Following on from the reviews by CapnRex101 and Huw, I’m going to take a look at 70806 Castle Cavalry. This set is one of a few that offers a “2-in-1” build. At 424-pieces, this set sits in the mid-size category and has a price point of £24.99 / $29.99 (US). The main model I can only describe as “pod racer” looking, castle ship, cavalry, thingy… When Huw told me I was getting this set to review, I was quite excited as I thought it would be cool to have a castle that turns into a vehicle! Sadly now I have built it, my enthusiasm has wavered a little. Also in the main build is a Robot drone belonging to Lord Business – the main antagonist from the movie. The other build of this set is the “Castle Tower” as it’s referred to in its description. This is essentially a castle gate with a tower either side, and also includes a small catapult to help defend the gate! Where the gate leads to – who know’s! I guess we’ll find out when the movie hits our screens in February!
Box and Contents
The box itself features the main build on the front, showcasing the Castle Cavalry chasing the Micromanager Robot that has captured Sharon Shoehorn. Also on the front, is a 2-in-1 logo next to a small picture of the alternate build Castle Tower. The back shows a larger image of the Castle Tower alongside another of the Castle Cavalry, this time having rescued Sharon! Also highlighted are pictures showing the minifigs, as well as some of the features such as the locking gate mechanism.
Inside the box there are two large and three small bags, a sticker sheet for the flags and “stone effect” on the turrets, and three instruction booklets.
The Build
Main Model - Castle Cavalry Vehicle
The main model is built from two of the instruction booklets. The first of which is simply the Lord Business Micromanager Robot build. I really can’t see the justification for a separate booklet but I’m probably nit-picking! The 20 steps required to complete the model are quick and fairly simple, using a couple of Technic pieces to construct the fold-down wheels. It looks pretty cool and has a nifty grabber to hold onto Sharon Shoehorn! One point I would like to make is, I was pleasantly surprised how stable the model was on a flat surface, even when Sharon is in the claw – I was fully expecting it to be top heavy and repeatedly topple over!
So onto the Castle Cavalry! The second instruction booklet for this Main Model is twice the size of the first with 47 steps to complete the vehicle. The build itself again is fairly simple, the only repetition coming with the 2 “pods” being almost identical. The subtle difference between the two is the inclusion of the skull and bones in one of them as per the Castle Tower, which is a nice touch and good continuity. The two Flick Fire missiles, which fire from below the double crossbow turret, are cool and whilst the model feels a little wobbly when you change grip to fire them, the mechanism works okay. Armament is backed up by the twin catapults from the mobile cart, which are fixed either side of the rear turret/ station, along with plenty of catapult ammo! I have only photographed the main model and not the alternate build, but as you can see from the box art, it's a neat looking set.
Alternate Model – Castle Tower
I actually built this model first and I have to say I preferred it out of the two! The 49 steps it took to make the model were simple to say the least and very little was added for each step, which given the target age range and set size, is as I would expect. It didn’t take too long to build and as Castle Towers (with a gate) go – this one looks pretty neat. I like the blue and grey colour combination, similar of course to some of the Castle sets from this year. A couple of features worth mentioning are the lockable gates, the skull and bones hidden in one of the towers, and the mini catapult which is in fact a twin catapult which adds nicely to the playability of this model.
Minifigures
The set comes with three minifigures – Sir Stackabrick, Sharon Shoehorn, and a non-descript Gallant Guard. None of the heads/torsos/legs/etc. are new as far as I can tell. The torsos of Sir Stackabrick and the guard did feature in this years' Castle sets for example. Not much else to say about them really and I don’t know exactly where they sit in terms of how big a character each of them is within the film. The pictures themselves probably say any more that needs to be said.
Final Thoughts
To conclude, I can’t quite put my finger on why, but I didn’t find the set as cool as I thought a castle that turns into a flying ship should be! The Castle Tower looks neat and of the two models is the one with most playability. Whilst the Castle Cavalry may not have excited me as much as I thought, it certainly does the job of looking like the Castle Tower has turned into a Flying Cavalry! Also worth mentioning is there are no new elements in this set, but if you need a high number of tiny parts for a good price, then this is the set for you!
I have never been one to give ratings really but this set for me would be a 3/5, or a 5/10… Middle of the road! Hope you are enjoying the reviews of TLM sets, and I welcome your comments below. Stay tuned for the next one!
This article was originally published at http://www.brickset.com/news/article/?id=9411'>Brickset.com.
