(Written by William)
One of my favorite LEGO themes of all time is LEGO Castle. It was a major part of my childhood and brought me out of my own dark ages as an adult. So, when the #10332 LEGO Icons Medieval Town Square was released, I needed to check in on this beloved theme with its latest entry.
I’ll be straight up, I’m not objective at all when it comes to the LEGO Castle series. I do like it in nearly all its forms. So, the question then becomes, how can you trust a review I write if I’m not truly objective? My answer is that what I lack in impartiality I make up for in having an overly high expectation.
Usually, whenever I’m over-hyped about anything, I’m usually let down. That’s because I want it to be everything, even though that may not be realistic. So, this set is going to be fighting an uphill battle just to meet my expectations, much less to exceed them. This is especially true since this set has a fairly hefty price of $229.99. So, let’s quaff our ale and see what is on offer in the #10332 LEGO Icons Medieval Town Square.
LEGO MEDIEVAL TOWN SQUARE – THE NOSTALGIA
Back in 2009, LEGO Castle fans got a similar set called the #10193 LEGO Medieval Market Village. This was a model clearly designed to attract adults. It featured two hinged buildings along with a smattering of accessories to fill ye old streets. The description of the #10332 LEGO Icons Medieval Town Square even mentions that it was partially a reimagining of the #10193 LEGO Medieval Market Village.
The #10193 LEGO Medieval Market Village featured an inn and a blacksmith. This new version also has an inn, but it has a more specific smith in the shield smith. It also features a carpenter, a tapestry maker, a cheese maker, and a guard tower. So, you can see how the original market was expanded. And we also get a new profession in the tax collector, which kind of follows given the number of businesses in the set.
In some of these businesses, you can get glimpses of even more nostalgia. For instance, the tapestry maker is working on a piece that is inspired by one of the earliest Castle sets. Another nod to previous models is in the cheese maker. Some may not realize this, but when the #10193 LEGO Medieval Market Village was released, it introduced a very popular new part, namely, the cheese slope. It even used the part as cheese, which helped give it that very name.
Then there is the puzzling way the Broken Axe Inn is connected to the Shield Smith and Guard Tower. Clearly, the Guard Tower is protecting the outer wall of the city, but why does the Shield Smith have no real front door? Well, I think the answer is two-fold.
You see, back in 1986, LEGO had a Castle line with a distinct feature. Every building or business that wasn’t a battle-pack or wagon had a section of the castle wall. The idea was that you could attach all these sections together and create a walled-in castle city. Sets like the #6067 LEGO Castle Lion Knights Guarded Inn (which was later rereleased in 2001 as the 10000 LEGO Castle Lion Knights Guarded Inn) were directly connected to this wall. And shops like the #6041 LEGO Castle Lion Knights Armor Shop and the #6040 LEGO Castle Lion Knights Blacksmith Shop from this same period had open-faced businesses built right into the wall itself just like the Shield Smith is set up in the current model. Honestly, it does feel like when reimagining this set, LEGO designers really went deep.
MEDIEVAL TOWN SQUARE – DETAILING GOOD & BAD
Given the number of years since we’ve last seen a LEGO medieval market of any type, it’s no surprise that there are more parts and colors to play with. This means the ability to detail models has vastly improved. Just to give an example, the 2009 set had two buildings with simple sloped black roofs. The new model features five different roof designs, featuring both novel angles, color variety, and texturing. Put simply, we now have the ability to build in imperfections, which makes the new set even more realistic than its predecessor.
Likewise, the walls of the model have a brick-built pattern to simulate the architecture from the time period. This used to be done in a very heavy-handed blocky way, but now we have thin lines thanks to special SNOT (Studs-Not-On-Top) bricks. In fact, every building in the set features this design.
This brings me to one of my issues with the new model. As pretty as this looks, it makes it very hard to handle the buildings. Put pressure in the wrong spot and you’ll easily punch a hole right through the wall. Add to this the various rounded bits of greenery which can’t hold weight from underneath and you tend to have to really think about how you’ll touch the model if you want to do anything with it.
This is only compounded by the added details you’ll find further decorating the set. The inn’s sign with upside-down handcuffs is amazing, but it’s also terribly fragile. LEGO designers also packed in so much to every inch of every interior. Again, this looks amazing and I’m so glad it is all there, but trying to reach in and change or take one thing becomes a real challenge.
Ultimately, the detailing is both the best and worst thing about this model. LEGO fans are spoiled with all the fine details, but those details come at the cost of a lack of playability and interaction.
LEGO MEDIEVAL TOWN SQUARE – ROOF BRACES
Most of the model uses building techniques I’m familiar with. Are they a bit more intricate and detailed than previous models? Sure. But most of this model is meant to feel familiar. What I wasn’t expecting is building something structurally that I can’t really recall doing. This involves the removable roofs over the carpenter’s and cheese maker’s houses.
Removable roofs aren’t really a new thing. Most of the time they are single-paneled like in the #43242 LEGO Disney Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Cottage or the #21338 LEGO Ideas A-Frame Cabin. Sometimes they have a flat foundation like in many of the LEGO Modular buildings. And fully built high roofs tend to be flexible with hinges like in the #21310 LEGO Ideas Old Fishing Store. So, it was interesting to see inverted V-shaped roofs in this set that were solidly built and weren’t on a flat surface. LEGO designers managed to do this using stacked SNOT bricks built into 90-degree frames. What was even cooler that they did this in two different ways.
The carpenter’s building features three independent braces for the two external roof panels to attach to. Meanwhile, the cheese maker’s place has one giant brace to attach its roof sections onto. The build for these is surprisingly simple. We just haven’t had the variety of SNOT bricks needed to make them doable. You see, you need to have ways to overlap parts to create stability in the framework. Different-sized parts allow for interlocking to be done easily. This is how the large brace in the cheese maker’s place gives strength to its brace. As for the carpenter’s building, tiles added to the sides provide overlapping security. However, each brace is comparatively small. This is why there are three braces. Adding redundant supports is another way to build stability in the structure.
The end result has some interesting characteristics. On the one hand, the roof is heavier. This is actually something you probably want in a roof, especially if it only sits on top of a model. Having gravity help hold everything in place becomes an asset. As for the downside, this technique is parts-heavy. By that, I am not referring to its weight like before, but rather you will need a lot of the same parts to make it work. Depending on your own collection, this might not be an option if you haven’t amassed lots of duplicate parts. But if you do have them, I definitely recommend trying this type of roof-building technique.
LEGO MEDIEVAL TOWN SQUARE – FINAL THOUGHTS
This set does have a lot going for it. It is a fantastic building experience with a rather dynamic color palette. The sheer number of buildings you get is impressive and really helps justify the price. And given the fact that it is marketed towards adults, I am not too bothered by how challenging it might be to handle the model. After all, this is more of a display and not a play set.
Now as much as I love this set, I do have a couple items that bother me. First, the way the inn is connected to the shield smith is just plain odd. Even if they were going for a nostalgic feel, my brain just keeps asking, how is this supposed to work? Why is there no front door to the shield smith? And what happened to the stairs to get to the upper floors of the inn? I think the reason it bothers me as much as it does is because otherwise, the set is so highly detailed and accurate in other ways. If LEGO designers meant everything to look so precise and pretty, why did they make a building that feels so incomplete?
The other major problem I have is that I don’t think this set will really grow the LEGO Castle fan base. The reason is that it doesn’t have other sets to really support it. Sure, you can pick up the #10305 LEGO Icons Lion Knight’s Castle or the #21348 LEGO Ideas Dungeons & Dragons Red Dragon’s Tail, but both of those cost even more than this set. And they are also geared toward niche adult audiences. We’re missing all the small sets that don’t challenge our budget or get a new generation excited about knights and castles. I’m happy I’m being remembered by LEGO, but sad that there isn’t a growing younger group that will be as passionate as I am about this great series. And as the years add up, this #10332 LEGO Icons Medieval Town Square is going to become just a relic of history. In the video below, I talk a bit more about the set.
If you do like the #10332 LEGO Icons Medieval Town Square or the #10305 LEGO Icons Lion Knight’s Castle, they are both available at the LEGO Icons section of the Online LEGO Shop.
What do you think? How do you like the new LEGO Castle line, and what do you think of the town square and the techniques and features we discussed here? Feel free to share your thoughts and own reviews in the comment section below!
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