If you were lucky enough to preorder the LEGO Lord of the Rings videogame from certain retailers, you got an awesome Elrond minifig. I did just that, and decided to review him for your reading pleasure. You can still find him out there if you look hard enough, and hopefully this review will help you decide if such a hunt is worth it. Read on!

Presentation
From the design of the box to the instruction manual, these are the first things you see before building the set.

Elrond comes in a simple polybag, showing off the angry elvish warrior we all know and love. Pop it open and out come the parts. No instructions required I suppose...

Building
Half the fun is had building the set. How fun is it to build and how easy or challenging is it?

…because this set is literally just a minifugre. I took pictures of each of the incredibly complex building steps though, just in case you needed some help. But let's be serious - this is the simplest build I've seen all year.

Set Design
Now that the set is complete, we can critique how it looks from every angle. New or interesting pieces can also be examined here.

The parts, oh man the parts. There may not be much here, but they're all winners. His legs are olive green and his torso is gold, each with appropriate printing. The hair has his elf-ears built in, in what I think is a new mold. My bag (along with many others, from what I hear) came with a small cape instead of a large one, but a couple of emails to LEGO Customer Service have a new one coming my way. The sword is all new and captures the movie prop perfectly.

The olive green legs and gold torso are awesome in their own right, but the deco beautifully captures Elrond's armor from the flashback scenes to the end of the Second Age of Middle Earth. He looks every bit the regal and imposing fighter you'd expect. The face doesn't say 'Hugo Weaving' to me, but it still gets the job done - he looks like a wise and mighty half-elf.

I already mentioned the printing, but as you can see it continues onto the back, still being awesome. His head is two-sided too, so he can yell at Isildur to cast the One Ring into the fires of Mount Doom.

Playability
The other half of the fun is in playing with the set. How well does the set function and is it enjoyable to play with?

There's no real play features here, it's just a minifigure, albeit an awesome one. I hope, however, that his existence means we might get a set with Sauron, Elendil, and Isildur in the future, in which case he'd compliment them perfectly. And oh the fun we would have then, precious…

Final Thoughts
Once it's all said and done, how does the set stack up? Should I get it?

Pros What's to like? Captures the character well Awesome new sword Great detail in the printing Lots of unique parts/prints Cons What's not to like? Wrong size cape Not widely available No Sauron, Elendil, or Isildur

If you don't already have Elrond, you're probably not going to get him. But if you're a big fan of the LEGO Lord of the Rings line, I think he's definitely worth it.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this review. As per usual, feedback and questions can be left in the Talkback topic. We've got more (and bigger) reviews on the way, so keep checking back right here on BZPower!

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