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Greetings,
Please bear with me as this is my first Lego review. If the Mods would please add a poll, I would greatly appreciate it. I just got back from Toys-R-Us and took advantage of the buy one get one 1/2 off deal to get several of the new Pirates of the Caribbean sets. As London Escape has not yet been run through the Classic-Pirates wringer, I thought I'd give it a whirl. So without further ado, here we go:
The Basics:
Set Number: 4193
Set Name: The London Escape
Theme: Pirates of the Caribbean
Sub-Theme: On Stranger Tides
Release Date: April 2011
Pieces: 463
Minifigs: 5
Price: $49.99 (USD) retail
Initial Impressions:
Back when these sets were first announced, I decided that I definitely wanted to get the London Escape. I enjoy setting up my Pirate sets to play a Lego floor game, and I thought it would add nicely to my setup:
Lego Pirate Floor Game
I also build a winter Lego Christmas village train every year and I thought it would work well in that capacity as well. (more on that later) I have always been frustrated at the lack of "civilian" structures in the Pirate line. This set gives us a tavern and two carriages which will fit right in to any pirate fort or town.
Box:
The box does a great job of giving an overall impression of the set. My only real gripe is the picture of the shiny gold bars on the back of the box. As everyone is well aware by now, what you see is definitely NOT what you get.
In the Box:
The set is divided into four numbered bags to simplify construction. There are two instruction booklets and a playing card featuring Gibbs. Finally, there is a poster showing a rendering of the set.
Minifigs:
This set comes with five minifigs, you get Jack Sparrow, Joshamee Gibbs, Horse Coach Driver, King George's Soldier, and King George's Officer. The big standouts here in this set are the two Redcoats. These are the only two Redcoats in the entire POTC line and they are the first appearance of "fleshie" Redcoats. The Officer features a coat which is only available in this set. (I believe, please correct me if I am wrong) He also has a white scabbard which is also only available in this set. In addition, the tricorn hats have a white trim painted along the top. You get the same Jack as in the QAR and Whiecap Bay. I believe Gibbs is only available in this set, his grey hairpiece is probably fairly rare. The buggy driver is one of the first dedicated pirate "civilians" he should prove very useful for the MOCers out there. Overall, I would say it is a good number of figures. I like to see at least one figure for each 100 pieces in larger sets and this one is right on the money.
Comparison of yellow minifig from Imperial Flagship with new fleshies
Close-up of what I view as the most important parts of the minifigs
Heads of all five minifigs. Gibbs and Jack are both 2-sided
Back side of Gibbs and Jack
New and special Parts:
There aren't many new parts in this set. The big ones are the shutters for the windows (2), the bottles (2), the bucket, the sign (printed, NOT a sticker), and the painting (also printed). All of these will be very useful for MOCs. The majority of the other parts are fairly standard. Nothing to get too excited about.
THE BUILD:
This set is really three sets in one. It is composed of a Tavern, a carriage, and what appears to be a cart filled with coal. I will tackle each of these individually.
The Carriage:
If there is anything Lego should have mastered by now, it is the horse pulling a carriage or cart of some type. God only knows how many of these have been put out for the various Castle themes. Goes to show how far transportation advanced over a 1700 year period. (I'm pretty sure the Romans got this figured out pretty well around year 1) This set marks the first time a horse appears in a pirate set. (I think) The carriage is very sturdy and should survive well in rough play. Both the left and right doors on the carriage swing open.
The back of the carriage holds a treasure chest filled with "gold". The set comes with one bar and six coins. These things really are hideous in person. I'd really like to know why Lego didn't go with the gold plate shown on the box.
It does have an "action feature". The roof of the carriage can be flicked up to send a minifig flying off the top of the carriage. (and all this time I thought K.I.T.T. had the first ejection seat)
The Coal Wagon:
The Coal Wagon is a cart for hauling coal. I like the techniques Lego used to model the coal. I think I might modify the coal tender on my Lego steam engine to mimic this.
The cart has a rather interesting action feature. The center of the cart can be spun around so that the cart can catch fire. The effect is impressive and definitely adds to the play value.
Tavern:
The tavern is the highlight of this set. It is very well detailed and contains most of the new pieces. I have been building pirate Lego sets ever since they were first released in 1989. (I got my first set, the Caribbean Clipper, for my ninth birthday). This set shows how far the Lego group has come with their buildings in the past 22 years. All of the early pirate buildings depended heavily on boring wall panels and had very little architectural detail. While this set is smaller than I would prefer, it is very well detailed and looks like a ramshackle tavern you would expect to find in a port town. The interior features several barrels and a table. The small second floor has a few additional details added.
The Tavern also has an "action feature” The torch behind the barrels can be removed and the barrels come cascading down on whatever poor unfortunate soul may be in their path. I assume something similar must take place in the forthcoming movie. The side of the building folds down so you can reload the barrels. Not very exciting, but I guess better than nothing.
OVERALL:
Finally we have civilians for our Pirates to pillage and steal from! Now that I have had the opportunity to build this set and spend some time with it, I would have to say that I am still glad I bought it. I'll probably modify the tavern a bit to make it larger and to fit into both my pirate game and my Christmas village. If you choose to get this set, I would also highly recommend picking up the Medieval Market Village. It fits very well with the London tavern:
(I replaced the black roof pieces on the MMV with white to simulate snow in my Christmas village Lego train display)
Final Thoughts:
Playability: 8/10 (Good variety of minifigs and three separate builds lend good playability to this set.)
Design: 7/10 (Overall I would say the design of the two buggies is rather bland, the tavern is nice, but on the small side)
Price: 7/10 (This set should really be priced in the $40 - $45 range, it isn't too far off, but it definitely isn't a deal.)
Overall: 7/10 (Good minifigs and playability are the big redeemers here, it works well for what I need. MOCers should find plenty to like)
Thanks for reading my review. If you have any other questions, or would like a closeup photo of anything just ask. If I have made any factual errors, let me know and I'll edit this post.
- Joel
After this review this set is defintively the number one on my to-buy list! 
