NOTE: I purchased the Viking Ship and the Midgard Serpent set myself, and this review is not sponsored in any way. I strive to always provide my honest opinion on LEGO® products. If you are curious about how I generate scores in this review, I invite you to read about the True North Bricks rating system.

INTRODUCTION

I bought the Viking Ship and the Midgard Serpent (31132) back in August 2022 when it was released. The set has languished in my pile of unbuilt sets ever since. However, this is a positive example of set hoarding. I knew I wanted to build this set someday, and that I wanted the Minifigures. The set retired before I got around to building it. Since I had bought it for the regular retail price two years ago, I didn’t have to try and source it from the secondary market for double the price now. Let’s see if it lived up to my expectations.

SET SPECIFICS

QUICK REVIEW

FULL REVIEW

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Value Score Breakdown:

The Viking Ship originally cost $149.99 in Canada. It retired in 2024, so finding it for that price now might be difficult. The set includes 1192 bricks, as such you are looking at $0.126/brick for the original retail price. For a Creator 3-in-1, that is passable. You generally get more bricks for your dollar with this theme. But since the cost/brick for the theme is so strong, the Viking Ship remains a good value compared to LEGO® sets in general. Considering both comparisons, I rate the cost/brick at 77%.

The Viking Ship and the Midgard Serpent set represents a good value as a general LEGO® set, but is a bit pricey when viewed strictly as a Creator 3-in-1 entry.

In terms of build time, I assembled the set in two hours and 53 minutes. The resulting cost/minute of build time works out to $0.87. Similar to the cost/brick, that is a tad expensive for the Creator 3-in-1 theme, but good compared to LEGO® sets in general. It doesn’t fare quite as well in this category as it did with the cost/brick though. Considering both comparisons, I rate the build time at 70%.

Averaging the cost/brick and cost/minute scores gives an overall value rating of 74%. However, this is a 3-in-1 set. I only built the Viking Ship, but I intend to build the Viking House at some point using bricks in my collection (I don’t want to take apart the ship). I might even build more than one Viking house if I like the design. The wolf model doesn’t interest me though. As a result, I will get more build time out of this set. For that reason, I am going to bump the value score up to 80%.

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Build Score Breakdown:

Let’s begin with the size. The Viking Ship is larger than I thought it would be. It is about 45 cm long and almost 15 cm wide. I don’t know why, but I imagined something smaller based on the box art. I was pleasantly surprised in this instance.

The Viking ship also features some interesting build styles. It uses nice SNOT (Studs Not On Top) techniques that have you building on multiple planes. Experienced builders will probably not find these techniques new, but they are a good refresher. You also get a neat lesson on building a boat hull without using LEGO® ship elements.

Not a lot of rare elements, but a good parts selection all the same.

What you don’t get a lot of in this kit are rare elements. Some of the shell pieces and arches used in the hull and sail are rarer in terms of available colours. But the Viking Ship mostly employs standard elements. That’s not a bad thing by any means though. The parts come together in clever fashion to produce a nice looking ship. Even if you don’t want to keep the boat built, the parts make good stock for other builds.

I like the look of the Viking Ship. However, the ship doesn’t come with any oars. Viking ships had oars for rowing as well as sails for sailing. I’m also not a huge fan of the brick-built sail… which was an issue I had with the Creator 3-in-1 Pirate Ship as well. I get why the LEGO® Group went that route though, so I won’t deduct points. It gives more parts for alternate builds and it means they don’t need to design and produce a cloth sail to fit the ship. I can also replace the sail if I really want to with a piece of cloth.

The ship lacks some Viking accurate details.

Other minor points of contention include the ballista on deck and the shields. Viking ships were not armed with large projectiles to my knowledge, so such a play feature is not accurate. It is also unnecessary when it doesn’t even look that nice. Meanwhile, the shields are a nice touch, but I wish they were actually round Minifigure shields. The brick-built ones are a little too large for Minifigures to use in a raid scene.

The only thing I really don’t like about this set is the Midgard Serpent. It doesn’t look nice at all. The form is blocky, has too many gaps, and is not nearly as articulated as it should be. I wish the design was similar to the Ninjago Water Dragon. I could have done without this build entirely and a lower price point for the set. Alternatively, the LEGO® Group could have given more Minifigures or more ship accurate details, like the oars and rowing benches for the same price.

The Midgard serpent is a definite recycle for me.

Ultimately, I think the Viking Ship is a very nice set. I liked the build, and the boat looks good on the whole. There isn’t a lot I would change about it for a display. I might like to put a cloth sail on it. But the Midgard serpent has to go. I think it’s ugly and an uninteresting design. Since it is not a necessary part of the display, I won’t take off a huge amount for it though. I rate the Viking Ship build at 90%.

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Minifigure Score Breakdown:

While the Viking Ship itself might not feature many rare parts, the Minifigures do. One torso, hairpiece, and helmet element are only available in this set. The other torsos can only be acquired through this kit or the Ideas Viking Village. Whether you like Vikings or Medieval displays in general, these are great torsos to have.

The Minifigures include all of the standard elements. You also gain a neck fur element, an extra beard, a spear, a sword, two buildable battle axes (with the clip-on axe elements), a cup, and two fish. As I mentioned in the build section of the review, I wish we got some nice Viking shields in lieu of the brick-built ones though. A cape or two and some leg printing could also make these characters a little better. With that said, I still love them all. I rate the Minifigure designs at 90%.

Great Minifigures, but not enough of them.

The Viking Ship suffers a little in terms of Minifigure count. This is unsurprising given that it is a Creator 3-in-1 set. In my experience, this theme provides fewer Minifigures than others. To give you an idea, my average brick-to-fig count for LEGO® in general is about 201 bricks/fig. For Creator 3-in-1s, I have typically seen something more like 267 bricks/fig. The higher the number, the fewer Minifigures you get compared to the total number of bricks in a set. The Viking Ship offers 298 bricks/fig, so it’s not even a particularly good minifig count for the theme, earning 70%.

Ultimately, I really like the characters you get in this set. However, I feel a few more minifigs are warranted given the size of the ship. Ditching the poorly designed Midgard Serpent and maintaining the $150 price could easily have gotten us a couple more Vikings. Averaging the design score with the count score gives an overall Minifigure grade of 80%.

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Entertainment Score Breakdown:

I am originally from Finland. While Finns were not Vikings, Northern myths and legends interest me. Given their proximity, there are many similarities between Viking beliefs and those of my ancestors. The original Viking theme came and went during my dark ages. So, I greatly enjoy LEGO® Viking offerings that we get now.

Vikings sets also go well with Castle builds and displays. Viking raids were a very real threat to many during medieval times. So a set like the Viking Ship and the Midgard Serpent fits well as a raiding party there too. Castles was one of my favourite themes growing up, and still is. So, even from that perspective, I love this set.

I fully intend to display this set.

I plan to keep the Viking Ship on display, and don’t feel the need to modify it much. In fact, I will take something else apart to make room for it (though I have not decided what that will be yet). I don’t care for the Midgard Serpent, so I will take that apart and use the bricks for something else.

It was also fun photographing this set. I took it out to the lake and put it in the water for some fun shots. Of course, the Viking Ship does not actually float. I propped it up on some underwater rocks. But it was a lot of fun to get some “realistic” pics with this set. I rate the entertainment value for the Viking Ship and Midgard Serpent at 90%.

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While the Viking Ship and Midgard Serpent is a retired set now, I still recommend it if you can find a good price. I like the ship quite a bit, but the Midgard Serpent is a little lame. If you have the Ideas Viking Village set, this kit will go along great with it. I might just have to build the Viking Village next to test it out. What do you think of the Viking Ship and Midgard Serpent? Let me know in the comments or reach out on social media.

Until next time,

-Tom

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