For those of you that don’t know, I am in the process of building a huge medieval castle complete with a moat, working drawbridge and haunted forest. Since a vast majority of the Castle and Dark Knights sets are nearly impossible to find, this has presented me with a real chore. Picking these sets up new, boxed and in good condition isn’t cheap. I spend a tremendous amount of time scouring the internet for brokers that are looking to unload these sets and more often than not, I come up empty handed or receive a product that is in less than ‘good’ condition. I only have three of these witches and they are amongst my prize Lego possessions. None of them are mint [still in the box] and one of them fell victim to a ferret attack.

The Fright Knight series introduced a new dark feel to Lego’s. Fright Knight was a sub series to the Castle theme and it allowed a tremendous amount of creativity and unlimited building possibilities through the addition of smaller sets. Making their way into the Lego world in 1996 and 1997, these sets are among my all time favorites and my most highly sought after. Please, don’t ask how much money I have invested in these sets, it will surely make some of you nauseous.

The Witch’s Fireplace

This is one of the smallest sets in the Fright Knights offshoot but it has some tremendous redeeming qualities. The magic ball / crystal ball is to die for and the detail on the witches outfit is excellent. The small fireplace that can also be used as a potion table, alter or mantle is small but in scale with the Lego figure. It goes without saying that this shouldn’t be something that a child should receive as a stand-alone set. After you build it and tinker around with the witch and animals a little, it does get boring.

The Witch

Oh how I love this little witch! It’s rare that an older set features a figure with this much accent and detail. Unlike the more recent figure – Star Wars and Harry Potter to name a few – the cape of the witch isn’t cloth. It is incorporated into the body of the figure and appears as a slope on the back portion of the body. The witch is made up of four pieces; the magic hat, head peg, torso and leg piece. The legs are not split so there is no movement or ability to position her, but once you see the stenciled design that runs form the torso to the bottom of the legs – you’ll forget all about that minor design flaw. The hat is the same exact one that is still being used today and has a little bit of detail to it. I’m not sure what is up with the witches mouth – kind of looks like she pulled an Ozzy Osbourne and devoured a small animal – either that or she picked up some cheap lipstick. She also comes with a red clear wand. These are pretty rare and only appeared in a handful of sets. Much like the crystal ball, a majority of the sets that feature the red wand are no longer in production.

I really wish I would have invested in more of these small sets since you can never have too many witches in a scene. Since I have a great love of Halloween, each year I drag out my Fright Knights sets and make a cute little haunted scene for the dining room table.

By far the greatest asset to this set is the ultra cool crystal ball. You might not think that a crystal ball would warrant such a mention, however this one has a fair bit of detail to it. Only released in eight other Lego sets, the top of the crystal ball has a starpoint design to it. It rests on a small flat base with a four-pronged Lego attachment under it. This allows it to be snapped into place on the fireplace or on the provided wooden barrel. Most of the other sets that this was added to are out of production but you can still pick this up from brick resellers or vendors online.

The Fireplace

As previously mentioned, the fireplace can be used for a number of different things. There are a limited number of pieces to work with but if you play around with it you can create a few small things or you can add other Lego elements to it and make it a little bigger. While the fireplace is a nice little perk to the set, a bulk of the attraction of the set

A Bat And A Cat

The two small animals that included with this set are really adorable. The little black cat can be placed in a variety of positions to achieve the desired result. Since this is a free form figure*, it can be placed anywhere in the set without compromising the integrity of it. The bat is the same creature that was featured in the Dark Lord series. While these are common amongst the Castle themes and sets, outside this realm they are extremely rare.

Instructions

The small fold out sheet of instructions is pretty much straight forward. Lets face it – this is a small set and there aren’t many pieces to mess up. The assembly of the witch takes about the same amount of time as the small fireplace so any way you slice it, you are looking at about 5 minutes total construction time.

The Bottom Line

For those that had a love of the Castle theme, Bat Lord, Dark Lord or Fright Knights, this is a real gem. It is one of the smallest sets but goes with any of the above listed series. The stenciled image on the witch is detailed but no so much so that it causes a conflict with other sets. If you come across these you are ordered to email me at once and let me know :] Much like the Star Wars R2-D2 and Harry Potter figures, you can never have too many witches or crystal balls in your stock of inventory.

This was also part of a promotion that the Shell Corporation has back in the late 90’s. When you would fill up with gas or make a purchase over a certain dollar amount you could pick up these sets. I had no idea that this promotion was going on or you could bet I’d be right on it. One very lucky friend walked into a dollar store and came across a case of the Shell promotional sets and purchased them [40 sets] for $20.00 because the manager said they had been sitting there for months collecting dust. He played it cool but assured me that once he walked out the door he let out a nice loud scream. He was kind enough to share a few of the sets with me in exchange for an internal organ and my first born child [just kidding].


The Stats

Set Name: Witch’s Fireplace
Family Set: Castle
Lego Set: 2872
Number of Pieces: 22
Age Recommendation: 5 - 12
Packaging: Boxed
Ease Of Assembly: Easy
Time Of Assembly: 5 minutes
Cost: $2.99 when released

= No longer in production =

As always, thanks for the visit …

^V^ Freak ^V^


© 2002 Freak369

1712 - Crossbow Cart
1736 - Wizard's Cart
1794 - Dragon Master Chariot
1906 - Majisto's Tower
6020 - Magic Shop
6043 - Dragon Defender
6048 - Majisto's Magical Workshop
6056 - Dragon Wagon
6076 - Dark Dragon's Den
6082 - Fire Breathing Fortress

2848 - Flying Machine
2872 - Witch's Fireplace
6004 - Crossbow Cart
6007 - Bat Lord
6027 - Catapult
6028 - Treasure Cart
6029 - Treasure Guard
6031 - Fright Force
6037 - Witch's Windship
6047 - Prison Transport
6087 - Witch's Magic Manor
6097 - Night Lord's Castle
6099 - Traitor Transport


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): $2.99
Type of Toy: Blocks
Age Range of Child: Whole Family