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Great review Dale. It has really given me a much better view of the set. Having read your thoughts, and seen your pics, I have to say that I find the set much better designed than I had originally thought. It does look pretty decent, and as you said, the gatehouse is a huge plus. The roof of the tower too is a nice, refreshing look.

The newly designed corner pieces are....peculiar. On the one hand, it's nice to have the rear projection gone, but on the other hand the lack of connection slots just seems.....bad. I'll guess I'll just have to wait and see.

I was also surprised by the new assortment of pieces. Some of them are interesting. Some....seem iffy, the door foremost of all. Is the thickness on the edge of it even on both sides of the door? So if one door swung left, and one swung right, they would look the same?

Thanks for the review.

Dan

Thank you very much for this review. I like this set very much and I'm planning to buy only this one from the kingdoms line: the new pieces seem very interesting for me but the window panels more than the corner.
Minifigs are ok, nothing really exciting.
The red roof is something new which I like.
But the best thing is the modular building: I do really hope that TLC will release some expansion sets like in the olf good times. It would be great, for AFOLs and for kids.

architect wrote:Thank you Dale for the in depth review. My 7946 set arrived today I look forward to building it this weekend and sharing my thoughts on this well designed castle.

Ben

Glad to hear you got your set Ben. If possible, could we get an update on the torso colours? I'm wondering if the printing issue present in all of the 7946s or is it restricted to a few sets?

Thanks.

Eldebar the barding pieces fit pretty seemlessly but are two seperate pieces. If noone has done a review of the Prison Tower Fortress by Monday I will do one. I have photos but doing all of the links and such takes a little while. This weekend the weather is supposed to be very nice in Chicago, so I will likely be outside till Monday.

Dan the door is the same on both sides so that is a relief. It is growing on me in general. the front and back do not look too bad but I don't like it when I look at it on edge. It seems too thick.

I haven't called LEGO about the poor printing quality yet... I was waiting to get more feedback from others first.

Blueandwhite wrote:Glad to hear you got your set Ben. If possible, could we get an update on the torso colours? I'm wondering if the printing issue present in all of the 7946s or is it restricted to a few sets?

Thanks.

Sadly my knight's are pink also. I will bring this problem to the attention of the Castle designers even though they may already be reading this thread. Hi

Fortunately the Jester has correct white torso printing.

Ben

architect wrote:

Blueandwhite wrote:Glad to hear you got your set Ben. If possible, could we get an update on the torso colours? I'm wondering if the printing issue present in all of the 7946s or is it restricted to a few sets?

Thanks.

Sadly my knight's are pink also. I will bring this problem to the attention of the Castle designers even though they may already be reading this thread.

Thanks in part to this review, I was compelled to stop by my local Toys R Us and pick up both 7946 as well as 7950. While I'm still in awe of how great the castle is as a structure, I will confirm that from both sets the Lions' horse barding and checkered torsos are pinkish instead of white.

I'm curious about the new door. Is there a gap between the door and the 'door frame'/wall when the door is closed? I noticed that there's quite a bit of a gap between the door and the frame/wall with the main doors on the Prince of Persia Battle of Malamut set on account of the clips being used to attach the door rather than the 'tabs' in the old doors.

The doors do fit flush with the frame but I can see where you might get some confusion.

You do have to make sure you clip the door piece in all of the way for them to work properly. It is possible to only partially insert the doors into the clips which makes them fit a bit funny. I noticed this on the first door I put together and had to take it apart and rebuild it to get it right.

This was love at first sight for me but then I had second thoughts. I started thinking that I would spend the money on regular brick and the figs from this but there seems to be enough interesting parts/constructions that make me want to try the set. I am a collector anyway so...
I just have a question about the Harry Potter door though: It's hard to make out but are the tabs offset? Meaning, does it only swing one direction and will require a mirror mould if you want a door with a left hand swing.

dangit now I don't know if i want the outpost or this

Great review!! I can't wait for the Kingdoms sets to come out.

Trevor, the door can be used in either direction and sits flush on the door frame either way as well. They did a good job designing its function. It looks OK from the front and back but looks strange to me on edge.

By the wayI always meant to respond to your signiature but never have. I also have problems with the spelling of minifig in my word processing programs. I have taken to hyphenating it (i.e. mini-fig) just so I don't have to mess with it over and over.

A very usefull reveiw! I'm really liking this set, and as I don't own any actual castles (Baring Vladek's Dark Fortress) this is a VERY tempting buy.

Those new pieces seem pretty strange to me, but quite interesting at the same time. I thinkthat new window piece has got to be the strangest off them.

EKnight

I really love the classic look of this castle. No weird baseplate or too much gimmicks. It would've been nice to include a few more of the dragon minifigs, but looks to be a great set overall.

I also feel the Dragon Knights are woefully under-represented, I for one am not interested or able to buy Dragon Knight Battle Packs, and theirs no way to not have the Dragon Knights outnumbered! Hopefully this is remedied to some degree in a further expansion of the "Kingdoms" line, if and when that occurs.