Now that LEGO has begun shipping to the LEGO The Hobbit The Battle of the Five Armies sets to stores (which, in turn, are now selling the sets), there’s nothing stopping us from finally discussing this late 2014 LEGO Hobbit sets! Next up is the LEGO Attack on Lake-Town 79016 set, which is the second-smallest of the sets in this wave. While the minifigure selection that comes with LEGO 79016 is a little bit bland, I think long-time LEGO The Hobbit collectors are going to have a blast pairing this set off with last year’s portion of Lake-Town…

When the LEGO Lake-Town Chase 79013 set hit stores last fall, a lot of fans cried foul that Lake Town was getting such a miniscule presence in the LEGO Hobbit world.

What we didn’t know at the time, however, is that LEGO had another portion of Lake-Town lined up for fans–and now that the LEGO Hobbit Winter 2014 sets are shipping to stores, we finally get out chance to see the other chunk of LEGO Lake Town!

On its own, the 79016 LEGO Attack on Lake-Town set is a bit bland. All we’ve really got there is an archway with an archery tower on top. It’s not an especially compelling structure all by itself, but it’s also a lower-priced one, so that’s excusable.

However, when you combine this year’s LEGO 79016 Attack on Laketown with last year’s LEGO 79013 Lake-Town Chase set, and you end up with a fairly large and very cool LEGO Lake-Town diorama! They say that the sum of the parts is often greater than the whole, and I think that this is definitely one of those times. This pair of sets looks terrific together!

The 79016 LEGO minifigure selection is unfortunately also a bit dull. We get another LEGO Bard minifigure, which isn’t especially thrilling, but he does at least have a new dirty-face on his reversible head alternate side. Given Bard’s importance to the overall Lake Town arc in The Hobbit, there’s really no way to complain about Bard being in this set.

The sole new character in the Hobbit Attack on Lake-Town LEGO 79016 set is the LEGO Bain minifigure–the son of Bard. I always like kid LEGO minifigures, especially in licensed sets, so I was thrilled to see that LEGO decided to give us a Bain LEGO figure as part of this year’s set. LEGO Bain looks great, and is definitely my favorite minifigure in this set. He also has a reversible head with a dirty face on the other side.

Tauriel makes her second appearance in a LEGO set as part of the Attack on Lake-Town as well. This LEGO Tauriel minifigure has an updated print, so she’s not just a straight reissue of her earlier appearance. Despite fans being rather skeptical of the Peter Jackson-created female elf, Tauriel has been very popular with moviegoers, and she’s a welcome addition to LEGO 79016.

Tauriel has an angry expression on her reversible head alternate side, although I prefer her looking calm and serious.

Rounding out the set, we get a pair of LEGO Hunter Orc minifigures.

While we’ve had LEGO Hunter Orcs before, this duo of Orc minifigures feature an entirely new hairpiece which is simply awesome. It’s like an informal ponytail or an ill-kept overlong Mohawk. Both orcs have that hairpiece, along with a new facial expression.

The LEGO Attack on Lake Town 79016 set isn’t especially large, but it does have a solid price-per-piece value of under 10 cents per piece, as the set retails for $29.99 and includes 313 pieces. While it’s not the most action-packed set ever, it does have a decent number of features: there is a swinging crane feature to knock over Orcs, a spring-loaded shooter to shoot the Black Arrow, a feature which drops flames when a door is opened, and the bell in the bell tower swings.

The LEGO The Hobbit Attack on Lake Town 79016 set is scheduled to be officially released in October 2014, but some Toys R Us stores have already received the set and started selling it ahead of time. Shuebmabow found the sets at his local US Toys R Us and gave us permission to run these excellent photos of the sets that he purchased at the store. Thanks so much, Shuebmabow!

Will you be adding the 79016 LEGO Hobbit Attack on Lake-Town set to your LEGO The Hobbit world this fall, LEGO collectors? What do you think of LEGO’s second Lake Town-focused set?