Review 6098 King Leo's Castle

[DawnCrusader]

Hello all :)

I've been in these forums for a while, and because I've never posted before, I thought of giving something back to the community.

So I love the Knight's Kingdoms I line (heresy I know ), and I found that there are few reviews out there of it's large set, the King Leo's Castle.

There are actually to identical sets of King Leo's Castle, 6091, which is the USA edition, and the one I bought, 6098, the one released in Europe.

So, the first thing I want to point out is this:

The point is, LEGO designers were clearly aiming for a beautiful, almost fairy like castle, much like the Disney one.

The most proeminent aspects of the castle are the airy towers and the enourmous flag in the throne room, that we can see behind the gate.

Left side:

Right side:

Back:

So, at this point you're problably saying "yeah it's interesting from the front, ONLY! Anyone can invade this castle! Where's the back?".

True, the castle has several military flaws:

Where are the back walls?

Where are the left and right walls?

The throne room is very exposed.

The airy towers are <insert that tiresome argument>.

There is no drawbridge mechanism.

So, the Lego designers failed miserably. Or didn't they?

Now, at least to me, this looks beautiful and impressive. And how about this?

A simply stunning Princess overlooking the Kingdom. And she's not alone in the handsomeness:

Even the bad guys look good:

And King Leo says to you "Did you notice my castle is modular? We can put the towers anywhere we want!". And he says rightly so. Not only that, but as soon as you buy the modular sets from the Knight's Kingdoms line, 6094 Guarded Treasure, 6095 Royal Joust, 4817 Dungeon, you will start thinking "Hey, it was just what this castle needed!"

So, the following two photos were me messing around the King Leo's Castle and the Knight's Kingdom's sets:

My final conclusion, yes this is a highly vulnerable castle, it doesn't look good from all angles, it's <insert that tiresome argument>, but...

It's beautiful, it's fun, and one can have pleasant moments messing around with its modular configuration and the other sets in the line.

To anyone who likes fantasy castles, such as the King's Castle Siege (which I own and love as well), I recomend this set :)

Congratulations to everyone for such a fantastic community, and I hope my review sheds some light in King Leo's Castle.

Edited February 23, 2012 by DawnCrusader

[RPGer]

Good review, DawnCrusader. This was well-thought out and you are in love with this set, obvious from the review, which is not a bad thing. But ovarall this is a brillant Classic Castle set.

[DawnCrusader]

Good review, DawnCrusader. This was well-thought out and you are in love with this set, obvious from the review, which is not a bad thing. But ovarall this is a brillant Classic Castle set.

Thank you for the kind words RPGer :)

I suppose I could've talked more about the other aspects of this set, such as the catapult, the lionhead parts, the nicelly detailed window, and properly named the characters included: King Leo, Queen Leonora, Princess Storm, Cedric the Bull...

But as I looked and took the photos I think I really dwelved and lost myself into the sense that you're in front of something beautiful, that just from looking to it, that's what you expected from a castle that's on top of a hill, representing goddness and fairness, in a Kingdom where war is really a strong word for the little skirmishes with Cedric :)

[Hive]

I personally think that this is one of the worst Castles LEGO ever did in one of their worst Castle subthemes ever... I absolutely hate this particular lion emblem used for flags and shields, I'm not too fond of the bull emblem either and I think most of the minifigures are kinda bad... in fact, I'm probably one of the only people who thinks KKII was an improvement to KKI.

But I will agree that the castle does look good from the front, if nothing else. And who doesn't love modularity between sets? More of that, please, LEGO!

Anyway, in spite of me generally not liking this set much (nor the subtheme as a whole), I liked the review. Good work.

Edited February 23, 2012 by Hive

[SirSven7]

I too am not the biggest fan of this castle, however the review is really good and its nice to see the set in such detail. One question those additional little sets, do they connect to the castle in anyway or are they just extra builds seperate from it?

[Hive]

I too am not the biggest fan of this castle, however the review is really good and its nice to see the set in such detail.

Defiantely. I, for one, had never seen the Castle from behind before.

[JackJonespaw]

Nice review! Although it does look very vulnerable, that isn't what Lego wanted the builder to focus on.

[DawnCrusader]

Thank you all for the comments, and I realise this is much of a hate or love set

I too am not the biggest fan of this castle, however the review is really good and its nice to see the set in such detail. One question those additional little sets, do they connect to the castle in anyway or are they just extra builds seperate from it?

The extra builds, in particular the 6094 Guarded Treasure, which compromises the little dungeon and the tower with the "Excalibur", can be switched with the regular King Leo's Castle towers. For example, one can simply remove the catapult tower and insert the Dungeon from the 6094 set

My last two pictures show the integration of those extra builds, and on another note, I used the alternative building as per LEGO's instructions of the 6095 Royal Joust, so that a kind of entrance (to the Royal stable? ) could fill the back of the castle.

[Ardelon]

I actually like KK1. I dont own any of the sets, so I can't comment on the <insert that tiresome argument> build, but the sets look nice (as you managed to show); I especially liked the Bulls, who were rather undeveloped. Not to mention the new molds it gave us (lion capitals, kettle helmets). I did find the castle rather lacking in the back from pics I've seen, but you managed to fix that very well! Great job!

[SirSven7]

The extra builds, in particular the 6094 Guarded Treasure, which compromises the little dungeon and the tower with the "Excalibur", can be switched with the regular King Leo's Castle towers. For example, one can simply remove the catapult tower and insert the Dungeon from the 6094 set

My last two pictures show the integration of those extra builds, and on another note, I used the alternative building as per LEGO's instructions of the 6095 Royal Joust, so that a kind of entrance (to the Royal stable? ) could fill the back of the castle.

ohh ok thanks, that is actually quite a nice little design idea, I will be looking into these sets soon when I write my blog so I gotta find a way to get my hands on them (I know I have a friend with this set in London, time for a trip). But its good to be told this sort of thing incase I can't find them all (it happens occasionaly).

Cheers again

[DawnCrusader]

Nice review! Although it does look very vulnerable, that isn't what Lego wanted the builder to focus on.

Precisely my thoughts

I actually like KK1. I dont own any of the sets, so I can't comment on the <insert that tiresome argument> build, but the sets look nice (as you managed to show); I especially liked the Bulls, who were rather undeveloped. Not to mention the new molds it gave us (lion capitals, kettle helmets). I did find the castle rather lacking in the back from pics I've seen, but you managed to fix that very well! Great job!

Thanks Ardelon One only needs to have the very few buildings of the Knight's Kingdom line to really have enough modules and bricks to make King Leo's Castle much more pleasant from all angles

ohh ok thanks, that is actually quite a nice little design idea, I will be looking into these sets soon when I write my blog so I gotta find a way to get my hands on them (I know I have a friend with this set in London, time for a trip). But its good to be told this sort of thing incase I can't find them all (it happens occasionaly).

Cheers again

No problem SirSven7, if you look at the set instructions, you can easily understand that eatch tower / section fits in one of the each four corners of the baseplate the same way. Because both towers of the 6094 Guarded Treasure have the same base as the King Leo's Castle towers, they're interchangable between them

Well and I'm looking forward to your review on this line, I'm loving all the reviews you post on your blog I'm also curious about your take on the Fantasy Era, I thought most sets were *spectacular*, but the feeling I have is that the community embraced more the Kingdoms (the latest) line more, because of it's more realistic take on the sets architecture.

Edited February 24, 2012 by DawnCrusader

[SirSven7]

Well and I'm looking forward to your review on this line, I'm loving all the reviews you post on your blog I'm also curious about your take on the Fantasy Era, I thought most sets were *spectacular*, but the feeling I have is that the community embraced more the Kingdoms (the latest) line more, because of it's more realistic take on the sets architecture.

Cheers for the compliment and the info, Fantasy Era will be tackled in due time (I have a few to go first), I am probably going to look at each faction seperatly, so I would have a hard time comparing the two overall waves, however as a conclusion at the end of the human faction I will definatly be doing this (mostly because its a good idea and I apericate you mentioning it).

I see Fantasy as a smaller revival of the classic sets in the way that there where lots of different factions around at the same time (late 80s had Crusaders, Falcon's, Forestmen and Black Knights, were as late 00s had Men, Dwarfs, Troll and Skellys) giving people a brilliant cross selection of options for sets and faction alliances (My little bro had the trolls as the good guys against the skelly and humans, his dwarfs were nutural unless someone went to there mine).

But I see Kingdoms as a revival of the classic era from the start (when it was just Falcon, Crusaders and some villages), I guess its all about preference, but I am a big fan of civilain sets for Castle. Sadly for a more in depth take on it all you'll have to wait a little while hopefully my writing will make it worth it.

[just2good]

Nice review, 'DawnCrusader'!

I think this was a decent castle in a decent Castle subtheme. The interior is quite lacking, but the exterior looks okay.

[DawnCrusader]

Nice review, 'DawnCrusader'!

I think this was a decent castle in a decent Castle subtheme. The interior is quite lacking, but the exterior looks okay.

Thanks just2good

The throne room doesn't have a lot of detail, but *is* imposing. It's the biggest throne room in lego history if I'm not wrong, and with the throne placed in the middle of it and the lion flag as a background, it looks stunning (It reminds me of the Lordaeron Throne room from Warcraft III ).

And, each tower actually has some detail. Since their interiors aren't that big, the ammount of detail is just right.

Here's the complete gallery in brickshelf http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=497713

Edited March 1, 2012 by DawnCrusader