[REVIEW] 31132 Viking Ship and the Midgard Serpent

[MKJoshA]

INTRODUCTION
The Viking theme always captured my imagination. And after my dark ages it was one of the first themes I went and bought sets from on eBay. However, Viking Ship Challenges the Midgard Serpent, was not one of those sets. So when Lego decided to pay homage to that set in the form of a 3-in-1 Creator set I knew I had to check it out.

SET INFORMATION
Number: 31132
Title: Viking Ship and the Midgard Serpent
Theme: Creator
Released: 2022
Part Count: 1170
Box Dimensions: 48 cm x 37.8 x 7.05 cm
Weight: 1840 gram
Set Price (RRP): 119.99 EUR / 104.99 GBP / 119.99 USD / 
Price per Part: 10.1 EUR / 8.8 GBP / 10.1 USD
Links: Brickset, Bricklink

THE BOX
The box shows off the main build of the set, the "Creator" label, and the fact that it's a 3-in-1 set. I've got to say, if I was a Lego ignorant parent buying for a kid I might assume you got all 3 builds in the set. Clearly Lego hasn't received enough complaints of that nature to change the packaging though.

The back of the box gives more close-ups of the 3 different models with artistic backdrops setting each scene.

The side of the box shows us one of the Viking women in official minifigure size and even more ways you could set up the models.

CONTENTS OF THE BOX
Inside you'll find 7 numbered bags, 1 unnumbered bag holding the flex cables, and one bag holding the instruction books.

THE BUILD PART 1
I considered saving the Viking ship for building last as it's the model I want to display. But when I opened the instruction books I found this for the boat:

And this for each of the other models:

That meant I built the boat first as was clearly intended by how the parts were packaged. The instructions for the boat follow the standard format of opening bags in sequential order to get to the end. The other two models pull parts from all over. I find it humorous that the designers decided they should indicate one should just dump all the parts out at once to begin building the lodge or the wolf.

If you've built a Lego set from the past couple years you've noticed that the instructions have star-burst animations when you finish a set. In building the boat I found that instructions added these bursts for small things like attaching a sub-model to the main model. Have we really become so dopamine addicted that we need this?

The boat uses a lot of SNOT to great effect. A section that impressed me was the use of the new 6x6 curved plates offset to get the curve of the hull.

Here you can see the SNOT sections coming together. The front and back sections of the hull are practically identical. Which means the build process feels very repetitive. But the end product looks good so I can't really fault that.

FINISHED PRODUCT
The first six bags give you the great looking boat. Bag 7 gives you the sea monster. The end result is a fantastic looking set! The boat is large and could easily host twice the number of Vikings. The brick-built sail is sturdy and looks really good. There are plenty of places to pose figures.

And the Midgard serpent just begs for storytelling of epic battles on the high seas. I love how the set designers made the figurehead similar to the head of the serpent.

It really feels like the Vikings had inspiration in carving the figurehead because of past encounters with the serpent.

Now for a few complaints. The standard yellow is an odd choice under the dark blue sections. I wish they would have used an earth tone, flaming yellowish orange like on the figure head, or kept it dark blue. It's just too bright.

The back of the sail has a lot of exposed under-studs which is unavoidable. The front looks amazing so you just need to display it from that direction.

The Midgard serpent is also very bright. It's ok, but it doesn't feel necessary. It's also got unsightly hinges breaking up the flow of the body. And while the tail has a lot of movement because of those hinges, the front half of the body is very limited in movement. From the back you can see that the technic elements have gaps which are left when just a few more pieces could have covered them up.

But these are small gripes. Overall the main build looks really good. I don't have the original Viking ship to compare this version to so I compared it to the Goat Boat. You can see how much bigger the Viking boat is to Thor's version. Though they aren't soo different in scale that they couldn't be seen in the same scene together. Those looking to make huge Viking layouts could add a sail to Thor's boat and have both in the same diorama.

Also included in the main build are some animals. Following the Creator trend there are no molded animals forcing the designer to create brick-built designs. The crows found perched above the sail look amazing. These probably symbolize Odin's crows. But the cow, underwhelms. It's a clever way to create a cow with a minimal number of parts. And things like the legs and head look good. But the body is too angular and the lack of tail makes it feel incomplete.

And now for the minifigures! All 4 are unique to this set. And 3 new torsos were designed to fit the Norse aesthetic. Lego brought back the traditional helmet mold. And while history books tell us Vikings didn't have horns on their helmets, I think Lego has been smart to keep that feature. A new mold was created for the female Viking that looks like a cross between Middle-Earth and Elsa from Frozen. But don't mistake me, it looks amazing!

Here's a better shot of the torsos and heads.

And the amazing torso detail continues on the back.

Compared to Viking figures of days gone by these new additions fit in while maintaining a fresh look. I don't have the Series 7 Viking Woman and you'll have to excuse the green arms on my Series 4 Viking (I added those for my Mitgardians and didn't want to risk cracking the torso to switch them back out). My biggest complaint about the new Vikings is concerning shields. When I heard Lego was making this set I wished for a new set of printed shields like the Series 20 Viking had. Instead we got brick-built ones. And I actually really like how you can customize the brick-built shields with a myriad of color schemes. But it's still no substitute for the minifgure scale shield.

Finishing the main build leaves you with a small selection of extra parts.

THE BUILD PART 2
The next build I tackled was the lodge. It helped that I built it on the heels of building the boat so I remembered where parts were. Otherwise I would have had to completely disassemble and organize the parts to be able to find anything. I don't know a way around this, but building either of the models apart from the main model is a lot harder. The lodge has a main floor and a roof that can be removed for easy play access.

Once it's finished you have a small lodge with attached anvil station, a plow attached to a cow, and a dragon attached to burning up your supply of hay. The roof has lots of gaps and would be very drafty in the winter.

The plow is amazing and looks like the real thing. Easily the best sub-build of the entire set. The dragon is lack-luster. Only the head and tail can move up and down. So the wings have to remain stationary.

If you don't want to lift the roof off you can raise the panels to see inside. There are shields lining the walls and small throne in front of the fire.

The other side has the attached platform for using the anvil and a small stream.

When all is said and done here's what you have left over. It's a tone of parts! Seems like a larger dragon could have been made and/or the unsightly gaps in the roof fixed.

THE BUILD PART 3
Finally I build the wolf. The sand green pieces find their best use here in making a tree. But it's far from the best brick-built tree I've seen. And the dark blue gets used to create a giant Fenrir wolf. The size of the wolf is fine when you think of it as the mythical Fenrir wolf. But it's shaping leaves much to be desired. The legs are thin and the tail is bushy(?) and full of gaps at the same time. This is the worst of the 3 build options.

The plot of ground where the Vikings have made camp includes a spot to hide some gems.

And when you're done with this build you again have a ton of parts left over. In both of the alternate builds the cables, most of the yellow slopes, and most of the pieces used for the brick-built sail are never used. There's also a fair amount of technic that only gets used on the serpent and nowhere else. This begs the question, "why?" Seems like Lego could really make better use of the pieces for the alternate models. The fact that they don't leads me to believe the 3-in-1 aspect is more a gimmick than something that adds value to the set.

OVERALL

I'm old enough to remember when all Lego sets had alternate models advertised on the box of the box. The Creator 3-in-1 line seems to be trying to bring that feature back for a specific line of sets. But it ultimately fails for the Viking Ship and the Midgard Serpent. If all you want to do is build the main model then this set does a fantastic job! The serpent isn't as good as the original one from 7018. And there are no printed shields. But overall it's a great looking Viking boat. And the minifigures really increase the desirability of the set.

SCORE
How do I rate this set?

DESIGN 9
If I had to rate the other two models by themselves I'd lower the score to 4. But the main ship really carries this score. It's designed well and looks good.

BUILDING EXPERIENCE 7
It's a little repetitive. And there are a few fun SNOT techniques. But overall this is a fairly standard build experience.

FEATURES 9
Lots of places to pose minifigures, a working ballista, the ability to customize the shield colors even within the set, and while lack-luster the addition of alternate models means this set has a lot going for it.

PLAYABILITY 10
As soon as I finished building it I wanted to sail my ship across the table to hunt Midgard serpents. This set is extremely playable.

PARTS 8
There are a good selection of parts. There's a good selection of newer elements like the large curved plate. And the minifigures are amazing.

VALUE FOR MONEY 9
This set almost hits the 10c/piece ratio and once you're done building the main model you really feel like you got your money's worth.

FINAL SCORE: 9
There are some obvious flaws with the set, but they are minor. If you like Castle themed sets, ships, or Vikings this is going to be a great buy.

[TeriXeri]

Recently built this as well, Love the ship build, and the serpent was bigger then expected from pictures, despite having a fairly static front half.

However, this certainly isn't one of those "get 3 sets" type of 3-in-1 for me especially with a potential viking village IDEAS set approved in the near future, but still nice to see some alternate builds that aren't just 3 boats.

I especially like those reviews that also build the alternate builds and show leftover parts 

Edited December 2, 2022 by TeriXeri

[HothFan1987]

Good timing to see this, I bought this set this afternoon. Now I’m really looking forward to it. 

[Rjbricks]

Thanks for the great review 

[NOD]

That was a great review!  These are great photos and a detailed description. I really like the Viking Ship and the minifigures.

[natesroom]

it was much wider then i expected. 

[MKJoshA]

On 12/16/2022 at 11:09 PM, natesroom said:

it was much wider then i expected. 

Yeah, it has nice presence. Takes up the right amount of space.

[mrcp6d]

Thanks for the review MKJoshA!  I totally agree with you on the shields, I thought they were a little big when this set was revealed but with the side-by-side they're pretty comical IMO.  Lego clearly really wants everything that can be to be brick built in the Creator line and sometimes that hurts the set.

Hoping I get this set for Christmas regardless!

[AmperZand]

@MKJoshA, Outstanding review and pictures! Thank you for that. 

I’m not that into LEGO Viking ships, but if I did get one, it would probably be Thor’s Goat Boat. It just appeals to me more aesthetically.

[MKJoshA]

7 hours ago, AmperZand said:

@MKJoshA, Outstanding review and pictures! Thank you for that. 

I’m not that into LEGO Viking ships, but if I did get one, it would probably be Thor’s Goat Boat. It just appeals to me more aesthetically.

I get that. Thor's is a good set and a solid Viking ship. It's not hard to remove the fantasy elements (and fire extinguisher!) to make it look authentic. What really makes 31132 superior is the sail and the figures.