- LEGO made a surprising reveal this week in the form of a Dune Ornithopter that will release next year.
- No localised pricing or availability for South Africa was revealed at the time.
- We can now report a R3 099 price and a February 2024 release date thanks to LEGO South Africa.
Earlier this week LEGO dropped a rather unexpected announcement on the world in the form of an Ornithopter from the most recent incarnation of Dune.
Dune is a rather adult piece of fiction and few expected LEGO to make a set from the franchise, even as rumours began to air that this set was on the way. Those rumours were proven true recently as the Ornithopter was shown to the world, based on the 2021 Denis Villeneuve film.
LEGO set 10327: Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter has 1 369 pieces and, overseas, it is slated for a 1st February release. This will put the LEGO set closer to the 15th March release of Dune: Part Two.
When assembled the fictional flying vehicle will measure in at 80 centimetres wide with the wings fully extended, and 56 centimetres long.
Eight minifigures are included with the vehicle: Baron Harkonnen, Chani, Duncan Idaho, Gurney Halleck, Lady Jessica, Leto Atreides, Liet Kynes and Paul Atreides.
Baron Harkonnen is the most notable of all the figures given his massive size. This isn’t a large minifigure, instead LEGO gives the Baron a very long robe and a clear stand to give the impression that the Harkonnen is floating as he does in the movie.
For all of this overseas buyers will need to pay $164.99 (~R3 115), €164.99 (~R 3 290) or £149.99 (~R3 437) depending on their region.
South Africans were unsure as to the pricing and availability of this set, but this has now been revealed. Great Yellow Brick, the online platform for the official LEGO stores in South Africa, now has the Ornithopter available for pre-order. Its price is set at R3 099 with a February 2024 release date.
As South African LEGO pricing is usually based on the Euro RRP, we are getting this set on the cheaper side…. relatively speaking. This is still a very expensive luxury item that most will need to save for ahead of February 2024.
While we don’t advocate for pre-orders we do want to mention that there is at least one reason to buy the set now as a pre-order, aside from securing your copy of the Ornithopter. Pre-orders from Great Yellow Brick qualify for a gift with purchase (GWP) with several live right now. If you want the Ornithopter and one of the in stock GWP, it may be a good idea to order now instead of later.
If not we recommend waiting for initial reviews for the set to come out. Before then, however, we do have some early looks at the set.
Overseas media were given some early access to the set recently and it is worth looking at because several features of the Ornithopter were displayed here. LEGO itself has, for some reason, not highlighted these features in its own promotion of the set.
We recommend the below video from YouTube channel RacingBrick to see this. The wings of the Ornithopter have some complex mechanisms that allows for them to fold/unfold as well as “flap” to replicate the flying movement as seen in the movie. The landing gear can also be lowered and retracted with a lever.
It’s a really interesting system and we’re really confused by LEGO not showing this off more. It also gives the Ornithopter a lot of play value so this isn’t just a standard display model that will sit on a shelf gathering dust.
