Review: 79001 Escape from Mirkwood Spiders

[Purpearljellyblob]

Appreciate your review . Love those minifigs and rare red foliages.

Edited November 22, 2012 by Purpearljellyblob

[Anduril]

My only complaints about this set are that it comes with Legolas and Tauriel. Both characters aren't in the book. I guess I'll have to put up with that in the movie.

[Mahtion]

You know who were in the Hobbit book? Unnamed Mirkwood Elves and unnamed Elvenking. Does this mean we cannot include Thranduil or his only son Legolas? Is it so incredulous to believe that the Crown prince of Mirkwood would be present in his homeland almost sixty years before he left for the Council of Elrond?

[Styrbjorn]

If I understand you right, I says that the elves live forever, and can only be killed by weapons, or if they are too sad. But they don't die, they come to Mandos in Valinor I think. So it's the same persons:)

[wesker]

My only complaints about this set are that it comes with Legolas and Tauriel. Both characters aren't in the book. I guess I'll have to put up with that in the movie.

I don't have a problem with Legolas appearing since he is the son of Thranduil.

Tauriel however I'm not a huge fan of if her character description is anything to go by. The whole "Commander of Mirkwood's Elvish army who is a greater warrior than any man" thing makes her sound like a massive Mary Sue from some bad fan fiction.

[HawkLord]

My only complaints about this set are that it comes with Legolas and Tauriel. Both characters aren't in the book. I guess I'll have to put up with that in the movie.

Both characters are designed to help the movie from a marketing perspective. Legolas gives us a returning character people will recognize from LOTR and Tauriel gives us at least one major female that can help appeal to a wider audience. I'm not crazy about the decisions myself, but I can understand it, given that Peter Jackson wants to connect The Hobbit with LOTR movies even moreso than Tolkien did with the books.

[Legomaster34]

Great review! This is one of The Hobbit sets I'm most looking forward to!

[Speedboat]

The trees are a bit dark for my taste. I'd rather get some dark brown trees with this set instead of all the black parts. The minifigs are nice really nice though, plus I like the neat spider builds. All in all I think this is a nice set, a shame that we only get two of those dark red leaf parts.

[Big Cam]

This is in stores now. I just saw it at Wal-Mart this morning.

[Jack Bricker]

Great review. I really like this set a lot. I love the spiders and I am really fond of the mini figures especially Thorin. He is awesome and I love the new hair piece that allows a quiver. That is going to be very useful in future MOCs.

[Darth Caedus]

Above Average. The trees still look a bit awkward, but this one is for the minifigures, plain and simple - the rest is a glorious parts pack, begging to be scrapped for MOCs. Red leaves are perhaps the most significant new piece in Wave 2.

[CupIsHalfEmpty]

Just finished reading this section of the novel. It's making me want to buy 6 of these sets so I can hang twelve of the dwarves from the trees and have Bilbo rescue them.

[Faefrost]

Not my favorite set of the wave. The Minifigs are fantastic. But the rest of it is just two small trees and yet more giant spiders. Between Shelob and Harry Potter I already have more than enough giant Lego spiders. There are a lot of really nice little detail parts. The mushrooms are great. Lots of weapons. (Not crazy about the PoP daggers in this set though. They don't blend with the other LotR weapons). The dark red foliage is welcome (even if it is only two sparse sprigs of it.) Overall not a bad little set. I just wish it had something a little more grabbing to it.

[Gryphon Ink]

Tauriel however I'm not a huge fan of if her character description is anything to go by. The whole "Commander of Mirkwood's Elvish army who is a greater warrior than any man" thing makes her sound like a massive Mary Sue from some bad fan fiction.

This is sort of true, but one of the most frequent complaints about Middle-Earth in general is the almost complete lack of female characters who aren't giant ugly spiders. Let's face it, JRRT did not give us many heroic female characters. Even Arwen didn't do half the things she does in the movies. She was a pretty boring character that existed purely as a love interest for Aragorn. I'm glad they changed her, and glad they invented Tauriel. Someone has to lead the Elvish forces in the Battle of Five Armies, and since JRRT didn't bother to describe the Elves at all, they might as well make that someone a woman.

Also, she makes an excellent minifig.

[Faefrost]

This is sort of true, but one of the most frequent complaints about Middle-Earth in general is the almost complete lack of female characters who aren't giant ugly spiders. Let's face it, JRRT did not give us many heroic female characters. Even Arwen didn't do half the things she does in the movies. She was a pretty boring character that existed purely as a love interest for Aragorn. I'm glad they changed her, and glad they invented Tauriel. Someone has to lead the Elvish forces in the Battle of Five Armies, and since JRRT didn't bother to describe the Elves at all, they might as well make that someone a woman.

Also, she makes an excellent minifig.

For all we know half of the 13 Dwarves are women ;)

[Vindicare]

I'm curious how special that box with that red "Preview" label is? I saw(but didn't buy because I don't keep the boxes anyways) that label on this set in a Target today. Should I go back and buy it?

[Gryphon Ink]

I'm curious how special that box with that red "Preview" label is? I saw(but didn't buy because I don't keep the boxes anyways) that label on this set in a Target today. Should I go back and buy it?

It's not really a special set, they just put those labels on this and Barrel Escape when the filmmakers announced they would split the book into three movies instead of two. The Mirkwood scenes were originally going to be in the first movie, hence their inclusion in this wave. Now they are in the second movie. TLG already had the sets designed and didn't want to lose them, so now those sets are "Trilogy Preview Sets". They should have a shelf life exactly as long as the others.

[quatro]

Excellent review, honestly I bought some kits lotr but not this one .. I simply was not altogether an interesting .. I have not been paying much attention to the set up of this review., and I must admit that I am intrigued to buy this set because minifigure and weapons, and even spiders are not bad ..

Thanks to the quality review

[KyleJohnson11]

I picked this set up at the LEGO Store with $10 VIP points. Looking forward to building it after reading the review. Great review BigCam

[Artanis I]

Built this set last night. Nice comprehensive review Cam, almost. You missed the GITD photo! I was a bit disappointed to see that you also got an extra mushroom head, I was hoping I was just lucky. Have to say that I really like the scenery build, it's all completely different parts & colours but it works.

Here's a tip for avoiding the negative "repetitive building" feeling regarding the spiders: build them both at the same time.

Tauriel however I'm not a huge fan of if her character description is anything to go by. The whole "Commander of Mirkwood's Elvish army who is a greater warrior than any man" thing makes her sound like a massive Mary Sue from some bad fan fiction.

that's a risk, I'm sure.

Both characters are designed to help the movie from a marketing perspective. Legolas gives us a returning character people will recognize from LOTR and Tauriel gives us at least one major female that can help appeal to a wider audience.

This is sort of true, but one of the most frequent complaints about Middle-Earth in general is the almost complete lack of female characters who aren't giant ugly spiders. Let's face it, JRRT did not give us many heroic female characters. Even Arwen didn't do half the things she does in the movies. She was a pretty boring character that existed purely as a love interest for Aragorn. I'm glad they changed her, and glad they invented Tauriel. Someone has to lead the Elvish forces in the Battle of Five Armies, and since JRRT didn't bother to describe the Elves at all, they might as well make that someone a woman.

Also, she makes an excellent minifig.

My impression from reading LOTR was that Tolkien didn't have a high opinion of women. True or not, most of the female characters were for looking at or scoffing at (eg the nurse at Minas Tirith or what's-her-face hobbit). Eowyn is the only real exception.

For all we know half of the 13 Dwarves are women ;)

It's the beards!

[Faefrost]

My impression from reading LOTR was that Tolkien didn't have a high opinion of women. True or not, most of the female characters were for looking at or scoffing at (eg the nurse at Minas Tirith or what's-her-face hobbit). Eowyn is the only real exception.

It's the beards!

I don't think that's completely fair. Ole JRR was a man of his time and country. Judging him as someone without a high opinion of women by today's standards is probably not an appropriate way to look at it. He was mainly writing what he perceived as stories for boys. Rousing adventure stories of the type he wanted to read growing up. I think the apparent exception of Eowyn is probably the more telling. He created a true brave hero in her at a time when it just wasn't done. It was obvious she was the most fleshed out female character in his mind. And her portrayal probably reflects more on his views of the fairer sex than all of the others, save possibly Galadriel.

Also don't forget in many ways these books were Tolkien (and his counterpart C S Lewis) working through their experiences in the Great War. A place and time of their lives that were rather brutally male dominated. In those experiences women were for the most part as he portrayed them. Nurses, briefly met foreigners, or those passively and anxiously waiting at home. The fact that he was one of the first to break one of the female characters out of those roles is all the more remarkable. (OK I'll concede Deja Thoris predating Eowyn by a large amount, but you know what I mean).

I really do hope we see some Middle Earth females in minifig form SOON! (Well ok, besides Tauriel, who I can't decide yet if I like or have any use for. I mean one of the real players.)

[Titan]

Awesome review, Big Cam!

It seems like an average set, but those minifigures are what makes it a must buy. Just not sure if folks will be buying multiple ones since it's all just main characters....

[Artanis I]

JRR was a man of his time and country. Judging him ... by today's standards is probably not an appropriate way to look at it.

Yeah, I fully understand and give him concession for that. But it doesn't make it right or wrong, and like I said, that was the impression that I got from the character portrayals, true or not.

[SheepEater]

Hi

I just built this set and although I like the parts, minifigs & design, I am disappointed with the spider silk. Both of mine that came with the set are torn!

Those things are WAY too brittle. It's impossible for anybody, let alone a young child, to play with it without it tearing it. Why couldn't they just use regular white thread like they did with the LOTR Shelob set?

Edited March 11, 2013 by SheepEater

[Blazej_Holen]

This set is very poorly designed. Apreciate this variety brics and minifigs. Like the spiders design but thats it. I built it and have it on a display for a while but now I use these brics for some addiction to my existing sets like Dol Guldur or some...

Only luck is that I bought it for 200 crownds, its like 12 bucs or some.. :)