Weekly Set Review: Fright Knight's Batwing Flyer

[architect]

Join the weekly Classic Castle set review discussion. Please post your opinions on the set play ability, piece selection, design, etc. Which sets stand up to our catapult of critique and which ones crumble in shame!

This week’s set is 2539 Fright Knight's Batwing Flyer.

Fright Knight's Batwing Flyer was released in 1998 for the Fright Knights. This winged vehicle is used by the Bat Lord to patrol the skies. Various accessories such as a bat magic wand and sword are included.

[eNiGMa]

I got this a couple years ago at a local dollar store. The wings and the bat are nice, and the chrome sword is alright. I don't get why there's a trailor hitch in the back, though.

2/5, for the sake of the bat and the wings.

[TheOrk]

Ah, truly a marvel of technology the likes of which have not been seen for years!(ok maybe those wheeled horses are too ) I am still trying to figure out the meaning of this "set" but it does have a bunch of useful parts.

3/5

[CAI]

I can't say anything intelligent about this one..stupid.

[TwoTonic Knight]

Dada-dada-dada
dada
dada-dada-dada
dada Batman!

Holy miniaturization, Batman! That's the smallest Batplane, yet.

Oh wait, this was for Castles?

Idunno, it's kinda cute. 8/10.

[TheBohrok]

I remember that Shell gas stations were selling this along with other small sets from other themes. I really see no point in a set like this, unless you want an army of bat lords. The great sword is a pretty fine addition though.

[ottoatm]

Ha ha ha... I can't wait to read the reviews for this set... it won't be pretty.

I bought a few of these from the shell station when they came out, after I had bought several of the others. I used to live in a bit of a remote area you see, and so only farmers and truckers stopped at that shell... so the price fell as the dust collected.

Finally, in a fit of glut, I came in and bought some...

Good army builder... good staff.... good... wings (I guess)... good... no, that's it. This set makes little to no sense, and is worse even than a saddle catapult on a KK2 steed.

[Damien]

My only real thought on this set is "...what.. is.. it?"

I never could figure out what on earth this thing was supposed to be.

Pieces-wise, it was a good set. Cheap and came with useful stuff like black dragon wings and a chrome sword. But as an actual set.. the design is embarassingly bad.

[Blueandwhite]

A few decent pieces. Nice minifig. Still, the set design is as bad as it gets. If they had just given this guy a horse instead...

4/10

[Athos]

Kind of a silly set. How many bat helmets do we need, really? And he doesn't even come with the nice grey cape...

Steve

[Damien]

How many bat helmets do -we- need, or how many are profitable?

The bat helmet gets a bad wrap around here from the adult collectors and fans. But unfortunately, the adult collectors and fans tend to be really out of touch with what sells with kids.

I had a bat helmet on a figure in my bedroom when I was briefly staying with my father.. and my 6-year-old nephew was willing to trade "all muh scorpin guys" for just that one helmet ("scorpin" is how he says "scorpion" referring to his scorpion knights).

So he must have thought it was pretty cool. That's one of the reasons I said this set is good for pieces -- lots of kids seem to adore that helmet, like they adore the brightly-coloured knights of KK2.

[Norro]

This set deserves a Dr. Evil "Riiiight..."

God Bless,

Nathan

[Nick]

Excellent! Another minor set! I don't like this one, and my opinion coincides with others here. The design is unimaginably terrible, and there seems to be hardly any purpose in it, I can't see how it would ever work, and how could the bat lord hang in there, especially with both hands occupied. I suppose it would make sense to kids, they would just imagine it flew by magic to transport the bat lord anywhere he likes. Of course, there are a few good pieces there, especially the transparent red sticks, the black bat, and the bat lord himself. I like the bat helmet, it would make sense if the bat lord's people worshiped a bat god, and then the bat lord would be the god's vassal form earth.
Overall:
Design: -(10/10)!
Playability: 8/10
Minifigs: 10/10
Accessories: 8/10
Nostalgia: 5/10 (because it doesn't fit well with other sets in the theme)

[boses]

This set, while probably completely useless on it's own, does lend itself well to the art form of mass-purchasing...

A while back I purchased about twenty of the smallest Life on Mars polybag sets...

I had planned to use the large gray radar dish pieces in a full scale lightsaber prop/model...

Years later I was able to convert the Life on Mars astronauts into an army, because the gold chrome on their chests looks like armor, to me...And when paired with UFO armor they look really cool....

I was very pleased to find over twenty soldiers, ready to man my newest airship...And all because I had taken advantage of an inexspensive, and probably largely over-looked set...

My point, try and look ahead when considering a purchase...even the most obscure set may have parts in it that may result in really cool mocs...

[Robin Hood]

I never knew about this set before I found the internet, and frankly, I don't think I missed much.

I still cannot fathom the purpose behind this set. Why is the batlord flying some dragon-winged thing? Its another of many Fright Knight sets that incorperate some windship/flying machine. The pointless means of transport aside, why have this set when there is 6007 Bat Lord. The set is only a coulpe dollars more, has a real dragon and a cape, so why would anybody buy this over that?

Even the pieces don't have much going for it. About the only useful pieces are the sword, the shirt and the head.

Not a really great set.

Dan