9473 The Mines of Moria

 

  • 9473 The Mines of Moria

    Posted by Huw, 29 May 2012 08:22. Filed under Set review.

    9473 The Mines of Moria9473 The Mines of Moria is the second largest LotR set, weighing in at US$80 for 776 pieces.

    It features six minifigs, a cave troll and various structures to enable re-enactment of the scene from The Fellowship of the Ring.

    9473 The Mines of Moria Of the six minifigs, five are unique to this set: Pippin, Boromir, Legolas and Moria Orc, of which there are two. The sixth is Gimli who also comes in The Battle of Helm's Deep.

     

     

    9473 The Mines of Moria The pillar-and-wall and door structures are frangible and have levers at the back to enable them to be broken easily in response to the troll wielding his club around the room. The two smaller structures are the well that Pippin manages to push the skeleton into, and thereby awaken the Orcs (and worse!), and the Tomb of Balin, which gets smashed half-way through the battle.

    9473 The Mines of Moria

    The cave troll is very well made and looks suitably vicious. My only complaint is that he topples over when holding his club unless it is positioned right behind his head, as shown in the photo on the right.

    9473 The Mines of Moria The Orcs are different to the Mordor Orcs in the Orc Forge set in that they have olive green heads and arms, rather than dark tan.

    This is a well made set containing many useful pieces and a great selection of minifigs. Given that it uniquely contains 1/3rd of the nine members of the Fellowship, including the ever-popular Legolas, it will be an essential purchase. You can find more pictures on flickr.

    This then completes my quick photo reviews of the LotR sets. I have been very impressed with them all: not only are the minifigs excellent, which I could have guessed they would be, but the sets themselves are great too: no juniorisation, a useful selection of pieces in them all and once built look they impressive and have a lot of playability.

    I could complain about certain key characters not making it into any of the sets (e.g. Saruman, Eowyn, Arwen, Bilbo) but we can hope that with interest in LotR likely to remain high for at least a couple of years, what with two Hobbit movie releases, we will see another range of sets that will address the shortfall.

    To summarise, all I have to say is 'Well done LEGO!' :-)

    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!

    Expect to see a LotR minifig gallery in the next few days...


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

Posted by Brickmeister1138 in United States, 29 May 2012 09:51

Huw, what with Lego Making sets about The Hobbit, I am 100% certain that we will get a Bilbo minifig of some sort. In regards to the others, we can hope. Things have been a bit quiet on the Return of the King front though, what with only a Shelob set being made, and Saruman will appear in the Hobbit as a part of the White Council.

By the way, your pictoral reviews of these great sets were also excellent.

This is one of my favorite LOTR sets, and I will be getting this one for sure.

Posted by Moexy in Belgium, 29 May 2012 10:07

Great review and very nice pictures Huw!
I can't wait t'ill they are released in Belgium! (^-^)

A question, are all the details on the walls stickers (the writings etc.)?

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 29 May 2012 10:58

^ It's quite brick-intense which will contribute to the cost.

@Moexy, sorry I should have mentioned, yes they are all stickers.

Posted by Gandalf1 in United States, 29 May 2012 11:10

FBTB's review of this set was somewhat negative. I don't think it's as bad as they said, but it's not as big as it could have been. I shudder at all of those stickers! Why, oh why, do they have to have so many?! I usually don't mind stickers and think they usually add to the model, and these do... But seriously! They could have printed a lot of those and made it more worth the money! :/

Posted by Kliq in United States, 29 May 2012 11:14

I am so pleased that Lego prints the minifigure torsos without showing any 'fleshy' skin so I can swap out their heads with yellow ones. I am okay with some fleshy skin every now and then as it fits some characters, but as long as I get a great selection of flesh-less torsos!

Posted by Brickmeister1138 in United States, 29 May 2012 11:18

I just noticed... isn't Balin a little tall for a dwarf? Also, is it just me, or is the face printing for the skeletons new? It looks a lot like the classic skeleton head, but seems a bit more streamlined.

Posted by brix in United Kingdom, 29 May 2012 11:33

Great review and a great set but again, not worth the money :( it's interesting that the gold bar pieces used in potc haven't been used since and certainly not in this set - I feel it would have been more appropriate than the gold 1x2 tile...

Posted by CapnRex101 in United Kingdom, 29 May 2012 11:38

"Frangible", that's my new word of the day.

Posted by legogeek in United States, 29 May 2012 11:39

Nice set!
Is the skeleton 'dwarf' size or full size? Legs almost look on the short side..... ??

Posted by behemothjosh in United States, 29 May 2012 11:41

Or if you are shopping at ToysRUs expect to pay $100. Their mark-ups are insane on the LotR sets.

Posted by Stevutz in Australia, 29 May 2012 12:08

There appears to be a large cavity opening to the inside of the arms of the Troll. The review however, states the Troll is "very well made." What exactly would qualify as not being well made?

Posted by the_real_indy in United States, 29 May 2012 12:31

Plus they haven't made SAURON! They haven't made the MAIN VILLAIN! You figure they would, to create playbility!

Posted by Darth Lurtz in United States, 29 May 2012 13:01

^^ Sauron never interacts with any of the main characters physically and I think LEGO's main objective was to release the entire Fellowship of the ring, which is hard for thats nine characters. As for the set, I like it but their is a ridiculous amount of stickers. Even the book has stickers on it!

Posted by brix in United Kingdom, 29 May 2012 13:28

@ Stevutz - good point. and @ Energyarrow - isn't the mold completely new anyway??

Posted by Sauron Bauglir in New Zealand, 29 May 2012 15:22

What is the availability of The Orc Forge? Will it be sold in New Zealand?

Posted by HarpuaMM in United States, 29 May 2012 16:28

I'm fairly certain that the two olive-green figures are goblins, not orcs.

Posted by Brickmeister1138 in United States, 29 May 2012 18:40

Goblins and Orcs are actually the same thing in the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkein used the terms interchangeably. Though the word Goblin is usually used for smaller Orcs of the Misty Mountains.

Posted by TekkamanRaiden in Canada, 29 May 2012 19:43

That looks really nice, looking forward to it.

Posted by Konstantin in United States, 29 May 2012 21:16

I predict that hair/ear combination piece will be quite useful.

Posted by legomatt in United Kingdom, 29 May 2012 22:06

THIS is a theme (and a set) desperately crying out for BATTLE PACKS.

Just two moria goblins in the set, which attack in SWARMS, just doesn't cut it. And i'm not buying another Mines of Moria just to get two more goblins. I like the set, but needs more goblins.

Maybe they'll do a Bridge of Khazad Dum/Balrog and chuck in a couple more goblins, but that would still be only a few goblins - and i'd prefer to see a quality brick-built balrog here, rather than a big plastic dinosaur with figs thrown in to excuse the build.

So definitely in need of a Moria Battlepack, to contain: four moria goblins (warriors and a shaman), with enough weapon & armour options to create different flavours of goblin (spear, shields, moria bow! moria helmet! - quite disappointing we haven't got a moria goblin helmet), and a skeleton dwarf (for a bit of moria humour), and maybe a bit of mine-works, pillars, big goblin drum, for playset parts.

edit: also, i'm not a fan of the grey goblin legs. Makes them look like they've just got in from work at the office, and only half changed into their goblin gear. Legs should be green, with armour printing.

Posted by icey in Denmark, 30 May 2012 04:38

What a shame with the stickers... When they got the sset price high due to the licence, the least they could do was to print the tiles... which (IMO) would have made this set the most attractive in this LOTR wave! Sad thing!

Posted by UtarEmpire in United States, 30 May 2012 04:46

Stickers, ew...we'll see which ones I can get away with not applying.
But I'm inevitably getting this set for the sweet Minifigs. Five exclusives plus a Cave Troll make this too cool to pass up.

Posted by julian977 in United Kingdom, 30 May 2012 12:57

Am I right in thinking that Christopher Lee will become only the 2nd actor (after Harrison Ford) to have made it into two different minifig characters if/when they make a Saruman? (Ian Mckellan could have beaten him to it if he hadn't turned down the role of Profassor Dumbledore.)

Posted by Darth Lurtz in United States, 30 May 2012 13:30

^^^^ No Alfred Molina has the record of most minifig characters, he has Satipo, Doc Ock, and Sheik Amar. Also Orlando Bloom has Will Turner and Legolas. Lastly christopher Lee wouldn't be the only other actor for Cate Blanchett would have both Irina Spalko and Galadriel.

Posted by CapnRex101 in United Kingdom, 30 May 2012 13:52

^There is a Bricklist for actors with multiple figures: http://www.brickset.com/brickLists/?1613 Technically Warwick Davies matches Alfred Molina as he has played Wicket the Ewok, Professor Flitwick in Harry Potter, and Yoda in some walking scenes during Episode 1. There are plenty of actors with more than one figure.

Posted by boba_jagoda2 in Germany, 30 May 2012 14:30

Well, actually, I have the information that the LOTR set are already available in Bosnia (since 2 weeks ago), and that is Europe.

Posted by __billybobjoe in United States, 30 May 2012 17:27

dus it have a brick separator?

Posted by Brickmeister1138 in United States, 31 May 2012 11:34

@julian977, if you count the Magneto minifig, Ian Mckellan does have two. Keira Knightley may also have two if the Queen Amidala Fig in the Gungan sub set is actually her body double, Sabe. Temura Morrison, though takes the cake, since all the clone troopers and Jango Fett are directly based off of him, as shown in the above mentioned bricklist. I think Molina still holds the record at 3 when special effects work and animation is not considered though.

Posted by __billybobjoe in United States, 31 May 2012 16:50

@legomatt: Y are you so critical? Ur lucky LEGO even included the orcs

Posted by legomatt in United Kingdom, 31 May 2012 23:55

@billybobjoe: LOL. Lucky they included the orcs? Really, in the moria fight scene? :o) ...what would you have them fight, boredom perhaps? So the scene has to have the protagonists... or were you being sarcastic - i just can't tell anymore. :oS

Gandalf - It has been many a year since I last trod this path...
Pippin - I think we're still on that same journey, gandalf...
Gandalf - Shutup Pippin, I'm thinking...
Pippin - Great. That'll make for a good film sequence. Hey everybody, lets' sit down and have a good think!

Critical, perhaps, but not overly so. I don't think i'm being unfair. Like i said, I DO like the set, and will be buying it, but it highlights the fact that we also need to have battle packs. The thing is, LotR could be every bit as good as Star Wars, but also every bit as BAD as how they treated PotC. I want to recreate scenes and recreate the film/story properly. I don't want to see a scattergun approach resulting in half-told sequences, and half-measure sets, just to pump out a few minifigs to collectors for a year, with no real respect shown to the fan of the license who will be desperate to play out the whole story in Lego form.

My apologies if i come across as over-critical (I prefer the term 'demanding') - I just want the same attention to DETAIL (lotr deserves as much) as star wars gets in its sets... moria goblins don't stroll around in grey slacks. :o)

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