Playmobil Royal Lion Knight's Castle Set

I normally don't write reviews (generally having little time for this), but the nature of the other two existing reviews encouraged me to write a "third" review for this model (i.e., Royal Lion Knight's castle) based upon my personal experience (Dec. 2015) and to help others in making a better informed and/or similar choice/purchase: I reviewed many castle options from Playmobil and other manufacturers, and had some initial misgivings when I looked at the two other (Amazon) reviews for this specific model, but I returned to this model (no. 6000) for both its particular design options (e.g., manor house, gate house, etc.) and its relatively lower cost versus other simpler, cheaper designs and other more complex and expensive models (e.g., the very expensive Empire castle set [which did look great]). While I agree with one of the other reviewers that the packaging of parts could have been done better done (see other review[s] on Amazon), the accompanying directions can be followed quite well --despite the small images, etc.: By a process of elimination, as one builds the castle (i.e., following the directions slowly and precisely), it does get easier and faster (naturally) as one encounters fewer parts. The assembly process still takes around two hours or so (others might assemble it faster; I took my time whilst watching a movie in the background), but the end result is well worth it. Yes, some castle pieces come undone more easily (e.g., walling pieces), but overall the castle stays together quite well. I purchased it for my son (who is 3 years and 5 months of age) and he totally adores it. I use playing with the castle with him to introduce new vocabulary and concepts. One problem was trying to find and get some wall+tower extension pieces (i.e., 6000 series) via Amazon for this Royal Lion Knight's castle set, but I did end up going to the Playmobil.USA store to order the precise extension pieces (other extension sets via Amazon seem to fit? both the Royal Lion Knights and Falcon Knights' castle sets, but I did not want to risk ordering them instead of the specific extension pieces). I also purchased a banquet table set to flesh out the castle's furniture and some more knights to augment the castle's guards. Other neat additions for the Medieval setting seem to be the Medieval family, a blacksmith's shop/forge, house+barn, a siege tower, a catapult, battering ram, and market place, which may be good birthday and christmas presents in the future.

When I read other reviewers mention that it took 2 hours to put this thing together, I scoffed and figured they were all incompetent. Turns out it wasn't an exageration! It took me and my wife almost exactly 2 hours to assemble this thing. It's essentially useless unless it's assembled, and the instructions leave a bit to be desired. I'm really glad I put it all together 2 days before Christmas rather than waiting until Christmas morning, with my daughter hovering around me, wanting to "help", and waiting impatiently to play with it.We got this for our 3 year old daughter, and she loves it. She also got some other Playmobil sets from friends to go with it (a dragon and an ogre), and we have it all set up on a play table that used to accommodate a Thomas & Friends track set. The castle is an easy 2feet by 2 feet, and you probably want at least another foot of space all around it just to interact with everything.Great value, though. The quality is top notch, and my daughter's been loving it.

This is a great toy and my sons ages 3 and 5 love it! I'm only giving it 4 starts because of the assembly process. This is not that easy to put together. I love helping them with their legos and the instructions are always clear and the pieces are well organized in the sets and fit together easily. This was a different experience. Putting it together wasn't fun and while I expected it to take me an hour it was more like 2 1/2. Don't assume that the pieces are organized by the little baggies. They are not. Open them all at the beginning because that tiny little black piece you are looking for could be in any one of them!!!

This thing is needlessly complex to assemble. Some of the most basic instructions (like the fact that there's a "tool" included to help you assemble things) are omitted. Putting this together made me regret purchasing it for my nephews, even though they loved the end product.Which brings me to the 3 stars: The product is beautiful, with excellent attention to detail and a pretty sturdy overall design. The castle is awesome. The last thing I'll say, is I tried to pick up the finished project and transport it, but it fell apart and crashed to the floor (i waited until my anger subsided before reviewing). So while the smaller items do feel very sturdy and well-made, the fully-assembled castle is indeed fragile and needs to be set up on a play surface where it won't be moved. That's fair, and did not strongly influence my review.Bottom line: This is incredibly difficult to assemble, many of the instructions must simply be "guessed" at, you have several "a ha" moments that require you to backtrack your progress, but if you can get through all of this, you end up with a fantastic toy.

This is the first Christmas that I didn't break my promise to myself to NOT bring crap-toys into the house. This Castle is a joy to have, my boys (and girls!) Love playing with it, and I might add, were completely fine with getting fewer toys than the normal. I'm super happy that it's January and I haven't been throwing out crap toys that already broke. Sturdy, and lots of imagining going on since Christmas.Only down side- it comes apart easier than I would like, so be careful if you have to move it. Otherwise, fantastic.

This castle is large. It took me about 3 hours to put it together but my kids love it. My only complaint is that the sides do not stay together very well and some of the pieces are flimsy and broke when trying to assemble. My children don't care, however and play with this toy every day. Seeing their smiles makes the price and effort put into assembly, worth it.

Really impressive bit of kit this. I have to admit that I really enjoy playing 'battles' with my son in this brilliant castle. I love the cannons - we love to set them up and fire them at the unsuspecting troops atop the towers!It's Playmobil so it's all great quality. You get a lot in this set too. Plenty to keep kids (and me!) occupied for hours.The only drawback is an issue inherent in most large Playmobil sets in that where large parts click together they can easily pop apart when being ever so slightly moved which can be a little annoying but I guess if they were tighter it may be too difficult to build or take apart again.Anyway, My son and I love it!

Don't make the mistake that we made and not preassemble it for an overly excited and impatient 4 year old to unwrap on Christmas day! It took a good hour plus for us to build it and my son got bored and whined quite a bit! My recommendation if you have a young child is to build it the night before so they can play with it straight away. The construction is fairly involved so you will need your thinking hat on. Once built it's an absolutely fantastic toy. The level of detail is fantastic and we've had kids aged from 3 to 8 all play with it happily together.

Bought this for my 7 year old son instead of a more complicated Lego castle which I knew would break apart too quickly. To be honest I was a little concerned he’d be too old for it but he has absolutely loved it. The trap doors and moveable stairs are fun features. He has enjoyed this castle and got hours of play so far!!! Even his 10 year old brother sat beside him yesterday for half an hour and played with him. Glad I bought it.

States on the box but not in the description "WARNING PARENTS this product will take 150 minuets to assemble"It look allot longer and caused a little friction between my wife and I. My 3 1/2 year old son was also trying to play with half the parts while construction was taking place, not what you really need first thing on Christmas day.Once completed and with no extra parts, the castle is excellent and plenty to keep ours and our sons imagination going.I am now looking to find other knights that are not Lion Knights so we can have an attacking force.

Image a little boy has asked for a castle for Christmas from Santa, he is so excited that Santa has left this a beautiful castle, he must have been a good little boy! Then picture the disappointment of the little boy when, on Christmas day, tries to help daddy to put it together only to find pieces of the main castle wall are missing and therefore the castle cannot be put together and it then has to go back in the box to be returned to Santa!!!The castle comes sealed in a box, so the error is obviously with Playmobil & not the third party distributing the item. This is the first piece of Playmobil we have ever brought for our children; not a good start!!!