Dragon Rider - A "Must Have" Set For Castle Collectors!
Written: Dec 13 '02
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Pros: The black dragon! Cool knight with chrome helmet.
Cons: Strictly an accessory set, won't be much fun as a stand-alone set.
The Bottom Line: Who says dragons aren't cute? One of my favorite accessory sets from the Knights' Kingdom series!
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| Freak369's Full Review: Lego Dragon Rider 4818 |
Have you ever dreamed of living in another time? When things weren’t nearly as complicated, being overweight wasn’t viewed as a bad thing and middle age was considered your late twenties – a time also known as the medieval times. For me this is more than just a passing fancy or a portion of history that I like to learn about and yes, Lego sets had a lot to do with my love of castles, dragons, dark knights and all things in between. One thing to know about this set is that it is strictly an accessory set. If you purchase this thinking you are going to get a tremendous amount of play out of it you are going to be extremely disappointed with it. However, when combined with other Castle sets or used with other Lego sets – this provides a lot of enhancements and fuels the imagination.
With my Lego castle scene almost completed I have started to work on the accessory pieces that will be needed to finish it off. It’s taken me a long time to amass the pieces needed to build the castle and surrounding town but this ongoing project has been a complete blast to work on. While purchasing the many arches and wall panels I needed I came across a few very friendly brick vendors that were more than happy to supply me with their overstock lists. It just so happened that one of them had a slew of Dragon Rider sets and was looking to get rid of them for the insane price of $2.00 per box. After haggling a little I agreed to order 25 boxes [$50.00] if I could get free shipping. Tossing a money order in the mail I sat and waited for my box of goodies to arrive. I knew what I was getting since I had already picked up a few of these on EBay – but I was like a little kid in a candy store when my parcel arrived less than a week later. When I tore open the box that the sets were packed in I was more than impressed with the condition of the boxes since I really expected them to be in beat up condition. If you are going to try to find these on the internet make sure that you are purchasing new sets that are still in the original boxes or used sets that have all the pieces that comprise the set.
The Dragon Rider
One of the smaller sets in the Knights Kingdom, this is a great accessory set to pick up to accent your castle scene. There isn’t a lot to do with this set when it is completed so think long and hard about giving this to a child as an introduction to the Lego world of building. This set looks great with the Fright Knights Catapult [2540] since they both share the common dragon theme. With a few extra pieces you can hook the dragon up to the catapult or have him shackled to it. The wings from this set are interchangeable with the solid black ones featured in the Fright Knights Batwing Flyer [2539] and since this set is a little easier to find – it will cost you less to pick up this set than to purchase the wings separately. If you want a little variety with your dragons I suggest picking up the Fright Knights Witch's Windship [6037] since this set has the green dragon [with black wings] rather than the black one.
The Knight
One of the most attractive parts of the knight that you get with this set is the metallic helmet. The helmet does need a little bit of extra care so if you plan on using this for a display I highly suggest that you coat it with a sealer or clear nail polish. This will keep it shiny and prevent it from loosing its sheen and brilliance. The knight looks great however since he is the only figure included with this set, chances are a child might get extremely bored with it. The knight comes with a Black Bulls shield, full-length scabbard and metallic helmet complete with removable bone adornment. The stenciling on the knights torso is impressive and remains true to the Black Bulls design. Much like the helmet, these stenciled images need a little bit of extra care. If you plan on displaying them rather than playing with them, try to keep them out of direct sunlight to prevent fading.
The Black Dragon
To the best of my knowledge there have only been two dragons released in the Castle series – the green one and the black one. In my personal opinion the black one looks a lot better than the green one since it has a more sinister feel to it. The only advantage the green one has over the black one is that you can see a lot more of the detail. Regardless, the dragons have been a long time favorite of mine and no matter how many I get my hands on – you’ll never see me pass up an opportunity to pick up a few more. The black dragon is a large beast measuring 4 1/2 inches in length and three inches high. With the wings outstretched the dragon is 4 1/2 inches wide but the actual body is only 3/4 of an inch wide. When you look at those dimensions compared to some of the building and structures within the series you’ll see that there is a small scale problem.
Depending on which portion of the series you pick up – your dragon may need very little assembly. The early sets came with all the pieces loose [arms, wings, tail, face] and the older sets came with just the wings and tail needing to be attached. This set came with all the pieces loose so I needed to snap the arms into place, attach the tail, clip on the top part of the face and snap on the wings. This took about three minutes total so there really isn’t much work involved in building the dragon.
Instructions
The one page sheet of instructions walks you through the building of the dragon as well as the fierce knight. Building the entire set shouldn’t take more than five minutes and involves the most basic tasks of assembly. The dragon limbs snap together easily and once attach, stay firmly affixed to the body. The knight is built in four easy steps and the hardest part is getting the horn attachment for the metallic helmet centered correctly. Out of all the sets I’ve purchased and built, this has got to be one of the easiest to assemble.
The Bottom Line
While some collectors might say that this is a useless set since it doesn’t have a tremendous number of elements - I have to disagree. This is one of the best ways to collect the black dragons as well as the metallic helmet and horn embellishment. Since I missed out on these when they were initially offered I took full advantage of a brick broker that had too many of these in stock. These might not be the easiest to find but they are well worth trying to track them down. These are the perfect finishing touch for any castle lover and would make a great gift for the for the Lego lover in your family for the upcoming holiday season.
The Stats
Set Name: Dragon Rider
Family Set: Knights’ Kingdom [Castle]
Lego Set: 4818
Number of Pieces: 14
Age Recommendation: 6 - 12
Ease Of Assembly: Easy
Time Of Assembly: 5 minutes
Cost: $ 2.00 [bulk purchase price]
As always, thanks for the visit …
^V^ Freak ^V^
© 2002 Freak369
Other related reviews…
Knights’ Kingdom Dungeon
http://www.epinions.com/content_74587344516
The Royal Joust
http://www.epinions.com/content_74521874052
Fright Knights Catapult
http://www.epinions.com/content_73464450692
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): See Review
Type of Toy: Blocks
Age Range of Child: Whole Family
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