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LEGO Ideas Medieval Blacksmith Review

(Written by Geneva – gid617)

Medieval lovers rejoice – the #21325 LEGO Ideas Medieval Blacksmith set is a slice of medieval life brought to the bricks with loads of realistic detail!  This blacksmith’s workshop was originally designed by LEGO fan Clemens Fiedler, but the final product has undergone a lot of revision.  There are some definite similarities like the half-timber style second story and the roof with an angle in the middle, but the LEGO designers were able to make the set brighter and less cluttered – fortunately without destroying its realistic look!

The set brings back the Black Falcon knights; two of them are coming to buy armor or get repairs. The older knight’s shoulder armor doesn’t look very medieval – in fact, it looks like it’s from Ninjago.  Oh, it is from Ninjago!  What do you know…  Maybe he is coming to the blacksmith to get the right side fixed.

The Medieval Blacksmith is impressively ready for 360 viewing. It’s also surprisingly sturdy, and although the carrying points are limited since you have to be careful not to lift the second story off by mistake, it’s easy to transport once you find a good spot to hold it.

The detail doesn’t stop with the outside either; there are three fully-furnished interiors. I have to call out the bearskin rug in the attic especially.

There’s only one function in this set (besides opening doors and windows and simple things like that), but it’s a very fun one. Pushing in the bellows on the right of the forge triggers a light brick and simulates a fire in the chimney.  It’s strangely satisfying to play with!

The Medieval Blacksmith is not small – it dwarfed this little half-timber house I happened to have on my desk at the same time.

My little brother and a friend of his had loads of fun exploring this set while I was supervising carefully and trying to visualize what I would have done differently if it were my own creation. Although it only has one real function (the light brick), this set has so much space for kids to interact with and create stories for.

Four Bricks Tall took the Medieval Blacksmith on a forest trail for a beautiful picture and inspired me to get some outdoor shots as well.  While I’m at it, I’ll complain about the wagon.  I’m not sure why knights are in wagon anyways, it makes it look like they just came off a farm, but on top of that this wagon is blocky and looks unrealistic.

Besides the wagon, I’m also not a huge fan of the moss on the roof. There just seems to be way too much of it, and besides that, sand green and blue isn’t a great color combination.

Another small gripe of mine is the dog. A husky hardly seems the right animal for a medieval blacksmith.  I also have to mention the tree; it’s a bit spindly and doesn’t look very organic.

The build process for this set was enjoyable. It’s a large set, and took several hours to put together, but except for the tree there’s not much dull repetition.  On the other hand, the instructions frequently had lots of pieces in one step and sometimes the yellow lines meant to highlight new pieces were visually confusing.  Not a big deal, but it would probably be difficult for kids to follow.

There are two techniques that are particularly worth mentioning; the brilliant construction for the wooden “A” on either side of the house, and the stylish use of shield tiles for the roof. If you’d like to see more about the build process, I put together a time lapse video below.

I love this set – it’s a highly playable, highly displayable medieval themed LEGO build. If medieval is even a little bit your thing, you’re sure to love it too.  And for those one or two things that could be tweaked… well, stay tuned, because I’ll be hammering those out in another article soon! In the meantime, if you would like to check out the set, it’s now available at the LEGO Ideas section of the Online LEGO Shop.

What do you think? How do you like the LEGO Ideas Medieval Blacksmith? It’s about time we get a new medieval set, isn’t it?  How do you like the details and play-features? Anything you would like to change? Feel free to share your thoughts and discuss in the comment section below!

And you might also like to check out the following related posts:

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Ninjago Soundtrack, New Season Trailer, & More!

We have been talking about LEGO Ninjago quite a bit lately as the story is celebrating its 10th anniversary (see links at the end of this post). And today, we will continue with even more exciting news for LEGO Ninjago fans!

First of all, LEGO launched a new LEGO Ninjago 10th Anniversary webpage to commemorate the event. The page features lots of interesting content, including an interview with the co-creator and producer of the Ninjago television series, Tommy Andreasen. I do recommend reading this interview as Tommy is basically the father of Ninjago and he is very involved with the community. His thoughts on the future of Ninjago are particularly interesting. Here is just a short quote from the interview where Tommy was asked whether he can imagine a 20th anniversary.

“If we go about it right,” he concludes. “It’s all about being able to reinvent yourself. We’re in this strange situation of making a television show for 7-9-year-olds while also trying to please 19-year-olds who grew up with the show because hey… we helped bring them up! And they love NINJAGO dearly, so we feel an obligation to not let them down. But if we get too heavily bogged down by backstory and lore, then we become inaccessible to newcomers, who we rely on to come in, understand the series, and allow it to become part of their foundation as well. It’s a balancing act.”

There is also and an interview with Ninjago fan artist Joshua David. A poster designed by Joshua is included with the #71741 LEGO Ninjago City Gardens set, and you can also download it from the website.

Another awesome downloadable content is a poster featuring key events from the LEGO Ninjago timeline, including the release of the Ninjago television series episodes, The Ninjago Movie, and some of the most iconic LEGO Ninjago sets. I wish this was also included with a Ninjago set, but at least we can download a high quality version.

One of the most iconic features of the Ninjago TV show has been its wonderful musical score, composed by Michael Kramer and Jay Vincent. For the 10th anniversary, the music from each season has been collected into an almost three hour long soundtrack, which you can listen to via the website. This is the perfect accompaniment to build your new set… or to enjoy on its own. I’m really happy to have this available as I always loved the music.

There is also another version of the same soundtrack with background clips from the series, which is available via LEGO’s YouTube channel. “Ninjago – A Musical Journey” is released in four installments, with the first installment covering Ninjago’s beginning years of 2011-2012, and subsequent installments cover the other time periods. I’m adding them in the player below as they become available.

LEGO is also releasing a series of original short films. Each one will tell an exciting new story celebrating friendship, dragon, epic battles, and everything else you know and love about Ninjago. The series is called Ninjago Reimagined, and it will include five short films featuring our favorite Ninjago characters: Kai, Cole, Lloyd, Zane, Jay, and of course the wise Master Wu. Below is a sneak-peak of the series.

In addition, the special 10th anniversary website also includes information on the #71741 LEGO Ninjago City Gardens set LEGO Ninjago Legacy sets, as well as other interesting tidbits. If you would like to check it all out, visit the LEGO Ninjago 10th Anniversary webpage.

While Ninjago celebrates its wonderful past, it is also moving toward an exciting future. The trailer for Season 14: The Island as well as the accompanying LEGO sets have already been revealed and are scheduled for release in March. The show should be airing in the first half of 2021 with Lloyd as the mascot, and, Chief Mammatus as the main antagonist, and the Keepers as the villainous faction. You can watch the trailer below.

It looks like 2021 is going to be an awesome year for LEGO Ninjago fans with new episodes to watch and new sets to build, as well as interesting content and LEGO Ninjago Legacy sets celebrating the past. If you would like to check out the full currently available selection, visit the LEGO Ninjago section of the Online LEGO Shop.

What do you think? How do you like the Ninjago 10th anniversary website? Did you find some interesting tidbits? And how do you like the soundtrack and the trailer for the new season? Feel free to share your thoughts and discuss in the comment section below!

And you might also like to check out the following related posts:

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