Exclusive: The Goblin King Battle review

 

  • Exclusive: The Goblin King Battle review

    Posted by Huw, 09 Nov 2012 10:24. Filed under Set review.

    We have the largest of the yet-to-be-released The Hobbit sets, 79010 The Goblin King Battle to hand and we're pleased to bring you an exclusive review of it!

    Read our in-depth pictorial review to find out if the set is as ugly as the Goblin King, pictured, or whether you need to spend yet more money on LEGO this year.

    When you've done so, let us know what you think about it in the comments.

     

     


    34 comments, latest one posted 6 months ago. (Commenting has ended on this article)
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Comments

Posted by Goldmatt in United States, 09 Nov 2012 10:37

Love the goblin kings club!!!

Posted by zahroul in Indonesia, 09 Nov 2012 10:39

wow, its so gorgeaus!!

Posted by Brickcreator in United States, 09 Nov 2012 10:48

Looks great! Too bad gandalf wasn't different though, I would have liked a new one...

Posted by danielwolstenholme in United Kingdom, 09 Nov 2012 10:48

Thanks Huw for a great review, I'm hoping that my children add this to their Xmas list asap. I'm not terribly sure that reading the book would offer much insight as this appears to be a scene extended for the film rather than being terribly faithful, although my memory might be failing me.

I agree that the higgledy piggledy look has been carried off expertly and the 'playability' would seem to have been high on the agenda. The casually scattered bones and skulls really add to the atmosphere.

I can sense this will sit perfectly alongside some of the LoTR sets, and can definitely imagine the goblins being drafted into to scale the walls of Helms Deep!!

Posted by Firox 5000 in United Kingdom, 09 Nov 2012 10:57

This looks like a fantastic set. I'm Definately adding this to the wish list.

Posted by matej123 in Slovenia, 09 Nov 2012 11:14

when this sets will be avalible in Europe?

Posted by vistuk in Slovakia, 09 Nov 2012 11:23

where did you buy it excelent set

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 09 Nov 2012 11:26

^^ December.

^ I was provided with a copy for review.

Posted by ppdude in United States, 09 Nov 2012 11:31

I don't know. I don't think the Goblin King looks good.

Posted by Frederick B. in Norway, 09 Nov 2012 11:38

Thanks for the great review, The goblin king looks somewhat odd, but he is extremely acuratehttp://starseeker.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/hobbit-goblin-king-sept-27-150x150.jpg
Could you take some pictures for the minifigure gallery?

Posted by legokenny in United States, 09 Nov 2012 11:42

Great review Huw! The set looks great! I want to get it and somehow combine it with my Trolls' Mountain Fortress (7079).

Posted by shaase in Canada, 09 Nov 2012 11:42

Better review of the set than the Lego video by the developer. I definitely like the wargs...to bad their aren't more than two.

Posted by Sammael in Yugoslavia, 09 Nov 2012 12:03

The set is one of my favorites from the December Hobbit lineup, second only to Unexpected Gathering.

Posted by Trandoshan in Canada, 09 Nov 2012 12:16

Nice review, Huh.

I am just slightly curious about the distinction between "drarfs" and dwarves, though.

:p

Posted by Missing Brick in United Kingdom, 09 Nov 2012 13:29

I count 3 BURPs ( Big ugly rock pieces ). 4 if you include the goblin king.
How much is this set again? Anyway, think I'll pass on this one. Unexpected party will do for me thx.

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 09 Nov 2012 13:51

^ 3 Small URPs and 1 BURP

^^ They are their dyslexic cousins :-)

Posted by Missing Brick in United Kingdom, 09 Nov 2012 14:17

Woah, are you telling me it has a big 6082 BURP in addition to the 3 smaller 47847 URPs? That's a shame because I'm always on the lookout for DBG slopes for my Helms Deep mountain. BURPs are difficult to use and they take alot of room to store.

Posted by captaincc in United States, 09 Nov 2012 14:26

This set looks great. They really need to hurry up and come out before my wife finishes the Christmas shopping. She likes to get the shopping done early and I can only hold her off for so long!

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 09 Nov 2012 14:28

^^ Yes, there's a peaked BURP behind the throne.

Posted by CapnRex101 in United Kingdom, 09 Nov 2012 15:17

This looks like a great play-set and is not bad for display either by the looks of it. I love the new format of homepage reviews as well.

Posted by Haltiamieli in Finland, 09 Nov 2012 15:18

I'm among the predicted people who are "bothered" by the goblin faces showing in the back of their heads under the head piece. I understand it with the cases like Ori when the hair piece is an old one, but I just find no excuse with the goblins when the head piece is brand new and used nowhere else. It could have been designed a bit differently, and the whole problem could have been averted. Thus, it's just unfortunately sloppy design.

Posted by UtarEmpire in United States, 09 Nov 2012 15:24

Any word of a US release date? Because it's time to go broke all over again.
I'm loving this LOTR sets. I hope we get at least a couple of waves out of them.
Great review as well - very detailed and informative.

Posted by mshiels in Canada, 09 Nov 2012 15:42

December 1st is the official release date as far as I know

Posted by goldfish in United Kingdom, 09 Nov 2012 16:03

great early review! another reason why this is easily the best lego site on the net!

The scene itself is really a bit none descript to be honest, and is something any reasonable builder could knock up quickly, but the figures are fantastic, so its a mixed bag in some ways for me, but I will certainly purchase it for the figs.

Posted by spacefan6901 in United States, 09 Nov 2012 17:02

I was hoping that they would make all 13 of the dwarves from the story, and I see 12 plus Thorin in the minifig images at the end.

It is too hard to read the names to tell if they are all different though.

Been at least 10 years since I've read the book, so honestly don't remember this part of the story. Time to dig my copy back out I guess.

So far I've passed on any of the LotR stuff as I prefer a real castle theme, but I do like the goblin minifigs shown in this set.

Is it possible to rearrange the different sections into other configurations that don't look too bad? (Since they are not fixed together.)

Posted by perfectlydark in Australia, 09 Nov 2012 17:26

WOW. That looks far better than I assumed after seeing those tiny pics a few weeks back. Nice review!

Posted by swoopy in United States, 09 Nov 2012 18:33

It looks like a nice set, but the Ori minifigure is just awful.

Posted by gunslinger69 in United States, 10 Nov 2012 10:33

Sets are in fred meyer at 20% off in olympia wa right now.

Posted by Thecoolestgriffin in United States, 10 Nov 2012 10:40

Whoa, how much money was it??????

Posted by Legozrool in United States, 10 Nov 2012 16:57

^as huw said he got a copy to review

Posted by captaincc in United States, 10 Nov 2012 19:21

I got my Holiday catalog in the mail today. It lists the release date in the US as November 27th and the price of this set as $99.99.

Posted by Isabella and Lego Liker in United States, 10 Nov 2012 20:23

@Last comment: Same here.

Prices and pieces for the sets:

79003: 652 piieces, $69.99

79004: 334 pieces, $39.99

79002: 400 pieces, $49.99

79010: 841 pieces, $99.99

79001: 298 pieces, $29.99

79000: 105 pieces, $9.99

Value grade: B+ (very good)

Posted by futilerage in United States, 10 Nov 2012 21:45

Picked up warg attack at Tumwater Fred Meyers for forty bucks today. They are out in the wild now.

Posted by RikTheVeggie in Canada, 10 Nov 2012 23:30

I'm with Haltiamieli, LEGO is a premium brand where supposedly "only the best is good enough". To me, headpieces that don't cover back head printing falls short of this and shows a problem with either design or QA.

Having said that, as a huge fan of the LOTR books none of the sets so far have convinced me to buy them. Maybe Bag End when it comes out.

Commenting has ended on this article.