8.06.03 The Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers - Helm's Deep Battle Pack I haven’t really been collecting the Lord of the Rings (LotR) figures too much so far. After accumulating like 2 dozen Luke Skywalkers over in the Star Wars line I have this thing about waiting on a line to find out which “version” of the figures are the best ones. The only other LotR figures I have are the two stand alone Ringwraiths, but I’ve been wanting to get version of the main cast for a while. Really the only ones from this set I had to worry about were Aragorn and Legolas. I have already been looking for this particular Legolas anyway, and all the previous Aragorns just looked kind of weird for one reason or another. Anyway, on with the review. This is the Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Helm’s Deep Battle Set. It includes 5 figures, Legolas, Aragorn, Gimli, King Theoden, and Haldir. Haldir is an exclusive to the set and is a repaint of the previous Elven Archer with, I believe, a new head. I don’t have any of the individual figures on hand but I am pretty sure all of the other figures are straight recolors of single carded figures. Purchased at Toys R Us for 29.99. First off I should have pulled these guy’s out of the package in the opposite order that I did. I was really impressed with Haldir and Legolas, and less so with Theoden and Aragorn. The sculpts are pretty nice overall, though I have some problems with the capes and hair. The “action posed” hair gets in the way a bit for turning the heads on Legolas and Haldir but it’s not that bad of a problem. Both of the capes on Legolas and Haldir have problems as well. Legolas has trouble balancing due to the weight of his cape and Haldir has this sort of extra “flap” that tends to stick out in a weird way on the left (his right) side. The paint is really nice as well, I’m not excessively picky but I don’t see any spots where it stands out has horribly done. I do have some issues with Aragorn’s head though, which has kept me from previous version of this character. He just doesn’t look particularly menacing or even like he is in battle. He actually almost looks like he is about to cry. At least he has hair on his forehead, something I believe the individual figure lacks which makes the single figure look ridiculous personally. The hair really improves the look. The Accessories on this set are great as well. I don’t have any of the individual carded figures from this set but I believe that each figure has all of the accessories the single packed figures would have. There is no reuse either, except for the arrows, and you get two different type of arrows. Some of the figures also come with more than others as well. Aragorn includes a sword and dagger, both with sheaths. Theoden has only one sword and scabbard and a helmet that fits decently, though not perfectly. He looks better without the helmet anyway. Gimli comes with four DIFFERENT axes. There are some similarities but they are all different sculpts. He only has one loop though on his belt to carry one not in his hands. You’ll always have an extra one laying around (Maybe Theoden could use it, he’s kind of under-armed anyway). Gimli also includes a helmet that fits very nicely and looks good. It’s the best of the three helmets for sure. Legolas includes a short bow, a short sword w/ scabbard, a pair of long dagger things, 4 arrows with feathers and a quiver that holds the arrows and daggers. Legolas’ cape appears to be removable though you’d probably have to work at it pretty hard and the quiver is attaches anyway. My big complaint with Legolas is that his bow doesn’t have a loop or a hook or even a tab to rest the arrows on for firing. The bow is designed to fire the arrows but Legolas does not fire them himself. For that matter, it’s difficult to get him to pose with an arrow knocked. It can be done but you have to put the head of the arrow on the “wrong” side and loop it through the string to hold it up. Even then it will most likely rest on his hand and not the bow. Finally we have Haldir, who is probably the winner here. He includes one very cool looking sword and scabbard, a longbow, with a loop to hold the arrows, 5 arrows without feathers, and a helmet. I’ll be honest I can’t figure out this helmet too well. If i had to guess I’d say the horn goes just above his face, curved backwards, but it looks like it could be reverse with the loop thing going around the chin and the two extra holes becoming eye holes. However the helmet goes on, he looks much better without it. His cape is also removable though you’ll have to work it under his quiver, which unlike Legolas’ is not attached to his cape. Each figure also has an action feature gimmick which fortunately, don’t hinder the figures themselves too much. Aragorn and Gimli probably suffer the most. Both of them swing their weapons when you squeeze their legs together. It doesn’t hurt Gimli’s legs as much as Aragorn’s due to Gimli being short, but Aragorns’ legs seem slightly too wide. It does hurt both of these figures in the right arm since they have ratchet in the shoulders. Gimli already has the poorest articulation of the set anyway. A couple of the axes are also hooked on the end allowing Gimli to throw them. It actually works really well, the Axes travel a decent distance with a lot of spin to them. King Theoden also features a sword swinging gimmick except his button is on his back instead of in the legs. It works much better this way, the button isn’t really all that intrusive. Well, ok it’s really obvious from behind but it’s a reasonable trade off. Also the ratchets in his arm are much closer together so his articulation suffers pretty much nothing. Haldir has a button in his back as well, when pressed Haldir will draw his bow and fire an arrow. So far I’ve yet to actually use this feature as the arrows tend to go off on their own at the slightest touch. It does work really well and it’s one of the better gimmicks in this line. Legolas is the odd man out. Other then a bow that can fire (by you, not Legolas), he has no action gimmicks. No arms swinging no nothing. Articulation all around is decent. These are not super heroes doing acrobatics so “Less than Marvel Legends” is more then acceptable. Legolas’ leg joints could stand to be a bit stiffer to help support his cape. Theoden could use a bit more leg joints (cuts mostly) since he is a rather bland figure all around anyway. Gimli is definitely the worst of the lot, lacking both Elbow and Knee joints. Just a few other minor points. The packaging it really nice. If you are the kind of person who prefers to keep their figures unopened, it will make a decent display item. Thankfully the plastic bubble holding the figures is not attached tot he backdrop in anyway. This means you can remove the figures then pose them within the backdrop as a stand. And since the cardboard will sit high off any shelf you put it on you could put some other figures down below the stand, some Orcs and whatnot, set up for a battle scene. Something extra I'm adding since I first wrote this. The backdrop looks very impressive actually when used to display the figures, but it's not actually sturdy enough to hold itself up. I had to stick a couple of stacks of VHS tapes under it to make it work (6 tapes total). Basically you'll need something to hold it up underneath. It's a shame they didn't add 2 or 3 little cardboard pieces back there, it would have fixed everything. Overall, I’m pretty satisfied myself. I suppose that if you have each of the individual figures already you’re probably not going to be interested in this pack. The only real incentive would be the exclusive Haldir Figure. Haldir is definitely the best figure in the set though. His sculpt is the most ornate and his accessories and gimmick are the best. Plus his gimmick doesn’t hinder his ability to make other poses using his sword at all. Final Verdict is that this set is recommended if you are a fan of the series and don’t already have the figures. It drops quite a bit from there though if you have the individual figures depending on your opinion of repaints and exclusives.