Stiel

Thanks! This is the only KKII set that I own, so no more KKII reviews from me, sorry. Instead of buying more sets, I bought about a dozen more minifigures from Bricklink, equipped them with various weapons, and also modified the fortress (adding an extra wall section, plus some minor changes, but in general, keeping the shape). The end result can be seen here: Scorpion Castle.

8802 - Dark Fortress Landing The set, as the name implies, is mainly a small fort that can be added to the main castle of the shadow knights. Also, this set often came together with 8801, a set that includes a ship and some colorful hero knights. That said, it can also be regarded as a small, stand-alone castle. I am going to take this approach. Name: Dark Fortress Landing Theme: Castle / Knights Kingdom II Year Released: 2005 Number of Pieces: 134 Minifigs: 2 Resources: BrickLink Peeron Brickset Box The front of the box shows the main model. The black clouds and rocky background give that dark feel to it, and the water, lightning and the smoldering rocks falling down make the picture very dynamic. The back of the box shows many things. In the center there is an alternate model, a high tower with a different (and more spectacular) ship design. Weapon assortment includes not just proper weapons, but basically anything that can be put into a minifig's hand. It also shows the minifigs, the notable play features and a close-up of the ship along with the boss. Instructions The main page shows the same picture as the front of the box. The building instructions are fairly straightforward. However, that's not all, there are much more than just the instructions inside: parts list, figures, another photo of that alternate model on the box, and a comic showing some action between shadow knights and various KKII hero knights. Front page: Random building page. The colors are easily distinguishable and realistic. Good quality instructions. Action comic for kids. Contents First come the 2 minifigures. The figures are one of the highlights of the set for me. I love the color scheme and the design of them. The scorpion torso and the ovoid shield are fantastic (I actually prefer the ovoid shield to the octagonal one), and the painted plate is also good. There are no back printings, and the torso under the plate is plain black. The helmets are also great, Vladek's evil mask is one of the best KKII visors. I also like that the weapons are black, it's almost like the scorpion knights have their own special weaponry ('these are MINE!'). I don't mind the KKII great sword for armored knights, and the standard halberd is certainly OK. Overall, I like the figures a lot. It's a bit of a shame there is only 2 of them, but at least they are completely different. Evil guys. Let's see them without their helmets. Evil, evil guys. Next up is a small ship. It goes well with the set. Nothing too spectacular, but nice use of the scorpion banner. No oars included. Then comes the main part, the fortress. It has only two wings (attached by hinges). This has several implications: 1) it can not be really closed, 2) it is not symmetric. It is also different from older designs in general; closest comparison might be 6059, but that castle has 3 sides. A possible solution for the 2 sides issue is to put it in a corner. , or you can of course buy 2 boxes to make one closed fortress. That gallery looks great with the torches, it makes me want to put an archer in there. Alas, there is none in the set... Nice design with the different shades of gray to direct attention. I also like the inclusion of the supports. This set is also a good example of how larger elements (rocks, panels) should be used. I like the entrance the most with the two black panels+supports combo. Also, there is a lot of room inside for the 2 minifigures. Complete set Overall, I like the look of it. Excellent use of colors: 1) dark red is a main color, even though there are only a handful of dark red parts, 2) the different shades of gray add variety and also direct attention to the more important parts of the building (gallery, door). The banner on the gallery is great, and they weren't skimpy about regular dark red flags either. There is the signature shadow knight tower design, which looks good, but it is not very practical (no room for minifigs). The shadow knight can use the defensive mechanism to pour smoldering rocks on anyone under him. Hm, come to that, Vladek is in a dangerous position... 'Arrrgh...!' 'Sorry, boss!' I am pretty happy with the set. In my opinion, the scorpion knights (the proper name is actually shadow knights) is by far the best subtheme in KKII; the motives and colors remind me of the golden era of castle. I also like the design of the building, it's a real castle that stands well on its own. The figures are also very nice, even if a little few. The conclusion is that any minor imperfections this set may have can be addressed easily, and on the other hand, it offers a lot of possibilities. Summary Playability: 7/10 (On its own, somewhat limited, but it still has one war mechanism and a ship.) Design: 8/10 (Solid design in general, some details can be improved.) Price: 10/10 (I ordered it MISB from BrickLink 4 years after its release for 22.50$ plus shipping.) Overall: 8/10 (One of the better sets in a poor era; good to start your scorpion army collection and to modify to your taste.) Comments and critics welcome!

6879 - Blizzard Baron Ice Planet 2002 is one of my favorite lines from Space, and the Blizzard Baron is one of my favorite sets from the line. This is what you get when good ideas meet good execution. The set displays most of the unique features of Ice Planet while retaining the classic design elements of similar spaceships. But let's get on to the details! Name: Blizzard Baron Theme: Space / Ice Planet 2002 Year: 1993 Pieces: 76 Minifigs: 1 Price: around $10 on BrickLink (good to excellent condition) BrickLink Peeron Brickset Brickshelf The set was released in 1993 as part of the Ice Planet 2002 subtheme. As usual, Lego released a mixture of ground and air vehicles of different sizes. This is the smallest spaceship (barring a tiny polybag aircraft). The theme has a unique blue-white-orange color scheme. Trans-neon orange was a new color in 1993, and with it, a number of new accessories in that color were released as well. The overall look is fresh and goes along well with the icy setting. Instructions The instructions is a single sheet of paper. I miss the times when even 200-piece sets' instruction manuals fit on a single piece of paper. Nice bluish background that makes it special without distracting from the pictures. Colors are easily distinguishable. (Come on, it's blue and orange, what did you expect?) Minifigure The minifig is, again, a nice blend of white, blue, black and orange. Torso has icy pattern, helm and airtanks are white, and a special orange visor with antenna and slit, mhm! It opens up just like regular visors. The guy himself seems young, but has white hair. I guess it has to do with the ice again? I can see right through the slit! ... and I have white airtanks. Not a rare piece by any means, but white airtanks have been missing from Space for some years before this theme. Nice to welcome back. The figure has several more accessories in orange: a chainsaw and a pair of skis. Essentials in a harsh arctic environment. Printed parts. Some ice-themed control panels and a nIce Planet printed slope. Spaceship The ship is by and large a standard design, its shape defined by the wings, the engines (orange dishes, nice!) and the screen (you can guess the color by now). However, the details are adapted to the needs of the Ice Planet. It sits nicely on three ski-pads: The back is actually a detachable radar station: The ship can operate without the radar as well. That said, where is the radar? Oh, here it is. Let's check the weather. The complete ship from the front. Great shape. Let's get in! The screen opens up like it should. There is also place for all those accessories. The skis go to the top and the chainsaw near the front. Ready to take off. It should be no problem, the number of control elements is certainly impressive for a ship of this size. Summary Overall, I am impressed indeed. The set has a good number of features and accessories. The colors are great, they give the ship a unique identity, with no single color ruling a large portion of it. The set simply has no defects I can think of! I am very happy to own it. Playability: 8/10 - The set is as playable as it gets with one minifigure. Design: 10/10 - Great design, keeps the best elements of older designs and improves them with nice theme-specific details to a great effect. Minifigure: 9/10 - Good color selection, on par torso pattern and nice visor as an extra. Parts: 9/10 - Great for building spaceships, and a handful of generally useful pieces too. Price: 9/10 - You get a lot for the price, and even these days, BL prices haven't soared too high. Overall: 9/10 - Fresh and classy. One of the nicest among similar-sized spaceships and also one of the better sets within the Ice Planet theme. 'Hello there, reader! ...hmm, what was that sound?' 'Bring back my ski! Stop!' 'Oh, no! He's getting away...!' 'You'll never get your ski back! Mwahahaha!' Thank you for your attention!

Chess sets have become somewhat of a tradition for the last few subthemes in Castle, and Kingdoms is no different. This set, apart from being a playable chess set, can also be regarded as an army builder/source for minifigures, with an excellent price-per-minifig ratio. It also compares favorably to previous chess sets in terms of general color scheme, minifigure selection and overall equipment. Name: Kingdoms Chess Set Theme: Castle / Kingdoms Year: 2012 Pieces: 201 Minifigs: 28 Price: $50 MSRP Resources: BrickLink Brickset Brickshelf Let's get started! The box My first impression of the box: it is huge! Of course, it has to be able to fit a chessboard, plus the box art shows that there is some sort of base for the board too, with bastions on the corners. The box is LEGO Games style, made of thicker, more durable cardboard, and the top of the box slides onto the bottom. I prefer this kind of box to regular ones for storage purposes, and I don't often buy LEGO Games, so the box is highly appreciated. Side of the box Three of the sides are bland; the only interesting side displays some of the minifigures. Bottom Actually, the bottom of the box is also printed. One of the smaller pictures show how the items are organized in the box, and there is a huge display of all the chess figures organized neatly. These are nice pictures, even though I won't stare at them that much. Contents Contents There is this huge baseplate of sorts, with bastions on the corners. Very fitting for a castle-themed chess set. On top of it, there is a regular 32x32 green baseplate (fitting right into it), then a piece of cardboard listing all the chess figures, then building instructions and five numbered bags. Bags 1-4 contain the pieces for the figures, and bag 5 contains the black and white squares of the chessboard. Nothing is glued, thankfully. Cardboard This might be useful if someone wants to play actual chess and is not familiar with LEGO figures. Most of the figures are intuitive, except perhaps the knights. Baseplate with bastions The raised baseplate is sturdier than first expected, but still not the same quality plastic as regular LEGO parts. Eventually, I decided against using it, but others might find it useful (e.g. as a base of a castle). Instructions The instructions booklet is slim, yet very detailed, with every single type of figure shown separately, down to pawns that differ in weapon only. Random page The instructions are nice and clear, but then again, it is not very important for a set like this. The whole set could easily be assembled just going by the box art. Less random page And this is how you put the complete set in the box once it's built. The board The board The first thing to build is the board. It is monotonous, but at least quick and absolutely easy. From a parts point of view: basic plates are always welcome, but I have no idea what to do with this many 4x4 pieces (apart from building a chess board, of course). The green baseplate is also nice, it has enough room to accomodate both armies if you decide to make some sort of combat scene. On to the main portion of this set: the minifigures. The Red Side Pawns The red pawns are regular soldiers with the quarter torso and armed with swords and spears (and shields). The two types of weapon give a bit of much needed variety. The choice of head is nice, one of the less-used heads. Actually, two different heads might have given even more variety, but that's probably asking for too much. Overall, the pawns are fairly standard, just as expected. Without equipment & from behind I have one quality issue though: the colors are slightly off. But more on this later, let's get on to the other figures. Rook, knight & bishop The rooks are straightforward builds from mostly common bricks. Each rook has two torches and an ovoid shield. The ovoid shields are nice since they are otherwise not so easy to come by. Again, the rooks are fairly standard, and I am happy with them. The red knight is a jester with a crossbow. In some older chess sets, the knight was often brick-built with a horse helmet, which is more easily recognizable as a chess figure. In general, I prefer a minifigure to that, but seriously, a jester? For a knight, something more combat-oriented would have been better. I assume that it is at least useful for those who don't have it from the impulse set. (I do.) At least there are no quality issues here. The bishop is one of the highlights of the set. It comes with the bucket helmet, a lion armor and an ovoid shield, which are all welcome, especially the plate. Its torso is more often used on archers, but the plate covers it anyway, so it's fine. The glaive/corseque is also nice, making this figure very distinct and well-equipped. Great! Without equipment The jester also appeared in his own impulse set, while a similar soldier was in the set Escape from Dragon's Prison (7187). From behind Both the knight and bishop have dual sided heads. You could switch to these once they are taken. King & queen No surprises here; the royal couple are familiar from other sets of the Kingdoms line. These are nice figures, even if they have been released before. The queen's hair color is dark brown (it has also been released in black before). Without equipment The king looks great, his torso very detailed with lots of ornaments. As for the queen, the gold on her torso is a slightly different shade than on her skirt. It's not much though, I only realized the difference after looking at the picture. From behind The queen has a dual sided head (in case she's taken, too ). The Green Side Pawns The green pawns are very similar to their red counterparts; this time with halberds and flails. The choice of head is strange; something less childish would have been better. I want grim soldiers ready for battle! These also have some problems with the painting. More on this later. Without equipment & from behind Ugh, that face... it is much better looking from behind! Rook, knight & bishop The green rook is fine; it differs from the red rook only in color scheme. The green knight is actually a knight! That is a nice surprise after the red jester. It is one of the trademark dragon knights from Kingdoms, which last appeared in the set 6918 Blacksmith Attack. He comes with an axe; I assume they wanted to give him something which is different from any of the pawns' weapons. Great minifigure, I am happy with this one. The bishop is, again, excellent, equipped with armor and ovoid shield. Unfortunately, the colors on the ovoid dragon shield are off. It's surprising since all the other shields in the set were OK. The torso is an archer torso again, but again, the plate covers it, or you can alternatively give the plate to the knight to have a fully armored knight. Either way, this figure is very useful. Without equipment Real heavy duty guys. The choice of heads is excellent here. They are more common ones, but on 2-of minifigures, that's fine. From behind No dual heads here. I assume these guys will keep their grim faces even in death (e.g. taken). King and queen The green king is a wizard similar to the one in the set 7955 Wizard, but there are some differences: the green cape, grey beard, and no dragon painted on the hat. He has the same scroll and wand as in 7955 Wizard. I think I overall prefer the impulse version a little bit more, but this one is abolutely OK as well. The green queen is technically a new figure, but from old parts; basically one more variation on the dark green-black 'barmaid' torso. Her head is the same as that of the red queen, but interestingly, here the annoyed face is put forward instead of the smiling one. She comes with a cape and a dagger. The dagger doesn't look like much of a weapon, it feels like they just tossed something in her hand. Also, the queen's hair pushes down her cape too much, which is poor design. Overall, I think that the green king and queen minifigures do meet the minimum requirements for the job, but just that, and they look definitely inferior to their red counterparts. Without equipment They don't look like much, do they? From behind You might notice that the queen's head is looking sideways. This is not an oversight on my part, and goes down as yet another quality issue. Interesting parts OK, so this is highly subjective, but for me, these parts are the most interesting: The lion plate is an especially rare commodity. I possibly would have passed on this set without it. The complete set It's a nice display, the colors of the two sides are distinct, and the figures are impressive. The raised baseplate with the bastions is a nice addition. Before the final verdict, there is one more thing to address. Quality issues My main quality issue is that some of the color on the minifigures were off. Red pawns The white on the red pawns' torso has a little pink hue, and the gold painting is darker than on figures from regular sets. It is actually not that bad, hardly noticeable in itself, but the comparison shows there is a difference. Green pawns Green pawns: again, the gold is darker than it should be. Among themselves, the pawns still look fine, but against an older figure, the difference is striking. Even the green shades are different. Bishops: I just wanted to mention that the gold painting is darker on the bishops' torsos as well, but seeing that there is very little gold on these torsos anyway, plus they are covered by plates, I think this is practically not an issue. Dragon shields Both of the yellow shades on the dragon ovoid shields are MUCH brighter than on other shields. It is actually quite bad, possibly the worst of all the color issues. I am not happy about this. Misprinted head Finally, the green queen's head is misprinted: the two faces are not exactly opposite to each other. Her hair still covers the back face, but this could be problematic with other types of hair. I am actually quite disturbed at the amount of quality issues. This is not what I am used to from LEGO. The value-for-money ratio of the set is still OK, but frankly, it would have been much better without all these pesky color and printing issues. Regarding these issues, my advice is that don't mix them with figures and items coming from regular sets, especially the pawns and the dragon ovoid shields. In among themselves, they look OK. I personally planned to use these figures as 'extra' armies anyway, so it's not that big of a problem for me, but still, it would have been nice to have the option to mix the figures up at will. Oh well. Conclusion Playability: 8/10 - either as chess or two opposing armies, it's nicely playable Minifigures: 8/10 - a few weird choices, but mostly great Quality: 4/10 - some colors are off; the weak point of the set Price: 10/10 - a lot of minifigures for a very reasonable price Pieces: 10/10 - very generous equipment Overall: 8/10 - a nice set, but with some quality issues Overall, this is a nice set with a very good value-for-money ratio, and I have no regrets about buying multiple boxes. It definitely delivered in the areas most important for me. Also, if you didn't have any Kingdoms figures before, you don't have to care too much about the color differences, and this is a great set to get two sizeable armies for a low price in one swoop. That said, you should consider the quality issues before buying this set.

Nothing comes really close. I guess Diagon Alley or Kingdoms Joust look fine in the same diorama. Haunted House is not close (that said, it's still one of the better exclusives).

He was asking about the Uruk-hai polybag set (though his actual question isn't clear for me).

That seems the most likely, yes, but there are other options, too, like another army pack for Helms Deep with elves (vs. Uruk-Hai), or Orthanc, the tower of Isengard to go with the Orc Forge.

That's definitely a good idea. I'm planning on using my extra (after the 2nd or 3rd) wall sections to add height to the existing wall and also to the main gate itself. They could use a little extra height.

Excellent! Truly characteristic, great shape and detail, and the minifigures are just too good. That's a lot of pieces; I expect this to be around $60. However, unlike Weathertop, this set seems to be worth it. (If it is indeed $60 and not more.) There was also the Berserker Uruk-hai and the Mordor orcs. Technically Gollum too, but I guess he doesn't count. Anyway, it's not without precedent to have a single-face head in this line.

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?S=9475-1

Benedict Cumberbatch is playing Smaug, so don't expect a regular LEGO minifigure face for him.

Well, the picture's filename includes 79003, which is known to be the set number of an upcoming Hobbit set, and the assortment of figures suggests that this set should be Bag End (Bilbo is wearing his home clothes, no enemies etc.). So it is speculation, but pretty solid in my opinion.

You are not alone with that. All the hobbits look the same to me. Ah well. On the other hand, the dwarves look fantastic! Very authentic and easily recognizable. I am really looking forward to the Hobbit sets now (along with the movies, of course).

Better upload it on somewhere like Flickr or Brickshelf and give a link.

Indeed, pearl dark gray crossbows are available from PAB. I already set aside a few for the Uruks. *waits for release impatiently* Quivers were also available from PAB at one point (at about two years ago, I don't recall precisely). I bought about 20, believing that will solve my quiver problems, like, forever. But then came the CM elf, and suddenly my elf army ate them up like there is no tomorrow. Anyway, back on topic: I think quivers are not necessary for Uruks. Crossbows take time to reload, which is not good when you are in the open, so I guess they could just use it as a one-shot weapon, then switch to sword. In the movie, I didn't see them reload either (unlike humans or elves, who did have quivers).

In the movie, the Uruk-hai were also using crossbows, so why not give a few of them crossbows as well? At least it offers a bit more variety (3 different weapons instead of 2 ).

Don't worry too much about that. Between all the double sided heads, we have 4 different faces, one of them is Éomer and the others can go to regular soldiers.

$30 is an excellent deal for this set. The set 7948 from Kingdoms cost $20, had 3 figs and 1 horse less (I consider the structures as roughly equal in the sets). That's actually quite comparable.

Uruk-Hai Army. It has good playability, lots of minifigures and even decent as a parts pack if you don't want the wall and the ballista. It has the best value-for-money ratio by far.

This topic doesn't make much sense without a poll...

The tattooed guy made a fun presentation, now I am leaning towards getting Orc Forge too. I love all the features, the accessories and the minifigs, too. Edit: this set doesn't have it easy, because it's closest to Uruk-Hai Army in my mind, which is tough competition. But 1 box of Orc Forge still seems to be worth it (along multiple Uruk-Hai Army sets).

I think raising the rock base of the main gate to 4 or even 5 bricks tall would be nice. But maybe it's just me.

You have a point in that space is definitely a subtheme, but that doesn't mean a figure in every single series. Series 2, 4 and 5 were all missing space minifigs.

Link for lazy people.

Well, I think that it's more like they cut the main set into two parts (to avoid making it a whopping $160 ). You really need at least one box of this set to go with Helm's Deep, as it has too few uruks and also no common human soldiers. What actually required some skillful design about this set is to make it work as a standalone set too, plus you can realistically attach multiple copies to the main set. I applaud TLG for these latter points.