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Matt Hein / Reviews / Archives / 6098 / | |
This review was written for the week of May 25th to June 1st.
One of lego company’s black sheep models, King Leo’s castle represents something that has all bark but no bite, elegance yet little fortification, and completely outrageous in design. Combine all of these elements, plus a severe lack of defense and what is the culmination? Well, it certainly isn’t as pretty as the design may look from afar. Now don’t get me wrong here - I don’t hate this model! However, from taking a look at it, I must certainly say that TLC’s design group definitely hit the nail on the wrong side of the head here. How so? You may ask to yourself. Well, look no further than its structurally inept design. Crafted to resemble something straight out of a fantasy book, the the castle consists of several large and chunky walls planted into the ground, accented with several tenouos spires, which no wonder break and fall to the floor when hit with a catapult - or as lego may not have anticipated - a simply brushing by. Another mystery about this palace, which may perpetuate itself is its lack of stairwells... Now tell me, how should someone ascend a castle without a staircase or ladder? Are they supposed to grapple to the next floor? This sounds like a serious design flaw to me... However offending some of the aspects of this set may resound, the design still serves to catch the eye, which is a key factor in garnering attention. Of course, looking away from the design elements, I must say I wasn’t most impressed with the lineup of large and useless/ lackluster pieces, although the inclusion of *gasp* bricks and plates among the mess surprised me greatly. Since I would not even bother to consider wasting my time commenting about the less useful elements of the set, I’ll instead spend my time highlighting notable pieces, ones such as the stained glass panel (very ingenious). Penants, ensigns, lion busts, quarter sloped spires, and cylindrical elements, also abound in this set, as well as those ever useful but rarely plentiful light grey bricks. However, with a pitiful count of part in comparison to larger sets, this hurts the rating. As a known key to conveying elegance in a model, the lego group even failed terribly at presenting a fluent and tangible color scheme in the model, concentrating on a large amount og light grey dark grey and black. In essence this factor attributes to the model a very hastily constructed look which of course suggests any notion other than elegance... Worse enough, it seems there was an attempt to remedy the castle with a few brown highlights, but this only aggrivates the problem. Perchance lego had intended this effect, but to refute that argument, why then would it be noted as a palace of regality? However, I must admit the color isn’t entirely off center, but it could use a bit less light grey and some more black with blue. About the only feature in which this model excells would have to be function, as it seems immensely prevalent inside and outside of the model. From the front to its innards, I managed to find a good deal of mving panels, firing catapults, retracting sides and of course, revolving panels. One particular effect which caught my attention was the use of hinged panels to suspend a tower - and when fired upon - counterfire a projectile at the assailants. And this factor saves the rating just a bit. In terms of alternate models, this model once again takes a serious low, unless by some odd twist of fate, the builder can work his/her way around the proporation of large elements to construct a structurally true and beautiful model. However, I have yet to see anything created to this effect, and do not expect to see one in the near future. The deciding factor here has to be the lack of basic bricks and plates, which theoretically constitute the skeleton of any model. As the saying goes, without any bones, there is no body, and this is no more prevalent then in King Leo’s Castle. On Finalization, I realyl can’t reccommend this castle to any serious builder unless they absolutely need to have this model for the stained glass, maiden’s hat or sloping roof elements, although the collector may not care at all. Instead, I would strongly reccommend Royal Knight’s Castle for the casual and serious lego fan. My suggestions? You may wish to avoid this set at all costs, as in the long run, it definitely resounds as a poor investment and another compelling reason for lego hire a new set of set designers. Suggestions for a review? Send either Ben or Matt your ideas. Back to .castle |
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