Weekly Set Review: Guarded Treasury

[rogue27]

Design: Ick.

Parts: Some of them are good, and at least they included some corner slopes instead of just giving out the peak like that darn Castle Expander Pack. However, I don't think you could really build much with this set because it has so many large parts.

Playability: Well, I guess it depends on how many times a kid wants to set up and spring the trap. Personally, I grow tired of these gimmicky traps that every set seems to have lately. I also think this set is not fun enough to justify it's $15 price tag.


Design: 1
Parts: 4
Playability: 3

Overall: 2/10 (not an average)

[Formendacil]

At the time that I got this set I was 13, so not incredibly young on a LEGO scale, and I wasn't too disappointed. Of course, at the time it was about three years since the Fright Knights had come out, and I was more or less starved for Castle (this was the pre-Bricklink era of my life).

That said, I was somewhat baffled, even then, by the design of this set. I never knew which way to turn them when incorporated into a wall so that the defensive side would be outward. With the tower, the open side is clearly not defendable, but the tower is open on the other side. With the dungeon, it appears to be the door-side that is to be defended, but how then does one explain the door?

Piece-wise, this was one of my less favourite KK1 sets. It used quite a few large pieces (although I don't hate 1x2x5s, I prefer real pieces), and only two figs. I could buy an Axe Cart and a Defence Archer and get better figs...

Parts: 6/10
Playability: 8/10
Figs/Accessories: 6.5/10
Design (then): 4/10
Design (now): 5/10
Nostalgia: 5.5/10

Overall Score: 5.83/10

[Norro]

A nice set for spare parts, but than anything with old grey is....

I did *quite* like KK1 (it beats fright knights and KK2 and that's about it). But how you could compare King Leo's Castle with this:
http://guide.lugnet.com/set/?q=6086_1&v=z
or this:
http://guide.lugnet.com/set/?q=6066_1&v=z

for parts, playability, realism, figs, ar anything at all, is beyond me....

Nathan

[kajo163]

Easy guys! We're all entitled to an opinon.

On this set:

The design is horrible. It's in the line with the juniorization we've seen in recent years and it's one of the top examples of it. This module design was striking through everywhere, like in the early HP sets.

The minifigs on the other hand... KKI figs are among the great ones, in my opinion. Awsome design there. Let's have more of that now when Lego seems to go a little more realistic in for example the city-line.

Not my favorite sets of all time, but that blue roof cone is something I like.

Joel.

[architect]

This topic is getting very off topic. Weekly Set Reviews are for reviewing the featured set and not for debating which factions are best. Start a new thread for discussing which factions' sets are better than others. Off topic posts can be moved or deleted.

My thoughts on this set:

I like the fact that the tower/jail is modular and can be placed on King Leo's Castle raised baseplate. Even though this is a different form of modularity, you can still customize the castle. The figures and accessories are also nice.

I dislike the falling axe trap. It is overused too much. While I am not opposed to the fabuland door frame with jail door, I think it works best in larger jail sets such as Forbidden Island or Eldorado Fortress in the Pirates theme.

Ben E.

[Robin Hood]

Hmmm, an ok set.

For pieces, its not too great. The two guys are both nice. You also get five extra weapons, the lion heads if you use em, those larger arches, while point less can sometimes save you 1x1s. Plus the 1x2x5 dark greys. If (like me) you sometimes run out of pieces, these make great wall fillers.

The design of the set, while unrealistic, is not too strange. When you consider, Skeleton Surprise, Black Monarch's Ghost, Bandit Ambush, and Magic Shop among others, the whole design doesn't seem out of place with the rest of Castle.

I remember playing a bit when I got it. And considering that I wasn't play with Lego anymore, it must have had some appeal.

Dan

[TwoTonic Knight]

I never felt any desire to buy this set, not even when it went on clearance. An overpriced, unispired and unispiring set. I'll grudingly give it a 3/10 for some parts and the figs, but I'm probably over-rating it.

[psu_ericksen]

Must say that looking back, I really like this set for parts. Picked one up at TRU in late 2002 and again in 2003. Would have bought more, but I think it’s overpriced. As for the parts:

2 nice figs (that Bull fig is one of my favs)
2 green 8x8 bricks – great for building up a landscape
4 grey 75-degree slopes – always useful
great arched window with bars – can never have enough
2 tan lion’s heads – eh, probably have enough, but you never know
3 grey round bricks – good for support columns (wish it came with more)
good selection of weapons
2 brown torches (with NO useless flames, BTW)
blue 75-degree slopes – love the double convex slopes for castle building (wish I had more to make the tower roof of the castle in my old unfinished layout larger)

As for the design: pretty weak but typical of the period (but it is modular with 6091 King Leo's Castle, for whatever that's worth)


Sean

[Azaghal]

While I am not opposed to the fabuland door frame with jail door, I think it works best in larger jail sets such as Forbidden Island or Eldorado Fortress in the Pirates theme.

Actually, in my personal favorite use of this piece (in 6259), it took up 90% of the jail. Who says prisons need to be roomy?

As to this set, I agree with psu_ericksen that it is a great parts pack. I'd get one if I could find it cheap.

[bannear]

Much has been already said ...
I think this has some great parts in it for use in a castle setting. I don't think I would use them as presented though - the set design is weak.
I would buy it if the price was right.
6/10.
Cheers,
SirBert

[Patron of the lego]

Ah, my first lego castle set, I recieved this before skeleton suprise. Well it is fun little set that has a odd trap THAT WORKS, it is also well priced also. But there isn't anything that you can't find on bricklink for a modest price though. Also you can combine most sets to king leo's castle, it was meant to be combined!!! 10/10

[g2]

Very nice minifigs in this set. I like both of them equally and I would have no problem in acquiring an army of either faction (preferably both). The pieces in this set look very useful, and so if you buy a few (for the minifigs of course), you can definitely build something very nice. I don’t own any of these sets, but I would definitely buy some, if they were still available.

Rating: 8/10

[PunkRockCowboy]

I wanted this set so bad. They made it look really good in the magazine, but looking at it with no cool background, special graphics, or extra characters I think it's not nearly as good as I once thought.

To me this is an "Expansion Pack", something you can add on to your Castle/Fortress. I like the idea behind having a jail and another tower that you can add onto your fort, but this leaves something to be desired.
Pros:
Sweet Figures (both soldiers too)
Lots of Weapons
Sloped Grey Bricks (I always need these)

Cons:
"Juniourized" tower
Tan Lion Heads (not very useful in my opinion)
Only 2 figures - other sets this size like Sea Serpent and Dungeon Hunters featured 3-4 figures. While the two featured here are top quality, 2 is a bit lacking for a set this size.

Parts: 6.5/10
Playability: 7.5/10 (needs another figure)
Figs/Accessories: 6.5/10
Design: 4.5/10
Overall: 5/10

5/10 which is funny because this set doesn't come across as "mediocre" or even forgettable. It comes across as something that had a lot of potential but was executed half hazardly.

[wunztwice]

Hey everyone!

Hmm, not the best set, but most assuredly not the worst either. I like both the figs (best bulls torso, and I can't have enough of the wide-brim helms).

Playability, I'm not sure, but judging from the pictures it looks like something that might keep a kid entertained for quite a while (well, it would have me, anyways...)

The design is lacking, but parts are alright for this era (blue convex, mmmm.)

Overall, like I said in the beginning. Not great, not horrible; I give it an OK.

[Emp.Justinian]

I own this set, and even when I got it at seven years old I had problems. I desperately wanted to like the one-piece tower, but it still stands as one of the most juniorised pieces in lego history. The pieces were all big and there weren't enough of them. The set had little playability and I prbably didn't keep it in one piece for more than a day or two. This all could have been better if there was a slightly better design and three more minfigs. Two is certainly not enough and with a set of this size five minifigs doesn't seam unreasonable. Those extra figs would have given a lot more point to this set. I rate it like this:
Parts: 4/10 for its size it has a large amount of juniorised pieces
playability: 6/10 traps aren't actualy that entertaining for long figs would be better
Figs: 4/10 realy needs several more figs for it to be enjoyable, though the figs being KK1 are in of themselves great
overal: 4.6/10 not very fun and gets old quickly

God speed

Emp.Justinian