Review: 8802 Dark Fortress Landing

[Stiel]

8802 - Dark Fortress Landing

The set, as the name implies, is mainly a small fort that can be added to the main castle of the shadow knights. Also, this set often came together with 8801, a set that includes a ship and some colorful hero knights. That said, it can also be regarded as a small, stand-alone castle. I am going to take this approach.

Name: Dark Fortress Landing

Theme: Castle / Knights Kingdom II

Year Released: 2005

Number of Pieces: 134

Minifigs: 2

Resources: BrickLink Peeron Brickset

Box

The front of the box shows the main model. The black clouds and rocky background give that dark feel to it, and the water, lightning and the smoldering rocks falling down make the picture very dynamic.

The back of the box shows many things. In the center there is an alternate model, a high tower with a different (and more spectacular) ship design. Weapon assortment includes not just proper weapons, but basically anything that can be put into a minifig's hand. It also shows the minifigs, the notable play features and a close-up of the ship along with the boss.

Instructions

The main page shows the same picture as the front of the box. The building instructions are fairly straightforward. However, that's not all, there are much more than just the instructions inside: parts list, figures, another photo of that alternate model on the box, and a comic showing some action between shadow knights and various KKII hero knights. Front page:

Random building page. The colors are easily distinguishable and realistic. Good quality instructions.

Action comic for kids.

Contents

First come the 2 minifigures. The figures are one of the highlights of the set for me. I love the color scheme and the design of them. The scorpion torso and the ovoid shield are fantastic (I actually prefer the ovoid shield to the octagonal one), and the painted plate is also good. There are no back printings, and the torso under the plate is plain black. The helmets are also great, Vladek's evil mask is one of the best KKII visors. I also like that the weapons are black, it's almost like the scorpion knights have their own special weaponry ('these are MINE!'). I don't mind the KKII great sword for armored knights, and the standard halberd is certainly OK. Overall, I like the figures a lot. It's a bit of a shame there is only 2 of them, but at least they are completely different.

Evil guys.

Let's see them without their helmets. Evil, evil guys.

Next up is a small ship. It goes well with the set. Nothing too spectacular, but nice use of the scorpion banner. No oars included.

Then comes the main part, the fortress. It has only two wings (attached by hinges). This has several implications: 1) it can not be really closed, 2) it is not symmetric. It is also different from older designs in general; closest comparison might be 6059, but that castle has 3 sides. A possible solution for the 2 sides issue is to put it in a corner. , or you can of course buy 2 boxes to make one closed fortress.

That gallery looks great with the torches, it makes me want to put an archer in there. Alas, there is none in the set... Nice design with the different shades of gray to direct attention. I also like the inclusion of the supports. This set is also a good example of how larger elements (rocks, panels) should be used. I like the entrance the most with the two black panels+supports combo. Also, there is a lot of room inside for the 2 minifigures.

Complete set

Overall, I like the look of it. Excellent use of colors: 1) dark red is a main color, even though there are only a handful of dark red parts, 2) the different shades of gray add variety and also direct attention to the more important parts of the building (gallery, door). The banner on the gallery is great, and they weren't skimpy about regular dark red flags either. There is the signature shadow knight tower design, which looks good, but it is not very practical (no room for minifigs). The shadow knight can use the defensive mechanism to pour smoldering rocks on anyone under him. Hm, come to that, Vladek is in a dangerous position...

'Arrrgh...!'

'Sorry, boss!'

I am pretty happy with the set. In my opinion, the scorpion knights (the proper name is actually shadow knights) is by far the best subtheme in KKII; the motives and colors remind me of the golden era of castle. I also like the design of the building, it's a real castle that stands well on its own. The figures are also very nice, even if a little few. The conclusion is that any minor imperfections this set may have can be addressed easily, and on the other hand, it offers a lot of possibilities.

Summary

Playability: 7/10 (On its own, somewhat limited, but it still has one war mechanism and a ship.)

Design: 8/10 (Solid design in general, some details can be improved.)

Price: 10/10 (I ordered it MISB from BrickLink 4 years after its release for 22.50$ plus shipping.)

Overall: 8/10 (One of the better sets in a poor era; good to start your scorpion army collection and to modify to your taste.)

Comments and critics welcome!

[Pulp Detective]

Cool review,the set is ok but when l first saw the box art l thought you get the complete fortress but you only get the outer wall.

Edited July 22, 2012 by LOTR343

[Hive]

I love it and would love to own it myself some day. In fact, I've recently begun to look into the possibility to buy some of the KKII sets... simply because I love the colors and figs from the Shadow Knights faction.

Edit: Oh, and good review btw! Are you going to review more KKII sets? I've noticed that a bunch of them lack reviews here. I'd love more!

Edited July 22, 2012 by Hive

[Stiel]

Edit: Oh, and good review btw! Are you going to review more KKII sets? I've noticed that a bunch of them lack reviews here. I'd love more!

Thanks! This is the only KKII set that I own, so no more KKII reviews from me, sorry.

Instead of buying more sets, I bought about a dozen more minifigures from Bricklink, equipped them with various weapons, and also modified the fortress (adding an extra wall section, plus some minor changes, but in general, keeping the shape). The end result can be seen here: Scorpion Castle.

[WhiteFang]

Thank you Stiel for doing this review. After reading your review, I felt quite regretted for not picking this set up while it was available for a very short while before it was discontinued. This was actually quite an exclusive set with limited run as I don't see it readily available in many normal distribution channels back in 2005 to 2006.

This set was put together with the 8801 counterpart,

[Hive]

That attack barge could have been a pretty good set as well if they had made it in brown instead of grey. I mean, a ship made out of STONE?? Come on...