Hive

Microscale buildings sure aren't for me either and neither these mini modulars or the architecture series really does anything for me at all. They don't pack as much details, there's no minifigs and/or accessories, no animals, etc... but eh, to each his own. I see these micro scale buildings as just another theme, and not all themes can appeal to everyone. Sometimes, LEGO tries something a bit out of their usual comfort zone (like Bionicle, Mindstorm, those huge and ugly Knights Kingdom figures, LEGO games, etc) - and I'm glad they do. It's always good to be innovative and try new things, and quite often they seem to hit the spot for lots of people. I will say however that the Tower Bridge (which is probably somewhere between micro and mini scale) is pretty impressive, in spite of my favor towards mini scale only buildings.

What a fantastic piece of art! Brilliant!

I'm not really into City these days, but I can still appreciate a wonderfully different (and bold!) set like this. Quite fantastic. I'd love to see it as a part of a bigger airport layout.

I think you might regret the purchase when/if they release a Jean Grey figure in a set. This Superheroes line will likely last for many years (if successful) due to new movies coming out several times per year, so I'd say the chances of getting her through a retail LEGO set will be quite high. Perhaps not necessarily as Phoenix, but is that particular costume worth $100 to you? Just think of all the other stuff, LEGO and other stuff, you could get for that kind of money... it's just a minifig, after all.

If you have the cash, definately get Helm's Deep. I feel it's very special.

The Mill has the funny exclusive fish-man character with the shell on his head. That alone makes it a better set. Also, it's a complete building - not 3-4 smaller bits and pieces that just creates a scene.

Don't forget their shifty currency conversions. I don't even want to begin calculating how much I've lost on that account.

I don't quite get why you just leave them on the shelves instead of informing staff.

That particular Flying Dutchman was never made in actual bricks and is merely a computer render. The guy who did it specifically stated that it did not have the structural integrity to be an actual LEGO set.

Pretty sure that Valve owns all actual rights to Portal. EA just distributed the physical copies of the product, nothing more.

Quite nifty as it stands there. Is that Whitecap Bay I spot below? How does that look next to these buildings? I've been thinking of getting it myself, for my medieval setup... I personally have full confidence in Helm's Deep and Uruk-Hai Army becoming great outer walls for the village, with some modding. The detail level is already quite high, they probably just need some added height. But you did that already, right? Start with MMV, as it won't be around much longer I think. It has had an unusually long life already while Helm's Deep is brand new and won't get discontinued for a while. But ultimately, I think you should get both. Both are simply amazing Castle sets. IF you were to only get one, however, it depends on what you're after. Given that you have two fine castles already, do you want another castle so you can mod one huge castle - or do you want something fresh and different? Choose depending on that answer.

Oh I agree that the name is pretty terrible. I gave it this name mostly as a joke-reference to the names of Kingdoms sets, which weren't all that great. This name is a direct counter to Escape from Dragon's Prison. I felt it was amusing that half of the sets or so included the name 'prison' or 'attack' and wanted to go with that. My first idea definately was to include the name 'harbor' in some capacity. "Royal Harbor", "Lion Harbor Attack" or something along those lines. Thanks for the kind words btw.

Is that a Pokemon in your barn?

Indeed! I was waiting for someone to notice. I wanted to pay homage to the #1 Fantasy set I wish I had. Some fine day, I will get it! Yeah if I had 7029, I would build the two together for a larger port. And then use The Black Pearl to build a better Skeleton Ship, but that's for another project... Thanks again for the nice comments!

I think the "Joust set as outer wall" idea is great in principle, except that it's a 100 % open arch. Not very defensible. The King's Castle doesn't fit with MMV at all due to it's size and somewhat lack of complexity. What I'm going to do myself is get a Helm's Deep set and mod it with pieces from King's Castle (which I will sacrifice for parts, as it doesn't fit with the village at all in my head) to form an outer wall for the village that can be laid siege to by Dragon Knights. The village itself will be MMV, MVR and some other assorted buildings. If I ever get the Joust set, I will probably add the actual jousting scene but use the rest for parts. At the other end of the village, I will have a harbor and, if space on my table allows it, an attacking ship. If you don't mind fantasy elements, Hagrid's Hut from Harry Potter would make a great witch's hut. I bought it for that myself after seeing a picture here on Eurobricks by a member who used it for exactly that purpose, which I thought looked great.

Yeah some of them look like they could be interesting additions to any Pirates collection. Let's hope they will be part of a 2013 Ninjago wave.

Damn! You sure are going all-in on this!

No I agree with you, to me it was a huge dissapointment. Only really good parts are the exclusive Black Falcon stuff and the green princess. The buildings doesn't impress me hugely, though the actual jousting scene is decent enough. I hope they do a MMV II some day with new buildings in the same style.

I will give you that it is indeed a very impressive set. But in my mind, nothing else is (currently) quite as good as the MMV. It's a different style though and the buildings are of a newer nature. So if you want to do a medieval setup, I think they need to be severely modified to fit with the MMV. But that's just my opinion, of course.

Why not use one of the classic Pirates monkeys instead?

In my opinion, nothing else is in the same league as MMV. Though the closest will probably be the Kingdoms Joust, which fits in style and, of course, theme. Mill Village Raid is a decent fit as well.

Thanks for the positive replies.

Thanks. I'm hoping to inspire people with ways to "Kingdoms-ify" their LEGO collection. That, and just having fun fooling around with the builds.

Seeing how we won't get anymore Kingdoms set from LEGO, I decided to prolong the life of such a magnificent theme a bit myself: by modding sets from past and present LEGO themes (Castle as well as non-Castle) to look like something that could have been released as part of the Kingdoms theme. Some sets will be changed mor dramatically than others, but I will attempt to make them all seem like believable LEGO sets. This is my second (and long overdue) creation (the first can be found here). It is, as most will probably spot, a modification of the 2009 Pirates set: 6242 Soldier's Fort - added some homage to a certain previous Castle set as well. I've always loved ports and ships and felt that most Castle themes were lacking in that department, and Kingdoms certainly is no exception (with there being zero such sets). So here's my own addition! I apologize for the poor pictures, they are taken with my phone because my camera decided to stop working. The name, Escape from the Lion's Prison, is my attempt to use a name that would be consistent with other set names for Kingdoms sets. Here it is: From another angle: The set has the same modularity as Soldier's Fort and an example of a different configuration can be seen here: The figures: Once again: I apologize for the poor pictures, I hope you can cope!

Haha awesome.