An Unexpected Gathering - New Hobbit Lego Sets

Today we are going to be taking a look at the first of the new Hobbit Lego sets. We will tell you all about An Unexpected Gathering plus the release date and price of the set. If you are a fan of the Lord Of The Rings Lego sets then this new Hobbit one is also one that you should really like. An Unexpected Gathering looks like being a really good set with some nice minifigures.

Fans of the LOTR were in eager expectation of Lego sets for over a decade. That is how long it took Lego to finally strike a deal for the rights to Tolkien’s works. So now we have seen a range of LOTR toys and later in 2012 we are going to be getting a range of Hobbit Lego sets. The very first of these was previewed at Comic-Con in San Diego and now fans can’t wait to get there hands on it. So let’s take a closer look at this new set.

So as we mentioned the first new set released under this theme is going to be called ‘An Unexpected Gathering’. This is based on one of the opening scenes from the movie or opening chapters from the book depending upon how you look at it. Bilbo is in his little Hobbit hole in the Shire when all the dwarves show up to take him off on an adventure. This is a classic scene and one that many people were expecting to see turned into brick format. So what exactly does this new set feature.

Well first of all let’s tell you about the brilliant new minifigures. As you would expect we get a nice little Bilbo figure, pretty simple with nothing too flash about him. Then Gandalf is also included, he is in gray with his hat on and of course his wizards staff. Then you have four of the dwarves, Dwalin, Bombur, Bofur and Balin. The beards on these look wonderful and they all look a little bit different. It looks as though Dwalin will also be carrying a rather impressive looking hammer as well.

The set itself is very green as you would expect. The amount of detail is what really stands out though. The little portal shaped doors look brilliant and swing open very nicely. The flowers in Bilbo’s garden add that nice little bit of detail. There is a bench and even a bucket with some vegetables in. You might assume that all the detail is just round the front, but the back is also very well done as well. You can see inside the hole and you see a table with plates of food and goblets on, you see a little stove with pans on and you even have a bucket with a mop in. Really impressive level of detail and some nice touches to make it feel just like Bilbo’s home.

When it comes to release date lego have told us this will come out early in 2013. The way it tends to work though is that the release date gets pushed forward, so don’t be at all surprised if we see this one on sale in December sometime. As for the price we are expecting it retail at around $60 although this may well change as we move closer to the release date.

An Unexpected Gathering is currently the only set that Lego has confirmed. But there are rumours of four more sets that we could well see released at the same time. These are said to be a set based on Mirkwood with some spiders. One based on Gollum’s cave under the misty mountains. One based on the realm of the goblin king and also a set revolving around the goblins chasing Bilbo and the dwarves. As we said these are not currently confirmed but they do seem to be more than likely.

It is going to be really interesting to see what kind of Lego bring out over the next few years. The Lord Of The Rings sets that we got back in June were fantastic and we are told to expect lots more releases from this theme. The amount of available options in this regard is very exciting, so many classic scenes and places could be turned into brick format. Will we get a Minas Tirith build, possibly Orthanc, maybe a Mount Doom? As you start to think of some of the possibilities it becomes very interesting.

As for future Hobbit sets well the scope is not quite as grand, but there are still plenty of classic scenes that Lego could turn to. One that a lot of people have said they would like to see is something featuring Smaug. How impressive would a giant Smaug build be? For now though we will just have to be patient and wait and see what is in store. If the new An Unexpected Gathering set is anything to go by though we should be getting some really impressive Lego Hobbit sets in the not to distant future.