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Showing results for tags 'dark fantasy'.
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Looking for a bit of help on an MOC project of mine, so thought I'd post where I'm at right now. (That and photographing my version of 6087 Witch's Magic Manor is going to be an absolute bear, so I'm currently playing for time as well.) For the past few months I've been working on re-imagining (or modifying, really) all of the larger Fright Knights sets. As of right now I'm most of the way there, with the only set left to do being the big one from this subtheme: 6097 Night Lord's Castle. While my initial plans called for lightly modifying all the existing sets, using only the colors available back in 1997, along with a few newer parts in those same colors, I came around to the wider selection of new parts and colors pretty quickly after mucking around with Traitor Transport. That being said, moving in this new direction presented some fresh problems for me, since it removed some of my self-imposed guardrails. Fortunately after working on several of the small and mid-sized sets first, I created a slightly updated design language for this faction while still preserving what makes them unique for me. Regardless of these stylistic choices, there are three core tenets I've tried to implement with each set modification or MOC I've created thus far: Each set must be sturdy Each set must have some of the original play features (or an acceptable substitution) Each set must be accessible Overall, a pretty good ethos to have in place, and one that's worked out so far. But this last set has me stumped at the foundational level right now, so I thought I'd share my progress so far in order to see if anyone might have any ideas for improving matters. Anywho, you can see my idea for the initial foundation of this set below. The light bluish-grey 16x16 plate (with three 2x16 LBG plates) will form the first half of the ground floor for this castle, after passing through the portcullis and a pair of stockade doors. Seeing how this is one of the taller castles LEGO made, I want to get as much height out of my version as possible, which is why I went with that scalloped effect using overlapping dark bluish-grey plates. Unfortunately, this presents a bit of a problem for me, as I initially wanted to create a staircase (with a pair of banisters) beginning on that 8x6 DBG plate at the front, which would lead to the main entrance. Naturally, this staircase idea, coupled with the layered plates, looked better in my head than in reality. Now it looks like the slope is too small and too gradual for the staircase to be of any use, so I'm considering an increase in the height of the foundation. At first I considered using two of the 8x8x6 corner MURPs near the 6x6 curved DBG plates, but I fear that would increase the height too much, and I can't say I have any plans for making use of the available space I'd gain from that much height. After looking back at the original castle, I shifted gears somewhat, electing instead to use bricks to increase the height of the foundation a modest amount. The only problem is how high I should go. 8 bricks high seems a tad drastic, and I'd almost certainly want to create caverns or another fun detail, something I can't say I have too much appetite for. But a height of 1 brick is pretty much where I'm at now with those plates, and I'd prefer to keep the rounded edges, instead of being locked into a more angular style. I'm considering using some DBG 4x4 round corner bricks for the edges, but don't know if that would look too man-made. Either way, it's clear I need to play around some more with this foundation before getting to the fun part of building the castle proper, so I'll leave it at that. More photos here on my Bricksafe folder. If I find a foundation design that works for me, I'll be sure to add to that folder. But thanks for reading, and again, any suggestions would certainly be welcome!
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Unlike my first two entries in this little project of mine, this one's a bit of an outlier. While Witch's Windship and Traitor Transport seemed most of the way there and just needed a few more mods to do it, I can't say I cared too much about Bat Lord's Catapult, and was considering leaving that set in the dust, since the (initial) name of the game here was to create a medieval-themed Halloween display for future use. But fast-forward to November of last year when I'm mired in my Witch's Magic Manor MOC project, and a thought occurred to me: Why should the Dragon Masters have all the fun with their thematically-appropriate Dragon Defender? So after a few more Bricklink orders and some free-building, I came up with a bat-shaped ballista. As Robin might say: Holy Horrifying Weaponry, Batman! And of course you can see I wanted to keep the fancy ornamentation for the horse's harness in the original set intact. Thankfully the carriage that came with the IDEAS Medieval Blacksmith proved to be very useful in terms of giving me a way to update this in proper Fright Knights colors. And lest you think I didn't work to make sure you can adjust the angle of the ballista for...ballistic purposes, here's a few angles of a little Technic doo-dad I cobbled together. Minifigures can access it, but it works better if you do the heavy lifting here. So there you have it! One bat-themed siege weapon, designed by yours truly to emulate everything I love about the Fright Knights! Strange as it may sound, this didn't come together as quickly as I'd hoped, and there were quite a few versions which I attempted before finally giving up and sticking to the four-wheeled, single-horse model you see here. While there are obviously compromises and other nits I could pick, overall I think it blends in pretty well with the rest of my 'Neo-Fright Knights' designs. For more photos, feel free to check out my Bricksafe folder. Hopefully you've enjoyed this small palate-cleanser in between your adoring looks at your newly-built Lion Knight's Castle! Next up, we're going to gather 'round the cauldron to boil and bake while we have some fenny snake fillet, er, I mean a remake of Witch's Magic Manor! Thanks for reading!
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And I'm back, with another installment of my Fright Knights Rehabilitation Project! Last week I posted some mods I made to Witch's Windship, a set that's been pretty...divisive, to put it kindly, among the online LEGO community. This week, I decided I'd show off one of the few Fright Knights sets that seemed to be a little more accessible for fans of Castle. Take a look below at my mods for Traitor Transport!* *Didn't get around to building that cave (and the used model I bought didn't come with one), but Traitor Transport sounds better than Prison Transport, so just roll with it. For those interested, here's a nice profile shot of the whole prison carriage arrangement (we'll circle back to Basil on his horse later). Unlike Witch's Windship, this set proved to be a tad thornier for me to modify, largely because I really liked the contrast between the red roof and the gray that made up the walls of the actual prisoner module. Add in LEGO's solution for creating a locking cage, and I was a tad stumped regarding how I could update it while still maintaining the look of the whole thing. Needless to say this was a Rubicon moment for me of sorts, as this was when I definitively chose to use more modern colors and pieces in all of my Fright Knights builds, and I think the results speak for themselves, especially with how nicely the dark brown and reddish-brown contrast with the bright red on the roof. Moving on, you'll see my solution to maintaining a lockable cage, even after filling in the roof. While my initial designs called for that 1x6 tile with the wood grain sticker to be placed in a manner similar to the 1x6 printed tile used in front of the doors on the Temple of Mount Everest set, I found it slid around too much for my liking. So those SNOT bricks in reddish-brown came to my rescue. Simply pull the tile off, and... ...you can pull the door down, just like in the original model! Needless to say I was quite pleased at how well this worked, making for a very snug fit while still remaining extremely secure. And fortunately that modified plate at the top of the door is still pretty easy for me to grab and pull. Throwing in a front-facing angle of the detachable cage module because I thought it'd give people a better view of how it looks from the front. Overall I think it looks a little stronger now from all angles, whereas the initial model only looked good to me in profile. Now at least it looks a little more regal with that (wrought-iron, let's say) bat at the very top instead of the front. And as you might be able to tell, I made sure all gaps were covered on this bad boy, with a small 1x4x1 fence in black occupying the small gap between the roof and the dark-brown log bricks. And here's one more angle of the cage module in profile, mostly so I can talk quickly about some of the other mods. While I get that some people found the bat or dragon wings on this prisoner carriage a little ostentatious, for me they make the model (along with that great roof design). My only problem with them was their placement. Moving the two wings from the top of the roof to the front created a nice sense of balance, and hey, now I can suggest this module flies. As for the lanterns, they fit in with the zaniness and general oddball nature of the Fright Knights. Seeing how the original set had two trans-yellow cones anyway, it was a cinch to turn them into lanterns. Similarly, swapping out the flaming torches in the rear with red lanterns made sense to me, and now we've got medieval headlights and taillights! As for the flags, those were originally supposed to be the larger Fright Knight kite shields that popped up in a number of sets, but seeing how the carriage driver already had a shield to go with the halberds, the flags made more sense, fitting in with the regal-seeming prisoner carriage. Yes indeed, nothing but the best for the Fright Knights' latest victim, er, prisoner. As for the wagon this ornate cage sits on, that was a very easy fix. Pulling out all the light grey parts and replacing them with black was simple enough, though that front needed work. Adding in two 3x3 wedge plates seemed to help, and throwing a chair in makes for a much comfier ride for this carriage driver. But I wanted to maintain some of the original design elements for this model, which is why I incorporated those curved red bricks. Doing all that gave me a nice little space for storing a prisoner's items so all told that was a happy accident that rounded things off nicely. A few notes on the harness for the dragon. Most of this was already done for me in the base model, including the turntables with finger hinges, but swapping out light grey plates for black tiles and plates make it look far sleeker. And much like my mods for Witch's Windship, adding in a 2x2 black 45-degree slope finishes off the harness nicely. Finally, I did in fact swap out the trans-neon-orange wings on the dragon for trans-red, making it easier for me to distinguish between the two. And besides, trans-red wings on a black dragon still looks pretty boss, right? Last but not least is the Night Lord himself! Yes, much like Willa, Basil is back to put the 'evil' in 'medieval!' Like most of the Fright Knight minifigures I've collected, I didn't change too much here. The two things I really liked adding included an updated bat scepter (modeled largely off of the one in @Oky's wonderful Time Twister MOC), and giving Basil the Sword of Gryffindor, which honestly fits him much better than the chrome broadsword, with those blood-red gemstones in the pommel and hilt. As for his steed, the addition of a batarang to the horse's champron was always planned, although not on this part. I initially wanted to use the old champron that was introduced through the Dragon Masters, only to discover it wouldn't work with the newer horses. Oh well. I've come to love how ridiculous the horse looks with the red clip and batarang on it, but it was definitely an acquired taste. At least now the red champron and batarang give the horse barding for the Fright Knights a more unique look, instead of merely copying the Dragon Masters. So there you go. Two down, three (or four?) more to go. Given the way things went with this project, this will be the last set that still resembles the original model. Everything else from here on out will be more of an MOC, and I cannot wait to show you all of them (though we may have to wait a little while on Night Lord's Castle. That's been giving me trouble lately). For those interested, here's a link to more photos in my Bricksafe folder. So in closing, I'll leave you with one of Basil's favorite past-times, as indicated on some of the box art for Traitor Transport: Prisoner versus Dragon! (Or as the dragon might call it, canned food). Thanks for reading!
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While I realize everyone's understandably excited about the new Lion Knight's Castle (myself included), I felt like this was a good time to start unveiling a project I've been working on for the past few months. Because as nice as Black Falcons, Lion Knights, and Forestmen are, for me the Fright Knights are one of the coolest factions around, with their gothic imagery and downright spooky-looking dragons, complete with black bodies and fire-orange wings. In any case, I hoovered up most of the sets from this subtheme back in 2019, and found them...wanting. But hey, the beauty of LEGO is making fixes as needed, right? So I began with a set I actually did a review of around that time, probably because it was one of those sets that was rather representative of the Fright Knights subtheme, for better or for worse. In any case, take a gander at the new-ish Witch's Windship! Below I have some more angles on this odd beauty for those interested. As much as I adore @The Librarian's take on this strange medieval flying craft, I've played too many rounds of LEGO Racers to feel comfortable making drastic changes to the basic silhouette. So yeah, I just updated the halberds from dark grey to dark bluish gray and changed the clips too, from gray to black. Actually, out of all the changes to the Fright Knights sets, this one was probably the easiest, since all I needed to do was scrub any yellow or light gray out of this set and replace it with black or red. For those interested here's a photo of the interior of the basket. Probably one of the biggest disappointments of the original set was how, despite all of the available space, the only place for Willa to stand was on a measly 2x6 red plate. So I turned that design decision into a newt (it got better) and instead added two 3x6 wedge plates in red which helped. And of course adding two modified bricks with clips in the back for Willa's wand and broomstick means she'll have her hands free for steering. Because safety always comes first, especially when you're driving a dragon-powered airship. Despite getting this set MISB, those modified plates with the clips holding the wings were frequently coming off, so I ended up covering them with some of those handy curved slopes in red. Oddly enough the slopes only came into play during my second pass of mods to this set, and it's all the stronger for it. (The dust on the wing, however, was not part of the plan, but oh well.) Speaking of second passes, the addition of these two tail (lantern) lights were also not in my initial round of mods to this set. At first it was just that red hook, which does have a purpose, but after increasing the height of the basket candles, I felt like this set needed more zaniness. So in a nod to the original set, I threw them in. As for the trans-red cones that sat on the rear of this windship, worry not, as I added one to the crystal ball of this set and the other one to my own version of that little bat-wing flyer that shows up in 6087 Witch's Magic Manor (more to come on that). So there you have it! Admittedly these are minor, easy mods, but hopefully this works as a nice preview of what else I've got in store. Seeing how this is one of those 'iconic' sets that tells you what a subtheme's all about, I was quite pleased at my execution here, keeping the stuff I liked while jettisoning the rest, and fortifying some other parts. If you want to see more photos, check out my Bricksafe folder, though you're not missing much. Thanks for reading, and now I'll give Willa and her two pets, Nox the cat and Ignatius the dragon a chance to say see ya next time. Happy Haunting!
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Growing up, I was never really a huge fan of LEGO Castle. The one exception to that rule was Fright Knights, which honestly looked pretty cool in the LEGO Racers video game, as if the designers had taken the previous Castle racetracks and upped the difficulty and spookiness of it all. Years later, looking up some of the actual sets from this subtheme proved...underwhelming, with their occasionally slapdash designs and weird color schemes, suggesting that I should've stuck with the memories from that game instead. But I guess I love a good fixer-upper on occasion, since I still ended up buying most of the sets from that wave anyways. Among them was a MISB Witch's Windship. So let's go 'round the cauldron and check out this set review, which was double, double toil and trouble, especially since I took these photos last year and had to spend some time looking for them again: Info Set # - 6037 Name - Witch's Windship Theme/Subtheme - Castle/Fright Knights Year - 1997 Piece Count - 56 Minifigures - 1 Price - MSRP $8 US Links Brickset, Peeron, Bricklink, Bricksafe Box Forget your older castle subthemes, with their pleasant green fields and blue skies. We're in nightmare territory here, as you can tell from the box art. Craggy mountains in the background suggest this is a harsh, mountainous terrain with little vegetation, while the orange and red sky is very Halloween-ish, which is great. I also dig the...large bats? Dragons? Dragon bats? that are fluttering around in the background, again suggesting that we're not in Kansas anymore (or the Yellow Castle, at the very least). With all that being said, the model that is the main reason for buying this set also looks great, seemingly swooping through the sky. And don't forget that excellent logo in the upper right-hand corner of the box, still mostly visible despite the obnoxious reflection. As for the back, it's more of the same in terms of designs from 90s sets, with alternative models and additional practical photography. Given the parts selection, there aren't exactly too many alternative models you can construct, since some of these pieces are rather specialized. Though I do like how they placed Willa and that dragon-type monstrosity for the bottom-most build on what seems to be actual rocks, allowing it to mesh better with the rest of the photos in creating a consistent world. Not to mention the dragon daintily carrying her broomstick in the upper-right model photo . The sides of the box are mostly the same with a yellowy-orange color, and all are viewable on my Bricksafe folder, so we'll just put the most interesting photo in this review, leaving the others for completists. Again, it's nice to see LEGO use what looks like actual rocks here, even if they're just pieces of painted Styrofoam. I also think this alternative model doesn't look too bad given the limited range of parts we have to work with, opting for more of an aerial chariot look. Okay, enough ogling the cool box art. Let's punch a very satisfying hole in this old set and take a look at all of the nicely preserved pieces. Here's what you get if you pay a premium for this set still sealed in its box, and what you would have gotten if you picked this up back in 1997: one bag with the smaller parts, while the rest are just sitting loosely inside. We also get an instruction manual and promotional posters, which isn't too surprising. What is surprising is that Willa's excellent cape is completely unprotected from getting accidentally creased or crumpled due to loose parts. Fortunately, it looks to be just fine. Unlike some of the other older sets I've picked up MISB, the promotional materials for this one seem to be advertising new sets for next year instead of the current year, which is always a fun trip down memory lane. If I hadn't spent the summer rebuilding and playing with several of these older themes, I might feel inclined to take them out again in the near future. Instructions Now that we've got the box open, here's the instructions which...resembles the box, except with no UPC codes or appropriate age ranges, so it's cleaner. And here's your random page from inside the instructions. As you can tell, pretty straightforward, although you have to pay attention, since there are no parts call-outs telling you how many pieces you need to get through the next step. You also get treated to a really nice orange to yellow gradient, which helps maintain the spooky, creepy atmosphere that defines this theme. Unfortunately, I neglected to take a photo of the back of these instructions, but if you want to know what it looks like, simply scroll up to the photo of the back of the box, and there you go. Pieces There aren't too many parts that I personally thought were interesting, but that's largely because I've seen them in other sets I own. In any case, below are the parts of interest for me, which include the old-school LEGO dragon mold, first introduced in 1993 through the Dragon Knights subtheme. Willa's red magic wand, which has since been used in a number of clever LEGO Star Wars jokes as a substitute lightsaber blade, also first appeared in 1993 among the Dragon Knights subtheme and since then has appeared in 92 sets. Of particular interest to me are the last two parts, which are unique because they were introduced specifically for this theme. Willa's Slope 65 2x2x2 without bottom tube with dark gray and red witch's pattern has appeared in only six sets, all of which are Fright Knights with the exception of one castle set from 1997, which still does feature all the key figures from this subtheme and from the Royal Knights. Lastly, the crystal ball piece, which is always nice to have, also made its debut in the Fright Knights subtheme, and has since appeared in 48 sets. Minifigures Here's the only minifigure for this set which, as you might have guessed, puts the witch in Witch's Windship. Unless I'm mistaken, Willa the Witch is LEGO's first ever witch minifigure, and she certainly looks thrilled to be a pioneer, with that big, cackling grin complete with a single tooth. While many of the more recent witch minifigures more closely resemble the classic pop culture depiction of a witch by being green, she still looks nice all these years later. And the printed slope is also novel to me, since it seems like any kind of leg printing is a very recent phenomenon. And here's the back of Willa, with her gnarly spider cape, matching the brooch on her front. Much like Basil the Batlord's cape, we've got a nice little fringe on the bottom, giving it a slightly eviller look compared to other capes from other Castle subthemes. And for those curious, here's what Willa looks like without her cape. While the front of her dress is printed, it's clear that backprinting was still a little too advanced for the time. But since it's covered by a cape, it isn't really a problem. As far as wildlife goes, we have Willa's noble steed, represented here by that classic green dragon of yore. While Ninjago has given us plenty of really nice-looking brick-built dragons, this guy's still pretty cool and can easily sit on a desk or castle tower without taking up too much space. Seeing how this mold was first introduced in the Dragon Knights subtheme, I like to think Willa either grabbed a similar dragon or, better yet, stole him from Majisto . Another angle on this lovely dragon, which has a nice little hole in his mouth where you can place some of those older flame pieces. Sure, you can place Zamor Spheres and all sorts of other things in the newer dragon mouths, but it's still quite satisfying to have some fire shooting out of this guy's mouth. Uh-oh, looks like he's starting to sneeze. Better move on. The Build Since we only have a little over 50 parts here, the build goes fast. So fast, in fact, that I didn't have time to photograph each step. In any case, here's what I got: We start by building the base, inside the large black cockpit 10x10x4 octagonal with axle hole part. The round yellow bricks on the bottom make up the landing struts. Then after a few more steps, it's starting to take shape, complete with rear taillights, I suppose. After all, don't want to hit one of those monster bats! And after adding the ship rigging and a very simple harness for the dragon along with its wings, we have one lean, mean, medieval flying machine! For those interested, a closer view of the interior of this ship. One of the more disappointing things here is how little space there is for more than one minifigure. Sure, you could cram two more inside the basket while other Fright Knights ride on the rigging, but it sort of takes away from this working as an aerial siege engine, since space is limited. Willa even needs to stretch to reach the crystal ball for steering, which is too bad. Two wedge plates would quickly fix this problem, instead of the 2x6 plate we're stuck with instead. And here's another angle of the windship, showing those sweet taillights. Play Features Since we only have one vehicle, there isn't really too much you can do that would count as a "play feature," short of swooshing it around. The dragon can rock in its harness, which feels realistic, and as you can see below, the two axes are on red hinge bricks, which means airborne decapitations and lancings are now possible. When I first connected these hinge bricks, one of them was loose while the other was a little stiffer, but they both worked fine and I found it quite fun to swing them back and forth. And here's the complete set, with Willa and her (presumably flying) broomstick, in case this invention of hers doesn't quite work out. Overall I like the black and red, which both matches Willa's wardrobe and the Halloween-ish vibe they're going after, although I'm not quite sold on the light gray, which I too often associate with rock, something that wouldn't quite fly with something like this. Oddly enough, the yellow is fine, since it isn't as prominent as some of the Fright Knights' other vehicles. Final Thoughts Pricing and Value - Brick Insights suggests that this set is still worth it, based on the price-per-part ratio, which is currently at $0.22, an improvement over its initial price-per-part in 1997, which was $0.24. With that being said, I would probably place this at a 7/10, since cost-wise, it hasn't skyrocketed the way other sets from 1997 have, and that means plenty of unique parts for a buyer that have since been retired, without paying too much. Pieces - With only 56 parts in the set, that means most of them better count, and boy do they ever. That large octagonal part is very usable across a number of themes, and this is a pretty nice grab-bag of medieval parts if you're running low, from a magic wand, two axes, a broomstick, and a crystal ball. Oh, and don't forget that dragon, which is always a plus. So let's say 8/10. Design/Build - Surprising no one, this set is not exactly designed super well, which is a shame. While LEGO has now done several fantasy subthemes in their Castle line, with plenty of wildly impractical siege engines, I still think Fright Knights is impressive for the sheer number of medieval flying machines they tried to make. Unfortunately, with the strangely colored parts included with this set, along with the pitifully small plank for Willa to stand on, this only gets a 6/10 from me. Playability - You can swish around Willa on her broomstick, or if she doesn't feel like slumming it, put her in the windship. With the dragon attached by an axle brick, you can also get plenty of swinging action too, which seems right when your method of propulsion comes from a dragon instead of hot air. And with the axes that can swing open and close easily, I think I'm comfortable giving this an 8/10, which may seem high, but you can get a lot of mileage out of this set even though you only get a single minifigure and a dragon, without a separate faction to fight. Verdict - LEGO may have made many villainous factions for heroic knights to fight, from Vladek's forces to armies of trolls and skeletons, but for me, Fright Knights takes the cake. This faction remains one of those compelling subthemes probably because they got there first, and as you can tell by how much I gushed over the box art, has atmosphere to burn. While I love seeing some of the more recent fantasy-era Castle sets, those still seem to take place in a shared universe with the usual trappings of rolling fields and impregnable castles. Fright Knights, on the other hand, seems very different, with innumerable flying machines, booby traps, and a batlord who may or may not be a medieval vampire. Granted, the design of several of these sets leaves something to be desired, and Witch's Windship is no exception, with a lackluster interior and odd choices for the colors of certain parts. But since you aren't getting more than one minifigure, it isn't that much of a problem for me. Given how this set is a flagship vehicle of sorts, having driven by it several times on the Fright Knights' course in LEGO Racers, I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised that this set gets a 72.5% from me. Thanks for reading! Comments and questions are always welcomed! Little did Willa realize the downsides of traveling in a large, spacious basket instead of a small broomstick. Especially when dealing with a tenacious Monster Fighter. Happy Halloween!
