Though we’d seen fairly comprehensive leaked images of most of the LEGO Lord of the Rings sets that would be unveiled at the 2013 Toy Fair beforehand, one set that we hadn’t gotten a clear look at yet was the hotly-anticipated Rivendell-themed Council of Elrond set! With the New York Toy Fair 2013 in the books, now we can take a good view of the Summer 2013 LEGO Lord of the Rings Council of Elrond 79006 and its exclusive minifigures…

Well… there’s both good and bad things about this set. The best part of this set is absolutely the exclusive Arwen Evenstar and Elrond minifigures. I didn’t pre-order the LEGO Lord of the Rings video game last year, so I’ve had to go without an Elrond until now. The new Elrond minifigure has a nice print on it, and Arwen looks gorgeous.

The council chairs with the elven design decorating them likewise look beautiful, as does the tree with its multiple shades of foliage. The architecture of the archway and path of the environment pieces included demonstrate the aesthetic refinement of the elves nicely, and really do replicate the feel of Rivendell.

The down side is that, well… there’s not much of Rivendell here. The LEGO Council of Elrond Summer 2013 set is basically some figures, a couple trees, a few chairs, and an archway. I’m not asking for the entirety of Rivendell here or anything, but this really is rather Spartan. I don’t know how LEGO expects fans to recreate the council where there are only three chairs here, not even enough to fit half of the Fellowship. And no, I’m not going to dignify the “Dwarf-catapulting” action feature of this set with any commentary. The less said about that, the better.

Another thing that is pretty baffling to me is the inclusion of yet another Gimli minifigure in this set. I understand Frodo, since he’s the main character of the Lord of the Rings, but Gimli? Yes, I like Gimli too–but this is already his fourth release (fifth if you count the keychain)! How many sets is LEGO planning to put him in? Poor Merry, Pippin, and Boromir have all been confined to just one set each (released in 2012), and it would have made a whole lot more sense to put one of them here instead of another Gimli. But alas!

The Council of Elrond 76006 is one of the LEGO Lord of the Rings Summer 2013 sets, and should be available in local stores around June 2013. The LEGO 79006 Council of Elrond set contains 243 pieces with a retail price of $29.99. I’ll post a full review of the set once it’s released.