Review: 70403 Dragon Mountain

[Echo]

This set has had me very concerned ever since I first saw clear pictures of it. It appeared just to be a tiny stunted tower with a stand for the dragon attached to it. So when I found it at TRU, I must admit that my expectations were quite low. I love LEGO wizards so I had to get it, but I was very afraid that I was wasting my money on everything that was not the wizard figure. So how does it measure up? Let's find out. This is 70403 Dragon Mountain. (376 pieces, $49.99. I don't know the price in other currencies.)

First up is the box. I love the box art for this theme. Brilliant backgrounds and I love the gold brick bits.

Box back. Nice again.

Minifig art on the sides.

Everything right out of the box.

We'll start with the figs. The figs are spread out throughout the bags. Somewhat odd. First are the lion knights. I like these dudes well enough.

Back and double sided printing on the knight's head.

The dragon knight and the princess. The dragon dude is solid. The princess is well done. I like the use of the Friends hairpiece to allow for use of a tiara.

Back printing and double sided heads.

And here is the guy I bought the set for: the dragon wizard. Big fan. I love his black Sensei Wu beard. His big freaking staff is kinda cool too.

Without the gear. His head has been used on other dragon knights in the theme, but it looks especially good on the wizard. His robe looks all evil and metal, with his big freaking dragon necklace, evil potions, and skeleton of some little creature. Awesome.

Back.

The dragon. I don't have my Fantasy Era dragon readily available for a comparison, but this guy seems very similar.

The much discussed fire chin. Yeah, the fire comes out of a hole in his chin, not his mouth. That is the silliness, but other than that, I like him. I personally prefer this type of dragon to the Ninjago brick built dragons. I guess this will be a love/hate sort of thing for people.

Random instruction page. Nice looking and good color contrast.

Bag one contents.

The catapult. Brilliant. After the very poor dragon knight siege engines from the other sets, this is a breath of fresh air. A decently constructed and relatively realistic looking siege weapon. Nice.

Bag two. The princess and dragon soldier are in this one.

The first tower part. It's a smaller prison tower atop a ruined something.

The ruined bit. Looks nice. The stairs are cool. Mouse and mouse hole are funny.

The top of the tower. Evil red crystal thing on it. Perhaps this a lighthouse? Probably not.

HOLY MEGABLOKS A FURNISHED INTERIOR?! Amazing! I adore this! Anyways, as a whole, my opinion on this part is mixed. The bottom bit with the interior is nice looking and well constructed and the very top bit with the crystal is nice, but overall, it's too small.This was the issue I had with this set when I first saw it. The tower looked far too small and underdeveloped. The furnished bottom helps to alleviate this concern, but the smallness remains. Not my favorite part of the set.

On to the third and final bag.

The dragon platform completed. I like this bit better than the other side. Solid angular build with well utilized LURPS.

The wizard has a laboratory behind a spider web here. Clever skeleton leg torch and, once again, I'm just happy to see a room in a castle set furnished.

Treasure chest containing four coins and a gold bar attached to two dark tan 2x2 jumper plates out front. Why it is there is a mystery to me. A trap of some sort? If that is the case, it is a stupid trap indeed.

The purpose of this area of the set is to give the dragon a place to stand. I guess it works fine for that.

The bridge section to connect the two larger parts. And a catapult because we have to have catapults EVERYWHERE. Oh well. At least we're past '05 KK where they were mounting catapults on freaking horses. I like the ten red slope pieces we get in this set. (Not going to bother looking up what they're called.)

Other side.

Princess locked up. Big issue with this bridge that I forgot to photograph. One cannot cross from one side to the other using it because the tower is right next to the bridge, preventing passage over to the tower's side. I think you can see well enough in this picture though.

And this one illustrates it too.

Man, I just LOVE having furnished interiors, even if they are sparse and basic.

Complete set.

Empty tower.

Extra parts. Notables are an extra new mold sword and light bley visor.

So my opinion on the set. It's not as bad as I feared. I had extremely low expectations for this set and they were exceeded pretty easily. The lion knights' catapult is great, the figs are very solid, and the lower levels are well done. Still though, I don't feel that I got my money's worth. I know the price is inflated because of the dragon, but even considering that, this is underwhelming. It seems very small and feeble for a evil villain's lair. The wizard is a well designed villain who looks legitimately intimidating and menacing, but he gets this little outpost? No. This should be more impressive than it is. People often compare this theme to Kingdoms, and to illustrate my point, I shall do so as well by comparing it to 7947 Prison Tower Rescue, the Kingdoms set that involved two good guys trying to rescue a princess from two bad guys in their evil tower.

The difference is pretty readily apparent. 7947 is a much larger and more imposing set. With the big gate, impressive height, and cohesive colors and design, it looks the part of the evil lair. 70403 falls well short of this, and it is unfortunately because of the issues I initially had with the set. While I like the idea of the villain's HQ being built on the ruins of an old structure and while the bottom sections are my favorite parts of the set, they are also the set's undoing. The more eye-catching black and red parts are a small part of the set in comparison to the greys and dark tan, making the main tower part look outright diminutive. I'd even go so far as to say the the proper tower section looks like a $12 set that someone stuck on top of the foundation of some other set. It looks puny and silly. It doesn't help that the set's mass is divided between the tower part and the dragon platform section, which spreads out the parts and increases the appearance of smallness. The catapult and dragon are nice, but in my opinion, they shouldn't be in this set. They take away valuable parts and plastic that should have gone to bulking up the main feature. The design flaws of the bridge to nowhere and the treasure chest out in the open don't help either. On the positive side of things, the figures are all excellent, the dragon is nice, and the catapult is surprisingly well designed, but that is not enough to save this set. Unless you can get it on sale, I do not recommend this set, and even if you do get it for cheap, don't expect much. Despite the nice figures and catapult, I'm afraid I must give this a 4/10. This is a decidedly below average set and a very feeble attempt at a villainous base. There are some nice parts and it is nice to see a furnished castle set, but the design is very disappointing. Take the money you would have spent on this set and go use it on The Gatehouse Raid and Forest Ambush instead, or if you want a good evil tower, go Bricklink 7947.

[Lordofdragonss]

Thank you for that great review. Clear pictures and well written text are big plus!

Just like you I have mixed feelings about this, but man, I did not expect furniture! That's awesome! But it's not enoughto blin my eyes. The tower should have at least one more floor or one more compartment at base or just another room at the other side.Anyway. Thanks for comparing two Dragons tower. I really needed that!

I think Lego Dragon just like in many Dragons series of Playmobil should become a completly additional set. Thanks to this anyone who wants the Dragon gets it, and GIANT SETS could be really giant. and have better treasure, because 1 sprue of gold it's just laughable nowadays.

When I first heard about this set I imagined it as remake of this:

Edited May 24, 2013 by Lordofdragonss

[bekindsorewind]

Lovely review! I didn't know about the little rooms in the bottom. Certainly adds to the set. However I completely agree about the tower. It's pretty lame. Glad to see such a detailed and honest opinion about the set. :)

[Thrawnie]

Dang, I was seriously planning to get this set, but seeing how pathetic it looks next to the Kingdoms tower - yeah, no. Not at $50.

[Ferrik]

Great review. This set looks alright to me. The minifigures are decent and the set itself isn't bad at all. The rooms are quite small but at least the rooms are furnished. The dragon looks hilarious with the fire coming out of the chin but when you close the mouth, you hardly see it so it's not really that much of a problem. Overall an average set.

[Sered]

4/10 is correct.

Good minifigs but the set is poor.

[ZCerberus]

Thanks for the review!

Forest ambush and gatehouse do seem to be the ones to snap up.

[metalandi]

That interior really surprised me, i was sure that those rooms would be empty. That just made me like that set a lot more! Even though its design isn't that great, i'll still get it since i collect all castle sets.

[Artifex]

Thanks for the review!

A pity this set is so lame.

[lightningtiger]

Thanks for the review 'Echo', I would only ever consider this set if it was on sale......and with a very heavy discount at that too. Comparing this to the Kingdom's version....man, that dragon eats up to price point.....curse you Riders Of Berk !

I guess it's an okay playset but only kids who love dragons will want this set.

[Mr. Elijah Timms]

Wow. That shot of the Kingdoms stronghold next to the Dragon Mountain is one of the single most convincing images I've ever seen on this site and SPEAKS VOLUMES. YEs, there's other elements not pictured there, but it's simply mind-boggling to think that these are two sets at the same price point within two years of release.

I'll still get it, but you've certainly illustrated how much TLG is taking out of the usual price points. Very well done.

[Darth Lurtz]

While I agree that this is a mediocre set, I think it is unfair to compare the two sets. One has a large dragon and catapult while the other does not.

[Hive]

I actually think this is the best set of this line so far; it's different, has nice colors, has a dragon that goes well with the Fantasy 2007 line and the best (and one of the only actually good) figures of the line: the evil wizard.

[Fives]

The figs in this set are really nice, particularly the face printing for the baddies. But the set itself is, alas, very lame.

[Sid Sidious]

This set is one of my favorites from the new Castle, but that's only because it doesn't really have competition. I prefer brick built dragons, so I'm not going to get this one.

[Lordofdragonss]

According to Brickset Dragon moutain (376) have MORE pieces than prison Tower Rescue (365). So it seems that's only a design fault :)

Can't wait to mod it!

[Brickdoctor]

Thanks for the review; it's the first I've seen of these new castle sets.

I was excited to learn that we'd be getting castle and LotR sets at the same time. But sets like this in this theme are so...<insert that tiresome argument>, or at least it feels that way in the pictures. I don't know if it's the way all the bright colors were used, or the small building with the big prefab dragon, or the huge bright yellow banner and trim... it almost feels like a Duplo set to me, in stark contrast to the darker blues and greens we've seen in previous castle themes.

I can't put my finger on the exact reason, but I think it might be the use of the multiple contrasting bright colors at the same time as the new more detailed style. The simple and the realistic combining to form something a little comical. With some of the older castle themes, the solid brighter color looked good with the simple print in one or two colors. But with all the big designs and fine details and the metallic trim all in black outlines, the minifigs seem too cartoonish to me. Maybe it's just me.

According to Brickset Dragon moutain (376) have MORE pieces than prison Tower Rescue (365). So it seems that's only a design fault :)

Can't wait to mod it!

The Dragon version has a lot of big prefab pieces, though. They are well-used, so it's a matter of whether you want a better looking set or a more versatile collection of parts for MOCing.

[Sandy]

I'm all for the minifigs and the dragon, so the actual build of this set doesn't bother me to the least. Definitely getting this set for the parts it offers.

[Alcarin]

The set looks disappointing but this might be the only set I buy (on 20% or more discount) from the Castle line this year... purely for parts!

[AmperZand]

I'm all for the minifigs and the dragon, so the actual build of this set doesn't bother me to the least.

I'm not keen on the catapults (or any LEGO catapults) but otherwise I completely agree. I regard the buildings as backdrops/props for the minifigs & dragon.

Yes, the price is a bit steep but it does contain the best dragon TLG has ever produced in a new print. I'm thinking of getting two copies: one for me and one for my nephews. And I have recommended it to a friend for his son.

[Natetrooper]

Awesome review! Now that I have a better view of this set I will probably wait until I can find a good deal. Only really want the catapult and figs, although the parts could come in handy. Quick question, are the brown axe handles/wands/lightsaber blades hollow?

[bekindsorewind]

Quick question, are the brown axe handles/wands/lightsaber blades hollow?

Yes.

[-Carson Haupt-]

Wait, they are? Are they the standard length, or are they pieces of flex tube?

[bekindsorewind]

They are this piece.

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=75c03

One is used to build the crystal pedestal and the other is extra.

[-Carson Haupt-]

Ok thanks! I've never seen those before.