10354 the shire review

hello amd welcome to another review, this time its the shire.

this set came out in 2025 for $349.99 and you got a GWP if you where able to order fast or wait in line. i waited in line at 6 am. The Shire was a country in northwestern Middle-earth, inhabited by the hobbits. It was located in the region of Eriador, and was under the control of the Reunited Kingdom as a Free Land.

By the late Third Age it was one of the few heavily-populated areas left in Eriador. Its name in Westron was Sûza, "Shire," or Sûzat, "The Shire.”

The box

The box is the same icons style box but in green, with pictures of the set and the minifigs on it

The instructions

The instructions have some information in them, a common theme with the icons sets. I love these instructions more than the regular ones.

the builds

Bag End, or Bag-End, was a smial situated at the end of Bagshot Row in Hobbiton. It was the home of Bilbo Baggins, afterwards of Frodo Baggins, and later of Samwise Gamgee and his wife Rosie Cotton. The hobbit-hole was noted to have a green door with a round brass knob, all but countless rooms with round windows, and a garden. Bag End was frequently visited, at least during Bilbo's time. The grounds and home were maintained by the Gamgee family, most notably Hamfast ("The Gaffer"), and later his son, Samwise. By the beginning of The Lord of the Rings, Bilbo adopted his cousin (and nephew) Frodo as his heir. Frodo became the Master of Bag End on their mutual birthday, when Frodo turned 33 and Bilbo turned 111. Bilbo left to live with the Elves at Rivendell. Frodo remained content at Bag End until Gandalf returned and confirmed that Bilbo's Ring was actually the One Ring. Preparations for departure ensued, with Frodo selling Bag End to the Sackville-Bagginses and moving to Crickhollow before departing on the Quest of the Ring. The exterior of the house looks great with all the grassy greebling and the new window pieces, the door is a bit hard to open but it looks good too. The boomerangs make great fences but the tree at the top looks a little bare.

The interior looks a bit small but it is only half the hill. I love the printed mat and the small writing room on the left. The candlesticks are white pens which works well and the fireplace that sits behind another printed rug has a neat play feature to view the ring. Speaking of rings, the set gives you 3 rings, which is a nice bonus. (Now I have 9 or so rings, this set gave me 3, Barad Dur came with 3, the gwp came with 3 plus the other Hobbit/Lotr sets I have and I’m sure Rivendell has 3 so I might have all 12 rings)

Side builds

The set includes a birthday cake, a tent, the birthday tree, Gandalf’s horse cart and the dragon firework that Pippin and Mary light, but I’ll get to that in Minifigures. The cake looks pretty good and the tent is a nice touch. The tree is a little bare but it includes a play feature for Bilbo to hide with the ring. The the firework dragon looks great but could have been a mold. I love the play feature here and the fireworks cart is a nice addition. The original was a smaller separate set that should have been included with the house.

Minifigs

The minifigs included are Frodo, Gandalf, Bilbo, Sam, Rosie, Mary Pippin and Mr and Ms Proudfoot. I love these new printing in them, though most of the appeared in other new sets like Barad Dur and Rivendell. The proudfoots are completely new Minifigures as well as Rosie. Gandalf has a new face print and a stitting position like Frodo and Bilbo. Pippin and Mary have alternate faces and hair for setting off the fireworks and I love that. Each have alternate faces aside from Gandalf. I wish they gave Bilbo a different face though.

Compared to the old set

Compared to the old set the new one is definitely bigger inside and out but the old one has a better door. The new Minifigures definitely have better printing but the old ones still look good.

Looks like the fellowship of the ring had adventures not unlike my own

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more builds