LEGO explains why 10316 The Lord of the Rings: Rivendell includes so many new elements

10316 The Lord of the Rings: Rivendell has a lot of new elements and the LEGO design team behind the set have explained exactly why. 

As part of our recent trip to Billund to speak to the design team behind 10316 The Lord of the Rings: Rivendell, Brick Fanatics asked Mike Psiaki, Wes Talbott, Chris Perron and Ashwin Visser why the Icons model has such a huge number of fresh pieces. 

For context, 10316 The Lord of the Rings: Rivendell has 10 new pieces from minifigure weaponry to the latest botanical brick. 

“When we were making elements, it comes together in like a little pre-pack,” explained Chris Perron in our exclusive interview. “And that’s because we can do a family mould where it’s a whole bunch of pieces moulded in one cavity, and then it kind of drops into a bag. So because of that, we’re able to add more designs within one mould. 

“That was really cool, because then we could do things like Gimli’s axes, we could do Boromir’s Broadsword, we could do another sword for Aragorn, so we could kind of do more and more elements that way. And we also have the Elven blades. And it was just kind of a really nice opportunity to do a bunch of these more specific Middle-earth weapon designs that we wouldn’t have done otherwise or haven’t done.” 

The new weapons make up six of the 10 new pieces in 10316 The Lord of the Rings: Rivendell as part of one weapon pack. As Chris explains, the pack of these elements meant that there was more room in the mould for different designs. 

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While these weapons are specific to Middle-earth, the other four new pieces include a beard, elf hair and helmet, some of which could be used elsewhere in the future. 

We’ve got a guide on everything you need to know about 10316 The Lord of the Rings: Rivendell, including more insight from the design team, that you can find by clicking here. 

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