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Join the weekly Classic Castle set review discussion. Please post your opinions on the set play ability, piece selection, design, etc. Which sets stand up to our catapult of critique and which ones crumble in shame!

This week’s set is 1590/1596 Ghostly Hideout.

Ghostly Hideout was first released in 1993 as part of the 1597 Castle Value Pack. Later in 1994 its number was changed to 1596. The set features a tree with a sliding rock that reveals a ghost. One Wolpack soldier and various accessories are also included.

While not a spectacularly awesome set, this is pretty good: tree pieces, ghost, Wolfpack (a very cool, and underutilised theme, unfortunately). The design isn't too bad, although stellar might be calling it mope than it is.

Anyway, I give it:

Parts: 8.5/10 (leaf pieces are always handy and I'm not a foe of LURPs/BURPs)
Playability: 7.5/10
Figs/Accessories: 9/10 (Wolfpack!)
Design (contemporary): 7/10 (this era had better sets...)
Design (universal): 8/10
Nostalgia: 8.5/10

Overall score: 8.08/10 (B+)

(EDITED FOR ADDITIONAL CRITERIA AND TO UPDATE VOCABULARY)

Overall, 1590/1596 is a great set for its size. You get a rarer wolfpack soldier with the popular ghost. You also get a grey parrot (which I think is just a small hawk) which is always nice to have. However, the rest of the parts are jsut regular parts you can find easily in other Castle sets. The BURP limits the possibilities of making an unique model with this set. For a Small Set, I would give this a 9/10. If you get rid of the BURP and replaced it with smaller grey or black parts that form to make a rock wall, then it would get a 10/10. A good set for a novice to get into Castle sets.

SwiftBlade.

Its crap, the only good thing is the tree parts.

I like it.A good minifig,& shield to custumize leaves,spear,green plate......

Hello!


A big Minus (-) is the fact that this set was not available in Germany. The set itself is quite nice. Wolfman, ghost, tree and BURP are good, the sliding rock is a nice idea.


Bye
Jojo

I really like this set. Wolfpack fig, weapons, sheild, ghost, LURP, leaf pieces, black arch, bird, and some bricks. 9/10

I like this set alot. You get tree peices, a ghost, and a Wolfpack guy. If I remember correctly, it was cheap. Nice way to stock up on ghosts and Wolfpack people. I think I got 2 or 3 when it came out.
9/10

I got this set in the value pack, which is my favorite value pack of all time. As an individual set, it was nothing to write home about but it came with great parts. To bad the Lego Company has recently forgot how to make any (let alone good) castle sets under $5 USD.


-The Josh

This is a great small set.
Parts then 7/10
Parts now 9/10
Figures 9/10
Weapons 7/10
Score: 8/10 then
9/10 now

Jojo Wrote:

A big Minus (-) is the fact that this set was not available in Germany. The set itself is quite nice. Wolfman, ghost, tree and BURP are good, the sliding rock is a nice idea.

Agreed (just replace the word Germany with Israel).

It's not much of a set. It is a small one so I don't expect much, the minifig is of course great and since the Wolfpacks are hard to come by this set could do it. It's the only set that included this particulair Minifig with a red robe (usually it came with a black one) wonders...., and the Ghost is a nice addition as well.

Probably one of the better small sets, again those sets are only good for what within them and this set got pretty much...

I'll only give it 8/10.

One of the best small sets.

I got this set in the value pack back in the day, and I loved it. It was my first glimpse at how trees should be built (Yeah, I know the design is simple enough that I should have been able to figure it out... but lay off me, I was young!). It also brought me my first rock piece and bird.
While not an exceedingly good design, this set is much better than the small minifig/army building sets that we see today (as far as pieces go). I can never have enough rock pieces, foliage, black bricks or green plates... then there are todays sets: How many freaking catapults do you need?

I got really into lego in between the later age of castles ( ex, fright Knights,Dragon Masters.) and KK1, so I only got an odd set here or there of the "good stuff." compared with the sets today, this is pretty good. The wolfpack guy is a big plus, and the extra tree material is useful for my forest scene. from what i hear, this was a fairly cheap set. Although It wouldn't be my first choice, I'd still take a few of these. 7/10 back then, 9/10 now.

hmmm, 8/10. It has the most coolest wolfpack ever. It has a ghost, a BURP, leaf. An ok set.

It's a nice small set! I love these Tree Themed buildings, and this one is one of those, with the bonus of two cool minifigs.
Oh, and that falcon would be pretty handy for my Legends BFF