Belville Cottage of The Witch - Someone Got Beat With The Ugly Stick!
Written: Oct 07 '02
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Pros: A ton of very cool accessory pieces!
Cons: One ugly witch, cheesy cottage structure, low replay value.
The Bottom Line: One of the worst Belville sets I've ever come across but a must have for the accessories and animals.
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| Freak369's Full Review: LEGO Belville Cottage of the Witch |
The Belville series was created so that girls would be able to explore the world of Lego and not feel cornered into boyish sets. The earlier sets from this series were crude, lacked any true theme and had Lego figures that were so ugly and distorted most girls passed on them without even giving them a try. Their loss is my gain – after sitting on the shelves at a local toy store for more than two years the owner of the store finally offered them to me at a very attractive price – providing that I purchased all twelve boxes that is. Far be it from me to pass up a great deal on Lego sets – so for under $60.00 I walked away with all twelve dusty, shelf worn boxes.
Even though this set features a gruesome looking witch, the extras that are included with the set are bountiful and more than justify the suggested retail price of $6.99 - $8.99. This set was a great addition to my ongoing castle project and when combined with some of the Harry Potter Lego sets, it put me q few steps closer towards my goal of a multi leveled castle with all the medieval extras. If you are looking to purchase a “girlie” set of Lego’s, look elsewhere for a good introduction set because this one is horrid outside of the accessories.
The Witch
Now, as a general rule of thumb witches aren’t portrayed as cute, loveable or even a sight for sore eyes – but this witch is just downright ugly. The color scheme the Lego designers chose for this figure is visually offensive and does nothing for the set. Lets start off with the molded hair – it’s red, sticks out at the bottom and looks nasty. If you’ve ever had a case of “bed head” you know how bad your hair can look after a night of tossing and turning – trust me – your bed head has nothing on this. Her clothing is thrown together and shabby and doesn’t match in the very least. Red, blue and green are the main colors but just to make things worse they threw in a red and white checkerboard patterned apron.
Her stenciled torso features a blue and green jacket and shirt which wouldn’t have been bad if had matched the rest of her outfit. Just for fun the designers threw in a witches hat however you can’t seem to get it on her big bucket head. The witch figure stand three and a half inches tall and have movable legs, arms, hips and a positionable head. Even with all these points of movement, the color scheme and clothing kills any chance she had of being a usable piece.
The Cottage
Cottage? If you call a one-quarter round floor tile, doorway and trellis a cottage then you won’t be disappointed by this set. However, those that expect four walls, a complete floor and other amenities usually associated with a dwelling – you will be let down with what is provided in this set. Since I was able to pick up twelve sets I was able to use the one-quarter floor tiles to make a complete solid structure but not everyone is going to have this luxury. The green detailed doorway is nice, but not very practical. In fact, it isn’t really a doorway but a wall partition that can be made into a doorway with the inclusion of other pieces.
The Accessories
As previously mentioned, this set is best when chopped into little pieces and used solely for the extras and accessories. If you are a fan of the Castle or Harry Potter series, the accessories in this set work perfectly with both of these Lego themes. If you are trying to build up a stock of mystical and magical elements, there is no other set in this price range that offers this many accessory pieces. If you find yourself with an abundance of unwanted pieces you can sell them to online brick vendors or brokers or arrange a trade for pieces that you are looking for.
Some of the very cool pieces that you will find in this set are green goblets, two “magic” apples, a fully functional spell book complete with a removable page [1x1 tile], blue ice diamond / gemstone, black cat, witches broom, black witches hat, black bat figurine and a very nice cauldron and ladle. All of these very cool little items work perfectly with other Lego sets and can all be adapted for use with other set with little or no effort. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for the white skeleton head that’s also included with this set. Since there is no skeleton body provided you’ll have to find a good use for this element. I suggest tossing him in the cauldron for a magic spell or possibly mounting it on a magic wand [not included in this set] to let those wandering by know that she isn’t the nicest witch to deal with.
You’ll also come across five gold coins, one in each of the following denominations 10, 20, 30, 40, 50. These coins do lose their sheen with a minimal amount of use so if you expect that they will see a lot of play time give them a thin coating of clear nail polish to keep them looking brand new. These do get lost easily so keep an eye on them. If you lose a few or want to pick up more, they can be found at online brick sites for about .15 cents a piece, however you get a bigger discount if you purchase them in lots of 50 or 100.
Instructions
I was really let down with the instructions that were provided with this set. Not that there is a lot of work needed to build the set, but it would have been nice to have a step by step plan for the placement of the accessories for those that are just getting into Lego construction. The fold out sheet of instructions is more of an advertisement for other Belville sets than it is a construction manual. Bottom line – you can look at the front of the box and figure out how to build the “cottage” easier than you can from the provided instructions.
The Bottom Line
Unless you are a die-hard Belville fan or have several sets from the series, the Cottage of The Witch is best used for the accessories. The newer Belville sets will work with these elements however the witch is a little larger than the ones in the 5830 and higher sets in the series. As I mentioned earlier, if you are a fan of the Harry Potter or Castle series, this set would be great to have for the bounty of accessories and elements.
The Stats
Set Name: Cottage of The Witch
Family Set: Belville
Lego Set: 5804
Number of Pieces: 40
Age Recommendation: 6 - 12
Ease Of Assembly: Easy
Time Of Assembly: 5 – 10 minutes
Cost: $ 6.99 [retail]
Wishing you a safe and spook-tacular Halloween…
^V^ Freak ^V^
© 2002 Freak369
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): $6.99
Type of Toy: Blocks
Age Range of Child: Whole Family
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