Review: 21126 The Wither
Posted by JudgeChuck,
Firstly, I would like to thank Huw for giving me the opportunity to review this new LEGO Minecraft set for you all. I hope you enjoy it.
“New Boss: The Wither. Better Craft a diaper, pal.” - The Pretty Scary Update Promo Poster
21126 The Wither is similar to the previously reviewed 21123 The Iron Golem in that it acts as a showcase for one of the larger mobs within Minecraft, in this case the second of the boss creatures, The Wither, appropriately enough. We already have 21117 The Ender Dragon so, until any new ones are added to the game, we now have both.
The Wither is a spawn-able mob, created by placing Soul Sand in a T-shape and then placing 3 Wither Skeleton skulls on top of the three upper blocks. Amusingly, the manual has a picture of Steve building The Wither figure itself, which is quite impossible! In-game, The Wither is a formidable foe, immune to fire and shooting damaging Wither skulls.
The set is priced at £29.99 or $39.99 and contains 318 pieces.
Minifigures
Similar to The Iron Golem, The Wither itself is brick-built, although in a rather more simple way, but the end result is a very good representation of the in-game boss mob, with two smaller heads on either side of a larger plate- and tile-built main head.
The body and ribcage are built from 1xX plates and tiles with some articulation at the base and neck. The most interesting parts on this model are the new prints on the two small heads and also the print on the 2x2 Black tile, to represent the middle, larger head. Again, the prints are simple, but a good representation of the in-game textures. We also get two of the new jumper-neck pieces (6133394) in Black.
Finally, the whole model is mounted on two 2x6 Bright Orange plates joined together and made to “float” on four 2x2 Bright Red round slide shoes.
Steve, of course, appears in most LEGO Minecraft sets and we see him here armed with a bow and wearing iron armour and helmet. There is little more to discuss here!
Of rather more interest is the inclusion of two new Wither Skeletons, which comprise new prints on the standard LEGO Minecraft head, torso and arms in Black and, finally, a new extra-long, leg piece, also in Black.
The prints on the head are simplistic, but are an extremely accurate rendition of the in-game texture, so this is very welcome.
The new leg is very similar to the standard skeleton leg, but is twice the height, when connected. This, interestingly enough, makes the Wither Skeleton look to be more in real-life-proportion than any standard LEGO minifig!
Finally, both skeletons are armed with a stone sword of the same model as in previous sets but, for the first time, comes in Dark Stone Grey.
Elements
Moving on to the Minecraft elements contained within the set, we get two blocks of TNT, one of Nether Quartz ore, a Redstone torch, two Redstone dust, a single flame block, for setting your Netherrack eternally burning, two brown mushrooms and three Nether Wart in various stages of growth.
There is nothing new here, apart from the in-set placement of Redstone dust, but it is a nice selection for a small-ish set.
The Completed Model
The completed main model is a representation of a small section of a Nether Fortress, abutting a large expanse of lava, with three lava flows, all of which contain some Trans-Bright Orange pieces, as is usual. There are small areas of Netherrack, Gravel and also of Soul Sand, in that lovely Dark Brown colour. Happily, and I think no coincidence, you do get four blocks of Soul Sand, which is exactly enough to build The Wither, with the addition of three Wither Skeleton skulls, so it is a real shame that we do not get a 2x6 Dark Brown plate to join them together and only two skulls, necessitating have to make-do using one of The Wither’s own skulls, which have a different print, to complete the spawning structure.
All of the models in the second and third waves come complete with hidden action features and this set is no different. The whole Nether Fortress structure is hinged in two sections, held in place by a very long Technic bar assembly, disguised as a block of Gravel. Pulling this bar out allows the two sections of the fortress to collapse backwards, propped up by two Technic 2M dampers.
The second model is a representation of a player-built Redstone mechanism, built on a Gravel and Stone Brick structure. Again, Technic elements are used to form the play feature, which allows Steve to place TNT on a launch pad and fire it towards the Nether Fortress. In-game, this would be powered by Redstone and is represented well, with a Redstone torch and two elements of Redstone dust placed on the ground. The mechanism itself is a Minecraft Dispenser, represented by a Medium Stone Grey Brick 1x2 With Cross Hole, 1x2 brick and a 2x2 jumper. There are two others buried within the structure, which may represent other Dispensers or Droppers, as part of the overall mechanism.
I was a little disappointed by the TNT thrower’s action, as even a forceful hit on the Technic beam failed to fire the TNT more than a few inches across the table, let alone to cause the Nether Fortress to collapse. I rebuilt it to make sure that I hadn’t made any basic mistakes, but this made no difference.
Overall
Before I start my round-up and opinion, I will state that I am a big fan of the LEGO Minecraft theme, so you should bear that in mind when reading this. Having said that, I have been as objective as possible during my evaluation and hopefully this will give you a fair overview of the set.
I will also admit up-front that, of all the third wave LEGO Minecraft sets, this was the one that I was least excited about, having seen the first pictures released. Having now had a chance to build and examine the model, my opinion has changed slightly, but still with some caveats.
The Wither and Wither Skeletons are excellent additions to the ranks of mobs available and all look superb. I like the addition of the blocks of Soul Sand, so that you can (almost) build The Wither on-set, but it is a shame that the 2x6 plate and additional Wither Skeleton skull are not included. The selection of other elements is good as well.
The small section of Nether Fortress is well-built and matches well with 21122: The Nether Fortress and, given the amount of lava present in-game in The Nether, the large Bright Orange 16x16 plate is a welcome addition, as well as the number of Bright Orange bricks and slopes.
The play features are, in my opinion, a bit of a mixed bag. I love the idea of the destructible Nether Fortress section but, in practice, it doesn’t work very well because the action of the TNT thrower is disappointing. I also think that a few too many pieces were used to make the thrower, which could have been better used to make the main structure a little bigger.
My overall opinion is that this is a nice set with some flaws. I would definitely advise those people who are not looking to have a complete collection, or those who do not already have 21122: The Nether Fortress, to look at the other 2016 LEGO Minecraft sets. For those that do already own 21122, this does make for a very nice addition, expanding the original set and adding new mobs and play features.
For non-Minecraft fans, there are some nice new elements, such as the 1x2 jumper / minifig neck in Black, the new, longer skeleton legs in Black, the 16x16 plate in Bright Orange is in a new colour for the part and there are a good number and range of bricks in New Dark Red and a few in Dark Brown as well.
Thanks to LEGO for providing this set for review. I know it's obvious but I'm obliged to tell you that this review is an expression of my views and opinions and not those of the LEGO Group or anyone else.
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17 comments on this article
That new skeleton leg is interesting. I wonder, if you have the parts could you compare a skeleton built with these legs and a minifigure built with the longer legs used for Woody in Toy Story? It'd be interesting if the heights matched up!
I don't even think this goes that well with the Nether Fortress given it's a completely random, broken chunk, and can't be linked to the existing fortress, and it doesn't actually look that great if you put it next to it. I find this whole set to be pretty inaccurate as well. I've tried using a TNT cannon like that to similar effect. It doesn't do much damage and The Wither recharges by the time you get to reload it, and it's far more effective to use a diamond sword or an enchanted arrow. But willingly doing the battle on Lava? Forget it, that's the equivalent of suicide. The other use of knocking down he fortress is also quite useless as it's both unconvincing that the whole structure would stay together after exploding, and impractical because the resources would just burn.
Oh yeah, and it's also $40. For a tiny piece of terrain. It might just be the excellent value of other sets in the line, but I find it to bee far too pricey for what's essentially a game of jenga.
PS. I found it really funny that you put the Wither's head upside down :)P
Is the head of the middle Wither upside down? Also, are the players in these LEGO Minecraft sets new to the game!? Fighting one of these without full armor, even if it's not enchanted, is insane!
Firstly, I am sorry for putting the head on upside down! I know that I put it on correctly originally, as my first round of pictures have it on the right way up, but I dropped it and must have put it back together wrong. Doh!
@Lyichir, no, I am afraid that I do not have any Toy Story figs to compare with, but they're probably fairly close in size.
@LegoPegasister2015, it does connect fairly well but, unfortunately, none of my pics of both sets together came out well, due to limitations in my photography setup. If you have a look here, I have uploaded some snaps:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/29512321 @N05/albums/72157665218639581
Apologies for the quality... Poor Huw had to put up with multiple attempts by me to get some good enough pictures for the review, which he's tidied up nicely with some post-processing. These ones are very rough test snaps only.
I don't like this set... it doesn't work well with the Nether Fortress, the hidden action features don't work well, and it's kind of a disjointed mess of a model. Plus it's $40, which nobody in their right mind would pay for this.
I still say only the Jungle Treehouse is any good... prove me wrong, Brickset review team!
The wither's main head is upside down....
I can't speak to the Minecraft aspect, but I am very interested in those long skeleton legs!
@Clone, no, this set probably won't appeal to non-LEGO Minecraft fans, unless they're after parts. Yes, it's bit costly, but you do get a 16x16 orange baseplate, 3 minifigs, The Wither itself, plus a nice amount of bricks in New Dark Red and Bright Orange.
This set obviously isn't for you... ;-)
ummm it's ok I guess I might just get the wither and the wither skeletons because the rest kind of stinks make the nether fortress more explodable like in the mine set not just fall over. I saw jangbricks review of the set and it seemed for him the tnt launcher worked ok but definitely my least fave of wave 3.
@insanegameing101 Yes, it's my least favourite of the wave as well, but IMHO it's up against some pretty good sets in TJTH, TEP and TIG... Even if TJTH is woefully overpriced in the UK... ;-)
Does anyone notice that in the official picture the wither skeleton on the wall has GREY legs? Also, 21123 is available in a Towson Barnes & Noble, I saw it on the way out.
So far only the jungle tree house looks even halfway like an attractive model, this would be rubbish at half the price - it's terrible!
Lego must be laughing all the way to the bank with this theme. Zero design work to be done. Pile a load of normal bricks in a box and add a huge mark up. Sit back and collect the cash. Surely everyone on this site can make anything they want within the Minecraft universe with the bricks they already have.
I love how everyone complains about the terrain being just a bunch of basic blocks... when that is exactly what the world of Minecraft looks like...
^^^Agreed
Why are the JANGBRiCKS video reviews never provided? I thought they were to be embedded in each set review.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4AeQWkKrtg