London Toy Fair Report, part 3
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London Toy Fair Report, part 3
Posted by Huw, 22 Jan 2013 17:08. Filed under Miscellaneous.
This is an interesting 3-dimensional mural of the Kingdom on Chima that was also in the foyer of the exhibition hall.However, I'm sure what you want to read about is the return of Castle...
Castle
Yes, Castle is back, and it's called Castle, not Kingdoms. There will be five sets which, just like the reversion to the name 'Castle', are a true return to the theme's roots. They feature two warring factions. The lady telling us about them didn't know if they had names, but I can tell you they are blue and grey knights, with lions on their shields -- the King's forces -- and black with red dragons on their shields -- the baddies. It doesn't look as if there is any new armour, helmets or weapons, they all looked familiar to me.
The five sets are
- 70400 Forest ambush, £8, two knights pulling a cart loaded with gold being ambushed by two baddies from behind a tree.
- 70401 Horse carriage getaway, £18, red/black carriage being pulled by a single black horse, a small chunk of castle, two knights and a crossbow cart.
- 70402 Gatehouse raid, £25, a section of castle wall with a gate in it, two knights guarding it, a black/red catapult and two baddies, one on horseback.
- 70403 Dragon peak, £35, damsel imprisoned in a small prison, which is raised up and reached by a spiral staircase. Two knights with a large catapault, a red/black wizard (I presume) and a red dragon, not unlike those in the fantasy-era castle sets.
- 70404 King's castle, £80, excellent looking 4-sided castle with drawbridge, three turrets, 3 or 4 knights plus the King, three baddies and a siege machine of some sort.
I am sure Castle fans will appreciate these very much! They are all out in August.
Galaxy Squad
The shock news about these sets is that they are not out in Europe until August, when the entire range will be launched at once. The four sets that haven't been released in the USA yet are:
- 70706, Crater Creeper, £18, large 6-legged bug, with beetle like pincers, small craft with green spaceman.
- 70707, CLS-89 Eradicator Mech, £35, two legged mecha, orange and white, two different four-legged bugs.
- 70708, Hive Crawler, £50, even larger 6-legged bug whose legs move as it's rolled across the floor. Features an egg-flinging mechanism at the back that contains small Alien-like face-huggers. It looked fantastic, and is very clever. Also comes with dark red spaceman in small white/dark red craft. The best of the bunch.
- 70709, Galactic Titan, £80, blue/white large tracked vehicle with detachable spaceship, long-thin millipede-like bug with a 'bug-fig' on its back.
Super Heroes
I'm not going to write much about them yet. I'll wait until Pete has written his piece at FBTB. He was taking notes as to what minifig was in which set. Very few of the minifigs were on the stand, the sets didn't have names, and neither did half of the minifigs, due to them being spoilers, I presume.
Star Wars
I think I'll leave Star Wars for tomorrow, in the meantime, you can read Pete's resume of them at FBTB.
Lord of the Rings
Four new sets for August, all of which were fantastic.
- 79005, The Wizard Battle, £12, small set featuring Saruman and Gandalf the Grey.
- 79006, The Council of Elrond, £30, looks pretty much like I remember it from the film, and features Elrond, Arwen, Frodo and Gimli.
- 79007, Battle at the Black Gate, £60, which we've all seen and which contains Aragorn, Gandalf the White, Mouth of Sauron and two Mordor Orcs.
- 79008, Pirate Ship Ambush, £90, quite a reasonable ship using the usual parts. I think it has three mid-sections. Brown sails, nine minifigs: Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, King of the dead, two soldiers of the dead, Pirate of Umbar, which the guy on the stand reckons is supposed to be the one played by Peter Jackson, and two Mordor Orcs.
Very few of the finished minifigs were actually on display so I can't tell you whether the orcs were different to last years.
Part 4, the last part, which I'll write tomorrow morning, will cover Star Wars, Games and Friends.
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