PICTORIAL REVIEW: 8823 Mistlands Tower

[Athos]

Snagged this set at TRU today. And thought I'd try my hand at a review, since no one has done this set yet.

The pre-lims:

Cost: $49.99

Piece Count: 431

Figures: 5

The box:

Nothing special, though I must say I miss the boxes with that open up...

Everything out of the box:

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Athos/Reviews/ml03.jpg

The instructions:

Colors are easier to distinguish that previously, but the greys have a very inaccurate green tint to them and the gold has a very inaccurate orange tone. I must also say I miss the old high quality instruction booklets...

The build:

First floor: Very wide open, though I must say those green-grey pieces will be nice for landscaping cliffs (especially in my JT stories ;) )

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Athos/Reviews/ml05.jpg

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Athos/Reviews/ml06.jpg

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Athos/Reviews/ml07.jpg

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Athos/Reviews/ml08.jpg

Second floor: note the forge and anvil

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Athos/Reviews/ml10.jpg

Pull the pin for a trap, I don't quite understand...

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Athos/Reviews/ml09.jpg

Third floor: notice the crappy one piece wall... and not sure what the skeleton elevator is all about either...

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Athos/Reviews/ml11.jpg

Also note the treasure, for those of you newbies lacking gold coins

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Athos/Reviews/ml12.jpg

Fourth floor: nothing to see here (except the crossbows, which I don't think are connected very well), move along...

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Athos/Reviews/ml13.jpg

Top floor: gentlemens wear... er I mean, dragon skulls, flames, and goofy shiney balls...

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Athos/Reviews/ml14.jpg

The gates: Not much too these. The arches look nice. They connect with a double technic pin brick. Nice to have a few hinges and doors...

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Athos/Reviews/ml15.jpg

Better build that the last two lines, but still does not compare to the classic-castle era.

Bags were numbers, but there was no sub-building, as in Vladek's Fortress

Took me just under an hour and a half to complete (including pauses for pictures).

The model:

The catapult:

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Athos/Reviews/ml04.jpg

The fortress, sans figures:

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Athos/Reviews/ml16.jpg

The fortress, with figs:

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Athos/Reviews/ml17.jpg

Fair design. Still very open. Not much of a fortress. Strangely enough there is a ladder (which I forgot to take a picture of) to get from the 3rd floor to the top level, but nothing to get you to the 3rd. Still suffers significantly from the crappy design style of KK2.

The figures:

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Athos/Reviews/ml18.jpg

Armor designs are nice, though the gold one is ruined by the stupid hawk printing on it. Also very disappointed that the only new face was on Sir Adric. Seems quite strange that King Jayko uses the same face as King Mathias. And even stranger that Vladek has not aged at all... Other face is the Maharaja from the adventurers and the Yelling face from the vikings. Torsos are all blank... :(

New parts:

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Athos/Reviews/ml20.jpg

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Athos/Reviews/ml21.jpg

Don't know what to say... other than they don't do anything for me.

Conclusion:

Ehhhhh... I'm not impressed. Price was a little high. If I had it to do over again, I'd pass and wait for a sale on this one and tried my luck on another set...

6/10

Steve

[gylman]

Obviously a review written by a true KK3 lover.

Well, young man, let me tell you about how we made castles in the old days..... from 1x2 and 1x4 gray blocks. Dem wuz the good ol' days.

<cackles hysterically>

:-P

seriouly, thanks for taking the time to do it Athos. And for saving me $50. Well not really, since no new KK set has been on the shopping list here in a long time

The one-piece wall with window should be banned.

The whole thing looks like a JOONYERIZED Bat Lord Castle. And I remember that when I got that one, I thought..... bleh, how sucky.

[Mister Phes]

Congratulations on your first picture review Mr Athos! It is much appreciated that you take the time to do this and share with everyone. However there was one thing I was wondering: Is there any particular reason that you linked the pictures rather than embed them directly into the thread? I've embedded the first two pictures to show you what I mean, but I left the rest in case you intentionally linked them - in which case I shall return the thread to the way you had it.

But I think what I'm getting at most of the picture reviews have the pictures embedded into them... Not that its a big deal I was just wondering...

[Athos]

Is there any particular reason that you linked the pictures rather than embed them directly into the thread? I've embedded the first two pictures to show you what I mean, but I left the rest in case you intentionally linked them - in which case I shall return the thread to the way you had it.

No reason. Just didn't want to overrun the post with pictures. And some forums where I posted it, don't like big pictures in the thread.

Steve

[Mister Phes]

Fair enough then Mr Athos! Do you think the pictures of the box are too big to be placed in the thread? I notice not all of your pictures are big however.

[Norro]

New parts:

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Athos/Reviews/ml20.jpg

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Athos/Reviews/ml21.jpg

Don't know what to say... other than they don't do anything for me.

The one on the left is a space part that first (don't quote me) appeared in the Insectoid line, unless this is a modification, I'm not sure if the old one had a technique connection in the middle and I would have to hunt around to find my only one to confirm this...

Good review of a product I would never consider (bley is worthless to me...), so it is nice to see what Lego is up to.

God Bless,

Nathan

[Sir Dillon]

Nice review, Athos. I kind of like this set, but doubt I'll get it unless I find it on sale sometime.

The one on the left is a space part that first (don't quote me) appeared in the Insectoid line, unless this is a modification, I'm not sure if the old one had a technique connection in the middle and I would have to hunt around to find my only one to confirm this...

I have an old one from the Artic theme, and it does have a technic part in the middle. Maybe it's the first one in bley?

[Dreamweb]

I have an Insectoid set with two of those, BTW I feel a little lost, can someone clarify for me: is this equation correct:

bley = new dark gray = DkStone

or this one:

bley = new light gray = MdStone

(so that bley stands generally for new gray)

Where am I wrong and where am I right? All those new colours got me confused...

*wacko*

[xwingyoda]

Really Nice review Athos ;-)

Could you please take other pics of the MFs please !!

This set really has great parts !! I think its really nice !! TLC is making HUGE progress with their KK line IMO.

Dreamweb,

I never know what bley stands for !! Thats why I use the vocabulary used by BL: grey (for old grey), and bluish grey (for new grey) ;-) Its the same for brown: brown (old color) and reddish brown (new colour).

*yoda*

[Mister Phes]

I need some confirmation here. 8823 Mistlands Tower is a newly released Knights Kingdom 2 Year 3 set isn't itt? If so I might put a link to this review on the front page since there's been no news from the LEGO History & Adventure Forum since a certain poll whose data hasn't been processed yet!

[Zane]

Yeah, 'tis.

I don't understand all this bley stuff. Whats the problem with a new colour? Why not collect 'bley' to build in 'bley'?

-Tilius-

[KimT]

Could You please take a closer pic of the grey/green parts? It's difficult to see them quite well. Are they painted or made from mixing green and grey plastic in production.

Nice review, although I think You should have added more pics instead of links *y*

KimT

[Jipay]

Is there any particular reason that you linked the pictures rather than embed them directly into the thread? I've embedded the first two pictures to show you what I mean, but I left the rest in case you intentionally linked them - in which case I shall return the thread to the way you had it.

No reason. Just didn't want to overrun the post with pictures. And some forums where I posted it, don't like big pictures in the thread.

Steve

We don't fall into that category ;-) Nice review for a first one, with a lot of details. too bad you aren't pleased with the set !

[Mister Phes]

I think I'll give Mr Athos the same deal I gave Sir Dillion for his picture review. I'll comment on each picture section (not to be confused with each picture) so long as someone else posts after me, so in other words I'll only continue so long as I don't double post.

[christopher110]

I'm quite disappointed with this set...... I expected it to be something better though I've anticipated that it wouldn't be as good as KKII year 1 & 2 (I like those big castles.......)

I planned to buy all the castle sets that are released since 2005 cos that's when I started to play LEGO again.......But now, i'm not sure that i'll waste my $$ on this not-up-to-expectation set.

[Darkness Falls]

One of the new pieces you listed (the one that holds the half-sphere) is not a new piece. It was used in the old Insectiod sets.

[Huffy1968]

Interesting set review, thanks for sharing. To add to the subject of the new parts, two of the round pieces with attached plate were included in the Star Wars 7171 Mos Espa Podrace set from 1999. They were in original dark grey and came with the axle hole...

[DarthBrick429]

I was actually considering of buying this set for display, but it doesn't seem too thrilling. I might just get the Avatar Fire Nation Ship for the pieces.

[blueandwhite]

Yeah, 'tis.

I don't understand all this bley stuff. Whats the problem with a new colour? Why not collect 'bley' to build in 'bley'?

-Tilius-

Honestly, this isn't an issue if you don't already have a large collection. For you younger builders, bley should be the only consideration. Of course, this also means that you will be missing out on alot of older and discontinued bricks.

For many older builders, bley is simply not viable. We have already invested far too much into our already overabundant collections of grey. It simply doesn't make sense to collect the newer colours. Moreover, the juniorization of newer sets (like this one) is not appealing to many builders. Personally, I have no use for large single-purpose wall bricks. Such a set is virtually useless for MOCing.

In short, when you have spent 20+ years building up your collection of bley, and LEGO decides to change the colour to something else, then you might understand.

Later.

[Zane]

Lol, okay, thanks for that. But perhaps using 'bley' as well as the old grey would make a model more realistic? Matter of taste, I suppose.

[Dreamweb]

I think it all depends on what you are building - recently I tried to mix dark gray with dark bley while building rocks and they didn't fit together. Bley resembles metal to me and I think in many other cases it will work with old gray.

[Norro]

Bley (new grey) simply does not look like stone/nature, it resembles metal... as such I find it useless for castles and scenery (my two primary building areas). You also can't mix the two as it makes the old greys look yellow in comparison. And that is before you consider the parts selection available in each, jrized parts in bley, more bricks/plates/and useful mods in old grey...

Rant over,

God Bless,

Nathan

[hollisbrick]

Great reveiw especially that it was your first. I think that you've done better than some people that have done heaps of reviews. Probably one of the best KK sets but the Classic-castle is deffinately better.

Edited September 25, 2007 by hollisbrick

[iamded]

I managed to collect the 4 sets of this KK line. I think the Mistlands Tower was great actually, plenty of play features, I had a lot of fun with it. :-D I've disassembled my KK collection and rebuilt it into a wall, some towers and a blacksmith, using the anvil and fireplace from this set. :-P Great review, nice pics. *y* *y* And if you don't like the design, it's not a bad parts pack.

[Dragonator]

Thanks for the review!

I got this set not all that long ago, I have to say that it doesn't quite live up to some of the earlier castles, but still, its pretty good.

iamded, watch out, I might be your NEW stalker (insert evil laugh) >:-) :-P

Thanks again!