LEGO LOTR & The Hobbit: will work, will not work?

Is the souffle slowly falling back? After the official announcements of the upcoming launch of a LEGO LOTR range, the publication of ultra-preliminary visuals that do not put this range to its advantage and a first idea of ​​the price range of these sets, it seems that the excitement give way to a certain weariness.

Fans of the Kingdoms range have already understood that they will have to pay a high price to get sets on their favorite theme and will have to accept the switch to light flesh, and the others have understood that this new range will cost them a lot of money ... More generally, 2012 is a year during which you will have to have the financial means to satisfy your passion. All licensed ranges are sold at a high price and patience will be required to find a promotion that will save some money.

Obviously, the publication of the preliminary visuals probably does not pay homage to the final result that LEGO will present for sale during the official release of the sets of this range, scheduled for mid 2012. But fans always react quickly to these blurry images, populated with provisional minifigs, hastily designed scenes and rough edits made by LEGO to get a dealer catalog out on time. Before the publication of these images, speculation was reaching its height, with some already believing in a Battle of Helm's Deep in UCS format ... The reality is quite different: A few sets vaguely reproducing key scenes from the LOTR trilogy that will not be left without doubt that a series of collectible minifigs.

This observation is not exclusive to this LEGO LOTR range, it also applies to many sets of other licensed ranges which prove to be disappointing or in any case far removed from the surreal expectations of the community. From the release of this first wave of sets, we will of course be ecstatic over the various minifigs offered by LEGO, which will be difficult to compare with the custom versions designed by AFOLs. LOTR has not benefited from as many successful customs as the Star Wars, DC or Marvel universe to name a few. The creations seen here and there have often been the result of assembling existing medieval pieces and the resemblance to any of the characters in the film is often very limited.

More and more often, AFOLs seem to ignore official sets in order to obtain only the minifigs concerned via the parallel market, thus saving money, but also space ... This second market, on Bricklink or eBay for example, takes on a larger scale each year and makes it possible to obtain in a few clicks all the characters of a range, which fit in an envelope neatly stored at the bottom of a drawer while waiting to come populate a MOC possible. Lovers of loose parts will also look to Bricklink, where the cost per unit is often lower than that of an official licensed set.

Will this new LOTR range be a commercial success? No doubt yes, even if I am still more reserved about the public touched by this universe. LOTR is not an easy world to understand for the youngest. The chronology is complex, the characters numerous, the history of events long and sometimes tedious ... The release of the first part of the adaptation of The Hobbit by Peter Jackson at the end of 2012 will undoubtedly influence the young customers of LEGO who do not has not read and will not read Tolkien's books. But when choosing a gift for their child, parents will probably prefer a police car or a crane to a box with Gandalf on a cart ... Only the set 9474 The Battle of Helm's Deep could possibly be likened to a playset. medieval battlefield by all those who do not or little know the universe of LOTR. The other sets are too precise references to Peter Jackson's films to interest a regular kid who hasn't spent half a dozen hours watching them.

Which ultimately makes me say that LEGO falls into the category Collector's Goodies with this range whose gameplay should not be the first selling point, and whose lifespan will not be that of the Star Wars license, no offense to the most fundamentalist fans of the universe of Tolkien.