Weekly Set Review: Dark Dragon's Den

[Dragon Master]

Webrain! I'm glad you like the set so much to. The only things it could have used were another horse helmet and one more guard (a spearman probably). Also two Dragon's can easily fit in there. 3 is a strech, but two dragons would have been nice.

However everyone here has the wrong definition of the acronym BURP.

Its.....

B Beautiful
U Useful
Rock
Piece

People who hate BURPS have tons of LEGO. For people who don't have that many bricks, BURPS are cool. And the BURPS serve thier purpose in the set. Its not supposed to be a freakin' castle.................

Its a Den! For a Dragon! Who is Dark!

Dark Dragon's Den is just that and I love it.

Only beaten by the Great 6086.

Dragon Master

P.S. Waaay better set than Fire Breathing Fortress!

[Linus]

I thought BURP stood for Butt Ugly Rock Piece...

People who hate BURPS have tons of LEGO. For people who don't have that many bricks, BURPS are cool.

Dragon Master, you are absolutely correct. I don't have many bricks, so I like BURPs. I'd probably think different if I had 10 tons of grey bricks.
Dark Dragon's Den is a great set, but not the best set out there. I give it an 8/10.

[LEGO_KNIGHT]

Hi

I do not have this set but would like to get one. I like the design. It is meant to be a den and not a castle. Good set. I give a 8/ 10 rating.

Thanks.

Erwin

[jeff_o_rama]

Everyone here needs to just give in to their secret love for BURPs. Don't try to repress your feelings.

-Jeff

[AoErat]

Well, I liked it. The little back room was probably the best part, where one could have secret meetings, etc. And to get in you had to go past the dragon and through the wooden doors, or through the secret moving-rock door.

While it certainly isn't "pretty" or incredibly well-designed, I think it is still ok.

[timber_wolf899]

i shale probalby buy this set in april.

feb budget spent
march will go to grey on bricklink

[Jojo]

Hello!


Well, when I opened the 1993's catalogue I was VERY disappointed. I liked the wizard and even the new Dragon, but I hated the design of the new buildings of which the Dark Dragon's Den was the worst as I thought then.

Now I still don't love the Dragon Masters and I don't love this set but I don't have such negative feelings towards it anymore. As others already stated it is exactly what it is: A den. Not a great set, not a beautiful model but it's OK. And for cheap it is even good. :-)

It's even sort of 'historically' correct inasmuch the Dragon watches a secret treasure. That's Dragons' business in the world...

As for the BURPs: Yes, I find they are ugly rock pieces. Though I was quite glad that I had some of them when i started building my last castle. But even if you build in lots of BURPs you still need tons of average bricks to fill the gaps and to give the whole structure a more random look because rows of BURPs simply strung together look rather boring. This is why I wouldn't go as far to say "I secretely love the BURPs" :-)


Bye
Jojo

[Sir Terrance]

This is a pretty nice set. Sure many people HATE burps I somewhat like them! They offer a great way to build mountains to build castles upon. A great set with knights a wizard and the fantastic classic LEGO dragon. An awesome set.

[Devari]

I don't particularly care for this set. So-so minifigs, very little brick, and a... blah... structure.

In terms of the structure. the main thing I don't like is that it's completely open. Although almost all 1990s sets are pretty open, this one was particularly airy. I think this set would have been better with more space on the top area for a little more of a fortress look. Even though it's so small, I DO love the top bit. And the stairs are pretty cool.

If this came out now, I'd snap it up. But I'm not going to be rushing to get this on BL anytime soon.

6/10

People who hate BURPS have tons of LEGO. For people who don't have that many bricks, BURPS are cool.

Not totally true. I probably have less brick than anyone here, but I dislike BURPS. Not much variety, and I find triangular BURPS a pain to work with. BURPS on their own are ugly. However, if I was building a mountain, I would definately want some to conserve brick.

Only beaten by the Great 6086.

Are you serious? Or do you mean among the DM structures?

P.S. Waaay better set than Fire Breathing Fortress!

Hmm... I dunno. FBF looks better in my opinion, and is a structure versus a den.

Now that DM has asked why everyone hates BURPs, I want to ask why everyone hates raised baseplates? They are quite good for mid-sized structures.

[Dan_BL]

When a Hart store went out of business I got this set for $20 CAN. Its been an excellent investment ever since. Plenty of BURPS and larger essentials that castles need. (steps, castle/tower wall parts, red convex slopes etc.

Personally I've never really ever been a fan of dragon knights-I'll probably just sell the few I have one of those days. This set was more attractive for the parts than anthing else.

[Mr. D]

Ok, here's my opinion: Me wants!
Ok, so I won't be haunting Ebay for it; but if I would see it at $10 or $20, and if I had $10 or $20 to spend....
I actually like BURPs; sure, they need a plates and bricks to disguise them, but you don't need as many as you would if you weren't using "Beautiful, Usfull, Rock Peices". I like the accessories and wonderfully versatile figs, too.

Mr. D

[Jedipawn]

Everyone here needs to just give in to their secret love for BURPs. Don't try to repress your feelings.

Well Jeff, I would have to almost agree. I do appreciate them for what they are; a way to conserve pieces when building mountain sides. As for the set...

I have read several points here that I agree with.
One, this set was a good source of pieces. IMO there were very few (if any) pieces that I could not use. It could have been better with more "basic" brick, but at the time I was thrilled to get all the BURPs.
Two, Playablity. This set was a lot of fun to play with. New minifigs, a dragon, and easy access to all parts of the cave.
Three, realizem (sp?). I think this set is wonderful for what it is, a cave at the top of some peak. I think that it could have been disgised more. Maybe a "hidden den". It seems to be very "airy". But I am in fact thankful for this. If it had been closed off more, the piece count would have been hiked, driving up the price. As it was, I was glad of the price range they desided to place this set in.
There are several inprovements that could have been made, more soldgers, another dragon, more pieces... but all in all I think this was a nice variation for the standerd "four-walls". Relised just at the end of the classic castle this set could have been alot worse.

I give it a 6/10

Jedipawn

[Formendacil]

Hmm... looks like we have quite the BURP debate going on here. And no, I am not talking about machoistic belch-a-thons...

Anyway, I like this set. I like DMs, I can always use BURPs (although I would use bricks if I were stinking rich enough to afford them), and I like the concept. Furthermore, this set has a goodly number of figs, a dragon (I like them, if others don't), and a decent piece count.

It's old grey too, for all you colour-change gripers out there.

Parts: 7/10
Playability: 7.5/10
Figs/Accessories: 8.5/10
Design (then): 6/10
Design (now): 6.5/10
Nostalgia: 8/10

Overall Score: 7.25/10

[Sir Kohran]

This is one of my top three Lego Castle sets, and could quite possibly be my favourite. It comes with everything that the Dragon Masters introduced, so if you get this set, you don't need to buy anything else from the Dragon Master line. And when I found this set, MISB, on BrickLink, sold by a decent seller, in my country, I almost burst with joy. It now proudly sits on my shelf, dominating my Kingdom.

10/10

- Matt

[Graynar]

Hi guys!

I'm not a fan of this set. It does come with a good amount of minifigs and has a few intresting pieces though. And no raised base plate-yay! I still remember when I wanted a raised baseplate so bad, I was pretty young then. But the set design was not the greatest. I shouldnt be saying that, I never saw this set in person.

Back then I probally would not purchase this set, but today, I defintly would.