Noctura's Tower & the Earth Fox Rescue

I was lucky enough to find this set around Christmas last year, but I wanted to wait until new webisodes were released before actually building it. Now after waiting months, that time has finally arrived! I'll start with Liska the earth fox. What I like most about her is how articulated she is. Her legs are adjustable, her head is adjustable, and even her jaw opens and closes! The downside to having such detail on Liska, for me, is that it takes away from the main structure. Noctura's tower is kind of on the small side. I like Ragana's castle because it's a lot more spacious inside compared to Cronan's fortress and Noctura's tower. But aside from that, there are many intricate features to Noctura's tower that make it spooky and fun. I like the cauldron and how you can pour the potion bottles by turning a knob. Some of my favourite decorations are the spider webs, mushrooms, and the jar with a skull! The only disappointing thing for me was that I could not finish building the set! I got to the very last step which required me to put a rod through a hole. But the rod got stuck halfway through and there was nothing I could do. This mechanism controlled the "flapping bat wings" on top of the tower, so I'm a little sad that I won't be able to complete it. But even without the flapping feature, the tower is still spooktacular. I always like how the villains' outfit colours match their buildings. Noctura's minidoll uses black and teal, which are also the main colours of her tower. The bats are adorable, and Farran looks spiffy as always! All in all, this is another great villain castle. I would just recommend, be careful when building the "flapping wings" mechanism (especially with the black "windmill" piece that turns the green chain, because I could not fit the rod through the hole). But other than this last step, I had no trouble building this set. It has all the spooky features that are perfect for the Shadow World! more less

These Lego sets are amazing. I put them together with my granddaughter and while I'm pressing the pegged blocks together I wonder what I'm making. The next thing I know I have a working door in the shape of bat head & wings! Legos don't seem to me to be as expensive as I used to think they were. I suspect that's simply perception: my granddaughter gets so much out of them. She likes making the creatures & buildings and once they're built she makes up complex stories about her elf & dragon and elf & bat sets. more less

There are a lot of fun details to uncover throughout the building and play, and it all serves to bring the story to life as kids help Farran rescue the Earth Fox or make up their own LEGO Elves adventures. more less

For me, though the winning feature on this set is the giant bat that's the center feature of the tower. The bat head is a nice build, and that the bat head and wings can be raised and lowered is wonderful. It's an ingenious use of a moving function; many kudos to the designer for including this feature. I had a great time raising and lowering the bat, and I'm substantially older than the age range of 9-12 listed on the box! more less

Turns out bigger is better and this is definitely the best set of the range. Not only is it fun to build, it's got some fun play features and an amazing selection of parts, not only rare but useful. The set also has the best mini-doll, not only in this range of sets but across all sets to feature mini-dolls. Noctura has it all, great print detail, nice accessories and unique pieces. Admittedly the set is not without it's issues, this mainly falls upon the Earth Fox. Again the brick-built creatures is a little underwhelming. There's just tiny things with make them look odd, but then it's also difficult to say how things could be done differently. Despite that the set really is one of the best to come out of the Elves theme. more less