Theme Review: Fright Knights

Horak the Great · Post by **Horak the Great** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 12:29 am

Overall, I liked this theme for its barding, Black Dragons, the Bat Lord Helmet, the minifigs (including Willa). Granted, it's not so great compared to basically anything that has come before it. I've purchased 4l sets of the large castle (several years ago) to create my evil fortress of doom and destruction. It has some really good parts...

Brickzone · Post by **Brickzone** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 6:45 pm

I think this theme was a bit *too* childish, but on another side I don't doubt there were kids got a lot of enjoyment from it as a result. I think it is possible to see how it can have a certain charm in its way of not taking itself seriously. I think the theme has high playability. The parts and accessories are great too despite the fact you'd end up with too many witches. The castle despite its design defects was a whopping huge pile of pieces, not just all big bits. Also it had a non-boring colour scheme; two tone grey with colourful yellow and red highlights.

Here in Ireland (and UK) they weren't called Fright Knights to my recollection, that name sounds really silly and does nothing for the theme.

baniaj2 · Post by **baniaj2** » Sun Apr 22, 2007 6:42 pm

This series sent me into my dark age. My brother liked the idea of the bat motif, we ignore anything with the witch, but the damage was done. I was scarred by the sheer awfulness of the set designs. The special set that utilized the box...this series as a whole was overpriced and very underwhelming.

Kozai13 · Post by **Kozai13** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 10:11 pm

Believe it or not, this theme got me into legos entirely. Its my all time favorite castle theme. Unlike a lot of people, I love the Willa figure. The sets may be a bit unrealistic, and I admit that I hate the flying machines, but the sets were just so much fun to play with.

Kozai13 · Post by **Kozai13** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 10:19 pm

Patron of the lego wrote:

"Also, a helicopter in the middle ages!"

FYI, Leonardo Da Vinci invented a helicoptor like that in the middle ages! Then again, it wasn't actually built and it wasn't powered by magic...

Blue Monarch · Post by **Blue Monarch** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 12:03 am

Ok, so it's been a month since the last entry, but I saw Fright Knights and couldn't resist. When I had waited a whole year for the new castle sets to come out, I eagerly opened the shop at home catalog and nearly died. The ugliest castle (if you can call it that) stared back at me. I liked the BatLord's costume and new chromed two-handers... plus the inversed red arches. But I didn't buy Lego castle from that moment until KK2. Oh and don't even start on the Witch's Manor... or the witch... Man I hate the Fright Knight sets.

sidewinderl · Post by **sidewinderl** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 3:19 am

I wasn't aware that FK wasn't well liked...FK's are one of my favorite factions. I think the bat helm is badass...reminds me of the one Mordred wears in Merlin, for example. Don't see a pic offhand, but a random vid (around 2:30 is my favorite shot of it): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PkQaHcfeNU

There's also a lack of clear bad factions, and I think FK fills that roll well.

shadowknight94 · Post by **shadowknight94** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 11:36 pm

Fright Knights were better than a few themes, including KK2. KK2 had jellybean colored knights, which was a terrible downside. Fright Knights, though, didn't have a very complicated, or advanced structure. But, their helmets and accesories were better than many themes. I would give them a rating of about 6/10 on average.

Lord Tyler II · Post by **Lord Tyler II** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 5:49 am

I'm kinda neutral with Fright Knights. They're just okay. Like people said, good torsos bad buildings. I actually find that the minifigs go well with the undead of this year. But I must ask, what's wrong with the Bat Helms? They seem fine to me!

(P.S: Put the bat helm on the Black Sceleton of thtis year! Pretty cool lookin'!)

Paradosis · Post by **Paradosis** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 9:10 am

This theme came out years after I went into my first dark ages, so I'm not really that familiar with it. But from what I've seen on Ebay and Lugnet, my ratings of the sets from this theme would be pretty low. Even looking past all those dreadful bat wings everwhere, I still don't see much that I'd like. I guess I'll get some of the sets eventually...

DerBum · Post by **DerBum** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 2:16 am

I cut my teeth on 6080 Kings Castle, so I am not very impressed by the Fright Knights, I find them rather silly. The Dragon Masters sets and Wolfpack Tower were the last sets I bought prior to my dark age. My older brother continued buying castle though so I have some exposure to these guys through his collection. I think the barding is nice and many of the torsos are excellent. If I had it to do over again I might buy some of the smaller sets for the figures, but that is generally it. I have rebuilt all of my classic castle sets and they have raised my standards again (I was initially excited by KKII when it first came out), so I see these guys through a more picky eye. Overall... the Fright Knights are good, not great.

PunkRockCowboy · Post by **PunkRockCowboy** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 8:12 am

Generally the sets were poor but I really like the Faction as it is a good departure from what has been and offers so many new elements to the Castle line up. I think the faction had some good army building sets and it's nice to have bat shields, you can lump these guys with any dragon faction or wolfpack and come up with any assortment of evil hordes. I like them merely because they add diversity to Castle. Not something I would have wanted to last for a long time, but it serves its purpose well, at least for me.

Shoes · Post by **Shoes** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 12:24 am

I Think that the fright nights set was a test line for new peices and how to use them, not much thought went into their athstetics (did I spell that right?) and playability. However they come with alot of messy peices e.g. random goblets, cups, brooms, treasure chests, a lot axes? I dunno they make my creations look less bare.

bkwrm79 · Post by **bkwrm79** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 8:49 pm

I wish I had some of these now. I'd love to have one batlord, one witch and a few soldiers for when I want to throw in some humans with the undead army I will be collecting soon. Not too mention a couple black dragons and black cats!

The thing is I don't care for the sets, except maybe the prison wagon. Ah well... I will manage without.

Aliencat · Post by **Aliencat** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 10:50 am

It was the Fright Knights theme that started my dark age, that says it all I guess. I was sort of hoping for a better theme to follow but Knight's Kingdom didn't really do it for me.

In 1997 when the Fright Knights came out I was also at an age where none of my friends and classmates played with Lego anymore, so I know that helped too, but I was still hopeful. When I saw the Fright Knights I decided to not buy any more castle lego, at least until they came out with anything better.
With that decision taken, soon came other priorities like increased homework in school, girls, etc. So I decided to just put all my Lego away on my parents' attic. I was even considering selling it all!

I know this isn't all purely because of the Fright Knights, but I do associate the Fright Knights with this, so I really can't say much good about them.

Classic-Castle.com

Theme Review: Fright Knights

Underappreciated