Set Review: 41188 Breakout from the Goblin King's Fortress

[Hapori Tohu]

Welcome to another exciting BZPower set review! Today we're taking a look at one of the sets from the fantastic LEGO Elves theme, namely 41188 Breakout from the Goblin King's Fortress! BZPower Forum Assistant Nuju Metru has decided to share his thoughts on this bigger set in the 2017 wave. Let's go see how it stacks up with both a video and text examination!

 

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[Aanchir]

Good review! A feature you didn't mention about the portal is the two little black horns on either side. These are a place for the Goblin King Cronan to put the two amulets (Emily's and his own) that are needed to power the portal. Also, the ammo for the catapult is more of the same evil seeds you see inside. These seeds, when planted, are what grow into the bigger carnivorous plants like the snapping ones out front of this set. Speaking of that feature, I absolutely love it — the motion, the sound it makes, how compact it is! The carnivorous plants are in a lot of sets in a number of different forms, but this might be my favorite use of them.

 

Even though this castle is not as big as Ragana's, it's still really playable and really spooky. Like all the Elves buildings, it's carefully integrated with its environment… but in this case, said environment is dark and forboding. The trees which in other parts of Elvendale are a warm Reddish Brown are here a cold Dark Blue, with vicious red thorns instead of flowers or crystals. And the pink crystals emerging from the rocks glow an ominous red at their base. In the LEGO Elves story, it's explained that the Shimmering Woods were not such a grim place until Cronan stole crystals from the Guardian Tree to build his portal, making the entire forest sick and angry. The castle's greenish color suits Cronan both as a villain and as an earth elf. It also nicely mimics the color of his dragon, Ashwing, and of the Goblins' various buildings and machines. And the castle interior is lavish and decadent as well as livable — I especially love the portrait of Cronan and his mother Quartzine, as well as Cronan and Tufflin's matching beds!

 

The Elves first started really taking up arms in last year's sets with the catapult in the Shadow Castle set, but in this year's they've gone even further. Emily's longsword in this set exemplifies that. It's a shame that she doesn't wield this sword (or the crossbow from the Airship set) at any point during the Netflix series Secrets of Elvendale. Emily's mini-doll is a fantastic redesign, keeping her the sneakers and stripes that mark her as being from another world, but also giving her a shoulder-baring outfit that makes her seem a little more grown up. Sophie takes the same sneakers and stripes and applies them to a much younger-looking outfit. One almost gets the sense that she's wearing Emily's hand-me-downs, particularly since her sneakers are the same color Emily wore in the first year of sets! Speaking of Sophie, she also gets a different face print here than in her previous appearance — a little less gung-ho and more meek, as though she's happy to see Emily again but still a little bit shaken from her ordeal.

 

The Cronan mini-doll the same as in the Dragon set, but this time wearing his own magical amulet. It really completes his ostentatious outfit. Tufflin is a great new goblin design. When I first saw pictures of him from Toy Fair I thought he had an evil Mirror Spock style goatee around a closed-mouth frown, but it turns out that instead he's got a wide-mouthed scowl which still makes him a bit more fearsome than the average goblin. It's nice to see him actually carrying one of the Goblin King's shields, since previously we'd only seen them as ornamentation like they are on the parapets of this set. You didn't make much mention of the raven in this set outside the list of interesting parts, but it's actually a form of the Goblin King's Shadow Creature, a shapeshifting cosmic evil that plays a big role in Secrets of Elvendale. I'm hoping to try MOCing some of its other forms, though it's a shame I won't likely be able to match that awesome metallic blue printing.

Overall I've really enjoyed this set, and I hope that somebody makes an attempt to stock up on parts and rebuild it into the bigger castle seen in Secrets of Elvendale! I also look forward to seeing what uses you find for this set's parts in your own MOCs. Thanks so much for this review and I hope other BZPower members consider picking this set up!

[MrSciFiGuy]

I'd totally buy it just for that Rick and Morty portal. Some great parts there!