mania3

Yeah, those sets last year came out on November 7th or 8th to coincide with that event in Orlando. I purchased mine from LEGOLAND California the same day, as they got them there as well. Does anyone know if they are having that event again? If so, that might be when they first appear.

You definitely could connect two. It's just connected as anything else modular is, with the technic pins. So it'd be pretty easy to build a second one and double the length.

It actually has seven.

Yeah, I was thinking it's got a tremendous amount of potential. You pretty much covered all the ideas I had initially.

Awesome Mariann, thanks for doing that. I try to read your blog every week or so, you have some really phenomenal posts that I wouldn't normally find elsewhere. Glad you liked the review.

Yeah, I totally agree. If there was ever a question in our minds, it's certainly safe to say we're living through a new golden age of LEGO.

Sorry for anyone who was momentarily inconvenienced by the bandwidth overload. I never expected to go through 25 GB of photo views in less than 12 hours.

Yes, they were down. But I caught it immediately and took care of it. For those interested, here is the new sword piece featured in the set. I thought it was new, but I wasn't sure.

I am forever and will remain a LEGO apologist. Though I have to agree about the color scheme. Why not red, or blue, even?

Though the colors are wrong.

Crystal King Set #: 8962 Theme: Power Miners Year Released: 2009 Piece Count: 168 Minifigs: 2 List Price: $19.99 USD I don't think I'm alone when I share that many fans were a bit hesitant with this set. But I think this set represents a classic example of a new, burgeoning LEGO psychological condition called The Power Miners Effect. Now, this is certainly not a condition we might hope to see in the future DSM-V, no, this is a pop-culture phenomenon that occurs when most everyone who sees a Power Miners product can't help but initially say, "Yuck." While this is doubtfully exclusive to Power Miners themes, it is most often seen in Power Miners themes, thus my need to coin the phenomenon known as The Power Miners Effect. That being said, I bring your attention to the Crystal King, a set that has received more groans than usual. But if anyone can recall the initial disgust that came with the Power Miners revelation, you might be inclined to corroborate my understanding of The Power Miners Effect. Because, invariably, the "Yuck" turns into or at the very least That being said, let's get busy! The front of the box. The rear, which features things I will likely explain in greater detail. Inside the box there are three bags. Two containing multiple parts, and a single bag containing the head and jaw of the Crystal King himself. There is a single, small instruction manual included in this set. These pieces are so cool to me. I don't know how practical they seem to me at the moment in terms of imaginative application in MOCs, but it just strikes me as a piece I would crave as a child. I can see this becoming a set people puzzle over in MOCs 20 years from now, wondering where that rare rock piece came from, as people do from strange exclusive pieces in the past. The set includes three, and for the sake of display, I flipped the center one over so you could see the bottom. They are all three identical. A close up of the Crystal King's head, jaw agape. The rear of the Crystal King's head. If you were looking up into the skull, you'd see two tecnic pin holes. Front view, jaw closed. Jaw and head separated. The two come apart quite easily, though they are packaged and shipped connected. The two Power Miners. All in all, it seems to be things we've seen a few times over. Nothing that impressive. Rear view. Again, nothing that impressive or new in the series run. As usual, the dual sided faces are present. The initial phase of construction has us building this backpack drill unit that is used to combat the Crystal King. A view of the completed drill unit without user. A view of the completed drill unit in action. The Crystal King is built in sections, then connected through the ball joints. Here is a shot of the sections that need be completed before assembling the fully finished Crystal King. Given the low parts count, this is an extremely quick build. A shot of the King himself, alone, and ready to defend his crystalline kingdom. My quick and only gripe with this set is that the level of crystal detail apparent in the waist up is lacking in this model. A couple extra crystal pieces on the feet would've made this model more sensible. The usurpers come quick, and the King is just as quick to act. A view from behind. An obligatory action shot. A view of the extra pieces. I purposely brought up this notion of The Power Miners Effect for the most specific reason of personal experience. When I first saw this set, I was really put off. It seemed so anti-climactic. And while it's still not the Crystal King I would've expected I'm still more impressed with it after building it, as seems to be the case with LEGO products. There are a few pieces in this set that I think are pretty neat, and the set's moderate price tag make them a fun thing to pick up. While I don't expect fans to be doing cartwheels down the street to pick this one up, I do think the bashing was a bit premature, my own included. I think opinion initially was cruel to the Power Miners theme, but history will bode well for it.

Ah, yes. You are absolutely right. I feel dumb for having mistaken that. Thank you for correcting me!

It's not a far drive from Anaheim to LEGOLAND, honestly. About an hour, at the worst. You'll be so close to all these sets! You should rent a car and head down! LEGOLAND is a fun place to visit, with great retail options.

Yes, I should reiiterate that I found all three Castle sets at LEGOLAND, California. The two other sets, King's Battle Chariot and Troll's Mountain fortress have reviews that I will be producing soon.

Drawbridge Defense Set #: 7079 Theme: Castle Year Released: 2009 Piece Count: 335 Minifigs: 7 List Price: $39.99 USD So, for me, this was a highly anticipated set. Unlike the King's Battle Chariot this set features figures you can't get your hands on anywhere else. For those who weren't able to scoop up the Castle Advent Calendar you'll finally be able to get your Jester. The Queen and the Gold Knight are entirely new additions to the line, and both are quite impressive in their own right. So, I present to you the first review of the last Castle sets of 2009, #7079 - Drawbridge Defense! This is the front of the box most everyone had seen by this point. On the back we see the Gold Knight apparently failing to secure the queen, who is being escorted away by skeletons. The Jester, in a last ditch effort, is going for the crossbow snipe. And of course, atop the tower we have the historically accurate representation of flick-fire missiles. Another photo prominently features the Gold Knight. Also, I found the artwork on the back to be quite epic and pretty well designed. The water and waterfall going between the tower and bridge were pretty neat looking. On the top of the box we get a look at this sets great figure lineup! Two exclusive figures, and one rare figure, with three skeletons and a Crown Knight make the price tag on this set extremely reasonable. Inside the box we get four bags of parts, and two BURPs. Unfortunately, having made a joke in my last review about the mangled instruction manual, I likely brought on the karma of what this box held. Due to an extremely bent and wadded manual, I was unable to photograph it. But for the point of the review, I will share that the box contains a single manual of average book size with, as one might expect, the usual box art displayed on the front. The initial stage of building will use up the first two bags to construct the base of the main structure and the seven splendid figures in this set. Mixed between the two were all the various parts, rather than having one hold the tower parts and the other hold the minifigure parts. Here's the bad guys in the set. Three skeletons, two white, one black. I honestly have, like most Castle collectors, an abundance of these guys, but I'll always take an extra hood piece and skeletal horse. So all in all, not a bad inclusion. But, here is what most of you came for no doubt. These figures, are in my opinion, absolutely fantastic. I can never have enough Crown Knights, honestly. And though it may seem an odd point to expound on, the Crown Knight in this set need not be added. This siege could have been a one man defense on part of the awesome Gold Knight figure, but TLC no doubt went the extra mile and threw an extra knight in the set. That being said, the Jester is phenomenal, as those who bought the Castle Advent Calendar are aware. The Queen too is an absolutely great figure. Here is a better look at the knight and all the detail he has. Leg printing, a great chest print, armor, helmet, sword, shield, and the plume in his helmet make for one phenomenal figure. And, that's not to mention--- He also has back printing. Next up is the Queen. Another wonderful figure included in this set. All of her details are phenomenal, including--- The detail in her back printing as well as--- That she has a dual sided head. Then there is of course the Jester himself. Initially, I assumed him to be exactly the same as the Jester in the Castle Advent Calendar, except for the fact that he has--- A dual sided face in this set. Which is pretty appropriate for the fact that he's facing a deadly invasion. I could hardly imagine even the most jovial fellow laughing his way to the grave as an army of skeletons march their way into his only safe haven. The bottom half of the tower presents us with nothing noteworthy in terms of building, and the second half of the build gives us the top half, and the connection for the drawbridge, as well as a ramp descending down to ground level. Here is a view of the completed tower with bridge lowered. And here is a view of the tower with the ramp attached and the bridge lowered. And a second view of the entire construction from the side. This is the mechanism for raising and lowering the drawbridge with the technic lever holding the bridge up when raised by wedging between the teeth on the gear. Though I can't recall which sets this mechanism appeared in, it is quite familiar to me and something I can recall building at least a couple of times. Here is a shot of the drawbridge raised up, the moat exposed. "You SHALL NOT pass." A final shot of the completed set with figures in place. In closing, I have to say that any self-respecting Castle fan would have to get this set. The parts are entirely unremarkable, granted, but with a simple modification, this set could easily be incorporated into the King's Castle Siege. The figures in this set make this one impossible to pass up. And at the price tag of only $39.99 USD, 7 figures make it a steal. Remember, the King's Castle Siege only had figures more, but cost an extra $60 USD and those figures sported none of the diversity seen in this set. At the time, the main sell of that set was the King minifigure, but it has been thrown into enough sets as to have saturated the market at this point. I think this set is fantastic, though the construction is for the most part unremarkable. For anyone who has built the Fantasy Era Castle sets up to this point you won't find yourself stunned by innovations in design, as the techniques are nothing new.

Again, I don't think these are in LEGO Retail Stores yet. I found these at LEGOLAND, so everyone is clear on that. Going to post a review of the Drawbridge Defense set in about an hour or two.

If I recall correctly, Guggenheim never designed another building in New York City because most New Yorkers remarked at how this building looked unmistakably like a toilet.

Yep, exactly. For $100, I thought it was hard to pass up the four of them. Almost 4,000 parts, 40 minifigures, 4 dragons... I couldn't resist. Plus, I'm getting 4x the LEGO for the regular price of one.

I have not built it yet. But I will definitely review it, provided someone doesn't beat me to it. I'm waiting to review all the new sets I bought until finals end this week. I'm a little swamped to review them right now. But we'll see. At the very least I should start churning out reviews in the next week or so.

These are absolutely brilliant. Great job.

All the time. More than I care to recall actually. Even official LEGO sets. It's frustrating either way. I built the Factory Market Street set and dropped it moments later. Infuriating.

Yeah, I second the steampunk nod. This is a pretty great MOC. If only you had adapted it a bit further for the Star Wars Invasion contest.

Actually, given my recent track record, I'm stunned they've come into possession of them before me.

Yeah, it is pretty awful. But I have made it long clear that if I buy one set from a theme, I buy the whole theme. I'm compulsive like that.

Yeah, I'm not a big mech fan by any measure, but I really love this set. So I'd have to agree.