My heart lit up earlier this week when I located the new Summer 2013 LEGO Castle sets for the very first time. Then my excitement took a bit of a nosedive when I realized that the store didn’t get in the LEGO Castle Dragon Mountain set with its big, scary red LEGO dragon–the set I really wanted. Even so, there was no chance of me going home empty-handed, so I snagged the new LEGO Castle 2013 set that looked the best to me from what was available: the LEGO Gold Getaway 70401. Seeing the LEGO Castle Gold Getaway set as a consolation prize, I didn’t expect much from it. Now that I’ve built and played with it, I’m ready to change my tune…

The Right:

The main portion of the 199-piece LEGO Gold Getaway 70401 set–and by far the coolest and most fulfilling part of the set–is the LEGO Prison Carriage of the Red Dragon Knights.

The horse-drawn carriage is connected to the LEGO horse by a ball-joint, giving the horse a fairly large amount of flexibility in where it’s positioned and how you want to “pose” the carriage. The Red Dragon Knight comes with a whip to strike the horse into action. There’s also a clip to attach a weapon like a LEGO axe to the side of the carriage.

The really neat thing about the LEGO Jail Carriage is of course the prison cell that primarily makes it up. There’s a chain that locks into place to keep the cell shut, and you have to push a piece through from the other side to unlock the cell so you can open it. And the printed little LEGO lock is adorable.

Man, that is one evil-looking horse! The black LEGO horse uses the mold introduced for the LEGO Lord of the Rings sets last year. The red helmet you can place on the horse’s head makes it look particularly imposing.

The most entertaining thing to do with this set is, of course, locking various minifigures from other themes into the jail carriage. Poor LEGO Pippin looks so distraught!

This Halo Mega Bloks Spartan figure, on the other hand, said that there was no way he was going into this jail cell without a fight. Having played Halo, I suspect the Spartan is gonna win this one.

The back of the cart holds the treasure chest that gives this set its “LEGO Gold Getaway” moniker. The Red Dragon Knights had better hope that no dwarfs show up in the revived LEGO Castle 2013 theme–I hear they have a think for gold and jewels!

And hey, who says the Red Dragon Knights need to drive the LEGO Castle Gold Getaway carriage themselves? Perhaps a demonic, undead skeleton can do the job for them for half the salary? As you can see, I had way too much fun with this set.

70401 LEGO Gold Getaway includes three minifigures: two Blue Lion Knight Minifigures and one Red Dragon Knight Minifigure. The Red Dragon Knight minifigure looks fierce and not at all like somebody you’d wanna mess with, and I love the assortment of swords and axes that come with the minifigures. The Blue Knight minifigures do strike me as being rather vanilla and boring, though.

The Wrong:

I’m really not wild about either of the LEGO mini-build accessories that come with the Blue Lion Knights minifigures. The archway is pretty bland and silly looking sitting all by itself, and I don’t fully understand why there would ever be a little gateway sitting out in the middle of nowhere. Obviously that archway wasn’t big enough for the black horse and jail carriage to come through, so I’m not sure what makes it a relevant part of the set other than LEGO wanting to add more pieces and charge more money.

Meanwhile, I just really hate the LEGO Crossbow/Cannon/Missile Launcher. I never like flickfire missiles in any theme, but they seem particularly out of place in the medieval LEGO Castle theme. The whatever-it-is (though I think it’s meant to be a LEGO crossbow) is goofy-looking and unwieldy, and I don’t believe it could feasibly chase after the Red Dragon Knight’s Getaway cart at all. Again, this weapon just seems unnecessary.

If LEGO had left out both of these companion pieces in the set and charged $15 instead of $20, this would be a near-perfect set. I feel like the extra Blue Knights’ builds actually detract from the set instead of making it seem more complete.

“Where Can I Buy It?!”

The 2013 LEGO Castle Summer sets wave is only just not beginning to hit Toys R Us stores. If you don’t have a local Toys R Us or they don’t stock the sets yet, the only option so far is to order the LEGO Castle 2013 sets from the online marketplace.

Overall: The LEGO Castle Gold Getaway 70401 set is a splendid example of just how much fun LEGO can make a simple concept. If you didn’t get the main gist of the review, I can summarize it in five words: I love the prison carriage. Having an evil black stallion pulling a horse-drawn LEGO jail cart that I can place any minifigure I want into is some of the most fun I’ve had playing with a LEGO set this year. On the downside, the minifigures themselves feel a bit generic (particularly the good knight minifigures), and the LEGO archway and crossbow mini-builds included are pretty lame in my opinion. At $15 for just the LEGO Prison Carriage and horse this set would be an ‘A+’. At $20 to cover the unnecessary extra pieces, the set is still highly recommended but I feel like it loses a bit of its luster.