REVIEW: LEGO 10327 DUNE ATREIDES ROYAL ORNITHOPTER

By Brian MayesApr 1, 20240 comments

UNBOXING AND BUILD EXPERIENCE

Here’s a look at the instructions manual for the set. There are zero stickers in the set, which is always an encouraging sign when you start on a big LEGO set like this.

Here’s a look at the contents of the instruction manual with some great imagery and shots from Denis Villeneuve’s Dune and also a great two-page spread featuring the minifigure characters.

This is one of most challenging and technical builds I’ve ever put together, and I dare say that even veteran builders will find it tricky.

Here’s a look at the build and how the Ornithopter comes together.

Fair warning, there’s a LOT of Technic in this set to bring the functions to life, but also to ensure that the model is sturdy enough to hold and swoosh around.

It’s not a set that you can zone out and build as you’ll need to pay attention to each instruction step, and affix the elements carefully – undoing mistakes in this set is going to be a pain, and I do not recommend it.

It’s a very technical and complex build, and while I don’t build a lot of LEGO Technic, I marvelled at how the inner workings came together as you are encouraged to play around with the features and see them work in skeletal form before the outer plates are added to complete the look.

For this set, I do also recommend using the digital instructions on the LEGO Builder App, as you can rotate the view and get a better look at how it comes together as some of the angles in the instructions aren’t very intuitive, especially for newer builders.

Nevertheless, the build is a captivating marriage of LEGO and Technic, and pushes the envelope of what’s possible in a LEGO Icons set.

LEGO DUNE ORNITHOPTER MINIFIGURES

Here’s the amazing lineup of 8 LEGO minifigures included in the Dune Ornithopter set featuring some of the most important characters from the movie.

From left to right we have Dr Liet-Kynes, Duncan Idaho, Duke Leto Atreides, Lady Jessica, Paul Atreides, Chani, Gurney Halleck and one of the most hilarious minifigure adaptions ever – the Baron Harkonnen with his ultra long fabric piece.

The Ornithopter is the star of the show, but this is an excellent and very generous lineup of exclusive minifigures for a set of this size and price-point, and the best part is that we get all new prints and designs too.

For Dune fans, I’d wager that the minifigure-lineup alone would be a strong enough drawcard for this set.

Here’s a look at Paul Atreides and Chani, the two protagonists of Dune. Paul (played by Timothée Chalamet) is in his dark green formal dress, complete with some nice stitching details, collar embroidery and the House Atreides crest on his left breast, and Chani is wearing a stillsuit which is designed to preserve the body’s moisture. She has a tan scarf worn backwards and comes with a white gladius.

Paul Atreides is probably the weakest minifigure in the lineup, mostly because the face looks quite generic, although it’s really hard to capture Timothée Chalamet jawline and sharp features in minifigure form, but Chani is fantastic, thanks to her blue eyes, and just how well designed the prints on the stillsuit are.

Here’s a look at their back prints and alternate faces – again, Chani’s alternate face with the stillsuit mask looks really cool and accurate.

Next we have Paul’s parents and leaders of House Atreides, Lady Jessica and Duke Leto Atreides, played by Rebecca Ferguson and Oscar Isaac respectively. Leto is in the same stillsuit as Chani, but the designers did a fantastic job capturing his beard and the detail here is superb. I also like that they used the fairly new skin-colour for him to better match Oscar Isaac’s complexion.

The highlight here is Lady Jessica, in her resplendent golden gown that’s inspired by South Asia and Middle Eastern fashion, with a lovely gold headscarf. The prints on her dress are intricately subtle and it’s one of her most recognisable looks from the movie.

Here’s a look at their back prints, and Leto’s alternate face.

Lady Jessica’s alternate face deserves a photo all on its own, with the golden face covering printed on in stunning detail over her face. She also comes with a wig to switch up her look.

Next we have fan-favourite characters Duncan Idaho and Gurney Halleck, played by Jason Momoa and Josh Brolin. Duncan Idaho, the swordmaster is wearing his iconic casual white top, with a slightly open collar, and I like the slightly untucked look they managed to capture.

Gurney is battle-ready, with printed armour.

I was very impressed that LEGO has started printing on armour like this, and even more impressed that the printing lines up really nicely with the torso.

Here’s Gurney’s torso and leg prints in full.

And here’s a look at their back print, and alternate faces. Their faces are nice and expressive and quite screen-accurate.

Here’s a look at Dr. Liet-Kynes played by Sharon Duncan-Brewster, also wearing a stillsuit, but with a dark tan cape. The minifigure design here is immaculate, and I really love how well they captured her likeness in minifigure form.

She has a pair of maker hooks, tools that the Fremen use to mount, capture and steer sandworms.

Here’s a look at her back print and alternate face with a stillsuit mask on.

And last but certainly not least, the longest boi in all of Arrakis, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, played by the incredibly talented Stellan Skarsgård. This is literally one of the best things LEGO have ever done with a minifigure.

It’s an homage to this iconic scene from Dune, where the Baron Harkonnen eerily floats into the air.

LEGO of course didn’t design an ultra-long torso, nor did they opt to attach a bunch of legs together like some sort of weird centipede – in fact they went to the trouble of creating a very long fabric element for the LEGO Baron Harkonnen. The minifigure has a plain black torso and legs, but the fabric piece does a fantastic job of bringing that one scene to life.

And you affix it to a transparent stand to complete the look. It’s pretty comical, but so accurate at the same time, and it’s just a treat for fans of the Dune movie.

Zero complaints about the LEGO Dune minifigure lineup. LEGO didn’t really need to go this hard with the minifigures – they could’ve just stopped at Leto, Paul and Lady Jessica given their prominent scenes with the Ornithopter, but LEGO went ahead and included nearly all the beloved characters from the first Dune movie, plus Baron Harkonnen in his elongated form.

The minifigure lineup alone is a comforting sign that LEGO (and Legendary) recognises just how beloved Dune is to sci-fi fans, and it truly feels like they went above and beyond here.

Here’s some more portrait-style shots I took of the minifigures to showcase just how good they are!

THE COMPLETED MODEL

Here’s a look at the completed LEGO Atreides Royal Ornithopter model and it’s an incredibly impressive model. For a 1300+ piece set, the LEGO Ornithopter is much larger than you’d typically expect, and that’s not just because of how it looks with its wings outstretched, but it feels like a really substantial model, so the price feels fairly justified.

With the wings folded out, it takes up quite a lot of space especially if you plan to display it on a flat surface, as opposed to mounting it up on a wall, so do keep that in mind.

Here’s a look at the wings, which were custom-designed for the LEGO Ornithopter. For the scale of the model, there wasn’t an existing element that was able to mimic the look, so the Element Design team took on the challenge of creating a long and bendy wing, which look great.

They can flex quite a bit too.

You get 8 of them in the set!

Of course, you can also retract the wings so that they tuck in, just like the Ornithopters do in the movie.

Here’s how the Ornithopter looks from the side in landing mode – It might not look like much, but the techniques used to get this particular shaping and angle of the Ornithopter is incredibly advanced and one of the most underrated parts of the model.

And yes, you can position it flush and flat as well.

The wing function is one of the best things about the Ornithopter, and it’s satisfying to flip the wings in and out, which is achieved by a Technic knob that you flick backwards and forwards. The click sound is also very satisfying!

And yes, you can jab down the long black teeth section on the handle/tail to make the wings flap as they do in the movie. They don’t buzz super fast of course, but the flapping motion is very satisfactory.

Another great design feature is the landing gear. The back landing gear is designed both as a method to support the Ornithopter but also doubles as a ramp to lead inside!

And you can twist the knobs on either side to retract or extend the landing gear, which is also very satisfying!

Here’s a look at the Ornithopter from the front. I really appreciate that the sides of the cockpit opens upwards, just like the Ornithopters in the movie.

The large windscreens (you might remember them from 10497 Galaxy Explorer) come in trans-black for the first time.

So yes, you can technically use these to tint your Galaxy Explorers, in case more privacy is needed in space!

There’s also a brand new windscreen which has some interesting angles to it, which come in handy to give the Ornithopter a more movie-accurate look.

The cockpit seats are removable by design, to make it much easier to swap the minifigures in the seats before placing them back in the cockpit.

Here’s the Ornithopter from the front. The wings in my set unfortunately have quite an asymmetrical look to them, as they don’t curve and bend consistently, so it does look kinda wonky from this view.

But that of course pales in comparison to how fun of a model it is! After completing the challenging build, you are rewarded with a large, and very satisfying model that has been designed for one thing and one thing only – to be swooshed about!

It passed the swoosh test with flying colours – check it out in action below!

I had so much fun playing around with the Ornithopter! There’s just something so juvenile yet satisfying about fanning the wings out, grabbing it by its sturdy tail and swooshing it around the room.

Of course, you need to make your own sound effects for best results.

What I liked:

An incredibly challenging and bonkers build that marries Technic and LEGO
Awesome lineup of minifigures, especially the Baron Harkonnen
Incredible play functions that work as advertised
Great to display but even more fun to play around with

What I didn’t like:

Build is challenging and highly technical, with lots of Technic which might put off some people
Wings don’t bed the same way, resulting is a subpar view from the front

FINAL THOUGHTS:

It takes a lot of courage to take on a beloved franchise like Dune, and even more courage (and talent) to attempt to deliver a Ornithopter model that works just like it does in the Dune movie.

LEGO have almost done the impossible here as 10327 Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter delivers a challenging, technical build that will push builders to their limits but at the same time, illuminate just what a creative and powerful building system that’s made possible with LEGO and Technic.

The play features of the Ornithopter are stellar, and I especially appreciate that most of the key functions like the fluttering of the wings and how you retract them can mostly be done with one hand, which allows you to swoosh it around to your heart’s content.

But the entire package is a great demonstration of just what’s possible with LEGO and you’ll walk away feeling like you’ve accomplished something, and also marvelling that designers Mike Psiaki and Yoel Mazur were able to bring this to life in stunning fashion.

The aesthetics of the Ornithopter are so incredibly underrated, but simple things like the shape, and how good it looks on display make this a standout model.

Add in a really great lineup of LEGO Dune characters as minifigures, and you have an incredibly easy set to recommend, and while on the more expensive side of things, does feel like you’re getting your money’s worth.

As a big fan of Dune myself and someone who can’t wait for Dune Part 2 to hit the IMAX, this set is a dream come true for me, and I think a lot of fans of the Dune series will enjoy every aspect of this set.

10327 Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter needs to be celebrated and I can highly recommend this if you’re a fan of Dune, especially the most recent movie, and are after a LEGO model that is both challenging to build, great to display and just invites you to swoosh around.

This is LEGO Icons at its very best.

Rating and score: 4/5 ★★★★☆

Build [4] – A unique, challenging and highly technical build that demands your full focus, but be warned, there’s plenty of Technic!
Real Value [4] – The large model, play features and expansive minifig lineup justify the price
Innovation [5] – Utterly impressive that LEGO pulled the functions off without compromising on aesthetics
Coolness [5] – A LEGO sci-fi model for the ages, and so much fun to play with
Keepability [4] – If you get bored of Swooshing, it makes for a great display model

Thanks so much for reading my review of the LEGO Dune Ornithopter!