The Lonely Mountain Revealed

[Hapori Tohu]

The Hollywood Reporter has revealed The Hobbit: The Lonely Mountain, a set that will tie in to this winter's The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies coming to theaters December 17th. I can't say I'm a big fan of the Smaug figure, but the interior of Erebor looks pretty rad. The set will retail for $129.99, contains 866 pieces, and comes with five minifigures: Bilbo Baggins, Balin, Dwalin, Ori, and Gloin.

 

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[Vorahk1Panrahk2]

This really is the week that just keeps on giving!

 

I do think that Smaug could have been built in a way which gives him more articulation than what this one looks like it has, but honestly this is pretty much the build that was expected, especially since he's in a set that also includes a decent chunk of scenery. Had Smaug been a set by himself I'm sure we would have gotten something more majestic.

 

Of course it is a very small picture and perhaps there's more articulation than what you can see in the image.

 

The rest of Erebor looks pretty good- lots of gold and what I guess is sand green, which is nice. Maybe 130 is a bit much for 866 pieces, but given the pieces in it (including a light brick) I guess the price is justified. And the picture is cut off so there could be a little more on the left side.

 

As far as minifigures, I'm questioning the article where it says that the set includes Ori and Gloin. The hairpiece for the fig in the bottom right looks very much like the one for Fili (Gloin's is thicker), and the one above him looks like it has the same hair piece, which would make the figure Kili (or Thorin) and not Ori (who also has much shorter hair). But, again, it's a small picture so maybe I'm wrong here.

Edited July 24, 2014 by Vorahk1Panrahk2

[Click]

Wow, so many news stories today. I love the sand green on this set, but it would be nice to have a closer look at the details. I can't figure out if Smaug's wings are cloth or plastic.

[believe victims]

Serves me right for expecting some sort of impressive brick-built Smaug, akin to the earlier Shelob which was a masterpiece. I'm also not sure on the Metru Red as a match to his actual color in the movie, but then again the movie is very dark, making it hard to judge. I feel foolish for expecting better, but I really did. I'm also not entirely sold on the scale. I wish we had gotten a set with Smaug as the main focus instead.

 

I'm always up for more sand green, but I have to question why there's so much of it. From my recollection, Lonely Mountain wasn't particularly mossy or oxidized or any sort of thing, and was mostly just grey. Maybe they just wanted something more visually exciting?

 

edit: hold up. 130 bucks for 866 pieces? That's ludicrous. Even that Smaug's huge molded pieces cannot justify such an awful price to piece ratio, especially since it's hardly the best they could have done.

Edited July 23, 2014 by Octodad

[Vorahk1Panrahk2]

Wow, so many news stories today. I love the sand green on this set, but it would be nice to have a closer look at the details. I can't figure out if Smaug's wings are cloth or plastic.

 

I was wondering the same thing. It does look very folded in between the "fingers" (I guess) but I think it's molded plastic. Both sides seem to have the same folded pattern in the top portion at least. And if it were cloth, I don't see how it connects to the "fingers."

 

I'm always up for more sand green, but I have to question why there's so much of it. From my recollection, Lonely Mountain wasn't particularly mossy or oxidized or any sort of thing, and was mostly just grey. Maybe they just wanted something more visually exciting?

 

It's hard to tell because it's so dark, but the interior of Erebor does have a very green tinge to it in the films (it's better seen in the opening to "An Unexpected Journey"). It even says on the Weta website that Erebor is "carved into the living green stone of the Lonely Mountain's flank." So it's not just an arbitrary decision.

[believe victims]

 

 

I'm always up for more sand green, but I have to question why there's so much of it. From my recollection, Lonely Mountain wasn't particularly mossy or oxidized or any sort of thing, and was mostly just grey. Maybe they just wanted something more visually exciting?

 

It's hard to tell because it's so dark, but the interior of Erebor does have a very green tinge to it in the films (it's better seen in the opening to "An Unexpected Journey"). It even says on the Weta website that Erebor is "carved into the living green stone of the Lonely Mountain's flank." So it's not just an arbitrary decision.

 

 

Ah, okay. That explains it.

[The Swimming Beard]

Smaug is a huge disappointment. I was hoping for at least a somewhat detailed version. 

[Lenny7092]

Smaug looks awesome! And man, he's big! I like the accuracy on nim, too. Anyway, I'm not sure if Smaug's wings are made of plastic or cloth, but the design looks great. In my opinion, he's like better than a Lego Castle dragon.

[xccj]

The landscape bits look nicely designed, although it seems more aimed at the finale from DoS than something from the third movie? And I do agree that it looks like Fili and Kili are shown in the image, which is odd since they weren't actually in that scene. (Although that wouldn't be a first for Lego.) Perhaps they're just stand-ins? And Smaug... why Lego why? You proved with Ninjago that you can make decent brick-built dragons, and yet you couldn't make the effort for Smaug the stupendous? I am disheartened.

 

It's not a bad set. It's got it's shortcomings, at least by as much as you can judge from this image, but it's better than last year's Dol Guldur. And I'll admit that now I'm considering adding it to my wanted list.

 

[The Hordika]

It dosent look spectacular, but I wouldn't mind having it

[Lyichir]

Well, I think Smaug looks okay. I certainly didn't expect a brick-built dragon seeing as the ones from Ninjago, Creator and Vikings, while decent, would make for pretty poor likenesses of the character from the Hobbit movies. And licensed themes, unlike the aforementioned themes, put a premium on accuracy.

 

I'll have to withhold final judgment until we see better pics, though—it looks like the one picture we have cuts off part of the set, and it's impossible to tell how much. Plus, there may be more to Smaug than meets the eye—his wings may be composed of specialized parts, but they look almost like they feature cloth elements so that he can spread or fold them (which would turn him from okay to exceptional).

 

EDIT: Much larger and clearer version of the same image. Sure enough, the wings do fold! Smaug doesn't seem to feature much building but he looks great and I'm sure a skilled builder could do something interesting with his parts (possibly in conjunction with other weird Dark Red parts like Kalmah's armor or the parts of the Ooni from Galidor).

 

Disappointingly, however, none of the Dwarves or Bilbo seem to have multicolored legs! When I first saw the multicolored short legs in the Simpsons sets, I had hoped that the same mold might be used to finally make Hobbit figs with bare feet, or Dwarves with boots. And while the mold IS used on the Comic Con-exclusive Rocket Raccoon for such a purpose, it's conspicuously absent from this set. And if it isn't used here, it probably won't be in any of the other Hobbit sets this winter, which is an awful shame.

Edited July 25, 2014 by Lyichir

[Vorahk1Panrahk2]

The LEGO Hobbit page has also been updated with new hi-resolution images of the sets and minifigures, and a cute little video which confirms that Smaug's wings do in fact have a folding joint in them. The release date is also given as October 15. Hopefully this means that images of the other sets in the wave are soon to follow, though October is still a ways away.

Edited July 25, 2014 by Vorahk1Panrahk2

[Makaru]

This Smaug does a better job representing the voice actor than the character it's supposed to be. Shame.

 

The green ax is kind of cool I guess.

[believe victims]

Well, I think Smaug looks okay. I certainly didn't expect a brick-built dragon seeing as the ones from Ninjago, Creator and Vikings, while decent, would make for pretty poor likenesses of the character from the Hobbit movies. And licensed themes, unlike the aforementioned themes, put a premium on accuracy.

 

It's not like going with brickbuilt necessarily means abandoning accuracy, though. It just looks really weird and pretty bland to me. Plus, if they had gone the brick build route, then the dark red wouldn't have to look as intense as it does, as they could mottle it or something.

 

i understand that this kind of Smaug was a necessity to keep the cost of this set down, though considering the awful price to piece ratio it did a poor job of that; I just wanted something more. Not even necessarily entirely brick-build, considering Lego almost always goes for molded pieces for heads, but just something more than an altered Castle dragon.

[Lyichir]

 

Well, I think Smaug looks okay. I certainly didn't expect a brick-built dragon seeing as the ones from Ninjago, Creator and Vikings, while decent, would make for pretty poor likenesses of the character from the Hobbit movies. And licensed themes, unlike the aforementioned themes, put a premium on accuracy.

 

It's not like going with brickbuilt necessarily means abandoning accuracy, though. It just looks really weird and pretty bland to me. Plus, if they had gone the brick build route, then the dark red wouldn't have to look as intense as it does, as they could mottle it or something.

 

i understand that this kind of Smaug was a necessity to keep the cost of this set down, though considering the awful price to piece ratio it did a poor job of that; I just wanted something more. Not even necessarily entirely brick-build, considering Lego almost always goes for molded pieces for heads, but just something more than an altered Castle dragon.

 

There's a tremendous difference between an arachnoid and a dragon in terms of aesthetics. Shelob is meant to have a segmented appearance, and isn't the focus of her respective movie. Smaug is a much different case—he's not just a monster, but a CHARACTER, and in fact, the main antagonist of the entire Hobbit book/trilogy. And in the movies he has a very distinctive appearance which Lego and New Line would both want to be represented as accurately as possible. Building Smaug out of bricks with a similar amount of articulation and accuracy to the movie might be possible, but it would only add to the price of an already highly priced set, make the set much more difficult for the target audience to construct, and be more fragile for play scenarios.

 

I'm sure this Smaug was the best option for Lego to satisfy all of the licensors demands as well as their own. It's not just an altered Castle dragon by any stretch—although I would love for this set to become the standard for future molded dragons.

[Dark_Stranger]

The LEGO Hobbit page has also been updated with new hi-resolution images of the sets and minifigures, and a cute little video which confirms that Smaug's wings do in fact have a folding joint in them. The release date is also given as October 15. Hopefully this means that images of the other sets in the wave are soon to follow, though October is still a ways away.

Unlike the picture linked on the front page, these actually make the set look pretty cool. Smaug looks a lot better when he's actually posed instead of just standing around stiff as a board.