LEGO The Lord of the Rings: The Shire offers a break in the pricey Middle-earth builds, but for one designer, it was a break in a different sense.
Compared to the likes of 10316 The Lord of the Rings: Rivendell for £429.99 / $499.99 / €499.99 and 10333 The Lord of the Rings: Barad-dûr for £399.99 / $459.99 / €459.99, 10354 The Lord of the Rings: The Shire for £229.99 / $269.99 / €269.99 offers LEGO collectors (or at last their bank accounts) a break. Not only is it less expensive, it's a set with absolutely no conflict, whereas even 10316 The Lord of the Rings: Rivendell recreated some tense moments.
For the LEGO designers, some of whom came from both 10316 The Lord of the Rings: Rivendell and 10333 The Lord of the Rings: Barad-dûr, 10354 The Lord of the Rings: The Shire provided them with a break from the more intense graphics and new elements that both sets needed.
"With 10354 The Lord of the Rings: The Shire, it was pretty straightforward graphic-wise, but it was very nice to work together with my colleague Nathan to figure out what we could do as novelty for the prints and the characters, but also giving display features like Merry and Pippin and the smudges on their faces," shared design manager Ashwin Visser speaking to DuckBricks.
"I think I had more of a challenge with 10333 The Lord of the Rings: Barad-dûr, because I was also involved with the element creation, because it was so character-specific with Sauron's helmet and armour. That was a new area for me to collaborate with them so much because it was so minifigure-specific, and that was more of a challenge for me than this set."
After the intense job of creating Sauron's armour and helmet, as well as the graphics and new pieces across both 10316 The Lord of the Rings: Rivendell and 10333 The Lord of the Rings: Barad-dûr, Visser seems to have appreciated the break that the naturally-serene 10354 The Lord of the Rings: The Shire provided.
While early reactions to 10354 The Lord of the Rings: The Shire have been mixed, the set itself is launching soon with an exclusive gift-with-purchase (which is likely to sell out fast after last time). Make sure you have a free LEGO Insiders account ready for the release of 10354 The Lord of the Rings: The Shire next week. Click here for a guide to what you need to know before launch day.
Support the work that Brick Fanatics does by buying your LEGO sets using our affiliate links. Thank you!
Comments
Be the first to comment!