I’ve just updated my previous reviews of the following LEGO castle sets with photos of their box, maunal and minifigs.  You many click on their links to view the updated blog posts!

Updated LEGO 6080 King’s Castle review.

Updated LEGO 6085 Black Monarch’s Castle review.

This is part 2 of my review of LEGO 7094 King’s Castle Siege from yesterday’s blog post that contains part 1.

Note: A section of the left side wall is specially designed to detach easily if you push hard onto it.

Warning: The remaining photos may not be suitable for young and innocent minds. If you are over 18 years old, you may proceed. I shall not be responsible for any trauma suffered as a result of seeing the contents of that will follow, LOL!

Suddenly without warning, a section of the left side wall is smashed into the castle courtyard and in troops a gang of evil skeleton warriors!!

A soldier who is leaving his resting quarters to take a leak is so horrified at the sight before him that he pees in his pants!  He lets out a loud scream but that is the last sound he makes.  His attackers go on to make short work of him!

The soldier on top of the rear side tower hears his comrade cry out but before he can react, a giant black dragon known as a nocturgon lands suddenly on the tower and grabs the helpless soldier with its fore claws.

Note: The right fore claws of the nocturgon are able to grasp a minifig by the torso very easily.

“Let me go, you wicked monster!” cries out the captured soldier.

The nocturgon understands and complies… what a stupid phrase for that soldier to say!

That soldier also becomes a goner like his comrade.  The nasty skeleton warriors then mount the nocturgon and direct it to the tower prison.

Removing the prison bars is a piece of cake for this super strong nocturgon.  The skeleton knight who was locked within the prison has been freed!

Note: The prison bars on this side of the wall can be easily detached as they are only pegged to the floor edge of the prison.

A crown knight comes riding out the back gates towards this godless beast but the mighty nocturgon tosses the heavy prison bars straight at him…

…and knocks him off his saddle!  He lays very still and never recovers from that crushing blow.  His riderless horse gallops into the waiting hands of the black skeleton warrior, who has something sinister in mind for the noble steed.

One touch with his black poisoned hands turns the once lively horse onto a skeleton steed for the black skeleton warrior!  He takes off on his new ride to begin his raid of the castle.

The black skeleton warrior rides to the stables at one of the front towers where he finds 2 more white horses.

Note: The ground floor interior of each of the front towers can easily accommodate 2 horses.  This Castle 7094 has a white crown horse, Skeleton Tower 7093 has another white crown horse, Final Joust 7009 has one more, and Skeleton Carriage 7092 has a brown crown horse.  If you own all these sets, their horses can be stabled in this castle.

Note: The second floor of each front tower can also accomodate a few minifigs inside.  They are great as living quarters for the (soon to be doomed) royal family.  The base of the opened drawbridge tilts up and caused many of the crown soldiers to trip and fall.  With so many of them on medical leave at this critical point, it’s no wonder that the castle’s defences are severely weakened!

The black skeleton casts his evil spell and claims 2 more skeleton horses for his fellow skeleton warriors!

Meanwhile, the other skeleton warriors are searching the throne room for the king, who is hiding and cowering in the mini overhanging tower.

“Please don’t let them find me, please don’t let them find me….” prays the king and he drinks some more wine from his seemingly never empty globlet. (!?)

But the nocturgon hears his breathing and finally flushes the panicking king out from his hiding place.  He takes cover behind his throne, while still holding on to his globlet.  Why is he still taking the goblet with him at this critical moment!???

Instead of making his way to the treasure room below his throne room to retrieve the magical golden sword to fight off these evil dark magic forces, the king is forced to retreat to the top of the keep by the relentless skeleton warriors.  He never reaches his golden sword. . .

This is the place where the king is last seen in this castle attack.  Many would later believe that he perished in this sudden castle siege.  Others would later claim that his ghost eventually ends up haunting the ruins of this once great and impenetrable castle… together with the apparition of his prized collectible golden goblet, that he refused to let go till the very end…

Note: That narrow connection bridge that links the throne keep to the adjacent rear watch tower, has a technic brick at each end to allow the bridge to swivel 360 degrees.  The initial purpose is to throw enemies off balance from the bridge.  But in this case, it flips to the side when the king lands on it, causing him to hang on to it for his dear life.

The archers on top of the front towers fire their arrows desperately at the enemies.  It’s unfortunate that the catapults are not designed to allow them to swivel around to fire at targets within the castle.

The end comes for this archer when the nocturgon emerges from nowhere and grabs his head in its massive snapping jaws!

The nocturgon then flings the first archer into the second archer on top of the other tower, knocking both of them out flat in an instant!

In a final show of strength, the nocturgon heaves and pushes against the front castle walls…

…and brings down not just the gates, but the 2 front towers as well!  The skeleton warriors ride out in victory on their newly acquired skeleton horses.

Note: The front towers are connected to the side walls by only a single technic pin at 1 spot, hence the whole front walls section can ‘fall over’ very easily, and this is one thing I dislike about this castle.  It makes carrying the castle in one piece impossible!

Instructions manual suggestions – As the various wall and tower sections of the castle can be detached, it gives versatility in arranging the castle architecture. The instructions manual provided some examples to follow.

Spare and unused parts – Mostly technic parts, skeleton warriors’ arms, claws and nocturgon horn.

Here are the extra skeleton and normal horses who guest starred in the above story.  They came from Skeleton Carriage 7092, Final Joust 7009 and Skeleton Tower 7093.

Here’s a size comparison photo of Kingdoms King’s Castle 7946 with King’s Castle Siege 7094, which I modified slightly in this photo to be more modular in shape.  The 7946 castle (which costs SGD 219.90) is smaller than castle 7094 and has lesser minifigs, hence it’s cheaper than the latter.

Overall this castle is more fun to play with than the Kingdoms King’s Castle 7946 because of the fantasy elements, that bring out more imagination to the play.  It’s a decent castle set to own. It has lots of play areas, but it’s also quite understaffed like castle 7946.   There is 1 king, 1 crown knight, 4 crown soldiers, 1 skeleton knight, 3 skeleton warriors, 1 white horse with silver crown barding, an enormous black dragon (nocturgon), plus weapons & accessories.

Minus ½ point for too few crown soldiers to guard such a large castle.  I’ll prefer to swop the 2 white skeleton warriors for 2 more crown minifigs. Perhaps, a second crown knight and another horse (with gold crown barding) could had been added.  The skeleton knight and his nocturgon are already enough to wreck extensive havoc on the castle by themselves.  That humongous winged reptile is longer than the castle itself, if not for its curved tail! ::)

Minus ½ point for ‘incomplete’ rear main front gate tower such that the raised portcullis looks awkwardly exposed ‘in the air’.

Minus ½ point for the sticker drawings are very cartoonish, making the set look like Duplo for toddlers.  I did not apply the stickers to my set.

Minus ½ point for bricks that detach too easily.  It makes the set easy to dismantle but the castle walls break apart too easily when I just want to shift the set around for multi-angled photo shots.  This annoyed me. >:(

Score: 8/10

Although castle 7094 scores the same with castle 7946 in my reviews, I also consider their sizes and features with their original retail prices.

The main attraction of this set is definitely the mighty nocturgon, which is the reason why I bought it.  Initially I felt that the nocturgon looked too much like a Duplo toy, but its appearance grew on me after I got my emeragon (the green version of the nocturgon) from the Troll Warship 7048.

The large LEGO castle sets released after 2000 have mostly been disappointing in appearances, as they mainly had a front façade and no side or back walls.  Castle 7094 celebrated the return of the large castle sets with all 4 walls enclosing a courtyard.

This castle has already been discontinued and I bought mine towards the tail end of the LEGO Castle line early this year.  I normally don’t collect the large castle sets but decided to venture into doing so this year. Since then it has been no turning back for me!

If you don’t have this set yet, I think it’s very hard to get at original retail price and below now.  The Fantasy Era Castle theme is over, so it’s better to let it pass and not chase after those sets anymore.  If you still want to, be prepared to pay more for them in the resale market.

If you have this set and have not opened it yet, you’re missing out a lot by leaving it MISB.  I highly recommend that you find the time to open and build your set to enjoy the fantastic castle features it has.  Kids will find this castle very fun to play with as well!

Thanks for viewing!

I did this backdated review recently for a local LEGO forum and have modifed that review for my blog post.  The purpose of the review was also to compare the overall appearances, features and sizes of this castle set with those of the 2010 LEGO Kingdoms King’s Castle 7946, which I reviewed just last month. 

This review is very, very long at more than 50 photos, and with no deliberate intention to overtake my previous record of over 30 photos.  It’s just that some fun inspirations came up in my mind while taking photos of this set and I captured those minifigs adventure moments as well! 

With that, here’s part 1 of the review.

Box - front view.  Like for post-year 2000 sets, the box is actually too big to contain all the packaged contents inside.  I miss those vintage 80’s and 90’s castle boxes which had a flap on the front to let you open and view the minifigs and main castle parts inside the box.  Long gone are those days!

Although this box has a flap to open in front, it only reveals an even more oversized photo of the castle set instead of letting us view the actual pieces inside the box.

Box - back view.  The oversized box not only takes up more space at home, it also gives a false impression that the set is that big.

The boxes of the vintage castles are way smaller and the castle photos seen on those vintage boxes are actually quite in scale with the actual assembled castles you’d get.   But those days are history…

Contents – The packets are numbered and they swirl around freely inside the box together with the instruction manuals when the box is handled.

Minifigs -1 king, 1 crown knight, 4 crown soldiers, 1 skeleton knight, 3 skeleton warriors, 1 white horse with silver crown barding, plus their weapons & accessories.

Note:The extra minifig heads next to the crown soldiers are the original ones that come with this set.  I replaced them with more suitable heads that look younger.  The crown knight’s head is also added from my spares.  His original head is on the crown soldier who is next to the old man’s head (extreme right minifig in the middle row).

Minifigs -The star of the set is the large black dragon (nocturgon).  Look at how enormous it is when compared to the regular minifigs!

New and interesting parts to note:

Back in 2007, the nocturgon and its variant colored counterparts (from Skeleton Tower 7093 & Troll Warship 7048) are considered new and interesting parts.

I think many of the parts required to build up the nocturgon are new, with the exception of perhaps the horns, the limbs and parts of the tail which could had been used as dinosaur body parts before.  The nocturgon’s body could be a new part too.  I’ll need confirmation on that. 

Nevertheless once built up, the gigantic nocturgon is a formidable force to be reckoned with!

Articulation points - At the lower jaws, back of the head, base of neck, forearms and hind legs (at the points attached to the body), tail (at the base, middle and tip sections) and wings (up-down movement).

Instruction manuals – 2 books.  The instructions are fairly simple to follow.

Wall stickers – 1 sheet.  The brick drawings on the stickers don’t look realistic enough.  I doubt they’ll look fantastic on the castle walls so I didn’t apply them in the end.

Front view – The castle looks tall and imposing.  I don’t like the design of the tall throne keep and its weird little side tower extension that seems to hang in midair. 

I built the castle according to the design in the instructions manual for this review only.  After that, I modified the castle to be more modular in shape.

Right side view – This enclosed castle courtyard does not have a baseplate.

Back view – Interestingly, there is very wide back gate along the back wall.  The throne room has no back wall, so the king has to watch his step, LOL!

Left view - The left wall has a lot of standing space for more soldier minifigs to guard this huge castle! 

Top view – The overall shape of the castle is rectangular.

Here we have the nocturgon comparing its wing span with the length of the castle. 

Now compare the wing span with the breadth of the castle.

The castle courtyard barely has enough space for the nocturgon to move about without knocking against the walls…

Castle wall and tower sections detached – The various castle wall and tower sections are connected by technic pins.  There are 9 detachable sections in all.

Drawbridge – The grey chains attach the drawbridge to a pair of overhanging long black technic bricks.

Drawbridge mechanism – The long black technic bricks are connected to a long black horizontal bar behind the main gate.  Lifting up or pushing down the black bar will open and close the drawbridge.

Portcullis mechanism – See the shield on top of the gate?  It is attached to a pair of grey levers behind it.  Pulling out the shield will release the grey levers from the portcullis.  You can adjust the portcullis height according to where horizontal portcullis bars are and then push in the shield to let the grey levers hold the portcullis in place.

Right wall - The right wall has an enormous catapult mounted on it.  The machine is so huge that I wonder where do the little minifigs find the strength to fire the bulky black projectiles that are piled up at the side???

There is also a little arsenal storage area along the right wall.  Soldiers and knights can access there easily to get their weapons.

Castle Keep - A nice round pair of blue pillars help to support the castle throne keep.  They also help to ’soften’ the angular design of the castle.

Oops, the back gates have been left open!  My goodness, the guards are so careless!  They better close those gates before opportunistic enemies or theives sneak in!

Castle Keep - Here’s a look at the throne keep where the second floor is a treasure room for the king’s wealth.  A gleaming golden sword is stored here as well.  Legends say that this magical golden sword is able to repel even the greatest evil of all!  The ancestors of the crown king used it to defeat all their enemies in the past and gain this kingdom!

The current crown king stands on top of his throne keep with his sword in hand, and a gold goblet of wine in the other.  He can admire his beautiful castle and survey the castle surroundings from this tallest tower of the castle.  This place is his command tower and he can also use the crossbow that is mounted on the wall to bring down enemies!

Today, he is relaxing himself and before he knows it, he has lost count on the number of goblets of wine he has consumed!

Castle Keep - Hey I thought the soldier minifigs have been ordered to close and lock up those back gates!?  Why are they still open!?  And where are the guards!?

Castle Keep - As I mentioned earlier, the throne room has no back wall.  The narrow passageway behind that useless looking hanging tower looks very precarious to walk on.  One wrong step and a fall all the way down could be fatal!

Rear side tower - There is a nice little room on the ground for soldiers to rest.  A flight of steps lead to a sheltered storage room on the second floor.  Soldiers can also seek shelter from the rain, snow and hail here if needed.  The third floor contains a prison where a highly dangerous prisoner is currently held there by the strong and thick black iron bars.  Just who is this mysterious prisoner in there??

Rear side tower - A lone soldier guards the entire rear side tower. He also has to keep an eye on the adjacent throne keep and the whole left side wall.  In addition, watching over the courtyard is part of his job too.  This is one very tired and overworked chap, LOL!

Part 2 to be continued tomorrow [>>]

Transformers Power Core Combiners Scout action figures - wave 3 - SGD 19.90 each

Steelshot with Beacon (Tank), Darkstream with Razorbeam (Jet) & Windburn with Darkray (Helicopter)

The Scout figures never fail to amaze me with their great variety of vehicle and robot modes, despite their transformation complexities in relation to their small sizes .  Hence they have their legion of fans too, though I’m not one of them.  This Transformers series seems more geared towards the hardcore and completist collectors.  The figures have not been seen in our local dept stores yet, but they should be in anytime soon.  Happy waiting for them!

Transformers HFTD Deluxe action figures - wave 4 - SGD 27.90 each

(Tuner Skids, Battle Blade Bumblebee, Rescue Ratchet, Axor & Ironhide )

This next wave 4 of Deluxe class Transformers Hunt for the Decepticons (HFTD) figures are either repeated figures or repaints.  If you had missed out on some characters that were released in earlier waves, you can have your chances to get them here, such as Battle Blade Bumblebee and Ironhide.  Perhaps you can even get them at 20% discount or better in certain departmental stores, if these stocks arrive at the right timings!  Happy HFTD toys collecting!

Transformers HFTD Deluxe action figures - wave 3 - SGD 27.90 each

(Ironhide, Terradive, Tomahawk & Electrostatic Jolt)

The Deluxe class of Hasbro’s Transformers Hunt for the Decepticons (HFTD) toyline continues with wave 3 and some new and non-movie characters like Terradive and Tomahawk.  After a while, the toyline has way too many figures to keep track of, and this is only the Deluxe class.  There are still the Leader, Voyager, Scout, Power Core Combiners and Legends classes in the HFTD toyline, just to name some of them, LOL!

Are you still collecting the HFTD figures?  Well you’ve got a long to to go if you’re collecting nearly every figure in all the various class series and waves.  If you have a budget to adhere to like most collectors, I suggest skipping many of the repaints like Electrostatic Jolt and selectively collect the characters and figures that you like.  Happy HFTD toys collecting!

Refer to my blog post last year on details about the annual OG Sale and its member’s card.  It’s the same every year. 

After having been in warehouse sales where the discounts may be great but the 1 hour long queuing to pay for purchases are not that fantastic, I suggest shoppers to be satisfied with even a 20% discount on the things you wish to buy, and have a more hassle free queue time. 

With that, it’s time to troop down to this departmental stores to find the stuff you’ve been wanting to buy all along.  Happy shopping! 

See the original OG sale advertisement on their website.

While dropping by TRU at the Vivo City outlet last weekend, I chanced upon this interesting Iron Man 2 movie series 2+1 pack!  It contains the hard to find Whiplash figure, a regular Mark V Iron Man figure, and large Sea Assault Drone figure!  All for SGD 39.90 per box.

Iron Man 2 Assault 3-pack at TRU - front view.

This is good news for collectors who missed out Whiplash and haven’t gotten their Mark V Iron Man figure from the movie series yet.  The Sea Assault Drone figure is about a head taller than the other 2 figures, so it probably counts as a 4-inch tall figure, rather than 3.75-inch tall which is the regular height for action figures of this scale.

Iron Man 2 Assault 3-pack at TRU - back view.

I’m not sure if Whiplash is repaint here.  His colors look quite movie accurate and I like how Hasbro packaged him with Mark V Iron Man.  What’s missing is the wrecked up racing car that Whiplash ’slashed’ in the movie, LOL! 

The price looks all right for 3 figures, of which the Drone seems to be exclusive to this set.  If you’re keen in getting this set, just make your way to TRU soon.  I’ve not been to other departmental stores to see if this set is also selling elsewhere.  Nevertheless, happy toys shopping!

All I can say about this toy is that if it’s really an upcoming official release from Hasbro’s Transformers Hunt for the Decepticons (HFTD) toyline, I want to get it!

This HFTD Deluxe Desert Combat Ravage figure looks very much like the HFTD Legends Ravage figure that was released earlier this year.  Both figures would looks so cool together!

I think the copper and iron colors of HFTD Deluxe Desert Combat Ravage look most movie accurate of all the movie Deluxe Ravage figures that have been released so far.  I can’t wait for him to hit our local stores!

*Runs off to set a side a budget for this toy*

HFTD Voyager action figures - wave 3

From top: Battle Blades Optimus Prime, The Fallen & Highbrow

The following are the video reviews of this wave of Voyager class figures.  The Fallen has a new mask, new staff and new cool colors!  Is Highbrow a new mold or another repaint?  He looks like a complex fighter plane from World War I or II. Battle Blades Optimus Prime remains my favourite of this lot.  I’ll get him for my collection some day,  In the meantime, I’m content with watching him on video.  Happy viewing!

Battle Blades Optimus Prime toy video review

Battle Blades Optimus Prime toy video review - added updates

The Fallen toy video review

Highbrow toy video review