LEGO Icons Dune set’s Harkonnen head isn’t new, but it is

LEGO Icons 10327 Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter reportedly features an old head piece for Baron Harkonnen, but it’s new in more ways than one.

Launching on February 1, 2024, for £149.99 / $164.99 / €164.99, 10327 Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter includes a new roster of minifigures based on the franchise including the unique Baron Harkonnen with an oversized cloth element.

Played by actor Stellan Skarsgård, there are a few other minifigures portraying characters that the actor has played. This presents an opportunity to reuse an existing head element. That would be ideal for the design team if it weren’t for one crucial detail of Baron Harkonnen’s design.

“I don’t recognise that head piece from anywhere,” said MiniSuperHeroesToday in an interview with two of the LEGO designers behind 10327 Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter.

“That’s funny because you should,” replied designer Mike Psiaki. “It is a decoration that we’ve done before for the actor Stellan Skarsgård.”

“This is the one from 75338 Ambush on Ferrix but in Andor, he has hair so they could do a two-sided face to hide one at a time. That head has two decorations so we couldn’t use it for him and had to make a new decoration that’s just one of his faces.”

The interview refers to another appearance of a Skarsgård minifigure using the head that was unrevealed at the time of the interview. This would be Erik Selvig from 76269 Avengers Tower.

The designer describes the discovery as disappointing, noting that it necessitated a new minifigure head and more work, despite the fact they had an existing design to use. While Psiaki notes this as a reused head decoration (not a reused head element), there are a few minor differences between them that make this design brand new.

The expression has been altered slightly to leave more of a gap between the mouth and the nasolabial folds and the lines next to the eyes have been removed entirely. Otherwise, it’s the same design but with no alternate face due to Harkonnen’s lack of hair.

This is a new design on an exclusive head piece as the graphics team seems to have updated the decoration since they were making a new head anyway.

Ultimately, there wouldn’t have been a need to create an all-new print for another Stellan Skarsgård character, but since the Baron is bald that would leave a spare face looking at anyone behind him, which wouldn’t be preferable.

10327 Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter will be released on February 1, 2024, for £149.99 / $164.99 / €164.99.

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