this is? My area of NZ is a fair bit affordable compared to other main cities here
I like how Lego makes set of various sizes and prices. This gives everyone the opportunity to purchase from them. Lego LOTR is really missing this and there needs to be many smaller sets ($150 and lower) to be offered so those that want them can have the opportunity to get them. Lego Star Wars has this. Why can’t Lego LOTR have this? I know the fan base is there. Offer a set of a pair of buildable Ents with Merry and Pippin and 3or 4 orcs. That would be cool and fun.
I think the general belief is the audience isn’t there right now, just because there’s not as much new material. But these sets have proven that audience is still around and wanting more sets. The LEGO Harry Potter revival was the best example of this showing how popular that fantasy series still is today. I’m sure Lord of the Rings could generate great levels of success with small sets.
I’ll be buying this set when it comes out but I’ll be using all my Lego Insider points worth £50 then Amex points worth £15. I’m ok with that as it’s an exclusive set and can’t see it coming on offer as much as that. I remember last year during Black Friday Rivendell set was only on offer on Amazon for like 5% off. I was better off getting it from the Lego store and getting points
This is definitely the way to go about these things. Had I not just spent my VIP points literally 2 weeks ago then I would have banked them all in for this.
May 4th yes but not the UCS sets actually. I grabbed the Yavin set because it was on sale and the Darth Maul Infiltrator. With LEGO’s deal, I managed to get it for 60% off 🤙
@@RayLilySeries its cause they have never tried the tall but not too lanky design yet. Either tall and lanky or tall and wide currently. But tbf sauron was described as larger than Human but in no way giant. So the movie exaggerated it. If i had to guessprobably like 3 meteres in height. So Long legs could have been viable, but dont Think it would have looked good
The problem is with overpriced LEGO exclusive sets like Barad-Dur. You can purchase Rivendell set outside of official LEGO store, brand new, up to 30% less (both of them are LOTR IP). This shows customers that it is possible to sell these sets for lower price. Buying from offical LEGO store feels like overpaying when you consider price per brick comparing to purchasing from other dealers. They want to convince people to buy using FOMO Gift with purchase, which still gives you worse price per brick than Rivendell at other shops! (Barad Dur 5471 bricks + Fell beast 269 bricks = 5740 bricks -> 0,1$ per brick VS Rivendell 6167 bricks -> 0,07$) Prices for products in Poland (Rivendell all time low price on Polish market) using 1 USD to 3,92 PLN as for 20.05.2024
Yeah the GWP is the way they convince people. It's not impossible for me personally to be able to find this at other retailers for around $680 instead of $750, but by doing that I miss the GWP, but I also save $70!
People are forgetting with lord of the rings that Lego hasn’t brought back the line proper yet, it’s like they are testing the interest with a couple of big sets and if they do well they may bring back the lord of the rings line again which would include sets of all sizes as long as there’s a market for it.
True true but like I mentioned, that set felt more special at release because we weren’t sure how long this line would be continuing. As far as value goes, Rivendell is more worthwhile in value compared to this set due to piece count and figure inclusions
@RayLilySeries sorry I realized my wording made it sound like I was pointing that at You (capital Y) when I meant "you," the generalized. Wasn't meant to seem so aggressive. But what I meant was that there is clearly a willingness to purchase sets of this size. The D&D set was similarly expensive and was wildly popular. With the right ip to target adults, these sets really sell. Even if this set doesn't sell as well as Rivendell, I don't think that indicates a disconnect between buyer and seller. Just shows that there is an untapped market of people looking for small builds. I do think they should do a few desktop builds. The big set buyers would probably buy them, AND the people who couldn't afford the big builds would have an in. I, for one, really want to see a line like their engineering models, but the landmarks of middle earth. Nice and knick knack sized. But I will be buying Barad Dûr.
news just in: lego fans discover that big expensive sets are big and expensive and price conversions exist in other words: this controversy is stupid to me since this has always been the case
At the moment this set is less than three weeks of rent. After the rise I've recently been notified of, it'll be less than two. That's not a statement saying this set is cheap.
I have a real problem watching anyone who is a member of LAN. I feel they are so out of touch with the rest of the community and this is from someone who does have extra funds to purchase larger sets such as this. I have seen TH-camrs go from one day saying all this negative stuff against Lego, then they become an Ambassador, now they are a boot licker. They say things against the community who helped get them to where they are today. I will not support that.
I don’t personally see ALL members that way but I understand why people in the community feel that way. I was shocked to learn that ambassadors really can receive quite a lot and that’s an amazing privilege that so so so many people would love to have.
The main two problems here are 1. The ONLY lotr sets are very expensive sets (brickheads not counted). So either spend much or dont get to enjoy lego lotr at all (2 sets for around 1000 euro's in europe) 2. Lego makes so many expensive sets and indeed giving you FOMO with a GWP. Do you want barad dur, the new tie fighter, the disney castle, the dnd set? If I knew barad dur was coming months ahead I couldve decided to skip some purchases as well. This just releases 2/3 weeks ish.
In the same boat. Rivendell and Barad Dur together is around $1,500nzd and I mentioned in other comments that I used points just recently for May 4th but if I knew the price and images of this before that, I might have reconsidered spending my points
@@GoatzombieBubba if you are into youtube with leaks indeed. But for the casual person. I can just imagen parents deciding what top buy with no idea what is coming in the future.
Don't you like it when a YT channel stir up a controversy over a freaking Lego set just so he can bait people into posting more comments (I mean Ashnflash).
Cheaper LotR sets are a no-brainer imho. I honestly how no idea why not, except that LEGO is just delaying them so more people buy the huge sets first, feeling they have no other choice to get LEGO LotR. So if you really want smaller sets, just wait. I will be getting Barad-dur for the build, but I expect Sauron mini to be available for less later. I didn't get Rivendell because I didn't like the build enough, I found it too asymmetrical and clunky for a mix of elven architecture and nature that should have felt "lighter" imho. I do miss not having the Company, but I'm not gonna spend 500$ on something I don't utterly and absolutely love, and neither should you. They WILL release cheaper sets down the line. Also LEGO should remember there are cheaper alternatives. Having good quality bricks only goes so far.
My thoughts too really. I assume we’ll see more down the line, I think because we knew about these Rivendell and Barad Dur releases for so long some of us have forgotten we sometimes won’t learn about new sets until just months before release. That mindset on not spending money if you aren’t committed enough, I get that. That’s why I’ve passed on Avengers Tower. The figures are placed elsewhere, the set is amazingly large but too large for my areas, there are many other themes and IPs I care more about than Avengers.
Alternatively, and while I would prefer getting MORE, smaller, sets…. it is kinda like they’re releasing a waves worth of LOTR at once, at least in terms of prices and pieces. LOTR wave one would’ve cost you, what, like $350+ to get, adjusted for inflation, that’s close to Rivendell’s price, at the very least. Probably a comparable amount of overall pieces. Again, I’d still prefer more playsets, but if I had to guess, they figured out how highly desired LOTR is, especially with people 20+ with more money, and want them to do the equivalent of buying a full wave of LOTR, which they wouldn’t be able to guarantee releasing $550 USD of playsets for their adult audience. Arguably scummy, but I think that’s their marketing approach edit: did you say it’s worth 6 weeks of rent? so $90 a week. Idk anywhere NEAR where I live in the USA where a month of rent is $360 … 💀 For one person, prolly more like $900
This was actually why I liked Rivendell a lot. It's expensive but it's also the only set with every main character so even if they released a wave of playsets, theoretically you wouldn't need them all if you loved minifigures and bought this set first. Average rent in NZ I think is around $400-600 a week depending on the amount of people in the household, city you're in, type of home ect. I don't live alone so my costs aren't as high.
as a person who likes original themes with fun sets of 20-80eur i have no problem with lego. All drama and awful prices/sets happening within those "collectors ivestors" stuff. Lego making money off normies with terrible tastes and im ok with that as long as Monkie Kid/Dreamzzz/Ninjago/Space/etc. sets are cool.
It just feels like nitpicking on top of nitpicking. It’s an amazing set full of so much love and care, and I’d say it’s more then worth the price tag. I’m buying it day one if I can, but I can understand wanting affordable lotr stuff. Me personally? I could see rehashes of old sets, like maybe bagend, or the meeting of wizards from the hobbit movies, battle on the mountain top, that sort of stuff. But I’m also fine if it’s a two year giant set, granted I’ll probably only be buying Barad dur and that’s it, and Rivendell is already in my collection
Think ever since we started seeing how much attention the Harry Potter line gets despite not having any new projects released at the time, people have been waiting for Lord of the Rings to get this same treatment. Build methods are so much better now than a decade ago, the people desire affordable sets.
@@RayLilySeries and while I can understand that, I don’t think attacking people and creators behind these larger builds is the way to do it. We already have confirmed smaller sets coming down the line, and the brick heads are good sets as is that people just disregard
Your “concerns”/“controversy” ( 8:14 ) are not everyone’s here…it’s geographical-oriented so I don’t see why you’re complaining about this to all of us like it’s something a) you want us to do about it, b) to have sympathy or c) to make sure us who sell this on the aftermarket don’t price it too high, which is not likely 😂 Diehard LOTR and LEGO fans won’t have an issue with this…
I think there’s a lot of comments in this thread that agree with the statements made in this video so I don’t think I see your point that this is a very specific issue that doesn’t affect a large pool of people.
Everyone is different. You’re speaking as if it’s “one size fits all”…the NZ economy stuff doesn’t apply to the whole world 😂 It’s not a LEGO controversy and that’s the wrong word to use here. Kinda clickbaity
Thanks for video pointing these things out, I would like for us to have more critical people in Lego community. I also agree that it is would be for the better for Lego to release smaller scale sets again, like in the past
As mentioned all throughout this comment thread, it’s likely that the success of sets like this could lead to a wave later down the line with affordable sets for the masses. I would hope Lord of the Rings would follow the same pattern that the Harry Potter line has gone through these past 6 years
Most of the affordable sets are targeted towards younger consumers and half of them don't work as display pieces. And then you have the adult section of LEGO that is just too expensive. Adults don't really have enough options for good LEGO sets. Even when they do have the money to spend it's very reasonable not to do it because the price is simply too much for a LEGO display piece. The Barad Dur set is absolutely amazing and I don't want it to receive criticism because of this because this isn't a problem that has to do with the set itself. However I do hope that the conversation it has sparked becomes loud enough so that LEGO will start releasing smaller, more affordable sets for adults
Well, technically they have made them but they are all plants 😂
Yeah I think I view sets like the Dune Ornithopter as the true ‘Adult’ line of sets. Up there in price definitely but acts as a decent middle ground when you compare a Star Wars Battle Pack vs a Starship or sorts vs Barad Dur.
Every year I hope more and more LEGO announces some sort of change due to this kind of feedback. It’s ultimately about their budgets and schedules and management, I guess up until lately they figured they were covering all bases.
This is the most sane take. I think that criticism towards Barad-Dur as a set as well as people reviewing it is not justified. There's not much you can criticize this set for, apart from maybe reusing Frodo and Sam prints. What's actually bad is LEGO the company and them not providing any choice for the customer - you either go with Rivendell or Barad-Dur and go broke. My biggest fear is that they are well aware of the LoTR demand and not releasing smaller sets is strategic. The insane fear of missing out on these LoTR releases will push a lot of people into buying something they can't responsibly afford.
Exactly. There is a huge difference in a person’s ability to buy a $70-$200 adult set compared to a $460 set.
Normal non lego desplay pieces are mental money. My partner spends hundreds on pictures and rugs...... I told her that's fine but do it with your own money after we've paid all the bills... Haha
I plan on resisting purchasing the Lego Barad-Dur set. I will be as successful at resisting as Boromir was The One Ring.
Strong willed! Yesterday I told myself nah but today, I’m telling myself yeah…
I would enjoy to see what different people would build if given a 1 foot wide circle that wraps the tower.. mountains.. orc towers.. the spider lair?
Lego LOTR fans: "Barad-dür, where is Barad-dür?"
Their logical budget plan: "I let Barad-dür go"
Lego LOTR fans on June 1.: "Then you did what I could not. I tried to buy Barad-dür on release for the GWP but my wealth wasn't enough"
Lego shop on June 1. at 2pm: "The GWP is beyond our reach now."
Lego LOTR fans to their wallet: "Forgive me. I did not see it. Lego is pushing out overpriced sets through FOMO"
@@RayLilySeries "my wallets telling me noooo... but my fomo... my fomoooo's telling me yeaeah"
I saved for 3 months the money for this set, i’m not giving up now!
I have no issue with TH-camrs getting sets for free and being connected to Lego as long as the audience is made aware but they absolutely quickly forget how much the prices hurt regular people. It only takes a couple of months of financial privilege and getting sets for nothing where suddenly they start saying "£500 isn't that insane" which is in of itself insane and deeply out of touch. They are certainly the 1% of Lego enthusiasts.
You can't trust reviewers fully as most of them don't have to make the tough choice of which one, two, or maybe handfull of lego sets they are getting for the whole year.
It really changes your opinion on things.
I know there’s still a few channels operating right now who aren’t involved with ambassadors and still make full purchases. I’m just always surprised to learn LEGO are in fact willing to send out sets line this one. I assumed massive sets like this would be taken off the table.
this is why i watch Jang's Lego reviews since he buys his own sets.
I could never afford the lotr sets back in 2012 when they released. Last year I bought Rivendell and absolutely loved it. Being a completionist I couldn't help myself but start collecting all the original sets. I ordered all the pieces through bricklink and built the sets. I then had to have everything else so I've now bought all the boxes, instructions and minifigs. It is very pricey but knowing what I've paid to catch up with the originals I know I will grab it day 1. I don't collect any other themes so I just save a bit each week in case another set comes out. Hopefully we get them annually
I’ve always wanted to do this with the SpongeBob line and finish what sets I’m missing. The idea of prioritising one theme is the best way to go about doing that.
I’m somewhat of a completionist myself so I imagine because I have Rivendell, and Orthanc thankfully, I’ll probably be getting this too.
@@RayLilySeries There's always time to do it. If you're only wanting to build the sets minus the figs etc it's actually pretty affordable.
I applaud you for doing this. As I've only been back into lego for about 5 months or so, I completely missed the whole LOTR original line and a whole lot else. Looking into the prices, I think this line, however much I enjoy lord of the rings, is just a little too pricey for me. Just the price of one minifigure can buy you a couple of hundred pieces to build something with, which is exactly what I did.
Still, it is great to focus on one theme (or maybe two) to keep the costs down and make sure you can fit everything together in a display. Because I owned a lot of older Castle stuff from my childhood, I chose to focus on building that out.
I hope there will be enough releases so you can continue to grow your Lego LOTR collection.
the aftermarket was literally the before market. the gwp sold out in three hours which is very weird. i reconsidered my purchase after that.
So I’ve heard! That’s awful news honestly. I’ve seen it listed already at $200nzd aftermarket, the Barad Dur set itself being $750 for comparison is insane.
@@RayLilySeries geez, with such a big purchase i would like the maximum worth of my money. At some point i also think of scalpers as egoists, i would have loved to have something like this as a kid, and i am sure others too
A good rule of thumb: avoid any LAN channels. That whole setup is ethically sketchy, with TH-camrs profiting off the sets Lego gives them in exchange for promotion of their product. And rarely do these TH-camrs make it clear to the public what's going on behind the scenes. At best, you usually just get a quick, throwaway "Thank you, Lego, for sending me this set." All those videos should have the "Includes Paid Promotion" stamp since they're in essence sponsored by Lego, and items and sevices with monetary value are changing hands between both parties.
I think most people have it in the description? Not being an ambassador myself, I don’t know the rules. Maybe they don’t have to really push the message that this set was provided for free?
But definitely, I’ve always seen it as this amazing privilege where all income made from videos can be used for your living cost bills. Especially as we go forward and sets are regularly becoming more and more and literally costing the same amount as a months worth of rent or groceries.
I’ve been saying this for years but most people in the community defend them like crazy.
@@thegreatpiginthesky3904 Not sure why people would defend TH-camrs making money that way, but some of those channels are certainly popular :( I find the whole thing really icky and dubious. Of the big English-language channels, I stick with Jang, who is independent, and then watch smaller independent channels. I've found that the best coverage by far actually comes from Germany, where the a lot of attention is also given to Lego's competitors. But obviously, the language barrier is going to be a problem for many.
@SO-ym3zs because a lot of the people don't even know that they get the sets for free. Years ago SolidBrixStudios was getting everything and never said a word about being sponsored. After @MandRproductions called him out he started putting it at the bottom of the description lol
what is LAN channel?
This is why I don't go to Ashnflash or LAN members for reviews. They're usually out of touch and don't have to deal with money going out of the bank account when one of these massive sets are released. They claim they will be fully honest but it's hard to do that when you're not the one paying for stuff the way regular consumers are and you're always afraid that Lego will cut you off. IMO the only thing they're really good for is seeing sets shown off early. They're basically just an advert. That's why a lot of their reviews have EARLY in the title. Because if they were to release their reviews at the same time as others, they wouldn't hold up.
Look at Ashnflash's Lion King set review. One of the biggest criticisms that set has got is the nose. It looks great but Simba's nose looks off. Outside of that, the face looks almost perfect. In his review, he's saying the nose looks great. The set even falls apart in his hands and he barely even acknowledges it even though the quality of a build is something we'd want to know about
What's there to criticize about Barad-Dur? Did we want it to be smaller and not do it justice? No. Don't we just want more LoTR sets so that there is a choice?
Yeah I can understand why viewers feel that way. I look back at how much I’ve spent over the years while I was studying and at University around the same time I was watching and engaging with creators. And realising how much these guys have saved is just an amazing number. I’m actually surprised LEGO are willing to send large scaled sets out like that.
Look at Tiago Catarino's reviews, he worked at lego and at least is honest when price doesn't match what you will get from the set, he tends to be more truthfull on how he reviews the sets
@@marcosj.garciaperez6643 I would generally agree, but I think Tiago did one of his worst reviews to date with Barad-Dur. He missed multiple references and criticized design choices based on lack of research, misidentified rooms, criticized subjective color choices (i.e. myself and all of my friends much prefer chosen colors on the tower instead of all-blacked out) and so on. While price per piece is a good metric, Barad-Dur is not "expensive" in that regard either. 😵💫
@@marcosj.garciaperez6643 Tiago is one of the better ones but I feel like he's gotten worse lately. Like with a lot of the sets that they send him, he won't even do a full review for them. He'll just write up a short community post as his "review" with no video
turned 16 recently, and am starting a job soon and so hopefully i get enough to purchase this in time to get the fellbeast gwp bc it feels more justifiable and if i dont get enough in time then im gonna either get rivendell or the ghost, millenium falcon and maybe the star destroyer releasing in august
Oh that’s amazing. LEGO was one of the first things I bought with one of my first paycheques from my first job. I love the sets listed btw.
Thank you for making such an amazing comment about how the community helps you buy sets with views. I think I have found a new favorite channel. This was a great video!
Thank you so much, I appreciate it. I’m in a very lucky position and I think it’s important I acknowledge that it’s all only because of everybody here.
It's weird that for Lego Harry Potter, there have been three waves of various sets that you can use to build your own Hogwarts, with some variations in build style. There's also the UCS version and the mini one. Same with Diagon Alley, there's the £300 version, and then there's the cheaper option for various shops.
They could easily do that with LotR sets since there seems to be a high demand for it. I can imagine Minas Tirith is next on their list, but as one set, that will be ridiculously overpriced. If they did a hogwarts style range of sets that you can combine together, it'd appeal to a wider audience and, like star wars, you could army build at the same time.
Lego know what they are doing with these big sets.
Oh this is exactly where my head is right now. I think LEGO have tested these waters and noticed how successful Lord of the Rings still is. So they must also see people want small scaled sets.
Take Rivendell, downsize it, split up the build, release to the masses.
I don't mind expensive sets, problem is I have too much i want and too many releases XD. I think will have to wait for this one to be on discount!
I’m looking at waiting also. Likely a set I would kick myself at missing otherwise. Not to worried on the GWP thankfully
This is why JANG is still the goat, one of the only reviewers not getting sent sets by LEGO
For real, he’s given insightful views over the years.
It is rough, but I can't deny that I do love getting at least 1 big build a year like this where I spend the start of my vacation just building it. In my opinion, more options makes it more fun.
To many reviews are just ads for the product instead of an honest review thank you for thay. Great video
Thank you :)
I think that the witch king may be left for minas tirith, if that set would be made.
See Minas Tirith I think I would have to buy. Guaranteed that’s where Faramir would finally be released too.
Also, its been a year, and Rivendell hasn't been on sale yet. I'm afraid both these sets won't go on sale at all, and they'll just retire at these prices
Has it really not? I think sets like that usually stay available for a good few years though. It’s possible at some point this year we may see a nice discount.
Rivendell has been on sale here regularly. Just not in the Lego store. (But waiting for lego store sales is madness!)
3:35 LEGO has been doing colored eyes like that for over 12 years. It's suitably in their style since minifigures generally don't have pupils unless we count the white glint in their eyes. Black pupils with for colored eyes seems to be most effective on characters intended to look creepy (Palpatine, Anakin, Bib Fortuna, etc.) although I think the orcs from 2012 could have benefited from black pupils as well.
The problem with the fell beast gift with purchase is that they didn't make enough of em', so even though I bought the set the 2nd day after it became available to insiders, I still didn't get the fell beast since they ran out
Incredible that I said we would have at least a few days and turned out we only had a few hours. Everyone I know says it sold out immediately
I like this set, but I do wish they'd have some 50-150 dollar sets that aren't the weird bobble head stuff
I my home in Gernany, the Lego scene has actually turned to many non-Lego brick brands and they tend to be both far more affordable and also often more customer conscious. Funwhole for instance has pretty decent Minifigures and always includes light in their sets and are quite a bit cheaper than Lego. Cada makes Technic-like cars at the same price as Lego, but usually quite a bit more pieces, electronic features, sturdier builds and more accuracy. Bluebrixx - a German company - has a fantastic medieval line (Burg Blaustein is a massive castle that comes with several add ons and the base set is 200€ for 5250 pieces; the fully build castle with 4 add ons has I think some 22.000 pieces now). They also have secured the Star Trek licence and have released fantastic sets of many iconic Star Trek ships in different scales - I recently got a Defiant at 20€ which is about the same size as the recent midi millennium Falcon. They always come with prints!
All I'm saying is, there is Lego like sets that are at least as good and more affordable. So paying 500€ for Lego - unless it's massive - is definitely a big ask. Barad Dur should be at about 250-300€ with what we see here. And at 460€€, we have too few minifigs - only 2 or 3 of them are truly interesting for collectors - 2 reused figures from Rivendell (with wrong outfits), a gaudy sticker sheet, a light brick that probably won't do much, and an outsourced fell beast & ring wraith that should have been part of the set.
At 460 there is just too much issues with this set imho- and that's a shame because it looks really cool and seems really well designed and has some cool things in it. I'd like to refer to it as heavy metal LOTR 😅
Alternate options are always a choice but some of them aren’t as readily available for other consumers. Hearing there’s alternative ways for Star Trek sets really intrigues me, sounds great.
I wish there wouldn’t be nearly as many nitpicks if you’re to spend soooo much for a set. Ideally the larger the set, the less issues. I really don’t like the reuse of Frodo and Sam here and they really bring it down for me.
@@RayLilySeries exactly. If the set was at around 250-300€/$ stickers and reused or "missing" figures just wouldn't be an issue.
I feel incredibly lucky to be able to simply order some Star Trek sets in Germany, but Bluebrixx is still relatively small and afaik they have not stretched beyond the borders of our humble country. But they are really good.
@@fgdj2000 This looks and feels like a 200 dollar/euro set, not a 460 one. I think Rivendell, while being a lot better in terms of the design and minifigures, still is worth no more than about 300.
Are Bluebrixx compatible with regular lego? So far, what I've seen from 'fake' Lego pieces is that the quality is very rough, especially over time.
I turn to German-language TH-cam channels like Merlins Steine, Steinküste, Held der Steine, BloxxStar etc. for most of my brick-building reviews and news these days. They usually give way better reviews and coverage, and they talk about all the other brands as much as Lego. If you only stick with Lego, you're missing a ton of awesome sets--and will likely end up poor :)
@@SO-ym3zs Hear, hear!
Crazy the Frodo and Sam figs aren’t new. Their Mordor look is totally different than Rivendell
3:49 That's the Uruk-hai design. There were two 2012 orc designs, the moria orcs and the mordor orcs. Still, you are correct that the variation was extremely limitet.
I have been saving up for this set and I am still hesitant to purchase it! It is definitely hard to throw down that kind of money on 1 set. But, you can certainly get it used a little later if you want to save a few hundred dollars and don't mind sorting pieces 🙂
Agreed. In some ways I wish these sorts of sets would be officially announced months in advance so we would have more time to adjust to the idea of spending so much in one go. A couple of weeks to get $750nzd together isn’t impossible but it still leaves me hesitant.
Hey, i've gotten into LEGOs recently, even got myself couple of botanic/insects sets for my summer house, but I keep asking myself, why are LEGO minifigures so valuable? Everytime i see review of any set, be it a huge castle or whatever, a great deal of attention is given to minifigures, and whether there is enough of "worth" in minifigures for a set price. Whats that all about? I understand that there is a market for old/rare minifigures, but what does it matter for a adult LEGO fan if he gets 3 orcs or 7 of them in a Barad-Dur set? Please explain someone.
From my experience I think Minifigures help sell the idea of quantity and quality. You may sometimes find sets with the same amount of figures in two different sets, but both sets have different prices and piece counts. For some people the idea of spending $ on a set with less figures is less value than the one with the most figures.
I’m fascinated too why we hold so much weight on the minifigures inclusion even if I myself am guilty of letting the minifigures sway my purchases one way or another. I think it’s partly due to the rarity of inclusions now. Back when LEGO started doing licensed sets you used to get re-releases of the main characters across all sets. Nowadays it’s more likely LEGO will hold a figure for an exclusive because it will increase the desire.
The value of figures also effects the price in aftermarket’s because sets like the Scooby Doo line or the Ninja Turtles sets will be expensive later down the line exclusively because they had a desirable figure included. So this pushes the idea that you need to buy these sets now, because if you miss it later, you’ll have to pay someone a lot more.
I’m sure everyone has their own unique perspective on why the minifigure is so important to them. I’m always eager to learn.
Is there any chance of getting gwp with the set in any store? Why it was available only 6 days?
Gone within the first day unfortunately. It’s online now in aftermarket spaces but upwards of a few hundred dollars.
The mouth of sayron helmet is actually different. I prefer sauron normal sized. The gwp is the wirst part. Now i feel like im missing out if i buy it
Oh is it really? I didn’t notice any major changes in the images but now I’m quite intrigued.
The new one is an entire new mold which btw also uses rubber for the top spikes@@RayLilySeries
They will use the long legs in the harry potter dumstrang ship that’s coming out in june so they could have used them here as well.
Aswell as avatar and sonic the hedgehog (for doctor eggman)
LEGO picks and chooses when they want to be extremely accurate or when they wanna try when it comes to minifig printing
Right of course, tall lady! I wish I knew the behind the scenes for why some themes receive accurate parts like that and why some don’t. I’m expecting the Nightmare Before Christmas set will also use the long parts.
From what I have seen, the Lego community as a whole is very happy this set is out. I've never bought a Lego set over 150$, yet I vouch for these large sets viability, as do many others. Obviously all people cannot afford extremely expensive ones, but that is why there is variation in the price for the adult line. People are buying these sets, and until they stop, Lego won't stop making them.
As a collector myself I fully agree with flash here and the first guy who commented. I’m fortunate to be in a position where I can buy a lot of the big sets I want but I also think smaller sets should be released with them for those who either can’t or aren’t willing to spend that much on LEGO. At the end of the day it is just plastic but it’s something I value a lot and don’t have a problem spending a lot on
I got the DnD set however so many people bought it that I never got the gwp with it luckily Lego gave me points for it but it annoyed me that I didn’t get it
Yeah this disappointed me too because that GWP seemed really special but because I didn’t buy it at release, I’ve missed out 🤷♂️
Well even worse the GWP was already sold out today. So not only are you now pressured to get it in advance but you'd even have to rush your order to get the GWP. I am disappointed.
Yeah my worry was besides the pressure of getting this at release, you also only had a couple of hours of a window. Hearing from the streets that this thing was gone in less than an hour
I had planned money for this for a few months and I was able to get it within the first 30 minutes of its release online. But I had to wait in a queue for a bit like waiting to get Taylor Swift tickets. I was fortunate enough to be able to get it but a lot of people really did miss out on it and it sucks. Lego should offer more time for people to get the GWP. Offer it for a couple of weeks or something like that so more people can have the opportunity to get it. If not then people will be at the mercy of the after market and pay well over $100 for the GWP. There really needs to be better opportunities for everyone.
Looking at this set in TH-cam videos Vs IRL is two totally different things. I was absolutely astounded how good this set looks in person and do not regret buying it tbh.
I went into the LEGO store yesterday hoping to see one built but unfortunately they didn’t have a model out just yet.
@@RayLilySeries I forgot to mention the location I went to sold out in 15 min lol I was so confused like yeah the set is expensive but people really went in on this set I drove another hour to another place
I think some of your final comments ring true. We don't have huge piles of disposable income to buy everything so we need have a strategy. So when I started out in lego again a couple years ago, I had interest in Marvel/Spiderman and Star Wars, I bought a little from both. Then Rivendell was announced so Marvel, LOTR, and Star Wars. I knew I couldn't do all three. So I looked and decided that simply Star Wars was releasing too many good things so frequently that I cut out the choice all together and decided I would be a Marvel/LOTR lego guy (I still love SW and dabble in other merchandise). Less sets released per year for adults for these two themes so it makes me spend less while still feeling fulfilled, that I'm "keeping up". For example, in 2022, I bought the Daily Bugle (used at a great price) and the Guardians ship. 2023, I bought the Sanctum and Rivendell. This year, I'll probably ONLY get the Avengers tower or Barad Dur. So that being said, I probably only buy 1-2 large sets a year with a few small ones sprinkled in. But thats what I can do and it makes me happy. I think a lot of people just need to get comfortable that it may take some time to save up if that what you really want and that you CAN'T buy everything, just like 99% of the rest of us. So make your choice. I'm an ICONs guy, I'm a castle person, Marvel, Star Wars, Batman, Ninjago etc etc etc. Or even go more niche. I'm a star wars guy but just ships or just minifigs or just helmets, just original movies, etc. And just be happy! Lego exists. Thats a good thing. Do what works for you. If it doesn't, don't buy and find a different hobby that makes you happy :)
This is how I think of things too :)
I basically stopped buying LEGO based on properties I don’t have much personal attachment to. I also started buying things outside of LEGO so those needed to be figured in as well.
It’s hard accepting that you have to skip something but then you end up getting something important and remember you probably couldn’t have this if you got the other. I’m debating between Dungeons and Dragons and Lion Knights Castle because I really want a LEGO castle of some variety but I don’t want too many due to prices and size. So eventually I’ll pick one, and the other will be skipped.
@@RayLilySeries oooh tough choice. Good luck my friend!
If Lego puts out 1 big lotr set per year then that’s fine with me.
There is no issues.
You're delusional
Im buying it day 1.
I saved money and saved up over $200 in VIP points that will go towards it.
$500 is a lot for LEGO.
But LEGO wants to make money and the designers want to make money too. Wouldnt you after working on sets like this?
“Timed-exclusivity” shouldn’t be a thing. It should be a variant of the character in cheaper sets IMO
Totally agree with what you said
I think it would be cool if they made a buldable sauron like The marvel ones.
I can see this working really well actually. Probably one of the few buildable figs I would buy.
I bought Rivendell last year because it was an amazing looking set but also because I thought it was a one-off, meaning they would open up LoTR with this $500 stunning build and then dive into play sets after the surge in popularity. Never would I have thought they’d do another $500 (w/taxes) set a year later and gatekeep some of the best, most sought after figs. I’m not interested in paying half a grand on a Lego set that can’t fit anywhere on my shelves.
My mind here as well. Loved buying Rivendell because I partly assumed that would be it for the massive sets, and buying it would lead to affordable playsets. I’m still interested in Barad Dur but the prices mean I would have spent over $1k.
Sad thing is, the lower the value of a country's currency, the more expensive Lego gets.
I live in a third world country and a 300USD set would be about 1500 in local currency, yet its 3000, i don't think thats "compensating for an unstable currency" because it usually hovers around a 5th of a dollar. So what else? Import tax? Maybe, but even for a proteccionist country such as mine, it would probably only add ~40-55% more, so what's left? *Straight up greed* sure a couple of the cheaper sets get a chip taken off, which im grateful for since Ninjago and Minecraft have some banger cheap sets but still, 10x more than the "avarage" price, sheesh.
Ps: its not just Lego, because the economy is dogwater most dollar store plastic cars sit around 100 and name brand metallic cars usually 40-60. But even the most expensive car tracks don't surpass 1200, which is still a lot(an entire grossecerie trip) but it doesn't reach values that dwarf the avarage salary like Lego, no wonder the only stores are in high middle class to extremely rich zones in the biggest city here...
Also sorry for the essay.
It’s the fact so it’s so much more sometimes is why it’s confusing. Example provided where a set should be 1500 local currency once converted, if we factor in things like import tax or shipping ect, then maybe you see it increase by 30% or so, but when it’s doubled its surprising because there’s so many sets like you mentioned, Ninjago and Minecraft that do translate and convert the way we assume. Very interesting and I would genuinely just like to know how the prices are calculated for each country.
The thing is these sets are basically designed as display sets. Well I do agree that they need to make some smaller LotR sets that can give people access to the minifigures, I do not think these ones should be less expensive.
The GWP absolutely sours this for me. I’d love to save up and buy the set down the line but if I ever do I’ll feel like I’m getting an incomplete product since I won’t get my Fell Beast. If I can’t scrounge up the cash to buy this in the GWP window then I’m probably never going to buy it.
Man this is EXACTLY how I'm feeling. Only have a few days now to decide but part of me keeps saying if I buy this in December like I plan on doing, I miss an additional build that I would get for free if I swap around my purchase dates. Unwanted stress.
Ghostbusters in storage… the aftermarket affects even people with the sets because you feel that $1200 hit breaking that seal…. I’m an AFOL and could summon the funds if need be but damn, even for us you can’t justify even three sets at these prices a year and feel good about it.
I will wait till duble VIP weekend or till normal looking GWP
I really like the way you explained things in the video. I'm a huge lord of the rings / hobbit fan and I'm so excited for this set. I will be buying this on day 1 just like I did with Rivendell, I'm so excited it looks amazing. from looking at it and looking at the piece count I would say the price is definitely justified and worth the price. of course, it would be nice if it were cheaper but I can't really complain much. the one problem with the lord of the rings theme though is the hole entire theme is expensive there are no cheaper / affordable sets. if you want to purchase the tower of Orthanc today that's gonna cost like maybe 400$ and buying it new would cost 500$ today so it's basically the same price as Rivendell and Baradur. don't get me wrong it's such a great time to be a lord of the rings fan but for people who can't spend all that money on expensive sets we need smaller, more affordable sets like we got back in 2012 to 2014. and I'm speaking for everyone when I say everyone would love some smaller sets. 😊
My thoughts exactly. Big fan of these massive sets like most people but I also value the smaller affordable products too.
Orthanc open box, sealed bags just sold on ebay for close to 700 dollars.
@@CysgodAstua wow HOLY. 😱
Getting giant sets for free makes for bad reviews. Makeup reviewers gush about products rather than be honest. Cynicism is waranted. I don't want Lego to turn into Disney
Hey dude im pretty sure ghostbusters is at the stoor near me in colorado, ill buy it and sell it to you face value if you cover shipping costs
Very generous of you. I actually just managed to find it myself amazingly enough
My only hope is they release the fell beast and witch king separately, and I feel it would be a better gift with purchase if the witch king had his helmet from ROTK.
I have to assume the reception has made its way to LEGO and they've seen how many feel about all of this. Like some have pointed out, these sets could be used as an indicator for them to show how popular the theme still is. We could possibly see a genuine wave with more affordable options in the future.
Well, I hope you decided to buy it. The after market for the figures and the Fell Beast are crazy.
Ended up skipping after the Fell Beast sold out unfortunately. Will likely pick up the tower later in the year
@@RayLilySeries Sorry to hear, but I understand. I would now wait for double Insider points, a big Rakuten reward weekend or another good Gift With Purchase (or all 3) before buying a set at that price.
@@OTHDogDad 100% that's the plan. If the price wasn't so big I would consider grabbing quicker but at $750nzd, the best thing to do really IS to wait for extra VIP points
Honestly LEGO should have put out a few cheaper LotR sets at multiple price points when they did Rivendell. See which price points will make them money.
Lego saw that the 500 dollar price point would make the money or we would not have this set.
@@CysgodAstuaexactly, LEGO is at the point where they sell sets at $1,000 usd plus, it sells like money printing, despite so much people suffering people always have disposable income to throw at LEGO. 18+ icon sets are just a toxic FOMO mess
Rivendell in fact in split in areas where a downsized display could have been released as smaller sets that could connect together to be the same size as a Hogwarts Castle.
In fact, looking at Harry Potter and the reception the fans are giving here towards LEGO and Lord of the Rings, maybe LEGO will follow the same idea as the Diagon Alley sets and start making smaller scaled Rivendell sets for us.
Lego targets the rich and and well to do and always have. When I was a kid I got my lego out of a dumpster because I was to poor to afford anything. Now I have done well for myself and the economy doesn't have as big an effect on the top 10 percent and that who lego targets.
That would be cool if they did lower price modular sets as well. Even when I was younger I said they should have been doing that for castle all along.
Ppl dont complain bout about ucs sets (they are all hella expensive)
What happenss to gollum
I don't get the complaints, in the uk it's about £50 cheaper then rivendell plus it comes with a gwp if you do get it near to launch. piece count is pretty good and all the figures are really good with the exception of frodo and Sam who should've been in their full disguise
I don’t think people are complaining that the set is expensive necessarily. It is very big and all.
But it’s the fact that it’s all we currently have for Lord of the Rings and a lot of people don’t have that sort of income right now. So yeah, we can spend months to maybe a year or two saving up for it, but now there’s this added bonus of a GWP but only if you buy it at this very specific time.
It’s tricky.
@RayLilySeries I get that but this gwp is kinda skippable ngl, it's one nazgul and the parts for the fell beast aren't exclusive besides the wings
It’s definitely one that can be skipped. That’s actually a good thing really, I think the reception would be far worse if the original rumours were true and this set was going to release with 3 exclusive figures.
@@stefanbcpalmer Everything can be skipped, I'm going to skip the whole set. That doesn't work for the people that are serious collectors and want to have it though. Sure, you get some extra value with the GWP, but at this pricepoint, it probably should have been included with thte set.
@pinobluevogel6458 it's already 5000 pieces and a really good cost for piece count though, they can't just give the set away for free
4:58 Mouth of Sauron actually has a lot of differences…WDYM? 😅🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
Not really, the helmet is a slightly different mold and it has some less messy prints, but they are the same otherwise
Cant wait to buy it
ashnflash getting ratio’d brings a smile to my face
Feel like Sauron should have the Woody / Avatar legs
Lego just doesn't seem to understand what the true potential of those legs are.
where is witch king ?
is he safe? is he alright ?
He's in Minas tirith hanging out. If the map tiles mean anything it will be the next large set. Rivendell had a tile for this set, Barad Dur has a tile for Minas Tirith. If ots made it hope they go all out and make it the biggest set ever.
You might be onto something 🤔
He’ll be here when he’s ready 🙂
@@CysgodAstuaGreat, a $1000 set. Just what I don't need.
"This GWP will be available for a few days maybe..." It was gone within hours. I had never seen anything like this.
Oh man, I genuinely didn’t see it coming like this lol. Star Wars has their GWP last at least a day or two usually, I was shocked to learn this was gone within a few hours.
12:52 being out of touch is not something that happens intentionally
what
What they should have done with the fell beast is keep it the way it is but add the witch kings helmet with it to make everyone happy
I go back and forth lol. On the one hand, its great they didn't make such an important character exclusive but on the other hand, they just didn't make the character period so maybe this would have been the best place for him. It basically feels like the GWP is such an on the fence extra where I and many can't justify getting this at release but it also seems foolish to miss this if we plan on buying the set anyway.
Imagine being in Bahrain where average pay is 1500-2000 USD....and this set is 30% above the retail price....
Yeah I always mean to clarify this in videos but there’s obviously other countries with a worse price conversion than what I have to deal with. In that sense, I am pretty privileged.
@@KingTiger2000 China produces products they don't develop themselves, breaks copyright law, child labor, slave wages, and usually produce lower quality goods to cut costs.
Womp womp
@steph4559 i cry everytime i pass the Lego store ;_; lion knights castle for 650 USD when it first released
@@KingTiger2000 I cry when I see that every LOTR set has basically doubled or tripled in price
Tbh I want the Fell Beast more than the tower. I’m kind of pissed I can’t just buy it as a normal set
It makes for a great single released set. Always possible the theme gets sets later down the line and maybe we see a Fell Beast release on its own this way 🤷♂️
I save 25-30 dollars every paycheck for Lego. That’s around 600-700 dollars a year. Sometimes I’ll splurge and put in 50-60 but rarely.
It’s a brilliant idea and something I also do. It helps that LEGO only have like 3-5 big releases schedules a year so you have some good amount of time to put aside something to get sets on release day if you want.
Hopefully Lego will continue the Lord of the right line for a few years. Would love to see a Lego witch king of Angmar!
Man, me too! Here’s hoping
@@RayLilySeries this will be asking far too much, but the best sets for him I think would either been minas mogul or the battle of minas tirith, or make him a bit more affordable by make a more detailed Nazgûl set that isn’t gift with purchase!
I think the whole pricing debate is never gonna be resolved either way. At the end of the day, LEGO is a community pretty well split between kids and young adults without any spendable money, and adults with jobs making enough to easily pick up something like Barad Dur, especially if they don’t have kids/family yet. So it’s kinda crazy, bc w the right job, this sets an easy pick up for me. Thanks LEGO! 10 years ago, I would’ve despised the company for doing that. Just something interesting to think about, someone is always gonna feel left out, but I am glad sets like this exist for ME as an adult fan. Just also want the kiddos to have some good options for themselves but tbh, not sure how many brain rotted tiktok zombie kids know what barad dur even is
I think this is what people mean when talking about our privilege of being able to have options like this. Even as recently as 5 months ago I would not have been able to afford this set but now because of TH-cam, I actually can afford this. It's lucky we do actually have the option on whether or not we want to spend the money for this really.
@@RayLilySeries As I understand the post modernists and their conception of privilege, it is something afforded to you intrinsically which you did not earn for yourself. You working to grind out youtube money, getting a difficult degree which opens up great career opportunities, or just generally working and becoming an adult makes us privileged? Yes I guess I see the point, but then again, we too were unable to touch these top dollar sets most of our lives. So to summarize, I just think these massively expensive sets, very specifically geared towards the “us” of the world who’ve earned disposable income, are a great opportunity for a historically underrepresented demographic of adults who want some premium products. I love it personally. That said, like I said, would still be cool in the case of LOTR to have some more affordable ones available. To be totally honest, I think LEGO doesn’t trust playsets would sell well with kids… not sure how popular tolkien is these days w kids but what do I know. They know w out a doubt tho, that adults who grew up on tolkien and have worked for a while will wanna buy the TWO sets they’ve made for us
Sorry for the ramblyness… appreciate the dialogue
The Lego Death Star was 399.99 USD back in 2018, it had 23 Minifigures and 3,803 pieces. The Lego Barad-Dur set is 499.99 USD for 2024 with 5,471 pieces and 10 minifigures. It is worth more by parts in volume and with inflation adjusted prices. It’s an accurate sale that reflects its scale and times. If it’s so important, save for it, don’t complain. If Lego marketing believes that these sets are too high priced, they won’t lower the prices, they’ll stop producing good quality sets, then no one is happy. I love this set and it’s worth saving up for if you are a fan, but complaining about prices is a personal issue, not a Lego one.
LEGO was always an expensive hobby. I think that's what many people who only got into it during the pandemic don't realise. Sure, you can democratise a hobby but you have to accept the entry fee. Wanting cheap LEGO just because YOU (this is a generic "you") can't afford it is the same as starting to collect cars and then complain you can't afford a 1970's Panther De Ville.
As for the minifigures thing, I don't think timed exclusives are good. A minifigure should either be an exclusive or not be an exclusive. I understand having exclusive minifigures locked behind expensive sets. You also have to think about the people who CAN afford the sets. You must give them a reason to part with their money. Just because I can give you 650€ for a Venator without problem, doesn't mean I will unless you give me compelling reasons to buy it. And if one of those reasons is "you will have this exclusive minifigure", then you can't release the same minifigure in a cheap set. Otherwise you'll be deceiving your customers and, maybe, losing them.
I can afford this, no problem for me, but same as alot of People i want cheaper sets between 20$-200$ sets. Never heard anyone not wanting this line back as playsets
This Lego set is completely out of touch with the customers. It's far too expensive and far too big for any regular person to acquire. Even if you were senseless enough to throw down $400USD or so on it, where are you putting it? It would stand on a table and dominate that entire space. It would become the most prominent part of any room and demand all focus in your home, unless you're already drowning in plastic. If you're an American and somehow have expendable wealth and the house with a floorplan as a big as a mansion, then sure I guess. But who is this product for? Why haven't Lego made a more micro version, 1/3 the size, and 1/3 the price? I'd have bought a $100 ish value Barad Dur set with a few important figures if I could display it on my desk or on a bookcase shelf. But this? What is LEGO honestly thinking. I hope they take a loss of profits on this, as only commercial buyers or die-hard Lego fans will ever buy this.
Completely agree. The fans who are most likely buying this are AFOL who collect sets to display, which means they probably have standard book shelves or display shelves with a height clearance of 1-2 ft…. This mega tower can’t be displayed on any standard display shelf because it’s 3 ft tall. Plus all of the points you made as well. I just don’t get why they went this route - yes it’s a popular building in LoTR but they didn’t think about the logistics of it
as a huge fan of LotR and Lego i will probably pick this one up at some point. but it will have to wait a while for it to be on sale, luckily the GWP is not super great so i dont have to feel bad about waiting a bit.
got Rivendell day one, and i think it is by far the better set. but i do want to have this as well to balance it out. and i do think the tower is properly menacing and well made.
Rivendell is awesome, one of the best sets lego has ever made.
Yeah thankfully if the GWP doesn’t interest you then awesome, no need to rush. I think I waited about 9 months on Rivendell using Christmas vouchers and deals.
I think Lego fans have gotten entitled more than anything. Nothing Lego does makes them happy. They want complex builds, exclusive minifigs, side builds, and to afford the entire wave. I’m glad they stopped listening to us cause we don’t know what we want.
6 weeks rent of a price? What??? I wish! $460USD is MAYBE a weeks worth of rent.
Must be nice to have such cheap rent.
I live at home… 😐
But even still, that’s an insane amount for rent. Mind telling me what area in the US this is? My area of NZ is a fair bit affordable compared to other main cities here
@@RayLilySeries that’s about the average across the entire US. $1500 a month is typical for rent, has been for a few years.
I like how Lego makes set of various sizes and prices. This gives everyone the opportunity to purchase from them. Lego LOTR is really missing this and there needs to be many smaller sets ($150 and lower) to be offered so those that want them can have the opportunity to get them. Lego Star Wars has this. Why can’t Lego LOTR have this? I know the fan base is there. Offer a set of a pair of buildable Ents with Merry and Pippin and 3or 4 orcs. That would be cool and fun.
I think the general belief is the audience isn’t there right now, just because there’s not as much new material. But these sets have proven that audience is still around and wanting more sets. The LEGO Harry Potter revival was the best example of this showing how popular that fantasy series still is today. I’m sure Lord of the Rings could generate great levels of success with small sets.
I’ll be buying this set when it comes out but I’ll be using all my Lego Insider points worth £50 then Amex points worth £15. I’m ok with that as it’s an exclusive set and can’t see it coming on offer as much as that. I remember last year during Black Friday Rivendell set was only on offer on Amazon for like 5% off. I was better off getting it from the Lego store and getting points
This is definitely the way to go about these things. Had I not just spent my VIP points literally 2 weeks ago then I would have banked them all in for this.
@@RayLilySeries I’ll take a guess and say you used your points for the Lego Star Wars Tie Interceptor?
May 4th yes but not the UCS sets actually. I grabbed the Yavin set because it was on sale and the Darth Maul Infiltrator. With LEGO’s deal, I managed to get it for 60% off 🤙
Like if i didnt have a heap of plans for the summer i would jump on it immediatly. Hopefully august Will be fruitfull so i Can manage it
If youre gonna compare a minifig sauron to the game, then compare it to the minifig. If were lucky we get a buildable version of him
Oh for sure, just exaggerating for effect. I wanted tall legs I think. I don’t think LEGO have really nailed a design like this yet.
@@RayLilySeries its cause they have never tried the tall but not too lanky design yet. Either tall and lanky or tall and wide currently. But tbf sauron was described as larger than Human but in no way giant. So the movie exaggerated it. If i had to guessprobably like 3 meteres in height. So Long legs could have been viable, but dont Think it would have looked good
The problem is with overpriced LEGO exclusive sets like Barad-Dur. You can purchase Rivendell set outside of official LEGO store, brand new, up to 30% less (both of them are LOTR IP).
This shows customers that it is possible to sell these sets for lower price. Buying from offical LEGO store feels like overpaying when you consider price per brick comparing to purchasing from other dealers.
They want to convince people to buy using FOMO Gift with purchase, which still gives you worse price per brick than Rivendell at other shops! (Barad Dur 5471 bricks + Fell beast 269 bricks = 5740 bricks -> 0,1$ per brick VS Rivendell 6167 bricks -> 0,07$)
Prices for products in Poland (Rivendell all time low price on Polish market) using 1 USD to 3,92 PLN as for 20.05.2024
Yeah the GWP is the way they convince people. It's not impossible for me personally to be able to find this at other retailers for around $680 instead of $750, but by doing that I miss the GWP, but I also save $70!
Six weeks of rent…I wish!
RIP your Kiwisaver.
People are forgetting with lord of the rings that Lego hasn’t brought back the line proper yet, it’s like they are testing the interest with a couple of big sets and if they do well they may bring back the lord of the rings line again which would include sets of all sizes as long as there’s a market for it.
You can say it's too expensive, but the Rivendell set was even more expensive and was one of their best selling specialty sets.
True true but like I mentioned, that set felt more special at release because we weren’t sure how long this line would be continuing. As far as value goes, Rivendell is more worthwhile in value compared to this set due to piece count and figure inclusions
@RayLilySeries sorry I realized my wording made it sound like I was pointing that at You (capital Y) when I meant "you," the generalized. Wasn't meant to seem so aggressive.
But what I meant was that there is clearly a willingness to purchase sets of this size. The D&D set was similarly expensive and was wildly popular. With the right ip to target adults, these sets really sell. Even if this set doesn't sell as well as Rivendell, I don't think that indicates a disconnect between buyer and seller. Just shows that there is an untapped market of people looking for small builds.
I do think they should do a few desktop builds. The big set buyers would probably buy them, AND the people who couldn't afford the big builds would have an in. I, for one, really want to see a line like their engineering models, but the landmarks of middle earth. Nice and knick knack sized. But I will be buying Barad Dûr.
news just in: lego fans discover that big expensive sets are big and expensive and price conversions exist
in other words: this controversy is stupid to me since this has always been the case
At the moment this set is less than three weeks of rent. After the rise I've recently been notified of, it'll be less than two. That's not a statement saying this set is cheap.
I have a real problem watching anyone who is a member of LAN. I feel they are so out of touch with the rest of the community and this is from someone who does have extra funds to purchase larger sets such as this. I have seen TH-camrs go from one day saying all this negative stuff against Lego, then they become an Ambassador, now they are a boot licker. They say things against the community who helped get them to where they are today. I will not support that.
I don’t personally see ALL members that way but I understand why people in the community feel that way. I was shocked to learn that ambassadors really can receive quite a lot and that’s an amazing privilege that so so so many people would love to have.
The main two problems here are
1. The ONLY lotr sets are very expensive sets (brickheads not counted). So either spend much or dont get to enjoy lego lotr at all (2 sets for around 1000 euro's in europe)
2. Lego makes so many expensive sets and indeed giving you FOMO with a GWP. Do you want barad dur, the new tie fighter, the disney castle, the dnd set? If I knew barad dur was coming months ahead I couldve decided to skip some purchases as well. This just releases 2/3 weeks ish.
Barad Dur was leaked several months ago.
In the same boat. Rivendell and Barad Dur together is around $1,500nzd and I mentioned in other comments that I used points just recently for May 4th but if I knew the price and images of this before that, I might have reconsidered spending my points
@@GoatzombieBubba if you are into youtube with leaks indeed. But for the casual person. I can just imagen parents deciding what top buy with no idea what is coming in the future.
Don't you like it when a YT channel stir up a controversy over a freaking Lego set just so he can bait people into posting more comments (I mean Ashnflash).
Cheaper LotR sets are a no-brainer imho. I honestly how no idea why not, except that LEGO is just delaying them so more people buy the huge sets first, feeling they have no other choice to get LEGO LotR. So if you really want smaller sets, just wait. I will be getting Barad-dur for the build, but I expect Sauron mini to be available for less later.
I didn't get Rivendell because I didn't like the build enough, I found it too asymmetrical and clunky for a mix of elven architecture and nature that should have felt "lighter" imho. I do miss not having the Company, but I'm not gonna spend 500$ on something I don't utterly and absolutely love, and neither should you.
They WILL release cheaper sets down the line.
Also LEGO should remember there are cheaper alternatives. Having good quality bricks only goes so far.
My thoughts too really. I assume we’ll see more down the line, I think because we knew about these Rivendell and Barad Dur releases for so long some of us have forgotten we sometimes won’t learn about new sets until just months before release.
That mindset on not spending money if you aren’t committed enough, I get that. That’s why I’ve passed on Avengers Tower. The figures are placed elsewhere, the set is amazingly large but too large for my areas, there are many other themes and IPs I care more about than Avengers.
@@RayLilySeries yeah I also luckily don't have unlimited space 😅
I decided to buy it cause I didn’t want the gift with purchase, I’ll js sell it and basically pay less for the set
Always a great way to do it honestly
Alternatively, and while I would prefer getting MORE, smaller, sets…. it is kinda like they’re releasing a waves worth of LOTR at once, at least in terms of prices and pieces. LOTR wave one would’ve cost you, what, like $350+ to get, adjusted for inflation, that’s close to Rivendell’s price, at the very least. Probably a comparable amount of overall pieces.
Again, I’d still prefer more playsets, but if I had to guess, they figured out how highly desired LOTR is, especially with people 20+ with more money, and want them to do the equivalent of buying a full wave of LOTR, which they wouldn’t be able to guarantee releasing $550 USD of playsets for their adult audience. Arguably scummy, but I think that’s their marketing approach
edit: did you say it’s worth 6 weeks of rent? so $90 a week. Idk anywhere NEAR where I live in the USA where a month of rent is $360 … 💀 For one person, prolly more like $900
This was actually why I liked Rivendell a lot. It's expensive but it's also the only set with every main character so even if they released a wave of playsets, theoretically you wouldn't need them all if you loved minifigures and bought this set first.
Average rent in NZ I think is around $400-600 a week depending on the amount of people in the household, city you're in, type of home ect. I don't live alone so my costs aren't as high.
as a person who likes original themes with fun sets of 20-80eur i have no problem with lego.
All drama and awful prices/sets happening within those "collectors ivestors" stuff. Lego making money off normies with terrible tastes and im ok with that as long as Monkie Kid/Dreamzzz/Ninjago/Space/etc. sets are cool.
It just feels like nitpicking on top of nitpicking.
It’s an amazing set full of so much love and care, and I’d say it’s more then worth the price tag. I’m buying it day one if I can, but I can understand wanting affordable lotr stuff. Me personally? I could see rehashes of old sets, like maybe bagend, or the meeting of wizards from the hobbit movies, battle on the mountain top, that sort of stuff.
But I’m also fine if it’s a two year giant set, granted I’ll probably only be buying Barad dur and that’s it, and Rivendell is already in my collection
Think ever since we started seeing how much attention the Harry Potter line gets despite not having any new projects released at the time, people have been waiting for Lord of the Rings to get this same treatment. Build methods are so much better now than a decade ago, the people desire affordable sets.
@@RayLilySeries and while I can understand that, I don’t think attacking people and creators behind these larger builds is the way to do it. We already have confirmed smaller sets coming down the line, and the brick heads are good sets as is that people just disregard
Your “concerns”/“controversy” ( 8:14 ) are not everyone’s here…it’s geographical-oriented so I don’t see why you’re complaining about this to all of us like it’s something a) you want us to do about it, b) to have sympathy or c) to make sure us who sell this on the aftermarket don’t price it too high, which is not likely 😂
Diehard LOTR and LEGO fans won’t have an issue with this…
I think there’s a lot of comments in this thread that agree with the statements made in this video so I don’t think I see your point that this is a very specific issue that doesn’t affect a large pool of people.
Everyone is different. You’re speaking as if it’s “one size fits all”…the NZ economy stuff doesn’t apply to the whole world 😂
It’s not a LEGO controversy and that’s the wrong word to use here. Kinda clickbaity
I'm prolly gonna get it
I buy some expensive sets a year but it's not even modular ill skip it even though the Minifigures are nice
Thanks for video pointing these things out, I would like for us to have more critical people in Lego community. I also agree that it is would be for the better for Lego to release smaller scale sets again, like in the past
As mentioned all throughout this comment thread, it’s likely that the success of sets like this could lead to a wave later down the line with affordable sets for the masses. I would hope Lord of the Rings would follow the same pattern that the Harry Potter line has gone through these past 6 years
You could buy the hocus pocus house and home alone house for the price of this 😅
Not a bad idea. Both sets look pretty great for what they are.
I got the set for my graduation
That’s a killer graduation set!