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Review of set 7019, Viking Fortress against the Fafnir Dragon
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lugnet.reviews
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Tue, 3 Jan 2006 19:00:22 GMT
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7019 Viking Fortress against the Fafnir Dragon
1019 elements, 6 figures, US$70, 2005
LEGO > SYSTEM > Vikings
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7019
(Castle) System / Viking
Viking Fortress against the Fafnir Dragon
Le fort des Vikings contre le dragon Fafnir
La Fortaleza Vikinga contra el Dragón Fafnir
Ages 7-14, 1019 Pcs. (C)2005. 80 page manual: 1 model (1 fortress, 1 baby
dragon, 1 adult dragon), 267 steps. Building time about 2 hours, 20 minutes.
Price Range: $70 USD
RATINGS (Scale: Must-Have Excellent Very-Good Good Fair Poor)
Set: Excellent / Models: Very-Good / Playability: Very-Good
DECALS? Yes. 1 Blue/White Quartered Pinwheel Viking Shield Sticker, 1
Red/Black Viking Shield Sticker, 1 Yellow/Black Pinwheel in Sixths Viking Shield
Sticker, 1 Yellow/Black Quartered with Runes.
SET DESCRIPTION
Viking Fortress against the Fafnir Dragon consists of six Viking warriors
defending a large wooden fortification, a baby dragon, and the Fafnir dragon.
The fortification is made mostly of browns and log pieces, with black and dark
stone grey trim. The Fafnir Dragon is mostly dark green with dark red and dark
gray stone highlights. The baby dragon is black with trans-red classic dragon
wings. The box and instructions show the Fafnir Dragon attacking the Viking
fortress. The inside of the box shows off the fortresses various play features,
while the back shows a slightly alternate model of the fortress, combining the
main gate and cage sections into one larger front gate, and various pictures of
the dragon and figures in different fantasy poses.
SPECIAL ELEMENTS
Aside from elements found in the smaller Viking sets, this set contains two
Bionicle 5x5 shields with dual prongs, a Toa Hordika chest cover, and three
black glitter boulders. Many other pieces will likely be more interesting to
collectors though, like the dark red car mudguards, dark green dragon body
pieces, and large supply of brown log elements.
IMPRESSION
This was the last of four Viking sets I built after Christmas ’05, and as such,
much of the theme is not new to me in this set. For more lengthy reviews of
some of the theme’s common elements take a look at the reviews for 7015, 7017,
and 7018.
One very nice thing about this set, which may have been done in other large sets
that I have not purchased yet, is that the bags were individually sorted and
numbered to help build the different sections of the model! The minifigs and
baby dragon were all in bag #1, Fafnir is in bag #2, etc. This made building
the set considerably easier than even much smaller sets. The only problem with
this is the bags don’t have little holes in them, so the bricks may go stale or
suffocate if they aren’t let out soon enough, so make sure to not let any of
this set sit on store shelves too long!
Minifigs
Lots of the little helmets that are only so-so, but that means lots of great
little horns as well! Six different torsos (all of which can be found
throughout the line), and six different heads (again, all of which can be found
in other Viking sets) make for a good mix of figures. Unfortunately for the
Viking minifigs, there are no Norse women with them in the fortress!
The six warriors are armed with 1 pearl dark gold and 3 pearl light gray KK2
swords, three hand axes, 1 double-bladed long-axe, 4 shields and 2 sets of black
glitter euro-armor, a very nice assortment (excepting the KK2 swords that is) of
equipment. The fortress itself holds a few extra arms for them, including 9
pearl light gray spears and one black glitter classic battleaxe.
Baby Dragon
If you want to display the set, the little tyke might be cute, but he doesn’t
have much play value beyond that. You could argue that it has 12 points of
articulation, but it is hard to move many of them without affecting multiple
others (four legs and the tail are all connected to the same rod, as are the
front two legs and neck). The neck often flops around loosely, helping to make
posing hard. Oh well, the baby dragon is just an extra in the set anyway, so no
loss there, just a few extra pieces.
Fafnir
Fafnir, the rich and greedy dragon, better hope Sigurd isn’t home at the fort or
his heart may end up as lunch. This great beast has many of the same elements
as Nidhogg, but is slightly larger through a few extensions, like his neck,
wing, and tail joints. These extra joints give Fafnir 23 points of articulation
(including the tail), 18 of which are ball-joints. These extra points of
articulation have one very nice effect, and one very bad one. Fafnir can strike
a few poses that Nidhogg would love, especially the reposed swan look, with an
s-curved neck and wings folded on his back. The detriment of the extra length
is that the ball-joints often cannot support the weight. What may make a great
pose will slowly flop to the ground. Fafnir’s flame-spewing pose on the back of
the box illustrates one that does NOT work.
This is unfortunate, as otherwise Fafnir would be an awesome monster. All three
most visible appendages (neck and both wings) share in this problem, and the
weight of his body can cause problems posing his legs. This means Fafnir will
probably need to be chopped down to a more Nidhogg scale, reducing his overall
immenseness (which is one big wow factor he has) for a more useable model.
The Viking Fortress
The fortress is built using, you guessed it, a modular design. This makes
building its individual sections, and sorting through their individual pieces,
very easy. The front gate and two side walls are very sturdy, but the back wall
with a cage is a slightly different story. More on that later. Bag #3 contains
the front gate, which is large and imposing, as well as structurally sound. The
hinges use Technic beams and pins, giving it a more realistic look and feel than
older styles (such as one that used the “1x1x2 Shutter Holder” bricks), which
would not work well with such a large door. The gate is decorated with two
large “shield” saucers, horns, and “teeth”. The teeth represent one of my
building pet-peeves, where they look stuck on as an afterthought and not
integrated into the door’s design.
Bag #4 contains the rear wall and cage, which is the weakest part of the
fortress. The wall itself is not a problem, and has a nice “classic castle”
feel to building it, and even looks very classic in its design and
implementation. The cage itself though is easy to break, even just trying to
transport the section. The large gates (9x13 Bar) are not secured very well and
can pop out of place easily. Skateboard wheel/axis pieces are used
interestingly as sconces.
Bag #5 holds the large boulder throwing catapult that mounts on top of the cage.
This is an interesting lesson on Lego mechanics for those not used to building
such things, and has some play value for the target audience of 7-14, but isn’t
very good for the model’s looks. The black glitter boulders are interesting
pieces, but the Bionicle shield and chest-plate look very out of place, as do
the spears that protrude from them like lightning rods. Using the catapult is
dangerous as well, as pushing on the red “launch button” hard enough to actually
move the catapult arm is enough force to dislodge the catapult from its base!
The catapult should probably be scrapped for parts, netting some nice pieces,
such as the 4x4 quarter circle bricks and brown 1x6 tiles.
There are two bag #6s, and each contains one of the side walls. I think this is
the first time I’ve done something that was 20 steps long, and ended with a
“2x”! The walls are very solid, and like the back wall, have a very
classic-castle feel to them, which is why I think they went together so quickly
for me. The towers start well, but end with mounted turret catapults with
Bionicle shields and single piece catapult arms… more extra pieces…
The whole fortress is decorated with more 4x4 Viking dish shields, horns, large
white tusks, torches, and the spears listed in the minifig section earlier. The
four sections are joined together using pairs of “3x2 Plate with Hole” and “1x2
Plate with Arm.” My first experience trying to join the pieces was utter
failure, causing the need for some structural repair on the gate section, but
I’m not sure why I had so much trouble as it’s been easy going ever since. The
only problems with these joints are that you need to make sure you grab the
model by the front and back to transport it as a whole (while the side walls are
both more structurally sound and easier to grab), and the fact that the pieces
used are red, a color not really found elsewhere in the structure. This was
probably to make them easy to spot for joining, but looks out of place.
Likes/Dislikes
Like: Look and Articulation of Fafnir
Like: “Classic Castle” look and feel while building the fortress
Like: Lots of great minifigs, armor, weapons, and shields
Like: Tons of pieces!
Dislike: Fafnir’s weight stunts his poseability
Dislike: Bionicle shields, chestplate
Dislike: Catapults look out of place
CONCLUSION
Would I buy this set again? Yup. Would I recommend it to anyone? Yes for
anyone who can afford it and has any interest in it. Most of the sets flaws can
easily be modified out for anyone who just wants to play with it, and it has
lots of good pieces for anyone who would rather reuse them elsewhere. While I
was disappointed with Fafnir after Nidhogg’s lack of weight problems, I think at
least it inspires enough to want to fix the problems, while still keeping the
great articulation it offers!
REVIEWER INFORMATION
Review Written: January 2nd, 2006
By: Brett Kingery (plucky)
Age 30 Favorite Lines/Themes: Castle, Star Wars
CA++++ #+++ CO LM LS++ P+++ S- Hzl M- YB75mIC17
COPYRIGHT
This review is Copyright 2005, by the author as named above. The author grants
publication rights for all uses, public and private, with the following
exceptions: all information in the document must be published in full; any
for-profit use requires express written permission by the author for publication
in full or in part.
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