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Lego 8774 Knights Kingdom: Vladek
by helican
Knights Kingdom is a big range of Lego knights and castles with their accessories, and Sir Vladek is the villain of a group of tough-looking knights, differentiated by his black armour and his scorpion-patterned shield. The Knights Kingdom range has been around for years now and is still going strong.
The knights are described ... as being suitable for age 6+, which sounds about right as I think they'd be too fiddly and easily broken for a younger child. A six-year-old would need a little help building the knight but the instructions are very clear and there's nothing massively difficult so a child a couple of years older should be able to do it alone no problem.
When Vladek is built he's sturdy and mostly hold together well unlike some Lego toys which are a bit fragile and forever losing bits. His joints click into place as you move his arms and legs so he holds a pose well, and his left arm can be moved up and down by means of a lever in his back to slash with his sword.
My faults with Vladek are the same as with the other Lego Knights, which are all very similar in design: he's a bit clumsy to position properly so he stands well, and his shield fall off a lot. A joy to build, though, and excellent value for money.
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Lego 8773 Knights Kingdom: Santis
by helican
Santis is one of the Lego Knights acton figures. He's one of the good guys who fight evil Sir Vladek.
He comes in a castle-shaped plastic tub with a leaflet of easy-to-follow instructions and a little picture story.
He's about 20cm tall which is a good size to hold in the hand for playing but too big really to go ... with most toy castles, unfortunately. A bit of artistic license is required!
He has red armour, a big sword that moves up and down using a wheel in his back and a shield - which falls off easily.
The Knights are very much alike, with only small variations between them. Each one has a slightly different sword and shield, and these can be swapped vetween the Knights as the fittings are the same.
Sir Santis doesn't move at the waist but has joints that click into place at the hips, knees, ankles, shoulders and elbows so he can be posed fairly easily though I wouldn't call him bendy by any means.
Lots of care has obviously gone into making him stand up without falling over and it works reasonably well, though you have to take care to get all his joints in the right position so he's well balanced which can be a bit of a fiddle.
This fiddliness is the big downside for the Knights: Lego toys are wonderful things but they're all inherently fragile or unsteady. All the same, a lovely toy wihch has lasted us many years in excellent condition.
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Lego 8772 Knights Kingdom: Rascus
by helican
Sir Rascus the green Lego Knight comes in a chunky little reusable container like a castle tower, with a nice battlements-style lid in his own colour.
All the knights are very similar-looking and are easily built with the help of the excellent instruction manual. They consisit mostly of big body sections that click together ... securely at the joints so there's few fiddly bits to ping off, apart from the shield which doesn't stay on at all well.
The sword slots safely into his fist, and the visor can be lifted up to show his face (all the knights have different-but-similar faces).
Rascus can be posed although he isn't as flexible as an Action Man, for example. He has a lever in his back which moves his sword arm up and down - it doesn't lock so if you're not holding it the arm drops down and doesn't hold the pose.
He's about 20cm tall and despite the weight of the sword and shield he stands up reasonably well if you pose him carefully.
On the whole Sir Rascus is fun to build, looks really good and holds together pretty well, especially when compared to some other Lego and Mega Bloks toys we've had. My son played with it a fair bit although less than he did his Early Learning Centre knight figures. I think this is because of the extra care he had to take when posing it, standing it up and swinging the sword.
Recommended for kids who like construction toys.
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