Other reviewers have done an excellent job describing this set in detail. I would only add the more general observation that this set is a clear step up from the other (already excellent) Winter Village sets. Lego didn't just make a bigger Toy Shop or Post Office here. This set is chock full of truly creative modeling and clever details - the fireplace, the kitchen range, the bows and garlands, the snowplow, the streetlamp, and many more. The other Winter Village sets were excellent already, but Lego really showered this one with design love. Anyone who's enjoyed the earlier sets shouldn't hesitate to spring for this one, and anyone who starts here should understand that the others don't quite reach these heights.

Of course, the price of all this (beyond just the extra money) is a much longer and more complex build, and that may or may not be a great thing given this set's seasonal and family-oriented nature. My son (5yo) is just getting to the point of building 100-piece sets mostly by himself, and I'm hoping he'll be able to take over some of the Winter Village building duties in the next couple of years. But I'll be building this one myself for some time to come - apart from the plow and igloo, the cottage itself has so many tiny bits and tricky alignments that it's only suitable for older kids and grown-ups. Finally, I'd note that finding 5-6 hours to build this during the holiday season is not quite as easy as one might imagine. :)

Truly an amazing set, on par with the modular buildings and other enthusiast-level offerings.

Previous reviewers have done an admirable job describing the technical details of this set, and their evaluations are spot-on. But since this set's price point and subject puts it nicely in the "introductory" category, I think it's worth adding a few comments from someone (like me!) who is neither a motorcycle buff nor a Technic veteran. This was my first Technic set ever, and it was a good enough introduction to prod me into ordering several more in short order.

The main model took me (a total Technic newbie) about 2-3 hours to complete, taking my time and thinking through how the functions were developing. There are really only two significant functional systems - the engine/transmission and the suspension - but each one builds nicely across most of the model and is enjoyable to see come together. I didn't find any steps especially challenging or tricky provided I was paying attention to the directions. I don't think there's anything here that should trouble a new Technic builder (young or old). The resulting bike looks great, in my non-cycle-buff opinion. It's also very stable and runs smoothly - I have no worries letting my 3 year old drive it around the room. Excellent playability and a great model overall.

The B model I also found well worth building, though the final model has some flaws. Generally, it's a more straightforward construction than A, largely due to the simpler suspension and engine mounting - this might make it a better first build for someone trying to understand Technic logic. But even if you've built A already, B does include a V-Twin engine instead of A's inline 3, which is a nice opportunity to learn some more Technic basics. The front suspension is also slightly different and interesting to build. However, as others have pointed out, the resulting bike, while possibly better-looking, has some stability and operational issues - the front wheel mounting is rather weak given the sharp angle of the attachment, the body flexes too much, and the chain doesn't quite run smoothly. Overall, the B model was a very worthwhile build, but it's not going to be a keeper unless it's purely for display. If you don't like repeatedly breaking down and reassembling the set, I'd recommend building B first - just use the instructions from A when you cut the tubing and use only the stickers for the red panels (which are identical between models). Build B once, admire it, then build A and you'll understand the build better and end up with a more functional bike to play with. Personally, I'll just use this as an excuse to build A one more time and think more carefully about its design.

Overall, I'm thrilled with this set as my first Technic experience. It's big enough to implement a couple of functions well, but small enough that I feel I can understand the overall design. By the time I rebuild the A model again, I'll have gotten a good 6+ hours of thoughtful building out of the set. And my kids end up with a solid, sporty motorbike to play with. For $40, this set was a great value, especially compared to what you get for that money in the other Lego lines. I'm looking forward to more Technic sets with enthusiasm.

Given the Cars franchise, it should be obvious that this set is aimed at the young end of Lego's customer spectrum. While the box says 7-12, I doubt kids older than 7 or 8 would have much interest in playing with such a simple set. I wouldn't have purchased it myself, but my 4-year old son picked it for a birthday gift from his grandfather, so we got straight to building as soon as we got home from the store. Despite the simplicity, it's a pretty decent set for younger kids, though not one I'd want to pay full price for myself. Let's see...

Build: Very simple. The cars are all built on a full chassis piece, so there's nothing more to them than sticking together some wheels, a few large pieces, and a handful of plates, tiles, and details. The car builds are simple enough that they could be built by children just barely able to follow Lego directions. There are 5 cars total, 2 each in 2 bags plus another with the plane - these would actually be good to split up amongst several "helpers" except that there's only a single instruction booklet to go around. But then older kids could probably build them straight from the photo. The plane is just a bit more interesting, though nothing that could remotely be described as tricky. There are a number of stickers to apply, all of them for the plane's windows and decoration on the tail. All of the face pieces are printed, not stickered.

Parts: Mediocre. The car parts are all brightly colored, oddly shaped, and too few in number to do much else with. The plane, however, includes plenty of wing pieces and other odds and ends that would be useful for other airplanes or ships. Overall, OK for a young builder's parts bin, but nothing I'd think a teen or adult would especially want, especially at $50 for 330 pieces.

Playability: Excellent for a medium sized set, and the only real reason to consider purchasing this. The cars are simple, sturdy, and fit well in small hands. The guns (?) on the sides of two cars tend to get knocked off pretty quickly, but otherwise they're fine. The plane is quite sturdy as well and a good size for swooshing around. The swiveling front landing gear lets the plane do a good job taxiing too. Unfortunately, only two of the cars fit inside the plane, but it's enough to have fun with. Between a pretty nice plane and 5 small cars (two of them loadable), there's a lot for little kids to play with in this set - and enough for them to share with others, which is always helpful too. But again, I had 4-year olds playing with this, and they're pretty easily amused. Lego's range of 7-12 seems awfully optimistic to me. I'd think that kids older than 8 or so would want something with more details and moving parts.

Overall: Given what I expected out of a Cars set, it's OK, and my kids do have fun with it without me needing to step in for repair jobs very often. I wouldn't dream of paying $50 for it, though. Like most of Lego's movie licenses, this one is sure to go to clearance before too long, so I'd wait to get it until then.

Like many others, I purchased this set largely because it was the only recent one with pneumatics, which I hadn't yet gotten to play with. I also appreciated the break from the usual run of Technic construction vehicles and 4x4's. But, while the set isn't bad, it doesn't really do anything well either - you get to see pneumatics in action and that's about it.

Design: Fairly boring. The only significant function in the whole set is the pneumatic arm and the rotating platform it sits on. The tractor doesn't do anything beyond hand-of-God steering and the trailer is simply a wheeled platform for the crane arm. While the crane arm is fairly neat and the obvious attraction for the set, it's not so fantastic as to carry the entire set by itself. It's also somewhat annoying that the claw function requires turning a knob on the claw rather than being controlled from the trailer base. That's probably just a technical limitation of passing functions through the rotating platform, but it still feels a little lacking. I haven't yet built the B model - it looks like only a slight variation on the same basic idea, but perhaps the arm differs more significantly than it first appears to.

Build: Building the arm and the pneumatics is fun. The other 400 or so pieces... not so much. That's all just very basic beam construction. Obviously you can't have every single piece in a Technic set do something exciting, but I've seen more interesting builds in sets that are half the size of this one. Everything was well laid-out in the manual, at least, even the trickier bits involving routing the various pneumatic hoses.

Parts: OK, I guess. I don't do Technic MOC's, so I have a hard time judging this. You get the pneumatic pieces, obviously, but you could just as well order those separately. Beyond those and the green panels, it seems like a pretty typical selection of beams and joints.

Playability: Mediocre. I would be more willing to overlook the boring build if the model at least worked well when it was done. Part of the problem is the spindly little log provided - it looks too small and is somewhat hard to pick up in the claw. Unfortunately, a log built from large round bricks would be a bit too large and Lego hasn't made them in brown anyway. Apart from that, the pneumatic action on the crane arm is a bit jerky, which sometimes leads to the itty bitty log slipping out of the claw's clutches. And again, actually opening or closing the claw requires that you grab it and turn the knob, which breaks the illusion of operating the machinery. In the end, the model works, but feels fussier and less effective than other Technic sets I've built.

Overall, this set demonstrates basic pneumatic construction techniques and nothing more. I purchased it for less than the MSRP even after it was already out of production - at that price, I'm happy to have it, if only as an example of pneumatics and as a somewhat unique vehicle in the Technic line. But this is a definitely not a set worth hunting after and paying collector's prices for. If you want to play around with pneumatics, just order the key parts and you can probably build a working arm from this set's downloadable manual and whatever extra Technic beams you've got lying around. That would get you most of what this set offers at a fraction of the price.

It's strange that I give all the subratings 4's, and then only judge the set a 3 overall. But this set feels like less than the sum of its parts and misses a lot of opportunities for excellence. The basic concept (knights fighting through a multi-level fortress to save the princess) is obviously a classic, and even has a pretty good start here. But a $50 set has a high enough part count that it should do a solid job executing its vision, and this set just doesn't get there.

What's good here? Plenty, really, but always with too much room for improvement. There's a solid selection of minifigs, including the all-important princess. But considering that this is the best fortress the Dragon Knights have, the lack of a Dragon leader is a serious omission. Now that the Escape from Dragon's Prison set is out, the big bad knight from that set will serve that role well. But there should have been something here in the first place. Using the old knight face for the Lion Knight is strange as well - he should be training youngsters in the yard, not rescuing princesses! Easily fixed, but an odd choice nevertheless. At least the princess is well done. And another barded horse is always welcome, even if the white printing on the red part comes out rather pinkish.

The basic concept of the set is quite good too, but again fails in execution. The stairways in the back give a nice feeling of ascending walkways for the knights to battle on, which is great. But the prison cell door doubling as a ladder seems really strange - why doesn't the captive princess just push down the ladder and walk out while everyone is asleep? This kind of thing wouldn't bother me in a $20 set, but I expect a better implementation of the theme in a $50 set. More importantly, the entire left side of the fortress is total nonsense. There's already a perfectly good gate - why is there a stairway facing forward, barred by a completely ridiculous ladder piece? This is a really egregious design flaw, as it not only makes no sense, but takes up a lot of pieces and a lot of interior space that could be better used. Given the many clever building twists elsewhere in the set, it's hard to understand why this part of the design is so poor.

Others have complained that the fortress isn't "solid" enough, but I disagree with that. While substantial, this set isn't a 1000-piece flagship - there are only so many bricks to go around. The designers chose to use the pieces to go taller (supporting the multi-level fighting theme) rather than expand walls horizontally. That's a fine choice, I think. The problem is that because of that stupid front staircase, the set doesn't create any illusion of an interior. If that part were better designed, the set as a whole wouldn't feel as "thin" as it does.

Finally, there's a decent part selection here for castle builders. But again, something doesn't feel quite right about the color scheme. Black and brown don't go so well together, and that's most of what this set uses. I think the overall look would've been a lot snappier had the designers used more dark grey instead in order to make the fortress look like something solidly built on a rocky outcropping rather than a hastily erected set of battlements and barricades.

Overall, I'd expect most dedicated Kingdoms fans will find this set worthwhile between the princess, other minifigs, and basic parts. Otherwise, it really depends how much you're willing to modify the set. There are some fine design ideas and building techniques here, but making this set what it should be will require rebuilding most of it and probably tweaking the colors significantly with new bricks. If you're up for that, this set is a fine start. But if you're more into building complete sets as designed, I'd pass on this.