Collecting Tolkien - New Item - Hobbit Lego Dwarves

Guide: Construction Systems

Collection: Toys

Since Lego introduced their Hobbit Lego series I have wanted a complete set of all 13 dwarves. I had already managed to get all the Hobbit sets boxed, but I didn’t want to open them as they were part of my Tolkien collection and, being Lego were prone to pieces going missing. I already had all the Lord of the Fellowship (in a shop display), so wanted the dwarves loose so I could make a Hobbit display to go with it.

However, Lego is expensive, particularly since the sets were no longer available from shops, and I didn’t have a big budget.  I couldn’t afford new boxed sets, so I had 2 options either a; purchase individual figures or b; purchase used sets.

I investigated the sets option and determined that the Lego sets needed were as follows:

Thorin: Wargs or Laketown or Battle 5 armies

Dori: Goblin king

Nori: Goblin king

Ori: Goblin king

Fili: Spiders or Lonely mountain

Kili: Spiders or Lonely mountain

Bifur: Wargs

Balin: Unexpected gather or Lonely mountain

Dwalin: Unexpected gather or Lonely mountain

Bofur: Unexpected gather

Bombur: Unexpected gather

Gloin: Barrels

Oin: Barrels

I therefore decided that I needed the following sets:

Unexpected Gathering

Wargs

Spiders

Barrels

Goblin king

I liked the idea of getting the sets as this meant I would also have some of the other figures and also some dioramas to 'play' with.

My plan was to try to get the sets required for the same price as the buying individual figures (they were going for approx. £10 each).

I wasn’t fully committed to the project but started to look around for the sets, particularly the Unexpected Gathering set, which I really liked as a diorama, and it also had 4 of the dwarves.

After quite a while looking I finally managed to get one for £50. I was off and running and now committed to the project.

I was in a good position, I didn’t mind if the sets were not 100% complete, so long as it had all the minifigure pieces, and the diorama was generally intact, I would consider it.

By constantly hunting around, after a few months, I managed to get all the sets I needed, some were also very cheap.

Opening the packages was quite exciting as there was no guarantee that all the mini-figure pieces would be there. Sometimes they were put together and easy to locate but other times I had to hunt for the pieces. I struggled to find the quivers for Filli and Killi, but they were in an unopened pack. I also spent an age locating Gandalf’s staff which had ended up under the box when I had opened it.

After I had completed the set, I took a photo of them arranged as in the following film promo picture (see top of the page):

I posted this on my twitter with the usual #CollectTolkien tag.

This was very popular and was liked by a 100 people, the most I had ever had.

Overnight however it got a comment by none other than Jed Brophy who played Nori in the Movie and caused it to be retweeted and liked by another load of people.

Tolkien Exhibition and Oxford Tour

The plan was to a; see the Bodleian Maker of Middle Earth exhibition then b; see some of the ‘Tolkien’ sites of Oxford, c; experience Oxford.

I did quite a bit of planning, particularly for the Tolkien sites, and had a fairly detailed itinerary:

Parking is not good in Oxford, went for OXPENS which left a bit of a walk (20min) to the City Centre. It was a very beautiful summers day, however following a long delay on the drive up, required a brisk walk to hit out exhibition time, which made us very hot. It would defiantly be worth considering the park and ride (although this would have impacted on travelling to some locations later in the day). Also, the parking was a bit expensive.

The Tolkien exhibition was very good, a lot of original Tolkien documents and particularly his art. It was amazing to see the originals of a some very famous pictures. I particularly liked the fan letter from Terry Pratchett. There was an interesting mix of items from various aspects of his life and the different books he wrote. The 3D map is also very good. The exhibition is not huge, just one room, and it can get a bit crowded (although when we were there on a weekday, morning it was ok). The staff were friendly and efficient.

There was a lot of nice stuff to buy in the Museum Shop, I couldn’t afford a lot of it, but brought some mugs, postcards and a tea-towel. The carrier bags where also very nice and also very cheap, a great souvenir on their own.

Blackwells bookshop next door to the Library is also a must do, they have a small display of rare Tolkien books.

After that we then started our walking exploration of Oxford (to include some specific Tolkien locations).

You can book more official tours of some of the sites (we didn’t have time for that).

Our first stop was Exeter College, which is also close to the Bodleian, just around the corner. There is a bust of Tolkien in the Chapel.

Our next stop was the Radcliffe Camera, which is also close to the Bodleian. Not a Tolkien related site but a wonderful building.

It was then a slightly longer walk to the Botanical Gardens. This is where Tolkien’s favourite tree was (trees being significant in Tolkien’s books), however it is no longer there, having benn cut down a while ago. We didn’t have much time to spend in the gardens.

Next was Merton College, which is right next door to the gardens. I would have liked to have seen Tolkien’s Stone Table on Dead Man’s Walk, however you need to be in the College grounds to see this and we didn’t have time go into the College. We did walk next to it around Merton’s field.

We then walked passed Christ Church College and Cathedral which is right next to Merton.

From there we went up through the town and saw Ashmolean Museum and continued on to the Eagle and Child pub, where the Inkings regularly met. We had a brief look round the pub, but it was a bit crowded to stop for a drink.

We then crossed over the road and saw the Natural History Museum and then went to the Oxford University Parks, which are next to it.

The park was bigger than expected and Tolkien’s Bench is right on the other side (near the High Bridge). The 2 trees planted in memory of Tolkien are not marked so we didn’t see those however it was lovely on Tolkien’s bench, in the shade by the river.

This concluded our city centre tour, so we made out leisurely way back through the centre to the car park.

We then took the 10-minute drive to Tolkien’s house. This was a little bit obscured by trees and hedges but could see the blue plaque clearly.

We then drove a little bit further out to visit Tolkien’s grave in Wolvercote Cemetery. There are little signed along the side of the paths directing you to the grave. The grave is quite simple in amongst all the others.

The whole trip was a great day out. The exhibition was wonderful. I would like to go back to Oxford to explore some the Tolkien aspects of the various colleges.