Building Weathertop

The most recent build for my Lord of the Rings / The Hobbit collection, Attack on Weathertop, set 9472, is a box from the very first wave or releases.  Now pretty hard to find in the stores, I managed to get my copy from BrickLink and sat down to build this iconic setting of both the movies and the books.

I do apologise for the pictures, the fake lighting was not clear enough and I was happily snapping away forgetting to put my flash on.

Weathertop plays a pivotal role in the trilogy, as this is where Frodo discovers what exactly is hunting him, and that Aragorn is willing to go to great lengths protecting the Ring-Bearer.  The resulting wound will hunt Frodo for all his days, but it also sets in motion the journey to Rivendell and the formation of the Fellowship.  In the movie, the Hobbits get their weapons here as well, but in the books this was granted by Tom Bombadil on the Barrow Downs though...

The box contains four bags, of course also including the mandatory brick seperator ;-)

Bag 1 grants not only both of the Nazgul, whom you can mount or let on foot, but also the small piece of foliage that goes with the set`s main build, but nothing spectacular bar that.

The other bags all amount to the main build though.  In bag 2 we find Aragron (back then still known just as Strider the Ranger), with the torch he uses to fend of the Ringwraiths.

The rest of the bag are one side of the Weathertop hill, including a trap door on the top (okay, it`s in essence still a toy, so it needs some playability things on it).

Bag 3, containing no figures, is the other half of the hill.  The hill, when assembled, can be opened for easy play access inside.  In the hill is a weapons chamber to accomodate how the Hobits got their weapons in the movies.

It also features the turning stairs leading up to the top of the hill.

Bag 4 has our two brave Hobbits.  I went for a `haunted` look on Frodo as he is wearing the One Ring, and an angry `I will defend my friend` look on Merry, ready to jump between Frodo and danger.

The bag for the rest contains the few pieces to make the ruined archways on the hilltop to show the ruins of the old watchtower.

As well as everything a Hobbit needs for yet another meal...

And thus completes the build.  Here it is shown at first in it`s opened state:

But I display it of course in it`s closed up state, with the adventurers fighting off one of the Nazgul as the other one approaches closer on his horse.

And this is the left overs of pieces:

All in all, Weathertop isn`t the most challenging of builds in the line, but it is definitly a great looking model to have on display on your shelf, as it has taken it`s place alongside Lakeside, Bag`s End and Orthanc at my desk at my girlfriends!

Now normally the next one I will be building as it has arrived today is the small Helm`s Deep expansion set, Uruk-hai Army, but after that, I`m waiting not so patiently for the final wave to come out.

The budget is put aside, and since they are apparently coming out already in October, I can as well score double VIP points on them when I order the whole wave of 4 sets in one go... and enjoy a very big dragon!!!!