Random set of the day: The Grand Tournament
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 8779 The Grand Tournament, released during 2004. It's one of 24 Castle sets produced that year. It contains 312 pieces and 3 minifigs, and its retail price was US$30/£24.99.
It's owned by 1,688 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you might find it for sale at BrickLink or eBay.
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24 comments on this article
If the king is judging this event, I think he might be biased if there's a tie... Just saying.
Not the first thing that pops into your head when someone says "brick-built horses," is it?
@TheOtherMike said:
"Not the first thing that pops into your head when someone says "brick-built horses," is it?"
"Nexo Knights: The Early Days."
It both bizarre and oddly cool.
So, two people slam those pillars and the knights collide and whoever has the most pieces left on their horse wins I take it. That's oddly simultaneously both hilarious and fantastic.
Probably the most disappointing set reveal that year.
This set was actually very fun to play with. The King figure also had a useful torso and I used multiples of him to create generic soldiers.
It would have been extra hilarious though if they put the actual Lego horse on top of the wheels to make it look more authentic lol!
@MCLegoboy:
Except tournaments of this style almost never went "to the judges". I'm sure there were a few instances where both participants ended up being knocked out and/or killed, and someone had to determine who succumbed first, but for the most part it's a decisive victory. You fight until one of them is incapacitated (including by death) or surrenders. Even if you're standing on the other guy's chest with a sword to his throat, you haven't won until he surrenders. There's always a possibility that he'll cause you to lose your balance and fall, and he can grab a weapon and incapacitate you.
I don't know. I'm just saying, it could've been grander.
@560heliport said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
"Not the first thing that pops into your head when someone says "brick-built horses," is it?"
"Nexo Knights: The Early Days.""
I was just going to say that… it seems like this might have helped inspire the (underrated) Nexo line.
Still prefer NK:-40K...:)
Also: Well, I've seen 'Rocking' horses, guess now I'm seeing 'Rolling' horses...:D
Lastly: is 'The Grand' of the Tournament, the prize or the entrance fee...?
@MCLegoboy said:
"If the king is judging this event, I think he might be biased if there's a tie... Just saying."
Well sure…he’s clearly going to side with Vladek, his close personal adviser and right hand man. Long odds for that poor newbie in blue!
Best Speed Champions Ever!
The only Castle set I've ever got is 8790. It didn't suit anything I had at the time, so I just used it as a statue in my tiny Lego town.
Still, I think Castle is really cool and wish I had some more sets.
This set is the most 2004 Knights Kingdom II of them all. It's heavily involved in the story of that year, contrasting with KKI that didn't have much story. The minifigs are few but all are represented by large action figure sets. Their shields are even used as banners! And it's somewhat juniorized in its use of large pieces. But it kind of makes up for it with its focus on action features.
Beside the slammer 'horses', the grandstand can also slowly change sides from the evil Vladek to the good King Mathias. This is done with rotating bricks with dark red and royal blue.
That said... it's not the most beautiful thing in the world if you ask me...
In the story, Vladek was the advisor to King Mathias. But he was evil (!) and betrayed his king, locking him up and taking over the kingdom of Morcia.
Four knights, Jayko, Danju, Santis and Rascus, went on a quest to get the heart of the shield of Morcia. They ventured to the Citadel of Orlan and faced four challenges they each overcame with their skills. They went back and challenged Vladek and his forces in a grand tournament for supremacy of the kingdom. Jayko ended up using the heart of the shield to deflect Vladek's magic back at him, defeating him.
And so all was well again in Morcia. But Vladek had vanished, and something was stirring in the lands outside of Morcia...
Like Alpha Team and Oriënt expedition the story was included in comics that came inside the instructions. Interestingly the system sets and constraction sets had a different artstyle and some differences in specifics to reflect the style of sets. The constraction comics were also all specific to each character.
This set rolled so that Nexo Knights could run (Literally. They had a bike that could turn into a horse mech. See 70312 ).
The slammers are brick-built. That's got to count for something!
I have completely forgotten the details of this set: the large shields, the viewing stand, etc. I was so put off by the inane rolling horses that I think I disassembled this and put it away as soon as I could...
@namekuji: From the early early days when SC was four-wide...
When I played with this set as a kid, I found that the joust feature didn't really result in Minifigures getting knocked off. The box art is pretty deceptive.
@MCLegoboy said:
"If the king is judging this event, I think he might be biased if there's a tie... Just saying."
He shouldn't be judging it; in the story, the entire reason the tournament was held was because the king had "gone missing" (i.e. been kidnapped by Vladek, his traitorous advisor) and the tournament was to decide who would be the new king. Naturally Vladek planned to cheat, using the magically powerful Book of Morcia to increase his strength and skill.
The hero knights found and freed the king, but by the rules of the land even his reappearance wouldn't halt the tournament, so he has no authority here. Instead, the hero knights had to find their own magical artefact to resist Vladek's power - the Heart of the magical Shield of Ages. They returned just as Vladek had finished wiping the floor with all the other competitors, and Jayko here challenged him and defeated him, giving the kingship back to Mathias.
In the online comics, the mounts were normal horses. I guess they were represented as wheeled contraptions here just to allow for the play features.
This set is so silly with the wheeled horses, it almost looks like it was part of Monty Python and the Holy Grail that ended up on the cutting room floor, along with aptly named Sir Not-appearing-in-this-film.
Neat set. You get Vladek, Mathias, and Jayko for fairly cheap.
You had to be there in the Castle AFOL community in 2004 to know the vitriol this set inspired--it was the lowest of the low (KK2 mostly only started to garner regard in that community in 2005 as the Shadow Knights got more emphasis--and maybe as the shock wore off.)
I had this set--and I ended up getting most of another in a large used lot last year, enough that I rebuilt the set which had been disassembled pretty much since I first got it. It wasn't as bad as I remembered, but it's not exactly GOOD. The best thing I can say for it now, post-Nexo Knights, is that I miss having a LINE of Castle sets available.
In glad I was still in my dark ages when this was what counted as the 'Castle' theme...
The only castle line where you could have both large figures and minifigures.