Robin Hood Peddler's Wagon LEGO Ideas Project Review

Overview

This is a project created by ootkaman on LEGO Ideas, and is based off of the "Robin Hood ballads, in which Robin Hood and Little John ride a peddler's wagon that has secret compartments for weapons and Merry Men," according to the project page. For those who may not be familiar with the story of Robin Hood, he is a hero of old English folklore who, along with his band of Merry Men, hide out in Sherwood Forest, robbing the rich to feed the poor, and thus was often at odds with the gentry and the law.

 

Appeals of this Project

The Peddler's Wagon contains Robin Hood and Little John driving a peddler's wagon, a lookout tree for one of Robin Hood's Merry Men, and the Sheriff of Nottingham, giving this project great playability potential. The wagon had a number of accessories on the outside making it look very genuine, thus allowing Robin Hood to sneak past the Sheriff. The wagon also has several compartments, one on each side to hide the weapons and a hidden compartment underneath where Merry Men can be smuggled past the watchful eye of the Sheriff. I really like how the hidden compartments cannot be seen from the outside, making the wagon look just like any ordinary peddler's wagon, and the placement of the compartment under the wagon for the Merry Men is my personal favorite. It looks just ordinary paneling, but is really a secret hiding place!

The lookout tree is wonderfully done with handholds in the back allowing the Merry Men to climb up and keep an eye out for the Sheriff of Nottingham. The inclusion of the tree, also really brings the project together, both with a balance of the colors and the options for playability. It is even possible that the Sheriff could climb up the tree to spy on Robin Hood and Little John. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination.

Areas for Improvement

One area where I think this project could be improved is the layout of the interior. Personally, I feel that if the current layout makes it difficult to hide the compartments on the outside of the wagon because the interior is only two studs wide. If it the interior could be made four studs wide, maybe by attaching the weapons to the back of the folding side panel on the wagon and using the panel piece 4215 right up against the folding side, it would make it much more believable that this was just an ordinary peddler's wagon, thus helping Robin Hood and Little John to sneak the weapons past the watchful eye of the Sheriff.

 

Conclusion

This is a really nice project that offers great playability looks good at the same time. There is still room for a little bit of improvement, but overall, I think this would make a fantastic set if it reaches 10,000 supporters and passed the official LEGO Ideas Review. To see more pictures and to offer your support, you can click here to visit this project on LEGO Ideas.

The photos and review are used with the permission of ootkman.