MEGA BLOKS Reviews

If you've ever built a Mega Bloks castle before, there's pretty much no reason to buy this one. It's assembled entirely from parts recycled from old sets, and includes no details or accessories that make it particularly unique. Three levels of cramped, generic rooms rest atop a tiny, cramped dungeon that is nearly impossible to play in (once a figure goes in, you may never be able to get it out again). The one semi-unique aspect of this set is the long bridge leading to the castle, the entranceway of which is decorated with recycled pieces from the old Battlegate set.

This is not a bad set to look at, but it just isn't too much fun. One could just as easily build this (or something like it) on their own with leftovers from other sets, and that's pretty much how this one was designed.

One note I will make is that construction was tricky on this set. Certain boards didn't snap in easily at all, and a few of the supports had difficulty locking into place as well.

I like the dragon, wizard, and horses from this set, but they're also recycled from previous sets (and many equally, if not more interesting, pieces can be found in the sister Krystal Ambush set). I will add that the Draigar soldiers in this set were highly disappointing. They were carelessly painted with a dull brown/gold paint job that doesn't match the bright and shiny finish of the Draigar soldiers from other sets. The ones that are supposed to have skin tones showing are also entirely brownish gold. These troops suffered from a very careless paint job.

All in all, there's almost no reason to buy this set. Any other Mega Bloks Dragon castle would probably prove more interesting and rewarding, and most would be easier to build and would contain more original, better done soldiers as well.

Okay, okay...this set offers nothing new. Any Mega Bloks fan with a keen eye can see this by just looking at the packaging. Sometimes repaints are cool, and sometimes they ain't. This time, I'd say they're fairly cool.
The Iron Raiders subset focuses on a band of pilaging bad guys who terrorize the Dragons world. All sets are dedicated to them in this short, hard to find toy line. There are two small tins (with large war machines like catapults), a small troop builder set with a dragon and a small backdrop structure, a large troop builder set with a bunch o' guys, dragons and horses, and of course this set...the Raiders' own home!
As stated before, there's nothing new about this set. All pieces were previously used (just recolored), even the figures. The Raiders themselves are composed of all the different types of characters...from Draigar to Vorgan...just painted black, with copper trim and highlights. Each character has two weapons instead of the usual one weapon, one shield. Apparently, the are quite warlike, or a bunch of berserkers. The dragons are also just repaints.
The castle itself is small. It is no Draigar castle. It consists of one large multi-tier tower, and one small "tower" with a large crossbow atop it. Both sit on a small plateau of land. Beneath this appears to be a large dungeon. The dungeon is cleverly formed by utilizing black ladder pieces which go across the whole bottom of the tower sections. The next layer up is the base where the large and small tower are affixed. The small tower is one tier only, like I said before...with a weapon on it. The main tower has three sections. Not much going on behind the scenes here. The middle layer has your classic trap door...that's it. The tippy top houses a light-up Krystal. At the verrry bottom are several plates used to create a barren landscape. Normally I'd complain 'cause there is nothing really on these pieces, but I like how it creates the illusion that this dark tower is just sitting in some desert or something. To get into the castle, there is a neat little set of stairs leading to a bridge. They reuse the gate pieces to form a decorative portal to pass through. Beneath the bridge is a blank space. Considering the extra land plates that surround the set, this seems odd, but it makes it seem there is some bottomless chasm beneath it. Perhaps you can utilize pieces from other sets to create a moat, a spike pit, or a bed of snakes and spiders!
Aside from the five or six Raiders and their leader, sveral Draigar guys come with the set. Also included is a catapult. Two dragons come with the set as well...one Vorgan style war beast, and a nice red Dragon also borrowed from Krystal Wars.
Overall, nice set...especially at 50% off!!! It does utilize all old pieces, but if you like repaints, or don't have all the sets, or are just a casual collecter, you may like the set.

The main reason why I purchased this set was because of the red dragon. There are very few red dragons released in the Dragons building toy lines and it's bright color drew me in. I had no idea that the toy was encased in a metal tin, which is a terrific convenience for storage.

Many of the other pieces are repaints from previous Dragons collections, but I had never been able to purchase them in time because Mega Bloks only has one production run of any set. The arches and staircase really make this piece stand out viewing from the front, but the back is really forgetable. The catapult as a siege weapon and the bonus winged beast (at the moment I cannot remember what they are called) were nice touches.

Over all I would say that it would be a fabulous starter set for anyone getting into Dragons.

Toy is much larger than expected. It does not have an off switch! Just walking by this toy will activate its roar and glowing eyes - not something you want to experience during the night! My 5 yr. old played a lot with it for the first 2 weeks or so, now it basically just sits there. It was half off online, otherwise I wouldn't say it was worth it. I wouldn't get the other "fire" dragon for him.

I got this toy from Santa last Christmas when I was 6yrs old. If you press the horns back and press the lever inside the mouth, the horns pop back up! The eyes light up and it makes a cool noise when I put my hand inside the puppet.

I received the red fire dragon, too! I have alot of fun playing dragons with a pal! These dragons almost always come out when I have friends over. I am glad that I have these dragon puppets. (by Benjamin -typed by my mom)

This is just a puppet in which you can make its spines pop up after you push them down (it took a little bit of time to figure this one out as the instructions weren't clear). There is a trigger inside the puppet near the mouth that makes the spines snap open.

It makes sounds that change based on its position and its eyes light up. Using regular mouth open and close movements, you can move its mouth. The inside lining is smooth like silk. The outside has a smooth rubbery feel.

It comes with a couple of bad guy figurines and weapons. One of the weapons broke in half easily. All I was doing was putting it into the figurine's arm... and snap it went. The bad guys aren't worth keeping. The puppet is good quality. The lower score for durability comes from the figurines that broke easily.

Most kids have plenty of toys laying around that the dragon can munch on. It can't swallow anything as there isn't any hole. When you move its mouth closed, it makes munching sounds. When the spines pop, it makes a popping dinging sound.

The nice thing about this toy is that it's "stereotypically" a boy's toy. Boys don't like to play pretend as much as girls (this is based on experience of having one girl and two boys) and the dragon encourages my son to use his imagination. Since it's based on the popular Fire and Ice Dragons, it's likely to interest boys.

The review from Mathew is right on. My son (7), surprisingly, hasn't played with it much yet.

Alright, let me level with you up front: I have no kids. So, yes, I bought this toy for myself and am reviewing it on its own merits and my impressions. Therefore, you'll have to decide from that whether it's alright for your children. Despite being a adult -- complete with adult sensibilities and responsibilities -- I'm a lover of all things draconic, and blessed with a fine spirit of play. I tend to collect dragon toys and don't mind admitting I can have a little fun with them while I'm at it. :)

This toy, frankly, is awesome. It's basically a puppet, of sorts, with lights and sound. With your hand in the dragon, you can open and close the mouth, and pop up the spines (you have to push the spines down afterward). Besides that, the dragon makes different sounds depending on its position. Rolling your hand left, right, up, down, and closing the mouth all elicit a response from the beast -- everything from a growl to a roar! It's definitely fun to rear back and roar, before chomping on some of the baddies on the battlefield (a couple are included as appetizers).

The dragon is well-made. The inside is padded and has a nice soft lining. The outside is a sort of rubber, and the padding inside lends a nice definition to the dragon's features. The jaw plates, as well as the spines are made of plastic, which gives them some tangible hardness. It is this fact, however, that leads me to note two things: First, this is not a soft toy. While these parts are covered by dragon 'skin' and a little light padding, they are still there. And, second, since this toy has some plastic parts (jaw 'bones', spines, and speaker box), durability against heavy use is questionable (i.e., while the plastic is pretty solid, *too* rough play has the possibility of causing some damage). That said, under normal use it seems as though this dragon could offer a long life of fun play. Despite the fun factor, be warned: it makes noise, and lots of it! Since the dragon does everything from roar to crunch, be prepared to hear a lot of it. Even moving the dragon, without a hand in it, elicits a growl (wouldn't you after being jostled?). Don't worry, though, if -- after all that time growling, and roaring, and chomping -- your dragon seems a little too pooped to say anything else, just two AAA batteries (two are included and already inserted) are all that's needed to perk him back up.

As far as educational value... well... It's a fun toy, but I'm not necessarily sure what it could teach your children. Perhaps that dragons can easily chomp little troll-like warriors? It can definitely spark some imaginative play and that's -- I think -- the most important part.

All told, I have to say (again) that this is a fun toy.

No, it's not Lego, but it's still a pretty good building model. It took me a few hours to put the ship together and it's a very stable design. I really like the display stand that came with it also. The Captain Picard minifig is pretty dumb looking, Mega Blok minifigs have really short legs, but all in all it was well worth the sale price I paid. If you're a Star Trek fan this would be a good buy.

I received this for Christmas and I have to admit--it's a lot of fun. It will take you about four to five hours to put together (I put it together in stages). The pieces fit well and the instructions are, for the most part, fairly straight forward. I was shocked that it took 50 pages of instructions, but you'll understand why once you get into building the ship. It assembles in stages which is nice and you can take breaks as needed. My only real complaint is the instructions for assembling the saucer section are a bit confusing and hard to make out at times...but you can persevere. A great toy and a must have for any Star Trek fan!

I found this for $15 at my local TRU. I had my eye on it since it came out and the price was right. Traditionally I'm more of a fan of building block toys from the other company, but I have to admit, this kit impressed me. The fit was tight, and the quality was decent. It took a good 4 or 5 hours to build which was fun. About my only complaint was the instructions, which were kind of hard to read some times. If you can find it marked down, the price is right!

This toy is extrememly frustrating for my 8 year old because the pieces do not stay together at all. He'll put one into place and a few others that were already placed will fall off. The idea is a fun one, and he would love it if he could get it to stay together at least once. He got 3 fire and ice dragon sets last year, but all of them have the same problem. I guess Mega Blocks just can't build "lego pieces" as well as Lego can.

As others have noted, the fortress refuses to stay together. I gave up after almost an hour of building and rebuilding, but my six year-old insisted on giving it a try before relegating it to the junk heap. Result: after about thirty minutes, he chunked the pieces in the box, handed the box to me, and said, "Never mind. It's a piece of crud." Couldn't have said it better myself . . . . The dragon WOULD have been cool, but for the fact that ours came with a severed wing (ball joint broken off in socket). [...]
We replaced this item with some of Lego's Knights' Kingdom line, with much happier results. I like the fact that the Lego product has book tie-ins - not just your usual video/DVD stuff.

Bought this for my son for Christmas. The dragon does breathe a faint mist of 'cold flame' although it's a bit difficult to see (they do specify it works best in low light conditions) but we found we had to refill the water constantly. The wings are a little weak; can easily pop out. Otherwise he really loved the dragon (impressive looking) which is the reason for the 3 stars.

The ice fortress is HORRIBLE. The main ice walls of the fortress wouldn't snap in securely and kept falling down of their own accord (in some cases wouldn't stand up at all). My son was disappointed when the fortress kept falling over before he even got a chance to attack it. Had a neat idea where the ice walls were supposed to explode open and the little dungeon door opens mechanically for the 'good guy' to escape. But please note above: WALLS KEPT FALLING DOWN so was pretty much pointless.

Quite a disappointing toy from Megabloks and not an inexpensive one. Not worth the money; buy a Lego set (at least the pieces will stick together) or just buy the dragon instead.

I've built this castle on a table and it still falls apart. It's really cool looking, but my stepson who is 7 would never be able to build it and keep it together. I'm 35 and I can't get it to snap together half of the time. It's either the spacing of the pegs or the fact that they are too short. The towers and all snap together ok, but trying to get everything to adhere to the base is nearly impossible. If it's this frustrating for an adult, how can a child build it? I'm very disappointed in the Mega Bloks. Lego would never have this problem. I've played with Legos for over 30 years and never had construction issues like this. It's really neat looking, I have to give them that. Too bad it's so hard to play with.

This is a very impressive looking castle. The battering ram is great fun and the whole thing is beautiful. I would be a great addition to the Oduku Armory. However, the artists who designed it were let down by the engineers who figured out how to make it work.

The pieces barely snap into place if at all. My son was looking forward to this for days. I consider it unfair that they put so little work into the construction design. If this were to be put together and sit on a shelf to look at it would be difficult.

Instead, it is very upsetting for both parent and child. I've found similar issues with other MegaBloks toys. For all of thier good points (beautiful design, background story), they seem to have lost sight of the point.

Toys are to play with.

Okay, I guess you can consider this the headlining piece of the Mega Bloks Dragons METAL AGES line. Aside from being the most expensive, it's also the largest.
Overall, the design asthetic of METAL AGES seems to be a generic "oriental" theme. It combines elements or Chinese, Japanese, and even Mongolian art and design...at least in my opinion. It's great to see something other than the usual European derived stuff we've seen in the past (not that they weren't cool too). The warriors are 70% new...except for the legs. The weapons are the coolest yet. They range from axes, swords, decorative crossbows, to weird...uh...things. They kinda remind me of Battle Beast weapons (if you're a fan of 1980's toys). Now on to this actual set...
As soon as I saw this, I wanted it- no, needed it! It looks so cool. Plus the dragon has a totally new look too. As usual, this set can be kind of hard to assemble; I'll agree. Alot of Mega Bloks sets are tough, for some reason. The top layer, which contains the main play area, and most decorative elements...is built in four major sections to be later attahed to the bottom layer. I found the top layer pretty easy to build without hang-ups, but the bottom- UGH! I highly recommend building this on site...whether you're playin' or displayin'...and on a flat surface. I've often ignorantly tried to build some Dragons sets on my rug, and failed. The main problem is the base is built in section, not one piece, and is loosely held together by a few crummy peg blocks. Despite this set back, I got my set together fine, but newbies might wanna invest in some patience before attempting large sets like this.
The bottom layer utilizes the quick-build style pieces like the large Fire & Ice Dragon Mountain set. The castle wall pieces are all new! The relief sculpture near the doors is new as well, and very cool. The doors are pretty darn neat and have magnets in 'em to keep them shut. Above the gates is a section housing a decorative battering ram. Release the lever in the middle and it busts the doors down, knocking out any enemies in it's path. However...I thought battering rams were used to break INTO castles? Eh, still neat though. Surrounding that doorway piece are four other sections. To the right, are a decorative, throne-like section and another room with a piece of crystal atop it. A stone spiral staircase leads to this area from behind. To the left are a catapult area, and another decorative tower with torches. Not bad, but mostly decorative...no major gimmicks or action features. You also get a rolling seige tower with hinged gang plank, and a nice little wheeled cannon with dragon motif. The dragon is neat, and all new as well. In trying to keep with that oriental theme, the dragon is snakelike and looong! It still had bat-like wings though. Except for the hinged jaw, the body has only bendy wire articulation, as well as some small pieces of removeable armor. The tail has a great grappling claw perfect for hooking in victims! You's think the dragon would be impossible to dispaly, but being semi-stiff, he actually props up nicely amidst the castle walls. The extra brick column can be used to help keep him up as well (hey, you gotta use that leftover piece for something). The figures are surprisingly few, but still awesome. The Odaku are great, as I stated before. The Norvagen forces get a color change as well as new torsos...complete with double pegs for weapon storage (I assume).
The best parts of this toy are the new design detail and theme. I love the new dragon and warriors. There's lots of room for custom creations...especially when combined with other sets.
The only bad things are the usual problem of sturdy construction and lack of internal castle detail (nothing going on 'round back). The biggest specific problem is lack of figures! Overall, METAL AGES suffers from a severe lack of armies. True, you can buy multiple sets or troop builder packs, but who wants to spend more money?
On the whole this set is quite awesome to behold, but still needs a bit of work. Recommended for your Mega Bloks kingdom!

I was initially wary of this set since it doesn't seem to include many buildable items, and I was sure the whole purpose of Mega Bloks was to build things.

Instead, once completed and positioned, the Krystal Ambush was an awe-inspiring, imagination stirring battle scene. The level of detail was superb, both on the rickety old cart and on each individual soldier in this set (it's important to note that no two have the exact same helm or face!). It seems that my wife and I are constantly finding reasons to pass the table on which these are displayed, rearranging pieces to our imagination's fancy. I can only imagine how inspiring this would be to a child. Detailed battle scenes like this one are bound to spark some powerful imaginations.

Incidentally, total construction and setup time took under an hour. Unlike some of the other sets that are focused on constructing one piece, this set is ideal for a whole family to put together. One or two people build the cart while two more build the two beasts, and others position and select weapons for the vast array of soldiers that are included. The frusteration level for building a simple set like this one would be exceptionally low for children, yet the construction and setup are detailed enough to provide a strong sense of satisfaction. Incidentally, those warhorses are adorable, and make the set worthwhile by themselves.

Quick warning: There are many small weapons that could present a choking hazard to very young children.

A few notes to the more accomplished Mega Bloks fans:

Nearly every piece in this set is recylced from previous Mega Bloks sets. The soldiers seem to be repainted (rogue) versions of several Draigar, Norvak, and Vorgan soldiers. I haven't sat down and matched face to face, but I'm reasonably sure that's what's happening here. Also, the dragon is definitely a repainted version of the dragon from the Norvak Man O'War, and the blue monster is repainted from Marauders Cliff. That doesn't really take away from the charm of this set, though. It's especially nice to have twin dragons for my Norvak army!

The pieces for the cart are also (almost?) entirely recycled from other sets (primarily the Man O'War and Mauraders Cliff), though this almost makes it more realistic. The Norvaks built all three. Maybe they've discovered interchangable parts hundreds of years before Western Civilization did.

The Krystal is the only piece I'm sure I haven't seen before, and it's quite beautiful.

Considering that both the dragon and monster have shackles with loops on them, this set should have come with more chains. That's really my only complaint at all.

Oh, and the cart chains attach to the blue monster's wrist shackles a lot more convincingly than they attach to the dragon's tail. Just run both chains through both wrist shackles and then attach them beneath the monster's chest. That allows both chains to run through the wrist shackles and to the cart with only three iron rings.

My son is 24 months and he loves playing with this toy. It gives me at least 20 minutes to relax.

We purchased our first set of Megablocks when our son, now 7.5-yrs-old, was a toddler. He LOVED them. We have added two or three bags of Megablocks to our collection each year and now have an enormous box of them. All three of our children still play with them at least once or twice a week. My husband and I enjoy playing with them, too. We now have enough blocks that we can build an entire city in our living room.

I have heard other parents complain that their kids lost interest in Megablocks when they got older - but the same kids will come to our house and spend hours building. They just need MORE Megablocks!!! Seriously, these are a wonderful toy.

I bought the "Bigger Then Me Mega Bloks" for my little 3 year old grandson. He just loves them. He could play with them for a long time putting them together and trying to build things. Also they are teaching him the colors, sizes, and shapes.

She is a rabid Cinderella fan and recieved this for Yule. She absolutely adores it, although she never plays with the block parts she drags little mini Cinderella and Prince with her everywhere she goes. They have paint scrapes galore as a sign of how well loved they are. Her favorite toys by far.