Review: 5004419 Classic Knights Minifigure
Posted by CapnRex101,
5004419 Classic Knights Minifigure is the third in the series of small sets which celebrate classic LEGO themes, following 5003082 Classic Pirate Minifigure from last year and 5002812 Classic Spaceman Minifigure which was released in 2014.
Castle is one of the oldest LEGO themes but traditional designs seem to have fallen out of favour in recent years, with the focus instead shifting to modern variations such as Lord of the Rings and Nexo Knights. However, this offering takes us back to Castle at the height of its popularity with one of the best known castle factions and an excellent little model.
Box and Contents
The design and quality of the packaging is very impressive, allowing you to open the box without damaging it. I like the stylish white colour scheme and the thick sides of the tray inside lend a sense of real quality to the product.
Inside is a small bag of pieces, an instruction booklet and a tiny Castle-themed postcard with some stickers on the front. The sticker sheet is notable as it shows various Castle minifigures from across the last 38 years and includes a minifigure from Nexo Knights. This might confirm that we are unlikely to see a traditional Castle theme for as long as Nexo Knights sets are available.
The booklet only contains a few pages of instructions, with the majority of the pages documenting the development of the Castle theme and its minifigures. Nexo Knights features quite heavily which might irritate some fans who favour the more traditional Castle sets, although it does reflect the history of the range as a whole.
The Completed Model
5003082 Classic Pirate Minifigure did not effectively replicate the style of classic Pirates sets and this inspired some disappointment from fans. 5004419 Classic Knights Minifigure suffers from no such issue and is a near-perfect recreation of 6012 Siege Cart, a set released in 1986 during a period of enormous popularity for the Castle theme.
The original set includes two minifigures but this features only one. He is a Lion Knight, as indicated by the leonine emblem which is printed on his torso and shield. The design is very similar to that of the original minifigure but has been updated slightly to fill the torso a little more and it looks splendid.
A second shield is mounted on the front of the cart, just beneath the spear which simulates a ballista bolt. Two more are clipped to the sides of the model and there is a handle at the back which allows a minifigure to push it along.
Few alterations have been made to the design but the most notable is the replacement of stacked plates with a pair of curved slopes which form the lathe. It might have been nice to see more traditional parts used but the curved slopes are undoubtedly more attractive.
Overall
This is my favourite of the three retro sets released so far. Not only is it a good toy with considerable play value but it also recalls some of the earliest Castle sets very effectively, providing a perfect celebration of the theme's long history.
5004419 Classic Knights Minifigure is currently available with purchases of over £25, €30 or $50 depending on your location. I certainly recommend it to fans of the Castle theme or those interested in the history of LEGO products and am delighted that the size of the purchase required to qualify for the promotion has been reduced in 2016.
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17 comments on this article
Absolutely love this set, so much so made 4 orders to get more of them, look amazing with 375
I was so pleased with this product I decided to write a Brickset review as soon as it was released; it’s a perfect example of what a faithful homage and promotional product should be!
It appears this set is sold out in Canada.
This promotion actually finished yesterday for the UK, as the Friends Cupcake stall starts up tomorrow
Are you going to show the Lego Disney Cinderella's Castle? I've seen pictures of the set and didn't know if it was leaked or not.
Love this set. Classic Space was at the start of my interest in LEGO as a child and Castle was at the end before I 'grew up' ;-)
I got the Space set in 2014, missed out the Pirate set and had to get this Castle set. Built it yesterday. Excellent little freebie and really takes me back to the '80s :-)
Seems to be sold out. No mention of it anymore on shop @home and it's not added to my shopping cart.
@CedarRidgeBB - We will not be publishing images of 71040 Disney World Cinderella Castle until the full press release is available. Any websites which have posted them already are in breach of LEGO's novelty policy.
Excellent set; keeping mine sealed to see what the aftermarket prices look like.
Mine will arrive Tuesday, I can't wait
Thanks! Sorry for the trouble.
Very nice set, especially love how ... "classic," for lack of a better word, it looks.
Don't want to start a flame war over recent Castle additions but I'm predicting two more years tops of Nexo Knights before classic Castle returns.
It's a shame Knight's Kingdom II or the 2007 Castle line do not show up much in the booklet. KKII was pretty (in)famous for it's "Skittles knights" Love them or hate them, they are extremely identifiable. Having the sticker for that era be just a generic bad guy knight that wasn't even representative most of the bad guy knights of the theme (who normally had scorpions on their torso) feels like a very odd omission. Castle 2007, which I know is many people's favorite modern non-licensed castle line, due to fantasy elements stronger than just a dragon (undead skellys, trolls, dwarves, elves mentioned in the LEGO club magazine) is also not mentioned in the stickers at all, instead opting for the much less exciting Kingdoms figure.
Yes, it is sold out. It has not been showing up for me for the last 5 days or so. I contacted Lego customer service and they confirmed that they are out of stock. I'm highly disappointed because I was very much looking forward to getting this!
This has reminded me of the Legends series TLG brought out a few years ago, I'd love to see some more of the classic castle sets reissued!
@Roborider: Yeah, it's a bit strange how all the knights on the timeline/sticker sheet are such generic footsoldiers, and then there's Clay Moorington. I think it would've made more sense to either swap Clay for a more generic Knighton Soldier, or to swap some of the other knights pictured for ones with more distinctive helmets and armor (like http://brickset.com/minifigs/cas015/ for 1993, http://brickset.com/minifigs/cas250/ for 1997, http://brickset.com/minifigs/cas290/ for 2006, and http://brickset.com/minifigs/cas443/ for 2010.) Otherwise it gives the impression that LEGO knights used the same generic helmet designs all the way from 1986 to 2010, and that Nexo Knights is the first theme in 30 years to feature really innovative minifigure designs.
While the inclusion of Nexo Knights minfigures might bother some castle fans either way, it's worth noting that these sets' timelines generally do not constrain themselves to one theme. After all, the timeline from http://brickset.com/sets/5002812-1/Classic-Spaceman-Minifigure included a fig from http://brickset.com/sets/10213-1/Shuttle-Adventure, which most people would consider a Town, City, or Creator set, not a Space set. That said, the sets are named for the job/archetype of the minifigure, not for the theme they come from… and while Clay may or may not fit in a timeline of Castle minifigures, he certainly fits in a timeline of knight minifigures.
This type of naming might be useful in the future if LEGO ever makes classic minifigure sets for themes that have not been so continuously represented in LEGO sets, like Ninja, Western, or Adventurers. A timeline of figures from any of those specific themes would be fairly short, but including ninja, cowboys, or explorers from other themes would offer more years to draw from. Hypothetically, LEGO could even do sets based on other archetypes from themes they've already covered, like a Classic Robot Minifigure for LEGO Space, a Classic Soldier Minifigure for LEGO Pirates, or a Classic Wizard Minifigure for LEGO Castle!
Overall, this is a great set design that really pays earnest tribute to the original. I love this series of classic minifigure sets, and I'm excited to see how it continues to expand in the years to come!
@Aanchir: I'm not sure Adventurers would count as a classic Lego theme.
They might do something like Lego policemen otoh, as like the other Classic themes these have indeed been around for decades, with noticable updates every few years. Might make a nice freebie for 2017 ;-)