79018 "The Lonely Mountain": What do you think?

[BrickSev]

Hello fellow AFOL

Merry Christmas to everyone

I'd need your opinion about 79018 "The Lonely Mountain" set.

Is it a set worth to buy?

I always looked it with interested by it has a quite high cost per brick and several persons said it's overpriced for what we get.

Smaug figure looks so interesting, though

What do you think about it?

Also, I was thinking about buying 3 79012 Mirkwood Elf army to build a little "fortress" and two small armies. If I'm not mistaken we can connect several 79012 together. Am I correct?

Is it a good set for what a plan to do?

Thank you very much for your help

[Captain Braunsfeld]

Hello BrickSev,

Smaug is the key element for me in 79018. Rest is ok if you want to build things with sand green.

If you are looking for a decent dragon it is Smaug (didn't we discuss this in another post already?).

I think you can connect several 79012 but it would still make a poor defense wall (probably as easily overrun as in the movie).

Elf figures, however, are ok.

[BrickSev]

Hello BrickSev,

Smaug is the key element for me in 79018. Rest is ok if you want to build things with sand green.

If you are looking for a decent dragon it is Smaug (didn't we discuss this in another post already?).

I think you can connect several 79012 but it would still make a poor defense wall (probably as easily overrun as in the movie).

Elf figures, however, are ok.

Thank you for the info

Do you think Smaug alone justify the price?

79012 does not seem a perfect defense line but it can help army building: Elf and orcs, included "cavalry" of some sort

[Balbo]

Merry Christmas BrickSev

First of all: You can connect the 79012 set and it's a nice army builder set .

The Lonely Mountain Set is very nice, especially Smaug is amazing - he's very huge and detailled, and definitely the star of the set. The other figures are cool too.

The build itself is alright - it contains some lovely details, like the hidden door or the throne - but it is a little bit small compared to the price.

To sum up I would recommend buying it, when you are able to get a small discount

Edited December 25, 2014 by Balbo

[BrickSev]

Merry Christmas BrickSev

First of all: You can connect the 79012 set and it's a nice army builder set .

The Lonely Mountain Set is very nice, especially Smaug is amazing - he's very huge and detailled, and definitely the star of the set. The other figures are cool too.

The build itself is alright - it contains some lovely details, like the hidden door or the throne - but it is a little bit small compared to the price.

To sum up I would recommend buying it, when you are able to get a small discount

Thank you

Discount would be a little problematic lol. Right now my best choices (calculating set and shipping cost) is Lego shop. I have my VIP discount though

I'm very impressed by Smaug. When I read its size for the first time I thought it was a mistake. It looks magnificent. Now, if it would be possible to put a Minifigure on its back it would be amazing. A warrior riding such magnificent dragon in battle

It's nice to see 79012 is a good army builder and it builds two armies. The elves may need some modification (just to now have to many crowns in a single army) but I have several helmets around

Thank you again

[Flieger]

The set, while overpriced, is imo very good. Obviously there is Smaug, but there is more to it:

- minifigs: the arguably most important dwarves other than Thorin are included (Fili, Kili, Balin, Dwalin), all in their fantastic full regal armour which Lego captured quite well. Add in Thorin and you get a wonderful line-up. Bilbo is also a nice figure, even if I would have liked him better with the Mithril shirt.

- build: naturally something like the Erebor is hard to do in Lego, at least at an affordable price. But they got the essence of it and added some nice if questionable play features. What I like best is the throne room - just brilliant, the colours, the build Generally the colours go well together, which surprised me a bit. At first I thought sand-green, grey, gold, and browns don't mix well, but they do. It is a nice display piece. Not as nice as Helm's Deep, but still nice, especially (again, sorry) the throne.

There are two big downsides; one is the excessive price. I think I paid just as much for Helm's Deep which was a lot bigger and had more minifigs. Smaug is probably what makes this set so expensive. The other is the lack of Thorin. A throne needs his king. He also completes the line-up of the regal armour dwarves. Especially after having seen the movie in which the dwarves (irrationally) strip down for battle, the regal armoured Thorin belongs to the Erebor and nowhere. That meant I had to buy the second most expensive set from this Hobbit wave too, although I had zero intrest in the build.

Overall I have to agree with many others: unless you really really want it, I recommend waiting for a discount. But I doubt you'd be disappointed if you don't.

[BrickSev]

The set, while overpriced, is imo very good. Obviously there is Smaug, but there is more to it:

- minifigs: the arguably most important dwarves other than Thorin are included (Fili, Kili, Balin, Dwalin), all in their fantastic full regal armour which Lego captured quite well. Add in Thorin and you get a wonderful line-up. Bilbo is also a nice figure, even if I would have liked him better with the Mithril shirt.

- build: naturally something like the Erebor is hard to do in Lego, at least at an affordable price. But they got the essence of it and added some nice if questionable play features. What I like best is the throne room - just brilliant, the colours, the build Generally the colours go well together, which surprised me a bit. At first I thought sand-green, grey, gold, and browns don't mix well, but they do. It is a nice display piece. Not as nice as Helm's Deep, but still nice, especially (again, sorry) the throne.

There are two big downsides; one is the excessive price. I think I paid just as much for Helm's Deep which was a lot bigger and had more minifigs. Smaug is probably what makes this set so expensive. The other is the lack of Thorin. A throne needs his king. He also completes the line-up of the regal armour dwarves. Especially after having seen the movie in which the dwarves (irrationally) strip down for battle, the regal armoured Thorin belongs to the Erebor and nowhere. That meant I had to buy the second most expensive set from this Hobbit wave too, although I had zero intrest in the build.

Overall I have to agree with many others: unless you really really want it, I recommend waiting for a discount. But I doubt you'd be disappointed if you don't.

Thank you for the very detailed analysis. I too think Smaug is "responsible" for the price but it's indeed an impressive brick-built figure and I'm sure it has an increased production cost. The dwarf armors are really impressive. The first pics I saw didn't make them justice but when I looked at other pics (I noticed sometimes the photos on Lego shop fail to show certain sets in all their glory) I noticed how fantastic they are.

Considering the fact it appears we won't get new LOTR/The Hobbit sets soon, I'm really thinking about putting it in my next order. I know in the very moment it becomes sold out I'll feel to really, really want it

[Zilcho]

Smaug is really good - and you can put a minifigure on his back!

I got the set for Christmas and I love it.

[BrickSev]

Smaug is really good - and you can put a minifigure on his back!

I got the set for Christmas and I love it.

Really?! Wow! It's one of my Lego dreams to put a valiant warrior on a badass dragon (and the other dragon figures are not as impressive as Smaug) and create epic tales (namely MOCs, diorama, comics etc ) about it.

Thank you for the info. Another reason to buy the set

[AFOLguy1970]

Lonely Mountain certainly is overpriced, even when you add the "Smaug Factor". However, it is a nice set in itself. It is far more colorful than Moria. The minifigures are nice, and although they are variants of minifigs introduced before, they are each exclusive to this set. Smaug really was done well. Anyone who is a fan of Middle Earth and Lego would probably want him. It is tough to say what discounts might come about. I doubt the Lego stores or online S@H would discount it, but maybe there is hope in some of the other stores.

As Flieger noted, the absence of Thorin is baffling. Actually, the absence of ANY king (Thorin, Dain, or even Thror) is puzzling. I guess they had to keep Thorin in the BOFA set to help generate interest in that particular set. It seems like the sets were certainly designed to make you feel like each one of them had some essential piece to the puzzle that you need to complete your collection. Sure, this is not the first time Lego has done this, but it is really obvious in this final wave. For Lonely Mountain, it is all about Smaug. Then, if you want to act out Bard vs Smaug in Laketown, you would need both Lonely Mountain for Smaug and Laketown for Bard and the black arrow shooter. Witch King Battle gives you three A lister characters, two of which have never appeared in a set. Then, you have Battle of Five Armies, where you have the Thorin in kingly attire and Dain, and this is the only set that has them.

[Jorrith]

Standard retail price of €139,99 is waaay overpriced for the set, but i managed to grab one on amazon for €100 including shipping. Saw the price, could not resist. Smaug is the star of the set, the only thing i've build of the set, the other items i did not bother to build. Compared to the castle dragon, smaug is huge!

I'd say, if you can find the set at a resonable discount, go for it!

[BrickSev]

Lonely Mountain certainly is overpriced, even when you add the "Smaug Factor". However, it is a nice set in itself. It is far more colorful than Moria. The minifigures are nice, and although they are variants of minifigs introduced before, they are each exclusive to this set. Smaug really was done well. Anyone who is a fan of Middle Earth and Lego would probably want him. It is tough to say what discounts might come about. I doubt the Lego stores or online S@H would discount it, but maybe there is hope in some of the other stores.

As Flieger noted, the absence of Thorin is baffling. Actually, the absence of ANY king (Thorin, Dain, or even Thror) is puzzling. I guess they had to keep Thorin in the BOFA set to help generate interest in that particular set. It seems like the sets were certainly designed to make you feel like each one of them had some essential piece to the puzzle that you need to complete your collection. Sure, this is not the first time Lego has done this, but it is really obvious in this final wave. For Lonely Mountain, it is all about Smaug. Then, if you want to act out Bard vs Smaug in Laketown, you would need both Lonely Mountain for Smaug and Laketown for Bard and the black arrow shooter. Witch King Battle gives you three A lister characters, two of which have never appeared in a set. Then, you have Battle of Five Armies, where you have the Thorin in kingly attire and Dain, and this is the only set that has them.

Thanks for the detailed info.

I don't count on S@H to discount it and I haven't find it at a very discounted price in other stores.

I have to say Lonely Mountain looks far more appealing that BOFA. Both are indeed overpriced but Lonely Mountain gives us a very nice dragon

However, like you said, BOFA is needed if we want to acquire certain Minifigures

Standard retail price of €139,99 is waaay overpriced for the set, but i managed to grab one on amazon for €100 including shipping. Saw the price, could not resist. Smaug is the star of the set, the only thing i've build of the set, the other items i did not bother to build. Compared to the castle dragon, smaug is huge!

I'd say, if you can find the set at a resonable discount, go for it!

It's 129,99€ at "Italian section" of Lego shop. I use section because sets are all shipped by the same place, so it's not a "local store", just a "section" of the site.

That always make me wonder why price vary from country to country, especially among those with the same currency, € in our case. I know it's nothing neither new, nor uncommon but it's still very puzzling.

Anyway, thanks for the suggestion. I'll try to find it a discounted price but it's not easy. Right now the only discount I can get is with my VIP points, which is not bad, though

[Flieger]

It seems like the sets were certainly designed to make you feel like each one of them had some essential piece to the puzzle that you need to complete your collection. Sure, this is not the first time Lego has done this, but it is really obvious in this final wave. For Lonely Mountain, it is all about Smaug. Then, if you want to act out Bard vs Smaug in Laketown, you would need both Lonely Mountain for Smaug and Laketown for Bard and the black arrow shooter. Witch King Battle gives you three A lister characters, two of which have never appeared in a set. Then, you have Battle of Five Armies, where you have the Thorin in kingly attire and Dain, and this is the only set that has them.

Quite right. But to be fair, they did so from the very start. In the first wave, you had to buy all the sets to complete the company. Ok, the company is big, but still... I think this modular approach is kind of acceptable as single sets would probably start getting too expensive and/or not profitable enough (for example, if Lake Town also had a Smaug).

It is just that the actual battle of the BotFA movies should have been split in more sets, not just one.

[BrickSev]

Quite right. But to be fair, they did so from the very start. In the first wave, you had to buy all the sets to complete the company. Ok, the company is big, but still... I think this modular approach is kind of acceptable as single sets would probably start getting too expensive and/or not profitable enough (for example, if Lake Town also had a Smaug).

It is just that the actual battle of the BotFA movies should have been split in more sets, not just one.

It makes sense.

The "major" complain I heard is not about the sets being modular but about the fact the throne in 79018 comes without its king.

In other words, they could have made a different selection of Minifigures for 79018, still using the "modular" approach. That's what I heard from several persons who bought the set

[Risgrynsgrot]

Well, I can't really add anything. Most other people have said what I think about it. It's nice, but very overpriced. Doesn't matter that Smaug costs much, it still feels overpriced.

Lack of Thorin is appaling, you get the arkenstone and the throne of Erebor but no King under the mountain? However like the others have stated it IS a nice set, lots of delicious sand green and pearl gold, Smaug (playmobil dragon aside) is the best molded creature LEGO has ever made (albeit I'm worried how his wings will stand the test of time, both the joints and the "skin" between his fingers)

Like the others have said all the figs are nicely detailed, and unique in their own rights. I paid roughly 60 % of the RRP which I think was a reasonable price, but again it's up to you how much you're likely to pay.

[BrickSev]

Well, I can't really add anything. Most other people have said what I think about it. It's nice, but very overpriced. Doesn't matter that Smaug costs much, it still feels overpriced.

Lack of Thorin is appaling, you get the arkenstone and the throne of Erebor but no King under the mountain? However like the others have stated it IS a nice set, lots of delicious sand green and pearl gold, Smaug (playmobil dragon aside) is the best molded creature LEGO has ever made (albeit I'm worried how his wings will stand the test of time, both the joints and the "skin" between his fingers)

Like the others have said all the figs are nicely detailed, and unique in their own rights. I paid roughly 60 % of the RRP which I think was a reasonable price, but again it's up to you how much you're likely to pay.

Smaug was indeed the first thing that caught my attention, then I noticed the rare sand green and gold and the fact the whole could even fit a little project I have in mind

In 2015 there will be a new dragon. It's not a molded creature but an actual set. It's 31032 Red Creatures but it is smaller and it does not look as impressive as Smaug.

However it can be nice for any Fantasy fan who wants an "army" of dragons

3-5 small dragons led by a larger dragon like Smaug can be an entertaining sight

When I place the next order I'll decide what to do. Right now I'm very inclined toward ordering it, especially since it seems LOTR/The Hobbit themes are about to be discontinued.

In the mean I'll try to look around to see if I find at a discounted price