Imagine making a line like bionicle, which becomes universally adored, only to spend the next 15 years producing the worst constructable action figures humanly possible.
At least Knights Kingdom had a unique IP with all the trappings (lore, comics, online content) going for it, while the Star Wars and Ben 10 constraction figures must compete against conventional action figures, where they compare poorly against Hasbro's offerings, let alone Bandai's where applicable 🫠
Now you know why Lego completely finished everything that had to do with articulated buildable figures, Lego did NOT try to improve the ccbs system, while bionicle had texture ccbs stayed with flat angles which is not bad but it is not the same, plus the proof that a buildable articulated figure can work exists in the bootlegs, I am impressed that they improved and added pieces that were needed to fill the gaps in the CCBS system, I recommend Looking to the buildable Ultraman figures, even now I'm left with my mouth open because those figures are what the ccbs system should be right now, but unfortunately it no longer exists :(
In defense of the Knights Kingdom ll buildable figures...the main play feature of the first wave was to use the sword chopping action to knock off your opponent's shield in order to win. It's like non-lethal tournament dueling in their world. You could even attach the trading cards included for the card game. Also, if you kept the figure in the original case instead of "the bin," the shield wouldn't get bent. I brought my dude all kinds of places (including outside *gasp*) and it has held up over the years. Then again, I recognize I have great nostalgia for this theme . It was excellent for the age range they were shooting for. Between the online comics, flash games, trading card game, unique characters, and excellent set play features, the world building was better than it needed to be and just fun for a kid
Not to mention those Knights Kingdom figures pioneered the use of Galidor hinges with system bricks, which went on to be used in countless mechs and animal builds and is still commonplace to this day. We would not have Exo Force or Ninjago mechs and dragons without the pieces Knights Kingdom introduced.
Thank you! I was going to say this same exact thing. The knight figures were some of my favorites as a kid especially with the ability for the shields to be knocked off. Had so many tournaments between all my knights to see who would be worthy of challenging the king
Honestly, I feel that the Polybags and the like should be given a lot more leeway. They're not really display pieces, but more just a stocking stuffer or little treat, where you have fun building the little set, then part it out into the misc. tub after a bit.
That or cram it onto another set if applicable. Always did that with my old original Spider-Man series police car (from the Uncle Ben murderer chase scene) and the murderer’s car onto City sets. (And my own bootleg copies built from other miscellaneous older sets)
The point of those shields being so loose on those big knights. was that they were part of the play features. When you rotated the torso of the characters their sword arm swung around, so you were supposed to try to hit another knight's shield and make it drop. Sadly, I never had friends to play with 😢
I must come to defence of the Knights Kingdom knights (the big ones). While I can't argue that some parts arent bad, as child I thought the shields are meant to come off easily as kind of play feature to see which knight is defeated first. Also I recently found this cardboard shield... it has spend the last 15 years or more outside in the elements and it only lost the sharpness of the colors. It was actually impressive.
The difference is the rhotuka spinners actually worked, and really well even. The spinner itself wasn't meant to carry anything and was incredibly lightweight and durable, leading them to get considerable height and airtime. The problem with the helicopters is that they have the entire weight of the helicopter attached to them and just aren't capable of flying properly with that much weight attached.
Maybe I’m an outlier, but I really enjoyed the Knights Kingdom figures, paper shields and all. Plus, what you DIDN’T mention is that the line had more than one wave, and every wave past the first one DID give them proper plastic shields, so it’s not like they didn’t try to improve on them
The only reason that Lego Galidor existed is because Lego was struggling around the time and knew that action figures were popular… at least according to Blocks Magazine.
correction on the knights kingdom first series figs, the shields were actually a sheet of printed plastic - not paper/cardboard, but yes they sucked ass the second series of knights kingdom figs however fixed the issue by giving actual plastic molded shields and additional armor that you can snap onto the fig, the swords were also much higher quality and looked wayyyyy better than in series 1
Absolutely love this video style. You provide context for a set, lay out your problem with it, explain your problem and sometimes even possible solutions, then move on. No filler but not rushed either. Thank you!
my friend got a little “lego” set from greece with lego heroes minifigures. turns out they were knock off. the company was called “LEBQ” 💀 but had the same logo design
I prefer printed bricks to stickers as the stickers can fall off and usually don't work well in other builds but the printed bricks are usually either simple and easy to use in any set or something like a donut or street sign that can be used in almost any set
The Knight’s Kingdom II shields are supposed to come off easily. The intent for the figures was for two or more players trying to knock the other player's shield off first. Kinda like the masks on the first few years of Bionicle
i loved spider monkey bro he was my favorite alien on ben 10 and there wasn’t many toys of him but my grandma had gotten me that i also remember getting a upgraded swampfire action figure (not lego) and i loved it
Im actually insanely surprised that the shields were cardboard, I remember seeing those knights in lego magazines when i was a kid and thinking they were so cool, I would of been super disappointed, even then, with the paper shield. Yikes.
This guy is wrong. They weren't cardboard. They're thin but they are some form of plastic. They have a vinyl feel to them. The shields on the figures that my brother and I owned held up fine under heavy play. The creator of this video is criticizing something he never even owned.
I get that this video is meant to be a little objective and is more "these are the lowest rated not the ones I like least", but I disagree with a lot of these. The Juniors polybag looks fine to me, I don't see an issue, and the red kart is also fine. Sure a minifig would have been cool but LEGO is an imagination toy. They're certainly better than some of the Racers sets we had where the drivers were primarily a weird block.
2:09 There must be someone in the company who is just in love with this idea. No matter how many times it fails it just keeps coming back. I think they might be closer to pinning it down. The latest series, DC and Marval heroes, seems to be less off-putting that previous ones. I think going with known and liked characters helps, plus they are not molding the faces but just printing them, and usually just the lower half like Captain America or Batman. But maybe that just means it will be a softer failure and just quietly disappear from store shelves.
Is it really just me who liked the knights kingdom stuff?? I loved playing with them as a kid and I remember my blue one didn’t have a paper shield it had the second shield that you shown with the studs on it
One of the BEST sets though is the Lego tecknic konisegg jesko absolut it costs 40 bucks and has 870 pieces it also has a realistic v8 twin turbo engine
Honestly I don't think you can complain about stuff like the assortment of green bricks because it's simply a gift with purchase, it's not really meant to be a set it's just meant to be basically free bricks
It's not a Paper Shield, it's extremely thin plastic. I was a fan of Knights Kingdom back when they were out, so I do know for sure. And if I happen to be wrong, they sure laminated the shields enough to feel and act like plastic, cause they did not feel like any Anime Based card game cards I've ever held.
Correction, there were 3 waves. Those 2 you mentioned. And the last one where Vladic got him self 2 evil warriors. And Jayko (blue Knight, but now a new King) with 2 rookie Knights.
As anyone that's ever used a Microsoft product can tell you straight-faced without fail, the best way to answer if a designer was thinking is that they weren't. The modern ones *NEVER* think; that's *ALWAYS* gonna be a red flag when looking into whether or not a company, knockoff or otherwise, is trustworthy, let alone competent.
I'm pretty sure the *Build your own monster* polybag was intended to be used in some sort of Legostore mini event or even team building, like, everyone get one and show what he managed to build with the mid pieces.
For the scale they were working with back then, the R8 would have been a challenge for any designer to pull off. It wasn't just about the width, the R8 was designed in the early 2000s and almost all of its design language is curvy, which is why the side-blades were such a stand-out feature of the real car. LEGO tried to do this but they lacked the pieces to make it work (biggest tell was them having to use a rectangular wind-shield for it instead of something rounder which wouldn't have fit. And at the time, the model range was just starting out so they didn't have the budget to come up with some kind of special piece for it) so they had to heavily rely on stickers for the headlights and grille on it, as well as the tail-lights. I grew up building model kits of tanks, ships and planes, so the stickers to me are the easy part of these builds since they're a far more forgiving thing than model decals which require precise cutting, water and sealing to make the most of the detail. I didn't mind those and thought they added some color to the build. HOWEVER, the absolute worst part of that set, that I'm surprised you didn't mention (which they kind of fumbled again with the 2Fast2Furious Skyline), was the rear wing. It was massive and it was only held on with 2 tiny arms which had nowhere near enough clamping force to keep it in place. If you played with it, you had to constantly adjust the wing angle to keep it level. The Skyline has kind of the same issue but at least they used a 2x1 plate in that one with 2 hinges which only moves around if you touch it...
The Knights Kingdom figures did receive updated versions at a later time with actual plastic shields. I still have the purple knight and the king somewhere around here.
@6:50 No, that build will not fit a mini fig, thats why one isnt included. I had an orange version of the piece with two bars and they way they raise up makes it so a minifig arms wont fit and let it sit down. I used to try and make it work for spaceship builds and it always bugged me.
knights kingdom was awesome and promised exactly what it delivered. They where bulkier figures than BIONICLE at the time and had better pose-ability. Damn now I wanna go grab some.
What is funny to me is that my older brother owned one of these buildable knights and he came with a very awesome shield that was not paper at all. It was an actuall shield piece. The figure was very cool too tbh
I remember getting the fire helicopter set purely for the welding mask piece, thinking 'hey, maybe it might also come with some other useful pieces'. The helicopter itself was promptly thrown into my junk parts bin.
1;25 I broke a fluorescent light with one of those when i way young once. Then it was replaced with a “flourecent compatible led” which eventually ended up burning out the whole fixture
Honestly the only ones that are the Galidor ones. I've had a few of these. That little red racer. Loved it. Still do. I can appreciate the nostalgia of it.
I had Santis and Vladek in the Knights Kingdom set as a kid. And I played with them a lot. I loved them, because they were different I think. I remember the shield as a sheet of plastic, not cardboard. I slightly remember I had to be a bit careful with the shields, but they held up pretty well. I haven't thought of those memories for almost two decades... I wonder what else I can't remember now, without seeing it. The Knights Kingdom series intrigued me as a kid
Lego Technic 8826 may be lowest rated set, but for me it was the 1st Technic set I ever got & one of the 1st lego sets I ever got. I have very good memories as this set even for today is surprising playable (I have it on my shelf). For me it will always be one of the bests sets ever as it introduced me to lego technic.
I remember seeing those knight figures in the official magazine, but I had no idea that the shields were like that. Lego was going through financial troubles at the time, I guess it’s not surprising that they would try something like that.
6:00 - I have that set (8862)! I even re-assembled it semi-recently for the nostalgia. I actually do miss the use of beam bricks in Technic sets -- sure, there are a lot of functional innovations provided by the modern parts, and the new aesthetic has a very clean appeal to it, but ... well, I guess there's no arguing about preferences for one aesthetic over another.
I got one of those helicopter sets just to see how terrible they actually were and wow they are bad! The sad thing is if you remove the Minifigure and cockpit glass they become light enough to actually fly OK, so if they had been given a rotor that was maybe 30% bigger (and ideally included some stud attachment points on the body) they could have been really cool.
I had that ATV! I actually enjoyed it. Of course, I was very young, so my standards were pretty low. It was Lego, and that was good enough for me. I also have a partial set of those large knights (specifically, those green ones) that I got from a yard sale, among other parts. My biggest issue is the lack of versatility. The parts aren't very useful beyond their original purpose.
6:03 I have that! My first Technic set. It ex actually pretty ok, the rear axle was swung so that when the vehicle turned all 4 wheels would stay n ground
The hands-down worst official Lego Set using the standard "System" pieces was the Legoland Audi TT. The end result had little resemblance to its real-world inspiration and its construction contained an illegal building technique. The model was so bad it forced lego to re-evaluate its Quality Control standards when designing new official sets.
Wave 2 for knights kingdom was weird I preferred the ones that came in a bin and came with a plastic shield that had studs in the front to put the card over the shield as a card power up with the trading cards
Actually, the helicopter flies very well, if you spend more than 2 minutes learning how to use it. I have the "air race" set and both helicopters fly high and straight.
Found a little easter egg in the "Boarding the Tantive IV" set the exclusive Fives figure was in the 5th bag. Not sure if this is intentional but I thought it was cool.
i think it was exactly the overspecialized special parts like that awful helicopter body which ruined what the unreasonable brand cooperation didn't already abiut legos
