Lord Of The Rings LEGO - The Mines Of Moria

The scene in the move "Lord of the Rings; Fellowship of the Ring" where the nine companions fight the Orcs and Cave Troll in Balin's tomb is a very memorable one and here is a set which recreates parts of it. Probably the mini figure which most fans will love the most is the huge Cave Troll but he is also accompanied by two hideous Moria Orcs brandishing their weapons. To oppose these beast are four of the Fellowship; Boromir, Gimli, Pippin and Legolas. This is a must for LEGO collectors who wish to obtain the whole nine Fellowship members.

Buy LEGO The Lord of the Rings Hobbit The Mines of Moria 9473

This is a really cool set with a very high level of playability so that young fans of Lord of the Rings will love this. The mini figures are all extremely well designed although it is a shame that a scene which features all nine heroes in the movie only comes with mini figures of four. Oh well, they are all available in other Lord of the Rings LEGO sets.

What's Cool

• Boromir comes armed with sword and cool Gondorian shield.

• Face printing and hairpiece really give Boromir the right look; he really resembles the character in the movie.

• Great color scheme and highly detailed printing on the torso and legs give this mini figure an excellent appearance.

• Red cape adds to Boromir's heroic appearance.

What's Not Cool

• Nothing, Boromir is one of the coolest of the nine minifigures of the nine characters that form the Fellowship of the Ring.

What's Cool

• This Legolas mini figure has a great hairpiece with plaiting and attached pointy elf ears.

• Legolas comes armed with bow and arrow.

• Printing on the torso give a highly detailed impression of Legolas's elf clothing.

• Leg printing completes the look of Legolas's long coat.

What's Not Cool

• Because of Legolas's long hair it is not possible for him to wear a quiver of arrows.

What's Cool

• Gimli's beard is really detailed with plaited mustache and long shaggy appearance.

• Nicely molded helmet with detailed printing.

• This is a short mini figure which reflects the fact that he is a dwarf.

• Nice color scheme with detailed printing on the torso, back and front.

• Gimli comes armed with a large, two-headed, battleaxe and a shorter throwing axe.

What's Not Cool

• Exactly the same size as the Hobbit mini figures, whereas dwarves are larger in the movies.

• Gimli's legs cannot be moved.

• This mini figure is exactly the same as the Gimli which is contained in the Battle of Helm's Deep set.

What's Cool

• Pippin has the new Hobbit hair piece as do all the other Hobbit mini figures in this theme.

• Two expressions come on the double-sided head.

• Pippin's short cloak adds to his overall look.

• Highly detailed printing on the torso gives Pippin an authentic Hobbit style.

• Comes armed with small sword.

What's Not Cool

Pippin's legs cannot be moved, the same as all the other mini figures that use short legs.

What's Cool

• This is a giant mini figure that makes all the others look very small.

• Cool color scheme and detailed body printing.

• Superb roaring mouth and printed face details.

• Moveable arms and rotating hands that can grab other mini figures.

• Comes armed with a huge club.

• Has a stud on his back so that other mini figures (especially Legolas) can jump on top of him to fight him.

What's Not Cool

• The Cave Troll's legs cannot be moved.

What's Cool

• Printed face gives the Moria Orc a hideous appearance.

• Green flesh gives the Moria Orc a distinct appearance from the Mordor Orcs in the Orc Forge LEGO set.

• Cool hairpiece.

• Intricate body printing on front and back of the torso gives added detail.

• Two Moria Orcs come in this set!

• The Orcs come armed with cool weapons; one with a giant scimitar and the other with a flail.

What's Not Cool

• More Orcs would be better to create a larger battle.

• Although there is double sided printing on the face, both expressions are almost identical.

For a full review and close ups of all the mini figures and parts of the Mines of Moria Lord of the Rings LEGO set, watch the video clip below.

The gate to Balin's tomb is a nicely detailed part of the Mines of Moria set with dwarvish runes above the door and nice wooden effects for some aspects of the door and stone effects on some parts of the wall. 

The door itself is sealed shut with Gimli's battleaxe which fits nicely into the slots and a fire torch and spear are placed either side.

One of the fun play features is a device at the side which when turned makes a piece of the gate collapse as if the weight of the Cave Troll bashing the door has wrecked the masonry.

The back door to Balin's tomb is a nice stage for the minifigures to fight upon with some fun play features built into it.

The design is interesting and there are nicely detailed bricks and decorations which make this piece look quite cool but the fun really starts with features such as the treasure chest containing treasure and the stone columns which collapse when various mechanisms are operated. These collapsing pieces create a really chaotic effect when making your Lord of the Rings mini figures do battle in the Mines of Moria.

This little well is nicely designed and is, of course, one of the features which is seen in the movie.

The shape and color of the well is nice and some weeds growing next to it are a nice touch too, as are the stone shapes that appear on it.

The main feature of the well is the sliding plate which supports the skeleton and bucket on a chain until it is withdrawn making the skeleton fall down the well and alerting the Orcs to the presence of the members of the Fellowship. This feature adds nicely to the playability of this Mines of Moria set.

Balin's tomb is a really cool addition to this LEGO set and is the centrepiece to the scene.

The tomb looks just like the version in the movie and the lid even has the same dwarvish runes etched onto it as are written in the novel "The Fellowship of the Ring".

Inside the tomb is Balin's skeleton which is revealed by flicking the mechanism below it which results in the tomb's lid falling off.

This is another piece in the set which allows fans to  play with it and recreate the scene in the movie. The book of Mazarbul, from which Gandalf reads, also comes alongside the tomb.

Whilst all these aspects of the Mines of Moria set are great and make this one of the most playable LEGO sets in the theme it is a shame that they are all separate and not connected. Modern LEGO sets seem to consist of a number of pieces which loosely go together but I think that this set would be better if all the pieces connected together on one base plate and there were four walls, like LEGO sets were in the "old days".