user_mat

The first one I opened was the deep sea diver and I was pleasantly surprised to find back torso printing. I was thinking that the rest of the series would have back torso printing as well. Unfortunately the other ones that I opened (Santa, business man, evil robot, conquistador) do not. What's up with that? I know back printing is not normal for CMF but why only the deep sea diver? Anyway, he's my favorite from this series. Great printing and the helmet is perfect. I can't say the same for the others that I've purchased. Evil Robot is kind of meh and I don't see why everyone is so excited about it. I prefer the wind-up robot from Series 6. Santa's torso printing is poor as the white looks pinkish. The business man's head looks of poor print quality. Anyway, I was expecting better after the deep sea diver... oh well.

I voted above average. It's just as detailed as MMV but the castle feels chopped off in the back. I also think Lego is kind of jabbing people by showing two sets being combined. Doing so means that the interior of the castle becomes less accesible and you have a bunch of extra bricks and minifigs that are not much used outside of MOCs.

Ah, but my three year old son loves the flick fire missiles. I agree it's not a home run but I still vote outstanding. It's like a mini-castle in design. I love the curved walls and the spiral staircase. It's not as "playable" as Helm's Deep though. Helm's Deep is my favorite of the current LotR sets.

Wow, you must have pretty high standards if you wouldn't pay $20 for Helm's Deep. Even if you don't like the structure, you have almost 1,400 bricks to work with. Sell the minifigs and you would pretty much have it for free. You must not be much of a Lego fan if you would pass that up.

Yes, it is. I found it on clearance for 50% off. Quite a nice set and it can be modded to fit a medieval theme. The front door and spotlight are really the only things that need to be altered. The collapsing tower is a bit annoying though. Great parts set on the whole if you can find it for the right price.

Here's my small village layout.

I'll try posting a picture of my shelf layout later this evening. My biggest issue with the Joust set is that the rooms inside the "castle" are so small. They are just barely big enough to fit a single minifig into. On the other hand, the King's Castle, which I just built is much more playable, but less detailed. I like that the King's Castle also is four walled, even if the walls are rather short. I'm in the process of setting up KC on baseplates. Just adding landscaping and a moat already makes KC look more detailed.

Definitely Joust. Actually, if you eliminate the jousting portion and the side walls and instead frame the MMV buildings around the castle portion you have a pretty neat little medieval city scene that fits nicely on a shelf.