CC Set Review: 9472 - Attack on Weathertop

[Bruce N H]

Join the Classic Castle set review discussion. Please post your opinions on the set play ability, piece selection, design, etc. Which sets stand up to our catapult of critique and which ones crumble in shame!

This week’s set is 9472 - Attack on Weathertop.

Another set from the first wave of Lord of the Rings sets, this one includes two Nazgul, Strider, Merry, and Frodo (with a different torso than in the Gandalf Arrives set) bearing the Ring. The hill is built up of bricks and opens up to reveal a chamber. Geeky detail - the stand inside that chamber once held a Palantir back in the days when this wasn't just a ruin and instead was the fortress of Amon Súl.

[Athos]

I really like this set too. I think it really nails the look of the ruined watch-tower. Not a lot of goofy parts either, just mostly good basic bricks and plates. Cool figures, with Merry and the Nazgul. Even the spiral staircase, that I usually look silly and that I generally don't like, is done really well here. And the silly flick fire missles, which make absolutely no sense, aren't intrusive to the design.

Worst thing about it, was the price. It was a little too expensive at full MSRP.

Steve

[Lil_Curt]

Once I got a hold of this set thanks to Sschmidt, my thoughts are its a great little set. Has many good things going for it. First you get 2 Horses in black. Second the ring wrath's, I love the hoods and the capes. 3rd more hobbits. The set opens up and there is even a trap door. Many good techniques for building rock work, a good parts assortment, and I love that it hinges open for play-ability.

The cons to this set is I to feel it is overpriced at retail, I was able to get one on clearance and could stomach the shipping price. It was still cheaper then full retail. Also I am not a fan of flick fire missals but they don't detract from the finished build. all in all it gets a from me. Good set if you can find it for a good price.

[mpoh98]

Hmmm...This set is very tricky. There are a lot of pros and cons with this set.

Pros - 1) the minifigs are amazing! You get 2 horses, ring wraiths, 2 hobbits, and aragorn. That is a lot of minifigs for one set! This is one of the main reasons why I would buy it.
2) Nice pieces. This set comes with some great pieces for castle building, the spiral staircase, and the creation being built with bricks, not just bunches of the panels.

Cons - 1) PRICE! This set is way overly priced, I definitely do not like that. If I don't find it on sale, it is not worth it.
2) Presentation. I don't like how the set looks at all. It is too small, Lego could improve their rockwork, the ruins aren't very convincing, etc. Now this goes for a lot of their sets, but I still don't like that. It isn't appealing to me, like Helms Deep was. The price didn't help.
3) Playability. Ok, I know that Lego HAS to have playability in their sets, but flick-fire missiles? Seriously? That was one of the worst parts that I found in this set. I like being realistic, flick-fire missiles in Lord of the Rings is NOT realistic! The other play abilities were fine, I just don't like the missiles.

I am 50/50 on this set, if you can find it for a great price, I would definitely recommend it. Otherwise, not really.

[Purple Wolf]

I may not own the set but I have seen it in person and from what I can tell it a very nice set. First off there are two black horses with saddles. The figs are really good selection and the design of the set is really well done manly because it looks good from all for sides most castle/forts/ruins don't look good from the back but this pulls it of. Plenty of weapons which is always nice. The only thing I don't like is the price but that will always be a problem with licensed sets.

Purple Wolf

[AK_Brickster]

I'll give this a 6.5/10 if you paid full price, but 9/10 if you got it on clearance. Lots of great parts and figs, but as everyone else has said, full price was definitely on the high side. Luckily, it went on sale several times before the production run was over.

[Formendacil]

This was my first LotR set, so as a die-hard Tolkien fan, it had to bear a lot of scrutiny in terms of whether I would open up to this movie-based line... and the verdict was that it they'd knocked it out of the park. Honestly, every LotR or Hobbit set has been a little bit of a let-down since this one--even An Unexpected Gathering, which is phenomenal (albeit at a higher pricepoint).

The things that Attack on Weathertop have going for it include solid design, both as a LEGO set and as a representation of something from the film, and in terms of minifigs. Regarding that first bit, this set is the best example I can think of seeing in any licensed theme where the set is both a solid build and looks immediately like something from the source material. Vehicles work very well for this (hence, perhaps, the success of Star Wars) but locations and buildings are much more hit-or-miss, and they nailed it here.

As to minifigs, five minifigs is a generous portioning in a licensed theme at this price-point, and as LotR minifigs go, this set is remarkable for only having Frodo in the category of "minifigs too often repeated in sets with no army-building potential"--and even Frodo comes in enough distinct varieties that this is much ameliorated. We also get an Aragorn and a Pip--I mean, Merry? Yes, I think it's Merry... --and two Black Riders. Impressively, LEGO didn't skimp out and only give us one horse between the two of them, which, while disappointing, would not have been a huge surprise, especially for what was a brand new mould at the time.