We had the chance to review one of the most amazing playsets from Mega Bloks: the Deathwing's Stormwind Assault playset!
I must say that I didn't expect this set to be as big as it is and that's why I think it is better to split this review into parts and take a look at the individual aspects one by one. So to get started, let's see what the entire is set composed of:
- The entrance of Stormwind: The Valley of Heroes - complete with the statues and the secondary gates.
- Build-able Deathwing - the big dragon is just as big in here.
- Three figurines: King Varian, Barton (gnome death knight) and Mythrin (night elf priest).
- An alliance catapult - which you can actually fire!
- Secret loot bag (we got a weapon for our figurines).
- Two instruction brochures to help us build everything.
- Guest pass key for World of Warcraft.
The Valley of Heroes
This is the entrance of Stormwind as we know it and constructing it with bricks really made it look like the original, in-game version. While the walkway is not really a bridge and the front gates are not included, the imposable rubber-made statues and the second gates are really well done and look pretty similar to the original.
Pros: The use of different shades of bricks and the use of the chamfered-edge bricks really make the Stormwind walls look great and detailed. The heroes statues are very well done as well and they add a lot of details to the scene in its entirety.
Cons: The walkway is not a bridge, I really expected to see a bridge there. Also, what lies behind the second gates is not included, it’s completely empty. So if you look at the entire set from the back it doesn't look too appealing.
Deathwing
This piece is the main attraction of this playset. That is to say, it definitely is for me. The model is extremely detailed, fully articulated with all kind of joints, and the wings are very well done.
Pro: I was really impressed by this model. Honestly, from the pictures, I did not expect it to be like this. Even though the wings are made of transparent hard plastic, the rest of the model is very mobile and very well articulated.
Con: Especially the rail and legs are made of some bricks that want to resemble the metal bolts that hold the dragon's plates together. I don’t think they succeed in looking like metal bolts, but I reckon that has more to do with my hunger for details.
The Figurines and more...
The figurines are very simple to build and come with their own weapons. The secret loot that we received in the bag was a weapon. Can you recognize it? (PICTURE LINK HERE)
There is also a loot chest with some treasure in it and an alliance catapult. The catapult can actually fire, took me a while to find the little ball somewhere under my furniture, but now I'm all set.
Pro: I don't know if this was intended, but you can switch around body parts of the characters which led to quite amusing results in my opinion. I also like that the weapons closely resemble their in-game counterparts. Pretty neat.
Con: I couldn't find anything bad about the figurines and other items. The only thing I can think of is the loot chest... I really see no reason for it to be a part of this set.
The Box
I know that this is not actually a part of the set, but I feel it would be a shame not to mention it.
In short, the box is really amazing! Full of details and colour and embossed details.
Pro: It looks awesome, I must admit I didn't expect this from a playset box.
Con: It's a bit tricky to open and you wont be able to keep it in one piece while opening.
The Building Process
It took me about 4-6 hours to complete the whole set. It was pretty entertaining but I disliked some of the small parts. I guess my fingers were bit too big for them. By the end, when I was building Deathwing piece I decided to take some pictures for a quick slide-show, and you can see the video below.
Pro: It was very entertaining and the instruction brochures were really helpful. Everything fits and I was happy to see that some of the delicate pieces like Deathwing's jaw and the Valley of Heroes statues are made of hard rubber. I even have a handful of spare parts. At least I hope they are spare parts...
Con: When I start opening the bags I expected to have each piece of the "puzzle" in one bag, but noooo, I had to open everything and start searching. It gets kind of messy when you start building everything, but I guess this is part of the fun also.
Short slide show for Deathwing the building process.
Conclusion
Even though I haven't "tested" the other playsets, I checked the Mega Bloks website and I can say for sure that this one, The Deathwing's Stormwind Assault, is the most complex and amazing one.
What would have made this set even more amazing for me was to see this scene during the Deathwing attack, when he climbs on the Stormwind gates and burns the two towers. That would have been a great detail. The charred towers and the marks of Deathwing's claws on top would have been the icing on the cake.
But, as far as I can see, this playset resembles the scene right before that, when Deathwing has just reached Stormwind and King Varian tries to defend the city.
It's pretty fun to build everything and the result was really great. There were indeed a few things I didn't like, but overall the entire set is very well done and if you really like this kind of toys, you should give it a go and buy yourself one. I'm sure that if you have a special shelf somewhere for toys like these, this one is going to be your new pièce-de-résistance.
Discalimer: Wowjuju is not paid by any company to review their products. The products reviewed on Wowjuju were either purchased by us or provided to us FREE for review. Wowjuju is not responsible for your decision to purchase or not purchase a certain product.
Click here to view the article
Back to top
