REVIEW: 4193 The London Escape

[Lordofdragonss]

Noone noticed new Coins? Sadly there are ony 10s...

[Masked Builder]

What a lovely little set! (okay not so little but still ) I really like the way this set was built and the designe of it but it's not going on my list of sets to buy. I suppose I need to see the movie to make sens of the st!

[Admiral Croissant]

Except for the occasional complaints about price and pearl gold bars, I think this set is very good.

It really has some special parts, is useful because of the redcoats.

I especially like the redcoat officer because we didn't have a good officer uniform yet in the previous Pirates line.

The ship painting is also very nice. I found it too bad that no one existed and created my own but it's great to have an official one now.

Even though I won't buy this set (well, perhaps I will in the future), it has some good parts that I need to get one way or another

Thanks for the review! Good one

[Yatkuu]

I was thinking more of this Captain's Daughter...

haha, good one Alldarker.. who would have thought Lego was getting so kinky! (especially when you think that they censored our candid little contest on adults MF!)

BTW, am I the only one to think that the carriage is awful? The inn and the coal's cart are nice, but the carriage...

Edited April 20, 2011 by Yatkuu

[WesternOutlaw]

Thanks for the early review Gatorz (I like that name), and welcome to EB.

I purchased this set when buying the Queen Anne but haven't opened it yet. What really draws me to London Escape is the green wagon. I've wanted LEGO to produce a Victorian/old era wagon for a long time because I like the style and mystique - great potential for spooky Vampire MOCs.

I especially like how you pictured the building with the Market Village in this review. I think they go well together. In fact, now I'm wanting to do the same with a few other Castle and HP sets. Great idea!

This set makes a fantastic add-on to any old town scene. Much inspiration for expanding something like this for a larger Pirate Village:

All things considered, I give this set a 4 or slightly above.

[megasad]

It's probably a Technic brick. Not sure why they would use one though.

I'd guess it's one with a technic pin hole in it, there are some used elsewhere in the set and it's quite common to see only one kind of 2x1 brick in a set if it doesn't actually matter what type they are (presumably to minimize the number of different molds in use for one set)

Ah, of course, I don't know why that didn't occur to me. Meaning, I even remembered that Technic bricks had empty studs like that, but I didn't think they'd use one in a horse.

As for that yellow brick I had as a child, it was really weird as it had no hole of any kind through the middle, nor any tube on its inside.

[Gregorovich]

Thanks for the excellent review! The set is okay. It's got some good parts and some play features, but it's nothing too special. I think that the tavern's design is pretty average, with the roof being uneven and the fact that there's no floor. The Gibbs figure is spot on, IMO. Does he have a reversible face? Thanks again for the review!

Edited April 20, 2011 by Gregorovich

[Wowplayer]

Great review!

Still not sure if I'll be getting this one or not.

Does anyone else think that it's weird that the QAR has stickers, but the London Escape has printed pieces??

I'm curious if maybe the QAR will come with printed pieces in a later printing, and maybe Lego just wasn't able to get it done in time for release.

[LAKAbricks]

Thanks for the review. Interesting set, though I agreen that the tavern could be better. It really calls for some MOD'ing or even MOC'ing. The first floor (upper floor) is a parody - it's way too small for a building this size. I guess, I'd also put a fire place or two. Well, after all, we (should) know how to MOC... I really like the bottles, it's a nice addition to a tavern.

The carriages are great, and really nice to see some redcoats (especially the officer). I only have two, and could need some more. So I guess, I'll have to buy this set...

[Bricknblue]

I voted "Average set".

It looks nice, but it's very small and very lacking to me. The carriages are rather weird, I really don't like the doors, and have been done 100 times before like was said.

So all we have left is the building, nice, but it's missing something special.

[prateek]

Very nice. This set is my favourite of the PotC sets. The USA price is excellent, but because of the Canadian price, it's only an Above Average from me

[gatorzip02]

Thanks for all the replies. I have updated the review to include photos of the minifig heads for those who are curious about the 2-sided ones. Tonight I'll be building the QAR and then I'll start to mod the Tavern to give it four walls and a proper roof. Thats what I like about Lego, if you don't like something about a set, you can just fix it yourself.

Cheers,

- Joel

[Fives]

Great review!

I'm just curious, the pieces that the main roof of the Capn's Daughter is being tilted on, are they new? They look like the regular tilty piece, only 3x2 instead of the normal 2x2 or 2x1. Are they new?

[Delta 38]

Bandwidth exceeded? Oh well, I'll come back later.

This set is great, but I'll probably have to pass as it's way too expensive over here.

[Ceroknight]

Great review..I think..

I would know for sure if I could see the pictures...

[Dane]

Thanks for the great review.

A great looking Gibbs and other nice parts in this set.

"Mr Gibbs you may throw my hat if you like.... but sir it's glued to your hair"

[meyerc13]

Great review!

I'm just curious, the pieces that the main roof of the Capn's Daughter is being tilted on, are they new? They look like the regular tilty piece, only 3x2 instead of the normal 2x2 or 2x1. Are they new?

They look like 1x2 to me. If you look at the right side of the interior picture, you can see that the wall is 1 wide and it covers half of the part in question.

[punkkid364]

Great review!

I'm just curious, the pieces that the main roof of the Capn's Daughter is being tilted on, are they new? They look like the regular tilty piece, only 3x2 instead of the normal 2x2 or 2x1. Are they new?

it's this piece:

[NiceMarmot]

Looks like a decent set. Nice review too.

I'm thinking:

+ minifigs

+ two horses, always useful for castle or pirate MOCs

+ definitely some fairly nice and useful parts

+ tavern looks OK, not great, could use some improvement

- carriage is not very appealing, seems like a weak effort by TLG on this, but can probably modify to spruce it up a bit

- a bit pricey but not horrible; price per part ratio somewhat mitigated by 5 good minifigs and two horses

The tavern is pretty useful for building a town. Even if you don't like the design of the tavern, the parts are useful for your own MOC buildings.

If it goes on sale eventually, I'm going to pick up two.

[Mr_Malfoy]

Thanks for the review! When I first saw pictures of this set, I wasn't so sure I would buy it, but now I definitely getting it!

[VeepNova]

I picked up two sets today, after seeing the movie. These are my first NEW LEGO sets since the 1990's. (I did pick up a used BSB a couple weeks back, though.)I picked up The London Escape, and Isla De Muerta. My decision on which sets to get was based mostly on the Minifigs, and secondly on Price. (The Mill will have to wait. I'm like most people, I like my minifigs yellow, rather than flesh toned, but I figured the torsos and legs would look good with some older heads and hands. Even so I have to give the artistic team credit for this one. Especially Gibbs. His face is amazing, especially the mutton chops. The multiple grays they used really makes them stand out. The level of detail on the torsos is also a lot higher than I'm used to, as someone who until today, only owned Pirates/Castle/Space sets from the late 80s to the mid 90s. The level of detail is just amazing. Though the older designs still hold a special place in my heart. As for the rest of the set, Overall I'm happy with it. The building isnt too big, but smaller is usually better in my opinion, as its easier to work with and move, as well as find a spot to display it. My only real complaint about the tavern is that it needs a little more floor space, so you actually have somewhere to put the table, and the keg. I'll probably modify it tomorrow to fix that issue. As for the carriages, they arent bad, but I wasnt really excited about them either. I dont really understand the use of the technic bricks for the horses, was this just to save a percentage of a cent on piece price? For me, I dont have anything else to say about the carriages, other than I wish they would have skimped on parts for the carts, and used them to make the building a little larger instead, maybe slightly longer, and more floor space! But overall, a good set, I'd say 4/5.

[Red Bricks]

That Officer's coat

Nice review

[emiryener83]

Outstanding set ! not only the best of POTC line but one of the best in all Pirates theme.

[TheLegoDr]

I am pretty excited about this set. I have yet to get it though, but it is on my wishlist. And I actually like the gold bars that are featured with the set. And as neat as the new redcoats are, I still love the older version from my youth.