@StyleCounselor said:
"The Golden Age when Lego was exciting. Of course, the brown and dark red turned out to be horrible.

But the sets! Lord of the Rings, Hobbit, Star Wars, Lone Ranger, Galaxy Squad, Batman, Castle... plus only a couple years off the Pirates of the Caribbean and the best Harry Potter sets. That's how I got seriously sucked back into Lego.

Even my favorite Chima set was from that year. 70006 ."
@Nabii excellence in that one.

Wow this set looks like it could have been made this year, it's that good.

@yellowcastle said:
" @StyleCounselor said:
"The Golden Age when Lego was exciting. Of course, the brown and dark red turned out to be horrible.

But the sets! Lord of the Rings, Hobbit, Star Wars, Lone Ranger, Galaxy Squad, Batman, Castle... plus only a couple years off the Pirates of the Caribbean and the best Harry Potter sets. That's how I got seriously sucked back into Lego.

Even my favorite Chima set was from that year. 70006 ."
@Nabii excellence in that one.
"

He also did 70008 that year which also happens to be my second favorite Chima set. I only own two. ;)

It’s too bad we didn’t get another Lake-town or Dale set. Would have been nice to get Alfrid, Bard’s daughters, and maybe a few more citizens. Girion would have been a fun addition as well.

@MeisterDad said:
"Is that ring ever going to get to Mordor? LEGO is still making it."

Time travel.

Plan to make an off-brand of the BOFA Smaug battle (which is set in Laketown) as a LEGO Fortnite gamemode in the style of the LEGO Hobbit game. Might do the whole film if it does well enough. Wish me luck… or don’t.

I like how the boat seemed to be based on 7016 Viking Boat. And we got another Western barrel! :)

Overall a fun set... if it hadn't been so dingy compared to the price at the time. Which of course is astronomical now as it's both a 'castle' set and a Tolkien set :(

@StyleCounselor said:
"The Golden Age when Lego was exciting. Of course, the brown and dark red turned out to be horrible.

But the sets! Lord of the Rings, Hobbit, Star Wars, Lone Ranger, Galaxy Squad, Batman, Castle... plus only a couple years off the Pirates of the Caribbean and the best Harry Potter sets. That's how I got seriously sucked back into Lego.

Even my favorite Chima set was from that year. 70006 ."
And don't forget Technic. Many awesome sets back then. 2010 to around 2017 seems to me to have been a second golden age for the theme, before everything started to go downhill and to the sorry state it is in nowadays.

The minifigures look very nice and special in this set. I couldn't care less about the side builds except for the boat. I like that boat design. I wanna build it some time in the future, when I get the necessary parts, like the boats...

@Anak said:
" @SearchlightRG said:
"It’s too bad we didn’t get another Lake-town or Dale set. Would have been nice to get Alfrid, Bard’s daughters, and maybe a few more citizens. Girion would have been a fun addition as well."

Ehm, and what's this? 79016 Attack on Lake-town"

I meant in addition to that one and this RSotD.

I thought this set was fine. A nice selection of minifigs, the boat is OK and the buildings provide a good start for a larger Master's Hall. I didn't realise it was quite so expensive at the time, although ASDA did all the later Hobbit sets at 50% off soon after release, and for £25 it seemed decent value.

I sort of wish I bought this but it seemed too expensive at the time.

@StyleCounselor said:
" @yellowcastle said:
" @StyleCounselor said:
"The Golden Age when Lego was exciting. Of course, the brown and dark red turned out to be horrible.

But the sets! Lord of the Rings, Hobbit, Star Wars, Lone Ranger, Galaxy Squad, Batman, Castle... plus only a couple years off the Pirates of the Caribbean and the best Harry Potter sets. That's how I got seriously sucked back into Lego.

Even my favorite Chima set was from that year. 70006 ."
@Nabii excellence in that one.
"

He also did 70008 that year which also happens to be my second favorite Chima set. I only own two. ;)"

In my opinion, you picked the right two to get.

I remember opening this for my birthday back in '13. As much as my hype for a Lego Hobbit birthday gift was, the set still holds up today. It's still displayed with my other LOTR/Hobbit sets :)

@SearchlightRG said:
" @Anak said:
" @SearchlightRG said:
"It’s too bad we didn’t get another Lake-town or Dale set. Would have been nice to get Alfrid, Bard’s daughters, and maybe a few more citizens. Girion would have been a fun addition as well."

Ehm, and what's this? 79016 Attack on Lake-town"

I meant in addition to that one and this RSotD."

30216? *ducks*

@Patrik78 said:
"What a neat brittle brown parts pack! :)"

If a person were to open a sealed one today, they would be left with blue plates, brown splinters, an some nice minifigs.

I've never had a single brown piece break, so the people going on and on about it being brittle makes me really nervous about my collection - while at the same time I don't really believe it (until it happens to me). Time will, possibly, tell.

@J0rgen said:
"I've never had a single brown piece break, so the people going on and on about it being brittle makes me really nervous about my collection - while at the same time I don't really believe it (until it happens to me). Time will, possibly, tell."

I never had any break either, so if and when I get my older sets with brown out of storage, I'm going to be very nervous about rebuilding them.

@J0rgen said:
"I've never had a single brown piece break, so the people going on and on about it being brittle makes me really nervous about my collection - while at the same time I don't really believe it (until it happens to me). Time will, possibly, tell."

i recently bought a sealed 79106 and the cannon base broke as i was assembling it (saw someone cut themselves with the same piece on reddit), a 1x2 log brick also cracked; rebuilt 75099 and could pretty much hear an audible crack sound with every dark red piece; found a couple of broken brown pieces randomly in my loose pieces too

@J0rgen said:
"I've never had a single brown piece break, so the people going on and on about it being brittle makes me really nervous about my collection - while at the same time I don't really believe it (until it happens to me). Time will, possibly, tell."

I’ve got about a half gallon of dark-red 1x2 plates from early rounds of LUGBulk. When I first got them, they were fine, and I built a few things with them. A few years ago, I pulled out the bag and started building something else, and about every tenth plate gave no resistance to being pressed down onto studs. One entire side of these parts was simply cleaving off from the stress.

In 2019, I was setting up for a winter display, and I have this 10” tall Christmas tree that I try to put out. It doesn’t stand well on baseplates, so I’d add four 4x4 quarter round plates in reddish-brown to represent dirt under the tree branches. When I tried placing them, they sent splinters flying.

I have a spare copy of 7598, and just for the sake of curiosity I pulled out a 6x8 reddish-brown plate to test. It snapped as easily as a graham cracker.

@BillingsBrix said:
" @Patrik78 said:
"What a neat brittle brown parts pack! :)"

If a person were to open a sealed one today, they would be left with blue plates, brown splinters, an some nice minifigs."

Take a look again at what colored parts the minifigs have. You might end up losing half of them. My Bard gave that warning resistance when I moved one of his arms for a MOC. I now have to use him in that position or he will shatter. My orcs are going the same way, and I have a dark red Kai in a similar predicament. It's unfortunate that brittle brown and dark red occured during their best licensing era.

@J0rgen said:
"I've never had a single brown piece break, so the people going on and on about it being brittle makes me really nervous about my collection - while at the same time I don't really believe it (until it happens to me). Time will, possibly, tell."

I've had a few plates from that era crack recently from freshly opened boxes. But the worst was a reddish brown horse. I didn't even move it, just picked it up and it cracked under its own weight. Luckily LEGO replaced that one.

I, too, thought I avoided the brittle plague, until I was rebuilding 70806 Castle Calvary about 2 years ago. Many reddish brown plates, and 2x2 round bricks, died that day…
Happy to own this RSOTD, especially after seeing the after-market price for this (and, frankly, every LOTR-related set…). If I hadn’t been just emerging from my own dark age, I would have scoured more discount aisles at the time…

I had this set. So many of the parts broke when disassembling it that I traded the minifigs and made my peace with no longer owning this one. Sad.

@DaLegoNerd1 said:
"I remember opening this for my birthday back in '13. As much as my hype for a Lego Hobbit birthday gift was, the set still holds up today. It's still displayed with my other LOTR/Hobbit sets :)"

Never disassemble it.

Sorry to hear of all those broken pieces, but I have a better idea of what to avoid now, so thanks. Too bad for any future kids of mine who would like to build some Middle Earth stuff, though, I guess :(

I have the sealed bags for the pirate ship ambush. I'm hesitant to build or sell it as it will probably explode no matter what I do with it. Figs should be good though at least.

What a coincidence, I took a photo of the boat and Bard minifig in this set in celebration of Luke Evans' (the actor who portrayed Bard) 45th birthday yesterday.

I think the set was one of the best of the Hobbit/LotR sets. It's a rather small set for what it is, but it's the typical Lego "playset style" so I'm fine with it. For the first time in a long time there was a boat with real thread, the rolled up sails were cool and I really liked the larger building, even if it was only because of the tiny detail of an oil lamp.

@PurpleDave said:
" @J0rgen said:
"Sorry to hear of all those broken pieces, but I have a better idea of what to avoid now, so thanks. Too bad for any future kids of mine who would like to build some Middle Earth stuff, though, I guess :("

I own pretty much everything except the three convention minifigs and the new Rivendell set, but barely built anything. Now I’m stuck knowing that, if I attempt to build any of them, I may destroy exclusive parts. So, I get to know that I own them, but never experience them. Schrödinger’s Shrapnel. "

Most of my collection from this time period remains unbuilt. Very disheartening.

@rab1234 said:
"I have the sealed bags for the pirate ship ambush. I'm hesitant to build or sell it as it will probably explode no matter what I do with it. Figs should be good though at least."

The only minifigs guaranteed not to explode are, ironically, dead.

@MeisterDad said:
"Is that ring ever going to get to Mordor? LEGO is still making it."

Our precious chrome refuses to die.

@Norikins said:
" @MeisterDad said:
"Is that ring ever going to get to Mordor? LEGO is still making it."

Our precious chrome refuses to die."

'Get rid of it! Cast it into the fire!'

@yellowcastle said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @J0rgen said:
"Sorry to hear of all those broken pieces, but I have a better idea of what to avoid now, so thanks. Too bad for any future kids of mine who would like to build some Middle Earth stuff, though, I guess :("

I own pretty much everything except the three convention minifigs and the new Rivendell set, but barely built anything. Now I’m stuck knowing that, if I attempt to build any of them, I may destroy exclusive parts. So, I get to know that I own them, but never experience them. Schrödinger’s Shrapnel. "

Most of my collection from this time period remains unbuilt. Very disheartening."

I own all the LOTR n Hobbit as well as all the dark red Galaxy Squad and Star Wars from this era. I'm an angry collector, and think Lego owes us reparations for its shody quality.

However, for those of you worrying, all is not lost. I've lot a minifig of two. Yet, most of the sets have pieces that still work (whether used or new). I would estimate that a given set would only have 3-4 pieces break. That's probably on the high side. Most of the problems are with plates that can be inexpensively replaced.

Speaking of poor quality. I just received my D&D book. Lego curled it and smashed it in a small box to ship it with that crappy trellis GWP rather than send it with the castle.

Then, I opened the book, and 4 pages had string-like stains/misprints. They can't replace it. But, at least they gave me double my points back.

Of course, I'm on track to get my yearly ban on demanding new parts from Customer Service earlier than ever. It's barely spring.

'Only What We Feel is Appropriate for Our Profit Margin is What You'll Have to Put Up With.'

@PurpleDave said:
" @J0rgen said:
"Sorry to hear of all those broken pieces, but I have a better idea of what to avoid now, so thanks. Too bad for any future kids of mine who would like to build some Middle Earth stuff, though, I guess :("

I own pretty much everything except the three convention minifigs and the new Rivendell set, but barely built anything. Now I’m stuck knowing that, if I attempt to build any of them, I may destroy exclusive parts. So, I get to know that I own them, but never experience them. Schrödinger’s Shrapnel. "

"Schrödinger’s Shrapnel" would make an excellent name for a band.