My wife wanted this for the minifig collection so I buckled. It comes with two minfigs of each arena accept the juggler, and the snake charmer, The witch and wizard can be thought of as a pair as well, although the "instructions" don't show them as together.

Only the witch and wizards clothes are lacking with a plain black body and dress for the witch and plain grey body with green pants for the wizard. The rest of the figs have a good splattering of paint and most have two faces on one head. There is some left over "advernturer" gear to use how you see fit as well.

Key animals: 2 spiders, 3 snakes, a frog, a crab, and a clam/oyster.

Key Items: Marine Sextant, Mace, Turbin, Adventurer Hats, Western Hat, Castle Helmet (newer type), Clear Bottle (big enough for a head/skull).

There are no instructions to speak of if you want to assemble them as the side of the box says, so if you want to keep that info as a hard copy you have to cut up the box, front and back.

Overall: The $50 US price tag seems steep just for people, but 22 people and all the awesome do-dads, and it is about right or better than the collectiable minifigs at $2-3 US a piece.

This set has some truly amazing bricks and pieces but does not seem that popular, widely owned or massively wanted. The fact that it costs a packet can be ignored better when you compare its value to Collectable Minifigures and see the extra bits you get.

Minifigures:

Fantasy

• Mermaid & Merman
• Wizard
• Witch
• 2x (Toy) Soldiers

Historical

• Jester
• 2x Knight
• Queen & King
• Snake Charmer
• 2x Pirate Skeleton
• 2x Pirate
• Married Couple
• Cowboy & Cowgirl
• Boy Knight & Girl Maiden

Action & Adventure
As it goes the themes are good but not all great. Mini builds are there for chracters which would have been nice to see in the collectable minifigure range. The wizard's bottle on a table and soldier's drum are brilliant and the accessories and almost all prints are strong and pleasing bricks and pieces. Inspired designs are;

The Stars Of The Show:

• Mermaid & Merman - wonderful print, character and accessories.
• 'Toy' Soldiers - sadly no shoulder pads but excellent drum and designs.
• Witch - thankfully non green skinned with cauldron and all sorts.
• Cowboys - just for returning with plenty of stuff.
• Snake Charmer - inspired design with a little display.
• Maidens - superb dress prints, hair and variant unique design.
• Wizard - A great mini-build table and potion bottle.

All the others have been previously covered in existing Lego themes. The term fairytale can certainly be attributed to a few characters here but historic? Well not so much. The knights get two flamboyant pirate captain tops to use unsuitably and when you mix them up, its not easily put right without pirates aplenty minus hats or by making nondescript characters. It probably takes some imagination and experimentation as the would be historical characters outnumber the fantasy ones. So a little disappointingly yet not 'Cons'...

The Supporting Cast:

• Those mismatched Knights.
• The decent Wizard gets no green cloak despite a great mini build.
• The King's sceptre is not metallic, too much red.
• The over numerous Pirates remain the biggest complaint with no shoulder decoration, a none metallic telescope and an excess Skeleton.
• Newly Weds (?)

Unfortunately the minifigure heads had a slightly faint print in the set I purchased. The 'Cowgirl' also had an almost unacceptably faint torso print. I found the females gown bricks were excellent pieces and better swapped- white for castle and red for the '1900s Couple'? And what's with the ladder? Oh well its a very nice ladder but as for the man's cane- don't expect the top to stay on.

Enough moaning! Positively the extra bits; binoculars, explorer hats, gun, bow and arrow are very good as are all tools and gadgets. The jester is sort of a repeat but has variant jesting kit without a 'crazy' face. This is an educational set that will please many kids but not as much the fussy overgrown ones but the positives are marvellous for what they are worth.

Fair Play
An excellent collection that may require mix up, blend or adaptation in to your sets, collection, layout or existing themes. While working fine with collectable minifigures, just think if there is a Collectable Minifigure mermaid, it will cost you £2 so on that basis, these are a good value purchase for all the extras. Its not that medium in score but many little things could have been improved. Also its nice to see the cowboys are back in town while the witch and others will inspire some excellent cottage building etc so fair play.