Lego Lord of the Rings: Gandalf Arrives

By Ben Fee

Straight to the point:

Finally you too can recreate the opening scenes of The Fellowship Of The Ring in the comfort of your own home. Gandalf! Frodo! A horse! All rendered in your favourite plastic construction blocks.

The Skinny:

Looking at the box, I can almost hear the music. “Do do dodo do do-do…” I’m back in The Shire and Gandalf is telling me how a wizard is never late, he arrives exactly when he means to. Still though, I’ve had this playset sitting unopened on my bookshelf for a week and I’ve got stuff to do, so let’s crack on, eh? First thing I do is make Gandalf. I love the Lego figures that come with capes. They just seem fancier. Gandalf also comes with an enormous hat and a kick-ass beard as is right and proper. I prop him up holding his staff and turn my attention to Frodo. This is my first Lego hobbit so I’m curious as to how they’ve made them short. Turns out the answer is shorten the legs but leave everything else the normal size, which makes the young Frodo less than a head shorter than Gandalf. Strangely enough though it really works. Illusion remains un-ruined.

The horse and cart go up next and, even though it’s only a small set, there’s a satisfying amount of building involved and some interesting steps in the construction or “good bits” as my wife calls them before calling dibs. When together it’s, well, a cart with a horse on the front. But that’s not why you bought the playset. After a minimum of cape-wrangling, Gandalf perches nicely on the front and it’s time to fill the cart. Just like in the film, Lego Gandalf has come carting a Columbian Christmas of fireworks, including the famous dragon-shaped one that Merry and Pippin pilfer at Bilbo’s birthday party. He also has a big old book, an enormous carrot (ladies…) and a sealed envelope. I guess he’s got a magazine subscription to post or something.

As you would expect from Lego, the quality and attention to detail is top notch. The cart and figures looks great, the horse is doing some cool bendy thing with its leg and Frodo even comes with a selection of expressions; turn his head round and he goes from “happy-go-lucky” to “there may have been more to that fart than just fart” which adds some nice depth to the set.

Overall:

Very satisfied. One of the smaller LOTR sets but very evocative of one of my favourite scenes of the trilogy. Full marks, Lego.

Frodo photo by Dr Dave Watson