Weekly Set Review: Prisoner Convoy

[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 6055 Prisoner Convoy.

Prisoner Convoy, released in 1985, is a jail cart used by the King’s men. It has one knight, a soldier, an archer, and a prisoner. This is the second castle set to have black castle wall pieces. Five horses were included, the most of any castle set.

[porschecm2]

Very nice. Not my favourite castle set, but still not bad. I like the knight on the horse. That prisoner must have been a VIP to require a knight escort. Besides, most un-important offenders were more likely executed than transported. Overall, maybe a 6/10.

On a side note, including the original price in at least USD would be very helpful.

Cm2

[architect]

On a side note, including the original price in at least USD would be very helpful.

I do not include prices for weekly reviews. For each review I give a basic and hopefully unbiased description. I believe that the sets should be judged on design, playability, and pieces and not by price. That being said, you can check out the estimated US price on the 1985 Sets archive page:

http://www.classic-castle.com/sets/oop1985.html

Ben E.
Sets Admin

[wlister]

The cage and cart were not all that impressive, but the inclusion of 5 horse and 4 minifigs gave the set great value. A set like this in todays terms would be more than excellent and even at the time it was a great set to have. 8/10 then, 9.5/10 now. Those classic sets will never be equalled in today's market of Jelly Bean Knights.

Will

[coyote]

This set is just too long for any castle set. Maybe therefore they made those open wing constructions in order to give space to this cart?

You also cannot proper drive through the gates of 6080 (the hinges of the drawbridge prevent it).

Something that should not be overseen: Black castle walls! These are the first black castle walls ever!

The minifig-assortment was well done, the villager/villian was my personal first Robin Hood.

The design wasn't so good, either, I like 6042 much more.

But overall it was a great addition for your knights and the colour scheme made it easy to use it for your falcons as well.

7.5 of 10 (one bonus point for the castle walls)

[Troy T. Moore]

Well, 4 horses to pull on little prison cart? Now if it was right full of gold coins... I missed this one along the way, I could use 5 horses anytime. Certainly in line with the "classic-castle" styling of the time, which, as already has been pointed out, makes it look even better now.

No doubt this gave many kids hours of fun in addition to their castles. For us big kids it would accent the village or castle or countryside very well! 8.5/10

[Webrain]

Ben wrote:

This set had the first black castle wall pieces.

Wrong!

This set came out in 1985 while on 1984 6061 http://guide.lugnet.com/set/6061 already included 2 black castle wall pieces.

Still it is true that they weren't too common.

Five horses were included, the most of any castle set.

I think you meant to say that 5 horses is the most in any other LEGO set ever (not just in Castle).

Now for my review:
probably the most impressive cart TLC ever produced, always fooling with the impression of being the largest one by parts (which is entirely wrong).
It was the first prisoner cart and included the peasant minifig (again a thief to me). It had an alternative model http://library.brickshelf.com/scans/000 ... 50-43.html which was quite impressive.
Another importent thing is that included a brown axe which was much more "hard to get" part in 1985 then the black axe (it was only in 2 other sets: 6022 and 6102).

Overall nice and impressive cart but for some reason I prefer it's wicked twin, 10 years younger new brother - 6044

http://guide.lugnet.com/set/6044 (which I admit that at first glance looks much poorer).

Considering it was the biggest cart for a very long (alone) and all of the above that been said I guess it's something like 8.5/10. Again as always much better then any of the KK (I & II) sets.

[David Girard]

This is a great set for me. This is the set a dreamed to have for long. I seen it in the catalog I got when I buyed 6074 near 1989. So 6055 was no more avalaible....

I buyed it las year, however, and it's a great set.
It's better than 6042 for me. 6042 isn't realistic.

The inclusion of a civilian is very cool.
The color scheme is really good, and the choice of minifigs too. All is well done in this set. I have nothing to complain.

There is not much playability when you have only this set. But with other sets there is many playing to do.

This one is really near my heart, however it's not my favorite.

9.5/10

[Jojo]

Hello!


I like this coach very much. I admit the design is somewhat weird but to me it looks quite elegant. I like the hatch at the back and the adornments at the coach box. I like its colourness. The black saddle and the prisoner are also cool.
4 HP make this cart the fastes in the castleworld.

It had an alternative picture on the outer box that resembled a quadriga:




There might not exist an US$-price for this set because it was not available in the US as far as I know.


Bye
Jojo

[LEGO_KNIGHT]

Hi

To me , this is one of the coolest castle set. I dont really know why they needed 4 horses to pull a small cart. I guess they needed the extra horsepower to transport the Very Important Prisoner fast. Thats why there is a knight to escort them. I give a rating of 8.5/ 10.

My 100th post!

Erwin
_____________
What a day for a knight...and a knight for a day.

[rogue27]

A few comments about this thread first:
I think putting the price is important in judging a set. For example, the $3 price tag is what makes "Supply Wagon" so good, while the $90 price tag is what makes the KK2 castle even worse than it already is. If it was $50, I think we would like it for parts anyway.

Second, I was going to also mention the black wall thing, but somebody beat me to it. Black walls were available for as long as castle walls have existed, they just weren't used in many sets until the Black Monarch stuff came out.

Anyway, I've really wanted this set for as long as I've known that it existed. The team of four horses pulling a cart is really cool, and opens up opportunities to build larger and more complex carts behind the horse team. I currently have very few parts for attaching horses to carts, so this set would be a treasure to me. I also like the peasant "thief" character and the general design of the set.

This and Supply Wagon need to be re-released as a Legend "cart" collection. maybe toss in the wolfpack cart too.

[architect]

This set came out in 1985 while on 1984 6061 http://guide.lugnet.com/set/6061 already included 2 black castle wall pieces.

Still it is true that they weren't too common.

Thanks Yaron. I made a mistake but now I have changed the main page description.

I think you meant to say that 5 horses is the most in any other LEGO set ever (not just in Castle).

Other themes exist? Yes, this is true as far as I know.

A few comments about this thread first:
I think putting the price is important in judging a set. For example, the $3 price tag is what makes "Supply Wagon" so good, while the $90 price tag is what makes the KK2 castle even worse than it already is. If it was $50, I think we would like it for parts anyway.

I still disagree. Comparing prices can be valid but only if they are adjusted. A three dollar set in 1984 will not be $3 today. We can not expect that. Since 1984, the largest castles of the larger theme have always cost more than $50 - from the King's Castle at $52.75 to the current KK2 castle. (Black Falcon castles cost less but were smaller in piece count than the King's Castle) In my opinion, we should expect better designs from LEGO and not to have their prices cut in half.

I believe what makes 6010 "Supply Wagon" so good is its pieces, design, and play value, not its price tag twenty years ago. Set reviews should be on the set itself, not its price. Otherwise we will spend time talking about monetary value, like Antiques Roadshow, and not the play value of a toy.

Perhaps we should start a separate thread so we are not off topic in this one.

--------------------

My set review:

Prisoner Convoy is an excellent set. To me it did not look very good from photo's. But once I actually owned one, I really enjoyed the construction (especially the back latch) and the playability of the set. Just with the five horses and 4 figures a child can have "hours of fun." As mentioned by several others, the subset models are also good.

Ben E.
Sets Admin

[Glencaer]

My $.02 (USD, 2004)

Well, financial information about old sets is no secret - everyone is able to go to Lugnet, Brickset, our own Out-of-Production set guide, and find that information.

But I agree with Ben - set review should be about set design, not price-to-piece ratio. Especially since these sets aren't readily available to purchase, so their most current *value* is very different than the price TLG charged years ago.

And to keep this post on topic - I like this set, but the castle wall sections seem out of place to me - i always imagined them representing brick (black bricks) - and so using them on a cart seems a bit silly.

Also, five horses? that seems kinda excessive to me. Interesting technique, but not correct for a prison cart. I'm thinking this thing started out as a royal cart, and was then changed to be a prison cart.

-Lenny

[Sir Terrance]

Wow, so many figs and FIVE horses in such a small set. You don't even get that with todays gaint sets. Wonderful set. 10/10 for the parts.

[Athos]

One of the very few Castle sets I do not own. Though I think I might be able to make one out of spare parts.

Steve