Whenever you read this review, it will not be late, nor early. This review, like a wizard, arrives exactly when it intends to. LEGO has returned to Middle Earth with a series of large diorama sets, and after exploring the formation of the Fellowship in Rivendell, and the second of The Two Towers at Barad-Dûr, we visit the beginning of the story: The Shire. This large hobbit hole is accompanied by accessories that set the scene of Bilbo’s farewell party, and the passing of the Ring to Frodo. LEGO Icons 10354 The Lord of the Rings: The Shire contains 2017 pieces and 9 minifigures, and will be available April 2nd to LEGO Insiders (April 5th for everyone) for US $269.99 | CAN $349.99 | UK £229.99. Will you like it half as well as you should? Let’s pause for second breakfast…. ahhh, thats better. Now we’re ready to explore!
The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
Unboxing
This set was designed by Kenyon Brady, whose previous sets were both in the Botanical collection – 10328 Bouquet of Roses and 10340 Wreath. Neither of those sets is exactly tiny, but an iconic location from a beloved author and movie franchise is definitely out of the frying pan into the fire!
The back of the box shows off the interior, some more of the accessories, and insets of some scenes with the minifigures posed around the build, as well as the moving functions. There’s also a small inset with the height of the tallest part of the build, the Smaug firework.
Opening it up, the box is the newish-oldish style where the lid lifts off and you can use the bottom as a tray for the bags as you build, or for some of the built sections… maybe extra socks! The full build won’t fit in it, unsurprisingly. Along with 15 numbered paper bags, there’s a paper envelope with the instructions and stickers, another small paper packet with the cloth elements, and one loose unnumbered plastic bag with some larger pieces.
Having a look inside the packet of cloth elements, we have Gandalf’s cape, a tent roof, and the Happy Birthday for Bilbo. Cloth elements aren’t usually printed on both sides; that’s really not an issue for tent roof unless you’re actually the size of a minifigure, and the banner looks decent on the back.
There are three instruction books. The first two build Bag-End in three connecting sections – interestingly, the middle first in book one, then the second book does the two sides. Book three builds the tent, dragon firework, and Happy Birthday sign with tree. The backs of each booklet feature a small item that’s built in that book.
There are 10 stickers on the small sticker sheet. It would of course be great to get all of these as prints in a set at this price point, but we know that the designers often have to make choices about how many prints can be included. We’ll see some of the pieces that were printed as we build, and I can’t think of any that I’d rather have made stickered. Of these, the envelope, contract, map to the Lonely Mountain, and maybe the mithril shirt are the ones that you’d mostly likely want to have a minifigure hold, which is one of the criteria for a print vs. a sticker. The signs and the book cover are unlikely to be under any particular stress. The newer mold of 2×2 circle tiles that lets you rotate them freely as long as you’re just attaching them by the center stud means that circular decals are not as stressful to apply, because you don’t have to align them exactly to the degree!
Like many adult-focused sets, the first booklet opens with some details about the source material and pictures from the movie, short notes from the design team about getting reference material from Warner Bros, and what amounts to a walkthrough of the first part of The Fellowship of the Ring as recreated with this set. The Brothers Brick was at LEGO’s Fan Media Days last year, so we can also add that designer Brady is 6′ 2″, but claims to be “a hobbit at heart”. We can neither confirm nor deny if he was wearing shoes when he said this.
Turning to the main attraction, here are 15 paper bags, split out by instruction book. We’ll take a peek at the contents of each of them as we build!
The build
LEGO often tries to begin large sets with something that you can finish quickly and that has play value, so Gandalf’s cart is a natural starting point. We quickly get two figures – Gandalf and Frodo – a cart, the horse, and a load of fireworks.
Because Gandalf has robe/dress legs, and Frodo has short legs, neither figure can sit on the cart as-is. However, the techniques used in 10316 Rivendell return to allow them to ride together the final stretch to Bag-End. Gandalf utilizes a bracket and printed curved slope, while Frodo has headlight bricks along with nougat plates for his unshod feet.
With bag 2, we get started on the main entrance hall. From the pile of pieces we dump out of the bag, it’s pretty clear that this will start the foundations.
And here we have the initial foundation. Connection points for the two side sections are embedded in a base layer, which is mostly solid but has a few cutouts that we’ll use or cover later. The change in angle on the left-hand side, accompanied by Mixel ball-and-socket connectors instead of bars for clips, promises some interesting geometry later. The front area has a bit more finish to it, with a sketch of a garden and a little bit of paving stone work and steps leading up to the entrance. Referring back to the movie stills at the beginning of the instructions, the diagonal stairs are a good compression of the “real” thing.
Bag 3 starts adding in more details, layering some of the landscape and adding the first rounded windows, an iconic characteristic of a hobbit hole.
This bag also has some noteworthy parts in it! Speaking of those round windows, we have an entirely new window mold in dark green. Any glass or other insert that fits in a regular 1x2x2 window will work, but the cutout is circular. This fits the hobbit hole, of course, but it’s also an exciting part for anyone who builds things with portholes or similarly shaped openings. One of two rugs that the team wanted to really highlight is here as well, with a nicely symmetric print split between two 2×6 tiles. Making this one a sticker would have both limited how close the design could go to the edge, and also made it stressful to line up the design exactly between two stickers. I’m equally as glad not to have had to apply stickers to the 2×2 and 4×2 quarter-circle tile elements used to frame the windows and the door. Finally we have some large rounded bricks in regular green; the 6×6 variant isn’t new but has only been in two other sets, while the 5×5 smooth-topped version seems to be a new color for this set.
A bracket, an inverted slope brick, and some plates are combined to make a threshold that also will support the front step. It sinks into one of the gaps left in the base. This is one of those details that stands out sometimes; the designer clearly put some work into getting the door and the steps just so, instead of a solution that was “good enough”. These are always appreciated, and enjoyable to come across throughout the build.
The windows are interesting sections on their own, with studs on the side needed to attach the window framing and sills; elements to either mount or stop the door, and a shelf inside one holding some essential snacks.
Bag 4 adds some walls and the iconic green door. LEGO often tries to avoid very similar parts in the same bag, but sometimes a visual guide is necessary. These pieces actually don’t feel that similar picking them out of the pile, but somehow on the page they look very easy to mix up.
The door is another primary feature of Bilbo’s home, and it looks great in dark green tiles – the 3×3 corner / macaroni tiles are also new in this color. The center doorknob is made with a microphone, the gold printing working perfectly with the handle largely hidden. The back of the door features two coiled whips, which briefly threw me…
… until I refreshed myself on the source material and saw the decorative ironwork that extends from the door hinges. That’s actually really close! Another bit of attention to detail – on the backside of the door, not the main viewing angle, as well.
There’s also an easily detachable wall segment that hides some more bar connections from the main entrance hall, along with a cozy little fireplace with a log pile and a pretty tree print above the mantle. This space seems oddly tiny and hidden away, but remember that we’ve got two side sections still to build.
Bag 5 finishes the walls and details of the entrance with landscaping outside and furniture inside – a fence, sunflowers, a chest with Bilbo’s mithril shirt, a coat rack, some candles, a bench outside. It’s starting to look quite cozy. The white recolored pens that represent unlit candles with some dripped wax are a great touch. Outside, the gaps on the hilled landscaping up to the windows have been closed or mostly hidden, as well.
A highlight of this portion of the build is the fence, made of boomerangs recolored to nougat. They overlap in a way that could be tricky to assemble, but the design and the instructions sequencing make it easy. Each stack of boomerangs is assembled, with offset ones placed at a 90-degree angle from each other. Then, just twist, and they interlock to form a convincing fence!
Bag 6 tops off the entrance hall with the hilltop roof and a tree. The tree is a little plain from the back, but with just a little dark brown from 1×2 technic bricks it’s pretty clean. From the front the various limb and trunk elements do a good job of conveying an organic shape, and there’s enough foliage to have it look reasonably full.
The finished entrance hall could be a smaller set on its own in many ways.
On to the next booklet and the next set of 6 bags! The parts in bag 7 look similar to those from bag 2, so you won’t be terribly surprised by the resulting build – a clean little base with clips that will attach to the bar connections on the central hall.
This is a small section, and bag 8 finishes it. The exterior is just landscaping with one slanted window and more of the hilltop. Inside is a cozy study with Bilbo’s chair and writing desk, where he’s working on There And Back Again, his story of his adventure in The Hobbit. This attaches next to the fireplace from the central hall, making use of the small bit of space for the wall there to border Bilbo’s study with the cozy fireplace.
The slanted window is a useful technique and will be repeated later. Some tiles have been used instead of plates in the base; these will allow the window to float at an angle, off the regular square stud grid. The window is then built with hinge bricks on either side, and then placed in. The window section sits at an angle, lining up with the bricks placed on the edges. Later we’ll add slopes, plates, and plants to cover the gaps.
Bag 9 starts the other side of Bag-End, with Bilbo’s parlor. The second rug that the designers wanted to highlight is here. Again these would be stressful stickers to line on two tiles so that they align next to each other, so well worth prints.
The first section is similar to the initial bases for the previous two sections of Bag-End, with brown plates where the parlor will be, and the outline of a fireplace.
A mysterious sub-assembly with an assortment of technic axles takes shape. There’s a burnt-looking letter (a sticker, unfortunately) on one side, and a ring on the other …
It’s our first moving function, to recreate the scene where Gandalf throws the envelope into the fire to reveal the One Ring!
Bag 10 adds pieces set at an angle to match the angles on the central hall. 1×2 rounded plates and tiles, and 1×2 tiles with a cut corner combine to mesh the low stone wall across the differently-aligned grids.
It’s very satisfying when it’s all done:
The geometry in this section is really satisfying to look at. Here’s the angled section before it’s attached to the rest of the module, and then a view with it covered over some. The facing 6×2 wedge plates, one of which also perfectly aligns with the angled edge of a 2×3 wedge plate, match seamlessly. I love it when a plan comes toge…. oops, wrong movie.
Lots more slopes build up the hill around the walls, and the lower levels of the walls are laid.
Bag 11 starts furnishing the parlor, and what’s this on the window? It’s a … pine cone? Made from an unprinted hedgehog. Cool! I will admit that I would not have know what that was supposed to be without the note in the instructions. Maybe it’s a reference or memento to the flaming pine cones used to fend off Wargs in The Hobbit movie?
A table and chairs help to fill out the parlor and make it a cozy space. The chairs in particular use two elements that are new in dark orange, the element used for the legs, and the modified plate with a curved top. Lots of upside-down chairs are difficult to keep in place, but this leg style when placed on studs almost locks in to the grid, despite not actually being attached.
Another slanted window is attached just like the one used in Bilbo’s study, along with a broad assortment of green wedges, curves, and other elements used to fill in the hill that the window is set in.
The larger rounded study window uses the 1x1x2/3 rounded brick with stud on the side to place a bracket that holds the round window frame at the right height. Note that the bracket is only held in by the stud connection to the plate above it. There are simpler techniques to center three studs on top of four, but most of them would need another plate in height.
The study is finished off with some flowers, letters, and some cozy clutter on the mantle – a candle, some books or boxes, a bit of cheese. The portraits above the mantle are probably Bilbo’s parents, Bungo Baggins and Belladona Took. They may also be an easter egg; in the last Hobbit movie, The Battle of the Five Armies, Bilbo hangs similar portraits on the wall, and they were confirmed to be Peter Jackson as Bungo, and his partner and co-producer Fran Walsh as Belladonna.
Bag 12 adds a roof with some laundry drying, two chimneys, and a bluebird, along with other finishing landscaping.
Flowers, some shrubs, a small tree, and finishing greenery for the side of the hill round out an attractive module.
The more complicated geometry of the parlor attaches to the entrance hall with ball and socket connections, allowing some give and tolerance for the angles. The study, with a simple straight side, connects with clips and bars. Both sides have connections hidden in the base as well as further up, to make sure the whole structure is sturdy.
In fact, Bag-End is sturdy enough to pick up by the entrance hall base and swoosh around!
The last booklet is much thinner than the first two, which makes sense since there are only three bags left as opposed to six for each of the first books. We’re into the party accessories now that Bag-End proper is done, so bag 13 gives us one of the party tents and Bilbo’s birthday cake. Apparently during filming, they used a styrene prop cake and it caught fire! We’re quite sure that Merry and Pippin weren’t involved… aren’t we? The cloth element for the tent is lovely, and seems destined for future creative uses by large character builders, among others.
We might have known that bag 14 would give us Meriadoc “Merry” Brandybuck and Peregrin “Pippin” Took, trying to find the biggest firework and then not knowing quite the right way to set it off. The alternate faces and hair are a delightful touch.
The last thing we build is the setting for Bilbo’s speech. Splat gears form a mechanism for spinning a set of barrels 180 degrees back and forth so that Bilbo can “disappear” with the use of the One Ring.
Finally, bag 15 builds the tree that stands behind Bilbo, and a representation of the Smaug firework that Merry and Pippin set off earlier.
The tree that Bilbo gives his speech in front of is pretty hard to get a good view of in the movie. It does look like it has long spindly branches with clusters of greenery, probably evergreen needles of some sort – you can see where the build came from. However … this, to me, falls short of the rest of the set. The trunk is very square, almost completely flat on the back. The branches are very regular, and the “needles” are too sparse to look like clusters that wrap the branch underneath; they just look spiky.
Smaug, on the other hand, is almost entirely translucent reds and oranges with a red core and looks great soaring above the tree, ready to swoop down and terrify birthday guests.
The completed model
This is a substantial set, even with the proliferation of 5,000+ piece sets recently. There are not 144 guests, or space for them, no one was expecting that. The full movie set had multiple tents – more than 5, maybe 8? – but picking one to represent them is reasonable. The fabric element adds a different texture and feel, and the printing is bright and sharp. All of the key elements are here – Gandalf’s cart, Bag-End itself, a representation of the party in the tent and the cake, the Smaug firework, the stage where Bilbo disappears.
This is a lovely hobbit hole. At Fan Media Days, Kenyon Brady was asked if making a model with a closed back was considered, and he answered not really – you don’t actually see the backside of the hill much if at all in the movies, and even if you did… it’s the backside of the hill, it’s not the most exciting. Having open access to the back of the model for the interior made more sense for use of parts and space.
Two moving functions are included. The set feels like it leans a bit towards diorama or display set, but the play features included are both major plot elements at the beginning of the Fellowship of the Ring, so they feel quite appropriate: Gandalf revealing the One Ring to Frodo in the parlor, and below, Bilbo using the ring to disappear suddenly from his birthday party.
Bag-End on its own is a worthy display piece. Not everyone is a fan of the larger curved bricks, but they are layered well and consistently here, with lots of other vegetation mixed in. Other touches like the fence, the low stone wall, and the other landscaping just complete the picture.
Another question that came up at the Fan Media reveal was how much influence 79003 An Unexpected Gathering had on this model. Kenyon said that of course he looked into it and went through the build, but that he wanted to emphasize different areas of Bag-End for this model because of differences in what’s featured in The Hobbit vs. The Fellowship of the Ring. And that insight is spot on – the kitchen and dining room and key features of the setup for the Hobbit, but in Fellowship, the entrance, the study, and the parlor are the major locations.
Bag-End is pretty dense with green and foliage. It’s not a fan model – that might be expected to get closer to the movie look of overgrown grass everywhere, maybe using hundreds more of the green Wolverine claws to do it, or perhaps another technique. But the wedges, plates, and plant elements that are mixed in make it a richly textured and satisfying scene.
The minifigures
Bag-End is preparing for a party, and so the minifigures in this set are attired for one! Metallic prints and threads are common on many of the figures. First up is Bilbo, sharp in his waistcoat. He has short legs with dual-molded bare feet, like all of the hobbits, and dual facial expressions as well. He hasn’t aged a bit!
Frodo accosts Gandalf on his way to Bag-End, and accuses him of being late. Gandalf, of course, disagrees.
Gandalf has the same torso and dress prints as in 10316 The Lord of the Rings: Rivendell, but the head is different and includes a beard while the previous figure did not.
Samwise Gamgee, caught dropping some eaves, is relatively plain but always faithful
Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took, I might have known! We’ve already mentioned the alternate faces, soot covered and scratched a bit. Both feature very nice detailed prints that are true to their movie costumes at the party.
Those alternate faces, of course, are for when the firework they steal – uh, borrow? – “the big one!” – goes off right under the tent. Let’s get another!
Rosie Cotton has a flowing dress, a recolored element new in dark blue. Her top features detailed lacing, and she looks joyful and ready for a dance, if Sam would only ask.
Our final characters are Everard and Aurora Proudfoot. At the Fan Media days reveal, the team was asked if they’d thought about including the Sackville-Bagginses, likely to be familiar to more people than the Proudfeet. The answer was that if you go by the movie, the Sackville-Bagginses’ costumes are a little drab, and the Proudfoots – sorry, Proudfeet! – were more interesting.
Aurora’s skirt is another completely new mold. Kenyon talked to the fan media about how it was an interesting choice to do a new element for a side character, but they felt like it helped to fill out the world, and that it ought to contrast with Rosie’s skirt, which is more flowing and dancing to fit her personality.
Conclusions and recommendations
“I am going now. Goodbye.” But first, this is a lovely set. All of the necessary characters are here, Bag-End has 3 rooms that all feature prominently in the beginning of the Lord of the Rings story, and Bilbo’s home is a lovely display model. The boomerang fence is a highlight, but there are also new molds, a lot of recolors, and tons and tons of little details scattered throughout that make the build.
You, however, dear reader, dear Sackville-Baggins, are here because you want to know if this set is worth parting with some of those silver spoons that seem to disappear in your presence. And so we must mention that bugaboo, the price-per-piece. $270 for just over 2,000 pieces is not great. 10316 Rivendell had over 6,000 pieces for $500, with 21 minifigures included. 1033 Barad-dûr was also under the 10-cents-per-piece benchmark, with 5,400+ pieces for $460, and 11 minifigures. 10354 The Shire, however, has just over 2,000 pieces for $270, and 9 minifigures. If you love Bag-End, then you probably want this set and the build is good enough that you’ll be quite happy with it. If you are just looking for one multi-hundred Lord of the Rings set, though, then Rivendell is a better value: it has more pieces for less money per piece, it has minifigures for the full Fellowship of the Ring, and a ton of gorgeous prints and scenery as well. 10354 The Shire has a lot of large pieces in it, and it is cheaper overall than Rivendell, but it’s hard to recommend too strongly in comparison.
LEGO Icons 10354 The Lord of the Rings: The Shire contains 2017 pieces and 9 minifigures, and will be available April 2nd for LEGO Insiders (April 5th for everyone) from LEGO.com for US $269.99 | CAN $349.99 | UK £229.99. It also may be available from 3rd party sellers like Amazon and eBay.
The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
The post LEGO Icons 10354 The Lord of the Rings: The Shire – A Long Expected Party [Review] appeared first on The Brothers Brick.
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