9472 Attack on Weathertop

 

  • 9472 Attack on Weathertop

    Posted by Huw, 15 May 2012 08:09. Filed under Brickset.

    9472 Attack on WeathertopToday's Lord Of The Rings photo-review is of 9472 Attack on Weathertop. This is a mid-priced set (US $60, UK £50) that features, what I believe is the ruins of the Tower of Amon Sûl, a rock outcrop and five minifigs. There are two Ringwraiths on horses (of the new articulated back leg variety), plus three members of the fellowship: Frodo, Merry and Aragorn.

    The version of Frodo in the set also appears in 9470 Shelob Attacks, and Aragorn is also in 9474 The Battle of Helm's Deep, but Merry is unique to this set.

    9472 Attack on Weathertop The ruins is an interesting build and is very brick- and slope-intensive. It makes use of plenty of plate hinges to create the curved outer walls.

    9472 Attack on WeathertopIt's hinged to reveal various interior details. Round the back there's space for the hobbits to light a fire and have a picnic. If I remember the movies correctly, Merry and Pippin were fond of their food, weren't they? :)

    In common with the other LotR sets I've looked at so far, this is a great set that features excellent minifigs, useful and interesting parts, and a 'proper' LEGO build to create a model that has a lot of playability. Highly recommended!

    Update: I've been asked to mention a couple more things about the set...

    The One ringThe One ring The One ringThe ring is exactly the right size to fit over a stud and is actually quite a useful piece for SNOT techniques because it will neatly let you join stud to stud. Let's hope it appears in more useful, and cheaper, colours in future. This set contains two spares.

     

    The Ringwraiths: There isn't a lot to add about these because you can see what they are like from the pictures below. They are all black, faceless and look suitably mean. The capes might be new, I'm not sure. I did find on one of them that the fold of the cape kept moving the hood upwards when it was pressed right down although the other one was fine so it was probably just they way it was folded.

    Here are a few of more pictures from my flickr gallery:

    9472 Attack on Weathertop 9472 Attack on Weathertop 9472 Attack on Weathertop 9472 Attack on Weathertop

    Thanks again to Darren and Tim for loaning me these. Tim is offering Brickset users a 5% discount in his BrickLink store Brick Buy Brick, and will also do so in his new web toy shop, ToyAddict, when it launches in June. Darren is also offering 5% discount on orders under £50 and 10% on orders over £50 from his BrickLink store Gizmocom, until the official release day of the LotR sets. Just mention Brickset in the notes when you check out!

     


    35 comments, latest one posted 13 months ago. (Commenting has ended on this article)
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Comments

Posted by Andhe in United Kingdom, 15 May 2012 09:01

At first glance I thought £50 seem a bit steep (is this the TRU mark up) but the build looks a lot more brick intensive as you mention. I think the fact that it folds in perhaps make it look like a smaller set that it actually it. If I had to get just one, it would probably be this (when amazon discount it...).

Posted by Firox 5000 in United Kingdom, 15 May 2012 09:09

£50 is a tad pricey but at least it isn't £60 which would be a rip off. The set anyway oops awesome and is one I am hoping to get.

Posted by voypro in United States, 15 May 2012 09:23

I am not sure if this is news to anyone but, I saw pretty much all the LOTR sets at toyrus yesterday here in Kentucky. So they are definitely out.

Posted by CapnRex101 in United Kingdom, 15 May 2012 09:27

Looks like a nice set. Definitely going to pick this one up.

Posted by lastzodiac in United Kingdom, 15 May 2012 09:33

For the price I'm not going to lose any sleep over any of these sets.

Posted by Nightshroud99 in Canada, 15 May 2012 09:41

Surprisingly I like the Nazgul. Nice set overall, I'll be buying this when I can get it for the correct price, not that horrible Toysrus mark up...

Posted by Morgan19 in United States, 15 May 2012 09:49

Bricks-intensive or not, when I look at the final model here, that intangible "feel" of getting my money's worth isn't there for me. That's an important aspect for me as a buyer.

Which brings up an interesting question... I was going to go search Brickset for past ~$60 sets (to compare the "feel" feeling) and realized I couldn't figure out how. Is there some way to search for sets by price, like "find all sets with MSRP of $19.99" or something similar?

Posted by yys4u in United States, 15 May 2012 10:09

I like the set but I agree with everyone, the price point is way off. I don't know the piece count or anything, but I feel like the scene wasn't all that memorable, (compared to helms deep or mines of moria) so I couldn't justify spending 60USD on it. If I do get it, it will probably be among the last of the LotR sets I get.

Posted by primetime in United Kingdom, 15 May 2012 10:32

£50?!? Really? I have a £20 LEGO VIP credit to use and this was to be my first LEGO LOTR set - but no way. This looks comparable with the recent Hagrid's Hut which was £35.

It looks like TLG are spending too much on licensing. I'm not encouraging you this time, LEGO. You are being too greedy, even by your standards.

Posted by Gandalf1 in United States, 15 May 2012 10:32

Yeah, I'm not sure I'll get this one... The Mines of Moria, The Battle of Helm's Deep, and Shelob Attacks, those are my favotites. But of course they're all awesome!

Posted by legoguy2805 in United Kingdom, 15 May 2012 11:05

Nice pictures Huw, but I must point out a few things: the hooded figures are spelled Ringwraiths, and the version of Frodo that appears in this set is in fact slightly different from the Frodo that appears in 9470 (this one's has a dark green cape, and the other has a dark brown cape).

Posted by brix in United Kingdom, 15 May 2012 11:18

I definitely agree with primetime - lego is being far too greedy. whilst this is a very nice set, £50 is way too much! i'll only get this if it falls to £35 or less. somehow, i doubt this will happen given that 4183 is still £37 from £40 on amazon, a year on :(

Posted by Delatron in United Kingdom, 15 May 2012 11:29

Thanks for the review Huw. Once again, looks pricey for what you get, but the figs look great as do those new horses. Shame they have to price these licensed sets so high as I would buy more sets in every theme if they pitched them a bit lower.

Posted by primetime in United Kingdom, 15 May 2012 12:00

I guess if history is anything to go by Amazon will have these sets down a bit lower soon enough so patience required.

The trouble is that I'm not too patient - but LEGO prices are training me to be.

Posted by tenfootgerbil in United Kingdom, 15 May 2012 12:07

This looks brilliant! And I do want to get it. I agree with paying designers their due... but considering the Jabba's Palace SW set was £30 in 2003 (which would be £37 now)... yeah... Amazon discount would be better.

Posted by RikTheVeggie in Canada, 15 May 2012 12:46

@Morgan19 - not yet, but keep an eye on this thread (http://www.bricksetforum.com/discussion/4333/advanced-query-builder) for when you'll be able to do so.

Posted by BJMdotLEGO in Belgium, 15 May 2012 12:47

@ brix : 4183 has been £27.50 in the past on Amazon UK.

Posted by lovaquero in United States, 15 May 2012 12:57

Arg! I am warming up to LotR sets more and more. (I never fancied myself a Castle man, but then again I never planned to buy any of the Alien Conquests, and now I own them all - it's a great little theme!)

Good thing the price point is still well into the "too-painful" zone to allow me to get this the minute they hit S@H...

Posted by Graysmith in Sweden, 15 May 2012 13:40

The One Ring, you get three of them! *laughs*

Posted by wiredforsound in United States, 15 May 2012 13:42

LOTR is also available at Fred Meyer stores in the Pacific Northwest (9469,9470,9471,9473)

9469 - http://www.flickr.com/photos/wiredforsound23/7200880616/
9470 - http://www.flickr.com/photos/wiredforsound23/7200649954/
9471 - http://www.flickr.com/photos/wiredforsound23/7204314378/

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 15 May 2012 13:44

@legoguy2805, thanks. I hadn't noticed the cape was a different colour from the checklist picture.

Posted by cloaked7 in United States, 15 May 2012 14:12

This set has 430 pieces, so I agree that it is a bit pricey for $60. About $10-15 too high.

Talking price, the set is now available on Amazon at retail. No markup, but no discount either. Hopefully we'll see the set at a $10-15 discount one day. Or, maybe a LOTR promo at S&H.

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 15 May 2012 14:25

^^ Well done, glad you were able to suss out how to use it. There are still some things to be finished off before it's launched but by all means play with it and see if you can break it.

Posted by The_Creator in United States, 15 May 2012 14:31

Is the pointy sword made in China like CMF or are they made in Europe, Mexico ect.?

Posted by CCC in United Kingdom, 15 May 2012 16:14

What is the grab power of the ring like for doing top to top joins?

Posted by LukeSkywalker in Ireland, 15 May 2012 16:23

@Huw have you tried placing one or two flat 1x2 pieces at the figure's feet, inside the saddle, so that the ringwraith can lean forward? It'd make them taller but it might look more dramatic when the horse is standing up on two legs. ;)

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 15 May 2012 17:03

^^^ I can't tell where they are made, which is a good thing, right?

^^ Very strong, in fact it is hard to get it back off.

^ Not yet but I wil do when I do Helm's Deep.

Posted by The_Creator in United States, 15 May 2012 17:10

Well when I get some LotR sets should the weapons go with my Kingdoms weapons or my CMF China made accessorys. I have all my Legos organized into containers and I'm sort of a perfectionist.
Oh what countries does the box list for where the parts are made?

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 15 May 2012 17:19

China is on the list. I think the horses are made in China but as I didn't open the sets myself I don't know if they were packaged in tell-tale polybags or not.

There is nothing wrong with the swords and they are far better made than most CMF accessories.

Posted by blue_squadron in United Kingdom, 16 May 2012 05:47

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet when discussing this set is Aragorn's sword: Lego showed a hint of a fantastic Lego-version of Anduril on the Aragorn poster.

They have clearly made the effort to make a specific mould for Frodo's sword Sting but Aragorn has the new generic longsword design, as used for the CMF. Now, arguably (from the movies if not the books), this is correct as Aragorn has his plain Ranger sword at this point and won't acquire the newly re-forged Anduril for a little while.

Do you think there's any hope that we'll see specific designs for, say, Anduril and Gandalf's sword Glamdring in later sets? They're both pretty distinctive designs. Glamdring at least should be worth looking for in the upcoming Hobbit sets as finding this sword (and Sting) is a specific part of the plot of that story.

What do you all think?

Posted by odindusk in United States, 16 May 2012 06:05

Just ordered this on S@H to go along with the Hulk minifig promotion. With that said, I have no idea why this set needs to be $59.99. $49.99 seems to be a good price given the license and piece count. I guess maybe the two horses pushed the price point up? I don't see a large number of uncommon pieces in this set.

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 16 May 2012 11:51

One piece, they wrap around and have three holes in them to go over the neck.

Posted by The_Cook in Canada, 16 May 2012 15:33

Huw, How much does the set weigh? I believe that Lego roughly determines it's prices by weight with a slight premium for the number of printed/assembled pieces (ie. minifigs). If it's brick built rather than paneled then it should weight the same as equivalent $50 sets even if it might not look as imposing.

Posted by alorian in United States, 16 May 2012 15:51

^^ Studs Not On Top.

Posted by The_Creator in United States, 16 May 2012 22:55

@Huw
Thanks, too bad about the horses though.
Thats good to hear.

Commenting has ended on this article.