Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2006 9:46 am
Well I own one of these puppies. As I have said before, I came out of my dark ages with Star Wars LEGO. I was hooked pretty quick and started to move on to other lines. Castle in the late 80's was my favorite. So of course I wanted to give the new castle lines a shot. I got several sets and was only pleased, oddly with the Border Ambush (I just love that set!). My view of KK was tainted.
Then they rolled out Vladek's Dark Fortress. At first I sneered. After looking at lots of product shots and in store displays my interest was piqued. I was pretty excited to build it, but my enthusiasm faded away quickly as I built this monstrous thing. I'm just not a big fan of huge pieces. I was disappointed that it flew together so quickly. The build was too fast. I didn't get to luxuriate in making the offical set as is my wont. There are tons of cool pieces in there like the doors and lovely stairs. BURPS are even starting to grow on me. I even like the sloped gray "stone" printed pieces.
However, I don't really like the 1x1 and 1x2 bricks that are five bricks tall. The parts lend themselves to constructing huge castles. I like slowly sculpting my structures, then I get plenty of room for detail. I guess a lot of the parts just don't "speak" to me. I like the color scheme for the official set (very dark, imposing, nasty, and evil), but these just aren't colors I feel inspired to build with. I think I would have been more pleased with bley pieces and dark highlights.
The official set is quite a monster. It's very imposing and has some nice touches of detail. I like the main tower that winds up being close to 5 stories tall. Some of the functonal gadgets are cool like the cauldron. The draw bridge almost works, but the chain links kink on themselves and it becomes difficult for the bridge to raise smoothly. Any resistance in the coiling of the chain and the rubber band that attaches to the gear starts to slip. That's a minor annoyance. What really bothers me is that the gate won't raise up all the way and completely close. The tattered banners are a nice touch on this set and complement to the color scheme well.
One thing that seems to be new ground for LEGO castles (I've been out of the loop for awhile so feel free to correct me) is that there are interiors. The interior floors of different stories and not just 1 stud out but enough to place several figs, stage battles, add more detail. I think that's a positive move and has been the only detractor from even the best castle sets. There is some attempt to flesh out some detail like a furnace and crystal ball table, but they could have gone further with that. I also like the stairways to get to the different levels, not just imagining that the fig traipses up to the next level. I hope to see more of that in future sets.
The overall look is impressive, but at closer inspection a couple things needle me. The crenelations don't do much of the overlap technique which looks a little sloppy and decreases stability. I also don't like the huge gaps (especially on the ground floor). How are you going to defend your castle when siegers can just chuck spears and plunk arrows at the defenders? It has a nice dynamic design element, but it's so impractical that it bugs me. The gaps would be more appropriate on the 3rd floor or higher (then the defenders could through their own spears and arrows onto the attackers).
And finally the catapults, jellybean knights, speckled armor, and siege weapons. None of the catapults work very well and they're ugly. The jellybean weapons don't work at all and tend to fall apart. Yeah, I hate the jellyean knights. I like the scorpion knights, but I prefer a printed torso. for some reason the speckled armor just looks lame. The speckled stuff looks great on vikings, but not on scorpion knights.
I think there are some great design elements on this set. I like the gangway and drawbridge. I just wish there was a little more detail to flesh out the elements. I guess it looks like an unfinished model. It's got a great overall design, it just needs to get fleshed out.
Obviously I have mixed feelings about this set. It would be a good parts pack if I liked the colors. The official set is kinda cool sans the teletubbies and useless instruments of war (wish they could have dumped those in lieu of more bad guys), it just needs a little tightening on the detail.
I've rambled long enough. Goodnight.
Then they rolled out Vladek's Dark Fortress. At first I sneered. After looking at lots of product shots and in store displays my interest was piqued. I was pretty excited to build it, but my enthusiasm faded away quickly as I built this monstrous thing. I'm just not a big fan of huge pieces. I was disappointed that it flew together so quickly. The build was too fast. I didn't get to luxuriate in making the offical set as is my wont. There are tons of cool pieces in there like the doors and lovely stairs. BURPS are even starting to grow on me. I even like the sloped gray "stone" printed pieces.
However, I don't really like the 1x1 and 1x2 bricks that are five bricks tall. The parts lend themselves to constructing huge castles. I like slowly sculpting my structures, then I get plenty of room for detail. I guess a lot of the parts just don't "speak" to me. I like the color scheme for the official set (very dark, imposing, nasty, and evil), but these just aren't colors I feel inspired to build with. I think I would have been more pleased with bley pieces and dark highlights.
The official set is quite a monster. It's very imposing and has some nice touches of detail. I like the main tower that winds up being close to 5 stories tall. Some of the functonal gadgets are cool like the cauldron. The draw bridge almost works, but the chain links kink on themselves and it becomes difficult for the bridge to raise smoothly. Any resistance in the coiling of the chain and the rubber band that attaches to the gear starts to slip. That's a minor annoyance. What really bothers me is that the gate won't raise up all the way and completely close. The tattered banners are a nice touch on this set and complement to the color scheme well.
One thing that seems to be new ground for LEGO castles (I've been out of the loop for awhile so feel free to correct me) is that there are interiors. The interior floors of different stories and not just 1 stud out but enough to place several figs, stage battles, add more detail. I think that's a positive move and has been the only detractor from even the best castle sets. There is some attempt to flesh out some detail like a furnace and crystal ball table, but they could have gone further with that. I also like the stairways to get to the different levels, not just imagining that the fig traipses up to the next level. I hope to see more of that in future sets.
The overall look is impressive, but at closer inspection a couple things needle me. The crenelations don't do much of the overlap technique which looks a little sloppy and decreases stability. I also don't like the huge gaps (especially on the ground floor). How are you going to defend your castle when siegers can just chuck spears and plunk arrows at the defenders? It has a nice dynamic design element, but it's so impractical that it bugs me. The gaps would be more appropriate on the 3rd floor or higher (then the defenders could through their own spears and arrows onto the attackers).
And finally the catapults, jellybean knights, speckled armor, and siege weapons. None of the catapults work very well and they're ugly. The jellybean weapons don't work at all and tend to fall apart. Yeah, I hate the jellyean knights. I like the scorpion knights, but I prefer a printed torso. for some reason the speckled armor just looks lame. The speckled stuff looks great on vikings, but not on scorpion knights.
I think there are some great design elements on this set. I like the gangway and drawbridge. I just wish there was a little more detail to flesh out the elements. I guess it looks like an unfinished model. It's got a great overall design, it just needs to get fleshed out.
Obviously I have mixed feelings about this set. It would be a good parts pack if I liked the colors. The official set is kinda cool sans the teletubbies and useless instruments of war (wish they could have dumped those in lieu of more bad guys), it just needs a little tightening on the detail.
I've rambled long enough. Goodnight.