dj2005

Title of Set: 10000 Guarded Inn Theme: Castle/Legends Year Released: 2001 Pieces Count: 246 Minifigures: 4 Original Price: $25 (USD), Unknown (EUR), Unknown (GBP) Current Prices: BrickLink Price Guide Further Information: Brickset, Lugnet, Peeron, Photobucket Album The Guarded Inn is always accepting guests and whether these guests are friend or foe, they can always find a hot meal and a warm bed to welcome them to a place away from the gruesome battles that plague their lands. Instruction Booklet: At 246 pieces, this set uses an instruction booklet. Containing a total of 30 steps, the booklet is easy to follow and has good contrast which helps the building process go smoothly. Some steps also have sub-steps for any of the more complicated areas. Minifigs: A Black Falcon, two Lion Knights, a white horse, and a female innkeeper are included. Accessories: Plenty of accessories that can suit several guards and even provide the innkeeper with items such as a pan to serve any patrons who are in need of refuge. The red cone is the innkeeper's hat. What is not shown in this picture are three plants with flowers and a black cape (identical to the blue cape). Unique Pieces: Two red corner wall panels, one red straight wall panel, a blue door, and a printed black flag. The printing on the flag is highly detailed and exists on both sides. Completed without Minifigs: Overview: The roof has a watchtower that has a usable space of 4x4 studs. The wall walkway is 2x20 studs, with an extra 4x9 studded area for an off duty guard to drink mead. Front: Not much to be explained here. The single yellow shutter and blue door obviously work on a hinge system. A large chimney can also be spotted, along with the halberd clipped to the wall. Front Open: The whole front facade of this inn utilizes two hinge bricks. Once swung open, this provides easy access into the internal area. Side Open: Another single yellow shutter. And again, the window itself is arched giving the inn a realistic architectural look. One of the many small things that really make this set so special. Side Closed: As before, but with front closed. Back: The back is open and, as does the hinged front, allows access to the innards. There is a yellow brick build table, with a 2x2 yellow brick stool. A blue goblet and flower plant decorate the place. Towards the front of the structure a small stove can be seen where the chimney begins. There is a place to stick a spare shield, perhaps one from a guest, into the wall. A brown lance with a green flag clips to the outer wall. Side Wall: The wall is four panels long and three bricks wide. The wall can connect to other sets released during this time period via a technic pin on each end. Closeups: Interior: A closer view of a passageway to the underside of the walled area - a joining of two plates create a 6x8 studded area. A better view of the stove/fireplace can also be seen. Walkway: Where the previously mentioned passageway leads to. Bay Window: A nice little nook that can possibly sit another minifig. Attic & Watchtower: There is a very small attic included in this set. A regular chest is unlikely to fit due to the small size. It does create another nice architectural point that can be viewed through the front's window, though. Attic Window: Another small detail found within this set. Really wraps up the whole exterior while breaking up the otherwise all black roof. Walkway with Front Opened: Here is a view with the front facade all the way opened. As shown, there is a good amount of space between the flag pole and wall. Front Facade: Backside of the front facade. Completed with Minifigs: How the set looks when completely finished. Scenery: Set in a landscape poorly constructed by me. Reviewer's Score: Playability: 10/10 - Unlimited amount of possibilities. There can be an attack occurring, or just friendly banter flowing throughout the inn. The inn can be a part of a castle, a keep, an outpost, a town, and so on. Two factions are included, which provides the option of conflict or peace. Design: 10/10 - This set is a work of art. The colors and architectural techniques are very impressive and just feel right. Only flaw is not being able to easily fit a chest in the attic, but at least there is an attic. Price: 9.9/10 - Four minifigs, including one rare innkeeper and beautifully printed flag is a very good deal. Another minifig would've made this an absolute 10/10. Total: 29.9/30 - If you can find it then buy it, build it, and enjoy it!

I voted for BaronSat. It just goes to show that behind even the most innocent of exteriors, evil may be lurking.

I think you picked the perfect set for the finale as it really looks amazing and the price even more so. Thanks for the great review, TheBrickster! It was definitely worth the wait and I love the poll options.

Could be, but isn't the ammo suppose to be loaded then set on fire?

It's a rental.

I got it for the two Lion Knights. The accessories aren't shabby either.

Title of Set: 6057 Sea Serpent Theme: Castle/Black Knights Year Released: 1992 Pieces Count: 117 Minifigures: 5 Original Price: $16.50 (USD), Unknown (EUR), Unknown (GBP) Current Prices: BrickLink Price Guide Further Information: Brickset, Lugnet, Peeron, Photobucket Album The Black Knights are part of some of the best Classic Castle sets and the Sea Serpent is no exception. Read on to find out why. Instruction Pamphlet: The usual foldout instruction pamphlet is included with this set. The steps are easy to follow and the pictures display everything in great detail. A total of 15 steps are present. Parts: While at only 117 pieces, the Sea Serpent comes with five armed minifigs and a beautiful cloth sail. Quite a few large pieces are included. Minifigs: Three Black Knights and two Black Falcons are included. Armed with crossbows, long bows, shields, varying helmets, and ABS plastic swords, the minifigs are definitely a focal point to this set. Accessories: This set has plenty of weapons and armor to go around for suiting up the many included minifigs. A thing to note is the oars. In previous Castle ships LEGO used regular halberds and spears in their place, but now with the Pirate theme out, LEGO can include actual brown oars. Also, three red plumes come included. Unique Pieces: A printed flag displaying the Black Knights’ emblem and a cloth sail, again with the Black Knights’ emblem, make up the unique parts in this set. Not many, but they are both great to have. Partially Built: Top/Side: Bottom: Due to the large pieces, the build is quick and the base of the ship is just about done in only a few steps. The black circles on the bottom on the ship create a floating effect, as well as adding to the structural durability. Extra Tidbit: A 2x2 barrel can fit snuggly into an unused compartment on the boat. Sadly, it is one stud too short to accommodate a chest. Set without minifigs: Overview: Front: Without Sail: With Sail: Side: Without Sail: With Sail: Back: Without Sail: With Sail: For the few amount of pieces that create this boat, it is actually very roomy. All five fully armed minifigs can safely fit onto the boat, along with a few extra accessories. Small clips hold the oars in place. The sail is easy to attach and the only troublesome issue may be tying two knots with the included black string. Completed set with minifigs: As mentioned in the previous section, all five minifigs fit onto the boat. The Voyage: Reviewer's Score: Playability: 9.9/10 – A boat is always fun to play with, whether in actual water or just on plain blue construction paper. Since there are two factions, one can have the Black Falcons challenge the Black Knights. Plenty of accessories also help vary each time one plays with it. One can even just spend time by dressing up the minifigs in different weapons and armor. Design: 9.8/10 – The colors look very good and stay true to the Black Knights. The flag is perfect for this set. While large pieces are used, they create a realistic look of a boat and provide the space required for the minifigs. Only thing is, not much more other than the minifigs can fit directly onto the boat, which is to be expected for a small set. Price: 9.3/10 – Five fully armed minifigs, a cloth sail, a printed flag, and a ton of accessories for only $16.50. A good deal, indeed! Total: 29/30 – Absolute must buy for any ship lover and/or Castle fan. The final product is a great looking ship, five very useful and desired minifigs, more than enough accessories… what more can one ask for? *Instruction pictures are from Peeron. *Printed Black Knights’ flag is on upside-down in my pictures, except in the scenery shot, as I did not notice until after uploading all the pictures. *Thanks goes to Mister Phes for the scenery backdrop and SlyOwl for the guide.

Title of Set: 6039 Twin-Arm Launcher Theme: Castle/Lion Knights Year Released: 1988 Pieces Count: 73 Minifigures: 2 Original Price: $8.50 (USD), Unknown (EUR), Unknown (GBP) Further Information: Brickset, Lugnet, Peeron, Photobucket Album Set 6039 Twin-Arm Launcher is one of the earliest forms of catapults within the Castle theme. Armed with two side-by-side trench buckets and manned by two Lion Knights, this catapult is ready for action. Instruction Pamphlet: The instructions utilize a foldout system much like what is found in many smaller LEGO sets. All 15 steps are displayed in surprisingly large, clear pictures making this a very simple build. The front of the pamphlet accurately portraits what the set will look like once built. Parts: With only a 73 piece count and only two minifigs, this set does not offer a whole lot. Still, some nice pieces are in there. Minifigs: Two ordinary Lion Knights are included in this set, along with a white horse. Accessories: Here is where this set shines its brightest. Two regular gray guard helms are included, along with various weapons. The sword is not made from the flimsy plastic that recent Castle sets use, but of strong ABS plastic that takes a good amount of force to bend. Arguably the best items of this set are the barding and two round shields. More detail on both of these in the following section. Unique Pieces: The barding has a red base coat with yellow details prominently displaying two lions on each side. The round shields do not have a U-clip, but instead, a single bar grip. Both the barding and round shields are quite rare and were featured in only a few vintage sets. Partially Built: Many of the steps are for building up the bulk of the catapult. Set without minifigs: Front: Side: Back: The catapult is almost all black in color. The arms of each launcher have a finger design that allows manual movement at each end: the handle and the trench bucket. Yellow barrels are used as ammo. The front of the catapult holds a brown barrel container and two brown spears. The back has plenty of room for the four yellow barrels, as well as the two flags. There are two wheels on each side and two red barrels that, I assume, are to emulate torches. Lastly, the two black antennas are there to keep the launching arms from going all the way down. The 2x2 red tiles that exist on each side also help with this. Completed set with minifigs: As displayed before but with the two included Lion Knights and white horse. Reviewer's Score: Playability: 6.5/10 - Alone, this set does not offer a whole lot as a catapult is made for destroying the opposition. Still, some fun can be had with shooting yellow barrels around the room. Design: 8.5/10 - The catapult doesn't flip/tip when launching and the structure is very stable as a whole. The four brown wheels make it easy to push around while not making it look childish. The catapult is able to fling the barrels very nicely - not too far and not too close. The uses of red and yellow accents are great and there is no doubt that the Lion Knights have built this siege weapon. Price: 5/10 - The weakest area of the set. At the MSRP, it is too pricey for only two minifigs and 73 pieces when compared to other sets released during this era. Total: 20/30 - A mediocre set. The lack of an extra minifig and/or more accessories really hurt this set. Not all is bad, though. The design is nicely thought out, and the unique accessories are great pieces to have in one's LEGO collection.

Title of Set: 6017 King's Oarsmen Theme: Castle/Lion Knights Year Released: 1987 Pieces Count: 42 Minifigures: 2 Original Price: $3.75(USD) Further Information: Brickset, Lugnet, Peeron, Photobucket Album Being the smallest and cheapest of the Castle ship sets, King's Oarsmen only consists of a small rowboat and two Lion Knight Oarsmen. Whilst small in stature and in length, this is a superb impulse set of the late 1980s. Will these two brave Lion Knights keep their kingdom's waters safe from the dreadful Black Falcons? Read on to find out... Instruction Pamphlet: The instruction pamphlet of this set. Not much to mention other than it being easy to follow and that there are eleven steps in total. Parts: Not overwhelming in the parts department. Minifigs: For a mere $3.75, this set comes with two very nice minifigs. Both are Lion Knights but they each have a different torso print. One comes with the Crusaders gold lion shield pattern and the other with the metallic breastplate pattern that was used in a few vintage Castle sets. Accessories: A wide variety of accessories are included. There is a blue cape, one yellow background Lion shield, one blue background Lion shield, a single red flag, four plain white flags (which have discoloration in my pictures), a brown lance, a brown halberd, and finally, a brown spear. Unique Pieces: There are no set exclusive pieces, but there are a few rare ones as displayed in the above picture. Partially Built: +About halfway through the build. The boat takes form quickly. Set without minifigs: Front: Side: Back: Again, this is a small set so not a whole lot is going on. As pictured, this set contains a simple yet effective rowboat and nothing more. Completed set with minifigs: Both minifigs fit adequately onto the boat. One or both of the included Lion Knights can row or keep watch. The four white flags that work as a sail can be manually shifted to simulate direction changes in the wind. Victory: A prime example of why you don't want to mess with Lion Knights. Joke: While the Lion Knights excel in battle, they certainly aren't the brightest of the bunch. Reviewer's Score: Playability: 8.5/10 - In my experience, most impulse sets don't offer a whole lot of playability. This is still somewhat true for this set, but having two minifigs and a cute boat spices things up a great deal. Design: 9/10 - Once again, being an impulse set there aren't many pieces to use. The pieces that are included with this set create a wonderful boat. A thing to note: this set was released before the Pirates theme came into fruition, so the absence of actual oars and a cloth flag are not to be taken negatively into this score. Price: 9.5/10 - Most impulse sets of the modern day include only one minifig, but this has two that have great torsos! There are also a good selection of accessories and rare boat parts. Total: 27/30 - This set is a must buy for those who hold the desire to create a Castle themed fleet. Pair this set with 6049 and 6057 to build an admirable bunch of ships to transport one's troops from shore to shore.

That's it!

For some reason, I really like this set.

I voted for 3+ hours as it sounds right. However, I browse various sites at the same time using tabs so it is hard to know. Depends how much action is going on in this site, too.

I'm undecided whether to vote Average or Above Average for this set. $8.50 is a lot for fifty pieces and there aren't a whole lot of accessories, though the printed map and flag are nice additions. For the review, it's fantastic. I am really enjoying these unique backdrops for each review. Plus, I feel your pain with the white flags. At least yours are still white.

I discovered this review a month ago and since that point in time, I could not get the image of the sparkling golden chest out of my mind. I finally just purchased the chest for myself. I suppose this is a testament to how well honed your picture taking skills are. This set is definitely a nice one. I'm not a LEGO Indy collector, but I was tempted to purchase this set several times. The vehicles are very nicely detailed and have some cool building techniques, such as the wheel guards.

Ah yes, I remember accidentally stepping on these signs when I was a child. I voted a 5/5 as all of the signs are very useful, they are printed pieces, and they are quite cheap as a whole. Thanks for the review!

You've reviewed two of my most wanted Star Wars sets. I am sad that I cannot obtain these without purchasing them for x2-x3 the MSRP. Great reviews, btw.

Sent and thank you once again. I suppose I should be thanking KimT's daughter as well. Thanks, zorro. I wish you luck on any future raffles you partake in.

I think this is a nice set even though I do not own it. For $5 USD, it comes with two minifigs, a "dungeon," treasure, and best of all, the shiny breastplate.

Yes, it is an annoyance but I personally have grown to expect things of this nature. Again, good luck to everyone who entered.

I was in the same situation, Darkest Hope. After buying a few Star Wars sets I just didn't feel that were all that great so I went with Castle and enjoy it very much.

I usually pass on Black Friday due to its recent popularity, but I'll take a gander on what sales will be going on for LEGO.

I'll probably receive three of those sets (all the Castle ones) tomorrow so I will know how incomplete they really are. I'll report back when they finally arrive. Oh, and I do have other sets which are complete, but I like to do reviews on sets that either don't have any or have only one. Edit: I would like to be accepted into the Academy, if it's still open. :)

Thank you for the reply. I asked as I am expecting a few sets from ebay (gotta love Parcel Post ) and I noticed that a couple pieces are missing in the pictures. The sets are: 6074 (Falcon flag and perhaps the string), 6077 (the two flags, in their place is a blue one), 6989 (only missing one fig), and 10000 (missing the two flowers and possibly the innkeeper). I asked the seller about what is missing from the sets but heard no reply. This is why I try to avoid ebay as much as possible.

Are reviews of incomplete not-yet-reviewed classic sets (minor missing accents, such as a flag) accepted? Or must all parts be present for the review?

Personally, I am not liking how these sets are turning out. The only set that catches my eye, beside the impulse sets, is the Imperial outpost.