You are correct. That is why I added the numbers first without FF, and then with FF and Gravity Feed.

Thanks, I thought if I laid it out in pure mathematics, it would be prove my point. No matter how much someone wants to debate re-use / quality issues, math never lies. 1+1 will always equal 2.

Add in HoT FF, which was released under NECA, it still leaves HoT at a whopping 90% unique rate.

I agree. Hammer of Thor, in my opinion, was the last great set. It had it's problems, but for the most part, it is one of the greatest Marvel sets ever released.

There is a big difference in NECA's approach to HeroClix than what Topp's had. I was really sad when Topp's closed WizKids, and was even mad... but looking back at it, and hind sight is 20/20, Topps did a superb job.

a balrog at 155 makes no sense. this is a creature that an entire army could not defeat. yes gandalf did defeat it but gandalf isnt really 155 points either. in the books, gandalf occasionally makes reference to the fact that he is not using his full power. it is not gandalfs place to solve all of mankinds problems for them, only to assist. so when he was fighting the balrog you can assume that he was using more of his power than ever before witnessed.

also as someone pointed out gandalf is particularly adept at fighting the balrog because of his divine nature. "I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the Flame of Anor! The Dark Fire will not avail you..."

sounds like he had the upper hand to me. the balrogs sword shattered when it hit gandalfs staff, further illustrating that he has abilities the balrog was not prepared to deal with.

Gandalf is an avatar of a divine spirit of enormous power. unfortunately only a small portion of that power was ever witnessed in middle-earth.

Eomer led the charge to slaughter the Urak-hai.

I'm still trying to get my hands on a Gandalf the Grey, man. One thing at a time!

Still, I would love to see a colossal Balrog. I am 110% behind you there.

Which is all fine and dandy, except these figures are based off of the movie license only. So what happened in the movie? That's right, Gandalf killed the Balrog (same as the book). Nowhere in the movie do we see the Balrog fighting anyone else except Gandalf (nor even in the actual book), and the Balrog loses. Carry that through to it's logical conclusion. If Gandalf is 155 points, the Balrog should be..............(hint: not more)

Sorry, but as much as I'd love to see a colossal Balrog, it simply does not fit into the scope of this game as they have presented it.

Liv Tyler has that effect...so I've heard.

Tell that to the Mouth of Sauron, who had one set of dialogue, then got decapped by Aragorn. In the non-theatrical cut, no less.

Good point. I wonder how they will figure this out. I can't image WK making a Balrog under 155 points.

To be fair, Gandalf died and was sent back fighting the Balrog. He didn't just smack its nose and walk away. He knew he couldn't fight it and tried to just knock it off the bridge and into the depths, and even that took almost everything he had. Gandalf died in the conflict, but was sent back. That is entirely different from "beating" the creature in game terms. A 300 point Balrog at the Colossal scale would be entirely appropriate. If it was a fight out in the open with nowhere to run and hide or nowhere to use the terrain to remove the threat, the Balrog would have killed all of the Fellowship. That's why they were running from it, not standing and fighting.

Eh, the Balrog must be many hundred points. And Gandalf, IF you're to make the Final Battle Gandalf the Grey, would then be considerably more than 155. He's technically not supposed to be using his power at any point, so 155 is him letting the little things slip through. Or whatever.

Look at the Hex game [not a good comparison, but not a bad one]. In that game, power heroes clocked in somewhere between 300 and 600, give or take. The Balrog, when it was released, was 1500 points. But then, it came with a special Gandalf figure that was... 1500 points.

So it's not that the Balrog needs to be budget, but that there's room [small room] for a tremendously more expensive Gandalf.

I suspect it was not an oversight but instead they wanted to see if the line was viable before committing time and effort to creating a colossal character they would then need to playtest and figure out how to distribute.

Check out the misc evidence thread in Upcoming and Rumours for more, but there is a second set coming relatively early in 2012 according to their release schedule.

Sadly the box set age is probably over. They were going to do LOTR as a boxed set, but they found that the single figure format is just too popular and profit making so they changed it between the original announcement and release.

I concur with this. But given the scale I wouldn't expect high point totals.

Different Wizkids between one release and the other i'm afraid. Different philosophy is in play now.

This one was probably intentional. The second set they will want key figures from the Fellowship for sales. Expect Aragorn the King, Legolas with either his blades or the improved Bow and Gandalf the White in the next set.

Well said, and correct on all accounts.

However, Balrogs were beaten by both the Greenwood Elves and the Numanoreans (I believe) in the time between the Last Alliance and the Fellowship. So there is a very good chance we could get one to fight still, but you won't be able to kill it (or shouldn't be able to) without assistance from ... like ... an army

I'd be fine with them making a more expensive Gadalf to battle an expensive Balrog. The problem then becomes that Sauron is 'only' 335 points, and he is more powerful than both. He's even more powerful than Gandalf the White, much less any incarnation of Gandalf the Grey.

I guess they could make him on a 2x2 base, and make him 300 points like a Sentinel. Release it as an Anti-Monitor type pack with a 300 point Gandalf in there as well, and a couple of generic Moria Orcs. I'd buy that in a heart beat.

Or get a new sauron as well...

Don't see it happening. Remember these figures are based upon the movie license only. Sauron never appears in the books at all, and the only time we see him in the movie is the first scene of the first movie when he's spray painting Men and Elves all over the place with his mace, and then he has the One Ring cut off of his hand.

Could they make another version? Sure. Could they make him more powerful? Of course. Could they justify it? I don't see how based upon the movie license.