Review: 70310 Knighton Battle Blaster
Posted by TheBrickPal,
Nexo Knights has proven to be quite the action-packed theme so far; so for those not interested in the six Ultimate sets and still wanting to get started with the universe, 70310 Knighton Battle Blaster offers a nice little vehicle with a hero and villain to battle it out.
But even at $9.99 or £7.99, is it worth it? Read on for the answer!
Minifigures
Two fantastic minifigures are included here: a Royal Soldier and lava monster Ash Attacker. The Royal Soldier is almost the same as it appears in 30371 Knight's Cycle, but with the addition of striking blue armor. CapnRex101 was unimpressed by the figure in his review of the polybag, but I love it! It makes for a good army-builder to complement the main team of Nexo Knights.
We have now learned on the LEGO website that these soldiers are actually robots. It therefore seems likely that this is a screen with a digital face on it rather than a visor as initially thought. This makes a lot more sense, and definitely adds bonus points to the figure in my book. The Royal Soldier also has a second face, which looks very similar to the first, and finally he is equipped with a generic medieval sword.
Ash Attacker is a lackey in Jestro's lava army who also appears in two other sets, including the large 70317 Fortrex... and what a minifigure he is! The helmet is the star of Ash Attacker and is the same as what is is used for Sparkks' head in 70317 Jestro's Evil Mobile.
Beneath the helmet lies a red, two-sided head; one side with a slight frown and the other with an open mouth. The printing used on the torso and legs would be great for use in custom villain minifigs, but other than that it is rather bland.
Ash Attacker wields a stud-shooting bowcaster first introduced with Chewbacca in last year's 75105 Millennium Falcon. The piece is also used in some other Nexo Knights sets of the first wave. This is my first copy of the new bowcaster, and it shoots very well, I must say! I know not everyone enjoys the handheld projectile weaponry that LEGO has introduced over the past few years, but I enjoy accessories like this as they add a bit of extra play value.
Overall, I greatly appreciate these minifigures, and they make this set a good starter as an army-builder for both sides of Knighton's war.
The Completed Model
Once fully assembled, the Knighton Battle Blaster is ready to enter the battlefield. While not as fancy as some of the main knight vehicles, it holds its own and looks very compact.
A pair of the new 1x1 pyramid pieces in silver are included here as the "control panel" in the cockpit. Sticking out of the vehicle, in the front are long rods on either side with the new axe-head pieces attached. New parts galore!
The sliding plates on the back of the Battle Blaster activate the two disk launchers on opposite sides of the front. This feature is very easy to use and the disks can shoot very far, making it fun to try to knock down the enemy. Even better, you can choose to shoot one or both of the disks at once, with separate activators for both!
A silver chest is included to store extra ammunition, though the trans-orange lid will not close fully unless it is empty. A total of three extra disks are included in case you lose any or all of the first two.
Verdict
Knighton Battle Blaster is a no-brainer among the many other available cheap sets. You get two great minifigures and a wonderful, if small, build. You definitely get your money's worth, and I totally recommend it for any builder; collectors and impulse buyers alike.
Thanks to CapnRex101 for the photos.
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13 comments on this article
I find myself more interested in the bad guys of this theme than the good guys. I bought Jesters set and the small $10 Choas set - enjoy them both. The big $100 set is the only good guy set that looks decent to me.
What's up with the barely distinguishable alternative faces lately?
Especially since those are by design hidden by helmets etc, which makes it even harder to see differences.
Seems a bit silly.
I think "Ash Attacker", just like "Flame Thrower" and one other bad guy i don't recall, are not character names, but a type of footsoldier in Jestro's Army.
I might be wrong.
I'm in the opposite vein @rcmadiax. I prefer the good guys. I'm also happy to get generic good guys because I'm already going to end up with nearly 2-3 copies of every single good guy by the end of buying the entire line.
The King, various Bots, and Royal Soldiers are definitely my favorites so far.
@rcmadiax: Aren't the bad guys always more interesting than the heroes?
I'm also liking the bad guys in this theme. Most of them work really well in just the plain Castle theme, a series for the most part that has rarely had any stand out antagonist.
Thanks for listening to feedback and getting better pictures! A very good review.
The vehicle kind of reminds me of the old Blacktron 2 set Tri-Wheeled Tyrax.
Better pictures this time, good job! :)
That said, it still doesn't change my opinion on Nexo Knights as a whole. What a sloppy-looking set and theme overall.
Both me and my wife didn't think we would like these sets just by the name "Nexo Knights" and the little cartoon shorts they have are even worse.
However the bad guys are extraordinary in this series. Lavaria is super cool and its nice to see a female antagonist created by TLG (none of the superhero stuff etc. doesn't count because they are not created by TLG) that isn't generic. Moltor has a very nice looking print as well and even the generic enemies look good for multiple purposes.
The only Protagonists that we are excited for is Macy and Axel. Macy because she represents a strong female character (princess no less) that doesn't need a man to save her all the time. The wife likes axel because he is a big food guy (those guys usually have a lot of heart). The other heroes are kinda meh. Lance is full of himself, Aaron is pretty arrogant and Clay is your typical over pious hero.
We are definitely liking the villains more than the heroes. I really hope they expand on the villains like they did in the Chima sets.
Good review although I don't like the Nexo Knights theme in general. Kids will have the final say I guess.
Oh hey, you fixed the pictures! Noice.
Although I was really looking forward to the review of the catapult.
Many thanks for the improved photography. Those flying discs (printed I hope) look very useful for MOCs. The rest is just a terrible assembly of spare parts. No doubt children will love the theme though.
I'm not super duper drawn to this set, mainly because I tend to prefer named/individual characters over generic soldiers and goons, but it's nice that this and the other small set provide a source for people who want figs they can "army build".
I don't think the design of the set is awful, but as Mark Stafford says on his BrickList, it was created sort of at the last minute to replace another set whose function didn't work as well as it was supposed to, and I think it kind of shows. It just doesn't feel as thematically coherent as a lot of the other Nexo Knights sets, which mash up much more obvious medieval and sci-fi imagery. This one is... a sci-fi ballista? But with axe blades on the front for some reason? It's just tough to tell what it's going for, unlike the other Nexo Knights vehicles which are more clearly shaped like swords or castles or horses.
Now, I will say some of this set's weirdness actually helps it out as a parts pack. It's nice to see those new axe blade pieces and shooting disks in a smaller set, as well as two disk shooters. The parts count is low for the $10 price point, especially considering that the set doesn't include any truly unique contents like the Ultimate sets do. But functionally, the set is pretty solid — I love that the two disk shooters operate individually, and that there's room to store the spare ammo. :) I should note, the treasure chest can't close completely with three or more spare disks, but it can close just fine with two.
Overall, this set is definitely not a "must-have" for Nexo Knights fans in my book, but it's a nice impulse set as an alternative to the more character-focused Ultimate packs.