Review: 31132 Creator-3-in-1 Viking Ship

The wait is over, time to set sail and discover new things! It’s finally time. After pirates and knights found their way back into the Creator 3-in-1 theme series in recent years, this year it’s the turn of the Vikings. With this set, a Viking ship will be released on June 1, 2022, which is based on an old LEGO set from 2005.

The sets were generously provided by LEGO for taking pictures on BrickCentral, but the opinions are my own. In the following I would like to share my first impressions of this set with you.

Minifigures and brick-built animal

The Vikings on a walk. By joschka.vanderlucht

The set contains four Viking figures, two women and two men. This uses three very nice new torsos and one color, non-printed, legs.

Front and back of the included minifigures.

Let’s start with the two men. Both wear helmets that are based on the old Viking helmets from the old LEGO sets and are decorated with two horns each. One wears a dark red beard and the other a beige fur collar.

The Viking with the beard has the same torso as the Viking woman with the dark brown hair, only the color of the legs differs. My absolute favorite character is the second woman! This one has an individual torso and a new, blond hair element with a wing crown in silver. Together with her silver spear, this figure looks just fantastic.

In addition to the spear, there is a sword, a small axe and a large axe as armament of the four Vikings.

The brick-build ox and the two black ravens.

In two of the models, the ship and the house, there is a brick-built ox. This one is very small, but has a nice shape and looks cute. Also, on the mast of the ship, there are two black ravens. These are also very skillfully built and look amazingly good for brick-built birds.

Main Model – The Viking Ship

The main model of the set is the large Viking ship with the Midgard Serpent. The basic design is based on the old 7018 Viking ship from 2005.

As with the Creator-3-in-1 Pirate Ship, the sail is built entirely from bricks. However, it is provided with tiles and is therefore smooth and without knobs. With the typical white-red stripe, it looks like a classic Viking ship even from a distance.

The Viking ship in the morning light. By joschka.vanderlucht

The bow of the ship is decorated with a very beautiful yellow dragon head and on the sides are large colorful shields, also brick-built. These shields can be removed and worn by the figures. They are not perfect for this, as they are a bit too big, but that is something that will probably not bother the target audience of the set, children.

In the front of the ship, there is a large ballista, which can be used to fight the sea serpent. This is also based on the former Viking ship. In the middle, there is plenty of space and storage, where there are some bales of straw and also space for the ox.

In the back of the ship is a small shelter with a fire over which two fish are roasted and a table with two benches. There the crew can make themselves comfortable during long crossings and celebrate revelry.

As a last small detail on the top of the mast are two black ravens from Nordic mythology.

In addition, this model includes a turquoise sea snake. This has a movable head and tail, but the middle part is rigid. Thus, the snake is movable and certainly provides play fun, but it is somewhat stiffer than it seems at first glance.

All in all, I think the ship is a very successful main model and it fulfills what is expected of it. Of course, it is not a historically accurate replica, with very many small details, it is a Creator 3-in-1 playset. But it looks excellent in my eyes, I had a lot of fun taking the pictures of this ship and I’m sure many kids will like it.
I may make a few small changes, but it will definitely end up on my shelf and I will enjoy looking at it every time.

Second Model – The Wolf

The second model is a large wolf originating from the Nordic mythology. In addition, there is a fir tree with a small campfire and a hiding place for treasure.

Lunch break by the river. By joschka.vanderlucht

The tree is built relatively simple and the campfire place is also very sparse, but the look is quite successful.

The wolf, built mainly from dark blue parts, looks very successful. The legs are a bit stiff in some places and you can not move them quite as freely as you might want, but still, I find it a successful model.

With this set, compared to the next alternative model, a lot of bricks remain, from which perhaps a nice little something could have been built.

The two elements of the second model. On the left the wolf and on the right the tree with the small campfire. By joschka.vanderlucht

I also had fun photographing this model, although not as much as the ship. But my son had the most fun with this wolf, he was completely thrilled and he played with it for hours.

Third Model – The House

Now we come to the last model. This is a small house, which has a main room with a fireplace and a throne.

On the outside is a small forge with an implied stream. The small ox is used here again and pulls a plow.

The house with the small forge and the ox with plow. By yc_solo

My personal highlight in this model is a small red baby dragon.

The house is beautifully built and has some nice little details, such as the roof ridges. As a backdrop for photographing, this model is also suitable and I had a lot of fun photographing in the forest.

Conclusion

All in all, the set has convinced me from the first moment! The ship I like very much and also the other two models I find as B and C model really successful.

The ship itself is very similar in size to the Creator 3-in-1 pirate ship, the Viking ship is only slightly smaller, even if it does not seem so massive due to the deeper construction.

I have read many comments comparing the ship to the fan design by Jonas Kramm. To this I must say, yes, the ship of Jonas is very beautiful and closer to the historical models, but it is significantly smaller and it is a display model for adult fans. This ship here is a Creator 3-in-1 set, so clearly a playset with children as the target audience. Therefore, I find the comparison and the resulting criticism as inappropriate.

My only criticism of this set is the price. This is set too high in my opinion with 119,99€. A price of 100€ I would have felt more appropriate.

I give this set a clear 10/10!

Behind the Scenes

In this section, I would like to show you these times, how I brought the ship into the water and took my pictures there. In order to keep the ship on the water’s surface and to be able to position it as desired, I built myself something small.

Small construction of LEGO Technic bricks attached to a wooden tripod to support the ship and the snake.

Since the ship is quite large and heavy, I had to think of something stable. For this purpose, I chose a wooden photo tripod as a base and attached a LEGO Technic rod to the ball head.

Since the sea serpent is actually a bit too short to position as I intended, I split it down the middle and then attached it to both ends of the LEGO Technic construction. Finally, I placed the ship in the center and attached it using the studs.

The entire construction is stable in the river and the ship is correctly positioned.

I then placed this construction in the river at the previously selected location. The adjustable legs of the tripod, the center column, and the ball head allowed me to position the vessel exactly as I needed it. Also, nothing of the construction is visible later in the image, which makes post-processing easier for me.

From experience, I can advise against using a metal tripod with extendable tube legs. Due to the flow of the river, fine sand is washed in there and jams the mechanism of the legs. It is a huge job to remove it later without damaging the tripod.

The wooden tripod I used for this purpose has no such internal mechanisms in which sand and dirt can get stuck, and it can be cleaned very easily with clear water afterward.