Eh, I've seen darker.

Johnny thunder? Wait, what! It's not you! It's a different guy! He's an imposter!

Or maybe J.T was the imposter, and he travelled back in time, kicked this guy out and went in disguise to find out about this period of history...

One of best Lego castles.

I saw Cheesy Studios review this and it looks pretty cool

Pretty sure I got this waiting for me in a $60 bin. I really should spend less time on Brickset and sort more.

@MCLegoboy said:
"Eh, I've seen darker."

Naturally-it’s not the DarkEST Fortress.

Lego's produced a few bad-guy-base sets, over the years, but for my taste, this is one of the best. It's expansive, it's gorgeous, and there's some great play value here too.

I have this one!…. Sans mini-figures….. and sitting in 2 giant boxes of LEGO that I bought in a bulk purchase, that’s only been sorted by colours (& had some larger / rarer parts removed)……. For the past 4 or 5 years!!…..
Need to get to building it at some stage!…..

I wasn't collecting LEGO at this time period, but this set looks awesome. It's practically saying, we are going to kick your ass!

Maybe the most criminally underrated castle Lego has ever produced!! Absolutely epic build.

This castle is, quite simply, AWESOME! It was my first proper castle that I got, and boy, I sure had a lot of fun playing with it. I have rebuilt it a couple times over the years, and it is currently built, likely to stay. I have it expanded too, as one point, I realized it was very similar to the 375 (Yellow) Castle, minus the rear tower. So I added a rear tower.

Easily one of my favorite Castle sets. I have a huge nostalgia for KK2. I recently acquired the companion set, 8876 Scorpion Prison Cave. It was missing most of the small, basic parts, and a couple more smaller, pricey parts, which I literally placed an order for before coming to Brickset.

@MrNowack said:
"Maybe the most criminally underrated castle Lego has ever produced!! Absolutely epic build."

I agree! I spent countless hours playing with my siblings with this set.

@MCLegoboy said:
"Eh, I've seen darker."

But have you seen Vladeker?

In the land of Mordor where the shadows lie....

See you can tell it's the bad guys' base because its black and red.

Oh who am I kidding, I'm a total edgelord. This is one of my favorite castles of all time! So imposing!

Vladek's action figure mask (used as decoration above the main gate here) always gave me vibes of Makuta Teridax's Mask of Shadows from BIONICLE. It looks more like the movie version than the mold literally called "movie edition." Minifig Vladek doesn't give that vibe at all. The cheeks are puffier and more ridged, the eyes and brow stretch out and up further, the whole thing feels more bulbous with spikes than angular and geometric. But the big one's mask, that is straight up Makuta:

https://brickset.com/parts/4273029/lacqued-visor-no-1
https://biosector01.com/wiki/File:MoL_Makuta.PNG

My son got this set for Christmas when he was about 11 years old.

@GSR_MataNui said:
"See you can tell it's the bad guys' base because its black and red."

Like M-Tron?

This is one of the few, if any, Lego castles that actually features decent sized siege weapons and multiple for each side.

Wish we'd gotten more sets like this :(
I like Kingdoms King's Castle (the one I had) but the Dragon Knights just sort of run around it while the Lion Knights fart in their general direction and taunt them a second time.

Vladek was such a stud for owning multiple fortresses. Apparently, this is his dark themed one. Now I wonder how his light fortress looked like.

A beauty. I wanted to buy it but got fed up when it wasn't in stock so bought 7709 Sentai Fortress. In the end I deviced I had more than enough GIANT fortresses and never got this one.
At least, so far. It's gorgeous, but I wouldn't have much room for it. Maybe one day. Or not. I have 7709 again and even unbuilt it taked up a lot of space!

@whiteghost said:
"Vladek was such a stud for owning multiple fortresses. Apparently, this is his dark themed one. Now I wonder how his light fortress looked like."

Well... 8781 Castle of Morcia has a Vladek mode it can convert to that looks like this:
https://img.bricklink.com/ItemImage/EXTN/622.png

Never got into Castle, which is a shame, but I do appreciate the theme.

Wasn't Vladek Ogel's ancestor?

@PurpleDave said:
" @GSR_MataNui said:
"See you can tell it's the bad guys' base because its black and red."

Like M-Tron?"

Given that M-Tron’s motivations line up with the humans from Avatar, entirely possible they could be the bad guys

It’s interesting that a set from 2005 only has one image. We need more angles of this awesome fortress.

Barad-Dur expansion pack.

2005, what a great time to be a LEGO fan!

@Arnoldos said:
"Wasn't Vladek Ogel's ancestor?"

Yes, yes he was.

Lore time...?

After failing to win his own rigged tournament to become king of Morcia the previous year, Vladek escaped from imprisonment by mysterious means, leaving only his old mask behind in his cell, and retreated to the lost Kingdom of Ankoria. There he established his new Dark Fortress (as seen in this set), built up a legion of Elite Shadow Knights, and hatched a new plan to conquer Morcia - this time by outright invasion. The invasion would be supported by the power of the giant 'Vlad-mask' mounted on the front tower; constructed from fragments of the magical Shield of Ages (the same shield whose Heart had been the object of the previous year's quest), it granted Vladek invincibility.

Learning of the invasion through his crystal ball less than a week before it was to take place, King Mathias hatched his own counter-plan: deciding that the only defence worth considering was a good offence, he sent the four hero knights into Ankoria to find and infiltrate the fortress, and lower its drawbridge from the inside by dawn of the fifth day - the time when Mathias and the rest of his army would arrive to capture the fortress, which they would find by following a map that the hero knights drew on their journey and sent back to him by carrier hawk.

The scene depicted in the set image didn't happen quite like this in story. Danju (purple, wolf emblem, superpower of wisdom) got captured before they reached the fortress in the process of acting as a decoy to give the other three knights a chance to slip through the enemy lines undetected. Then Jayko (blue, hawk emblem, superpower of speed) split from the party to go back and rescue Danju (as seen in 8876), leaving only Santis (red, bear emblem, strength) and Rascus (green, monkey emblem, agility) to infiltrate the fortress - which they did by sneaking rather than full-on assault. While Jayko returned to the scene in time to take part in Mathias' attack (as depicted in 8875), the other three knights seem to have dropped out once their part was done, as the comics don't shown them taking part in the battle; they only reappear to watch Jayko's coronation as the new king in the aftermath of victory.

-

On an unrelated note: according to an issue of Blocks magazine, this was also the first set where Lego trialled using the practice of numbered bags!

A beautiful set and actually well worth the price considering how much plastic you got.

Fun memory: I received this set for Christmas when it came it out. At the time I had been collecting as many Shadow Knights as possible so I garrisoned this bad boy to the brim. My friend came over for a visit to see the fully realized castle and he brought his seven year old sister as well. I'll always remember how enthralled she was by this set. She loved the interior and played with it more than we did. That joy she had was something I will never forget about this set.

@oukexergon said:
"Love, love, love this set. So much amazing going on here. Sets like this are what I want Lego to bring back some Castle stuff for. Not 18+, just fun, creative, customizable castle stuff that can be expanded and where actual battles can be staged, if not waged. I don't need a kid's room with a Yellow castle toy or a hidden frog compartment--as much as I loved Lion Knight's Castle. I do need catapults, armored horses, and scary bad guys with cruel-looking structures. I need armies for the heroes to go up against. Need some lore. Need some names, and not just Lion Queen."

But…_everyone_ needs a hidden frog compartment!

@PurpleDave said:
" @GSR_MataNui said:
"See you can tell it's the bad guys' base because its black and red."

Like M-Tron?"

Nonono, M-Tron is red and black, completely different!

@Binnekamp said:
"A beauty. I wanted to buy it but got fed up when it wasn't in stock so bought 7709 Sentai Fortress. In the end I deviced I had more than enough GIANT fortresses and never got this one.
At least, so far. It's gorgeous, but I wouldn't have much room for it. Maybe one day. Or not. I have 7709 again and even unbuilt it taked up a lot of space!

@whiteghost said:
"Vladek was such a stud for owning multiple fortresses. Apparently, this is his dark themed one. Now I wonder how his light fortress looked like."

Well... 8781 Castle of Morcia has a Vladek mode it can convert to that looks like this:
https://img.bricklink.com/ItemImage/EXTN/622.png"

This basically gives Vladek 2 castles. more than any other Lego figure! (even if you want to say he really only has 1.5).

Ah, nope I'm wrong... that'd only be for Castle theme... if we count other themes, Cinderella is the clear winner here with 5... (43206, 30554, 43178, 41154, 41055)

@StyleCounselor said:
" @ThatBionicleGuy said:
"Lore time...?

After failing to win his own rigged tournament to become king of Morcia the previous year, Vladek escaped from imprisonment by mysterious means, leaving only his old mask behind in his cell, and retreated to the lost Kingdom of Ankoria. There he established his new Dark Fortress (as seen in this set), built up a legion of Elite Shadow Knights, and hatched a new plan to conquer Morcia - this time by outright invasion. The invasion would be supported by the power of the giant 'Vlad-mask' mounted on the front tower; constructed from fragments of the magical Shield of Ages (the same shield whose Heart had been the object of the previous year's quest), it granted Vladek invincibility.

Learning of the invasion through his crystal ball less than a week before it was to take place, King Mathias hatched his own counter-plan: deciding that the only defence worth considering was a good offence, he sent the four hero knights into Ankoria to find and infiltrate the fortress, and lower its drawbridge from the inside by dawn of the fifth day - the time when Mathias and the rest of his army would arrive to capture the fortress, which they would find by following a map that the hero knights drew on their journey and sent back to him by carrier hawk.

The scene depicted in the set image didn't happen quite like this in story. Danju (purple, wolf emblem, superpower of wisdom) got captured before they reached the fortress in the process of acting as a decoy to give the other three knights a chance to slip through the enemy lines undetected. Then Jayko (blue, hawk emblem, superpower of speed) split from the party to go back and rescue Danju (as seen in 8876 ), leaving only Santis (red, bear emblem, strength) and Rascus (green, monkey emblem, agility) to infiltrate the fortress - which they did by sneaking rather than full-on assault. While Jayko returned to the scene in time to take part in Mathias' attack (as depicted in 8875 ), the other three knights seem to have dropped out once their part was done, as the comics don't shown them taking part in the battle; they only reappear to watch Jayko's coronation as the new king in the aftermath of victory.

-

On an unrelated note: according to an issue of Blocks magazine, this was also the first set where Lego trialled using the practice of numbered bags!"

I was looking at the instructions, and thought it was interesting that they referenced numbered bags instead of the primordial dump and Knoll sheet at the beginning.

So, this is numbered-bag Number One?"

Nope. Not even close. No idea where it came from that these were the first numbered bags, but I personally already opened specifically labeled bags in 4809 Hogwarts Castle. I also recalled that Bionicle sets as early as 2001's 8548 Nui Jaga already had bags that were also numbered. These had no picture, just a big number:

In the instructions: http://www.peeron.com/scans/8548-1/2
You can see what the bags looked like here at the 3:54 timestamp: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAzyJp-yyFw&app=desktop&ab_channel=All-OutBrick

The earliest example I could find of a numbered bag so far was 8001 Battle Droid, seen here: (http://www.peeron.com/scans/8001-1/2/?id=2600) although it technically also has a picture so it's not JUST a numbered bag.

Bear in mind that what people now call Town Jr. was already doing specifically labeled bags using pictures in 1997: such as on 6554 Blaze Brigade http://www.peeron.com/scans/6554-1/2

@BlackFalconBirdman said:
" @Binnekamp said:
"A beauty. I wanted to buy it but got fed up when it wasn't in stock so bought 7709 Sentai Fortress. In the end I deviced I had more than enough GIANT fortresses and never got this one.
At least, so far. It's gorgeous, but I wouldn't have much room for it. Maybe one day. Or not. I have 7709 again and even unbuilt it taked up a lot of space!

@whiteghost said:
"Vladek was such a stud for owning multiple fortresses. Apparently, this is his dark themed one. Now I wonder how his light fortress looked like."

Well... 8781 Castle of Morcia has a Vladek mode it can convert to that looks like this:
https://img.bricklink.com/ItemImage/EXTN/622.png"

This basically gives Vladek 2 castles. more than any other Lego figure! (even if you want to say he really only has 1.5).

Ah, nope I'm wrong... that'd only be for Castle theme... if we count other themes, Cinderella is the clear winner here with 5... (43206, 30554, 43178, 41154, 41055)"

I would have guessed that it would be Elsa Frozen, but Cinderella makes sense too.