A monkey and a bear walk into a castle and I don't even know what the punchline could possibly be.

@Maxbricks14 said:
"A citadel guarded by a single troop? It's just asking to be attacked."

They also appear to have a wizard, judging by the fact that one of them is dodging a boulder as big as he is, and there isn't a catapult in sight. Also also, there's a dragon poking its head out of the foundation. Clearly the perceived weak defenses are just a lure to draw in unsuspecting dragon chow, and the boulder is how they tenderize the meat.

The Citadel of Orlando?

@PurpleDave said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
"A citadel guarded by a single troop? It's just asking to be attacked."

They also appear to have a wizard, judging by the fact that one of them is dodging a boulder as big as he is, and there isn't a catapult in sight. Also also, there's a dragon poking its head out of the foundation. Clearly the perceived weak defenses are just a lure to draw in unsuspecting dragon chow, and the boulder is how they tenderize the meat."

Actually the rocks are being used as weights to shut the gate so the knights can't enter. And that "dragon" head actually appears to be a snake head, which can only be launched forward so it wouldn't be much of a threat.

@Human1229 said:
"The Citadel of Orlando?
"

Santis De “Strong” is attempting to storm it, so it checks out. I can’t *bear* the guy.

Rascus has no breastplate in this set, just the printed pattern on his torso. This is so he can hold an acrobat bar as a set feature to scale the wall.

I've always found that somewhat strange.

Though these make use of the largest castle walls, I say chunky-piece castle walls are better than no castle walls at all.

@GBP_Chris said:
"Rascus has no breastplate in this set, just the printed pattern on his torso. This is so he can hold an acrobat bar as a set feature to scale the wall.

I've always found that somewhat strange."

Well, I mean, _you_ try scaling a castle wall like a ladder while wearing full plate mail.

I watched a celebrity episode of Fear Factor, where Penn & Teller were "one" of the celebrities. Penn just talked, while Teller did all the challenges. Both were dressed in full tux while recording the episode. Teller had to do a challenge where he had to run back and forth on a raised platform of some sort, and while he was strapped up with a safety harness in case of a fall, they did question whether dress shoes were a safe choice (fall harness won't keep you from busting out half your teeth if you crack your mouth on the edge of the platform). And Teller calmly revealed that he had custom sneakers that looked like fancy dress shoes. Sometimes all it takes is to present the appearance, and nobody will question what they're looking at.

While I'll admit this structure is pretty simplistic - and certainly more a tower than a citadel, it is full of some rather interesting features such as the raising draw bridge, the chomping snake and the climbing vines.
I also appreciate that this whole set functions kind of like a game level where the traps flow from one to the next - there's a slide after you raise the bridge and avoid the falling axe, you can pass under the citadel just before the water to get to the vines once you avoid the snake and then you can climb up the tower to claim the reward from the wizard.
It's certainly not for everyone, but I'm glad I picked it up a few years ago!

My only ire is that this world has never been fully fleshed out. Why is Orlan relevant as a settlement and why did other set names not refer to any other locations? The KK2 map, even in its updated form, is still quite vague and minimalistic.
As for the set, I liked it tried to be more of a playset in a seemingly board game kind of way.

@GBP_Chris said:
"Rascus has no breastplate in this set, just the printed pattern on his torso. This is so he can hold an acrobat bar as a set feature to scale the wall.

I've always found that somewhat strange."

Yes, especially since the image of character minifigures included shows him with the armor. This was, I felt, misdirection and I called customer service after receiving the set new from Lego Shop at Home. None of the product images clearly showed him without his green armor. They sent me a green armor part as an apology, but I always wondered how many others were mislead to think they were getting the complete Green Knight armor.

I both love this set and feel meh about it.

Yes, another one I once sold and since re-acquired. Here specifically because it took a lot of shelf space and isn't that nice on display.

But on the other hand, we have a fully explorable dungeon here. There's challenges that relate to each knight in the party: boulders raing a bridge when split by Santis, a chest axe trap for Danju to figure out, a slide with spinning axes and a chomping snake for Jayko to rush by and finally a climbable vine tower for the acrobatic Rascus.
With the chest there's even optional loot, and the snake head could function as a mid-dungeon boss if you want!

Even with just two of the knights they can reasonably clear everything (I think the vines and boulder would be the hardest for the average knight).

And at the top floor there is a final challenge: the guardian of the heart of the shield. Nice an climactic in its own high room!

So it's not the greatest looking, but at the same time it's so nicely coherent. And it's not your typical castle, but a full-blown challenge gauntlet that actually has a logical flow weaving through the building. How cool is that?

So all in all, I'm glad to have it again. Just a shame it was so expensive, as the curse of aftermarkt castle set prices I spoke of yesterday is also in full effect, even here!

Narratively, this set might be my favourite in all KK2: the name is fantastic (in more ways than one...) and Orlan himself--the wizard--with the heart shield mythology all sounds great and has a spot in my wider Castle lore.

But the set itself?

Possibly the worst mid-size Castle set ever.

@Formendacil said:
"and Orlan himself--the wizard--"

The wizard is not Orlan. He goes by the name "The Guardian".

@BaconKing said:
"Why is there one guard protecting the castle?"

In-story it's a long-abandoned fortress deep in the desolate moorlands. In the past, it presumably would have had many more guards; but by the time of the story it's been pretty much forgotten by everyone. The hero knights are only there looking for the magical Heart of the Shield of Ages, and the shadow knight has been sent there by their enemy to try and stop them. The fact that there's only one of him was actually drawn attention to in the story.

"One shadow knight? After everything we've faced? You've gotta be kidding me." - Actual quote from Santis in the comic at this point.

-

On a side note, always found it weird how the Shadow Knights have proper faces in the minifigure sets: in the comic they were magically possessed by Vladek and their only visible features beneath their helmets were glowing red eyes... I've always wondered why they didn't represent that in the set designs. Then again, I can sorta see the benefits of making the minifigure versions have normal faces instead, too.

It might not be the greatest set out there, judging by the comments above, but for a time I was interested in it because of its story significance. Never really considered getting it, though: once I had the five main knights in minifigure form from other sets, that was enough from this theme for me as a kid. It was neat to see locations that had previously only been depicted in the comics get actual 'in the brick' forms as well, though.