LEGO Uruk-Hai Army Review Set 9471 – Lord of the Rings

I am working my way up to larger LEGO Lord of the Rings sets, and had a chance to build set 9471 this week: Uruk-Hai Army. For $30, it is a mid-range set price wise, but offers lots of playability for kids, and is a nice army builder for adult collectors.

The box:
LEGO Uruk-Hai Army

The entire setup:
LEGO Uruk-Hai Army

LEGO Uruk-Hai Army

It is written everywhere like this:
LEGO Uruk-Hai Army

The spare parts and parts I didn’t use, including capes:
LEGO Uruk-Hai Army

Rohan soldier. This guy is pretty pricey on the aftermarket.
LEGO Uruk-Hai Army

LEGO Uruk-Hai Army

Eomer, Incredible detail on the helmet especially:
LEGO Uruk-Hai Army

LEGO Uruk-Hai Army

The Uruk-hai army:
LEGO Uruk-Hai Army

Choice of two faces (which only a mother could love):
LEGO Uruk-Hai Army

The Uruk-hai weapon:
LEGO Uruk-Hai Army

LEGO Uruk-Hai Army

I believe this is a new piece, a fully printed wood board:
LEGO Uruk-Hai Army

The new horse:
LEGO Uruk-Hai Army

A section of Helms Deep:
LEGO Uruk-Hai Army

I love that this is brick built, and not made out of large molded pieces:
LEGO Uruk-Hai Army

The colors and details are great:
LEGO Uruk-Hai Army

Inside:
LEGO Uruk-Hai Army

Overall, I really like the set, and appreciate how this is meant to be an add-on to the larger Helm’s Deep LEGO set.

LEGO Shelob Attacks Review – Lord of the Rings Set 9470

It was great to pick up a couple of the new LEGO Lord of the RIngs sets, Shelob Attacks is the first I was able to dig into. For $20, it’s a nice sized set, you essentially get 4 characters here and a great scene from the book/movie.

LEGO Shelob Attacks

LEGO Shelob Attacks

The minifigs, I believe 2 are unique to this set:
LEGO Shelob Attacks

Ah Frodo. He has two looks: tired and terrified. The ring came out really nice, and you get 3 in the package. I like the detail on his outfit:
LEGO Shelob Attacks

Back printing:
LEGO Shelob Attacks

Probably my favorite part of the set is Sam’s shirt. I can see this being used for Civil War soldiers and other uses in the LEGO universe. Nice that they got the eyebrows matching the hair.
LEGO Shelob Attacks

Back printing:
LEGO Shelob Attacks

Gollum. The face certainly captures the scary side of him:
LEGO Shelob Attacks

The figure overall is awkward. It’s mostly a big molded piece. Not horrible, but not amazing either other than the head printing:
LEGO Shelob Attacks

His feet:
LEGO Shelob Attacks

You get a small cave/rock formation here:
LEGO Shelob Attacks

Shelob is pretty impressive. Big, and dare I say: scary!
LEGO Shelob Attacks

LEGO Shelob Attacks

I was glad to see the face was printed, not a sticker:
LEGO Shelob Attacks

Minifig scale:
LEGO Shelob Attacks

The rear of the spider has a contraption that allows you to hang her:
LEGO Shelob Attacks

LEGO Town Hall Review

After months of off and on work, I finally finished LEGO Town Hall. An impressive set overall, especially because of the size. I love the dark orange as a color, and think it works well for the building. It’s much taller than any of the other modular buildings which in a way is good, and in a way is bad. The other sets are very quaint with lots of detail. This set dwarfs them and can change the sense of overall scale. In the end – I definitely think it works.

It’s interesting to see this set come out after Pet Shop, which is such a different direction. Two smaller buildings vs one hulking one. Personally, I find the Pet Shop set offers more flexibility, you can add multiples to a setup and have them fit in. I bought two more sets of Pet Shop recently so that I can have a row of brownstones.

The completed set:
LEGO Town Hall Review

The box:
LEGO Town Hall Review

Three manuals:
LEGO Town Hall Review

The first floor is really cool. As others have said, I can see this working well for a bank:
LEGO Town Hall Review

The second and third floors:
LEGO Town Hall Review

The clock tower:
LEGO Town Hall Review

The back of the building:
LEGO Town Hall Review

Taking a look at the third floor: the large conference table:
LEGO Town Hall Review

The elevator door and buttons:
LEGO Town Hall Review

Top view of the third floor:
LEGO Town Hall Review

The second floor:
LEGO Town Hall Review

The mayor’s office:
LEGO Town Hall Review

The secretary:
LEGO Town Hall Review

The first floor:
LEGO Town Hall Review

Some kind of payment desk:
LEGO Town Hall Review

A sitting area:
LEGO Town Hall Review

The town meeting room:
LEGO Town Hall Review

A view through the main doors:
LEGO Town Hall Review

The elevator shaft:
LEGO Town Hall Review

Leftover pieces:
LEGO Town Hall Review

I like how the set had four male figures and four female figures. I feel like it is usually lopsided with too many male characters in most sets:
LEGO Town Hall Review

The male figures:
LEGO Town Hall Review

LEGO Sale on the Same Old Stuff at Target

I stopped by Target the other day, and found lots of sale stickers, with really meager discounts. What was most surprising to me was that there was so much merchandise from “older” sets. Nothing was really that old, but there was still a big presence for Alien Conquest, Harry Potter, etc – themes that are on their way out, and not as prominent at other stores.

LEGO at Target

LEGO at Target

LEGO at Target

LEGO at Target

LEGO at Target

LEGO at Target

LEGO at Target

LEGO at Target

More Third-Party LEGO Stuff: BrickStix Stickers

I was surprised to see these at a small independent toy store the other day: Brick Stix stickers for LEGO bricks. They are supposed to be easy to reuse. They had a variety of sets available. Interesting to see a secondary market rise out around LEGO, I know there is a huge one with things like BrickArms, but I haven’t ever seen those in stores.

Brick Stix

Brick Stix

I didn’t think this one aligned with the LEGO branding:
Brick Stix

Brick Stix

Brick Stix

LEGO Polybags: Hulk and TC-14

In the past few weeks, LEGO has offered some free promo polybags when you spend a certain amount of money. The Star Wars TC-14 minifig was available for a couple days around May 4th. Hulk is available for the latter part of May. I got both, but haven’t opened them yet. A nice promotion from LEGO, especially when they are “exclusive” figs. I’ve heard there are some quality control issues with Hulk. I’ll find out when I open him up…

LEGO Polybags: Hulk and TC-14

LEGO Lord of the Rings and Kingdoms Chess Set Arrive

I stopped by my local LEGO Store to get the Hulk minifig promo and check out some of the newer sets.

A surprise to everyone, the Kingdoms Chess set appeared on the shelves last week. At $50, you get more than 30 minifigs, an incredible deal for a theme we thought was dead.
LEGO Lord of the Rings and Kingdoms Chess Set Arrive

LEGO Lord of the Rings hits the shelves. They didn’t have the biggest set, but all others were represented. While many adult fans are thrilled with this lineup, I can’t help but fear that they won’t be big sellers. But… with two Hobbit movies in the works, that may be the momentum needed to drive sales with kids.
LEGO Lord of the Rings and Kingdoms Chess Set Arrive

LEGO Lord of the Rings and Kingdoms Chess Set Arrive

LEGO Lord of the Rings and Kingdoms Chess Set Arrive

LEGO Death Star… this set just won’t go away. Not that I am complaining!
LEGO Lord of the Rings and Kingdoms Chess Set Arrive

R2D2 really grabs your attention:
LEGO Lord of the Rings and Kingdoms Chess Set Arrive

Technic:
LEGO Lord of the Rings and Kingdoms Chess Set Arrive

New Ninjago on the shelves:
LEGO Lord of the Rings and Kingdoms Chess Set Arrive

LEGO Lord of the Rings and Kingdoms Chess Set Arrive

Monster Fighters on display. I was wondering where they would place this in the store. Between Architecture and City I suppose makes as much sense as anything else:
LEGO Lord of the Rings and Kingdoms Chess Set Arrive

Modulars and exclusives:
LEGO Lord of the Rings and Kingdoms Chess Set Arrive

City with the new mining themes sets:
LEGO Lord of the Rings and Kingdoms Chess Set Arrive

LEGO Friends:
LEGO Lord of the Rings and Kingdoms Chess Set Arrive

The new Beach House set:
LEGO Lord of the Rings and Kingdoms Chess Set Arrive

They had the monthly mini-build for sale for about $7. I don’t remember them doing this before.
LEGO Lord of the Rings and Kingdoms Chess Set Arrive

LEGO Lord of the Rings and Kingdoms Chess Set Arrive

Fire fighter minifigs:
LEGO Lord of the Rings and Kingdoms Chess Set Arrive