Review: 43224 King Magnifico's Castle
Posted by CapnRex101,
Castles have been a common feature of Disney animation for decades and the studio's newest movie, Wish, presents another. Even so, 43224 King Magnifico's Castle looks unique and I love the gem-like dome on top, which is remarkably eye-catching.
Moreover, this set contains an exceptional mini-doll, as the titular king wears a beautiful silvery cape and looks excellent. However, the price of £84.99, $99.99 or €94.99 feels very expensive for a set including a mere 613 pieces.
Summary
43224 King Magnifico's Castle, 613 pieces.
£84.99 / $99.99 / €94.99 | 13.9p/16.3c/15.5c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
Even though 43224 King Magnifico's Castle looks excellent, it is too expensive
- Castle recreates many important architectural features
- Reasonable size
- Good interior space
- Fantastic King Magnifico mini-doll
- Odd internal layout, in places
- Only three mini-dolls
- Greatly overpriced
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Mini-dolls
As the protagonist of the film, Asha appears in each of the three Wish sets, sporting the same lavender and pink dress. Such repetition is perhaps disappointing, but this mini-doll is fantastic, including an accurate dark brown hair piece, made from plastic instead of rubber, alongside her intricately patterned attire. The detail on the underlayer of the dress looks superb in particular.
Dahlia is Asha's best friend and also wears a stunning costume, complete with the round skirt element originally designed for Belle. However, the element does not represent a ball gown on this occasion, featuring a printed apron on the front instead. In addition, the hair component has not appeared in black before and suits Dahlia nicely, paired with a bespectacled head that also matches the onscreen character.
The magical Star seemingly descends from space in response to Asha's wish, interpreting the idea of wishing upon a star literally. The character's adorable expression and stubby points are lovely and Star includes an anti-stud beneath, so connects to studded surfaces. Two trans-clear 1x1 round bricks and a 2x2 dish are supplied, so the being can float on a simple stand.
Given his majestic name, King Magnifico should be wonderfully dressed. Thankfully, this mini-doll more than satisfies that requirement, sporting a beautiful white robe, adorned with metallic gold highlights. These robes comprise two shades of white or pale cream onscreen, but LEGO does not produce a suitable cream colour, so this design is the best solution.
However, the cape is by far my favourite aspect of this figure, perhaps taking the crown from Lando Calrissian for the best LEGO cape! The reflective surface looks superb and accurately displays Magnifico's monogram, while the blue surface is beautifully detailed too. Furthermore, the hair component is well-chosen. This piece was introduced in Friends and seems versatile enough for many characters in various colours.
King Magnifico wields a pearl silver spear, intended to represent his magical staff that appears briefly in the trailer. This accessory looks fine, but really needed some detail on the tip. Dahlia, meanwhile, comes with a crutch. Again, this reflects the film and works reasonably well for its size, although also resembles a tonfa!
The Completed Model
Magnifico's castle towers over the city of Rosas onscreen, surrounded by layers of walls and flying buttresses. Naturally, the structure has been dramatically reduced in size for this model, although its imposing silhouette remains intact and the height of 29cm is large enough to tower over mini-dolls, so gives the right impression of scale.
Furthermore, I think 43223 Asha in the City of Rosas pairs nicely with this set, partly to convey the size of the castle, but primarily because of their shared colours. The consistent blend of tan and white pieces is very effective and I love the teal roofs, which create a defined visual style for Rosas. Once some mini-doll residents are added, the sets feel like the beginning of a cohesive city.
The doors are also teal and adorned with stickers, providing some detail. Surprisingly, the rose-inspired design above is actually printed on a 1x6x5 wall panel and beautifully framed with 4x4 curved tiles and 1x3 inverted arch bricks, which form a lovely shape. The columns flanking the entrance look splendid as well, but I wish the staircase could have been longer.
The aforementioned flying buttresses around the castle are constructed using 1x4 arch bricks and various slopes. These are an essential architectural feature of the onscreen building and I am pleased to see them represented here. Also, the trans-light blue 1x1 pyramids placed on top are effective, complementing the central tower's impressive dome.
Lavender and teal leaves provide additional colour, breaking up the otherwise muted tan and white walls. The teal foliage is another feature shared across the Wish range, which gives the Kingdom of Rosas a distinctive visual style, while the narrow windows on the castle are superb too, emphasising its height.
Similar windows are found on the tower, printed on 4x4x6 curved panels. I would prefer brick-built windows, although the use of printed pieces rather than stickers was a pleasant surprise. The angular dome above is definitely the castle's most recognisable feature and looks suitably stunning. Using a vinyl sheet was sensible, yielding the desired shape and featuring beautiful silver details.
As expected, the back of the castle is open, permitting easy access to the interior. The angled shape of the walls hides the open back fairly well and I am pleased with the selection of rooms inside, although only a couple have appeared in the trailers. Nevertheless, there is ample space for play inside the castle.
The area behind the entrance is completely empty, so adding some statues or other decorative features would have been useful. However, the fireplace beside the foyer is fairly detailed and I like its medium nougat and dark orange colour scheme. The 1x3 rounded plates that anchor the angled walls in place are interesting too, in combination with hinged bricks.
A kitchen occupies the other end of the ground level, displaying a beautiful cake on the stickered sideboard. Teal accents reappear on this sticker and the cake provides another splash of colour. A mop and a baguette are also stored in here, alongside a separate oven. Ideally, this would be integrated directly with the castle, but the oven is a welcome addition, even so.
The floor above is equally detailed, although I think the separation between the laboratory and the living area could be clearer. In addition, there is limited floor space in front of the laboratory equipment and King Magnifico's wardrobe, which makes it tricky to accommodate the mini-dolls. Magnifico cannot easily stand in front of the mirror on his wardrobe, for instance.
I like this mirrored sticker, but the wardrobe is completely empty, lacking even a hanger for the king's cape. The ornate fireplace in the centre of the room looks better and integrated the rose-shaped emblem of Rosas, while a painting of the king hangs above. The design of the painting matches the mini-doll exactly, which is a nice detail.
Another mirror is found on the next level, which raises questions concerning King Magnifico's potential vanity! The mirrored effect is excellent and the pointed designs across the mirror are attractive, resembling those on the dome. An intriguing book is also displayed here, featuring a sinister skull on the cover.
The cover and the page inside are both represented by stickers, which is a shame because the book available in 43231 Asha's Cottage includes printed pieces. Based on the trailers, I wonder whether this area should have been swapped with the laboratory, more faithfully duplicating the layout of the original castle, where the laboratory is situated in the tower.
In fact, the laboratory and the chamber where orbs housing wishes from the people of Rosas are kept would ideally be combined. Splitting them was sensible though, as the room beneath the dome is small. Trans-light blue minifigure heads serve perfectly as the orbs, surrounded by three more mirrors. Rather than appealing to the king's vanity, I believe these are intended to reflect teal-tinged light passing through the dome.
Overall
Unsurprisingly, the Disney theme includes a wide selection of castles. These are often required to capture the splendour of the original building and its essential internal features, while greatly scaling down the subject. I think 43224 King Magnifico's Castle is among the best examples of this technique, particularly because it avoids excessive use of bland panels, which has affected the likes of 43196 Belle and the Beast's Castle.
Sadly, those sets are often afflicted with another issue, which King Magnifico's Castle has not avoided. The price of £84.99, $99.99 or €94.99 is much too high, based upon the scale of this model and the few mini-dolls included, even though King Magnifico is among my favourite mini-dolls to date. For that reason, I can only recommend this set following a substantial discount.
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22 comments on this article
Looks more like a church than a castle.
I didn't realise the cape had a different pattern on the inside. That would suit a wizard fairly well, I think.
In case any of you need musical accompaniment for the review, this was coincidentally just released: https://youtu.be/bFmrzhuVOts
Great Wish reviews! Can't wait to get these sets eventually. This in particular looks fantastic.
Dang that cape is fantastic! And they really need to release the Star character in blue, so I can have a LEGO Lumalee from the Super Mario Bros movie.
It looks like Dahlia is carrying an exhaust pipe. I guess that star thing adds another "minifigure" in today's language. But even so, it is a tiny build for the price.
@vizzitor said:
"I didn't realise the cape had a different pattern on the inside. That would suit a wizard fairly well, I think."
Sadly, mini doll capes don't fit on mini figures. The neck is smaller in diameter.
@Murdoch17 said:
" @vizzitor said:
"I didn't realise the cape had a different pattern on the inside. That would suit a wizard fairly well, I think."
Sadly, mini doll capes don't fit on mini figures. The neck is smaller in diameter."
Ah no! I forgot the capes weren't usable on minfigs like the minidoll hair is.
@ICAbricks said:
"If Disney was trying to set up King Magnifico as a test villain they've already failed miserably "
If you mean TWIST villain, that's not what he is at all. He's very clearly evil, and is being marketed as such. It seems like Asha will discover his motives pretty early on, as well.
Glad to see the hawkeye hair is already being used on other figs. I reckon it could work pretty well for a padawan Anakin in one of the shades of nougat.
I HATE this style of builds where they barrely make propper studded space on sides. Just use WING PIECES.
I think Dahlia's crutch accessory looks like a riot baton!
"I am honored to meet you, your majesty."
"This world is imperfect. If only I could wipe away the impurities... and make it as beautiful as me!"
Magnifo, huh? 41525 sure has changed in appearance since 2014...
@ozbrickcreator said:
"Magnifo, huh? 41525 sure has changed in appearance since 2014..."
Turning from a Mixel into a mini-doll would explain all the mirrors!
@Zink said:
"I hate bricks. I love stickers."
TLG makes sets even for you! 853921 and it's related ilk.
I'm embarrassed to admit I own a few of them.
@vizzitor said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @vizzitor said:
"I didn't realise the cape had a different pattern on the inside. That would suit a wizard fairly well, I think."
Sadly, mini doll capes don't fit on mini figures. The neck is smaller in diameter."
Ah no! I forgot the capes weren't usable on minfigs like the minidoll hair is."
Simple solution: Elves.
As for the subject of a star granting wishes, I much prefer Laura's Stern (Laura's Star), a movie I watched with my daughters when they were younger. Still one of my favorite animated kids films. Especially love the soundtrack.
TR8R still wants his baton back
small correction - the hair wasn't created for Hawkeye, it was created for Olly in the Friends line and has been reused a couple times in other in-house themes since
The Pine is mightier than the sword
Gorgeous castle, and very attractive minidolls. Shame about the price. I bought the other two Wish sets to get the latest Disney GWP, but I doubt I'll actually buy this one, although I may Bricklink some of the details and make a MOC to use them. Or maybe I'll just keep an eye out in case it gets a good discount on Amazon or something.
@Anorak719 said:
"small correction - the hair wasn't created for Hawkeye, it was created for Olly in the Friends line and has been reused a couple times in other in-house themes since"
Thank you; I have corrected the review.