Review: 7079 Drawbridge Defense

[74louloute]

Today I say stop to old set review! That's why, I present you my last review:

7079 Drawbridge Defense

Set Data:

Set Reference: 7079 Drawbridge Defense

Year: 2009

Theme: Fantasy Era

Pieces: 294

Minifigs: 7

Price : 35€ (39$)

Building time: 25-30 min

More information: Bricklink LegoShop Brickset

The box:

(From Bricklink)

The box shows an overall view of the battle between Crownies and Skeletons.

Minifigs:

By themselves, they justify the purchase of this set!

We have two different crew: the Good and the Bad.

Let's start with the bad guys:

Three skeletons, and a dead horse make up this gang.

The horse rider is very similar to the grim reaper for me...

I like his cape and his hood. The two other are pretty common.

Now, the most interesting part of the set, the good guys:

Four minifigs, and three of them are exclusive!

The crownie is common (it's still one more !).

The golden knight is fantastic. He is very well detailed with a printed armour, printed legs and a printed torso back and front !

The princess has also a back printed torso:

She also has a new piece of hair, very typical of this era. She can even wear a tiara.

Her head is also new. I like the little beauty spot near her mouth. The other side of her head shows her angry face.

The jester has his classic smile, but, yes there is a "but", he has a double sided printed face! Yes!

The other side is ... sad!

Wonderful addition in the emotional palette of Lego.

The building

The construction starts with the rock basis of the tower.

Two big Burps make up this basis.

The inside is quit empty, but you can notice two beautiful dark green plates.

Then you had some arch and the drawbridge:

The arch isgreat and I like the addition of the cheese slope on the side.

The upper level is also great. Two little windows allow the princess to scream outside. You can notice the presence of dark blue bricks.

The last floor welcomes the defense of the bridge.

I guess it's a sort of crossbow, and you can fire with a flick.

The front of the tower has great arms: the lion head and the two axes are great.

Just behind the arms, this is the drawbridge mechanism.

You can turn the brown wheel, and the two chains will wrap around the black pieces. There is also an anti return mechanism.

This is the complete tower with open drawbridge:

If the bridge is closed, there is a big hole under the tower!

You can notice that the tower is very high.

The bridge must be settled on the other side, so this is the entrance:

The base is another dark green plate:

Some other arch made the entrance but the result is good:

Then, you add some greenery, flame, and ground:

This ground is a little weird because you can lift it up:

Thus, you can hide something or even settle a trap.

Finally, the ditch! Tatatata:

What a ditch! Yes I know, it's not possible to make something bigger in such a set, but this is really weak...not even something in the water.

Overall view:

The golden knight is ready to welcome some skeletons...

name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="

type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>">

name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="

type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350">

As you can see on the video, the drawbridge is easy to close, but it needs a little help to open again. Moreover, there is a big gap between the wall and the bridge when it's close.

Our conscientious soldier wants to be sure that drawbridge is unbreakable...

Maybe in pole vault style?

Or Rambo style?

Thanks for reading this review, I hope you enjoy this set as much as me!

Review

Figurines: 5/5 For such a "cheap set", you've got seven figs and 3 of them are exclusive ! The crying jester is just marvelous and the princess face is so cute. The golden knight is also a great fig.

Pieces: 4/5 This set contains a lot of grey brick and arch. They're really useful for Moc building. Moreover, you've got some dark blue slopes and plates. I didn't yet find a use for those slopes but I really like this colour so I'm sure I'll re-use them ! Finally, you've got a great arsenal : crossbows, two sorts of axes, swords, reaper, shields... I've got a little critic against the ditch, but this can't be perfect!

Playability: 4/5 The play feature are quite good. The crossbow on the top is great, it's always great to be able to shoot on the bad guys ! The bridge is not so bad and the mechanism is very well designed ! The playability is increased by the presence of the 7 figs! Moreover, the large space in the tower allow us to play inside. Thus the tower is a little empty in the back.

Construction: 5/5 The construction is very easy, step after step. The building is modular so you build each part after the other.

Overall rating: 4.5/5 For me, this set is a must buy for all the castle fan. The set is very good looking, and once dismantled, there is a lot of very useful parts ! This is the first "big" set of the Fantasy Era I bought, and I have to admit that the quality is "au rendez-vous". This is not the first drawbridge made by TLC (see here and here), but as far as I'm concerned, it's the best one.

Tell me your thoughts!

Thanks for reading my review!

Pictures can be found in my Brickshelf

[WhiteFang]

An excellent review indeed, with good assortment of minifigs especially with the Queen, Jester and the Golden Knight. Among these 7 minifigs in this set, you have received 2 exclusive minifigs, and with its good design feature, I feel this is the best Castle 2009 set among the Chariot and Troll Mountain Fortress in the regular release. 74louloute, I love the last 2 scenes of yours. It's has a very nice illustration of the solder in action.

[Yakop]

Excellent review. I really like all the pictures you added. I love the jesters face.

[Big Cam]

Great review, and congrats on that silver medal.

This is a great set with some awesome figs.

I may have to get it.

[Milan]

Nice set.

Good pictures!

I like when there is small video in the review!

Thanks!