Review: 79003 An Unexpected Gathering

Overview
Name: An Unexpected Gathering
Year: 2012
Pieces: 652
Minifigures: 6
Price: £59.99 / $69.99 / 79.99€

Introduction
The first movie of The Hobbit was called An Unexpected Journey. That was a story of a reluctant hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, sets out to the Lonely Mountain with Thorin and the company to reclaim their homeland, Erebor. Alright, Erebor was too far away from what's here. Here lies the home of Bilbo Baggins, The Shire. Or some called it a Hobbit hole.

The Box


At the first glance of the box you will already be fascinated by the box art. You get four dwarves in this set and a very cozy house of Bag End. Behind the box you get to see the interior of the house and some play features you get in the set. You can remove the roof to play with them inside the house.

The Instruction


You got two booklets in this set. Inside it with numbered bags of four pointing to what shape they will take after building it. At the end of the book, you get the list of minifigures to get to complete the whole series. Have you got them all?

Stickered Parts


These are stickers on one book and three tan tiles. The book cover was the same with the one he wrote his story for Frodo to read. The BB was signature of Billbo Baggins. The other three stickers were maps drawn by Bilbo after his adventures with the dwarves, or before?

The Build

After the first bag you can see the wall of the house being built. In front there is the base of the window on your left and the base of the door on your right. On the inside there are a bit of details with the rack and stove building up the dark tan floor.



After the second bag, the whole building can be appreciated already. You can see the large green door with Gandalf's 'drawing' on it. The big round plate was printed and exclusive to this set. The interior consist of 3 parts, the rack where Bilbo put his Sting, the stove with a broom, and his study area with a very nice looking window.



A clearer view to the rack area. There is The Sting and two bottles of potions. The rack was very nicely built with only one stud width and round pillars.



The other side of the room. The stove was 'fired' by two 1x1 translucent red round plate. There is another rack with a letter and a bottle of wine. The trans clear window was amazing!



After bag four which is the roof with the chimney and a small tree, you complete the set. The wood planks are actually stickers but with this kind of design, I'm not complaining. The whole view was magnificent!

The Minifigures

You get six minifigures in this set as introduced in the picture. Gandalf was everywhere! Pointy hat Gandalf was in three other sets which is 9469 Gandalf arrives, 30213 Gandalf at Dol Guldur polybag, and 79010 The Gobiln King Battle. The same Gandalf appears here with a sling bag full of weed and his pointy hat.



Bilbo Baggins. He is in his cozy home outfit but he doesn't look comfortable with all the dwarves rushing in his house. He got an alternate sad face as he saw them wrecking here and there!



Balin. He is the eldest dwarf in the company and you can tell with his white long beard. You can see wrinkles all over his face and white eyebrows. He is wearing black gloves and he has an angry face at the back.



Some say he looks like Santa. Does he now?



Bombur. His hair is interesting as the beard was connected with his belly. Underneath the belly was a printed belly in case you lose the hair. He has an alternate face too, find the difference.



Bofur. He is bringing his Blue Mountain weed in his pouch on his torso print. The furry hat was very nice mold and well printed.



Dwalin. One of the warrior dwarf in the company. He doesn't have alternate face as he is bald. But his back head print was a nice band of dark blue tatto extending towards the front.

Story Telling

One day, Bilbo was preparing his dinner after reading some books at his cozy little study corner.



The garden was quiet as usual, with the sound of birds chirping peacefully. What a nice day!



Suddenly, a wagon arrives with a wizard sitting on it. Frodo? Oops, wrong timeline.



Okay, lets go back. Now Bilbo welcomes Gandalf to the bench in his garden. Both of them chit chatting, smoking weed in this quiet night.



Before Gandalf actually left the house, he drew a GPS signal for the dwarves to gather here using Waze.



Knock knock, here comes the first dwarf at your service. Bilbo says, hey! Who are you?



After that, more and more dwarves came barging in and Bilbo says, Oh No! My house is so messy now!



And the story ends with Gandalf persuading Bilbo into joining the adventure.

Bilbo: But they are raiding my foods!

Conclusion
This set is meant for The Hobbits fans out there! Especially if you've been to New Zealand which I haven't. The realistic design of the house with the arch round pieces and the large round door was astounding. And four dwarves down, nine more to go!

Review SummaryPlayability: 8/10 - This is not for play. But it was excellent for story telling!
Design / Building Experience: 9/10 - Very nice building walls and windows and the furnitures for interior design.
Minifigures: 9/10 - Great minifigures! All the printings and the details exceeds all expectations.
Price / Value for money: 9/10 - The prices went up as it retires, but still worth it. Especially after you rewatch the movie.
Overall: 9/10 - Its a must buy but too bad its retired. Luckily I made a decision to keep the set rather than sold it out.