Featured set of the day: Dragon Fortress
Posted by Huw,
Today, phi13: has written about 7419 Dragon Fortress:
When considering what set I might nominate for Featured Set of the Day, I thought about all the ones I own. None seemed quite right. So my nomination is one I don’t actually own: 7419 Dragon Fortress.
Of course, I wouldn’t pick a set I have no experience with: in fact, my brother owns it. Between us, we collected more of the Orient Expedition line than we did of any other theme, including, for the first time, the flagship set. And a spectacular one it is.
The set includes the Dragon Fortress itself, a half-track, and nine minifigures which I will discuss in the next section. The half-track greatly resembles most other Orient Expedition and Adventurers ground vehicles; its main claim to fame is being one of just two tracked vehicles in the theme.
The fortress sits on a 32x48 baseplate that features two raised sections with a canyon in the middle and pits in the corners. This design was used in seven sets total, from 1999 to 2006. In accordance with the trend in LEGO buildings at the time of its creation, it is designed for modular construction. A 8x8 brick can fit perfectly over one of the pits, while a 12x24 brick perfectly bridges the canyon, with the top surfaces of both perfectly flush with the surrounding parts of the baseplate. This allows sections to be assembled on their own and then attached to the baseplate.
Accordingly, after the minifigures and the half-track are assembled, construction begins on a 12x24 brick rather than on the baseplate itself. The central section features two floors, with a ladder between them (which isn’t always a given in sets like this). The top floor has a balcony for guards to stand on. I’ll discuss the other features in a minute.
With the middle section complete, attention shifts to the baseplate. An impressive nine-step staircase fills up the front, while preparation is made for the central section to be placed three bricks above the level of the surroundings so that a dragon figure will fit underneath. Steps are placed on all sides of the centre section, sparing these minifigures much of the climbing required all too often in LEGO buildings.
As was common in sets using this baseplate, all four of the pits get covered with 8x8 bricks. The front left one has a barrel of fireworks, while the front right features a catapult. The two in the back house small chambers with mysterious wheels and gears, whose function becomes more apparent once the final section is built.
This final section is built on a 4x10 plate and sits in the rear part of the baseplate’s canyon, with angled sides that neatly fit the canyon walls, thereby closing off the area beneath the fortress. Rather than directly on the baseplate, though, it sits on tiles and is held in place only by gear racks connected to the wheels in the two chambers. When these wheels are turned, the section can be easily removed.
The finished model looks phenomenal. From my point of view as one who knows nothing about Chinese architecture, LEGO nailed it. And unlike many of the sets with raised baseplates, it doesn’t feel like any of the baseplate is wasted. Of the other six sets that use this baseplate, I think only #10176-1 (released three years later) can claim to put it to better use.
Minifigures, treasures and traps
The storyline for Orient Expedition concerns Johnny Thunder, Dr. Kilroy, and Miss Pippin Reed seeking the Golden Dragon, a treasure left by Marco Polo (with Lord Sam Sinister attempting to foil them and take the treasure himself). Their journey led them through India, the Himalayas, and finally China. Each of those three regions yielded its own wave of sets, including a few minifigures unique to the region. Set #7419-1 features all of the recurring characters plus martial-arts expert Jing Lee, false emperor Chang Wu, two identical fortress guards, and the Guardian of Kublai Khan statue.
As they enter the Dragon Fortress, the heroes must navigate an abundance of projectiles: fired from the catapult, launched through the top-floor windows, and dropped through a trapdoor just inside the palace doors. Once past these, they reach what is presumably the emperor’s throne, which can be lifted up to reveal several jewels underneath. But these are of little importance in the quest; they must climb the ladder to the top floor. The same trapdoor through which the stones fell (operated by LEGO’s usual pull-the-pin mechanism) is now the only obstacle to obtaining the Golden Helmet.
With helmet in hand, our heroes return to ground level and open the back door of the palace. Inside are the Guardian of Kublai Khan statue and the Golden Keys. To retrieve the keys requires removing the statue’s helmet, sword, and shield and replacing them with the Golden Helmet, Golden Sword (acquired in 7417 Temple of Mount Everest, and Golden Shield (acquired in 7418 Scorpion Palace). The keys can then be used to unlock the doors of the two wheel-chambers. As described above, turning the wheels enables the statue chamber to be removed, revealing the Golden Dragon behind.
Incidentally, according to the storyline, the events depicted in 7413 Passage of Jun-Chi take place inside the Dragon Fortress, but good luck fitting that set inside 7419 Dragon Fortress.
The board game
As if the Orient Expedition sets weren’t appealing enough on their own, LEGO tried something new with the line: incorporating a board game into the sets. The components were distributed as follows:
India
* #7418-1: 7 board sections; 18 cards; rules in instruction booklet
* #7414-1: 5 cards
* #7411-1: 3 cards
Himalayas
* #7417-1: 5 board sections; 18 cards; rules in instruction booklet
* #7415-1: 5 cards
* #7412-1: 3 cards
China
* #7419-1: 11 board sections; 28 cards; rules in instruction booklet
* #7416-1: 3 cards
* #7413-1: 3 cards
(From Eurobricks)
Each region’s game was made to be self-contained with no duplicate cards, but the regions could be combined for a larger game. The cards came in four varieties: heroes, villains, items, and challenges. The game, of course, centres around the heroes trying to get the treasure, but on the way they encounter various villains and challenges, as well as items that help them against both.
Quite a few years have passed since I last played the game, so I don’t have a firm recollection of how well the game mechanics worked. One definite flaw is how many situations aren’t explained by the rules; having all the rules in 19 languages severely limits the space for further explanations. If you take the half-track to the Dragon Fortress, what happens to it while you’re inside? How do you know whether you have access to it for pulling out the statue chamber? And furthermore, how does the combined India/Himalayas/China game work?
The answer to these questions, as with all things LEGO, is “When in doubt, make something up.” Nobody expects a board game that comes with LEGO sets to be perfect; for LEGO’s first attempt to incorporate such a feature into sets, making it playable is a win in my book.
At the end of the day, with or without a board game, 7419 Dragon Fortress is a tremendous set and a worthy finale to the beloved Adventurers line.
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25 comments on this article
^ it appeared to be quite successful, so I wouldn’t be surprised with a return. Ninjago is a cool theme, and a board game would be quite cool. It will do very well in retail, I expect.
Have such fond memories of this set and especially the fantastic dragon that came with it... and with the recent Ninjago set images being revealed I'm happy to see LEGO trying out more stuff like this!
Got this set for Christmas when it came out, which was probably my first large-scale set. Still own the model to this day, which is probably around 90% complete.
I'm a simple AFOL: I see featured set of the day (once again), I press like.
Between Dragon Fortress today and the Holiday Train yesterday, both of my white whales have now been featured. More than any other theme I'd love to see a reboot of the Adventurers; Pharaoh's Quest was a great teaser and the City Jungle line definitely had some of the spirit of Adventurers, but both were disappointingly short-lived. Here's hoping for more!
This set is hands down the best of the entire Adventurers theme. The style and architecture is just beautiful. The early 2000's has somewhat of a notorious reputation when it comes to set deigns, but this set is easily one of the highlights of that era.
One of my favorite themes because of its Asian inspiration. I'm lucky enough to have 1 sealed set and 1 opened set.
Ah my favorite theme of all time!
Yes, it is a nice theme.
We have the 7418 Scorpion-Palace
https://brickset.com/sets/7418-1/Scorpion-Palace
I'm really curious about the Kublai Khan statue part. I remember what you describe, from the story... but how did that play out, practically, in the set? Did the sword and shield have unique functions that only they could trigger in that part of the model; or could that area still be accessed in different ways by people who didn't have the other two sets?
(Sorry, I've just been curious about that ever since reading the comic in 2003, and this just reminded me!)
In any case, definitely an impressive set. I started off with the intent of getting all three of the big Orient Expedition sets in 2003, but kinda... ran out of steam for that after Scorpion Palace, when that took more effort to save up for than I'd expected. In hindsight, I probably would have skipped the Palace and just saved straight up for the Fortress here, but... I didn't have that kind of self-discipline as a kid xD
Thanks for sharing your memories of this great set and theme! :D
@BionicleJedi No, the sword/shield/helmet had no actual function; the statue doesn't affect the mechanism at all. All that's necessary in order to remove the section is to turn the wheels.
Awesome set. One of my all time faves. Beautiful display piece too. The picture does not do it justice.
One of the best sets from the best theme. Man, I miss Adventurers so much.
Adventurers needs to come back, big time.
This set needs more pictures in the archives. I only remember it being released late in that year to Toys R Us. It's a complete mystery to me what the interior of the set looks like.
@Rimefang It might help to look at scans of the instructions.
This was by far the coolest Adventurers set released since the Egyptian days of 1998, and the only reason I don't have it in my collection is that 2003 was a HUGE year for BIONICLE, and I didn't want to miss out on any of the sets from the summer wave (Dragon Fortress came out in the summer, too), not to mention Star Wars kept up the pace with first-ever sets of the AT-TE and the AT-AT. Those large sets effectively bumped Dragon Fortress off the totem pole. If I could find this MISB for a good price, I might try to get it. Thanks for describing the interior so well!
One of my favourite sets from my all time favourite theme (as my username probably gives away...), and building it again the other day has been one of the lockdown highlights so far...
I loved the updated Johnny Thunder mini figure from a couple of years ago- but am still eagerly awaiting a Dr Kilroy, Pippin Reed and - most importantly - Lord Sam Sinister remakes...
Did think much of Johnny Thunder until I just checked the sets out in the Brickset database. He also captured Dinos (with 1370 with Thunder and very early Dinos from JPIII) and also had a set with an elephant which is INSANELY hard to find for cheap. I did not release how much detail were put int those sets as well.
Whoops.
I sold a mostly complete one for 90$, now bricklink prices are 180$?
I never got any of the China sets, but I did complete my India and Mt. Everest collection. I enjoyed the play features, the storytelling, and the board game. Johnny Thunder was one of my favorites. I couldn't afford any additional budget or physical space for the China sets — even now, I only had room left for my India and Mt. Everest collections to be displayed separately alongside Alpha Team, Knights' Kingdom I and Rock Raiders — but I can't say I miss the China sets much, whereas I would've very much regretted if I had been unable to complete the other regions and am really thankful that I did.
WE NEED AN ADVENTURERS COME BACK!!!
A great set, and I love this raised baseplate.
Orient Expedition is one of the four themes I have managed to fully complete (sans renumbered small sets and the lollypop figures, I don't count those). And the Dragon Fortress had been my white whale for years.
In 2013 I finally managed to acquire it. And man, it is one of the few sets I display permanently despite my severely limited display space. Because wow, this set is beautiful! I now own it for 7 years and still am awestruck by it, and I still can barely believe I own it, considering its huge aftermarket prices.
Thank you for writing a featured set article of this absolute gem. I would have if you hadn't! This set deserves to be remembered as one of the best sets of the early 2000s, and one of the better castles.
I love that it uses a forced perspective to make it look grand and layerd, as it is flanked by the smaller side buildings and the second floor looks smaller. And it just looks so complete! From the front there are no gaps like in the 7418 Scorpion Palace, and even the back and sides are well-completed. Those stairs are awesome. And the roof is actually fully done at the top. Not to mention that everything except the bottom part is reachable by stairs or ladders.
And I haven't even talked about the beatiful details like the lanterns, flags, fireworks, banners front torches etc. And the minifigure selection is amazing! You get all three major characters, the exclusive Jing Lee, the emperor of the fortress, two guards, the stone statue with rare colours for his helmet, sword and shield, and Sam Sinister, now with a cutlass.
And that beautiful dragon...
My only gripes with it are the print on the baseplate and the set only including two guards. But combined with 7416 Emperor's Ship you have enough soldiers to man it at the minimum. And the print has its charm.
As far as flagship sets go, this set gave a full 100% at a time when even the better themes didn't hold up nearly as well.
Orient Expedition is one of the greatest themes ever by Lego. In the Top 3 for me.