Review: 7949 Prison Carriage Rescue

[noname]

I got it from a local toy shop yesterday.

Set Name: Prison Carriage Rescue

Set Number: 7949

Pieces: 50

Minifigures: 3+horse

Theme: Kingdoms

Date Released: Summer 2010

Price: 9.99 USD, according to S@H, 90 NIS in Israel- about 23 USD!

Resources: S@H, Bricklink, KimT's Review

The Box

Great Box art in each and every side. I like the "bricks" seen on the right side of the picture.

Random Instruction Page

Sorry for the bad pictures

The black part always look dark bley in the instructions

The Bags

Although you can't see it here, the horse helmet and the unicorn horn come in a different hard-to-open-because-it's-made-of-annoying-material bag- maybe these are the parts that are made in China.

it makes sense- thhe box says that some of the parts are made in China, and the horn is a bit softer than the other pieces.

The horse itself comes without a bag, and there is no dreaded sticker sheet- a big relief after a lot of City sets.

The Parts

Arranged in square(-ish) form:

The spare parts will be shown soon.

Parts of Interest

The wonderful new shields, the 1x1 Cheese Slopes, in pearl gold and in dark green, the plume part and the great parts in the (new?) dark pearl.

I didn't do a close-up of the new helmet piece, but KimT did.

The Minifigures

Three great printed torsos, dark pearl weapon and helmet, new helmet piece and printed armored legs- good addition to every MOC, army or collection.

I think that KimT is wrong- he said that the minifig with the red arms belongs to the "Lion" kingdom, and he doesn't have any symbol on his torso- only a chainmail and some belts.

Backprints! Double printed face! (And spare parts on the left side).

The Build

The build is simple and easy- you can build it with no instructions. In fact, you can build it with parts that you have without buying the set (from looking on a picture).

An attempt to recreate the scene on the box:

Final Thoughts:

The rear hatch is really "hideous", as KimT said, but this problem can be fixed easily with replacing the light bley holder with 1x2 grey plate and putting the holder above:

If you'll look on the last two pictures, you'll see that the bars prevent the prisoner from sitting properly- he can only stand while pointing to the left or to the right, or as seen in the front sode of the box.

Score:

Design: 6/10-For the "hideous" hatch that can be fixed with the 1x2 plate and for the bars thing.

Build: 5/10-Easy and boring.

Parts: 9/10-Great color scheme, unique parts- but some of those are made in China.

Minifigures: 3/10- Great printings, backprints, great heads- but many of my other heads cannot connect with the torsos- they just fall off- and my other heads are connecting, but loosely. (I don't know why, but if it was proper, I would give it 11/10)

Price: 10/10-I wish I could buy it in 10 USD in Israel, but in Israel it gets 0/10.

Total Score: The set I bought gets 23/50, but a proper set bought in the US would get 41. It is (supposed to be) a nice, cheap set with good equipment for minifigs and great minifigures- fun set for kids, but supplementary set for TFOLs and AFOLs- it will probably be good when combined with any other kingdom set (even the one with the jester)

Edit:

I wrote it as a reply to fred67:

(I quoted myself so you'll know when the qoute ends.

This set is great when combined with other Kingdoms sets- with the jester, for example, you can make the jester's chariot, driven by the minifig with Lion kingdom knight, and raided by the other minifigs in this sets.

If you combine it with the wizard set, you can make a dragon knight transporting the wizard and again, two raiding lion-knights.

But if you want to buy this set only to combine it with the other Kingdoms sets, you may consider building it from parts of your own, because this set has no parts that doesn't appear in other Kingdoms sets, and if you do not care about the color scheme and the horse helmet, you can build it yourself with no minifigs.

Bonus:

"Bring out your dead! Bring out your dead!"

..."I'm not dead yet!"

So, what do you think about this set?

Edited August 21, 2010 by noname

[fred67]

I don't know how Eurobricks feels about second reviews, but thanks for posting as I missed the first (I go through... let's say, "mini" dark ages for months at a time sometimes).

I didn't realize it was only $10.00; for that price, I'll buy a bunch... definitely worth it.

The set itself is a bit disappointing, as I've heard others complain, because of the unrealistic "cage" that the guy could just climb out of, but the figures are great and your "MOC" at the bottom is a good way to deal with the drawbacks.

The way I look at sets like this - build your own minifig costs $10 for 3 guys, and here you get three guys with more accessories than you'd get at build your own, plus a horse and carriage for the same price... a good way to stock up. The battle packs might be slightly better for just the minifigs, but when you add that you get a horse I think it makes it much more worth it to get sets like this.

[noname]

I don't know how Eurobricks feels about second reviews, but thanks for posting as I missed the first (I go through... let's say, "mini" dark ages for months at a time sometimes).

There is a set reviews index for each and every theme. The Castle reviews index can be found here.

By the way, I'm having the same "mini" dark ages, mostly because LEGO sets are expensive in Israel.

The set itself is a bit disappointing, as I've heard others complain, because of the unrealistic "cage" that the guy could just climb out of, but the figures are great and your "MOC" at the bottom is a good way to deal with the drawbacks.

I agree with you. As I wrote in the end of the review, this set is great when combined with other Kingdoms sets- with the jester, for example, you can make the jester's chariot, driven by the minifig with Lion kingdom knight, and raided by the other minifigs in this sets.

If you combine it with the wizard set, you can make a dragon knight transporting the wizard and again, two raiding lion-knights.

But if you want to buy this set only to combine it with the other Kingdoms sets, you may consider building it from parts of your own, because this set has no parts that doesn't appear in other Kingdoms sets, and if you do not care about the color scheme and the horse helmet, you can build it yourself with no minifigs.

The way I look at sets like this - build your own minifig costs $10 for 3 guys, and here you get three guys with more accessories than you'd get at build your own, plus a horse and carriage for the same price... a good way to stock up. The battle packs might be slightly better for just the minifigs, but when you add that you get a horse I think it makes it much more worth it to get sets like this.

I don't know if you care about these things, but many people say that the battle packs have low-quality made-in-China parts.

Edited August 18, 2010 by noname

[Flare]

This is cool, I like it! :D

Nice review and nice set, I'm going to have to pick one up ;D

Edited August 18, 2010 by Flare

[lightningtiger]

Thanks for the review 'noname' - nice little MOD to cure the drop gate too !

The bestt part of this set is the figures......with printing front and back on the torso's - COOL !

I'm a conformist! !

[Sir Dillon]

The cart isn't anything special, but three figures and a horse is great for a set this size. Definitely worth the price.

Thanks for the review!

[prateek]

Great review, but man, you guys have it hard! $23 for this!

[noname]

Great review, but man, you guys have it hard! $23 for this!

In Israel the LEGO sets cost about 2 to 2.5 times the price in USA.

Brickbeard's Bounty, a 100$ set, costs in Israel about 730 NIS- 193 USD! And it's online- it's supposed to be cheaper than stores!

Being a LEGO enthusiast in Israel is really annoying.

BTW, thanks for the comments.

Edited August 19, 2010 by noname

[prateek]

In Israel the LEGO sets cost about 2 to 2.5 times the price in USA.

Brickbeard's Bounty, a 100$ set, costs in Israel about 730 NIS- 193 USD! And it's online- it's supposed to be cheaper than stores!

Being a LEGO enthusiast in Israel is really annoying.

BTW, thanks for the comments.

Don't you think buying from eBay would be a lot cheaper then?

[noname]

Don't you think buying from eBay would be a lot cheaper then?

I don't buy online.