10237 Tower of Orthanc officially retired

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eagerbeaver
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10237 Tower of Orthanc officially retired

Post by eagerbeaver » Sat Sep 05, 2015 9:05 pm

Hi all,

10237 Tower of Orthanc set is now retired. It's status on the Lego EU websites has been changed to 'Retired product.' On Lego's US/CA websites, it's still listed as 'Sold Out,' but it's only a matter of time before it's changed to 'Retired product' as well. If you have missed out on this set, you may want to buy one from the secondary market ASAP before the status in US/CA changes and the prices start to dramatically rise. And I mean, ASAP! Good luck!

Farewell, LEGO Lord of the Rings!

Cheers,
EB

stevebuscemi
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Re: 10237 Tower of Orthanc officially retired

Post by stevebuscemi » Sat Sep 05, 2015 11:11 pm

LEGO LOTR will live on forever. It cannot ever be retired.

Also there will be a reboot no doubt or some other spin-off.

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Re: 10237 Tower of Orthanc officially retired

Post by MrVEP » Sun Sep 06, 2015 8:40 am

Farewell LOTR it was the line that started me back into LEGO.
Before it, I had purchased some of the Lego minifigures series and random polybags, but LOTR made me want all the sets in a line.
One more to go the Hobbit Lonely Mountain to complete all.

I was able to secure this one from shop in one of their 2x VIP point events.

*sigh* So unfair that Gondor and Rohan minifigures were undermined and not properly explored in sets.

I want my Minas Tirith with Faramir and Golden Hall with Éowyn!!! :evil:

eagerbeaver
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Re: 10237 Tower of Orthanc officially retired

Post by eagerbeaver » Sun Sep 06, 2015 10:26 am

stevebuscemi wrote:LEGO LOTR will live on forever. It cannot ever be retired.
LEGO LOTR will indeed live on forever in our hearts.
stevebuscemi wrote: Also there will be a reboot no doubt or some other spin-off.
I dearly hope your words come true. And I can't wait to see more from this and related lines.
MrVEP wrote:Farewell LOTR it was the line that started me back into LEGO.
Before it, I had purchased some of the Lego minifigures series and random polybags, but LOTR made me want all the sets in a line.
One more to go the Hobbit Lonely Mountain to complete all.

I was able to secure this one from shop in one of their 2x VIP point events.
While LOTR wasn't the line that caused me to emerge from my Dark Ages, it was the ONE that took Lego collecting to a whole new level. LOTR is the only theme of which I have wanted to get every single set. And I have so far, except the last four Hobbit sets, which I hope to pick up this October/Brick Friday.
MrVEP wrote: *sigh* So unfair that Gondor and Rohan minifigures were undermined and not properly explored in sets.

I want my Minas Tirith with Faramir and Golden Hall with Éowyn!!! :evil:
Ain't that the truth! I have a feeling that somewhere in the Lego designing dungeons, they have secretly designed these sets at the UCS scale, but Lego hasn't released them yet because other themes have taken priority. Especially with the Star Wars Force Awakens wave. Perhaps, they didn't want to cannibalize their sales by releasing all the big ones concurrently. Once the Star Wars effort subsides after the movies, I feel they may release a wave or two of LOTR/Hobbit. As you said, so much has been left unexplored! C'mon!

EB

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Re: 10237 Tower of Orthanc officially retired

Post by stevebuscemi » Sun Sep 06, 2015 12:09 pm

I have a feeling that this theme really didn't sell well, unfortunately. It was truly the ultimate AFOL series, moreso LOTR than Hobbit, but the Hobbit sets were mostly just walls with that wonderful hobbit hole/Smaug/Lake-town. I still bought all of them of course.

But the LOTR sets were the best of the bunch, I just don't think kids really were into LOTR, and younger kids couldn't watch them due to PG13 violence. Older kids were all about the Marvel garbage movies. So it's a hard sell a lot of the time.

So many UCS sets could be done still. And the figures were so much better than anything else. The figures alone made most of the sets. 10237 being the notable exception due to it's awesomeness. To be honest, this line should've had many more UCS sets since it was for older people anyway.

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Re: 10237 Tower of Orthanc officially retired

Post by emazers » Sun Sep 06, 2015 2:01 pm

Anybody who thinks that Lego will bring back the LOTR sets in a few years well it will never happen, the License ends on the LOTR and Hobbit sets at the end of the year.

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Re: 10237 Tower of Orthanc officially retired

Post by eagerbeaver » Mon Sep 07, 2015 12:23 pm

stevebuscemi wrote:But the LOTR sets were the best of the bunch, I just don't think kids really were into LOTR, and younger kids couldn't watch them due to PG13 violence. Older kids were all about the Marvel garbage movies. So it's a hard sell a lot of the time.
Agreed. I understand that younger kids won't be into LOTR due to the PG13 violence, but it's a sad state to see that today's older kids would rather choose the utterly shallow crap that is Marvel, than the tremendously detailed and evolved world of LOTR. *Sigh*
stevebuscemi wrote:So many UCS sets could be done still. And the figures were so much better than anything else. The figures alone made most of the sets. 10237 being the notable exception due to it's awesomeness. To be honest, this line should've had many more UCS sets since it was for older people anyway.
Precisely! I don't understand why LEGO decided to go with the usual price points in an attempt to catering to everyone. How did their business planners not realize that the big opportunity with this theme was, and continues to be, in the UCS area. At least half the sets should have been the UCS scale, given the core audience. How did they miss that!
emazers wrote:Anybody who thinks that Lego will bring back the LOTR sets in a few years well it will never happen, the License ends on the LOTR and Hobbit sets at the end of the year.
True, and I think all or most LOTR fans recognize that fact. But nothing is ever set in stone, and it doesn't hurt to hold on to a bit of hope...

EB

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Re: 10237 Tower of Orthanc officially retired

Post by mattlee1965 » Thu Sep 10, 2015 3:34 pm

I hate to break up all the love for LOTR. But these sets aren't coming back. Its like The Lone Ranger, Prince of Persia, and any other Movie that comes out. It will die off. Lego didn't release another wave of sets because there were no more movies coming out. So we probably won't see it again. Unless it comes in the USC sets, but probably not.

I really wanted a Village of Bree, Minas Tirith, Osgilath, and Pelannor Fields set for LOTR. Something with a Nazgul, Faramir, Gondor Soldier and Ranger, Mumakil (They did it for Chima, why not LOTR), and Easterling figures.

The only movie sets to live past a one time release are Star wars and Batman. Star Wars is just awesome so it can't die and batman doesn't really count because it is a DC comics series now, not just Batman. But Lego thinks they need to put a Batman figure in all of them.

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Re: 10237 Tower of Orthanc officially retired

Post by TheKragle » Thu Sep 10, 2015 4:25 pm

emazers wrote:Anybody who thinks that Lego will bring back the LOTR sets in a few years well it will never happen, the License ends on the LOTR and Hobbit sets at the end of the year.
I think you may get one or two more characters for the dimension game. (but sets are bye bye now)

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Re: 10237 Tower of Orthanc officially retired

Post by Jener8 » Thu Sep 10, 2015 4:46 pm

Here in Atlanta I don't recall seeing the Tower of Orthanc set still available at our two local LEGO brand store, but I did still see it available at the LEGO Discovery Center shop (at Phipps Plaza) not too long ago. Anyone interested in getting this set should probably check with them as well.

Good Luck

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Athos
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Re: 10237 Tower of Orthanc officially retired

Post by Athos » Thu Sep 10, 2015 7:15 pm

This was a really nice set. I really debated and dithered about buying it, but I am very glad that I did. The build was a lot of fun. If you are at all the fence about getting it, I'd recommend going for it.

Steve

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Re: 10237 Tower of Orthanc officially retired

Post by eagerbeaver » Thu Sep 10, 2015 9:25 pm

mattlee1965 wrote:I hate to break up all the love for LOTR. But these sets aren't coming back. Its like The Lone Ranger, Prince of Persia, and any other Movie that comes out. It will die off. Lego didn't release another wave of sets because there were no more movies coming out. So we probably won't see it again. Unless it comes in the USC sets, but probably not.
I realize that, Matt. The time for LEGO to capitalize the opportunity for new waves of sets has gone. But, I agree. If they could just release a few UCS sets every now and again, I won't be complaining :up:
mattlee1965 wrote: I really wanted a Village of Bree, Minas Tirith, Osgilath, and Pelannor Fields set for LOTR. Something with a Nazgul, Faramir, Gondor Soldier and Ranger, Mumakil (They did it for Chima, why not LOTR), and Easterling figures.
You said it! I would want all of them (in the UCS scale), and more!
mattlee1965 wrote: The only movie sets to live past a one time release are Star wars and Batman. Star Wars is just awesome so it can't die and batman doesn't really count because it is a DC comics series now, not just Batman. But Lego thinks they need to put a Batman figure in all of them.
While I love Star Wars, and do get (most larger) sets, I don't understand how people would rather have a ridiculous choice of Star Wars instead of some of each. Personally, I am a bigger LOTR fan, so the sheer selection of sets in the SW theme is too much for me. But I guess, it's a big seller, so it makes sense from a business standpoint. Perhaps, some inspired director will take up the mantle of dramatizing the Silmarillion into a series of 10 LOTR continuation movies. That may reignite the LEGO LOTR theme...

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Re: 10237 Tower of Orthanc officially retired

Post by biglesdug » Fri Sep 11, 2015 5:18 am

I wish they made a set with a fellbeast, I believe that is the name of what the nazgul ride.

emazers
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Re: 10237 Tower of Orthanc officially retired

Post by emazers » Fri Sep 11, 2015 5:55 am

For Lego to release a new set from time to time would cost them millions to get a license again, and thats if whoever holds the license would agree. The License is dead.

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Re: 10237 Tower of Orthanc officially retired

Post by jbrick » Fri Sep 11, 2015 8:41 am

First off, a "license" can exist to grant certain IP rights for a specific purpose, usually on a time basis, where the IP owner collects a fee or percentage of the sales derived from licensed products.

Dimensions is an interesting exercise. The first wave comes out at the end of the month and includes LoTR characters. Gandalf is in the Starter pack. We also have seen a the brick-built Balrog from the LoTR game featured in Dimensions.

What if Lego is using Dimensions to create buzz to sell as-of-yet unreleased sets? Like the Lego Movie did? We al ready know that most of the Dimensions IP is geared towards the AFOl community. Not expected a full reboot of LoTR at this point, but I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a couple sets for each represented IP. Individual, short-term licenses are possible. Think of all the Special Edition products you see affiliated with either a copyright or celebrity.

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Re: 10237 Tower of Orthanc officially retired

Post by StClair » Tue Nov 03, 2015 1:38 pm

Tower of Orthanc is available now from amazon for $199.99. Not sure how long they will stay in stock or if this means they will restock on LEGO shop at home (doubt it though).

Here's the link http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DG9LRJA/ref ... 9b0b3f7195

I've posted in several places. Hope that is ok. Just wanted to be sure that the right people that may be interested see it.

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