Things That Could Have Been: A Curious Look at 10354 The Shire
/Middle-earth, MIDDLE-EARTH, MIDDLE-EARTH!!!
We each have our own obsessions that can cause us to go full “Benny-from-The-LEGO-Movie-mode,” and for me, that obsession is Middle-earth. As such, it’s no surprise that I was ecstatic upon learning about the latest addition to LEGO Lord of the Rings line, 10354 The Shire. As one of the most iconic locations in Middle-earth, and with a stellar cast of minifigures to boot, I had high expectations for the set. For the most part, I wasn’t disappointed.
That said, I also couldn’t help but wonder about what could have been. While the set captures the beginning of The Lord of the Rings perfectly, I question if there was potential to explore some other directions. In particular, what if the set had been based on The Hobbit rather than The Lord of the Rings?
But before we dive into hypotheticals, let’s take a look at the set that we did get…
If You Ever Pass Through Bag End, Tea Is At Four
However, before I could even get to the set itself, I was distracted by several unique traits of the packaging. The first thing that stood out to me was how the box opened. Rather than having to open one side, the entire box splits into a base and a lid, allowing for much greater access to the contents within and giving the experience a slightly more premium feel.
This is the first time I’ve encountered a box like this, although some digging from the BrickNerd team found that this may be a regional thing, more common in Europe than in the US at the moment. As this set was an early copy provided by LEGO, it is likely that it originated from Europe.
More surprises awaited inside, though, as this was also my first time encountering a set with all paper bags! (Brickset wrote a great write-up about the LEGO paper bags, which you can read here.) Hopefully with the new factory being built in Virginia, we might get more sustainably packaged sets in the future in the US, too. Personally, I’m just curious if there’s any way to incorporate these bags into a MOC!
Even the little bags containing smaller parts were made of paper. The only plastic bag in sight was one random bag of elements containing the horse and a few larger plates. That said, several of the paper bags also contained plates of a comparable size to the ones in the plastic bag, so I’m not sure what necessitated packaging these ones in plastic.
With that out of the way, though, it was time to move onto the build itself. The set is divided into three instruction booklets, with the first booklet utilizing bags 1-6 and covering Gandalf’s wagon and the central entrance to Bag End.
Already you can see the iconic design of Bag End coming together with printed brickwork and a striking green door. The gold door handle made with a microphone is a nice touch.
The second booklet uses bags 7-12 and covers the two side chunks of Bag End that flank the main entrance. Without the middle section, the green mound looks almost like it could be any other Hobbit-hole in the Shire.
Finally, the third booklet covers bags 13-15 and rounds out the set with a number of small sub-assemblies that represent Bilbo’s iconic eleventy-first birthday party. (A party you can join with exclusive torso prints on LEGO’s Minifigure Factory online.)
The torsos include a warning of “no admittance except on party business” in two colors like the sign in front of Bag End or a “111 Today!” shirt with a stylized “BB” for Bilbo Baggins on the back. But back to the set…
In a Hole in the Ground There Lived a Hobbit
The completed model is a worthy recreation of Bag End. While slightly simplified, comparing it to footage from The Fellowship of the Ring shows a striking similarity to the reference material—at least from the outside.
The vertical separation line running through the middle is a bit distracting, and I wish the set had a bit more texture or foliage to help hide the seam. But that is an easy fix for an AFOL.
Photo of the existing Bag End in New Zealand.
While the interior of the set is relatively shallow and doesn’t fully capture the mazelike corridors that Bag End is comprised of, it does include plenty of great details. The interior is divided into three rooms, corresponding to the three separate sections the model is constructed.
The first room is the main entrance, complete with a hutch and a chest that contains some fun accessories and Easter eggs. The ironwork on the back side of the doors is noticeable, as is a printed rug.
To the left of this is Bilbo’s study which includes a desk and chair, as well as a charming little fireplace with a different size of those brickwork tiles. The minifigure pen used as a melted candle is quite fun as well.
Finally, on the right is the kitchen, where several pivotal scenes in the film take place. This room also contains a fireplace in addition to a table and chairs. Another printed rug is included.
The fireplace also features a fun play feature, where you can flip the letter in the fireplace to reveal the ring inside. While it’s an effective feature, the knob is a little unsightly, and I wonder if it was worth trying to incorporate a play feature into a set that’s clearly aimed at adults.
You may have noticed in the above images the lack of stickers. This is especially noticeable with the portraits missing above the fireplace; I’m always a little hesitant to apply stickers unless they’re absolutely necessary because I usually need the pieces more after the fact, but I must admit that the portraits which depict Bilbo’s parents are a great detail, so I did end up applying those stickers later on. Kudos to the graphic design team for encouraging me to actually apply stickers!
While I’m extremely impressed with the model overall, it does have a few shortcomings in my opinion, most notable among them are several gaps across the model. The angled windows on both sides of the model contain a few small gaps along the base and the side which are a bit unsightly to the detail-oriented.
However, the most egregious gaps may be around the door. This is especially noticeable when a light is placed behind the door—and I expect many people will want to light up this set to make it feel more cozy.
That said, there are also plenty of enjoyable little details, and I was particularly impressed by the NPU for some of the furniture using a Minecraft element for chair legs, boomerangs for the fence, and even a swivel SNOT piece (aka D-SNOT_ for the mailbox.
Moving on to the side models, Gandalf’s wagon is a charming little build and a worthy successor to set 9469 Gandalf Arrives. There’s space for both Gandalf and Frodo to sit on top and plenty of room for fireworks in the back.
The party tree, on the other hand, is a less successful model. The tree looks like the design was rushed, with the shaping a little too square and symmetrical—it definitely needs some polishing.
That said, the tree does include a really fun play function where you can make Bilbo disappear behind a stack of barrels. I think this play feature is more successful than the fireplace in the house becasue the gear sticking out of the back doesn’t appear as intrusive as the knob sticking out of the fireplace.
The rest of the party side builds are a little more successful, although they still feel a little tacked-on. The tent piece is neat and the dragon firework is well-designed, but they don’t feel like they belong with the main model. The alternate faces and hair pieces to Merry and Pippin are delightful though.
That said, I am happy to see the birthday party represented in LEGO form. In my previous article The Missing Sets of Middle Earth, I discussed the lack of set representation for this pivotal scene. I’m happy to see it depicted, even if I think it may have been better suited to a smaller playset.
“The birthday party” MOC by Thorsten Bonsch
Even the Smallest Person Can Change the Course of the Future
Of course in a licensed set like this, the model itself is rarely even the highlight of the set—that honor usually goes to the minifigures. 10354 The Shire comes with nine minifigures (a fellowship of figures, we could call it), including three characters who have never been depicted in LEGO form before. The characters of Gandalf, Frodo, Sam, Bilbo, Merry, and Pippin have all appeared before, with all six also included recently in 10316 Rivendell, though thankfully all of them (with the exception of Gandalf) feature new designs allowing for more variation of the characters for The Lord of the Rings fans.
However, perhaps even more exciting are the minifg newcomers: Rosie (Sam’s love interest) as well as Otho and Lobelia Sacksville-Baggins (Bilbo’s meddlesome relatives). I’m particularly excited by the appearance of the Sacksville-Baggins as they represent a delightful antagonistic force within the relatively peaceful bounds of the Shire, as they are constantly scheming to get their hands on Bag End.
(Fun fact: in the book, Frodo eventually does sell Bag End to the Sacksville-Baggins when he leaves the Shire on his quest. Lobelia later defied Saruman after he took over the Shire and was regarded as a hero among Hobbits. She goes on to donate Bag End back to Frodo after his return and subsequent defeat of Saruman so that he can use it to help Hobbits who have lost their home. Talk about a redemption arc and an underrated character!)
What’s more, several of the figures come with extra pieces to customize them, allowing you to recreate various scenes from the film. Gandalf, Frodo, and Bilbo all come with alternate pieces allowing them to sit down, while Merry and Pippin come with the reversible heads and alternate hair I mentioned earlier to recreate the moment when they steal and set off one of Gandalf’s fireworks.
Overall, I’m pretty happy with the minifigure selection. And yet, there’s a part of me that couldn’t help but wonder what else could have been…
Things That Were, Things That Are, and Things That Have Not Yet Come to Pass
This is not the first time that LEGO has made a set depicting Bag End. LEGO released 79003 An Unexpected Gathering in 2012, coinciding with the release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Unlike this bigger set which is based on The Lord of the Rings, the prior set was based on The Hobbit.
While the models themselves really aren’t that different (other than the fact that one is significantly larger), the differing source material has had a profound impact on the minifigure selection.
I couldn’t help but wonder how this set might have turned out if it had followed that same direction. As such, I figured it was time to break out my old minifigures from The Hobbit films!
While I missed out on the original sets, I went back and bought most of the minifigures several years ago. That said, several of their torsos have broken, so I had to substitute the torsos of both Kili and Oin. I would buy new torsos, but as many know, the aftermarket prices on the old Hobbit and LOTR minifigures are incredibly expensive.
That brings me to my first reason why I would argue The Hobbit would have provided better source material for this set: almost all of the characters in 10354 The Shire have appeared in the last couple of years, making them more widely available, while characters from The Hobbit are a lot harder to get a hold of.
While the minifigures in the set are excellent, they do feel a little underwhelming when compared to 10316 Rivendell. Now admittedly, that set was $230 more than The Shire, so it may be a little unreasonable for this set to have a comparable set of minifigures.
Nevertheless, the cast of The Hobbit would provide a more desirable set of minifigures for those who bought Rivendell. I’ve seen numerous online complaints about The Shire being overpriced (justified or not), and including the dwarves would likely have created more justification for the higher price.
That said, for those who wish to display Bag End as shown in The Hobbit rather than The Lord of the Rings, the changes required to the model itself are relatively minimal. For example, the set comes with a map leading to the Misty Mountains, and by replacing the teacup with a key, you’ve got everything you need to start the dwarves off on their quest to reclaim Erebor. (See? I did apply more stickers!)
However, you may have trouble actually fitting the dwarves around the table in Bag End. While the kitchen is perfectly set up to recreate scenes from The Lord of the Rings (like when Frodo and Gandalf are talking), trying to pack in all of the dwarves results in… a severe lack of personal space.
Using your own minifigures, it’s easy enough to recreate most scenes from The Hobbit in Bag End, such as the dwarves’ arrival at Bag End or Bilbo and Gandalf’s first encounter.
Even the side builds could be used in a Hobbit-esque display with ease by converting Gandalf’s firework cart into a supply cart for the dwarves and simplifying some of the details on the party tree.
The Road Goes Ever On and On
As a major fan of Tolkien’s work, I can’t help but feel that 10354 The Shire could have explored some other areas of Middle-earth that we haven’t seen in the last few years. At the same time, I think it is an excellent set and is likely targeted at a broader market of LOTR fans, rather than the Hobbit films. I don’t think it lives up to the high bar that 10316 Rivendell set, but I like it more than last year’s 10333 Barad-Dur. The build itself is largely excellent with a few flaws, and the minifigures that we do get all look fantastic.
At the same time, what excites me the most is the potential for customization amongst AFOLs. Like the world Tolkien created, this model is full of potential. I took a very brief look at what a version of the set based on The Hobbit might look like, but there’s definitely room to expand on that topic. I’d love to see someone expand this out into a larger Shire scene too, including other Hobbit holes.
Ultimately, I’m most excited that the set is a more affordable entry point to The Lord of the Rings-themed LEGO sets. Though not cheap, it is only half the price of its two counterparts which should make Lord of the Rings minifigures more accessible—which will then hopefully inspire more people to make other MOCs set within the world of Middle-earth.
In that sense, 10354 The Shire may be the most Hobbit-like of all LEGO sets. It’s quiet, comforting, and a bit more reserved than its flashier cousins but still important in the grand scheme of things. It reminds us that even the humblest builds can be the beginning of great adventures.
What UCS-style LOTR or Hobbit set should LEGO make next? Let us know in the comments below!
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