It's rare for a well-reviewed LEGO IDEAS creation to be released as a set without modification, and 21348 Dungeons & Dragons: Legend of the Red Dragon is one of them.
Prior to the set's release, the LEGO design team made significant changes to the original design submitted by fan designer Lucas Bolt, with the most notable changes including changing the dragon's color from dark green to bright red and relocating it outside the tower instead of wrapping around it.
However, LEGO's design and decision-making process has always been evidence-based. These changes were made partly due to decisions made with IP partner Wizards of the Coast, but also to the practicality of building LEGO bricks.
During a roundtable, Jordan Scott, LEGO IDEAS Design Manager, revealed this information to Brick Fanatics and other LEGO enthusiast media with Mark Stafford, the lead designer of 21348 Dungeons & Dragons: Legend of the Red Dragon.
Jordan Scott explained that the decision to change the dragon's color was based on the iconic status of the red dragon in Dungeons & Dragons, and Wizards of the Coast wanted to show that. They spoke to fan designer Lucas about it, and Lucas was open to it. This change also meant that the tavern's colors also needed to be adjusted to avoid monotonous repetition of colors.
As a result, the tavern's roof color was changed from dark red to purple and blue, a direct result of the dragon's color change, but it wasn't the only color difference between the set and the original design. In fact, the overall model is much more vivid and colorful than Lucas's original design. The designers point out that this change is not only due to the influence of the original Dungeons & Dragons title, but also because of internal constraints.
Mark Stafford adds that the colors of the final product are more vivid compared to the original design, in large part because of the limited color options available for the existing parts. They wanted to spend their budget on more important elements such as characters and creature models, so they had to make adjustments to the color choices of some parts so as not to reduce the number of characters or other creature models.
Jordan Scott said: "But I would add that this is not our traditional castle, it's a much softer hue. This is the world of Dungeons & Dragons. If you have a chance to check out their books and board games, you'll see that it's colorful and visually vibrant. They have a strong emphasis on inclusion and diversity, and I'm sure we can reflect that through the diversity of minifigure options. This world, compared to the European medieval background we are familiar with, has a much more vibrant color. ”
Mark Stafford shares his opinion: "Their rulebook is very lively. I mean, if you look at books that have been published in the last five to ten years, you'll see that there's a lot of color and contrast. We don't want to make the world look bleak. First of all, when you're playing as a wanderer and venturing around, you don't want the world around you to be too dark, right? ”
One of the challenges faced by the designers was how to recreate the specific pose of the dragon in Lucas' original design in the final product. In his original design, a dark green dragon was wound around the spire, and the final red version failed to fully replicate this effect.
Mark Stworn explains, "When the dragon is standing on its front legs and its hind legs are up, we can wrap its tail around the tower, which works. But the dragon in the original design was longer and looked slimmer and more flexible, which was pretty cool, but compared to the red dragon in Dungeons & Dragons, it didn't quite match and didn't fit the look we wanted to present. ”
"This means that the red dragon doesn't have as many articulations on its body as originally designed. To be honest, I'm not sure if players will be able to place the green dragon as perfectly as Lucas' original design. The design he submitted was an image rendered by software, with some parts actually piercing through other bricks, and it was unrealistic to build it that way. ”
Original design contributed by Lucas Bolt
"As a result, we had to make some compromises to bring the dragon closer to the image in Dungeons & Dragons. This resulted in it losing some of the articulations of the original design and, accordingly, at the expense of some flexibility. It was important to me that it was still perched on the bridge, and that its tail and hind legs were able to rest on the tower. In fact, the tail has a greater range of motion than is shown on the box. It's the best I can achieve. ”
For those who wish to wrap the red dragon around the tower, perhaps they can make some modifications on their own and find a way to make this idea a reality.
LEGO IDEAS Set 21348 Dungeons & Dragons: Legend of the Red Dragon will be available exclusively from April 1 and to everyone from April 7, with 3,745 parts and 6 minifigures at a suggested retail price of 2,999 RMB.
*资料参考:bricktastic