REVIEW: 71772 The Crystal King

[Pchan1983]

Here is my review on 71772 The Crystal King:

THE GOOD:

• Awesome looking mech.
• Interesting build throughout, I especially enjoyed building the torso and the head.  
• Excellent Minifigures.

THE NOT SO GOOD:

• Not many poses you can do with limited articulations on the front legs and torso.
• Kids may be disappointed as play features are very limited in this one.

I really like this set in the end.  It really is an awesome display build in my opinion given the limited number of articulation joints and play features, for me it's ok since I buy lego to enjoy the building exp and display the build.  A bit more articulations points would help to have more different pose but I guess it wouldn't help since the back legs are not strong enough to support the weight of the front.   At the end of the video, you can see how menacing this is when standing next to the Dragon of the East. (However, still not strong enough to take on the Monkey King Mech it seems =P)

Anyway, I really like the building experience especially the torso and the heads.  The use of certain parts to create the eyes and eye brows are very interesting.  The torso, particularly the cockpit can be a bit challenging to align properly but it's interesting enough to keep me engaged.  One of the reason I bought this sets are the new goons minifigures, the Vengestone guard and warrior.  These 2 minifigures are awesome,  now I really want an army of them but B&P doesn't sell new parts anymore =(. Other minifigures are also great and surprised to see only one good guy included.  The ratio doesn't look good for Lloyd XD.  

Does it worth the money? well, I think it does at least I didn't feel like it is a rip off in the end.  I did bought this with discount but then depending on the region you live in, the timing of this release is somewhat awkward since it's the day LEGO expected to increase price.  I'm pretty sure in NZ it got $20 more expensive compared to the price when it first announced in May. 
I will still recommend this set though since it is a really cool looking set and is enjoyable to build.

[Takanuinuva]

I do wonder why they didn't make the front legs at least have ratchet joints at the hips. 

As while I don't have the set. I did make a mod in LDD that gave the front legs movement at the hips. 

I could share pics if that's alright.

[Pchan1983]

19 hours ago, Takanuinuva said:

I could share pics if that's alright.

I'm interested to see.

19 hours ago, Takanuinuva said:

I do wonder why they didn't make the front legs at least have ratchet joints at the hips.

probably the body weight will make it hard to support it

[Takanuinuva]

Thx. Wanted to ask permission first before I just posted.

So decided to take a crack at fixing the Crystal King's front legs to give them movement. Still has the fixed knees. But considering he's 4 legged. Doesn't really need them for posing.

Parts you'll need for the new hips. Though they don't have to be these exact colors as all but the click joints will be hidden.

The assemblies you'll have to make. The hips will be 1 plate lower on the modded version so that the hip armor doesn't have to be changed. Meaning the 4x4 plate goes on top of the assembly rather than the bottom. Then just build the set the way the instructions say.

 

And here are what the new hips look like. They have to stick out farther to work. Also made some other mods but you don't have to do those. Just thought the wings should be fuller and the back legs having more detail. Crystal blade parts were swapped for look alikes.

I can provide the lxf file if you want.