9470 - Shelob Attacks

Okay, I'm finally finishing my look at the upcoming Lord of the Rings sets. Our last selection is 9470 - Shelob Attacks. Oh, sometime along the way we finally got high resolution pictures of all of the upcoming sets. I think they first appeared in this Eurobricks post, but they've been other places as well, like Lord of the Brick.

This set brings us to the very end of the Two Towers, with the betrayal of Frodo by Gollum and Sam's big hero moment.


The Ring is also included in the Weathertop set, since it's an important component of the action there (and, come to think of it, the only other set including Frodo depicts a time before Bilbo gave him the Ring). Here's a good close-up from Toy Fair so you can see just how cool it looks.


Also note that Frodo has a double-sided head, with one side depicting him paralyzed by Shelob.


I've seen a lot of debate on the Gollum fig. Personally I wish they'd made him as a normal fig so you could use him in different scenes (sneaking through Moria, climbing a tree in Lorien, swimming the Anduin, etc). I suppose this solution is okay.


Shelob is definitely the creepiest spider we've ever seen from LEGO. She makes the Aragog set look like, um, a child's toy.


Here's a nice feature. It looks like her web can be wound up. Also, the construction is strong enough that she can hang from her web.


Don't you think we're going to have almost this exact same set again for the Cracks of Doom? I mean, take away Shelob and add a bunch of flame pieces, and you've got the climax of the book here (again, though, a poseable Gollum would be needed for that scene).