new sets

[TwoTonic Knight]

What is Brasso? Painting the armour is an option, I guess...

Brasso is a mild polishing compound. It will rub off any printed design on a Lego piece without damaging the plastic (but I'd be careful trying it on a chrome-coated piece). Painting, rub'n'buff, or other ways of covering the armor are available, of course.

[Troy T. Moore]

The stores around here have a HUGE inventory of Harry Parter sets....After the Christmas rush, they will be discounted in order to make room for the new stuff. Adventurer's is already discounted; $17 for Elephant Caravan, $38 for Scorpion palace.... At least the characters have "real" colours....

This just in...it is the year 2024...System sets "Knights Kingdom" released as "Legends" Probably not...

Would rather buy mor BFF's than pay full price when the "rainbow warriors" come out in summer (Almost remind me of carebears in armour). There is hope for a Legends set....or.....

Al prices in Canadian pesos.

[JPinoy]

The colors would've OK... almost like a "Medieval Power Ranger", but even then they didn't have light blue, unless that light blue was a female knight. If its a female knight, Im sure Princess Storm from the orginal Knights Kingdom can whoop her arse, and perhaps all of the other KK redeux figs.

Perhaps it would look better if the multi-colored knights had darker colors, as well as having a new knight fig with Chrome Gold or Silver armor, helmet, shield and sword. Considering what Lego did with the Toa of Light, Im sure they might have a Knight of Light or something of the sort for Knights Kingdom 2.

~~~~~

Guys don't be too upset, Lego did rehash Blacktron 1 into Blacktron 2, the same goes for Space Police 1 & 2 and Classic Space => Futuron.

Besides, what about Black Monarchs evolving into the Black Knights and then Dragon Masters? The same could be said of Crusaders => Royal Knights => Knights Kingdom 1 => Knights Kingdom 2. Now if only they'd rehash the Black Falcons into a new theme with falcon wing designs on the horse bardings and horse battle helmets.

[wlister]

As to the sets; these multicolored fairy tale sets do not a banner year make. As has been stated before, if the price points aren't good, the sets will likely have to wait until some sales hit. There are many interesting pieces, but if I want to buy just interesting pieces, I can bricklink them. I am holding out to see them in person before before I get too bothered by it. After all, we haven't see if there will be some legends or other decent sets offered at shop@home.

On to Brasso... Chrome Pieces cannot be Brassoed unless you want a partially opaque sword in the case of a chrome sword or a blank light grey shield in the case of the chrome Bull Shield. I have never Brassoed a chrome armor, nor am I likely too, but I am guessign they are a similar color to the sword underneath. Brasso break down the crome with out any rubbing so if you want a decent sword, soak it for awhile and it will come off easy.

Here is a sword I brassoed:


Here is a shield:


Unfortunately you can't see it as well, but the Bull pattern stayed just a little visible once the chrome was off. I was actually trying to get rid of the bull pattern and have a silver shield, but that didn't work out.

Brasso does work better on regular printed items and if you are careful the ABS will retain its shine.

Will

[rogue27]

My first impression upon seeing these new castle sets was not very good. However, after looking at them more, they do have their qualities. I still think they are pretty weak as a product line, but for parts they could be good if they aren't too expensive. Anyway, here are my thoughts:

8777 - knight, soldier, and catapult
Estimated price: $4 - $7
What I like: The catapult doesn't use that really bad one-piece catapult arm from Knight's Kingdom. Two minifigs, both of which have armor. New color for the classic sword. The horse has barding. The barding doesn't look gay!
What I dislike: The blue helmet. Maybe the black one too.
Comments: If it is $4, this will be an awesome army builder and I will probably buy several. If it is $7, I will probably buy a couple on sale, but no more than that.

8778 - rope bridge
Estimated price: $10-$20
What I like: Two minifigs. Some foliage and terrain building parts. Actual bricks under the staircase! The rope bridge has many interesting possibilities. The black helmet is nice. The harry potter keys always seemed cool, so I'm glad to see it in a castle set. Green plates.
What I dislike: I don't know if I care for that big blue sword. It seems too big.
Comments: If this is $9.99 or $12.99, I'd like to get a couple. If this is $19.99, it's not worth it Also, is there some kind of flipper to shoot that rock? I don't think I would like that, but I do appreciate the bricks, slopes, and plates present in this set.

8779 - joust
Estimated price: $20
What I like: Uh... well, I like the dark red color. The flags hanging by the king intrigue me. I want to get a better look at them. The wheels are good parts that can be used in many ways.
What I dislike: The king's podium is junk. Not much of an audience. Why can't this be more like 6060? Why do we need 4 more trans orange flames?
Comments: It appears as if there are launchers that fire these wheeled horses at each other. Not very realistic, but kids will probably have fun with that for about 20 minutes.

8780 - obstacle course
Estimated price: $30-$50
What I like: The green knight. Serpent head - made of fairly normal parts! Lots of equipment, including a trans-yellow spear and a new color for the classic sword. Several technic beams. Brown staircase part. Stained-glass window. Bars in windows. The wizard guy.
What I dislike: The set design
Comments: It appears to be an obstacle course. Push the rocks to raise the bridge, fight the guy with the axe, defeat the serpent, etc. I think the goal is to find or rescue the guy on top. The set design sucks, but it has lots of parts and I think it would be fun to build with. However, if it is more than $40, I won't buy it until it is on sale.

8781 - big castle
Estimated price: $50-$90
What I like: The brickwork around the portcullis is wonderful. The blue curved slopes are a nice added touch too. The diamond shapes on the front are great. The crossbow turrets are nice. Non-chrome versions of the large chrome swords in a variety of colors. The black knight's shield. Seven minifigs! Lots of 75 degree slopes.
What I dislike: The open design. The black wheeled thing. The stupid looking lion flags - but better than the lions on old knight's kingdom. Many 1x2x5 bricks.
Comments: Just another crappy raised baseplate castle, but this is probably the best of the crappy raised baseplate castles. The brick and slope designs around the front gate are very nice, and it has a good assortment of figures. Unfortunately, most crappy raised baseplate castles are expensive, and this one probably will be too.


Anyway, those are my initial impressions based on some fuzzy scans. After seeing these sets from multiple angles and in higher quality pictures, my opinion of them may change. So far, if the prices are right, these will be great for elements to use in our own castle creations.

8777, 8778, and 8780 are my favorites.

[wlister]

I think the Dragon's Fortress is probably the best of the castle on Raised baseplates. The set encompasses and makes use of the baseplate well and if you bought more than one, you can make a very nice looking enclosed Chinese castle. Besides, 6090 was also on a raised baseplate and that set had a lot more potential...

Will

[Dr. H (PHD)]

Y'know boys, this looks a heck of a lot like mega blox. Nice colored swords (though). Now I won't need to use acrylics to change the color of my swords.

Man, the joust looks....

[Christopher McCleerey]

Banner Year?
*sigh*

He he.
And TLC say they donna care about special weapons?
Heh heh heh.

Could it be that this is just one of two(or more) castle lines to be released in '04? I'd be having a banner year then.

Something in the retail is a lot better than nothing at all though. These do give us quite a range of new and interesting pieces. And I'm sure this will be popular with little kids who have never seen the glory years. But this "rainbowness" is bothersome. Will we see a baby blue horse or something like that in the future?

There will be a better castle line in the future.
There must be. TLC is moving that way. I will be patient.
C

[Magnus]

This stuff is just horrible. I can't see any redeeming feature at all. There are some decent bricks in some of the sets, but the new minifig accessories (not to mention the knights themselves - what is this The Order of the Rainbow?) look terrible. The bardings have goofy designs. I'l be stockpiling BFFs, GIs and BSSs, thank you very much.

[David Girard]

Did you notice the link between Bionicles Knights and the new castle sets. There is. Look carefully and you'll see that there is one.

On the 8779 new set you see 2 big shield on each side of the king. These are the piece missing to complete the Bionicles Knights Shields !!! Do you start to understand ?

For kids who love those Bionicles Knights, they will have to buy the new castle sets to complete their Bionicles Knights. Lego want parents to buy more and more. It kind of pokemon "catch them all" way of think.

I'm against this way of doing market. I'll not buy any of these, even on sale. I'm too much conscientized to encourage this.

If this is a banner year, i'm afraid this will be terribly disappointing.

[rogue27]

For kids who love those Bionicles Knights, they will have to buy the new castle sets to complete their Bionicles Knights. Lego want parents to buy more and more. It kind of pokemon "catch them all" way of think.

I'm against this way of doing market. I'll not buy any of these, even on sale. I'm too much conscientized to encourage this.

Actually, those shields in the joust set are included the knights as well. It's just a clever way for LEGO to re-use some parts, that's all.

[David Girard]

You don't understand what I said rogue27. The "bionicle scale" have shield that have to be completed. You have to find them. So they are in the news "minifig scale" castle sets. 2 are in 8779 set (both each side of the king)

on 8779 there is the parts to complete "bionicles size" shields for Vladek and Jayko. This is the same size.

http://pub13.ezboard.com/fyubyub79107fr ... =193.topic
http://www.minifig.co.uk/temp/legoKnights2004.jpg

[rogue27]

You don't understand what I said rogue27. The "bionicle scale" have shield that have to be completed. You have to find them. So they are in the news "minifig scale" castle sets. 2 are in 8779 set (both each side of the king)

on 8779 there is the parts to complete "bionicles size" shields for Vladek and Jayko. This is the same size.

http://pub13.ezboard.com/fyubyub79107fr ... =193.topic
http://www.minifig.co.uk/temp/legoKnights2004.jpg

Yes, those shields are in the joust set. However, they are the exact same shields that their respective bio-knights come with. If you buy all 5 knights, you will already have the two large shields included with the joust set. Jayko and Vladek come with the two bio-scale shields hanging by the king. They just don't have their stickers or printing applied in the bio-knights picture because of the guessing game.

Lego created molds for those shields to be used by the bio-knights. I am saying it was clever of them to find a way to re-use the mold by using those shields as crests for the two sides in a jousting tournament.

The shields are not like the "masks" of bionicle where they want you to collect them. At least, I have seen no indication of that yet. I know the story involves assembling a magic shield, but that's just the storyline. As far as I can tell, the minifig scale castle sets appear to display action scenes from the "quest to find the magic shield" but don't involve any shield collecting.

[TheDuke]

I imagine it was not suppose to be realistic. The 8779 set for example. If I remember well, motors didn't exist in medieval time. On 8780 there is green and purple armor !!! What is this ! 8781 has a nice not bad looking however, but blue and red armor are also very strange.

Bro, have you ever played any sort of fantasy games? Thnk of the armor as enchanted or special cultural armor or something. Come on be creative these are LEGO pieces we are tlaking about here.

On topic very sweet. I plan to buy 1 or 2 of these sets.

[James]

The minifigs are clearly smaller representations of the bionidork knights. Same Characters, different scale