Kliq

Huh!? I thought the overall consensus was that the Earth Defense HQ was one of the best 'Space' sets ever produced? At least certainly in the 21st century. With Galaxy Squad I can certainly see the disdain for 70705, but personally I like it. I just can't wait until after Christmas when I have the funds to create a large GS fleet.

Don't forget, the rear of the buggy detaches so you can also have a flying unit. Maybe you could distract the mantis with the buggy and blast 'em with the flyer.

Yes, I agree completely with these statements. I remember the horrible KKII joust where you shoot the two horse/cars at each other. Disgusting. The most "play features" I approve of in a Castle set are catapults/siege equipment.

From the impressions I've gotten from various websites and blogs, I first thought it was a rerelease of five of the 2007 Castle line sets. If that was the case it would be a total disappointment, as I picked up more than enough Crown knights when they were out, and they weren't out long enough ago for me to long for their return. On second thought, though, it almost seems like maybe these five sets will be from different Castle eras, with the largest being 7094 King's Castle Siege but the other four being from different eras. The reason I'm thinking this is because I don't remember there being a "forest ambush" or a "dragon mountain" in either Crown Knight line. Maybe those will be a set from one of the Forestmen lines, one from the Dragon Knights line, etc. Now THAT I would be excited about.

I can understand the disappointment with the limited 'hospital' design, but I think it doesn't look too bad. I wish they would have renamed it more appropriatly as more of a 'clinic' then a full fledged hospital. I still want one, though! It might not be what people wanted, but it isn't as disasterous to me as some claim. Edit: I was given one of these http://brickset.com/detail/?Set=9364-1 maybe 15 years ago. This was an awesome set.

I must agree with the others, you have done a very good review of this set! I enjoy the Paradisa sets, and have a couple of them set up within my classic town display. They are kind of like the 'Laguna Beach' side of town. One thing, though... I have this poster hanging on my wall, and I am def. not a little girl!

Thanks for that link! I have been following their uploads as they keep coming in. Upon closer inspection I am THRILLED to see that the wall section of 9471 Uruk-hai Army connects to 9474 The Battle of Helm's Deep to extend the wall out as far as you want. Thank goodness!

VERY pleased with these sets. I specially adore the fact that it looks like the majority of the torsos, even though they have fleshy heads, do NOT have fleshy printing! Just change a couple hands and a couple heads and we are in business.

I am sure I will greatly enjoy the sets when they come out, but like with all licensed themes, will be sad about the flesh tones. The orcs and other creatures will not be as bad. Hopefully I could just swap out the heads and hands with the classic yellow. (Unless of course there is flesh on the torso )

I will be honest. I joined Eurobricks because they seemed to be the first with 'new set' news and pictures. Not long after that, I found a well-mannered community that was just fun to be around. I have seen a lot of things change around here over the years, but the friendly atmosphere hasn't. Keep it up, and here's to another 20k! :]

Oh man, it is posts like this that make me want to break down and cry. It is just so wonderful when the Castle line gets a wonderfully huge set of great detail like this. I want to get four of these so I can make a complete circle (i.e. two of the first picture). I hope when the next Castle line concludes, it does so in a fashion like the MMV and this Joust, but maybe we're ready for a castle. ;]

Grrr! I haven't even collected all of Series 1 yet. I'm going to go broke trying to collect them all now! The Genie and the Minotaur are my favorites. :]

It is very pretty and peaceful, just like spring. Also very welcoming.

Wow, series 5 already? I'm still questing after the wrestler from Series 1. :[

I am not a train guy at all. I have never owned a Lego train set of any level. This set makes me want to rethink that.

I agree with the majority of the OP except for a few things. First, the black knights had the most powerful navy of any castle faction, their only rival being Vladek. I believe that was their agression, but I don't think they actively besieged castles. They have small battering ram w/ arrow shield, but that was probably for smaller outposts. They might be a little on the sinister side, but I don't think they were cold hearted. Second, the new lion knights vs. the new dragon knights of the latest wave. I personally feel their roles are swapped around. There is something about the lion knights that makes me feel they are the rich oppressive nation and the dragon knights have to scrape by and fight for their survival. In doing so, they might have become a bit unconventional and 'bad' (afterall, look at some of their faces), but they had to get tough against the 'handsome' lion knights who feed their king and leave diplomacy out of the question. But I guess when the next wave comes out things might change (after looking at some of those sets...) but I'm sure I'll come up with some excuse for those poor dragon knights. Third, the original dragon knights. These are a neutral force in my eyes. These are the guys who you want your nation to ally with when it comes to a war with a neighboring nation. Their magic does not look so evil, their armor and equipment give them a sense of pride and honor, and they know the land with their multiple locations.

You have really done this set a fine justice with this review! I am very happy to also see the positive responses toward it, which I generally believed people to look down on the Dragon Knights as a whole. Personally I have always felt it was a very underrated theme, full of imagination and creative design. I love the look of the minifigs, and a bunch of them lined up on horses make a 'Dragon Cavalry' that looks very fearsome and almost like the firey breath of a dragon itself. I thoroughly enjoy all of my Dragon Knights' sets and I hope you will enjoy yours for a long time to come.

I will be completely honest, when I saw this contest on the first page (and not knowing much about what's going on with Star Wars Lego these days) I thought that this was a match between two TLG versions of this character. I immediately thought of Arealight's version as the older version after recognizing TLG's CW face on their version. So without any bias, I thought TLG's version was better. I don't like the curved torso, something about it just makes me want to replace it. Arealight's idea to remove the hat without the rest of the headpiece is a REALLY nice idea, but again there are so many funny things I can do with TLG's just because the rest of the head does come off. The primary reason that I went with TLG was the face. Arealight's face has that strange mouth. It doesn't really look 'battle ready' to me, it looks more like she has a sour candy in her mouth. Overall, I would not be upset having Arealight's model in my collection, but if I had a choice I would go with TLG.

I'm going to have to agree with Zzz up there and say that as good as this model looks, I really don't like sets purposed for only display. If it had an interior in the back, this would be amazing, but as is, it simply isn't worth it for me.

I would like to vote for... 3. DanMov 9. Aalak 22. Perfectionist

Hey thanks. I don't really have any 'wrestlers' to use, so when I decided to take pictures, I just grabbed a couple guys. There could certainly be some other interesting match-ups.

(I'm sorry about the photo quality, my cell phone camera was starting to run low on battery. You'll notice the pics get darker and darker and more grainy...) Ladies and gentlemen, let's get ready to brriiiiccckk! This is the Fighting World Championships arena (F.W.C.), and also my first MOC. I don't have a great quantity of spare bricks, as a look at my flickr will explain I keep just about all of my sets together. I have, however, been able to create this out of what I do have, and I am pretty happy with it. I am a huge wrasslin' fan (my username for instance) so it would come natural that two of my favorite things would one day merge. To be honest, this is not the first arena I have made, but probably the best so far. I am especially happy with the ring, which has gone through a couple of styles. I wanted the standard three ring ropes, and finally came to this design. I'd like to take this down so I took some quick pics before I did and thought I would post them here. This is a view toward the entrance ramp and the skyboxes above. From here you can see cameramen, pyro going off, lights, and an announcer and referee standing at ringside. I've had to steal many civilians to be fans, but just how did they get into the arena? This is one of my two ticket lines. I do not have the skill, or spare bricks, to create a magnificent arena, but I did try to pack as much detail in as possible. You can sort of see the turnstiles in this picture (better in the previous picture), and that is something else I like since they can turn and work well. Now for a match, Space Police vs. Chewbacca! -Another fun thing about wrestling Lego is the variety of weapons you can use. Chewbacca has stolen the medic's stretcher and it using it the WRONG way! -Classic use of the garbage can in the ring. -Oh, what is he thinking?? -Ouch!! And this match is pretty much over. Thanks for looking! (And yes, I am very excited about the pro wrestler from the new collectible minifigures!)

Very well written review. I, too, did not purchase this set until years after it had been discontinued. All in all a very awesome set with features I wish today's sets had. A BED in a castle? No way. I love all of those little details. I'm surprised to hear Ninja didn't sell well, as it was one of my favorite late 90's lines. But unfortunately I didn't purchase many of the sets until recently when I really stocked up... ...and also bought up just about all of the 'Bandit' minifigures from Bricklink.

Congratulations, everyone. Keep all of us legoholics in check. :]

I will admit that I am a member of the MB forum as well. :[ It was during a crazy time in my life! Lego Castle was full of colorful knights, and their Dragons line was too appealing to pass up. Granted they look nice on a shelf, but don't try to play with them or they'll break. In my Flickr you can see where I tried not to photograph the top shelf of a portion of my Lego collection, but there is still some evidence of the lower halves of some MB Dragons ships. http://www.flickr.com/photos/7893418@N03/3...57622346056341/