Hapori Tohu Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 It's time to check out the last set from The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, and it's the biggest - 79018 The Lonely Mountain. The dwarves and Smaug never interact in the third movie, but that didn't stop them from making a set based on it and including a very specialized dragon for it as well. Is this monster of a set worth its weight in ABS? Or is the mountain doomed to remain forever unclaimed? Read on and watch our review to find out! View the full article Quote News Forums Q&A Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pohatu: Uniter of Stone Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 This set is amazing, especially Smaug. I would buy it without a doubt... if it wasn't so expensive. While Smaug's pieces may be pretty specialized, I can see many MOCists buying this set and making dragons with mech wings, or using the normal wings in their MOCs. The wings are absolutely awesome with their three claw attachment points, hinge/folding mechanism and ball joint shoulder. I am distressed by the price, since it is nearly the cost of all the winter Bionicle sets, which I think is a better use of 130 USD. Quote I HATE SCORPIOS ~Pohatu Master of Stone, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toa Smoke Monster Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 I could've sworn I saw Smaug in another Hobbit set..... But I guess I'm remembering that wrong. I, too, am bothered that this set was released along with the sets of the third movie instead of the second, but that doesn't take away from how cool this set is. Smaug looks a lot better than I thought he would, and the minifigs look really cool too. Thanks for the review! Quote Everyone is one choice away from being the bad guy in another person's story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
believe victims Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 (edited) All that is irrelevant though, of course, because in the book, the dwarves and the dragon never even come face-to-face and the scene they added in the movie was completely ridiculous and added only to give some 'action' and allow them to make a third film. Okay, rant over.Look on the bright side: at least they set doesn't include a giant golden dwarf to collapse on Smaug. Edited March 5, 2015 by Dina Saruyama 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vorahk1Panrahk2 Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 All that is irrelevant though, of course, because in the book, the dwarves and the dragon never even come face-to-face and the scene they added in the movie was completely ridiculous and added only to give some 'action' and allow them to make a third film. Okay, rant over. In fairness, they scene was added after the story was split into three movies. It didn't allow Jackson to do anything except give his film a climax. Or maybe that's what you meant but the wording was strange. But that's neither here nor there- I'm not sure if film accuracy is something that licensed sets should be judged by. Still it's good that it was reviewed positively in spite of some initial negative reaction from the first pictures. I don't own the set personally, but it looks like it has a lot of nice display value and play functions... which seems like a win-win to me. If it wasn't for that price. Quote BZPRPG Profiles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Based Goomy Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 Smaug looks amazing. Seriously considering picking this one up! Quote Looking for a Voya Gold Kraahkan! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuju Metru Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 Thanks for the review, Andrew... it's such a shame this set's so pricey, it comes with so many gorgeous pieces! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rahkshi Lalonde Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 If they don't use the wings in a future set they're squandering the best monopiece wing mold they've ever had. >:0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toa Chuck Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 Dem wings doe.I wonder how much those will be available for on the secondary market.I hope lego sticks with this wing design, it is so much better than the old one. Quote The Chirox Codex Chuck's Very Dead Comic Series This is my signature. Exciting, huh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyichir Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 (edited) Dem wings doe. I wonder how much those will be available for on the secondary market. I hope lego sticks with this wing design, it is so much better than the old one. I like these wings but in future castle sets and such I'd prefer something with a little more potential for customization. There are seemingly no connection points apart from the ones intended for "fingers", whereas I'm sure Lego would be able to add more once freed from the shackles of movie licensing. Anyway, good review! I'm glad to see that the set seems worthy of its price point, since a lot of people were concerned by the weak price-per-piece value. Between the impressive architecture and Smaug himself, though, it's clear that that $130 still goes a long way! Edited March 5, 2015 by Lyichir Quote Formerly Lyichir: Rachira of Influence Aanchir's and Meiko's brother Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adventurer Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 It sounds good - but I'm not sure it's enough to convince me unfortunately for that price. Particularly after how the last movie left me feeling... Quote Credit to Pohuaki for the awesome banner! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Scales Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 I loved that scene in the movie. In my opinion, it makes more sense for the dwarves to face their ultimate enemy. As for the set, I would probably only get it for Smaug, and I don't think that will happen anytime soon. Still a great set, though! Quote Big time Kudley fan, forever T.U.F.F. Puppy fan!I'm mostly known as FoxsDumbSeriesMaker on other websites, but here, I'm usually known as General Scales! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
believe victims Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 I loved that scene in the movie. In my opinion, it makes more sense for the dwarves to face their ultimate enemy.The problem is, it detracts from the most important part of the dwarves as a part of the overall narrative of The Hobbit. The dwarves are greedy and cowardly; Bilbo bails them out of most situations, and the situations he can't are covered by Gandalf. They serve to contrast the well-meaning Bilbo, whose simple ways and dislike of war and greed are supposed to serve as an example of what Tolkien considers ideal. Unfortunately, this message is heavily diluted in the film by their desire to increase the action/runtime. Some of Bilbo's greatest accomplishments (i.e. the Mirkwood spiders' defeat) are taken away from him to give some of the many characters shoved in time to shine, and the dwarves are turned into far more sympathetic characters. With all of these changes from the book, of course it makes sense for the dwarves to have a chase scene with Smaug that climaxes with them collapsing an enormous golden dwarf onto him (the fluid physics on that are questionable but that's another topic). The dwarves are such a radical departure from their selfish, lazy book characters, and the movies are so drawn out and stuffed with detail and action, that of course there was no other way that was going to go. This has, sadly, come at the cost of the story's theme of how terrible war is being almost completely lost, and its theme on greed is almost entirely shoved into the first half of the last movie. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jobber Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 (edited) Seems like a really good movie set. I can totally see people getting this only for the dragon, but myself? While it has some pretty useful stuff for MOCers and would look great on a shelf, I just find Star Wars sets more enticing and creative, so that's where most of my budget goes recently. Not to mention it's pretty bad price-per-part ratio. Edited March 9, 2015 by The Bone-Snatcher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Scales Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 I loved that scene in the movie. In my opinion, it makes more sense for the dwarves to face their ultimate enemy.The problem is, it detracts from the most important part of the dwarves as a part of the overall narrative of The Hobbit. The dwarves are greedy and cowardly; Bilbo bails them out of most situations, and the situations he can't are covered by Gandalf. They serve to contrast the well-meaning Bilbo, whose simple ways and dislike of war and greed are supposed to serve as an example of what Tolkien considers ideal. Unfortunately, this message is heavily diluted in the film by their desire to increase the action/runtime. Some of Bilbo's greatest accomplishments (i.e. the Mirkwood spiders' defeat) are taken away from him to give some of the many characters shoved in time to shine, and the dwarves are turned into far more sympathetic characters. With all of these changes from the book, of course it makes sense for the dwarves to have a chase scene with Smaug that climaxes with them collapsing an enormous golden dwarf onto him (the fluid physics on that are questionable but that's another topic). The dwarves are such a radical departure from their selfish, lazy book characters, and the movies are so drawn out and stuffed with detail and action, that of course there was no other way that was going to go. This has, sadly, come at the cost of the story's theme of how terrible war is being almost completely lost, and its theme on greed is almost entirely shoved into the first half of the last movie. Yeah, that makes sense. I agree with the points that you made, but the way I see it, it's kind of hard to compare the Jackson movies to the Tolkien books. To me, they come across as different worlds. I agree with what you said about the dwarves being different, and Bilbo losing some of his accomplishments, but I also respect how much character development and variation is done with the characters in the movie. The dwarves wouldn't have been interesting or likable if they were like their book versions. Bilbo still had many great moments, while the dwarves had time to shine as well. Yes, the horribleness of war is somewhat lost with all the focus on action, but a lot of that was already covered in the Lord of the Rings films. Things like this are done for many adaptations. Heck, in the TV series Arrow, Oliver's greatest enemies are Ra's al Ghul and Deathstroke. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe that was ever the case in the comics. I'm not trying to change anyone's minds, but I'm just saying that adaptations like this aren't necessarily a bad thing (not sure if you think that or not, however). 2 Quote Big time Kudley fan, forever T.U.F.F. Puppy fan!I'm mostly known as FoxsDumbSeriesMaker on other websites, but here, I'm usually known as General Scales! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Meta Knight Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 They need to reuse Smaug's wings in all Castle theme sets to come. That would boost the quality significantly. Quote Stay vigilant, my friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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