My 10176!!

[gusmoore17]

Hi there!

Yep, the rumors are true, I am the one gusmoore1987 who has nothing to do and what better than building a Lego Set. Unfortunally, I've been looking everywhere for info about a set that personally from the first time I saw it I knew that I had to buy it, first because of the amazing cuantity of classic castle pieces (which as you will notice, I don't have) and then because it's a KKII set!! *sweet*

My apologies if pics can only be viewed by brickshelf.com links that I'll be posting too during my explications. :-$ But, I just don't understand how for example Xwingyoda can upload so many pics in his reviews without breaking fast the file space for this (of course, jjeje, teachers are welcome!). Anyway, I'll have to learn to do it because there are pics missing...and you'll be the first ones to get them before I upload them at my recently created brickshelf folder.

Ok, first, searching for info about this *wub* set, I found myself at a classic-castle.com forum in which a guy posted the Book 1 and Book 2 instructions from this set, supposedly official ones. I got excited when I realized that despite colors, almost every single piece was there at my shelfs. Then the problem was the huge number of really small and hard to find pieces and of the minifigs accesories, weapons and of a triangular large piece which are all new for me. Please, consider that I only have a classic castle catapult and a little port from pirates, that's all.

The sets that I first disambled and that quickly got useless were the ones from KKII. Even If I have for a long time defended this line, I have to admit that it features a long long long cuantity of useless pieces, and that the sets that really helped me building this set were the ones from Vikings, Harry Potter, Ninja, the two little ones I have told you (6244 and 6043, some Adventurers and OE and the SW's Millenium Falcon.

Look at this thing!!! Entire Castle When I finally finished it I couldn't stop staring at it for several minutes, because it was amazing how beautiful the design is, even if there are no black "printed columns walls" and even that there are no enough black walls from Vladek's Dark Fortress, the design is gorgeous.

This pic is an example that I don't have enough pieces but that the set itself saves the day:

Check the entire right tower, the lateral white and black builders and even the Harry Potter Sealings

In this part the rock piece supposed to be dark gray, the blue part of the little tower should be a lion face piece, the laterals are a black tower piece and the wall piece from 6244, then in the taller tower the two gray columns are substituting a black "printed columns wall" piece, I ran out of long axes and used an elaborated long spear from VDF and the green sealings from Harry Potter castles are all in this set.

So, I want to apologize about this, because it's not a truly copy of the original 10176, but still I think it works well, and it rocks!!!

Now, a front picture so you can ubicate yourselfs at the time I explain everything:

: ) Beautiful

Oh, I almost forgot, first a sneek peak at the minifigs:

I did my best, hehe.

And then the weapons' car, this is the only part of the set which I think is useless, but it is so pretty that you just can't make it aside:

With a soldier

Now, the right front tower:

The green should be new blue and it features nothing at its back, still catapult is great!

The catapult featured at top of both front towers:

Works very well, it has a very long shoot

Now, the left front tower:

A simetric copy of the other one, except for its feature...

An upper look of the towers:

Love how they use those "handy" grey pieces from Vikings and I think there are also featured at Exoforce sets

Now, the left back little builder:

It's a bizarre part, if you ask me

Even it is a nice building part, it doesn't make sense to me, looking back at King's Castle there are better and nicer towers in that one, so I don't understand how TLC decided just to throw out one of them and instead putting this one.

Back view of the left back little builder:

Nothing but a silver key at the door!

Here instead of the black plates there should be a long triangular piece which is very very <insert that tiresome argument> from I saw in the instructions, and even makes this builder look more weird. Although, in conjunction as I'll show you it works well with the rest of the castle.

Now, the right back tower:

It's the tallest of the four!

Even it also features nothing in its real structure, there's a surprise in its base *sweet* , and the top catapult also works perfectly!

Back view of the right back tower:

As you can see, this is the part of the set in which I had to substite too many pieces...

At its base there's a cell floor door, which hides this:

You can see it there saying hi to the camera!

Towerless...

Now, the main building, the best part of the set:

Front view, gates open but long axes blocking the entrance.

Strangely for me, the towers features blue flags, but the main building features red ones...maybe a KKII hint?

Back view, it really feels like a classic castle

Notice that the white "wall" pieces originally should be black and the floor is not black but green.

The King's Throne Also the red details at the swords and the throne are great, they are very very simple, but makes you feel like in a royal hall.

First floor front close up This is the part of the set that features the most <insert that tiresome argument> pieces, but also has the "handy" pieces holding the red flags and so many other 2x1 bricks.

The Sorcerer's room aka the upper part of the main building

Instead of the green goblet there should be a trans light blue one!!!! *wub* Also instead of the marauder's map from HP ( X-D ), there should be a pergamin piece which I had seen featured in classic magician's sets but none of any recently sets. Anyway, not only the minifig accesories are cute, but also the black walls mixed with the grey archs: lovely! *wub*

Gothic Ceiling with lion-like pieces!! The part of the set I love the most, the upper part of the main building has lots (the photograph doesn't make justice to this) and lots of 2x1 grey bricks!!! Also the blue roof and the sides' towers are great.

Another view of my favourite part! the misterious red flags again...

Back of the roof with a lovely bat in there :-D

Now, here it comes the most playable part of the set, the one that makes this set completely different from the rest of its predecessors, I'm refering surprisingly to the Baseplate and of course, to the Dwarf minifig!!!

A glance to all the thing!

It is a dungeon, a torture chamber, a blacksmith workshop and also the part of the set in which you can see how the front bridge is made :-P

We've already checked the dungeon, so let's check the other parts:

Front view of the bridge system Sorry if there are lots of parches, hehe, but got run out of pieces very quickly. Something I haven't mentioned is that this sets features a lot of 1x10 and 2x10 plates, awesome!

Our friend the dwarf working!! The oven should be black and features 8 round 1x1 "fire pieces" and 3 black ones that I guess should be like the oven's coal. Lovely, lovely. Then there's the anvil in which the dwarf shapes the sword, it is an excellent feature :'-) The helmet and the armour just gives the workshop the right feeling!!

The Torture Chamber Another playable feature. It also should be entirely black except for the "plane plates" at the top which are already dark grey. Again we see the handy pieces holding the skeleton and Scabbers' minifig which is also featured in Mistlands' Tower just like another rat.

Back gates that lead to the baseplate features This work even better than the ones that protect the Golden Dragon at OE's 7419, I mean, there's no point of comparison, the ones we see in this set are great.

Another lovely feature at the baseplate: Builded stairs at the left side of the base!!

Finally, a back view of the castle put together:

With Minifigs!

Thanks a lot for your patience, you know, there were some things that made me postpone many times the making of these review, but finally there it is. There's only a part missing, the one with the treasure chest, I'll be posting later these days the pics from that one.

Maybe it's because I don't have a real classic castle set, but I have to say that dispite the builder, this set is awesome even if it's only a copycat with some MOC solutions to the lack of pieces that nowadays the KKII sets offer. Wanna see more pics?? My 10176

Set: 10/10

Minifigs: 10/10

Design: 9/10 (because if its a remake of King's Castle, well, it's not)

Playability: 9/10 (even if there are too many excellent playable features, the builder it's useless)

Final veredict: 9.5 (Only from the one I did)

*sweet* See ya!

[gylman]

I give your review 10/10 for enthusiasm! That's a lot of effort you went to to get it all together. If Lego had more fans like you, there would be no sales problems.

Actually, maybe there would be, because too many people would not buy the sets but build their own from instructions. Yikes! A hit team is on its way to your house. We KNOW where you live.

Seriously, good work! Thanks for all the pics.

[Norro]

Wow! That was a lot of work! But you still can't convince this bley hater that KK2 is even salvageable ;-)

God Bless,

Nathan

[xwingyoda]

gusmoore17,

Your post incited me to create a quick and short tutorial on how to "deeplink" ;-)

I hope this will help you in the future hehe

I want to congratulate you for a fantastic review 8-

[oo7]

Wow, Even though I already posted this a while ago it doesn't matter because this post is WAY better than mine, nice work. This is one giant leap for LEGO, A torture chamber and a dungeon with a skeleton! I also think the Royal hall is to short for a "hall".

Am I the only one here (besides Gusmoore) that thinks this castle is pretty desent?

Wow, my sentences sound really random.

[WesternOutlaw]

Your MOC and review makes me want to buy this set Gusmoore. Nice job!

[Shakar]

I have to say this, I was very harsh with this set. It actuallly looks pretty good.

Congratulations for the excellent review you did gusmoore. It sure took a lot of time searching all the pieces and building from those instructions. Good pics too.

Shakar

[christopher110]

A nice effort and a very good review....

Thanks for pointing out that the instruction of this set is available out there.....

One question: Is the grey colour the "new grey" or "old grey" in set 10176? I mean the real set and not your moc......

[xwingyoda]

One question: Is the grey colour the "new grey" or "old grey" in set 10176? I mean the real set and not your moc......

New grey (or bluish grey as its called) ;-)

It makes sense since TLC stopped producing "old" grey !!

*yoda*

[Berry Syedow]

One question: Is the grey colour the "new grey" or "old grey" in set 10176? I mean the real set and not your moc......

New grey (or bluish grey as its called) ;-)

It makes sense since TLC stopped producing "old" grey !!

*yoda*

TLC should seriously consider re-releasing the assorted gray bricks packet (in old gray of course ;-) )in a decade or so. Why that stuff would be so expensive by then that LEGO is guaranteed to make a fortune. They could continue releasing the packets every other year. Everyone would be happy. It's a win-win situation.

[gusmoore17]

Hi again, thanks a lot for your comments, wuiii, makes me feel very happy X-D !!!

Well, the last part of the pics is here. The back view of the front left tower which hides a treasure chest. Again, there are new colors on the jewels, the one green is the only one featured originally and the red ones substitute ones of a very strange blue color, at least that's what I saw in the instructions. This blue is not the light blue from HP 4709, nor is the traditional dark blue and it is neither the one from the jewels featured at Vikings' 7018.

As you can see in the next pic, the system is quite smooth with plane pieces that let the chest to slize once you've taken out the bar that blocks it. It is more less the kind of system seen in HP's 4751 Marauder's Map when you have to pull back the Witch's statue.

Finally, a pic of the chest open. 8 coins are featured!! The only set in which I've seen this is Gringotts' Bank.

That's all, no more secrets from 10176!

Thanks a lot for your repplies and home is waiting, jeje. By the way, I can't define from the instructions' scans wheter if it is old or new grey, but from the pics featured not only in the other threat about 10176 set but also at lego.com, I think is new one. Couldn't be so perfect, right??

Regards from Mexico :'-)

[SWMAN]

Question, is this the actuall set that is being released, or is this your own version. I am guessing that you bought the set, but it looks different than picutres I have seen. Did you spice it up with your own ideas? Also, what is with the minifigures. They don't look like the ones that come with the set, and if they are, did you change around the armor and such. It looks great, but I am still not sure if this is the boxed one. Thanks.

[xwingyoda]

Question, is this the actuall set that is being released, or is this your own version. (...)

Did you actually take the time to read gusmoore17's initial post ? :-|

*yoda*

[SWMAN]

Question, is this the actuall set that is being released, or is this your own version. (...)

Did you actually take the time to read gusmoore17's initial post ? :-|

*yoda*

Calm down. It is just a simple question. I don't have time to read every word. I am sorry if my post takes up valuable space. And, if this is how you treat new users, then I am suprised anyone comes back. I am the one that you blocked my first post.

[gusmoore17]

SWMAN, there's no problem. This is another oportunity to complain about my situation, jeje.

First: yeah, this is somehow a MOC because of the number of pieces that the real set features and which I don't have some because they're new, others because I didn't find the colors at my own lego collection and some others because I ran out of pieces very quickly.

Second: Then, this is not the real one, it is one I build from a link at classic-castle.com which led to official instructions released strangely by TLC. So, it is based upon "official instructions" but it is not a purchased set, hehe. *sweet*

Third: As lond as I live in Mexico, this set is not going to be available here in any store, so I am waiting impatiently *wacko* for someone at ebay.com to sell it so I can import it.

Thanks for your interest, and please, do not get angry with Yoda, you haven't met Mr. Phes, have you? Jeje, just kidding , everyone here is nice! :-D

[SWMAN]

Too bad it is not available in Mexico. It looks really great, and I can't wait for it to arrive on monday. I am not mad at him, just a little frustrated.