SPACE MARINE wrote:which is the best of the three, figs-wise and display-wise?
Fig-wise, obviously King's Castle and Black Monarch's Castle have double the figs, so that's a big plus for each of them.
Display-wise, I'd go for either King's Castle or Black Falcon's Fortress, only because I never liked the all-black look of Black Monarch's Castle. Being all black, a lot of the details sorta seem to get lost-- plus it's not quite as iconic of a castle (IMHO).
Also display-wise, King's Castle and Black Monarch's Castle are really nice when displayed in their "opened-up" form. Black Falcon's fortress doesn't really have the same appeal when opened, unless it's paired with other sets, since it's kind of small, and doesn't give you the same broad width that you get from the other two.
So, I guess for my money, I'd vote for King's Castle, assuming that they're all the same price and all.
[edit]
Huh, I was surprised to see King's Castle last in the poll (granted, only 9 votes), so I was curious as to how it's fared in other contests between those 3 sets:
1) "Best Owned Set" thread:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=188926 King's Castle6 Black Monarch's Castle4 Black Falcon's Fortress
- OR -
18 King's Castle13 Black Monarch's Castle
9 Black Falcon's Fortress
2) Another recent "Best Castle" thread:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=205511.5 King's Castle1.0 Black Monarch's Castle
0.5 Black Falcon's Fortress
3) "Best Castle Set Of All Time" thread:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1912420 - King's Castle9 - Black Falcon's Fortress
? - Black Monarch's Castle (less than 9, never made the finals)
4) LUGNET set ratings:
94.60 - Black Falcon's Fortress90.37 - King's Castle
89.82 - Black Monarch's Castle
5) BrickSet review ratings:
4.9 - Black Monarch's Castle4.7 - King's Castle
4.6 - Black Falcon's Fortress
6) BrickLink last 6 month sale prices:
$113.96 - King's Castle$110.23 - Black Monarch's Castle
$81.00 - Black Falcon's Fortress
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DaveE