9470 Shelob Attacks

 

  • 9470 Shelob Attacks

    Posted by Huw, 27 May 2012 04:59. Filed under Brickset.

    9470 Shelob AttacksHere's my penultimate mini pictorial review of the Lord Of The Rings sets.

    9470 Shelob Attacks is the second smallest LotR set. It costs US$20/£20 and contains 227 pieces, including 3 minifigs.

    It consists of Shelob, which is arguably the best spider LEGO has made, a 'piece of rock', and minifigs Frodo, Samwise Gamgee and Gollum. The latter two only appear in this set.

    9470 Shelob AttacksGollom is, as you'd expect, a new mould. His arms move, but that's all. He comes clutching a fish although he is not seen eating one in the Shelob scene of The Return of the King. The face printing is a pretty good likeness, I think.

    9470 Shelob AttacksSamwise and Frodo look suitably sombre, as indeed they were at this stage in their journey. Frodo has a stunned/dead look on the other side of this head. Sam carries the Phial of Galadriel given to Frodo by Galadriel when they left Lórien.

    9470 Shelob AttacksAs I said above, Shelob the giant spider is excellent and looks very menacing. Her jaw is hinged and can be used to grip any unsuspecting minifigs she comes across.

    9470 Shelob AttacksAt the bottom of her body there's a gear for producing her silk (LEGO string) which can be used to wrap Frodo in. Quite why it has a hook at the end of it, though, I am not sure. I don't think she uses it as a winch :-)

    One thing missing is the huge spike at the end of her abdomen that she uses to stun Frodo. I suspect it could be modified to fit one, particularly if you weren't fussed about the silk/string.

    When I first saw the LotR sets at the London Toy Fair in January, this was the one that excited me the most, mainly due to Shelob, I suspect, and now having seen and played with it, I am not disappointed. Another excellent LotR set and one I highly recommend.

    I will hopefully cover the Mines of Moria in the next couple of days and publish a LotR minifig gallery by next weekend. So, stay tuned...

    Thanks again to Darren and Tim for loaning me the LotR sets months before they are available in Europe. 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!


    30 comments, latest one posted 12 months ago. (Commenting has ended on this article)
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Comments

Posted by brix in United Kingdom, 27 May 2012 05:53

Thanks for the great review, Huw! :) I'm definitely getting this set as you get three amazing figures and Shelob, all for a reasonable price. I thinks this set is the best in terms of value of all of the lotr sets.

Posted by the_real_indy in United States, 27 May 2012 06:39

The hook is partly so you can display her hanging her by her silk thread, attached to something above... Plus, I am sure the hook also represents her sting in dark red. It certainly looks that way when the string is totally wound in.

A wonderful model, and a great monster to have for all kinds of Fantasy and D&D scenes! Can they do more classic D&D monsters? Are those all under copyright by Wizards of the Coast? We should get a copy of the old "AD&D Monster Manual" and put some concept pics of a "Beholder" or a "Tiamat" up on Cuusoo and we will surely find out!! =)

Posted by vistuk in Slovakia, 27 May 2012 06:48

great set Shelob is great Gollum is great price is great

Posted by aquafreak125 in United Kingdom, 27 May 2012 07:01

Despite the fact that spiders scare the daylights out of me I'll still be picking up this set, Shelob is one great model and the minifigures are superb! Thanks for the review Huw!

Posted by odindusk in United States, 27 May 2012 07:48

Are her eyes printed or stickers?

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 27 May 2012 07:48

Printed

Posted by Graysmith in Sweden, 27 May 2012 08:04

I'm guessing they needed to have something attached to the end of the string so you don't rewind it into the body and have to disassemble the model to get it out again. They could've probably used the ring clip plate like they did with the fishing rod in 4642 rather than the hook, although the_real_indy makes a good point about being able to hang her by the string (not sure I'd dare to do that though).

Anyway, Shelob Attacks is easily the best value of all the LOTR sets. I can't imagine this not being the first set anyone picks up off of the shelf.

Posted by Orthobotrex in Philippines, 27 May 2012 08:31

Are there any rumors of another DK book with an exclusive minifigure for LOTR?

Posted by PaulTR in United States, 27 May 2012 08:50

Great review, Huw! Gotta agree with brix: this set is an excellent deal, with great figs, pieces, and a reasonable price. So happy that it's on its way to my house from LEGO!

Posted by 18000pieces in United States, 27 May 2012 09:45

First one I got, and even with the Toys 'R' Us markup (to $24.99) it was still definitely worth my money. Shelob is ridiculously poseable and fun to play with, the figures are great and actually relevant to the scene, and in my opinion the thread is one of the greatest play features ever. It's unobtrusive, accurate, cleverly built, and extremely useful for play and display. I've hung Shelob from my LEGO shelf with it and it worked great.

Posted by Trandoshan in Canada, 27 May 2012 09:54

One of the great things about Shelob is that each of her legs can actually move horizontally. A lot of Lego's previous many-legged creatures can't do that.

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 27 May 2012 11:13

I'm not sure about the wheels -- I guess it's so that if her legs are raised you can skid her along the floor on her belly :-)

Posted by Konstantin in United States, 27 May 2012 14:12

The spider can be used as a prank to scare anybody who dares to open your closet.

Posted by odindusk in United States, 27 May 2012 14:16

I love your Gollum photo. Such an absurdly large fish compared to him. (or an absurdly small Gollum compared to the fish?)

Posted by the_real_indy in United States, 27 May 2012 14:22

If you wind in the string to maximum tightness, then the hook will stick straight out like a stinger. I think it was designed like that.

Also, I think you attached the parts on the sides of her thorax reversed left-to-right. They should be reversed and attached at 45 degrees, I think.

And you can push the head down at and angle too. I think that is how they intended it. I don't think that real spiders have large hing-jawed mouths, I think they suck their prey's juices through a proboscis! Is Shelob the same? =)

Posted by Be-Burger in Israel, 27 May 2012 14:27

Great review Huw, that set looks pretty awesome :)

Posted by Gandalf1 in United States, 27 May 2012 14:40

Yeah, I just got this set, and the head is supposed to be hinged downwards. Also, I have tried hanging Shelob by the string, and it easily supports the weight.

As someone else mentioned in a review, there is an instruction error! There is a click-hinge joint piece that attaches the abdomen to the body, and for just one step, the piece vanishes! It reappears in the next step, so there isn't any confusion, but it's still annoying.

Posted by Gandalf1 in United States, 27 May 2012 15:11

17 cm long.

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 27 May 2012 15:15

I will blame Darren/gizmocom if the spider is incorrectly assembled: I received him already made :-)

Posted by itsaturkey in United States, 27 May 2012 16:41

This defiantly looks like the best value of all the other LotR sets. They are already out in the U.S. correct?
P.S. Hey Huw, are you allowed to disassemble the sets then build them again?

Posted by Legozrool in United States, 27 May 2012 17:11

Picked it up at my local lego store along with 'gandalf arrives'

Are the city mining sets and ninjago epic dragon battle, lasha's bite cycle, and ultra sonic raider supposed to be released yet???? 'cause they were there (at the only Lego store in AL)

Posted by wiredforsound in United States, 27 May 2012 17:41

My one-shot pictorial of this amazing set can be found here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/wiredforsound23/7200649954/

Posted by Konstantin in United States, 27 May 2012 19:36

The hook can be attached to a surface and the spider can hang down like real ones.

Posted by Konstantin in United States, 27 May 2012 19:37

This will definetly keep the flies off my porch!

Posted by legoDad42 in United States, 27 May 2012 22:44

Thx for the review Huw! Yep...best Lego spider they've done.
With the possible issue of the Spider not being built on point...I think it's just the back/abdomen needs to be tilted up/forward.

Posted by legoDad42 in United States, 27 May 2012 22:51

Oh and like the_real_indy said...the top part/thorax part sides...tilt them down and also tilt the head down too. This will give a better look overall.

Posted by the_real_indy in United States, 28 May 2012 04:35

Now I see... the light grey hinges on the sides of the thorax are attached upside-down, and so then the slopes on top of those hinges will need to be turned around... This is a tricky part of the build. I remember I made the exact same mistake on the first try.

And if you spread the fangs apart a bit more, you can push the head down completely, so the eyes face front.

Plus, Frodo can also grip the Ring in his hand, the normal way a Lego hand normally holds things, although it may stretch and stress the plastic of the hand a little bit... But, hey, Frodo is the Ring-Bearer, so that is the suffering he is destined for! Haha! XD

Posted by damien in Netherlands, 28 May 2012 04:45

After all those wonderful reviews, I'm going to get all the LOTR sets when they reach Europe. At first I wasn't that enthousiastic, but reading the reviews has turned my doubts into greed :-).

Thanx Huw!!! and not-at-all-thanx from my wife.. :-)

Posted by Gandalf1 in United States, 28 May 2012 10:40

Sam can actually hold the Phial of Galadriel with his hand right-side up. You don't have to turn it upside-down.

Posted by jimmer in United States, 29 May 2012 02:03

Great set... as others have said, it's the best of the smaller sets I have so far. Good minifigures but really the spider is the center piece for a reason. Very well designed and great for creeping people out. I especially like how the string with hook acts as both stinger and easy way to hang the spider up for show... Nice job TLC

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