LEGO 7952 Kingdoms Advent Calendar – Day 2

Today is Day 2 of the 2010 LEGO 7952 Kingdoms Advent Calendar. Yesterday’s Advent Calendar entry was a blacksmith and his hammer, and today’s entry follows that theme with a forge and a sword. Full 2010 LEGO 7952 Kingdoms Advent Calendar Gallery (flickr)

LEGO Kingdoms 7952 Advent Calendar

Update: If you’d like to see the individual advent calendar entries, see our LEGO 7952 Kingdoms Advent Calendar flickr set

After much debate, I finally broke down and bought the new LEGO Kingdoms Advent Calendar at my local LEGO Store. There were some major deciding factors. First off, I love the Kingdoms (and Castle) series LEGO has been putting out, and figured this set would have items/figures that would compliment my current collection nicely. The second thing that came to mind was the simple fact that when these things are gone, they’re gone. The LEGO Store is the only place you can get this set, and still buy it for its retail price (MSRP $34.99). If you choose to take the online auction route to obtaining the Kingdoms Advent Calendar, don’t be surprised if the bidding surpasses the $50 mark!

LEGO 7952 Kingdoms Advent Calendar

Actually, there was third factor in buying this one: they didn’t make a 2010 LEGO Harry Potter Advent Calendar, so the Kingdoms set was the next best thing.

By the Numbers:
Set: LEGO Kingdoms 7952 Advent Calendar
Year of Release: 2010 (September)
Type: Advent Calendar (Seasonal)
# of Pieces: 167
# of Extra pieces:
# of Minifigs and what kind: 8-9 (depending on how you count)
Stickers? No, printed
Price: $34.99 US
Purchase: Amazon.com (Warning, prices maybe higher than MSRP)
Ages: 5-12
Time to Complete: N/A

For those of you who do not know what an advent calendar is, I’ll tell you my view. An advent calendar is usually a bigger deal in Europe. Usually, these types of calendars come with chocolate. Starting on December 1st (these calendars celebrate the days of Advent leading up to Christmas), a little flap with the date is opened to reveal a piece of chocolate that is usually shaped like something associated with the holiday (i.e. a snowflake, deer head, X-mas tree, etc.). For the remaining days leading up to Christmas, each day contains a different piece of chocolate, or some other candy. The same concept is applied here, but instead of chocolate, LEGO figures and accessories are the daily prize. So as not to spoil the fun for you who do buy this item, I won’t say what’s in the set. We will probably post the item of the day starting December 1. I have opened the entire set, and had some fun putting the figures and other things together.

Read more

Featured MOCs: Ye Old Forge and Bron-Y-Aur

Jason and I are both big fans of the Medieval Market set, and a friend who knows this passed this neat MOC along. It was posted a few weeks ago on flickr, and is from “Derfel Cadarn”. It’s titled “Ye Olde Forge”, and is focused around a minifig-scaled blacksmith’s shop, … Read more

LEGO Kingdoms 852921 Knights / 852922 Dragon Battle Packs

Anyone who has been kinda irked about the bad guy to good guy ratio in the current LEGO Kingdoms series need not worry about getting reinforcements any longer. LEGO stores across the country have been carrying Kingdoms minifig Battle Packs for all you Castle System fans to beef up your forces. Each pack of knights/soldiers comes with five well-armed figures for $14.99 (USD). You can find them through third parties such as the Amazon links below, but you won’t find them for $14.99 – that is a price you will only find through the official LEGO stores (unless you get lucky). This price point is very acceptable when you take into account that figure packs from other series are not as accessory-equipped as these are. Also, the Build-A-Figure kiosk at the LEGO stores never really has a good Kingdoms/Castle selection of figure parts in my experience, so the two battle packs in this review are very much welcome to all the fans of LEGO’s medieval themed sets.

LEGO Kingdoms Battle Packs

There will be more photos coming, but this is a fairly short review, given the subject matter.

By the Numbers:
Sets: 852921 Knights Battle Pack, 852922 Dragon Battle Pack
Year of Release: 2010
Type: Minifig Battle Pack
# of Pieces: N/A
# of Extra pieces: N/A
# of Minifigs and what kind: 5 in each pack – Knights
Stickers? No
Price: $14.99 MSRP
Ages: 6+
Time to Complete: N/A

Where to Purchase – 852921 Knights Battle Pack:
Amazon.com (US) (These are through third parties – prices may vary)
Amazon.co.uk (UK) (These are through third parties – prices may vary)

Where to Purchase – 852922 Dragon Battle Pack:
Amazon.com (US) (These are through third parties – prices may vary)
Amazon.co.uk (UK) (These are through third parties – prices may vary)

Read more

LEGO Kingdoms 7949 Prison Carriage Rescue Review

Today’s review is of the new LEGO Kingdoms 7949 Prison Carriage Rescue. This is set within the new Kingdoms line (or universe). Like yesterday’s review of the LEGO Kingdoms 7955 Wizard, this review will be fairly brief, although there is much more to this 50-piece set versus the 19-piece 7955 set. Like yesterday’s review, it also highlights a fantasy element of the new Kingdoms lineup, although don’t get the impression that the new Kingdoms line is fantasy-based. Fantasy takes a backseat in this replacement series for LEGO’s popular Castle line.

LEGO Kingdoms 7949 Prison Carriage Rescue - Review (2010)

What is it? It’s a simple two-wheeled carriage that is being used to transport a prisoner. The fantasy element is the unicorn, which is actually a horse with a piece of armor for its head that includes a mount for a unicorn horn. With the horned helmet it becomes a unicorn. In addition to the horse/unicorn, it comes with three minifigures – a captured soldier from the Red Lion faction, along with a knight from the same faction intent on rescuing him. Opposing them is a knight from the Green Dragon faction.

By the Numbers:
Set: LEGO Kingdoms 7949 Prison Carriage Rescue
Year of Release: 2010
Type: Kingdoms vehicle/horse set with three minifigs
# of Pieces: 50
# of Extra pieces: 2 (1×1 wedge)
# of Minifigs and what kind: 3 Minifig Knights/soldiers (1 King’s Army soldier, 1 King’s Army knight and 1 Dragon Knight soldier) + 1 Horse/Unicorn
Stickers? No
Price: $9.99 US MSRP – Official Shop.LEGO.com, Also at Toys R Us, Amazon.com (US) and Amazon.co.uk (UK) (Prices may vary through third-parties based on retailer and availability)
Ages: 5-12
Time to Complete: Less than 10 minutes

Box Art:

LEGO Kingdoms 7949 Prison Carriage Rescue - Review (2010)

Read more