2013 is a year of monstrously large LEGO sets (with monstrously large prices to match), and among the largest of them all is the just-released LEGO Lord of the Rings Tower of Orthanc 10237. Though I’ll be picking this set up a bit later this year (I need to space out my aforementioned monstrously large LEGO set purchases), I was bursting with curiosity as to exactly how good the LEGO Orthanc set looked in person. So this week I decided to head to one of my local LEGO Stores to see the LEGO 10237 Tower of Orthanc in person, and I decided to take some photos so everyone else could bask in its glory as well…

I didn’t have to look very hard to find the fully assembled 10237 Tower of Orthanc LEGO set at my local LEGO Store–the set is prominently featured in the store’s front window display, right next to the LEGO Creator Palace Cinema and Horizon Express train sets!

Reading the dimensions of the LEGO Tower of Orthanc 10237 set does not necessarily prepare you for the spectacle of just how humongous the set is in person. It looms over the Palace Cinema like a nightmare, making the LEGO Modular Buildings look pretty dinky by comparison! Orthanc isn’t nearly as elaborately detailed as the Palace Cinema, of course, but there’s something to be said for sheer size!

I love that the 10237 LEGO Tower of Orthanc set includes a buildable LEGO Ent figure. It’s pretty amazing to look at how big the LEGO Ent is compared to a typical LEGO minifigure, and then compare that to how many times larger the Tower of Orthanc LEGO set is compared to Treebeard! I’m fairly certain that there have been LEGO sets in the past that have been taller than Orthanc, but I’m scratching my head trying to remember what they could possible be. Any ideas, readers?

What I’m not a big fan of is the fact that the LEGO Treebeard/Ent figure is seemingly exclusive to this set. Personally, I’d like to have a few Ents to attack Saruman’s stronghold with, and I’m not too keen on purchasing multiple $200 Tower of Orthanc sets to do so. I sincerely hope we get another LEGO Ent as part of the LEGO Lord of the Rings 2014 sets.

This was (obviously) my first opportunity to see the box for LEGO 10237 Orthanc in person, and it’s quite attractive (for a box). The back of the box does a super job of showing off the multitude of features of the set, and the height of the box drives home the sheer size of this set (and likely scares Mom and Dad away without them having to even look for the price sticker on the set).

The box for the LEGO 10237 Tower of Orthanc set takes up a tremendous amount of space on the store shelves at the LEGO Store–the box even rivals the LEGO Star Wars Imperial Super Star Destroyer in size! Not only am I going to need to budget funds to pay for this set, but I’m going to have to think very carefully about how and where I’m going to find the space to store its super-sized box!

The LEGO Tower of Orthanc set is available exclusively through the online LEGO Store and local brick-and-mortar LEGO Stores. LEGO Orthanc will not be available through the usual chains like Walmart or Toys R Us, so you’ll have to order the LEGO Tower of Orthanc set online if you want it and there are no official LEGO Stores in your area. The set is exclusive to members of the free LEGO VIP Club during the month of June 2013, and will be available for sale to all customers as of Monday, July 1st 2013.