So after telling myself that the Kingdoms line just wasn't worth it, that it was just another run of every single Castle line that there has ever been, ever will be, etc. etc. etc., I bought another set. It kept eying me at Walmart and I couldn't resist. So here it is, my review of 7949, Prison Carriage Rescue.
The Box: Not much to say here. 50 pieces, $9.99, 3 minifigures, 1 horse that is masquerading as a unicorn.
Here are all the pieces, minus the minifigures. It should be noted that the 'yellow' cheese slopes are actually pearl gold, which took me by a bit of surprise.
The minifigure accessories warranted their own photo. The helmet is new of course, which is one of the nicest new additions in this Castle line. The move to a dark gray is, of course, a welcome change to the now all too common silver gray. The dark gray sword is particularly attractive to me. It just looks a bit more menacing. The 'unicorn' horn comes off the helmet and anything of the size of a piece that can fit in a minifigure's hand can fit in the hole in the horse helmet. Try adding a spear or an axe for a nice longhorn effect :)
Here are the wonderful minifigures. The knight's chest is of particularly great quality. The printing is superb and gives a great breastplate effect. This is definitely my favorite part of the whole Kingdom's line so far.
The back of the minifigures all have printing. The 'prisoner' has a double sided face. The knight has even more back printing, completing the breastplate effect.
Here's the finished product. There's not much to say here really. Having made a number of these from pretty much EVERY Castle line, they're all variations on the same theme. This one is pretty sad actually. The back is nothing but a half ladder folded upwards. There's nothing there to really keep him from escaping and they even have a spear and a torch within the prisoner's reach! That's just poor planning.
Here's the knight come to rescue the prisoner! I wonder what he did to be captured in the first place? I wonder if the unicorn will simply run the knight through? I hope so :twisted:
Overall its a decent set for the minifigures and if you don't want to spring for the battle packs/want more cavalry then this will probably become an army builder. Piece wise, its really not worth the money. It gives you a nice cross section of the changes that the Kingdom line has made from the previous Fantasy line, but overall I'm not too impressed.
Still worth having for the minifigures, but could easily be replaced with a battle pack.
) along with 3-4 sets of the small catapult (7950).