CC Set Review: 10237 - Tower of Orthanc

[Bruce N H]

Join the Classic Castle set review discussion. Please post your opinions on the set play ability, piece selection, design, etc. Which sets stand up to our catapult of critique and which ones crumble in shame!

This week’s set is 10237 - Tower of Orthanc.

This massive 2013 set depicts Saruman's fortress and also includes Treebeard, Saruman, Gandalf, Wormtongue, a Mordor orc (why?) and an Uruk-Hai.

[Elephant Knight]

I have heard many people dislike this set for it's massive amount of black. The massive amount of black is one reason why I love this set, to say nothing about the gorgeous model! It was a long and challenging build, quite a lot more challenging than almost every other set I have built in the past few years. It was well worth the price, and I would almost contemplate buying a second, if I had the cash.

The biggest downfall I found was the lack of figs. A couple more Urak Hai would have been nice.

I give it a 9.7 out of 10

EKnight

[Athos]

I was a bit turned off with the amount of black. But, on triple point day, I bit the bullet and picked it up. And I'm glad I did. The build was a lot of fun. And it makes a great display model. I hope they release a smaller (say $20) Ent set, as the design was pretty cool. The set build made more a most enjoyable New Years Eve.

Steve

[Brickninja]

I too, wish there would be another LOTR wave including an Ent, but I was told by a LEGO employee that there will be no more LOTR

[Lil_Curt]

This is on the mabye list if we can bring ourselves to it... I like the build style, I am just not sure on all the black!

[TeufelHund]

This was a really fun build and looks great on my desktop. A few more figures for the massive price tag would have been welcome but I guess if you count the Ent and the Eagle you're looking at seven which isn't too bad.

The build is never dull and the interiors are very well laid out - I love the light-bricked Palantir!

[mpoh98]

Although I do not own this set, I will say it definitely looks awesome. The pieces are fantastic, and the one reason why I like this set is for all the pieces in black, which I was limited on. The only thing is the price, I never like Lego's prices for their sets, but if you can catch this on sale, then I would say it is worth it.

[Bruce N H]

Hey,

I guess I didn't give my thoughts. I don't have this set, so I can't comment on the building experience, but it sure looks cool. My favorite geeky detail is that it has pictures of the five wizards. I think we need actual fig versions of Alatar and Pallando. My biggest "Huh?" moment is the inclusion of the Mordor orc. They are never at Orthanc; they should have included two Uruk Hai instead (of course they were also in that Orc Forge set, which was presumably set at Orthanc). My main frustration is that they didn't release an Ent in a smaller stand-alone set so someone could build up an army and assault the tower.

Bruce

[Buurli]

I luckily own this set - I won it in a lottery at a LEGO convention during the AFOLs brunch. I didn't build the set myself, so I can't tell anything about the building process. I'm not a huge fan of black bricks, but I get more and more into it. And if you manage to take good pictures of them, they can give a quite nice reflection, which makes the whole thing look better than in any other colour.
I didn't disassemble the set for already 4 months now, which is very uncommon for me (it's the only one who has that status, all others are sortet into pieces). From time to time I took one or two parts from there, but always put them back so it's still complete. I keep it complete on display for two reasons:
The first is the personal one. It was my first convention and this is a great souvenir.
The second one is, that it's simply a fantastic build. The design is beautiful and all the interiors are so nice.
My only nit-pick I can find on this set is, that they used stickers (as they always do this days), I like the printed parts way better and would also be willing to spend 10$ more on such a big set, if they would include printed parts. I don't care too much about the number of minifigs...

So the set gets at least 9 of 10 points from me. Of course, I now didn't consider the price (because I got it for free ), but a price per piece ratio of 8.435 cents per piece is acceptable.

[AardWolf]

My biggest "Huh?" moment is the inclusion of the Mordor orc. They are never at Orthanc
Bruce

Bruce, this isn't entirely true. In the LOTR books it is very clear that Sauron sends a number of orcs to Isengard to help Saruman spawn his army of Uruk-Hai. In the movie adaption it is less clear, but two orcs report to Saruman, giving regards from their master (Sauron). Saruman replies that they "have work to do." Then a detachment of those orcs leaves Isengard with the Uruk-Hai in pursuit of the Fellowship. Hence, the Mordor Orc makes perfect sense in this set.