LEGO Ideas Viking Village (21343) Review

Michael, a.k.a Brick_Shed, here with a review of the LEGO Ideas Viking Village (21343). Join me over on Instagram for weekly builds and tours of LEGO my Shed!

Introduction:

The Viking Village was released back in October 2023. 80s/90s LEGO fans have been lucky in recent years with Castle, Pirates and Space sets all having classic sets released and it’s great that we see Vikings getting in on the act too. Interesting Florian (the fan designer) was not inspired by the classic Viking sets but by University reading. The set has an interesting journey to becoming a set as it reached 10,000 votes back in 2020 but wasn’t picked, not to be deterred Florian resubmitted it and in 2022 it again reached support but wasn’t picked. Luckily for us though it was one of three Ideas picked for the Target Fan Vote and was the winning entry.

This set probably wins best value 2023 set as it costs £124.99 for 2,103 pieces and no that is not a typo. Which is an amazing deal when you consider what you would normally pay for a set over 2,000 pieces. Also, the news that many fans like to hear that there is not a single sticker in this set!

Build:

The build is actually split into three sections but there is only one instruction book, considering other 2023 Ideas sets have included multiple instructions when they’re split into sections like the A-Frame Cabin and Insects, it’s a shame that three instruction books weren’t included. This would have allowed a group to build their sections separately and join them together at the end.

The builds are three very different sections and each show different aspects of Viking culture. Each section is unique and uses different building techniques, I especially liked the roofs to the two builds which come off so you can look at them more closely. The steps leading up to the tower make great use of SNOT (studs not on top) building techniques. I liked how simple and effective the rope bridge is.

There are a couple of trees for the set and I especially liked the one next to the Blacksmith which uses techniques that I haven’t seen before. The doors to the watchtower make great use of wands to create the hinges on the outside.

As I have said before there are no stickers but several pieces are printed like Thor’s Hammer and the 1×4 tiles that have been decorated with serpents.

Minifigures:

The set includes 4 Minifigures, which all have printed torsos and legs, which is always a bonus and great considering the value of the set. A couple of the torso’s are reused from the Creator Viking Ship that recently retired.

We get two male and female Vikings and one of the females has a reversible head.

One criticism I would have of the set is that considering it is meant to be a village it does look a little empty with just 4 Minifigures and think we could do with a couple more to bring it to life. I guess you can always grab a couple off extra minifigures off eBay or Bricklink.

Cost:

As I said at the start for me this set wins best value 2023 set and you won’t find many other sets with over 2,000 pieces at £124.99.

Display:

Once completed the set looks fantastic on display with all the different colours used to bring it to life. The designers have done a great job of packing lots in but not making the set too big so it’s difficult to have space to display it.

There’s also a neat little play feature in the Blacksmith area to give the illusion of the flames in the forge moving up and down.

People might want to combine with the Creator Viking Ship and Midgard Serpent which recently retired. Both to get some extra Minifigures and a ship to go with the set. Although one issue with adding the ship is that the colours on the ship won’t match the village so will need to be modified to blend in properly.

Overall:

This is a fantastic set that everyone will love and at that price you won’t find a better value set. The set is also being sold at John Lewis and just before Christmas I saw it being sold for under £100 so you might want to grab yourself an even better bargain. Please head down the page to see my ratings, this set scores highly in most areas and rightly so!

Thank you for taking the time to read my review of the LEGO Ideas Viking Village (21343). Please use the comments section below to ask any questions you have about it, I’ll try my best to answer them.