Review: 5826 The Queen's Room

[The Penguin]

(The pic is an official box art one.)

Set Number: 5826

Name: The Queen’s Room

Theme: Belville

Year of Release: 2000

Pieces: 79

Minifigs: 1

Price: $17 USD

Brickset, Bricklink, Peeron parts inventory

All images can be found in my brickshelf folder.

It’s been a long time since my previous review. What have I been doing? Well, actually I was forced to have a rehabilitation course in Arkham Asylum, since the venom left from the Stable monster had to be drained from my body and mind. And know what? I’ve had plenty of time to think, while those nice men in white were poking me…..

What happens when you miss somebody you really like? At first you keep thinking of him/her. Then you can’t really get the person out of your mind. Then you go completely insane! And after that you try to lock all your misery inside. And only then, after looking deeper you find the bright side of it! Three years without Batman showed me my rainbow bright side…. It’s Belville!

So I invite you to the court of HRM Queen of all Belville of the long forgotten Fairy-Tale era.

The Box

I bought that set off BL and it did not have the box, so I just had to take the image from the net. But still it's quite possible to examine it even that way.

To the right of the LEGO logo you can see exactly the same sick-heart Belville symbol as shown in the previous review, what actually surprised me. It just came to me that the symbol has never really been changed since 1994 to 2008 when the theme was presumably killed off. Or more likely it had a heart attack! Get it?? Heart attack…. Oh, never mind…..

As in most Belville sets the box is done in a purple rather than pink color scheme which, again, can be seen throughout the whole history of the theme. And back in early 2000-s it was not just purple but with some yellow stars and magic wands flying around.

Back then the villainous designers of the sets were more careful and did not actually draw any monster-like girls on the front of the box. They were far more cunning and complicated back then! You can see that the actual set pic is put in a kind of a bubble through which you can see a peaceful landscape with a mighty castle on the hill. But at the same time you can see the ethereal purple mist surrounding the scene with those glowing yellow stars which actually remind me some creatures’ eyes in the dark! The mist is obviously going to consume the whole scene in a few seconds, so either you jump in that peaceful fantasy world or remain to be torn apart by the unknown creatures in the mist!

Instructions booklet

What I also find quite disturbing about all those box art pictures (which is the same for the instructions booklet) is the fact that the Queen’s room is located outside the castle! I mean why would she live outside it, without any proper roof over the head!? Well, however, I may know the answer….

The instructions themselves easily may be the best part of the set. No, really, I mean it! Can you see anything odd? Yes, the Queen is actually building her room all by herself! And outside the castle. It’s like: “O-oh! So you cast me away?! Ok, I’ll build my own castle with blackjack and hooters jousts and knights!”

Actually I suppose that such an unusual booklet deserves a couple of additional images. Yep, women were much healthier back then!

Interesting parts and pieces

Well, this set is just filled with interesting and unique pieces which actually makes it one of my most favorite Belville sets. Yes, I admit, I have my favorite Belville sets! Belville pride!

You can see some lovely printed pictures here, two colors of tiaras, transparent chest, goblets, etc. Just a treasure trove for Castle MOCers.

The Minifigs

As in my previously reviewed set this one officially contains only one minifigure, but I also decided to include the Queen’s black hound here, because he might as well be quite an interesting playable character.

The Queen’s minifigure is actually by far is one of the most interesting figs in the entire Belville line for two major reasons. The first one is that she got a unique never-after-released headpiece with quite an interesting hairstyle. The second thing is the nice black-violet color scheme and a long sleek purple dress which strikingly differs with those carousel-like ones of the princesses’. Not to mention that I really like the facial expression with that sneer of cold command and hidden lust in her green eyes! There should be a reason she’s having a leash in her hand on most of the pictures. Yeah!

Ahem, so where were I?... And another nice thing that we get in this set is actually two tiaras (the green and the red one). By applying either of those you indicate either you want her to be a good or a bad girl Queen. Um, I guess, I need a glass of water….

The dog is actually less interesting, being just a standard immovable dog mold with printed yellow eyes and odd legs. You can clearly see that it’s quite useless for System sets, so you cannot really use it anywhere outside the theme. However it could work fine for Hound of the Baskervilles MOC. Just imagine how freaky that hound looks in the eyes of a minifigure!

The Room

I don’t really understand one thing about this set. Why call it a “room”? I mean, aren’t Queens supposed to live in chambers? But taking into account how small the scene is, it should have as well been called a “Queen’s cabin” or a “Queen’s cupboard”, so I guess, “room” was a fair compromise.

I suggest we start with a room itself. It has two interesting features here: a purple transparent wall piece with the window and the rotating wall piece.

I won’t comment on the purple wall. Since I cannot really think of the reason anyone would wish to have a transparent wall so that everybody in the Kingdom may see your private life. Unless…. Oh, god! That’s one naughty-naughty Queen!

The rotating door is much more interesting, since we can have at least two nice classical storylines here: the one with the frog prince kissing and the second with spying on young princess Rosaline and prince Justin (Yes, they have their official names! And no, he has nothing to do with Bieber! Kids these days! )

My set had no image on the mirror, so here's the pic how it should've looked like.

Now to the tower. The tower is actually not very imposing and has two floors, with a chair on the ground one and some bottles and goblets on the first one.

Actually I can’t really call it a throne since I can’t watch it when a minifig is trying to sit on that! It’s just terribly flat!

Complete set

The set itself is rather small for the Belville line, but really stands out due to it’s color scheme and unique pieces that it contains. Not to mention the playing possibilities of it.

Play features

The set itself offers at least two obvious scenarios:

1) to kiss a frog and either get a disease or get the Prince;

2) to poison the apple, give it to Rosaline and get the Prince.

But what’s the fun in that?!

The set has so many nice pieces so you just can’t resist using those in your play:

When bored the Queen can play a classical peasants’ game of getting an apple from the bowl of water with your mouth!

But you should not play it too often or it may cause some other problems:

Ratings

Design: 4/5 it’s quite well-designed for such a small Belville set and can really work well for a tower or a dungeon scene.

Build: 4/5 The build is pretty simple. Big parts and simple techniques make it possible to assemble it even without instruction booklet.

Minifigs: 5/5 We get a nice unique figure, we even get a pet. Well, I guess adding some servant to this scene might have been really nice, but we do know that in fairy tales everything is done by magic and there is no hard labour.

Playability: 4/5 – I showed you only three of my scenarios, but trust me you wouldn’t want to see other ones!

Parts: 5/5 – The parts back in fairy-tale era were really unique in their colors. When was the last time you say a chrome part?

Price:4/5 – The price is somewhat high for 79 pieces set, but taking into account how many nice parts and bits you get, the set was worth getting!

Overall: 5/5 – I seriously think it to be one of the strongest sets in the whole line, perhaps even in the whole Belville theme. The colors, the parts, the minifigs, everything is nearly perfect.

Good day, ladies and gentlemen! )

P.S.

I would like to thank those EB members that helped me bringing this review to you. I trully appreciate your help!

Edited August 12, 2011 by Rufus
Indexed

[LandShark]

Hilarious review Penguin!

As a castle fan, I really wish I had gotten some of these, so many great pieces.

I can only hope the upcoming Girls theme will be similar parts-wise...

[lightningtiger]

Thanks for a fun review 'The Penguin', cute set....but the last photo.....oh, behave !

Keep on reviewing !

[Izzy]

That was a rather fascinating and hilarious read. Dirty dirty queen.

Where is your frog? And it is really a Trans Green one? I had NO idea that piece even existed. That is truly magical and I must have one.

[Blondie-Wan]

Where is your frog? And it is really a Trans Green one? I had NO idea that piece even existed. That is truly magical and I must have one.

According to Peeron, the frog has been in trans-green in five sets. Note also that listing isn't quite up-to-date, since there are currently available at least three different sets I know of featuring frogs in colors not even listed there (one of which features twenty frogs, five apiece in four different colors).

[Rufus]

I love the effort and humour you put into these Belville sets, Penguin! This again is a hilarious and entertaining read. I hope to see more Belville reviews from you - it's a theme that I (and probably many other EB members) know very little about, and it's great to see them up close and personal.

[Izzy]

According to Peeron, the frog has been in trans-green in five sets. Note also that listing isn't quite up-to-date, since there are currently available at least three different sets I know of featuring frogs in colors not even listed there (one of which features twenty frogs, five apiece in four different colors).

I should have been more clear. I knew the frog existed. Just not in trans green. I have that frog game. It is awesome.

[Sandy]

Ahaha, I love this review! Too funny!

The set is kinda special too, with a focus on a wicked character instead of lollipop princesses and fairies. There's some nice rare pieces, but as Belville goes, almost everything is a bit too oversized to be mixed with minifigs. But your review really made it more appealing, Penguin. Thanks for the laughs!

[The Penguin]

Hilarious review Penguin!

As a castle fan, I really wish I had gotten some of these, so many great pieces.

I can only hope the upcoming Girls theme will be similar parts-wise...

thank you very much! I'm glad you liked it.

Well, I guess, Castle fans can indeed find some interesting pieces in the theme, though the price/quantity parity is just depressing.

Thanks for a fun review 'The Penguin', cute set....but the last photo.....oh, behave !

Keep on reviewing !

Thanks! Yes, queens often do that. Ah, what a life!

That was a rather fascinating and hilarious read. Dirty dirty queen.

Where is your frog? And it is really a Trans Green one? I had NO idea that piece even existed. That is truly magical and I must have one.

Thank you very much, Izzy! I'm glad you enjoyed it. Yes, for some reason I nrver highlighted that the frog in the set is trans-green. Frankly speaking I find that choice of colour a bit odd, but still it's nice to get such a rare piece. )

I love the effort and humour you put into these Belville sets, Penguin! This again is a hilarious and entertaining read. I hope to see more Belville reviews from you - it's a theme that I (and probably many other EB members) know very little about, and it's great to see them up close and personal.

Thank you very much, Rufus! Yes, I still have some unoprned old Belville sets around, so I guess, I can make some other reviews. But I'm being very cautios with those: all those fairy queens can easilly drag you in, and there is no escape but to yeild! I presume, you have seen my previous Belville review?

Ahaha, I love this review! Too funny!

The set is kinda special too, with a focus on a wicked character instead of lollipop princesses and fairies. There's some nice rare pieces, but as Belville goes, almost everything is a bit too oversized to be mixed with minifigs. But your review really made it more appealing, Penguin. Thanks for the laughs!

Thank you, Sandy. I'm glad you liked it.

I hope you'll like the upcoming reviews as well.

Good day, ladies and gentlemen! )

[Blondie-Wan]

I should have been more clear. I knew the frog existed. Just not in trans green. I have that frog game. It is awesome.

Oh, no worries; you were quite clear. I was simply posting to confirm that the piece does indeed exist in trans-clear, and indeed is also found in that color in a few other sets. I decided to mention the others simply because I thought the availability of the frog in those other colors was interesting (and not evident from the Peeron link), and as long as I was posting about the frog's availability in one unusual color anyway, I'd go ahead and mention the others.

[greeny]

I agree that the rare pieces make this set worth every penny

(But honestly whats the but in a see through chest? Are the pirates that stupid they spend ages hiding there treasure and then put it in a see throughable chest )