The Packaging: Despite the longest set name ever (is it?) the box art is excellent! Vikings is one of my favorite new lines and one of the best reasons to get excited about LEGO®. Part of that is the excellent graphic design and packagin that goes into the sets. Here is the front of the box, the back of the box, a close-up of a cool set detail (I included this because I like that the Vikings sets provide several shots of the set in use, which we haven't seen in packaging this century...) and the instruction booklet.

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The Parts: The pieces come in numbered bags, 1 & 2. 1 is the dragon and mini-figs, 2 is the catapult. Nothing is cooler than the new wheels. I predict these wheels will be a hot seller on Bricklink. I'll buy a lot of them anyway. Awesome new dark blue dragon wings and smaller Batman style wings. I love that this set comes with a dark blue dragon head. Of course this piece is used for the lower jaw and a flat silver armored dragon head is used for Ofnir's cranium. I'm not a huge fan of this piece as it seems rather Bioniclely. A flat silver (or bone colored) dragon head is also included. I love this piece. The good news is that there are plenty of dark blue (one of my favorite colors) dragon parts to build a cool MOC dragon without the armored head. Viking mini-figs are always cool! Downside to new pieces: There isn't really a downside to any of the pieces, except the armored dragon head is kind of lame. Lots of pieces, lots of cool pieces.

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The Build (Ofnir): I have to admit that after I built each of the Vikings sets from the original release run last year, I was really excited and ready to buy doubles of each. I didn't feel the same way after building this set, although it's still a great set. The build starts out, like all viking creatures, looking like a boat. The instructions are very clear and they seemed to have solved the "is it white, gray, dark gray, dark blue or black conundrum this year." One of my pet peeves shows up early in the instructions. I don't like when they expect impossible things like keeping these "teeth" at the odd angle. They are destined to flop all over the place by the time a few more steps have progressed. The tail is added next with the cool new small wings added and see what I mean? Another oddity in the instructions is that you are expected to leave a gap between technic connectors where the jaw meets the head. I wondered why they didn't add a technic half bush to make the gap accurate. Also, in this pic you can see the three connections that let the head function. That dragon MOC will need a supplemental bricklink purchase for feet because this is Ofnir's foot. I do like the claws better, but think this is a cool way to armor Ofnir's feet. Legend has it he is a dancer and he needs to protect those feet. So here you see an almost completed dragon, but the armor still needs to be added. I don't know why the instructions have you add the armor last. In my opinion, I think the back armor should go on before the legs and arms go on. I'm sure there's a good reason, but this is how I managed it. I find that picture humorous. Once the build is complete it is fun to pose the dragon as it is fully articulated. You can do many bad-ass poses like this one, or this one, this one where the viking is riding Ofnir and last but not least this pose... Downised of the Ofnir Build: The neck has two segment one that is hinges horizontally and one that hinges vertically. It would be cool if they somehow did both so the neck (and tail) could be fully articulated. However, this doens't look awkward, but you will want to be able to bend the neck back farther and as I mentioned before the Ofnir head is kind of lame in my opinion.

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The Build (Catapult): I am disappointed that there are three catpults/artillery wagons in the Viking sets. I wish there was another fort or a long house instead. With only two sets released this year, I would have liked to have seen another structure. I will say though, that this catapult really kicks ass. I love weird things that show up in sets like this random tooth. Although the correct way to shoot this catapult is to pull on the cylinders I prefer to pull the read lever back thusly, which isn't completely practical but makes the boulder FAWING! much further. The standard Fawing! from the cylinder is more than sufficient. I love the front of this catapult. Here is the completed catapult. I think the catapult is beautiful. It's really well constructed and with those cool wheels and the cool design on the front, it's one of the cooler Viking weapons. Here are the extras. Downside to the Build: Again I didn't find much of a downside. There are a lot of Technic pieces for a system set and the small teeth used to hold the boulders in place before launch are insufficient, but this is a very cool set altogether!
Overall Rating

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