Rufus

I agree with the premise, but it's best to start this sort of discussion with some suggestions yourself. Let's wait and see if there is demand for this.

Yes, you're right, but I did comment on that in the review. It wasn't deliberate.

I've updated the review with information from Shop@Home, including the official set title and release date (1st August, officially). I has assumed it would be release on the day I was allowed to post the review.

'If my calculations are correct, when this baby reaches 88 miles per hour ... you're gonna see some serious shit.' Dr Emmett Brown, Back to the Future So here it is! The long-awaited Back to the Future LEGO CUUSOO winner - and the first 'mainstream audience' model to pass the dreaded CUUSOO review stage. Few people can be unfamiliar with the iconic DeLorean Time Machine, and the lead characters of the BTTF movie franchise, Marty McFly and Doc Brown; despite having originated in the 1980s, with its fashion faux-pas and wildly inaccurate predictions of the Earth of the future, the trilogy is still surprisingly popular today, and is the sole reason why many have ever even heard of the unreliable stainless steel DeLorean car. It is hardly surprising then that the BTTF CUUSOO entry was able to garner the support required to enter the review stage, and the popular and family-friendly nature of the model and its parent movie lend it extremely well to conversion to a LEGO set. On paper, it should sell well; however, early leaked images have led to certain amount of disappointment, partly at the apparent lack of figures, and partly at the difference between the final version and its CUUSOO-winning original. Rest assured that Marty and Doc do indeed feature as figures in the set; as to the redesign: well, let's see .... Thank you once again to The LEGO Group for allowing us this early set review. Review: 21103 The DeLorean Time Machine Set Information Name: The DeLorean Time Machine Number: 21103 Theme: CUUSOO Back to the Future Release: 1 August 2013 (According to some members, it appears to be available already in some places) Parts: 401 Figures: 2 Price: GB £34.99 | US $34.99 | EUR 39.99 - 49.99 | AU $69.99 | CA $44.99 | DKK 449.00 Links ... Shop@Home ... Brickset ... Bricklink ... Peeron ... CUUSOO The Box Click for a larger full-frontal image As I pulled the set from the plain outer cardboard box it shipped in, I was momentarily disconcerted to think I had been sent an Architecture set by mistake, and I'm sure you can see the resemblance. However, here the usual Architecture austerity gives way to the colourful Back to the Future logo, and a blue-white clock and lightning motif that will be familiar to anyone who has seen the movies, and which continues onto the upper surface of the box. Any doubt about the inclusion of minifigures is quoshed with a little inset of Marty and Doc against a background which nicely matches the BTTF logo. The DeLorean itself is pictured in 'flying' mode, as seen at the end of the first and most of the second movie; as we shall see, I don't think this is her most flattering pose, but it isn't helped by the angle of the photograph - click the picture for a square-on view. The back of the box is rather busier, but demonstrates beautifully the full variety of the set: Click for a larger image The DeLorean versions of all three movies can be created from the set, though - as you might expect from the piece count - not at the same time. This is highlighted by the white-on-red text at the bottom right: itself rather amusingly resembling DYMO punch-labels that will be familiar to anyone who lived in the 80s. Small insets detail the wonderful printed parts which are included in the set, accompanied by explanatory text in English and French. This latter point - coupled with the inclusion of the piece count on the box front - makes me wonder whether this particular box is designed for the the North American market: the third language, visible on the right side, is Spanish. French will continue to feature prominently, starting on the left-hand side: In case you're not convinced that French is important in North America, the proof is on the box top, along with a wheel that provides the 1:1 scale here. The bottom reveals the licensing agreement with Universal Studios. The box is as wide as the Big Ben box is tall, but it's deeper and taller; in fact it's the exact same size as the similarly-priced Leaning Tower of Pisa. The contents are rather more colourful than a typical Architecture set, however: Sadly, we aren't encouraged to enjoy our building experience. Inside the box are five polybags, three loose plates, and a substantial instruction booklet that we'll look at presently. The Instructions The Architecture resemblance continues with this high-quality booklet, printed on sturdy paper with thick cardboard covers. The cover image is identical to the box front - minus the text - and affords us a clearer view of the car with its controversial front end. Inside the booklet, we are treated to a plethora of information related to the movie and the car, replete with pictures, and text in English and French (the latter on the facing page). Further 'DYMO' headers set the scene; the smart black background unfortunately shows up the dust. 'What - what the hell is a "jigowatt"???' I wondered at first whether 'jigowatts' is a mistake; according to Wikipedia, it's in the original movie script. I always thought the figure was 1.21 gigawatts, though with a soft leading 'g', in these times before the prefix 'giga' was rather common. My prized BBC Microcomputer from the same era ran games like Elite on as astonishing 32 kilobytes of memory; nowadays my 4 Gigabytes is still too little. Moving onward, we encouter further pictures from the movie with accompanying factoids, and occasional quotes. I'm not going to spoil all the contents of the booklet, but it is worth showing this wonderful rear-end shot of the 'real' DeLorean ... ... replete with its time-travel modifications listed as 'Highlights' (or 'Points Forts' if you're French, or Canadian). Architecture fans will be familiar with the black background of the instruction steps, and with the intermittent 'factoids' which accompany them: It can be a little tricky to make out the black parts against the background, but I didn't encounter any problems during construction. The build is nicely paced, with occasional sub-builds, as shown here in one of the later steps for the alternative movie versions: Here we build 'Mr. Fusion', with its complementary informative text. I can't wait to get my own Mr. Fusion in two years' time! The rear of the booklet contains the obligatory set inventory; page one in the inside front cover, and page two on the rear cover itself. Also towards the rear of the book are a page dedicated to the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, and the following dedicated to the CUUSOO winning design team: It should be noted that 'Team BTTF' have decided to donate their share of the profits from the set to the Michael J Fox Foundation. If I were ever to have a set pass CUUSOO review into production, I'd be more than happy with just a page like this. The Parts The 401-strong part selection consists mainly of plates - there are only about twelve regular bricks in there. I've managed to fit them all into one picture: As expected, black and light bluish-grey dominates the colour palette. 'Useful' pieces - a highly subjective concept, I know - might include the black and bley headlight bricks in reasonable quantities, a sizeable selection of 1 x 'n' plates, jumpers and clippy-hinges; it's nice to see the older-style hinge-bricks with 1-wide top parts in both black and bley. Greebling fans will approve of the binoculars, and the metallic silver 1x1 round plates and grille tiles; plain tiles appear in reasonable quantities, and they haven't held back on cheese wedges. For me, the stand-out parts are the 8.5L hoses - the modern version of the Classic Space original is becoming more common, but no other set contains more than three. Incidentally, I had expected that the red wheel hubs would prove to be an example of an existing part in a new colour; I was mightily surprised to find that it has been included in two sets previously - and Brick Buckets of all things! Though they are from 2009, and not widely available today; certainly there aren't currently any such wheels available in red on Bricklink. Taking a closer look at the metallic silver grilles, I noticed a mold difference: Some have squarer, thicker edges. This is hardly a disaster, but the difference is particularly obvious in this shiny colour, and requires you to be careful where you place them if you're particular about symmetry. Finally, the pieces de resistance - the printed parts: The detail in the prints on these 1x2 tiles is astonishing - look at the 'OUTATIME' licence plate with its 'California' logo replete with setting sun. I was a little surprised to see the 'destination' date on the time console - I don't recall 28th January 1958 featuring in the movies - but it's all there in the manual: it's the date the first LEGO brick was patented. Maybe I should have known that. And here's the 2x1x2 panel bearing a print of the heart of the DeLorean Time Machine itself: the Flux Capacitor: It's a beautiful design, although in my case the print quality isn't perfect. Note the white-on-red text, true to the movie, that has clearly inspired the 'DYMO' headings in the instruction manual - a lovely touch. And by the way, LEGO, it's 'i' before 'e'. I wondered if the typo in 'SHEILD' was true to the movie, but it isn't: see here. To be fair, I didn't even notice the typo until CopMike pointed it out after member Kez noticed it from the high-res pics sent out by TLG. The Minifigures 'Hey, Biff! Get a load of this guy's life preserver. Dork things he's gonna drown!' Here are Doc and Marty! They are the characters of the original film's 1985: Doc in his radiation suit, and Marty in his jeans and 'life preserver'. (I am reliably informed that this garment is properly called a 'gilet'.) Marty has his trademark skateboard. It's funny to think that skateboarding was a bit of a fad in the mid-1980s, and I doubt the film-makers expected it to continue to be such a widespread phenomenon today (your mileage may vary). I was a little excited to see a purple skateboard - it's the first I've owned - but it's also available in the new Town Square and one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle sets. Doc wears 'vampire' hair which is new in white for this set. I had half-expected a variant on this, but the style they've chosen is possibly the best existing mold for Doc's flyaway locks. He has a new, double-sided face print, in flesh for this licensed set; they've captured his expressionn pretty well for the 'surprise/shock' look, which Christopher Lloyd does a lot. Great Scott! The radiation suit torso has some nice detailing including a stopwatch; I love the big trefoil 'RADIATION' logo on the back. It's a shame, though, that we don't get Doc in more 'everyday' wear; but I bet you could improvise. Marty's multi-layered clothing is captured beautifully, though he looks strangely like Spiderman from the back: His new face-print is again double-sided, with a little smirk on one side and a good 'fear' look on the other. His hair is a reasonably choice; the dark brown is a little too dark for my tastes - in the films it looks almost fair in some shots, and I'd probably have gone with reddish-brown. It's also perhaps a little too neat and short; 'Anakin Skywalker' hair might have been better. His legs, like Doc's, aren't printed, but this part in Medium Blue is surprisingly rare. Here's what they should look like: Picture from Futurepedia I think TLG have captured the pair pretty well, all things considered - particularly Doc's 'surprised' face. I'm also pleased with the choice of torsos; Doc's radiation suit would probably be the most difficult to recreate from existing parts (though the 'future' garb would be a close second); and it does allow recreation of the scene where we first meet the DeLorean. Marty's outfit is a no-brainer, and if you want him in a rad-suit, all you need is a Hazmat Guy. The Build The DeLorean is essentially a big stack of plates, with some minor Technic reserved for the wheels; however, there are some interesting techniques thrown in here and there. The chassis is built around three long 2x16 plates sandwiching two black 4x8 plates; four identical Technic wheel apparati occupy the four corners: Note the red and blue round bricks sitting atop similarly-coloured 1x1 vertical-clip plates: these restrict the movement of the wheels around the car's longitudinal axis, and are vital for the conversion between 'driving' and 'flying' modes. The surprising use of red and blue has some logic; throughout, 'red' signifies the front of the car and 'blue' the rear, and it can be tricky to distinguish end from end without this visual clue. In the second panel, 1x8 plates have been added above the 3L Technic liftarms, allowing them the be built upon; there are gaps adjacent to the wheel mounts, front and rear ... ... into which are placed clippy-bricks. Black 1x2 cheese wedges form the appearance of seat-backs, and again note the use of red and blue for front and rear. In the inset, behold one of my favourite ever LEGO techniques: the foot of a headlight brick sits on the side-stud of another, allowing in this case the SNOT-mounting of a round plate and the inversion of a cheese wedge. Granted, it's not as impressive as Svelte's use (see it in situ here), but it's great to see this technique feature in an official LEGO set. Next, the dashboard is added onto hinge bricks, and some Technic pins will enable the SNOT-mounted front to sit at a half-stud offset, at the expense of a bit of wobble. Clippy-hinges at the rear allow the attachment of the rear vent-things, shown in the second panel to be constructed from slopes, hinge-bricks, black headlights and tiles. I'm surprised they didn't elect for the Nice Part Usage of black minifigure legs for this build; however, the lower set wouldn't fit into the slope, and I'm more than happy about the eight headlight bricks. The light bluish-grey jumpers here don't do anything, except add some hard-to-see greebing, perhaps. The yellow 1x1 round is where the Plutonium goes. Plutonium not included in set. The rear-end is almost complete, as we add the Flux Capacitor on its 1x2x2 panel piece, and some SNOT-mounted taps which represent some arcance tubing or whatever. You can see some similar blue things here. Meanwhile, controversial tiles have been sneaked onto the front whilst you were distracted, and the diminutive roof is added. Clippy-hinges will help to slope the sides; the silver grille tiles represent the strips around the sides which glow blue when the car time-jumps. Finally, the SNOT front panel is attached, and the 'gull-wing' doors are added ... ... followed by the SNOT rear, sloping hinged tiles for the windscreen, and wheels. The last touch is the tubing around the sides, which utilises the various clips and O-ring plates we've been adding, and is surprisingly trouble-free to attach. And we're done! The Complete DeLorean 'Time circuits on. Flux Capacitor ... fluxing. Engine running. All right.' (Engine cuts out) First things first: however you feel about the stepped, tiled front, I hope you agree that from this angle the car doesn't look nearly as bad as the rather unflattering views of the preview picture (or indeed the box front). In 'driving' mode, she has a sporty, low profile, and the slanting pillars forming the 'windscreen', coupled with the narrow roof, help to slope the sides in a manner very difficult to recreate in LEGO at this scale. I will deal specifically with the question of the redesigned front end later in the review, for now, let's look around the model carefully. The front end's seven stud-wide SNOT panel helps to taper the car's nose; from this angle, the tapering looks a little severe. Note that 1x2 trans-black tiles are used for the headlights instead of separate 1x1 tiles; these latter parts are somewhat rare. The model does reasonably well with the 1x2s, helped by the studs of the light bley plates behind; I was tempted to replace the light bley with dark bley to mimic the darker front panel of the real car, but that would spoil the effect of the headlights. From the front, the wheels protude a little uncomfortably far from the sides of the car. I noticed one or two complaints in response to the revealed catalogue picture about the use of 1x2 and 1x1 cheese wedges for the front panel; this does cause asymmetry, but helps to strengthen the panel, as the 1x2 cheese connects the 2x3 and 2x4 plates behind. You could easily replace it with two 1x1 cheese wedges with little loss of strength if you desire. The rear view is one of the best, helped in no small way by the 'OUTATIME' licence plate tile. It's by no means a perfect representation of the original, seen best in the instructions picture above, but it is probably as good as you could achieve at the scale whilst avoiding tricky and fragile techniques. The big vent constructions help here, though it's difficult to line them up perfectly. They should overhang the rear lights (and have four layers rather than two), but even the CUUSOO original doesn't do this. The sporty look is particularly in evidence from the side: The rake of the 'windscreen' is suitably shallow, if a trifle awkward at the base with the 1x1 clippy tiles looking unaccountably large. This version lacks the rear sloping stanchions of the 'real' car, but dark bley cheese graters compensate somewhat. You can see here how the tubing at the sides creates the illusion of wheel arches: one of the few features carried over from the CUUSOO original. They work surprisingly well, and compensate for the protruding wheels, in most views. This is a good place to admire the contour provided by the inverted cheese wedges at the rear - a lovely, if subtle, touch. Seen from above, the car has a chunky outline which reflects the feel of the model in your hand. For the most part, she's very sturdily built, and at 190 grammes (6.7 oz), surprisingly heavy. As I've already implied, the roof is perhaps a little too small; you have to imagine the side windows would fill some of the gap here; a six stud-wide roof might be better, but it would make the door opening mechanism look odd, and I don't think it's possible to create the gull-wing doors any other way at this scale. Underneath are the only visible remnants of the 'red and blue' scheme which assists in the build: these clippy plates are as essential part of the wheel mechanism. The long dark bley plates make a significant contribution to the strength of the model; some of the light bley plates aren't strictly necessary, but I'm not going to complain. This rear high view is one of my favourites: The bulky rear end features a number of small greebles packed into quite a tight space. The vents take up a lot of room, but they are the most important feature. The blue taps sit above two barely-visible red 1x1 round plates; an offset cheese wedge in the centre provides a little contouring. The 'Plutonium Chamber' sits between the vents; it probably ought to be mounted slightly more forward, but that would leave a big step behind the tap bit. Note the binoculars on the roof; I didn't recall from the movies what this is meant to represent, but you can see whatever it is in this picture, or here (thanks CopMike!). The Interior The doors, of course, open in the gull-wing style of the original DeLorean: The mechanism works well: it is smooth, and doesn't require you to remove any parts of the model. It isn't without its problems, though: as you can see, the 1x2 male clippy hinges connect to the door using only a single 1x1 black clippy tile, and that is a source of weakness. Be prepared for the doors to fall off at regular intervals. Indeed, the weight of the door itself tends to disconnect the parts here; also, the closed door sits slightly higher than the body, and as you close the door it is natural to put a little downward pressure on the door, making the problem occur more frequently: Also, the triangular gap behind the door is a little unsightly. This is caused by the use of a 1x1 clippy brick and cheese wedge rather than the single 1x2 slope that the CUUSOO original employs. The clippy brick is necessary here to keep the black tube in the correct position. I can forgive this gap; it's not too noticeable on the model as a whole. Let's take a close look at the passenger compartment. With the roof removed, we get to good view of the Flux Capacitor in its intended place. For such a vital feature, it's a little hard to see from the outside, but it looks great. Moving upwards, you can see the banked black 1x2 cheese wedges which I presume are meant to represent seat backs, not entirely effectively: Their positions, and the studded floor of the cabin, imply that the diver is meant to sit just left of centre, which would make it tricky to place both figures inside ... ... however, the steering wheel is mounted half a stud to the left of this position. Th dash is otherwise very pretty, with the time console and a dial sitting at an attractive angle thanks to the hinge bricks. There's another dial to the left of the steering wheel. Note the light bley cheese wedge on the floor, which makes sitting the driver a stud further to the left problematic, but not impossible. Here's Marty sitting in what is (I believe) the intended position: He has to lean back a lot in order to fit his head under the roof, but for a sports car that is probably a realistic seating angle. With Marty sitting here, you cannot (easily) fit a passenger in ... ... but if you move Marty a stud towards the door - which involves a bit of a struggle as his leg interferes with the bley cheese wedge - you can: In this position, you have to sit both figures a bit more upright, else their heads prevent the doors closing: look at Doc's head to see what I mean. However, the roof here no longer necessitates them leaning back so much. The sloping 'windscreen' stanchions obscure the view a little, which in Doc's case is exacerbated by the angle of the shot. Note that in either position, Marty isn't sitting directly behind the steering wheel. Ideally, there should be some jumper plates in there to allow them both to sit at a half-stud offset; modifying the model to achieve this shouldn't be too difficult, but it would involve removing the long 2x16 light bley plate which runs the length of the car (see here). I don't think that this would weaken the car too much. Flying DeLorean - Back to the Future II Actually, the Flying DeLorean first makes her appearance at the end of the first film, but she features most prominently throughout BTTF II, and is instrumental in Marty's getaway from Biff in 1985-A. To convert model one to model two, all you need to do is replace the 'OUTATIME' licence plate with the orange 2015 'barcode' one, add Mr. Fusion, and flip the wheels for flying mode. Note that I've left the yellow 1x1 round 'Plutonium Chamber' plate in place under Mr. Fusion; the instructions aren't particularly clear on this, but it might be better to remove it and have the white dome attached directly to the 2x2 round black plate. Flipping the wheels is simplicity itself. Here's the mechanism with a wheel removed: The red (or blue, at the rear) clippy plate keeps the wheel mount from over-extending in either position, and explains why 3L frictionless pins have been used. The set also comes with two trans-clear slopes and 1x2 plates to use as stands: Roads? Where we're going, we don't need ... roads. This view is similar to the promotional catalogue shot that caused such a lukewarm reaction when revealed. To be fair, firstly, there were no passengers inside, leading many to think that no figures were included; secondly, this really isn't the set's most flattering view. With the wheels folded, she loses a certain something. Partly, this is the width caused by the protruding wheels, but it doesn't help that the wheels don't pivot around their centre, as the original's do. Achieving such a result isn't impossible, but would require a vastly more intricate mechanism, with resulting fragility and probably a too-difficult build. I'm going to leave the car in 'driving' mode. 'Western' DeLorean - Back to the Future III This is the car that Doc accidentally took back to 1885, then hid so that Marty could rescue it in 1955, in order to take it back to 1885 again, and cause your head to explode thinking about it. It's meant to have '1950s' wheels - big red rims with whitewall tyres - as the originals had decayed over time, and the time circuits burned out during the lightning strike, necessitating 1950s Doc to build an alternative using valves as transistors hadn't been invented yet. Check your head. Still intact? Good. Conversion requires removing a 1x4 tile from in front of the 'windscreen', then adding the greebled orange plates that represent the 'valve technology' time circuits, then replacing the bley wheels with red. There's only one set of tyres included, so you have to switch these too; but if you're anything like me you'll have quite a few spares lying around. You should also leave Mr. Fusion on. This is probably the car's best looking guise - the front box disguises the stepped front, and the red wheels rather counter-intuitively add to the car's attractiveness, even if they don't recreate the over-sized 50s wheels perfectly. I'm not sure why orange was chosen for the 'box'; I'd have thought either dark orange or dark tan would be better choices; certainly the latter isn't hard to come by in 2x4 plates. The red wheels don't quite match up to the big 50s whitewall tyres of the original, but I don't know how they could be better represented at this scale. Here are all three versions of the 'real' DeLorean for comparison: Pictures from here, here, and here respectively. Comparison to the CUUSOO Original Model If you've seen the original CUUSOO entry, you might already have noticed that the final version is a vastly different kettle of frogs. The most obvious difference - noticed and commented on, mostly disapprovingly, as soon as the catalogue picture was revealed - is the shape of the front. The LEGO designer has chosen to create the front end from a stepped construction of tiles, rather than using the more obvious solution of a 6x8 sloped tile as the CUUSOO entrants chose. Why did they make this change? Part of the reason may be the difficulty in recreating the third movie DeLorean. Here's the CUUSOO version: There isn't an existing LEGO part that would allow the attachment of parts to its upper surface whilst retaining the shallow slope. The CUUSOO team must have used an adhesive substance here. I can forgive TLG for not wishing to create a unique, specialised mold just for this set, so an alternative solution would be necessary. Is this the sole reason? To answer that, I had to examine the original CUUSOO entry a little more closely ... so I built one, using the LDD instructions the CUUSOO team thoughtfully provided. I've had to substitute a few parts; my 7676 Republic Gunship is packed away, so I've used 1x2 smoke tiles rather than the four 1x1s the original uses, but you'll get the impression. Immediately you can see that the CUUSOO version is bigger, and taller; it isn't wider, but the straight-mounted 'windscreen' stanchions make the cabin more boxy. At the back, the rear bumper is the same ... but that's about it. The CUUSOO version has replicated the dark grey area around the rear lights, but the light configuration is no more accurate than LEGO's example, and looks a little fussy. The vents are similar, but LEGO's are individually tilted; the original has rear slanted stanchions, but, like those of the 'windscreen', they are square to the body. Mostly, the SNOT-mounted white tiles - which represent the blue-glowing time-travel whojimaflips of the original, and simulated in silver on the LEGO version - stand rather too proud of the model, and look uncomfortably square. They're also flimsy: attached only via a SNOT stud at the bottom and a 1x1 clip at the top. The choice of white for the time-travel thingumajigs explains the white front bumper. It's interesting that the white bumper has carried over to the LEGO version, even though its side whotsits are silver. I'd have preferred silver for the front bumper too, but the 1x2 bows don't exist in this colour. This is more apparent in the top view. LEGO's answer to the silvery stripes does result in discontinuity, but it's more subtle, and doesn't affect the lines of the car. As you can see, the CUUSOO version is far longer: a good four studs. This does allow more room for rear-end greebling, but at the expense of realism: the DeLoraean is a two-seater sports car, and it's dinky. CUUSOO's roomy cabin has lots of room for detail - there's even a keypad for entering destination dates, a gearstick, and the Time Circuit switch - the last two mounted centrally on jumper plates, and which interfere with each other. To be fair, this is a plot point in the original film. The seats are placed at positions 2 & 3 and 6 & 7 of the 8 stud-wide cabin, giving no ambiguity as to where the passengers sit, but they have to sit bolt upright in order to close the doors. Opening the doors requires you to lift the windscreen stanchions; the 1x1 clippy tiles I've used here are incredibly stiff, making this no mean feat. Marty and Doc have to keep their outboard arms raised in order for the doors to close, but they sit in there quite happily. The steering wheel is correctly mounted for the chairs. There is, of course, no Flux Capacitor print in this version. The CUUSOO version is much bigger, but at 214 grammes, only slightly heavier - its destiny density is less. This is the result of quite a flimsy structure: There's acres of space in there - I'd have strengthened it; perhaps the CUUSOO team decided not to in order to reduce the piece count. I strongly suspect that the model is originally conceived would not have passed TLG's stringent quality rules. It's also rather over-complicated; look at the wheel mechanism for an example. Note that I've substituted a few parts (eg. light bley clippy hinges for black; two 4x4 plates for one 4x8). Despite being lighter by 24 grammes, the LEGO version feels more heavy, and more sturdy. 'There's that word again: "heavy". Why is everything so heavy in the future? Is there something wrong with the Earth's gravitational pull?' The LEGO version is a vastly different model to the CUUSOO original - there are very few features carried over. Having built both, I can fully appreciate the redesign, and the reasons behind it. What results is a far sportier, and far sturdier model; it better resembles the compact DeLorean, and even though the smooth slope of the front end is lost, the result is more gently tapered in both vertical and horizontal directions. If you are thinking of replacing the front with the 6x8 slope, it isn't as easy as it looks. The windscreen stanchions will have to be moved, and the slope will overhang in an ugly way at the front corners. Mostly, the slope is too steep: the DeLorean's front end is nearly flat, and using the slope will result in a much bulkier front end than is desirable. It is because of this - and the excessive size of the CUUSOO version - that to me makes LEGO's version look the part of a stylish sports car converted into a time machine; while, in comparison, the CUUSOO original - despite its extra features - looks more like a Volvo. I'm glad they redesigned it. Conclusion I've been looking at, handling, and playing with this model for some four weeks now, and I have to say that - despite initial misgivings about the stepped front, I really like it. Having also built the CUUSOO original, I feel LEGO's version is a far better representation of the DeLorean: more accurate to scale with the minifigures, and much more in keeping with the lines and style of the iconic 1980s sports car. It has its flaws: seating two figures inside, while possible, requires some manual dexterity, and the doors have a dispiriting tendency to fall off (a problem shared with the CUUSOO version); even when you inevitably come to accept the stepped front, the use of two 2x4 tiles in the middle section looks a little odd (easily rectified with a simple modification). However, the overall result is a delightfully compact, sturdy, and playable sporty roadster that you can push around the table, flip the wheels, then swoosh around the room. Just don't do that above 88 miles per hour... Marty and Doc are fine representations of the characters, and have unique torsos and head pieces (and hair, in Doc's case). Add to that the 'Architecture-style' box and manual, and the very reasonable asking price of £35, and you have an affordable playset and collector's piece in one. I heartily recommend it. Design & Build 8 Whatever your feelings about the stepped front, I think you have to agree that the designer has captured the sporty feel of the DeLorean well, and succeeded in upholding TLG's quality standards in the process. I think the car is attractive, and fun, and I would choose the sleek, low-profile design over the Volvo look any day. The build doesn't exactly set the world on fire, but it is pacey, and involves a few interesting techniques - the headlight-brick attachment; the use of clippy-hinges for the doors; and the combination of clippy- and brick hinges on the vents are the highlights here. Parts 8 I'm sure many of you would be able to build the car from your own collection, but you'd miss out on the gorgeous printed parts; and the black tubes aren't common in quantity. I don't think the parts selection would be a major factor in your decision to buy it, but I'm not complaining about the headlight bricks. Figures 9 Doc's and Marty's torsos and faces are unique, and Marty's wearing the iconic 1980s gear. You might question the choice of the Radiation Suit for Doc, but it makes some sense - it's the first thing we see him wearing in the films, and you could recreate most other costumes from existing parts (with the possible exception of the 'future suit'. I'm sure these figures will be sought-after. Play & Display 10 The opening doors, swiveling wheels and the ability to change the car to match each of the films give rise to plenty of play options; you can push it or swoosh it to your heart's content. Or, it looks great on the shelf. I'd also like to include 'collectability' in this section - something I will consider for future Architecture reviews: the attention that has gone into the box art and instruction manual easily rival that of the Architecture range, and truly make this set a collector's dream. Value 10 Even purely on a parts to pennies ratio, this is good value, even though the parts are mostly plates; add in the licence, the collectability, the figures, and the car's design, and I think the price looks very reasonable. Overall 90% My Score 9/10 I'm delighted with this set, and if you're a fan of the films, you will be too. I urge you to look beyond the stepped front end; if you can't, well, maybe you guys just aren't ready for this yet. But your kids are gonna love it. Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed the review. Please let me know what you think! Rufus Resources Back To The Future wiki: Futurepedia Buy a REAL DeLorean! DeLorean.com LEGO CUUSOO Winner: Back to the Future(BTTF) - DeLorean Time Machine My flickr set Endpiece (I should have used the Lone Ranger train for this. ) If you like my reviews, and would like to learn how it's done, please consider joining the Reviewers Academy:

Sorry I haven't checked in here for a while. The CSRP us taking (another) little hiatus, but I'll be back before too long to finish up 918. I use a weak solution of hypochlorite for the white pieces - they come up a treat after a long soak (24 hours +). The results on any other colour tend to be variable - and cause spotting and patchiness.

For the last time, please keep the discussion to information regarding the release date. Ranting about it here will not bring the date forward, it is just irritating to other members. If you have any issue with The LEGO Group's treatment of its customers, then I suggest you take it up with them directly. No further complaints in this regard will be tolerated here. Thank you.

You should post licensed theme wishes in Dream LEGO Licenses. Please stay on topic.

Excellent review dude! That's one massive set, and these are tricky to review with such style. Love the video! I have no room for this amount of Technic in my life, but if I did, I'd be sure to get this. It's a superb collectors' piece, and I reckon I'd learn an awful lot from building it.

There's at least one topic in Community dedicated to this. Merging ....

I've edited a link to your superb 'fourth wall' into the review. Thanks!

'Tags' are earned: usually, they are rewards for consistent and quality contributions to the forums. Some are awarded for winning competitions, some for achievements (such as the Reviewers Academy badges which are displayed in the first post). If you contribute well and repeatedly to a particular forum and come to the attention of a moderator, you may be rewarded with a tag. Hope that answers your question.

Thanks for the game, Zeph! Some C&Cs shortly... I actually considered outing myself right at the start of day one. The only reason I didn't was that I hoped to soak up a scum kill. I would have been much more pro-active and 'townie' on day one, with the hope of becoming a night target, but had family commitments which prevented me doing much except accuse Potato. I was surprised that more people didn't agree with me on that. I wasted a lot of time suspecting Hinck. He put all his usual scum-tells into this game - therefore negating them as scum-tells; kudos if that was deliberate. The reason I ended up outing myself was that I was trying very hard in PM to get to Hinck to stop and think before pushing ahead with his plan to out all of the pills, and he wasn't listening. He'd also mentioned another inventor whom I knew must be scum. It was about 1am and I had to go to bed, so I just claimed in thread. As it turned out, I think it was the right thing to do. I liked the open set-up, but I was concerned that the numbers favoured scum (6 scum against 16 town is a bit much, I think). I didn't like the pills - I think they made the game too swingy, and more based on luck than skill (or at least rewarded people able to sit and refresh all day, which I was only able to do on the last day with a pill cart). That the pills so heavily influenced the game was highlighted by the entire scum team outing themselves in order to get the best ones, after which the game lost all intrigue and became a bit of a chore. I'm afraid to say that I won't be signing up to any other game which involves picking pills or meals or macguffins. I'm rather amazed that we won. Fhomess and I were discussing the idea of one of us voting for the SK at the very last moment, in the hopes of achieving a draw, but neither of us were able to guarantee being around at the end of the day. Things certainly took an unexpected twist! Incidentally, Zeph, that it was possible for the game to end in a draw is something you might want to bear in mind for next time - and is a good reason to reduce the number of unkillable players.

Looks very nice! Though Steampunk belongs in Sci-Fi. Moving ...

At the moment, it's occupying the Reviewing Area. I'm thinking it'll go on the mantlepiece (it's either that or the floor ), but that'll mean removing some Architecture. I try to anticipate what people will complain about, and I made the point that people would complain about having to spend $200 for Saruman, so his availability in a small set would be a bonus for some; others will complain that about the lack of unique figures in this set (aside from Gríma). This Saruman has a unique skirt. For the score, I've taken into account the Eagle, and included the Ent in here (which is debatable, but he is a movie character). Thanks Rick! That's a good question. The tilting tiles are on the outside of the 'Council Chamber', and if give Saruman's sticker a little more room than two 2x2x3 slopes would allow, but it is possible to replace the tiles with such slopes if you have them. I'll try to get a picture in the dark. I think they've captured all the major movie scenes, and I guess there's be a lot of empty space otherwise. But I'd have liked more Orcs. I think we got the last one.

A long, backache-inducing time! Neither the Dooku nor the Saruman figures have been inventoried yet, and I don't have Dooku, but here are the figures: Yes, I think it is the same head. I do that too. None of my reviews are perfect, and there are always things I would like to improve, given time. Thank you for the feedback (and the back-handed compliment!). I took this one already: It's kinda cheating. The only sets I have which might compete when stood on end are the 10030 Star Destroyer and 10019 Blockade Runner, but neither are built currently. Fair enough. In the Extended Edition you get to see a slightly different side to Gríma, which suits the figure quite well (and explains the shiv he's holding). I think this has been answered - the instructons will undoubtedly appear on S@H before long. Or design your own! I agree. For me, the 'display' factor is always more important. However, I do think it works for display whether you show off the exterior or the interior. We'll have to see whether it passes the 'sister' test.

Vote: The PGO (Purpearljellyblob)

... There stood a tower of marvelous shape. It was fashioned by the builders of old, who smoothed the Ring of Isengard, and yet it seemed a thing not made by the craft of Men, but riven from the bones of the earth in the ancient torment of the hills. A peak and isle of rock it was, black and gleaming hard: four mighty piers of many-sided stone were welded into one, but near the summit they opened into gaping horns, their pinnacles sharp as the points of spears, keen-edged as knives. Between them was a narrow space, and there upon a floor of polished stone, written with strange signs, a man might stand five hundred feet above the plain. - JRR Tolkien, The Two Towers Orthanc is the tower home of traitor wizard Saruman. It sits in the centre of Isengard, a once-lush valley at the southern end of the Misty Mountains, the range which runs like a spine down the centre of Middle-Earth. It is one of the eponymous Two Towers of the middle episode of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, together with Barad-Dûr (in the movies) or Minas Morgul (in the novels). This set represents the flagship of the LEGO Lord of the Rings range. It was first spotted in the background of a photograph of The LEGO Group's design workshop some time ago, but finally revealed in an official press release in April of this year. Although it is not scheduled for release until July, I was lucky to snag an early copy from the shop at LEGOLAND Deutschland during the Eurobricks Event. The sheer scale of the towers of the Lord of the Rings saga - Barad-Dûr, Minas Tirith, Minas Morgul, and Orthanc - makes them difficult to render in LEGO bricks at an affordable price, which I suspect is why TLG have shied away from producing sets of these behemoths ... until now. Of the four, Orthanc is probably the most achievable; let's see how the result shapes up. Review: 10237 The Tower of Orthanc Set Information Name: The Tower of Orthanc Number: 10237 Theme: Lord of the Rings (Shop@Home Exclusive) Release: July 2013 Parts: 2359 Figures: 5 minifigures, Eagle, and Ent Price: GB £169.99 | US $199.99 | EUR 199.99 | AU $279.99 | CA $249.99 | DKK 1699.00 Links ... Shop@Home ... Brickset ... Bricklink ... Peeron The Box Click for a larger full-frontal image This is a big box. It has the same frontal dimensions as last year's UCS-scale 10227 B-Wing Starfighter - a similarly priced set, though with fewer pieces - but it isn't as deep. Orthanc is shown amidst the Ent-derived desolation of the valley of Isengard; an unnamed Ent shakes an Uruk while another Orc attempts to bring him down with a grappling hook; Gandalf simultaneously escapes on an eagle in a strange time-warp of the storyline. A darkening sky sets the mood of the scene perfectly; quite why Barad-dûr is visible in the background is anyone's guess. The height of Orthanc isn't readily apparent from the picture; a small inset therefore demonstrates the tower's dimensions. Round the back, the tower's entire detailed interior is displayed for your perusal, accompanied by insets of various scenes: some canon, some less so. Click for a larger image Behind the parchment-like insets lies a map of Middle-Earth set on a beautiful gradient from earth blue on the right to fiery orange on the left; this is visible to a lesser extent on the front ... ... and continues on the sides: Here are left and right sides respectively. The latter's top edge is on the right, so the map - which continues at the top end of this side - is the right way up. Isengard is just visible in the centre, about a third of the way from the right, at the end of the Misty Mountains range. Kudos to the box artist if its placement here was deliberate. The five minifigures are represented in 1:1 scale on the box top ... ... while the bottom has a wall of text with the usual language lesson. My box is a little battered here, but it has just travelled six hundred miles in the back of an over-packed car. It appears that the set's components were made in DENMARK, CHINA, SWEDEN, HUNGARY, MEXICO, HONG KONG, the CZECH REPUBLIC, NARNIA, the MOON, and EVERYWHERE. What's in the Box? The box flaps are sealed with tape, so it can be flat-packed easily. Out falls the separately-wrapped and cardboard-backed Instructions and sticker pack, and eighteen polybags forming fifteen modules: see one to eight, which includes the separately packed Eagle, and nine to fifteen. The Instructions Three booklets are included, all of a similar size and thickness; all featuring the same image as the box front, and all covered with nice glossy paper. On their backs are an advertisement for the LEGO Club, the detestable WinGangeGewinne kid, and a trailer for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug; I'm not sure whether the last is a console game, a web game, a video, or a set; but whatever it is, it's coming in December 2013. Maybe it just refers to the forthcoming cinematic release. The modular construction is demonstrated over three pages at the start of manual one: It's actually a little daunting. Although the build process is modular, most sections start building directly onto the previous; there are only two places where the tower is designed to separate - between modules 9 and 10, and 12 and 13 - but even then, it doesn't separate easily. Part call-outs accompany the instruction steps, which are generally easy to follow. The Middle-Earth map is faintly visible in the parchment-coloured background. Despite the preponderance of blacks and dark bluish-greys, there are no major colour-differentiation issues; I only made one mistake in the entire build - mistaking black for DBG on a 1x1 round plate - and I noticed the error very quickly. The substantial inventory is located over three pages at the back of book three; click the links for pages 1, 2, and 3. Also at the rear of this booklet is a subversive 'Collect them all!' enticement, in the form of a minifigure display: Quite why this is included in an adult-oriented set is anyone's guess, but I guess adults can be pretty obsessive collectors too (though less likely deface their instructions by ticking the boxes). Other sets from the impressive Summer LOTR range are advertised: We are encouraged to buy two copies of the Black Gate in order to complete the scene; quite what we'll do with two Gandalfs the White is questionable, but it will help towards amassing an army of Eagles. I'm particularly looking forward to the Corsair ship with its Dead crew. Sticker haters beware ... ... there's a lot of them. Thankfully, they are all applied to flat surfaces, but that doesn't stop them being a pain in the backside. I've actually applied them this time, so we'll see where they go later. The Parts To save space and sanity, I've paired the bags up to show the parts. Modules One and Two build the Ent: There's a lot of useful reddish and dark brown here, along with some less useful parts. I can live without the reddish brown wing-end modified brick, and the Symmetrical wedge with fractured top may be relatively uncommon, but I can't see it becoming sought-after. New in dark brown are the Technic ball-joint bricks; a rather unexciting brick to find in a new colour, but it might be useful for tree-building (obviously). I am pleased by the selection of reddish-brown and dark brown bricks, plates and slopes; there's also a useful array of SNOT bricks and brackets, along with a smattering of dark and olive green. It's worth pointing out the two reddish-brown half-arches; these are the continuous-curved type, like the older 2339, but have a reinforced underside like the discontinuous style 76768 (and a new mold number: 14395). See here for a comparison. The three printed 1x1 tiles at the bottom-right of the picture are Ent eyes; one is spare. From this point onwards, we'll be seeing a sea of black and grey, so be prepared. Bags Three and Four build the base of the tower, and the Uruk. There are a whole load of useful basic black bricks, plates, and tiles, and a load of dark bluish-grey SNOT bricks, with more to come later. The 7x3 flags are new in earth blue; the new 'Elven' arches start to feature here. Bags Five and Six ... whoa. These form the SNOT sides to the tower base. Whoa. Need black plates/jumpers/headlights/bows/tiles? Look no further. Shame the 1x1 bricks with handle were on the Pick-A-Brick recently. Saruman appears with Bags Seven and Eight, and he brings with him more black jumpers and headlights: The 4x4 round plate with central cut-out is new in black. Just in front of the red Light Brick is a green and black round ball, the purpose of which we'll see in due course, if you haven't guessed already. There's also ten 1x3 black arches in this selection. Bag Nine should have been included with 7 and 8 - it forms part of the same section: the Throne Room. Here we start to see lots of black 1x2 bricks with grooves, which will feature prominently throughout the set. The two trans-yellow crystal ball globes also appear in the contemporary 79005 Wizard Battle, and serve exactly the same purpose here. Moving on to Bags Ten and Eleven, the black theme continues ... ... here accompanied by Gríma, and many more useful headlights, SNOT bricks, cheeses and tiles. The trans-clear flask with purple liquid makes its first appearance in a non-Collectable Minifigure set. Gandalf finally appears with Bags Twelve and Thirteen: 1x2 grooved bricks, 1x1 bricks, and 1x2 plates with ridge dominate the selection here; in the top right corner are several 2x2x3 slopes and their corner equivalents. Just visible at the front is a single trans-clear minifigure head - I love this part. And finally, Bags Fourteen and Fifteen build the tower's summit with its spines. There are lots of clippy- and clicky-hinges; the latter make for an interesting build technique, as we shall see. The four black 'Persian' arches contrast to the much larger quantity of 'Elven' arches we have seen earlier. Parts Summary There might not be a great spread of new or rare parts in this set, but I hope I have demonstrated the massive quantity of useful elements included. Here are the front-runners: 113 Black 1x1 Brick 86 Black 1x2 Brick with grooves 73 Black 1x2 Plate 58 Black 1x1 Brick with vertical handle 58 Black 1x2 Jumper Plate 54 Black 1x1 Headlight Brick 45 Black 1x1 Plate 41 Black 1x2 Brick 37 Black 1x1 Cheese Wedge 37 Black 1x1 Tile 37 Black 1x2 Plate with ridge 36 Black 1x10 Bow 32 Black 1x3 Brick 32 DkBGr 1x4 SNOT Brick 26 Black 1x3x3 Elven Arch All in all, this makes a great parts pack - if you need black. The Figures From left to right: Saruman the White, Gríma Wormtongue, Gandalf the Grey, Uruk-Hai, and Orc Pitmaster. Just five figures for a flagship set? It seems a bit stingy, especially considering the range which accompanies other sets of the line: this year's 79008 Pirate Ship Ambush, for example, comes with nine. However, we do also get the Eagle, and the large brick-built Ent which is an important character in itself. Moreover, Gríma is (I believe) unique to this set, and Saruman is new to this summer wave. Gandalf the Grey This version of Gandalf - prior to his level in badass after the Balrog encounter - is surprisingly rare in LEGO Lord of the Rings. He previously appeared only in the entry-level 9469 Gandalf Arrives, and there had a different face and pointy hat instead of this 'Dumbledore' hairpiece. His torso is the same here. This face is new, and reversible: amiable on one side, and ... angry? distressed? I'm not sure. This version is the same as included in the 79005 Wizard Battle - which is basically a way for people who just want Saruman to avoid having to buy this set - except he has a cape in 10237. The cape is another issue: it gets awfully crumpled under the beard and headpiece, and the latter doesn't sit comfortably above the cape. Gríma Wormtongue For a bad guy, I find Gríma's LEGO version to be rather sympathetic. He has a countenance which is somewhere between glum and scared; even his 'angry' face is tinged with fear. I like the use of tan to mimic his sallow complexion. His torso is, I believe, unique, though it looks like he's stolen the Ring for himself. His hair isn't nearly greasy enough. Saruman the White I'm slightly annoyed that this figure will soon be available in a £10 set. To be fair, this version comes with a dress and cape, and people would undoubtedly complain about having to buy a $200 set for an essential LOTR character. As head of the wizards' order, his dress robe has the necessary finery, and looks great! He also has a rubbery-feel, decorated hair-and-beard piece, which judging by its feel, decoration, and separate wrapping is presumably a Chinese production. Under the hair/beard, his face is new; though it puts me in mind more of Sean Connery than Chritopher Lee (think Marco Ramius in The Hunt for Red October, and you'll see what I mean). The set includes legs, for when the unposeable dress is too much, and the front-and-back-printed torso is simply gorgeous. Here are Gríma and Saruman for comparison - on the Orthanc balcony: TLG have captured both well. Look also to either side - it's like that tooth piece was made for Orthanc (or Orthanc designed with LEGO in mind! ). Uruk-Hai Solder This guy is nice (if a ferocious cross-bred maggot soldier can be nice ), though sadly he isn't unique. He can be found in quantity in 9471 Uruk-Hai Army, and, with the beautiful White Hand printed armour, in 9476 Orc Forge. Still, at least he's compatible with the rest of the army. His head is reversible, allowing for some variety in Uruk heads within the army; I'd like to have seen some with the White Hand in different orientations, but that might be a tall order. Orc Pitmaster This dude is ugly. But, he's meant to be. He can be found also in 9476 Orc Forge. Sadly, he doesn't have the ears/hair that one of his doubles from that set has, and I think he looks a little 'unfinished' without it. Great Eagle Although not listed as a minifigure, I've included the Eagle here. He comes in a separate polybag, suggesting Chinese production; and has the detailed printing to match. The LEGO Group haven't given him a name, and he isn't directly named in the movie, to my knowledge; however, I've read the book, and I know that he must therefore be Gwaihir the Windlord. (Apparently, in the movie version of Fellowship, Gandalf whispers 'Gwaihir' to the moth, but I confess I didn't pick that up.) Gwaihir consists of three pieces: the body/head, and the two wings. Unfortunately the head doesn't move. He's pretty big, with a magnificent wingspan, as Gandalf here demonstrates. Four studs on the top allow Gandalf to 'ride' him. I'd have preferred somewhere for him to grip, so that he looks like he's clinging on, but hey. The printing of the wings and tail-feathers is beautiful ... ... and it continues on the underside: His 'talons' aren't so hot: just a 2x2 anti-stud matrix. If you want a bigger, more versaitile eagle, use the new CREATOR one. I'm pretty pleased with this, and I'm almost glad LEGO is encouraging us to buy two copies of the Black Gate set - we'll have three eagles! The Ent Here's the unspecified Ent. I'm not sure which Ent he's meant to be - I think only Treebeard is named in the movies - but in LEGO form, he's basically a big Steampunk macha with foliage and a mushroom. There's a nicely irregular, lopsided look as befitting these strange woody creatures. Take your pick as to which of the many Ents he represents. Judging by the earth green 'beard', he might be meant to represent Treebeard himself, though the resemblance isn't perfect: The LEGO version doesn't really have a 'head'; his eyes are level with his shoulders. I couldn't find an Ent exactly like this in the movies. He does have space at the top where Merry and Pippin might perch: You can also see here the he has a Bionic Arm. Turning the grooved cylinder at the back rotates the arm around the shoulder joint. I'm not exactly clear what purpose this serves; the Ent could hurl rocks at the tower, or perhaps high-five other Ents. The gearing is stiff (achieved by using a stud-end axle in a Technic brick), so the arm will stay in whatever position you leave it: Here he's giving some kind of salute. Note the opposable thumbs, meaning he can pick up stuff. The big downside of the Bionic Arm is that the arm can't be abducted (swung outwards) at the shoulder; therefore, when the arm is lowered, the elbow has to twist uncomfortably: He looks like he's about to start dancing here. The stiff ball-joints, strong clicky-hinges at the hips, and huge feet means that he balances rather well: I'm not sure whether he's skating, or pushing something, but it's a dynamic pose. For a tree, he's quite bendy: 90 degrees movement at the hips ... ... forwards or backwards. This is handy for sticking his head in the water if it catches fire, like one Ent in the film. I haven't directly demonstrated this, but he can also swivel at the waist, where a Technic axle allows a full 360 degrees of movement. If he gets tired, he can have a rest: Note the reddish-brown 'wing-end modified bricks' that cover the arms. I hate these parts anyway, but here they are super-annoying: if you try to grip the arm, it's all to easy to apply pressure to the wing end, the result of which will be the piece pinging off across the room. Still, they do help produce a nice contour to the arms. Enty's prehensile arms enable him to pick up figures: Here he's grabbed the Orc and the Uruk. The Bionic Arm doesn't help here, but you can bash the two figures together ... ... like this: Nice. The Tower It's really hard to demonstrate in these photos, but this is a tall building. At 73cm from base to tip, it's the tallest LEGO structure I've ever built (not counting contributions to multi-coloured monoliths at LEGO roadshows when I was little, or an ugly thing I made as part of a team-building exercise at work ). There's some beautiful detailing on the structure, which we'll look at in due course. The basic construction of the tower - four pillars of black rock moulded together and tapering towards the peak with its four spines - is rendered faithfully, though obviously scaled down ... Click each frame for a larger view ... and of course the fourth pillar is missing, to allow the detailed interior to be visible. Now we'll take a look at the exterior, layer by layer, starting at the base: The black is highly reflective. Apparently Saruman lives in Heartlake next to the school. It's also a dust-magnet. I love the way the spines of rock at the base have been recreated with the long black bows, and the tall staircase leading up to the arched entranceway is simply magnificent. To see how the stairs are attached at 45 degrees, click here. Obviously, the number of spines, and the width of the staircase have been reduced to match the scale. Here's what the base should look like: The many 1x1 bricks with vertcal handle, and the 1x2 cheese wedges above, add further realism; compare here. Moving up, the next layer includes lots of little windows, made with 1x3 arches mounted on jumper plates at a half-stud offset. These are rather fiddly to build, but the result is great. Here also is Saruman's balcony, from which he surveys the building of his army and the wanton destruction of his own garden. Again, the detail is reproduced as faithfully as possible given the scale: Click for an alternative shot of this level Those rubbery tooth-pieces are perfect facsimiles of the spines higher up; 1x2 bricks with grooves are used to mimic the vertical spines above the windows. Higher still, we encounter some tall windows made with 6L bars set vertically under Elven arches. Sorry about the dust. You'll notice that the tower tapers in stages, produced by slope bricks at various intervals; the effect is rather more sudden than I'd like, but I think it is forgiveable. Bear in mind that - at minifigure scale - the tower would have to be about three and a half metres tall for the top to be the equivalent of 'five hundred feet about the plain'. I don't know about you, but we don't have room for that in our house. Approaching the summit, some three-brick tall slopes help to taper the tower more gently, and we find more of the tooth-pieces - again accurate to the real tower. I was a little perturbed by the dark bluish-grey stripes which indicate the floors at various levels; however, if you compare to this distant shot, there do appear to be lighter stripes at various levels. This may be a trick of the light, but it excuses the DBG to some extent. There's a notable anomaly in the open-backed construction of the tower: the side pillars are wider than they should be. This is to allow more depth to the interior. I'd like to see someone build a 'complete' tower, which you could probably do with two of these sets (and probably make it a little taller, too. ) Edit: Someone has! See Missing Brick's back wall here. Finally, Gandalf gets imprisoned at the summit platform: I absolutely adore the four SNOT-mounted spines here, with their 'serrated' lower edges. You can just about see these details in this shot. They are attached with an interesting technique: two 1-wide 'male' clicky-hinges on the spines marry to two 2-wide 'female' ones on the central column. This produces both a sturdy connection and a half-stud offset, centering the spines nicely. The Interior Now we get to see inside the great tower, starting with Gandalf's arrival to visit his master Saruman, before his betrayal was revealed. Inside the entrance hall, we find some stickered flags representing drapes emblazoned with the White Hand of Saruman; there's a little statue formed of a plain LEGO Games figure, and some Classic Castle axes in pearl dark grey. The dark blue tile on the floor has a sticker with a diminutive version of this pattern - fantastic attention to detail, even if the result is a little smaller than the real thing, and should really be in the throne room rather than here. This is the best place for Gandalf and Saruman to fight with sticks. Remember the chandelier; it's important. Note also the grooved round brick facing the camera ... ... this controls a trap door ... ... which opens as Gandalf faceplants onto the floor ... ... and drops him into the dungeon. Exactly how it happened in the movie. Ahem. Inside the dungeon hide some stickered Wargs, some creepy eyes, a ball and chain and some bones. Gandalf looks annoyed, probably because he's fallen into a Plot Hole. The box art has Saruman throwing an Orc into the dungeon instead. Moving up, the next room is the Throne Room, containing an ornate throne and the Palantír - one of the Seeing Stones of Númenor, and the source of Saruman's betrayal as he gazed too far and was ensared by the Eye of Mordor. Here Gríma has joined Saruman, to witness the Palantír in use. Pushing up on the chandelier below ... ... activates the Light Brick ... ... and the Palantír glows! But only if you orientate it with the green side down. It's a pity you can't lock the light on - it requires constant finger pressure to keep it lit - but I guess it saves on battery life. An alternative view of this room shows off the bookcases, formed from SNOT-mounted plates and tiles, with a loose stickered 'parchment' tile; there are also colured phials of arcane liquids. The two tall 'lamps' with yellow globes represent these (seen unlit also in the previuous linked picture). Identical lamps are found in the related set 79005 Wizard Battle, which as I've already said is a significantly cheaper alternative for people who want a Saruman figure. I guess the room above is the 'Alchemy Room' - it's where Saruman Builds the Bomb. Gríma is actually meant to be in this scene, though he's looking a little self-conscious. The bomb is mounted on a platform which rotates forward via a little gear (hidden behind Saruman here). Saruman is standing on a 2x2 jumper tile which normally holds the bomb 'lid'. Here we can see the wonderful, tall, arched and barred windows from the inside. More jars and bottles line the shelves; the torches are - wisely - unlit. Floor five is a little chamber with more bookcases, and a couple of large stickered books which may be grimoires, and skulls for arcane value. Pictures of five wizards line the walls, and might indicate that this room is a wizardly council chamber - though you'd be hard pressed to squeeze more than two wizards in here. Saruman, as head of the order, takes pride of place in the centre ... ... while on his left is Radagast the Brown. Radagast plays a significant role in the LOTR novels, but is all but ignored in the films; he is mentioned but once in The Hobbit book, but is cast in the movie: see his image here. The stickered image is a good representation. Two other wizards form part of the Order, but are not named in either the LOTR or Hobbit books; they should both be Blue, but this one is - apparently - also Grey. Note the stickered map on the wall. [Edit - I just watched the first Hobbit movie. There's a lovely in-joke, where Gandalf cannot remember the names of the other two Blue wizards. ] On the right is Gandalf the Grey, and another wizard, this one also Brown. At least the numbers are correct! Another bookcase is found here. On the ceiling is a little trans-clear inverted dome, mounted on a turntable - we'll see what it is for shortly. The sixth and final floor is Saruman's Secret Chamber. In it, his true allegiance to the Eye of Morder is revealed, and he keeps some Uruk armour as mementoes, it seems, along with spare staves. The helmet rests on a trans-clear minifigure head with a round 1x1 tile, also trans-clear. The Keys of Orthanc hang on the wall: the one on the left has some ugly plastic flashing attached, which I'm sure wouldn't have passed quality control in Billund, so probably originates elsewhere. The Secret Room is accessed via a trap door with a folding ladder. Rotating the turntable on the ceiling of the room below allows the trap door to open, and the ladder unfolds. It's a little tight on space, but can be done without removing walls. This is the only means of climbing from one floor to another in the whole tower - save for the entrance staircase. Perhaps the main tower staircase is in the missing fourth wall? Comparison I've saved this move still till now, as it best sums up the entire set: Orcs try to topple and Ent with a rope and grappling hook, with the best exterior shot of the tower in the background. This is also the only decent shot I could find of the tall barred windows of the Bomb Room. Compare the tower again to here. Conclusion Click for a larger image Orthanc features prominently in two parts of the movie trilogy: the encounter between Saruman and Gandalf, in which Gandalf is imprisoned on the summit until rescued by Gwaihir the Eagle; and the destruction of Isengard by the Ents. This set attempts to recreate both scenes, while also allowing for Bomb-building scene with Gríma, and for Saruman to survey his 'army' of Uruk-Hai - if you've managed to collect a significant proportion of the ten thousand figures you'd need! In addition, there are some added extras not in the movies, in the form of the dungeon, the Council Chamber, and the Secret Room, all produced with remarkable detail for such small spaces. The Tower itself is a brave production. There is no way the five-hundred foot tower could be recreated accurately in LEGO bricks at a scale compatible with the rest of the range, and at an affordable price. The result is a necessary compromise - it looks a little squat from certain angles, and tapers perhaps too suddenly, but I hope you'll agree that the outcome is still remarkable - for its detail, its beauty, and its size. And that's just the outside. Inside are six floors of detailed interior, recreating several important scenes from the movies, and packed with little features making the model both a great play-set and a wonderful display and talking-point. TLG have been a little stingy with the figures - I'd have thought that Merry and Pippin could have been included to sit on the Ent; or, failing that, at least another Orc and Uruk, but we do get the one and only Ent figure yet released, in addition to the lovely Eagle mold. All in all, I'm delighted with the set. It's far more impressive in the flesh than even the box art or press-release pictures suggest; of my pictures, only the final 'Conclusion' photo really does justice to its size. It's also a great source of black parts, at a reasonable price-to-part ratio; however, I think I'll keep this built. If I can find a shelf to put it on! Design & Build 9 There's some fantastic attention to detail in the architectural features of the Tower, and a remarkable number of features crammed into the interior. Building the tower is interesting, with plenty of SNOT techniques and offsets used to reproduce the tower's design as faithfully as possible; there is by necessity a little repetition but far less than you might expect. And the result is well worth the effort. Parts 8 If you're after rare or new parts, you might be disappointed, but the set is probably the best source of useful black pieces that I have ever seen. I will never complain about basic bricks in useful colours, and the quantity of headlights and jumper plates is awesome. There's also surprisingly little multi-coloured filler. Figures 8 Gríma is the only unique figure. Saruman could have been a big selling-point had TLG not decided to release him in an entry-level set; he does come with a unique skirt in this set. Coupled with the Black Gate set, Gwaihir will allow the building of a little Eagle Army; the Ent figure is brick-built (and could perhaps be cobbled together from spare parts), but this is the only Ent yet available in the whole LEGO LOTR range. Play and Display 9 Bearing the 14+ age guide, this is an adult-orientated set, but nevertheless includes quite a range of play features, whether it be recreating movie scenes or bashing orcs with the Ent. Mostly, though, Orthanc makes a superb centre-piece for your LOTR display - though it will tend to dwarf the other sets. Value 9 $200 or £170 might be a little outside many people's budget, but for just under 2400 pieces - and useful ones - this actually represents good value. Add to that the enjoyable building experience, and the magnificent result, and I think that the set is well-worth the money. Overall 86% My Score 9/10 This monster is a joy to build and to own. A must for any die-hard Lord of the Rings fan, and a great set for any LEGO Collector. Orthanc you for reading. Please leave a comment! Rufus Acknowledgements All movie scenes © New Line Cinema EB Staff for assistance - especially Rick, Pandora, and ISC. And Hinckley for encouraging 'schnell'. Resources Orthanc at Tolkien Gateway Orthanc at LOTR Wiki LEGO LOTR Page LOTR on Shop@Home My flickr set Endpiece Treebeard forgets which movie he is supposed to be in If you like my reviews, and would like to learn how it's done, please consider joining the Reviewers Academy

Don't worry dude, it was a ship.

Vote: The NPC (Esurient)

I'll echo this. No cats' eyes! We missed our turning on the way there and I had to do a crazy reversing-up-the-slip-road manouevre.

Schnell! Schnell! Kartoffelkopf! - because I need to drive faster. And I have a potato for a head. According to Pandora.

Mystery Pill please!

I invented a device for punching scum in the face.

12 hours of driving and finally we're home - a lot faster than the way out. Lovely to meet you all and looking forward to seeing you again next year! Three cheers for CopMike, Holodoc and Bonaparte for the splendid organisation once again! Now I'm going to sleep for a week. PS Hit 200 km/h on the A-bahn - that's another crossed off the bucket list!