Review:79001 Escape from Mirkwood Spiders/CzechMate

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I didn't really want to buy that many Hobbit/LOTR sets as I'm not a big fan, but this one appealed to me, as well as Riddles for the Ring, so I received this for Christmas. This is well and truly overpriced at $50, but there is quite a lot of playability. 4 figures, plus two good build spiders, which are supposedly Shelob babies, and appear for a second in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, climbing on top of Radagast the Brown's hut. Yeah, that's about as much as I know, having read the book, and seen the movie (which wasn't all that fantastic, either). I would go on about what I didn't like about it, but I don't feel a need to hurt some of you LoTR fans. (And for the record, the book wasn't that great, either).

The Box

Decent box-art for the set, gives you an idea of what it will look like in the next film, which is to be released sometime in December this year. The box shows Tauriel battling a spider with two daggers, and Orlando Bloom (I mean, Legolas) looking unhelpful with a bow, not really attacking either of the gigantic, overgrown spiders, or helping get Fili or Kili down from the cocoons, who are obviously annoyed that either of the elves care.

The Minifigures

You get 4 minifigures, Tauriel, Legolas, Fili, and Kili.

Fili (I think)

Fili doesn't look too much at all like his film counterpart, but it's not like LEGO have ever screwed up a character, at all. His hairpiece isn't really that much at all like the film counterpart, again, but is molded nicely to let the bow still go in, without having to take off his hair. He comes with two small swords, which to me, look good for Castle mocs, and may be in the new Castle theme in the second wave of 2013. I'm not too big on the all brown suit, it looks a bit odd, to me.

Kili

Kili looks pretty good, but has some of his brother's problems of not looking much like his film counterpart. His colour scheme to me looks heaps better, and it seems like it fits. His head print reminds me of Captain Rex's facial prints, so I almost felt like I was building a Star Wars set (but happy I wasn't cause those sets often disappoint). He comes with a bow, which I quite liked, as we don't see that many bows anymore. Not too much to say about this minifigure, but I love hew they fit well inside their cocoons :P.

Tauriel

Despite the fact she wasn't even in the book, and made up by Peter Jackson, this is a genuinely good figure. She has the same hairpiece as Legolas, but in orange. Her torso and legs are in Dark Green, which looks good. She comes with two old dagger pieces, from Prince of Persia, so none of the weapons are exclusive in this set.

Legolas

Legolas is in a new version (yay!). He has a decent printing, and has gold arms, which looks OK, to me. His torso prints continue onto his legs, which are again, brown. He comes with mega cheek bones on his face, with a neutral expression. Another bow, which is supposedly exclusive to both of his variants.

The Build

The build is fairly entertaining, and has quite a few good features, which often look odd when you're building. The cocoons come in delicate cases, like all cloth materials.

The Spiders

Very good, interesting build, and building techniques in these spiders, with cool glow in the dark stud eyes. They have very nice feet, and body pieces, which look good once you have completed the build. You build these first, so it's not really a minifigure.

Forest parts

The first bit is a small build, but looks great with the dark red pieces around it. There are nice details with the bone pieces, and the skeleton head, which decorate the set fabulously. A few tail pieces from the BIONICLE figures, which I actually own, so no new pieces there :P. I new arch/tree branch piece in there, which I took note of, and looks fairly useful.

The second bit of the forest looks just as good as the first, and has a nice little play feature, with the cocoons, which are great pieces in this set. Decorated with more skulls and bones, this is a great part of the set. There are two major features here - the falling branch, and the spider shooter. The branch will fall down when you pull out an axle, which is a nice feature, allowing the two dwarves to get out of the cocoons. The second feature is a spider shooter, to fire a glow in the dark spider at the two elves, which seems a bit pointless, as they are already battling two gigantic ones. The cool detailing continues with the dark red, and the black.

Overall

Overall, I am quite happy with this set, and it fins in well with my mega Monster Fighter collection (I own all of the sets now, even polybags :D). The colours work very well with this, and it's an amazing set, but pity about the $50 price tag, which is not attracting buyers at all.

Overall	4½ / 5
Minifigures	5 / 5
The Build	4½ / 5
Price	2½ / 5
Value for Money	4 / 5
Playability	4 / 5

So, this is a good set, I recommend it, mostly for those who just want a nice build, and figures.

- czech