LEGO How to Train Your Dragon Toothless Set Review
The first ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ LEGO set, LEGO® Icons How to Train Your Dragon: Toothless set 10375, is fast approaching its release. LEGO have sent an early copy for review, and the Night Fury will soar into stores on July 1. The set is based on the version of Toothless that appears in the films and not the ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ books, and has a chibi style, going for a new interpretation of the character emphasising his cuteness. It’s rated 18+, which at first seems rather surprising but why becomes obvious during the build experience.
For the set’s statistics, there’s 784 pieces, it has a height of 16cm (seven inches), no listed width or length, has no minifigures, no stickers, and is priced at €69.99/ £59.99/ $69.99. The fact that all the pieces are printed goes a long way to helping this set feel premium, and helping justify the price tag. 784 pieces is a good deal for the price. Compared to the LEGO ARC-170, which is the same price, and has just over half the pieces (though it does have 3 minifigures and one droid). The build time is about three hours
The chibi art style makes Toothless somehow even cuter, with the dragon looking even more cat-like than in the films. A character it does evoke is Stitch from ‘Lilo and Stitch’, with the large eyes and ears that stick up contributing heavily to that impression. Perhaps Stitch was an inspiration for the LEGO team, that would explain the resemblance. The chibi style doesn’t help this either, doing a disservice to Toothless. A point worth discussing is Toothless’ teeth. Despite what the character’s name suggests, in the film adaptations of ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ Toothless does in fact have retractable teeth (unlike in the books, where Toothless being fang-free is central to the narrative). It’s possible to remove the pieces representing teeth from the set, (or simply not put them there in the first place), but it does mean detaching the head.
Turning to the rest of the set, the saddle is functional, using two shades of brown and grey to make it. It’s a nice addition though, as a minor nitpick, it’s too high up on the dragon. This was clearly a conscious choice on the designers’ part however, as where the saddle should sit is exactly where the head attaches to the body, compromising the head turning and significantly altering the build. So this small inconsistency is worth it. Along the back below the saddle, and on the head, are pieces imitating the ridges on the dragon’s back, which is a fantastic touch when the finger is run down the beast. If the saddle were moved down, this detail would likely have been lost. The tail is functional and simple, with attached fins.The bright red of the built fin makes an impressive colour contrast to the black, honestly an improvement to the boring brown of the animation. There are two types of printed pieces in the set. One type gives the impression of scales, and are used on the snout and front two legs. The second is a dragon skull, used on Hiccup’s reconstructed fin.
For an adult set, LEGO Toothless has a surprising amount of poseability. There are the buildable accessories (fish, tongue, and plasma bolt) which can be swapped in and out. The fish is built with a head, body and tail section connected by ball joints, giving it the floppiness of a dead fish. Both the tongue and fish connect onto a LEGO 4×4 turntable, enabling some motion. The bottom jaw can be opened and closed, the ears can be pushed up and down. The head can turn both left and right, but not a full 360°. Toothless’ face can even rotate slightly, but it’s unlikely this is intentional. The wings can be repositioned from their drooping downward stance into one that looks like the dragon is flying.
The back piece used for the tail spine can be rotated to make it look like the tail is wagging, and the fins connected on the end can be pushed backwards and forwards. This is a play set as much as it is a display set, targetting an audience who has grown up with the ‘How to Train Your Dragon’. The first film did come out all the way back in 2010 after all. The only aspects that aren’t poseable are the legs. This is understandable, the legs are as close together as they are for stability.
The build experience does go a long way to explaining the 18+ rating. There are many complex sections in the build that younger fans would likely find difficult, and the mostly black pieces do make it hard to find what piece is needed next. But the techniques used come together in an extradinary way to create a brilliant model, especially with how the head and jaw come together. For the most part, the visible colours are that of the dragon, but on the head there is small gap that does expose the inside of the head, and the underside of the jaw and legs does show the inner workings of the build, not that anyone will likely notice.
LEGO® Icons How to Train Your Dragon: Toothless is a brilliant set. The chibi art style makes Toothless cuter and more catlike than ever, it has great detail like the scales, the there are a surprising amount of poseability options for an adult-orientated set, and the colours are fantastic. While the build can be complex in places, and difficult because of the high amount of black pieces, fans will surely be pleased with this representation of Toothless in LEGO.
