Review: LEGO The Lord of the Rings 40631 Gandalf the Gray & Balrog

Today we are quickly interested in the content of the LEGO The Lord of the Rings set 40631 Gandalf the Gray & Balrog, a box of 348 pieces which will be available at the public price of €19.99 from January 1, 2023 and which will make it possible to assemble two figurines in BrickHeadz format: Gandalf and the Balrog.

I'm like many of you very happy to see the LEGO The Lord of the Rings range reborn and the announcement of the three BrickHeadz minifigure packs planned for the beginning of next year has caused some excitement in me. However, I am not a big fan of these cubic figurines, most of which, in my opinion, are prisoners of the idea and are content to painfully try to fit the character into the imposed cube.

With a little hindsight, this is the case here too, even if this set of two characters perfectly illustrates the big gap that the range regularly makes with, on the one hand, a figurine with an acceptable or even convincing appearance, Gandalf, and Another is a heap of pieces that frankly struggles to embody the subject matter, the Balrog. We could be indulgent and find this last cute, chibi or symbolic, I find it simply missed and much too messy to see a Balrog there.

the figurine of Gandalf seems to me very appropriate with a character certainly cubic but which manages to hit the bull's eye. We can probably thank the different attributes that are characteristic of the character, such as the hat, the beard or the stick, and which help to guess who it is at first glance but the result is there and this Gandalf minimalist looks great.

The Balrog is a desperate attempt to hold a creature with prominent appendages in a format that does not allow this type of fantasy without frankly departing from the framework imposed by the exercise. The horns are angular and lack finesse at their ends, the face is offset downwards to an almost comical effect, and the rest is a jumble of striped black pieces dotted with a few Slopes colored. The tail saves the furniture a bit, but we are already at the limit of what the BrickHeadz concept allows with, on arrival, a hilarious bat look that is very far from the starting point.

Many fans will no doubt be very forgiving just because this is a character from the relevant universe and this pack will easily find its audience because it allows Gandalf to be obtained. If the big black figure had been an interpretation of a Ninjago dragon, there would obviously be more fans with a sudden rupture of the cruciate ligaments on checkout day. In any case, it would have been difficult to sell this Balrog alone and associating it with a miniature that did not require major risk-taking was necessarily the best solution.

In short, for around twenty euros, this pack of two figurines very quickly assembled then forgotten on the corner of a shelf will always please a fan in need of LEGO derivative products from his favorite universe and the association of the two characters works obviously very well (You Shall Not Pass, etc). For lack of sets with minifigs at the beginning of the year, we will therefore be satisfied with these cubic figurines while waiting for better even if on my side the Balrog will quickly end up at the bottom of a drawer.

Note: The set presented here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at December 31, 2022 next at 23:59 p.m. Just post a comment under the article to participate. Your participation is taken into account regardless of your opinion.

Update : The winner was drawn and notified by email, his nickname is indicated below.