After taking a look at the LEGO® Ideas Dungeons & Dragons: Red Dragon’s Tale set, it’s time to take a much closer look at the minifigures and creatures found in the set. For DnD players, crafting their characters is the most important part of the experience. Before this set existed, DnD players used LEGO elements to create physical representations of their in-game characters. The set includes six minifigure characters to take on your DnD quests. Every quest is fraught with danger and the planes of Faerûn are filled with many different critters and creatures. Some of them are included in the set has buildable characters. Here’s a closer look at both the minifigures and monsters found in the upcoming LEGO Ideas Dungeons & Dragons: Red Dragon’s Tale set.
Product Details
Set Name: Dungeons & Dragons: Red Dragon’s Tale | Set Number: 21348 | Pieces: 3745 | Theme: LEGO Ideas
Number of Bags: Bags x 33 + loose elements | Instructions: Paper booklet + Builder App | Stickers: Sheet x 1 Characters: Human, elf wizard, dwarf cleric, gnome fighter, orc rogue & Dragonborn Alax Jadescales | Insiders QR: Yes | Fan Designer: Lucas Bolt
RRP: £314.99/$359.99/359.99€/499.99AUD/469.99CAD
Availability: LEGO Stores & LEGO Online from April 1st
The minifigures and creatures are just as important parts of the set as the buildings are. As mentioned DnD players have used existing LEGO elements to craft minifigure versions of their in-game avatars. Now there’s an official option, with the LEGO Ideas set including six common DnD races.
The six characters have been created in partnership with Wizards of the Coast and also feature in the accompanying Red Dragon’s Tale campaign. The minifigure includes two named characters, Dragonborn Alex Jadescale and human innkeeper, Ervan Soulfallen along with four player characters – an elf wizard, a dwarf cleric, a gnome fighter and an orc rogue. The print detail on each minifigure is impressive and generic enough that they can each be interchanged to become other races. You’ll notice that each of the characters has gloved hands. This allows the six different torsos to be interchangeable with the five pairs of humanoid heads.
To give players the greatest selection of variety, each of the characters with standard minifigures has alternate heads allowing you to choose between masculine or feminine heads. All but the orc also offer alternate expressions. The Dragonborn minifigure is just a single head but it reuses the dragon headpiece from the VIDIYO theme. This offers a great amount of customisation although some of the hair pieces have features matching the skin tone of certain heads.
Just as you can mix and match the heads with the bodies, you can also swap the weapons around. The minifigures each carry their own weapons such as swords, crossbows, hammers or a weapon of shining light. But others are dotted around the set such as the Wand of Ice. The minifigure with the biggest change is the Human, Ervan Soulfallen. This character is first shown as a jolly-looking innkeeper. But later on, they become an evil sorcerer, losing the head in favour of a dark cloak and hood, plus a magical staff/
The world of DnD is jam-packed with creatures and for many of them, their sole purpose is to maim you in some horrid way. Some are more iconic than others with a select few being more recognisable to those with a passing knowledge of DnD. The monsters featured in the set are portrayed in two different ways. Most are brick-built creatures, whilst others are woven into the set. Although not listed as minifigures, the set features a trio of skeletons. These are wearing various pieces of armour and a cloak of invisibility.
The Owlbear is exactly what the name suggests it is, a cross between a giant owl and a bear. The result is a monstrous creature with ferocity and aggression in its attacks. The LEGO version is a little cuter looking but maintains its fearsome ways in the set’s accompanying adventure.
The Displacer Beast is a six-legged panther-like creature, with two tentacle-like appendages. The Displacer uses these to displace light and simulate another identical beast to confuse its prey. The LEGO version does a decent job of capturing the creature’s unique features and the use of black and dark blue elements give it an evil appearance.
A Beholder is one of DnD’s most unique-looking creatures. It’s a fleshy floating orb, with a single large eye and several smaller eyes on tentacles. It’s an interesting build and one which is surprisingly sturdy. Many of the tentacles are macaroni pieces, simply attached via studs. You’d think these would easily fall off, but I’ve dropped the Beholder more than once and they never came off.
The Gelatinous Cube is another creature which is exactly what the name suggests. This large jelly-like creature engulfs and dissolves living matter. So it is often shown filled with various items left behind after their previous owners have succumbed to the Gelatinous Cube’s transparent terror. In LEGO form, a skeleton head, jewel and pan can be found in 4×4 stud-wide cube. It could have been a little bigger, but then it would be trickier to fit it into the smaller section of the dungeon.
As mentioned in my review of the set, the tavern is home to a pair of Mimics. These creatures disguise themselves as inanimate objects in this case that’s a bed and a chest. They are found in the tavern’s upper room. Both have printed elements to represent their eyes.
The set also features some of DnD’s lesser-known creatures including an Awakened Tree. This is found in the meadow section of the set and is portrayed as a black-barked tree with a jolly-looking face. Inside the set’s upper dungeons, you find a pair of Myconids. These are mushroom-like creatures which use the new body elements used for the dream creatures in the LEGO DREAMZzz sets.
Finally, is the set’s biggest creature, a fearsome red dragon called Cinderhowl. Now the original fan submission featured a green dragon which was shown to be twisted around the crumbling castle turret. As you will have seen from images of the set the dragon’s appearance and pose have been changed. Firstly, the original fan submission was a render and as impressive as it looked, it was physically impossible to replicate. In terms of the colour, it was decided to turn it red to match the colour of the DnD logo. The colour change makes Cinderhowl stand out and although it can’t be wound around the tower, it can still be posed to loom over the castle wall. The dragon is spectacular, it could have been a set on its own. The build was so much fun and Cinderhowl has some impressive detail. The head in particular is amazing and who knew brush heads would make great dragon horns? The large wings are built from a frame of Technic elements and a unique material membrane.
The characters and creatures of DnD are just as important as the world they exist in. Combined, they represent a wide-spanning slice of the game’s rich lore. The minifigures offer an impressive amount of customisation and offer a taste of what the upcoming Collectable Minifigures series will have. There’s no getting away from the set’s price point, but during a chat with the set’s Design Team, they felt that if this is the only LEGO set to be released based on Dungeons & Dragons, it should be the best it can be. Who knows, if this set is popular, we could be treated to more LEGO DnD sets in the future. The LEGO Ideas Dungeons & Dragons: Red Dragon’s Tale set will be available from April 1st. Check out the first part of my review of the set here.
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This set was provided to BricksFanz.com by the LEGO Group for review purposes. The thoughts within this review are those of BricksFanz.com and do not reflect those of the LEGO Group or Wizards of the Coast. Providing the set for free does not guarantee a favourable opinion of the set.
