Weekly Set Review: King's Carriage

[ezehogan]

In retrospect I can't honestly say that the Royal Knight's were as great as past sets, but I certainly don't think they were terrible as many people seem to. Change the logo of the faction, and I would be willing to bet many people wouldn't seem to think they are so bad.

I for one will always be pleased with the line as it brought me the biggest castle I had ever owned in the Royal Knight's Castle, something I begged for for my birthday. Looking at the castle today through an adult rather than a child's eyes does expose some flaws.

However, since I did not grow up with the King's Castle, a favorite here apparently, I see flaws in that as well. Realistically, the King's Castle IS the better castle. However, having owned both, I will always prefer the Royal Knight's only because I remember playing with it as a child.

Today, I think I would prefer a castle with the size and interior of the RK castle with the color and realism of the King's Castle. If Lego were to release a massive castle (RK's) with tons of soldiers (RK's and K'sC), high walls completely surrounding the castle (K'sC), tall and rounded towers (RK's), and release it in the old grey (K'sC), I would be in heaven.

I guess my point is the fact that I would like a castle that is a mixture between the RK's castle and the King's Castle, but if I had to choose strictly between the two that were released, I would always choose the RK's castle. Although it isn't as realistic or solidly built, I simply have a history with it that cannot be recaptured by any other set. That is why I sold my King's Castle. It wasn't bad by any stretch of the immagination, but I have found that I prefer to buy sets now that I either owned or wanted to own in my childhood than sets that came out either before or after (with a few rare exceptions, such as the Guarded Inn).

Nostalgia has warped my objectivity I suppose, and being only 20 and one of the younger members of this board (or so I believe) I will likely always be in the minority when sets of "my" era are reviewed.

[architect]

However, since I did not grow up with the King's Castle, a favorite here apparently, I see flaws in that as well. Realistically, the King's Castle IS the better castle. However, having owned both, I will always prefer the Royal Knight's only because I remember playing with it as a child.

This has alot to do with what sets fans like the most. I like King's Castle because it was my first castle. I also really like the Royal Knight's Castle but I am not sentimental about it.

I do like the concept of King's Castle, Knight's Castle, and Black Falcon's fortress better than the burp castles. Each of these three castles are relatively plain militaristic structures (which castles usually are ). But the beauty of the concept was being able to add more lively sets to expand your castle. This is where sets like Armor Shop, Guarded Inn, Battering Ram, and Blacksmith Shop came in. True, without these sets, the modular castles would not be very exciting.

In my opinion, although raised baseplate castles look great (and I love my 6081, 6090 and 6086, dont get me wrong) they lack the freedom of expansion and modification that I loved with the first Legoland castles.

And not to be completely off topic, since I havent reviewed King's Carraige yet:

I really like this set. It was one of the few that I got while I was not buying as much Lego in highschool. The figures and amount of pieces are great. Using blue as a main color isnt as realistic, but Lego castle carts havent been in dark colors like black since the late 80's anyway. One thing is tha the carraige is overscaled compared to other castle carts. This is ok since the cart is for a king.

Ben E.

[Spongey]

I'm not a big fan of the cart itself, since the blue and yellow colour scheme seems a bit out of place. However, this set is great in that it has a good selection of figs and accessories.

[Kozai13]

That looks like like a great set. I never had it, but I want it. The king should have had his cape though.

[legobear]

I love this set so much!! The first time I got it, I could not believe how "royal" it looked with the white horses and the blue contrasted with yellow. I loved the three guards that are watching over the king with their white pants, and of course the cloth flag. My most memorable experience with this set was that it was absolutely solid! It looks so fragile but don't be fooled, it's built with layer after layers of thin pieces. When you push the carriage on a flat surface, it just glides. I still try to recreate this set sometimes, since my brother gave away all my legos,

[ericgizmo]

well i never found that set

[Hob Took]

This was my first castle set, and I loved it! I'd build the alternate models, then go back to the original, then switch back agin. Sadly though when the star wars sets came out I got hooked on them so I overlooked all the cool castle sets . But now I like castle again and this new theme comes out! It's great. As for the set, it's excellent. The minifigs work great with the colors of the cart. Now I would rather have wanted it to have a maiden since I only have two, but then I thought getting a king in smaller set was great, opposed to buying a $100 castle.

Hob Took

[E of Alshire]

A great set! Three generic soldiers, more than one horse for the cart, and a non-military theme to boot!

[HEY_WHATs_THAT]

I like this set. Personally I'm more drawn to the Black Falcons, but these guys are alright. I like the carriage, but think it's not exactly royal.
And for you *King Haters* i just add them to the front lines as punishment. Why, you ask? Well it's kinda like rats. If there's one or two, it's a nuisance but if there's 3 or more, ye kill em off nice n quick

AS FOR THE RATING, i give this set a 7.5/ 10 The troops are nice, even if the cartoon lion is not.

[Ben the lego king]

hi

I like this set its nice for the figs . the cart is not that nice of one it shoud have been built beter but the parts are nice. Ill rate this a 7/10

[Donut]

Probaly the most affordable set in the genre, I believe this was $20 USD at the time. I like the playablilty of this set, I think it is sturdy enough for a kid to carry it out of the house with him/her. The carriage in the new castle line looks vaguely familiar to this.

[Emp.Justinian]

This was always one of my favorite sets. The chariot had great playability and came with a lot of figures (for me at the time).
rating: 9/10

God's speed

Emp.Justinian

[jokkna]

It is nice but I think the blue colour overwhelming and I ,personally. Would have it black or brown but it is one of the nicest stets from this time.

[MarioDAlessio]

The alternate set displayed for this set in the instruction booklet looks really good;

King's Carriage instructions page 16; http://www.peeron.com/scans/6044-1/16

I think that the generic scale mail soldier’s torso deigns stand up very well even against the more recent torso designs.

It is interesting to see the carriage in this Lego catalogue in a conflict scene, the box designs of the Royal Knights seem comparatively peaceful; http://www.peeron.com/catalogs/1995/medium/41/?id=74

Does any body know if their are other alternate designs displayed on the box for this set different to the instructions, and could this carriage fit into set 6090 Royal Knight's Castle, and along set 6078 Royal Drawbridge ?

[kelderic]

I like this set because the three soldiers have generic torsos. Also, the carridge is pretty cool.

7/10

Kelderic