Didn’t want to spend $460 just to get Lego’s one and only Sauron minifigure (and get a pretty cool evil tower along the way)? Good news: the brickmaker just made it even easier and cheaper to get, and you still get a nifty set to go with it.
Today Lego announced its return to the Lord of the Rings line in the form of a sideways step into a series that it’s already experimented with in its Marvel and Star Wars ranges: character helmets. And it’s kicking off with arguably the most recognizable helm in all of Middle-earth (well, capital-H-Helms aside) with the spiky plated armor worn by Sauron at the climax of the Third Age.
The new Sauron helmet clocks in at just 538 pieces, but at around 13″ tall, including the display base it comes on, you’re getting a sizeable take on the Dark Lord’s terrifying visage, greebled with interesting texture and plating to replicate the unique layering of Sauron’s armor as seen in the opening prologue of Fellowship of the Ring.
While the helm itself is a neat-looking build, the big draw for many people will be that it includes the Sauron minifigure that was previously exclusive to the gorgeous, but spendy, Barad-Dûr set from 2024. Alas, he doesn’t come with the little brick-built mace from that set, but instead with the One Ring itself, representing Sauron at the height of his power before his fall at the battle of the Last Alliance.
At $70, this is the cheapest Lord of the Rings set Lego has made since it revived the line in 2023 as a yearly-releasing, collector-focused series of lavishly vast and lavishly pricey sets, starting with the massive 6,167-piece Rivendell set. Last year, Lego double-dipped on LOTR to also offer the $130 Balrog book nook, alongside the pricier Shire set, seemingly hinting that it was willing to at least experiment with smaller-scaled and lower-cost Lord of the Rings sets again.
With the Sauron helmet especially leaning on ideas already done in other licensed lines, there’s hope it won’t be the last time Lego takes ideas from elsewhere in its portfolio, and Lord of the Rings will become more varied than a once-a-year offering that threatens to stab your wallet with a morgul blade.
At least with this set, that hope is a bit more than a fool’s hope. The Lego Lord of the Rings Sauron’s Helmet set will release on March 1 and is available to preorder now.
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