LEGO explains changes to 21348 Dungeons & Dragons: colours, dragon and more

The LEGO designers behind 21348 Dungeons & Dragons: Red Dragon’s Tale have explained why the set’s dragon looks so different to the one proposed in the original submission.

Very few LEGO Ideas designs make it to shelves unscathed, and 21348 Dungeons & Dragons: Red Dragon’s Tale is the latest set from the crowdsourced theme to make significant tweaks to fan designer Lucas Bolt’s original concept on its journey to shelves. Chief among those is swapping the colour of the dragon from dark green to red, as well as having it stand free of the tower instead of wrapping around it.

As always, though, no LEGO design decision is made in a vacuum, and there were genuine reasons for both of those changes; one informed by licence partner Wizards of the Coast, and the other by what is actually possible with LEGO bricks as we know them. That’s according to LEGO Ideas Design Manager Jordan Scott and 21348 Dungeons & Dragons: Red Dragon’s Tale lead designer Mark Stafford, speaking to Brick Fanatics and other LEGO Fan Media in a roundtable session.

“The ultimate reason for changing it is that a red dragon is the most iconic dragon in all of Dungeons and Dragons,” Jordan explained. “It’s the logo. So Wizards of the Coast really wanted us to do a red dragon. We spoke with Lucas about that [and] he was very open to that, which meant that the tavern should shift colour to complement the overall colour palette so it wasn’t super green on green or red on red.”

The tavern’s roof changing from dark red to purple and blue may have been an immediate consequence of the dragon changing colour, but it wasn’t the only hue swap in 21348 Dungeons & Dragons: Red Dragon’s Tale. In fact, the entire thing is more vibrant and colourful than Lucas’s original vision, which the designers say is not only due to the source material, but also internal limitations. 

“A lot of the reasons it’s not quite as muted in colour as the original submission is we just don’t have that many colour changes,” Mark says, referring to the budget each model has to introduce new elements or fresh colours for existing elements. “We would like to spend them on more significant things like the minifigures or the creatures. So when it came down to which parts were available in dark greens and things there had to be a shift, otherwise we [have to] take out half the minifigures or something.”

“But also I would say this isn’t your classic Castle, which is more muted,” Jordan adds. “This is Dungeons and Dragons, which if you read their books and everything, it is very colourful. They are very much putting focus on inclusion and diversity and things which I’m sure we’ll get to eventually with [the Collectible Minifigures] but it is a brighter world than we’re used to with European fantasy and medieval times and things.”

“Their rule books are very vibrant,” Mark says. “I mean, if you look through the books, especially in the last five to 10 years there’s so much colour, so much intensity. We didn’t want to mute all of that. For one thing, when you’re running around as murder hobo D&D characters, you don’t want it to get too dark, do you? Because then it just doesn’t become friendly.”

The other sticking point that the designers encountered was in recreating the specific pose Lucas envisioned for his dragon in his original contest submission, which ended up winning the fan vote to find a LEGO Dungeons & Dragons set to celebrate the tabletop roleplaying game’s 50th anniversary. The dark green beast wrapped around the set’s spire in his initial concept, but the red version in the final product can’t quite manage the same feat.

“You can wrap the tail around the tower once it’s perched on its front legs with its back legs up,” Mark says. “It was as much as we could do. The submission dragon is a lot longer and much less like the Wizards of the Coast dragons. It’s much more slinky and relaxed, more vibrant. It is very cool. But it didn’t look right for the red dragon and getting the shapes that Wes [Talbott] has managed to get into here.

“It does mean there’s not as much articulation in the body. To be honest, I’m not sure you could physically place the green dragon the way [Lucas] has in the submission. The submission is a CGI version. There are a couple of places where trees are inside the bricks, or it was impossible for me to build it the way it is.

“So some compromises have to be made and one of those is to get the dragon looking more like a D&D dragon. It lost the bending articulation in the middle of the body, which did make that very difficult. It was important to me that it could still be perched on the bridge with its back legs on the tower. And the tail does cover a little bit more than it shows on the front of the box. But yeah, it’s as close as I could get it.”

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You’ll be able to check out the dragon for yourself – and perhaps find a way to wrap it around the tower, free of restrictions around stability and the like – from April 1, when 21348 Dungeons & Dragons: Red Dragon’s Tale goes on sale for LEGO Insiders. The 3,745-piece model will come with a free Mimic Dice Box until April 7 or while stocks last, and retails for £314.99 / $359.99 / €359.99.

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