Radagast is true to his onscreen counterpart, even bearing a pretty good likeness to the 7th Doctor, and friend of DOOM, Sylvester McCoy. The figure is highly detailed and I’ll appluad that, despite the primary colour being brown, the figure features some ornate detailing on the waistcoat and even includes the streak of bird poop that stains his matted hair. His articulation suffers due to his robe and beard so the only parts to make good use of the swivel joints are the arms, moving a the shoulders, elbows and wrist. Not bad.

Gandalf the Grey is a hold over from the previous An Unexpected Journey line (more on that later) and features his staff, sword and hat. Unlike his Brown bretheren, Gandalf is less hindered by his sculpt, allowing for the waist turn to be used but like last time, his legs don’t see much action under the stiff robe. McKellen’s likeness is not as good as McCoy’s but it’s pretty close! His robe has a nice woven texture to it which lends him a little more authenticity. Again, not too shabby.

Azog is probably my favourite out of the three single figures but again, he share some of the same limitations as the other two. His hips are hindered but at least his waist and knees are freed up to allow for some more interesting poses. His head, despite being on ball joint, is severely limited, only allowing for a limited degree of turning before the angles get unnatural. The sculpt is fantastic, with lots of detail and an amazing wash put over the flesh to give the white orc his pasty hue. His iron claw gets a nice metallic finish and his accesory is some kind of bone morning star, which is pretty cool. Definitely my favourite out of the bunch.

Next up, we head into the arena of two-packs and this is where I lose a little bit of my objectivity. But I’m still not quite ready for a tirade just yet. I’ll get there…

This two-pack features the funny duo of Bilbo and Gollum. I really enjoyed their interactions in the movie and I look forward to what they do with them in the next movie, if he even appears (I never read the book). This is a natural two-pack to do as they’re two of the biggest, well-known, characters of the franchise so you get Bilbo with Sting and a backpack and Gollum with… a pair of binoculars? I honestly don’t know what his accessory is supposed to be. Anyway, Gollum is a great sculpt and in a shocking turn of events, includes an abdomen crunch! Not even Azog got one of those but it helps Gollum hunch over as he is one to do. Bilbo is okay, he has the most freely accessible joints of all the figures so far, actually being able to use all of the advertised 12 points of articulation. Overall a really fun two-pack that HAS ALREADY COME OUT JUST OVER A YEAR AGO.

That’s right, folks. This two-pack appeared in the Unexpected Journey line as well. With no changes. Infact, ALL of the advertised two-packs are holdovers from the previous line! Even most of the single figures are repacks of first movie figures (only Azog and Radagast are new). I realise Hasbro has pulled this kind of stunt for years (repacking older figures in new waves) but to blatantly do it with an entire line just over a year after the first line died is despicable. So do I recommend the figures?

Surprisingly, yes, but only because I know for a fact that you can pick up most of these figures in discount retailers like Home Bargains for £2-£4 for singles figures and two-packs. If you need Azog and Radagast, pick them up at regular retail but because these will probably end up at discount retailers within six months too, I would recommend waiting.
It’s just a shame this experience has tainted my like of these toys because they’re not all bad, some a very good in fact. Azog is a very fine figure and even the Bilbo/Gollum two-pack has its charm.

With The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug hitting theatres pretty soon, it’s only naturally that the toy lines are being rolled out just in time for Christmas. For the moment, I’ll be looking at LEGO’s offerings with their continuation of the Hobbit line into this movie with the Lake-town Chase set. Having never read the book, nor seen the movie yet, how about we let the blurb give us some context?

Bilbo Baggins™ and Thorin Oakenshield™ have washed up on the shores of Lake-town. Help the heroic Bard the Bowman™ to sneak them in aboard his boat, hide in the barrel and sail into town. Sneak through the secret passageway into the armory to grab a weapon and tiptoe past the Guard to take the prison key. Blow out the prison wall for the ultimate distraction! Can our heroes avoid being blasted by the prison roof catapult and escape to safety? Includes 5 minifigures with assorted weapons and accessories: Bilbo Baggins™, Thorin Oakenshield™, Bard the Bowman™, Master of Lake-town and a Lake-town Guard.

So hey, a daring prison break under cover of darkness with a dashing rogue, though who they’re breaking out is up for debate since both Bilbo and Thorin are sneaking IN to the town but whatever, we’re not here to nitpick plot threads in a LEGO set! We’re here to review it so let’s set sail for adventure!

79013 Lake-town Chase retails for around £49.99 and boasts a 470 piece count. This boosts my building size from the previous LEGO set by a decent jump but first, MINIFIGURES!

This set comes with five minifigures, each distinct and cool in their own right. Even the generic guard has a fun design. Four out of the five receive an alternate face printing that allows for extra play value in these minifigs, something I hope they keep doing in the future since having different emotions allows for kids to be more engaged. Each character gets their own unique weapon but there are still plenty to hand around in the main set itself so let’s dig into…

A whole lot of brown! I’m not even kidding, every bag has large brown components to it and while that may not be very interesting, it gives the set a consistent feel. The first build is the boat and boy is it fun. It’s a very simplistic build in concept but by combining two regular boats with a little hidden connection, you end up with something reminiscent of a Viking long boat and a robust vehicle build that’s simple.

Next up is the wooden armoury so lots more brown. The buildings are where the pieces really go as the building forms from a very solid foundation up. It’s not pretty but it does have a hidden passageway gimmick going for it, as well as storage for extra weapons. It’s nice that they break up the brown with dots of white (I assume it’s snow) and blue to represent the water. Throw in some earthy greens and you’ve got a well balanced and aesthetically pleasing second part.

I neglected to mention earlier how this set comes in four bags, as well as the tiny piece bags inside each. The 3rd bag is the first half of the main building, a prison/gatehouse. The bulk of the prison portion is built on the same foundation as the armoury, and forms a solid base for the second half. One of the prison’s barred walls allows for it to be blown out from the inside out with a simple lever.

The 4th bag builds on top of the prison and adds far more green into the mix and all the pieces tie together really well. Once complete it can feel a little small but when looking at it objectively, the building is very well constructed and has a very pleasing aesthetic. The interior of the upper building is a little sparse but includes some nice details and connects to an overlook that has a catapult.

For saying this set only features 30 more pieces and costs £15 more than the Galaxy Squad set, you’d think I’d recommend waiting for it to drop in price and while I’m always in favour of getting a deal rather than pay full retail on anything, the Lake-town Chase surprised me in how much fun it was to build. It has a consistent aesthetic that fits with the Tolkein universe and has tons of play value, leaving you with a robust and entertaining LEGO set. This set, as well as the others in the Desolation of Smaug line, should be hitting stores as of time of writing but keep your eyes peeled to DOOM because I’m not quite done with this particular Hobbit quite yet…

Lord Dickbag
Heeeyyyyy, it’s THIS GUY.… You know the one. The one from the book! Fine, I admit it, I know something in the region of Eff and All about Middle Earth and it’s inhabitants. I’ve never read any of the books! This guy looks pretty evil though! Look at him, with his eyebrows… Insidious. Lord Elrond was a pretty cool guy in the last one so I have to assume that this guy will be an immense dickbag.

My Old Balls
Damn, Thorin is looking old as balls. He’s all greying and shit, I’m guessing this is going for more of a realistic timeframe for the quest than the week it seemed to take in LoTR. Some of the other dwarves look noticeably older too or at least more haggard.

“With special guest appearance!”
Legolas? Was Legolas in The Hobbit? I don’t think he was, I remember someone telling me Legolas and Gimli were going to make appearances in the movies, despite not being in the book. He seems a little more blood-thirsty in this one and less the jokester we know. He’s got weird eyes too, yo!

Dem ears, gurl!
Legolas’s partner in archery, Tauriel seems to kick all kinds of ass. That’s pretty much all I have to say about her. Apart from she’s really pretty~

A Barrel of Laughs
That is the best joke I could make for this article.

Duck Tales
Woo-Hoo! (Okay, that was kinda funny)

Smauglock
Benedict Cumberbatch finally makes a full appearance as Smaug and damn, he’s a big’un! I honestly didn’t expect the dragon to be THAT big. It’ll be fun to see more of him in action when the movie hits.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is due in theatres 13th December 2013. I cannot wait!