Speaking of printing, the front door and a letter are the only printed (non-minifig) pieces in the set. They succeed by a combination of a new 4×4 round plate with a 2×2 round hole in the middle in front of “normal” windows, an ingenious brick-built window that made my jaw drop (I won’t ruin it for you), and a large round tile with printed boards on it for the door. Each section of fence uses 9 or 10 pieces where another set might have had a single prefab fence piece.īefore seeing any pictures of this upcoming set, I wondered how LEGO would handle all the round windows and front door. The ramshackle fence in front is a gorgeous example of this, complete with gaps. What impressed me most about LEGO’s rendition of Bag End is that the designers frequently used brick-built techniques where a prefab part might have sufficed.

Where’s the fun in that? The official photos are better than anything I’d take anyway, so read on… The Build Process Side note: The build process itself is part of the joy of a new LEGO set, so I’m not going to spoil the surprise or ruin the story (if you will) by sharing under-construction photos or shots of each minifig’s second face.

I picked up 79003 An Unexpected Gathering (Bag End) today, and I can honestly say that this may be my favorite LEGO set of all time.

LEGO sets for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey aren’t officially due out for another several weeks, but a local retail chain here in the Pacific Northwest has been putting the new sets on their shelves over this past week or so.

Lego unexpected gathering download