LEGO Icons 10332 Medieval Town Square review

10332 Medieval Town Square builds on the success of 10305 Lion Knights’ Castle by revisiting a not-so-classic LEGO Castle set – but struggles to carve out its own identity as a result.

The LEGO Group has had mixed results with nostalgia. It’s tried a few different approaches over the past few years (mostly since the 90th-anniversary celebrations in 2022), whether remaking a set almost one-for-one or simply borrowing the thematic trappings of a retro theme. Here again, in 10332 Medieval Town Square, is something different: a model that digs up the bones of a ‘classic’ set (is 15 years ago enough for classic status? Answers on the back of a postcard) and wrestles them into something new.

In this case, it might have been better leaving the bones buried.

--- LEGO Icons 10332 Medieval Town Square set details ---

Theme: LEGO Icons Set name: 10332 Medieval Town Square Release date: March 1, 2024 (Insiders)

Price: £199.99 / $229.99 / €229.99 Pieces: 3,304 Minifigures: 8

LEGO: Order now

--- Where to buy LEGO Icons 10332 Medieval Town Square ---

LEGO Icons 10332 Medieval Town Square is available from LEGO.com and LEGO Stores exclusively for LEGO Insiders from March 1, before going on wider sale (still through official channels) to non-Insiders from March 4. It might go on sale through third-party retailers in a few months, but that’s never a guarantee for direct-to-consumer sets – 10305 Lion Knights’ Castle is still a LEGO exclusive.

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That ‘classic’ set? 10193 Medieval Market Village, the sole glimpse at civilian life in 2009’s Fantasy Era. Here was a tale of everyday folk going about their day, taking cattle to market, staying at an inn, chucking a bunch of fish into a wooden bucket, you know the sort of thing. And returning to territory beyond the scope of warfare as a follow-up to the mighty 10305 Lion Knights’ Castle sounds like a solid idea on paper. There’s certainly a lot of love for 10193 out there (judging by its aftermarket value).

But 10332 Medieval Town Square takes more than the concept of common citizens from its spiritual predecessor. It also borrows the idea of hinged buildings. The older 10193 Medieval Market Village includes two different structures that hinge open for interior access (and a wider display model) or swing shut for completely enclosed buildings. As a result, both halves of each edifice are like two sides of the same coin. It doesn’t make for an especially varied display when hinged open – it’s a bit like having double vision – but it looks the part when everything’s closed up.

Today’s 10332 Medieval Town Square takes that idea and runs with it… in a completely different direction. The model stitches together buildings with entirely dissimilar aesthetics and in essence achieves the opposite effect to 10193: its buildings look pretty good when hinged open, but the results are mixed at best when you swing them shut.

The best you can argue is that the stockier building, which combines three different structures in one façade, looks just okay when each of its sections is pushed together. But the overall effect here is of a LEGO Castle set with five interesting buildings that have been sandwiched together purely for nostalgia’s sake.

The guard tower and inn are at least relatively easy to split, as they’re only anchored by a couple of hinge pieces. (Better two façades than one enclosed building that’s very much of two halves anyway.) It’s not so simple for the other buildings, though: the woodworker’s shop is open on two sides and doesn’t stand all that well by itself. The initial approach feels misguided, limiting what’s possible from a layout perspective and hemming you into this one very particular setup.

The good news is that getting to that point is pretty fun: this is an enjoyable build with a lot going on, and plenty of variety between each of its five buildings in colour, part selection, techniques and more. Two manuals allow you to build in tandem with a pal or partner, but later stages in the build do require diving back into earlier bags for some parts (knives that come two on a sprue, for example), so bear that in mind if you decide to either share the load or build the second manual first.

If you do start at square one, you’ll tackle the farmhouse first. It’s here where you’ll find 10332 Medieval Town Square’s main functions – appropriately enough for the carpentry workshop nestled in the centre – with a crane mechanism to lift parts up to the top floor, and a trapdoor with a ladder for minifigures to climb in and out. These are both simple but successful and neat to play with, operated through claw elements that protrude from one side of the building and are accessed by swinging out the weaver’s workshop.

Speaking of which: the detail packed into the weaver’s workshop rivals the rest of the interiors (they’re all pretty good), and while the tapestry itself is one giant sticker, it’s at least a very polished decal. The artwork across all of this set’s stickers is as strong as any LEGO set, in fact, so while there are maybe one too many – for the tiny 1x2 tiles especially – you won’t find them as grating as on, say, a Speed Champions set. The parts-to-stickers ratio is just fine.

The cheese factory is probably the best part of this section by dint of its floor alone, which deploys a great mix of tiles and plates to create ye olde texture. It’s also one of the most detailed inside, covering most of its available spaces with every type of cheese imaginable (through the lens of tiny LEGO pieces, anyway). The roof is so-so, though; one of two studs-up designs that looks relatively basic next to the straw roofs of the other three, which match the aesthetic originally seen in 10305 Lion Knights’ Castle.

With the accompanying tree done and dusted – not much to write home about there beyond its fun stickers, but it’s serviceable – it’s time to move on to the second, taller building. This one is the very definition of a mixed bag. (Grab a dictionary, you’ll see a picture of it there. Probably.) The inn and watchtower are reminiscent of 1986’s 6067 Guarded Inn in all the right ways – that red really pops – but the scale stretches reality in all the wrong ways. The steps leading up to the tower are only two studs wide; likewise the doorway to the inn. Good luck getting a minifigure up those or through that.

The tavern next door has maybe the most complete interior of any one building (or façade) in 10332 Medieval Town Square, but the olive green feels a little drab next to the red, and this is where the set really suffers most for its conjoined buildings. Nothing about this building being on a hinge makes sense, from the colours to the external architecture to the interiors.

It’s a really strange one, because it feels like a fundamental flaw that should have been addressed at the very first stage of the design process. There was a great set nestled within this brief, leveraging the LEGO Group’s modern parts library and design language. But it’s instead only a good set, pushing up against a glass ceiling created by its inability to let go of the past.

--- LEGO Icons 10332 Medieval Town Square characters ---

10332 Medieval Town Square includes eight minifigures, two birds, a frog, a squirrel and a brand new (colour for the) goat, alongside a couple of printed bee tiles. It’s not quite the fully-fledged farm many fans were yearning for, and an extra goat, cow or even a couple of chickens could have really elevated this overall package.

But enough of what you don’t get: what you do get is pretty sweet. The LEGO Group seems to reserve its all-out minifigure selections for only its priciest flagship sets, so the quantity here can’t rival 10305 Lion Knights’ Castle, but the quality is right up there… for the most part. New torsos abound in the return of the Wolfpack (and you’re definitely going to want to stock up on those once they hit Pick a Brick) and a couple of very useful generic medieval civilian designs, while the head prints, hairpieces and even the accessories are all solid selections you’ll find it difficult to grumble about.

Where you might take issue is with the severe lack of leg printing, which is really only noticeable next to the otherwise detailed torsos. Such strong upper body designs call out for matching leg and dress details, but you won’t find them on many of the minifigures in 10332 Medieval Town Square. Still, there’s a narrative justification for everyone here and it doesn’t feel like anybody’s obviously missing… as long as you’re happy to let the kid run the market stall. Pretty sure there were no child labour laws in the Middle Ages, anyway.

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In context with the rest of the LEGO Group’s direct-to-consumer sets – and especially its retro remakes and deep dives into nostalgia – it’s hard to take issue with the price tag for 10332 Medieval Town Square. And that’s even taking into account that so many of its 3,304 pieces are so tiny, rendering the price-per-piece ratio effectively meaningless here.

More pieces does mean a longer build time, but more than that this is better value than the sum of its parts. The buildings still feel substantial enough to justify spending £199.99 / $229.99 / €229.99 – it’s comparable in depth and breadth to 10320 Eldorado Fortress, albeit more segmented – and the various paraphernalia (a market stall; the woodworker’s bench, tools and chair; the tree) does make for a well-rounded finished product.

It’s nice having a LEGO Castle set available in what’s essentially now a mid-range price bracket, too.

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--- LEGO Icons 10332 Medieval Town Square pros and cons ---

If LEGO Castle is to move forward, it needs to do so on its own terms. 10305 Lion Knights’ Castle did that perfectly – and remains the LEGO Group’s finest foray into nostalgia in recent memory – by carving out its own identity. Hooking 10332 Medieval Town Square so closely in concept to 10193 Medieval Market Village has prevented this set from achieving the same thing.

That’s not to say there aren’t things to champion in 10332 Medieval Town Square. It’s an interesting build, and there are most of the ingredients you need to create an effective medieval layout (save perhaps for a few additional animals). You just might have to tinker a little bit to discover its full potential, stripping away its attachments to what’s come before and allowing it to flourish on its own two feet.

This set was provided for review by the LEGO Group.

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--- Alternatives to LEGO Icons 10332 Medieval Town Square ---

This is normally where we’d point you towards a thematic alternative to 10332 Medieval Town Square like 10305 Lion Knights’ Castle, but that feels too obvious – and besides, if the theme isn’t a good fit for you, the castle won’t be any better. What 10332 Medieval Town Square really has to offer beyond its historical trappings is an engaging and involved set of buildings that come together with masses of tiny elements. Can you see where we’re going with this?

The real alternatives to 10332 Medieval Town Square can be found in the likes of 71741 NINJAGO City Gardens and 71799 NINJAGO City Markets, which offer a similar build experience (albeit with a loftier price tag).

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