Weekly Set Review: Citadel of Orlan

[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 8780 Citadel of Orlan.

The Citadel of Orlan was released in 2004 for Knight's Kingdom II. This fortress has a drawbridge, striking serpent, falling and spinning axes, and a vine wall. Rascus, Santis, the Guardian, one Shadow Knight, 3 game cards, and various accessories are included.

[JoshWedin]

Very strange set. Really the only thing that is cool with it is the guardian fig. The rest is rather pointless, in my opinion. The way Rascus climbs the vines is kind of neat...

my 2 cents,
Josh

[Nick]

This set looks rather interesting; unlike the rest of the coloured knight sets we've reviewed recently.
There are some good and imaginative features, I especially like the drawbridge. The castle has a basement, which is useful - it can be used as a prison, a torture room or a treasury. The spinning halberds are a bit odd, I'm not sure what they're for. And what's that slide in he back?
There is a good amount of minifigs for a set this size, but it's lacking horses.
The set could do with some modification, especially the ground floor - it seems to have neither a roof nor a second wall.
There are some useful pieces in this set, one of them being the brown rock and the brown cliff! Despite good constituency, the design isn't great, there are too many flaws.
Overall,

Design: 4/10
Playability: 7/10
Pieces: 8/10
Minifigs: 7/10
Accessories: 9/10 (4 or more halberds!)
Nostalgia: 0/10

Average score: 5.83 (not great)

P.S. Does anyone know what those wheels before the drawbridge are for?

[JoshWedin]

P.S. Does anyone know what those wheels before the drawbridge are for?

Yup, the chains on the rocks wrap around the axles of the wheels. The drawbridge is a trap. Once a fig steps on it, it falls and the rocks are supposed to get pulled down on top of him.

Josh

[Norro]

I never bought this because of the bley, but I can't say it ever looked that enticing anyway.

God Bless,

Nathan

[Graynar]

I was rather disapointed with this set. It was pretty expensive for what you got.

Let's start with the good things;
-Shadow knight
-Guardian
-A few usefull castle pieces
-5 battle axes
-stain glass window pieces

The bad;
-Design could be much better
-the slide is pretty pointless
-jack stone floor pieces
-no second wall or roof on the second floor

Overall, 6 out of 10 bricks. Not great, but there's some usefull pieces and minifigs in their.

Graynar

[Formendacil]

An interesting idea behind it, and a good set, playability-wise, the Citadel is nonetheless rather lacking in pieces, and disappointing in its execution. The inclusion of only one Shadow Knight (against two knights), the absence of Rascus' armour, for whatever reason, and the relatively small amout of pieces (and when one starts one's bley collection, they prefer to have a decent amount) are all somewhat disappointing. On the plus side, the Guardian is one of the coolest figs out there.

Parts: 5/10
Playability: 8/10
Figs/Accessories: 7/10
Design (then): 6.5/10
Design (now): 6/10
Nostalgia: 5/10

Overall Score: 6.25/10

[The Hordesman]

The four squared glass window is cool symbolizing the Morcian code of honor,and its a very fun set for small children, but it doesnt look good from a distance and the only good things are the following:

-Large amount of weapons
-Guardian fig
-Armorless Rascus

The rascus helmet is stupid looking alone though...

I never got this set (hence why Chris in my story got a guardian sticker torso)

[Shadow]

Hmm....

I have not bought any of the KK2 sets since they came out, yet this one looks like a rip off. There are some unique, alluring pieces, but when you look at the price tag....

[Azaghal]

the absence of Rascus' armour, for whatever reason,

While agreeing that it was a bad idea, I figured out a way to make it seem halfway plausible.

As for the set itself... yeah. The reason for wanting it can be summed up in two words: Guardian Minifig.

PS Is it just me or have there been a lot of KK2 reviews lately?

[ottoatm]

The biggest problem with this set is the price.

Seriously, the whole time I was buying it I just kept saying "sucker, sucker, sucker" in my mind... ack... the price of being a set collector.

It has several good pieces, as was mentioned... I love the guaridian and use him as my avatar - the stain glass pieces are nice, although I have many of these already.

The set is just too... incomplete. It is full of holes and not really any sort of Citadel, or any whole building. I remember sometime back someone did a great little remake story of the KK2 assualt, but with a much improved citadel - something between the great MOC they used and this set (full of overly-large pieces and holes) would be perfect.

[TwoTonic Knight]

I can accept a facade as a playset, but I have more trouble when the facade is open-aired when the back is effectively removed for access already. The Jelly Bean knights have limited appeal to me, so the only appeal of this set is the two non Jelly bean figs. Still, it isn't a bad playset for kids, but from my standpoint it is still below average.

4/10

[Dusty]

its an okay set. Mine ended up getting busted by my neice (this is before I had my own Lego room) and I decided not to put it back together. The figs where alright and the weapons assortment decent. Other than that it was just a "for the pieces" buy.

Dusty

[lil Jon]

This sucks.

I'd say its an action set, not a LEGO set. The only good thing about it is the shadow knight. I don't even know what else to say that is good about it.

"RIP, TLC" was my mind set at the time this set was produced. I mean, TLC is improved a little, and I hope it gets better...

[Jojo]

Hello!


Hehe, I'm surprised how non-euphoric most of the previous comments are. Though I think this is one of the better sets in the first round of KK2 I don't like the Citadel too much, either. I really gave it a chance despite my reservations against the Power Ranger knights and new-colour. Well, mainly because I am a set collector and would have bought it anyway...

And I found, if there hadn't been this infamous You-Know-What the Citadel would have been a decent set for pieces. The model, though, looks blocky. It's not appealing to me. The glass window is a nice touch, but that's it. All those play-value-features cut off from the design of the over-all model. And I wonder how often a kid plays with the play-value-features untill those features are getting boring?

The climb-up-feature seems to be the reason for Rascus not wearing his armour. And I really like the printed Rascus torso. It would have been way (WAY) better, though, if all of the coloured knights had printed torsos underneath their armours. But LEGO is broke, so LEGO is cheap.
However, four figs must considered a decent amount these days. A shadow knight and this bearded wizard-type kind of guy (boy, I really should read the story that's behind KK2...) are good.


Bye
Jojo