Review: 11373 The Lord of the Rings: Sauron's Helmet
Posted by CapnRex101,
Sauron's imposing visage is certainly iconic and the newly-revealed 11373 The Lord of the Rings: Sauron's Helmet looks brilliant. Its characteristic jagged edges and huge spikes correspond with the source material, alongside plenty of subtler details.
Furthermore, the Sauron minifigure featured in 10333 The Lord of the Rings: Barad-dûr in 2024 reappears here. This opportunity to acquire the character in a cheaper set is overdue and leaves little about the set to dislike!
Summary
11373 The Lord of the Rings: Sauron's Helmet, 538 pieces.
£64.99 / $69.99 / €74.99 | 12.1p / 13.0c / 13.9c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
Sauron's Helmet is a worthy purchase, especially for those without the Sauron minifigure
- Accurate shaping and details
- Surprising presence on display
- Outstanding Sauron minifigure
- Back is a bit underwhelming
- Overpriced in the Eurozone
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Minifigure
Sauron was completely missing from the initial LEGO The Lord of the Rings range, eventually making his debut in the expensive 10333 The Lord of the Rings: Barad-dûr. Thankfully, exactly the same minifigure is now available here as well and Sauron's armour looks spectacular, even at this scale. The decoration on the torso and legs is excellent, while the shoulder armour and helmet are also highly detailed.
These are moulded as a single piece, which is a shame in some ways because it prevents the head from turning, though the helmet and shoulder armour are closely integrated onscreen, so this was probably a good choice. The spikes are perfectly accurate to the movies and I love the villain's fiery eyes visible beneath his helmet.
The exact nature of Sauron's appearance is deliberately ill-defined, but this flaming head looks excellent to me, evoking the famous Eye of Sauron. In addition, this minifigure is equipped with the One Ring, which is chrome gold and catches the eye, as usual.
Reference
Source - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, New Line Cinema
The Completed Model
I think Sauron's helmet is well-suited to a LEGO model, without too many rounded sections and featuring complex surface detail. This helmet looks very slim, but its proportions are accurate to the opening sequence in The Fellowship of the Ring, topped with giant spikes and capturing the menace of Sauron's appearance in the film.
Unsurprisingly, this model is considerably taller than its precursors from the Helmet Collection, although some are wider, such as 75429 AT-AT Driver Helmet. Including its spikes and display base, the whole model measures 33cm in height, so it has fantastic presence on display.
The base is constructed similarly to other Helmet Collection sets, comprising black slopes and featuring a printed nameplate on the front. However, this base includes a space for the Sauron minifigure too. It looks like something of an afterthought attached beside the helmet, but it does the job.
Despite its elaborate appearance, Sauron's helmet is quite simple in design. Impressive use of layered plates, tiles and curved slopes creates a rich texture though, particularly on the cheeks, where 2x2 pagoda roof elements look superb. Those small flared details along the edges would once have been very difficult to recreate, but the roof parts work perfectly.
The shape of the eyes is also accurate, although I am more impressed with the nostrils. These slits are an important feature of the onscreen helmet and the series of 1x1 double slopes down the middle, combined with wedge plates on either side, creates an ideal shape. Also, this mix of studs and tiles is surprisingly effective, resembling decorative patterns on the metal.
The cheek and eye panels are separate pieces on each side, attached at different angles, but overlapping enough to disguise any seams. Though nowhere near as complex as helmets like 75429 AT-AT Driver Helmet, there is no need for greater complexity on this occasion.
In contrast to the front of the helmet or the spikes around the edge, the top is relatively smooth. Curved slopes form a nice rounded shape, with wheel arch elements created for 10357 Shelby Cobra 427 S/C adding ridges towards the back. Once again, the shape looks superb, taking full advantage of parts developed quite recently.
The view from behind is weaker, though still reasonably faithful to the source material. I like the 2x2 pagoda roof elements forming an indentation at the very back, but the use of curved tiles is less effective, trying to create more ridges. I see no real alternatives, however, as this is the one area of the helmet where compound curves are concentrated.
Overall
Although the likes of 10316 The Lord of the Rings: Rivendell and 10333 The Lord of the Rings: Barad-dûr are widely acclaimed, there is still obvious interest in more affordable sets based on Tolkien's works. 11373 The Lord of the Rings: Sauron's Helmet takes a step in that direction, so the fantastic Sauron minifigure is now more readily available.
However, the actual helmet should not be overlooked. It looks impressive from the front, as the shape and surface texture are very accurate to the movie. I am fairly satisfied with the prices of £64.99 or $69.99 in the UK and US, especially with the minifigure included, but the €74.99 price in the Eurozone is strangely expensive by comparison, so that is a shame.
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44 comments on this article
I'd not really call this accurately shaped when you can see from the movie still you've posted, and even the Minifigure helm, that the eye spikes are possitioned above the eyes, rather then to the sides of them. Also the ear spikes are a little too tall in comparrision to the forehead spike.
edit: Think if the eye spikes were brought in by a stud, and if the ear spikes were somewhere about 2-4 studs shorter it'd be more accurate and in proportion.
Doesn't €74.99 convert to around £64.99? So the same as UK? That said, would be far happier with the $70/£50ish for a 500-part display piece.
@classicstylecastle said:
"Doesn't €74.99 convert to around £64.99? So the same as UK? That said, would be far happier with the $70/£50ish for a 500-part display piece."
At current conversion rate of 1.15 euros to the £pound, its pretty actually 75.03, but close enough that its the same price.
The shaping is impressive, but it's just so very, very grey. Not much you can do about that, I suppose, as the helmet in the movie is a monochrome color. Just makes for a bit of a drab model.
i love it, looks great, a good recreation and it'll look great on display
@classicstylecastle said:
"Doesn't €74.99 convert to around £64.99? So the same as UK? That said, would be far happier with the $70/£50ish for a 500-part display piece."
Yes, but I think you have to treat international LEGO prices according to the usual relationship between them. How you feel about prices is going to reflect your own experiences, so even though the conversion means this set costs basically the same in the UK and the Eurozone, the impression of value has to relate to other sets in the same currency.
If you think about prices only in conversion terms, you have to start debating whether LEGO sets ever represent fair value in countries where they are consistently more expensive than wherever in the world they are cheapest.
Given that LEGO sets are designed to the American price, with others determined later, you would expect this set to cost roughly €69.99, or maybe even €64.99.
I just want the minifig. I don't like the helmet lego sets. They are not my thing.
Pretty expensive, but the Sauron figure’s availability is superb
I wouldn't mind seeing more LotR helmet sets in the future. Gimli or Théoden would both be pretty cool, eye-catching models. More colorful than this one, too.
Technically, Sauron is in 79014 in his guise of the Necromancer.
Feels like this set largely exists as an excuse to sell the minifig.
I might be the extreme minority here but as someone who uses and buys a ton of dark grey parts this is a dream parts pack, and the minifig inclusion means I can sell the little guy to help bring down the cost.
Definitely the best helmet Lego has put out to date. They should make more helmets of historical New Zealand figures, like the Witch King of Wellington.
Not so much overpriced in the Eurozone, as very cheap in the US.
£65 equates to €75 and $90 at current exchange rates.
If $70 is the base then it should be £51 and €58. For a European company it's sad to see them ripping off customers in Europe so blatantly.
I really don't see the problem with excellent and desirable minifigures being exclusive to expensive sets. Surely that is a significant incentive to buy the larger sets.
@Doctor_Hugh said:
"I really don't see the problem with excellent and desirable minifigures being exclusive to expensive sets. Surely that is a significant incentive to buy the larger sets."
Depends if you think critical Minifigures should be out of reach of the average consumer. Imagine if the Star Wars line only included Palpatine in the Death Slice and nowhere else.
I guess Lego has to carefully judge what's in demand versus what the standard customer will get. When TLG included Harley Quinn in the very expensive Apocalypseburg set, I was okay-ish with it since she had a very brief cameo in TLM2 and nothing more. Sauron restricted to pricey sets seems a bit much to me even if his screen time is short.
(Armored Sauron was supposed to be in the final battle of ROTK but was cut. But you can find the unused footage online.)
Sauron's Y-Wing Microfighter
@darthmar said:
"I just want the minifig. I don't like the helmet lego sets. They are not my thing."
On Bricklink the Minifig starts at around $60-65 CAD abd this set costs $90 CAD. I'm going to go out on a limb and say the price of this Minifig is now going to drop in price and we'll see an influx of Helmets without minifig available on Bricklink.
@SolidState said:
"I might be the extreme minority here but as someone who uses and buys a ton of dark grey parts this is a dream parts pack, and the minifig inclusion means I can sell the little guy to help bring down the cost."
Tell us you are Batman without telling us you’re Batman.
It does look good, but the big spikes are too tall and the smaller ones slightly short. It should be an easy fix.
@WokePope said:
"Feels like this set largely exists as an excuse to sell the minifig."
Lego should wade into the whole balrog size debate and make a balrog head with minifig.
I actually feel like they could make a pretty sweet balrog head, and I wouldn't mind a minifig of it just for fun.
I was never very interested in helmet collecting and only bought the Captain Rex P2 helmet (my username can give the reason for that lol) but as a die hard LotR fan I want this set regardless of minifigure inclusion. The Sauron minifigure only makes me feel better about spending $70 for this.
Love this. And you get a figure that's going on the market for over $60usd. Sometimes to $100usd.
Would like to see a steeper angle above the eyes though.
I know, I know, the price would go up but here would've been a great opportunity to have almost all of this done in titanium metallic! Recolors of many parts here in titanium metallic would be a treasure trove parts pack. One can dream.
For a helmet with a height of just about 20 studs (appendanges and socket omitted) that's a hefty demand of money donation.
Oh, look, another Captain America minifig.
Cool as the flaming face looks, I really kinda wish they’d figured out a way to base the print on the the Matryoshka Sauron effect from the Hobbit films, where the eye looked slitted like a cat’s, but when it zoomed in the slitted iris became the shape of a man. As long as part of the print lines up well with the eyeholes on the helmet, the rest of the design can be whatever the heck they want.
@dimc:
Oh, I would love a Balrog minifig. I already throw the Stay-Puft minifigs on club layouts, alongside a model the size of the scaled-up Santa that another member assembled, and a pile of white trophy figs that I’ve picked up over the years, so we can have Stay-Pufts in three different scales. Oh, and while they’re at it, there was one LSW video game for either GBA or DS where you could get a Rancor minifig as a playable character, so I want that in plastic form as well.
@Doctor_Hugh said:
"I really don't see the problem with excellent and desirable minifigures being exclusive to expensive sets. Surely that is a significant incentive to buy the larger sets."
I don’t think the review said it was a problem as such, just that it’s nice that a minifig a lot of people who can’t necessarily afford a very big expensive set however much they might want to would very much like is more widely available. Which it is.
I don’t personally think much of people who think stuff should be exclusive just to be exclusive, though. I’ve always been fine with sharing my toys.
@501stLegionClankerFighter said:
"Sauron's Y-Wing Microfighter"
Cloud City Boba Fett Battle Pack
Lol imagine if they remake CC Boba but as a smart fig
The helmet series is literally the only way Lego would ever go near the 40k license, or GW would allow.
@StudMuffin24 said:
" @501stLegionClankerFighter said:
"Sauron's Y-Wing Microfighter"
Cloud City Boba Fett Battle Pack
Lol imagine if they remake CC Boba but as a smart fig"
I would pay to watch every SW fans / LEGO investors head explode and the internet go into meltdown if those terrible ideas came to pass. But since you both suggested these first, you'd probably have to each go into witness protection, change your name, and undergo plastic surgery for your own safety - Star Wars fans can be RABID if provoked.
@CapnRex101 said:
" @classicstylecastle said:
"Doesn't €74.99 convert to around £64.99? So the same as UK? That said, would be far happier with the $70/£50ish for a 500-part display piece."
Yes, but I think you have to treat international LEGO prices according to the usual relationship between them. How you feel about prices is going to reflect your own experiences, so even though the conversion means this set costs basically the same in the UK and the Eurozone, the impression of value has to relate to other sets in the same currency.
If you think about prices only in conversion terms, you have to start debating whether LEGO sets ever represent fair value in countries where they are consistently more expensive than wherever in the world they are cheapest.
Given that LEGO sets are designed to the American price, with others determined later, you would expect this set to cost roughly €69.99, or maybe even €64.99."
This set will bring the figure into the $15-$25 range within a couple of month
@Hiratha said:
" @Doctor_Hugh said:
"I really don't see the problem with excellent and desirable minifigures being exclusive to expensive sets. Surely that is a significant incentive to buy the larger sets."
I don’t think the review said it was a problem as such, just that it’s nice that a minifig a lot of people who can’t necessarily afford a very big expensive set however much they might want to would very much like is more widely available. Which it is.
I don’t personally think much of people who think stuff should be exclusive just to be exclusive, though. I’ve always been fine with sharing my toys."
I don't believe the review said that either. My comment was a response to other comments, not the review. I tire of the level of entitlement that the modern generation seems to have. Wanting something does not mean one is automatically able to have it. Personally I don't care about minifigures so I'm indifferent as to whether it's in a £10 set or a £500 set, but the complaints about exclusivity are laughable.
For customers from Slovenia and perhaps some other European countries, the price rises to €77.99.
I got into Lego about 10 years ago thanks to my partner, but I missed the first wave of Lord of the Rings sets. At BrickCon Ireland last year, I saw a small set from that wave selling for over €80—the seller proudly told me it originally cost around €10 when it was released. With that in mind, I don’t really mind the prices of the current wave. Some sets are more successful than others (the Shire was nice but a bit underwhelming), but Sauron’s helmet looks fantastic, and I’m excited for Minas Tirith.
@Murdoch17 said:
" @StudMuffin24 said:
" @501stLegionClankerFighter said:
"Sauron's Y-Wing Microfighter"
Cloud City Boba Fett Battle Pack
Lol imagine if they remake CC Boba but as a smart fig"
I would pay to watch every SW fans / LEGO investors head explode and the internet go into meltdown if those terrible ideas came to pass. But since you both suggested these first, you'd probably have to each go into witness protection, change your name, and undergo plastic surgery for your own safety - Star Wars fans can be RABID if provoked."
The scalpers would DIE...i will now move to Eastern Europe under the name James Pilkington and begin a new life in which I torment Funko investors
@JurgenBrickheadz said:
"I got into Lego about 10 years ago thanks to my partner, but I missed the first wave of Lord of the Rings sets. At BrickCon Ireland last year, I saw a small set from that wave selling for over €80—the seller proudly told me it originally cost around €10 when it was released. With that in mind, I don’t really mind the prices of the current wave. Some sets are more successful than others (the Shire was nice but a bit underwhelming), but Sauron’s helmet looks fantastic, and I’m excited for Minas Tirith."
The Wizard Battle was £12 here, but Amazon clearanced them at £5. Loads of people have bought them at £50-£75 over the past five years. There is a lot of demand.
@Doctor_Hugh said:
" @Hiratha said:
" @Doctor_Hugh said:
"I really don't see the problem with excellent and desirable minifigures being exclusive to expensive sets. Surely that is a significant incentive to buy the larger sets."
I don’t think the review said it was a problem as such, just that it’s nice that a minifig a lot of people who can’t necessarily afford a very big expensive set however much they might want to would very much like is more widely available. Which it is.
I don’t personally think much of people who think stuff should be exclusive just to be exclusive, though. I’ve always been fine with sharing my toys."
I don't believe the review said that either. My comment was a response to other comments, not the review. I tire of the level of entitlement that the modern generation seems to have. Wanting something does not mean one is automatically able to have it. Personally I don't care about minifigures so I'm indifferent as to whether it's in a £10 set or a £500 set, but the complaints about exclusivity are laughable."
I think it’s interesting that you describe a minifigure being available to more people and those people being happy about it as entitlement but not those who expect that something they have shouldn’t be accessible to anyone with less money and complain when it’s made more accessible. Do they not feel entitled to an exclusive?
Never mind the fascinating assumptions with regards to age, which as far as I can tell aren’t supported by anything anyone has said in the review or the comments. Just… a claim that if you perceive someone as entitled they must be part of the “modern generation”. Specific generation unspecified.
@Murdoch17 said:
" @StudMuffin24 said:
" @501stLegionClankerFighter said:
"Sauron's Y-Wing Microfighter"
Cloud City Boba Fett Battle Pack
Lol imagine if they remake CC Boba but as a smart fig"
...you'd probably have to each go into witness protection, change your name, and undergo plastic surgery for your own safety.. "
Turning CC Boba into a smart fig would require plastic surgery itself. :o)
@CCC said:
" @JurgenBrickheadz said:
"I got into Lego about 10 years ago thanks to my partner, but I missed the first wave of Lord of the Rings sets. At BrickCon Ireland last year, I saw a small set from that wave selling for over €80—the seller proudly told me it originally cost around €10 when it was released. With that in mind, I don’t really mind the prices of the current wave. Some sets are more successful than others (the Shire was nice but a bit underwhelming), but Sauron’s helmet looks fantastic, and I’m excited for Minas Tirith."
The Wizard Battle was £12 here, but Amazon clearanced them at £5. Loads of people have bought them at £50-£75 over the past five years. There is a lot of demand."
I bought a sealed 79005 The Wizard Battle over twice the original retail price a few years ago. But it was worth it.
@Doctor_Hugh said:
"Not so much overpriced in the Eurozone, as very cheap in the US.
£65 equates to €75 and $90 at current exchange rates.
If $70 is the base then it should be £51 and €58. For a European company it's sad to see them ripping off customers in Europe so blatantly."
You're right that it's more expensive in Europe but not by as much as you think. European prices include consumption tax (VAT) but US prices don't (Sales Tax). When you include respective consumption taxes, the differences narrow.
@Hiratha said: "Just… a claim that if you perceive someone as entitled they must be part of the “modern generation”. Specific generation unspecified"
I have an impression the use of the word "entitled" has followed a fad-like pattern over the years, it seemingly became popular with the backlash to the backlash to the Mass Effect 3 ending (the one where all your agonising choices and emotional investment over several years essentially boiled down to the color of the end of the world).
Before that you barely heard it used but afterwards you had this unpleasant breed of aggressive apologists and meta-complainers crawling out of the woodwork everywhere - easily recognised by their use of phrases like "entitled whiners smacks of privilege". Thankfully it seems to be on its way out, I feel I've heard it far less the last years - good riddance.
@Zander said:
" @Doctor_Hugh said:
"Not so much overpriced in the Eurozone, as very cheap in the US.
£65 equates to €75 and $90 at current exchange rates.
If $70 is the base then it should be £51 and €58. For a European company it's sad to see them ripping off customers in Europe so blatantly."
You're right that it's more expensive in Europe but not by as much as you think. European prices include consumption tax (VAT) but US prices don't (Sales Tax). When you include respective consumption taxes, the differences narrow. "
But this does include the tariffs the US is now charging its citizens, similar to VAT. Just not state taxes.
Might turn this helmet into a spaceship so that Sauron can finally have a proper shuttle and take on Benny.
@Doctor_Hugh said:
"Not so much overpriced in the Eurozone, as very cheap in the US.
£65 equates to €75 and $90 at current exchange rates.
If $70 is the base then it should be £51 and €58. For a European company it's sad to see them ripping off customers in Europe so blatantly."
Don forget that US prices are always pre tax, which varies depending on the state.
@axeleng
I sometimes think the world would be a better place if people owned the occasional pettiness of their irritations instead of trying to turn them into a grand statement about generational failings etc. Sometimes it just ain’t that deep.