LOTR sets: Price analyzing

79003 An Unexpected Gathering, a true proof of the talent of LEGO set designers.

When I first heard about LEGO doing a Lord of the Rings theme and saw the sets, I was really excited. Lord of the Rings is my favourite book of all time (alongside with Moore and Gibbon's Watchmen, but they are hard to compare anyway) and I have made quite a bunch of Middle-Earthean figs and MOCs during the years. Sure the theme has some downsides: fleshie figs, high prices (especially in Northern Europe) and movie-only things (don't get me wrong, I love the PJ's movie adaptions, but make my MOCs based on the books).

Well, the sets aren't even released here yet, but based on the pictures I have seen, the sets and figs are some of the best LEGO have produced so far. The figs, especially Gimli and Theoden, have ridiculously awesome detailed parts and prints, and decent number of figs don't have flesh parts on their torsos. Helm's Deep is in my option the best big LEGO castle so far, and I love the fact it doesn't use big juniorized on the walls. Even the Weathertop, which is quite odd choice for a set, is designed wonderfully: The round parts are beautiful.

But the prizing, as mentioned before, is the problem. The cheapest set, Gandalf arrives, costs 17€ (21 USD) and the cart and fleshie Frodo aren't very interesting or useful. Gandalf fig, as the character is my favourite in LOTR, is must-get to me, but it feels quite stupid to pay for a fig and a (new) horse... Luckily Gandalf comes in Bag End set, which is very well designed, beautiful set with awesome dwarf figs. I usually disassemble sets after short time, but An Unexpected Gathering looks like a model I could keep on my self for a longer time... It looks like a perfect Christmas present, at least if it's released here on December as it is in US.

I was also planning to buy Uruk-Hai Army, but the Finnish prize 50€ (61 USD) felt like a punch under the belt. Again, 50 euros for 257 parts is a bad value compared to what can be bought from BL with that amount of money, but ranting isn't any help. But I though buying this set from Berlin when I'll take a trip there in autumn. German prize 40€ isn't bad at all, when set includes such a nice figs and useful parts.

-Pate-keetongu