LEGO Icons GWP 40761 The Lord of the Rings: Sméagol & Déagol – You won’t believe what happens next! [Review]
With initial reactions to LEGO Icons 10354 The Lord of the Rings: The Shire finding it beautiful but not a great value, would a family fishing trip help? LEGO Icons GWP 40761 The Lord of the Rings: Sméagol & Déagol will be available from release (Insiders April 2nd, everyone else April 5th) through April 8th (while supplies last!) with the purchase of Bag End: (US | CAN | UK). So let’s dig into this 181-piece GWP and see if it’s worth prioritizing a long-awaited purchase of LEGO Icons 10354 The Shire on initial release. If you miss the GWP during this window, it may be available from some 3rd party resellers like Amazon or eBay.
The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
The box and contents
The Lord of the Rings movies show us the discovery of the One Ring by Sméagol and Déagol at the beginning of The Return of the King. The front of the box shows when Déagol has been pulled out of the little fishing boat by a large fish and is being pulled underwater when he sees the ring. His dislodged, floating fishing hat is missing, a mild disappointment.
On the back of the box, we can see that things are starting to take a darker turn. Déagol holds up the One Ring in wonderment, while Sméagol watches – though from the fishing boat, unlike in the movie – and begins to covet the Ring for himself. An inset shows a scene before either the main front or back, just after Déagol has hooked the fateful fish and the cousins are excited at the promise of some nice seafood.
Cracking open the thumb punches, inside are three numbered plastic bags (the logistics behind what gets paper and what gets plastic, and when, have to be absolutely fascinating, but understandably LEGO isn’t sharing those details), the instruction manual, and a single loose 6×8 black plate. No stickers – or non-minifigure printed pieces, for that matter – are included.
The build
With 181 pieces, there is not a lot to the build, and it comes together quickly. There are two levels – on the surface of the River Anduin, and under it – and bag 1 builds the “underwater” portion. The riverbed is appropriately earthy with dark greens and blues, the base has a tiled front, and some supports are built for the “surface” world to blend in as much as possible. The Ring, lying where it came to rest after Isildur’s ambush and death at the hands of orcs, glitters in the riverbed. The fish that drags Déagol to his fate is posed near a somewhat unsightly handle meant to pose the unfortunate Hobbit. 1×1 handle plates with open ends have never been seen in dark green, and haven’t been seen in dark blue since 2003, so while either would have been preferable here, it’s understandable that it didn’t happen. One does wonder if the sandy bed of the Anduin might have been rendered in more dark tan and muddy colors, to match the available piece, though.
Bag 2 builds the surface world, with a bit of shoreline with some greenery and riverbank, along with a water layer and a turntable to pose the fishing boat on. There are also a few clips for attaching other pieces of the final build. It looks good but basic.
Bag 3 finishes the build with two sub-builds and four other pieces that get added to the shore, a rather odd division of things. The first sub-build is the fishing boat, which uses some brackets and snot plates to form a basic oval shape. The different colors that make it up are a little distracting, especially the black, but it does the job.
The second “sub” build is a sketch of a tree on the riverbank. This is both better and worse than the Party tree in the full Shire set – it’s a pale shadow of the trees seen on the river banks in the movie scene, but for the number of pieces used, it’s a better attempt. Still, just two large leaf pieces leaves it (hah) looking a bit sad.
The final assembly without the minifigures. It does succeed at capturing the essential elements of the story.
The minifigures
Sméagol & Déagol have never appeared in minifigure form before, and future appearances would seem unlikely, so LEGO is certainly hitting the FOMO chords with these exclusives. The minifigures are faithful reproductions of the movie characters. Sméagol’s deeper lines, a hint of some bags under the eyes – interested in roots and beginnings, already burrowing before his fateful transformation into Gollum (I’m sorry, spoilers went out the window many decades ago) match the on-screen persona, as does Déagol’s fresher face and naiveté, along with the overalls under his coat.
The alternate faces really sell the scene – Déagol holding his breath as he’s towed along by the fish towards the Ring, and Sméagol – echoing Bilbo’s appearance when Gandalf challenges him to leave the Ring to Frodo – is avaricious, malicious, capturing the influence of the Ring.
The final build
In the LEGO version of this scene, Sméagol continues to fish, or at least hold on to his fishing rod, while Déagol is dragged towards the One Ring. In our mild defense, the official instructions show Sméagol’s dangerously greedy face in this situation, even though his expression should not have changed just yet. That terrible shift will wait until Déagol has surfaced with the Ring.
Conclusions and recommendations
We talked about minifig and GWP FOMO in our review of 40729 Shackleton’s Lifeboat, and it’s hard not to feel similarly about this set. Two unique characters, key to the story of The Lord of the Rings and unlikely to ever appear in another set, are going to be extremely desirable for collectors and fans. And this 181-piece set is otherwise a nice little scene, but not exceptional – those figures are the main draw. At least unlike with The Endurance, there’s no sense that Sméagol and Déagol should have been included in the main set, so it’s not like if you miss out on the GWP, you’re missing a key character or piece of The Shire. Ultimately, this is a nice bonus if you’re planning on getting The Shire, and many LOTR fans will surely be delighted at the exclusive minifigs, but otherwise, it doesn’t really tip the balance for us.
By the way, if you don’t actually know what happens next, Sméagol kills Déagol to get the Ring, and then turns deeper and deeper underground, having his life extended by the Ring and becoming Gollum, pale and gaunt and alone. He still loves fish though! Sorry, it’s been 70 years and even over 20 since the movie came out, spoilers are fair game now.
Included with purchases of LEGO Icons 10354 The Lord of the Rings: The Shire from the LEGO website or stores from release (Insiders April 2nd, everyone else April 5th) through April 8th while supplies last, LEGO Icons GWP 40761 The Lord of the Rings: Sméagol & Déagol contains 181 pieces and 2 unique minifigures, and you can find more about how to get it here: (US | CAN | UK)
The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
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