Lego Dragon Prison

Great progress has been seen recently in the Lego Castle genre, particularly with the wave of recent Kingdoms sets, including the new Lego Dragon Prison. This little set (Officially 7187 Escape from the Dragon's Prison) hits the $19.99 price point just right, and matches the look and feel of previous "Dragon Knight" sets. As always with our Lego sets, we first look to the minifigs when deciding set worth. Here are the figures from Lego Dragon Prison.

Suitable army builders all, we get two "Lion Knights" and two "Dragon Knights". I have been hoping that Lego will expand the kingdoms beyond just these two, but so far these are what we get. The Dragons are generally considered the baddies and the Lions the goodies.

As evidenced by the pictures, the level of detail in Lego's minifig printing is steadily getting better. I especially like the face printing on the knight on the left, his stubble chin and scuffed up look is unique. The knight on the right features a reversible head, with the smirky smile on one side and an open-mouthed expression of horror on the other. Notice the fine detail in the printing of his torso piece.

In all points, I find the Dragon Knights to be superior to their Lion counterparts. Although the minifig on the left is a little goofy for my tastes, the fully armored figure on the right is one of the best designed Lego Castle figures ever. You would be hard pressed to find a more perfect example of Lego Castle goodness than this beauty!

Just look at this bad boy! His armor is beautifully detailed and the colors are just right to produce the baddest looking knight in the whole Lego Dragon Kingdoms lineup. He looks like he is tough enough to take on a whole army of Lion knights single-handedly!

This figure's head is also double-sided, with a cocky-looking smile on one side and an angry sneer on the other. Without his armor piece on, he still looks like one mean cookie. Notice again the level of detail in the torso print. He is also the only figure in this set to feature printed legs, which match perfectly with his torso piece. If you are on the border about picking up this set, don't hesitate! This figure alone is worth the price.

The only Lion Knight that looks to be a match for this nasty Dragon Knight is the equally armored guy from 7947 Prison Tower Rescue. (a larger set with a design that follows the same architectural feel as Lego 7187- great combined sets!) Pictured side-by-side above, you can see the obvious similarities between these two opposing knights. For more comparison pictures, visit my Prison Tower Rescue review.

Another great element of the Lego Dragon Prison is the horse complete with richly colored barding and imposing head armor.

The ballista is a seemingly weak weapon, comprised of a couple of wagon wheels, a few spears, and the ever-ridiculous flick-fire missile set-up on top. I guess the Lion knight is supposed to use the ballista to charge the gates of the prison, but it doesn't look to me as if that would get him anywhere but seated on his can smiling sheepishly up at the Dragon fellow up in the bastion about to unleash the crossbow fury. The flick-fire missiles don't really go that far either. So all in all, I'd say the Lion dudes have brought the proverbial "knife to a gun fight".

The actual Lego Dragon Prison building, while a bit on the smallish side, is a fun mini building that allows for several playable scenarios. The two gate pieces are appropriately imposing. On the right is a jail cell, hence the "Prison" name, accessible only from the back. On the left is a small room where a red ruby is displayed, clearly visible from the outside of the structure, as apparently the dragon knights like to advertise in hope of encouraging thief attacks on their building.

On top of the building is a small catapult, seen above being operated by the loyal and intelligent horse. Completely useless as far a repelling attackers, unless one happens to be standing still directly in the line of fire. As mentioned earlier, this set's design colors and architectural design bears remarkable resemblance to 2010's Lego Prison Tower Rescue. As you can see from this picture, it looks like these two sets could be used together in order to create an even bigger Lego Dragon kingdom.

The only flaw in this idea is that for some inexplicable reason, the baseplate colors are two different shades of green! I don't know why these two sets would be designed to be so similar, and yet you can't place them directly next to each other because the lighter green from the Lego Dragon Prison and the darker from Prison Tower Rescue don't match!

Personally, I'll probably find replacement baseplates so that my 7187 Lego Dragon Prison matches the 7947 Prison Tower Rescue just right. For more comparison pictures of these two sets, click on the links over to my review of the Prison Tower set.

Overall, I would definitely recommend 7187 Escape from the Dragon's Prison. Whether you are new to the Lego Kingdoms line or are looking to expand your Dragon knight base, this is a great set with some neat pieces (i.e. beautiful horse barding) a good building design, some solid minifigs, and one wickedly cool Dragon Knight. Very reasonably priced at $19.99, this set should make its way into every Lego Castle collection. Pick up yours today!


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