Posted by The recent LEGO The Shire set released to some controversy, and as a collector who made sure to pick up the set the day it was released, I definitely understand why. The set isn’t bad by any means, but it is a bit underwhelming.
First and foremost, the build itself is very fun and satisfying. I had a great time putting all of the pieces together and seeing what unique building techniques would be employed to accurately reconstruct Bilbo’s hobbit-hole. The creative use of pieces, such as using boomerangs to make a fence or white pen pieces to be candle wax, also helped amplify the experience.
As for how it looks, this is where the problems first begin to appear. The hobbit-hole itself looks pretty good. The outside succeeds in looking smooth, organic, and natural. The colors are really vibrant too. The inside is detailed and cozy. It is rather small, but so are its occupants. The hobbit-hole itself features a cool play feature where you can twist a knob to rotate between a letter in the fireplace and the One Ring. One complaint that I’ve seen leveled consistently at the hobbit-hole is that the tree on the roof doesn’t look great. I disagree somewhat. Sure the tree probably could have been beefed up a bit, but I don’t hate it by any means. It looks fine, and in my opinion stays fairly accurate to the source material.
The more glaring issues begin to appear with the side builds included. First is Gandalf’s cart. It’s kind of funny how one of the original LEGO The Lord of the Rings sets was re-included here. The new cart actually looks very similar to the original, but there are changes here and there. I personally don’t mind the inclusion of the cart. It was a fun little extra build. The set also includes a tent, a big birthday cake, and a fireworks display for Merry and Pippin to set off. All three of these builds are fine. They’re simple and innocuous and help create the illusion of Bilbo’s birthday party. The last side build is truly the most problematic one. It’s the stage and tree where Bilbo gives his speech before using the ring to disappear. It even features a wheel you can turn to spin the stage so it looks like Bilbo disappears. I like the stage and barrels. The issue with this build comes in the tree towering behind. It’s… not great. I can see what the designers were trying to do, and if you squint your eyes it kinda works, but the tree is too sparse and needly. I had to double check what kind of tree was in the background of Bilbo’s speech, and it’s a very leafy, bushy tree. The one provided is not that. Since it’s a side build I don’t care as much, but I can definitely understand why some collectors are really turned off by it. Finally, there’s a firework dragon flying overhead that’s fairly simple, but effective.
Turning to the minifigures, The Shire boasts nine. That’s a pretty nice roster, especially seeing as these are new prints for many of these characters. The figures include the familiar faces of Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Bilbo and Gandalf. It makes a lot of sense for all of these hobbits to be included, and frankly I would’ve been surprised if they weren’t. The new additions include Rosie, Mrs. Proudfoot, and Mr. Proudfoot. These new additions are cool because they’ve never been released before, and likely never will be again seeing as they’re all hobbits who never leave the Shire. Overall, the figures are all great.
Aside from the mediocre trees, which I do agree are subpar, the most egregious problem with The Shire is the price point. The set is only 2017 pieces yet goes for a whopping $270. LEGO sets should generally have a ratio of 1 piece per 10 cents, which means that The Shire is $70 more than it really should be. Another issue I take with the set is that the name is a little misleading. When I hear “The Shire,” I assume it’ll be Hobbiton with more hobbit-holes, not just Bilbo’s hobbit-hole. Maybe that’s on me, but I really don’t like how the set is called The Shire when it’s really Bilbo’s hobbit-hole and birthday party.
Don’t get me wrong: I do like this set. I think it looks quite nice and is a cool display piece. However, I can’t deny that it does have some glaring flaws that seriously hold the set back from being the same caliber as Rivendell or Barad-dûr. As a result, while I do recommend The Shire for LEGO fans and The Lord of the Rings fans alike, I will preface that recommendation with the above warnings.
Broad Scope Entertainment 