LEGO Lord of the Rings 10333 Barad-dûr Review! (2024)

MandR reviews the incredible LEGO Lord of the Rings 10333 Barad-dûr!

0:00 Intro & Unboxing
2:55 Minifigures
5:53 Barad-dûr Exterior
9:05 Barad-dûr Display Case
10:57 Barad-dûr Interior
15:34 Final Thoughts

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#LOTR #LEGOLordoftheRings #LEGO

[FabuBrik]

Dang. Up until these warning labels, I was eating the batteries.
Now I know... Thanks LEGO!

[Coltyyyyyy]

Took bro as long to review this as it took Frodo to get to Mordor 😭🙏

[elxiyrl]

Frodo is the only one I don't mind without the pupils. He was stabbed by Shelob and went into a catatonic state. This scene at Barad-Dur takes place after that, so I don't mind it too much. Gollum on the other hand....

[Dayleno]

Dude has reviews up his sleeve for this hurricane. He is killing it on this daily upload trend.

[Zmansour]

Bro you are by far the best Lego reviewer the detail you put into your review and extent you go to to source other sets for comparisons is so impressive. Keep up the great work and don’t forget your bread and butter - the reviews!

[DavidHRolex]

I was hesitant to get this set because of the price…..but once it was built and put together I truly had a “wow” moment that I finally had it built and how impressive and massive it was. Really iconic set and I’m glad I saved the money to buy it.

[jtyezbick]

Where is Rivendell? We've been waiting for 19 months for that review now...

[xtra.studs]

Hey Ryan, I don't remember what part of Florida you and your family are from, but I am hoping you all stay safe. My prayers go out to all the folks who are being impacted by the hurricanes. Thanks for making awesome content dude!

[bluegoose]

Lego's insistence on removing pupils has got to be the most needless and annoying thing they do, right behind insisting on cheaping out on prints and putting stickers in premium priced sets

[matthewmccarron]

Yeah, I actually complained to LEGO about the box battery warning because none of the pictures or reviews around release time actually showed it. They gave me some VIP points...blah.

[jamescaraglio]

LOL “the other side tells you not to eat batteries in other languages”. Classy 👌🏻

[Spencebot]

I just realized how much this set reminds me of Vader's Castle, and I love it. I need them next to each other now...

[legomasterreviews]

That display case makes an already amazing set look ever better, now we just need that Rivendell review…👀

[casketbace]

I waved back to your reflection in the ring lol

[metek]

If you have multiple copies of this set you can stack the middle tower multiple times to make it taller.

[tabletopstudios]

I honestly don’t know how Ryan keeps up the daily uploads, while still maintaining top notch quality.

[scorpiovenator_]

This looks like one of the best lego sets to smash with a sledgehammer, I will not elaborate.

[lssproductions]

I actually built this set last weekend. It's really darn good and very much warranted being at this size

[davididealistmark]

Another thing I wish they did with the figures, is the Sauron minifigure NEEDS the tall legs and long arms. He is very tall! And this figure makes him look short.

[___David__]

Ah. Now THIS is my area. Unlike Star Wars, I still deeply love the works of Tolkien so I do have nerdy things to say 😅

1 - The build is great, the use of the dégradé on top works really well, and the film-created eye of Sauron is pretty clever (there's no giant eye on the top of the tower in the books).

2 - the minifigures are underwhelming. I get that adding orcs is cheaper but I think everyone would have been happier to get at least a couple of Nazgûl instead.

3 - the proportions of the tower are clearly off. The bottom two sections are wider than the top two sections. Which makes the tower get suddenly thinner in an unnatural way, 'cause in the film the tower is much more proportional. Now, if you're a Tolkien purist like me, you'll be adding more stages to between the bottom 2 sections and the top 2 anyway, as well as removing the eye on top of the tower.
But for the casual LotR fan, I think it'd have been nicer to at least have one more section in the tower.

4 - still, my biggest complaint about the set is NOT any of that. It's the same as I already had with Orthanc. The open back. It's awful. This is a display piece. LEGO knows very few people are buying these giant 500€ sets for kids to play with. And so, like UCS sets in Star Wars, I think these sets should NOT have interiors and focus everything on the exterior build which is what will be displayed anyway.


Anyway, 9/10 set, and definitely one of my favourites of 2024.

Oh and by the way, Orthanc should NOT be bigger or more complex than Barad-Dûr. So having them next to each other does look good. Because Orthanc is, in canon, in fact, smaller and much more plain looking than the Dark Tower.
And for a more than a decade old set, I say Orthanc still holds up incredibly well.