8781 Castle of Morcia

8781 Castle of Morcia is a Knights' Kingdom II set released in 2004. It contains the Castle of Morcia, a mobile catapult, a horse, a skeleton and seven Minifigures, including Jayko, Rascus, Santis, Danju, Vladek, King Mathias and a Shadow Knight. Also included were five Knights' Kingdom game cards.
As a special feature, this set included two different sets of colored ornamental pieces that allowed to decorate the castle in the colors of its ruler, royal blue for King Mathias or maroon for Lord Vladek.
== Description ==
The castle is built upon a raised baseplate that has the same shape as to the one in King Leo's Castle, and thus features a similar structural layout as the older castle.
The baseplate has two hill ridges separated by a wide trench. Each ridge ends in two large bumps which have large recesses in their middles. The castle itself consists of one larger segment, built on a plate that bridges the gap between the ridges and four smaller segments positioned on top of the bumps at the baseplate's corners. At the front of the baseplate, right at the fore opening of the trench is a separate main gate with a portcullis.
The large central segment contains a great hall on the main level in which a treasure chest is kept. The upper level contains a room with a throne which is positioned on a 4x4 turntable. The topmost level comprises a small turret with crenelations. The two smaller segments that sit on the rearmost extends of the baseplate's ridges are largely similar in design. They are each one story high with crenelations and rotatable weapon stands on top. The one on the right has a revolvable wall piece with a skeleton on it, at the back. The left segment is a jail cell that is closed with ladder pieces on the back. The two foremost segments are mutually similar as well. They are both low turrets with crenelations on top. The right one has a fixed crossbow on it, while the turret one on the left is equipped with a catapult that can fire large hollow rock pieces. Both turrets are lower than one story, making their interiors to small for Minifigures. The hollow space in the right turret is barred at the back and contains a spider.
The castle features a large number of colored columns which are revolvable, allowing to show either their red or blue sides to signify which faction is currently in possession of the fortification. This feature also involves turning around the gate section, which sports blue pieces on one side and red pieces on the other. The small ornamental flags can be flipped up to show their alternative side, while the large lion flags on the towers have no red equivalent and must be hidden.
The siege engine of the attack force resembles a scorpion, having a catapult in its "tail" and movable "mandibles". The ammunition of the catapult consists of scorpions.
== Notes ==
* Morcia is the name of the fictional kingdom in which the stories of Knights' Kingdom II take place. The building instructions of this set contained a map of the country.
* It is the only castle in the history of LEGO Castle that was not bound to a specific faction and could transform from good to evil.
* While similarly shaped baseplates already appeared before, this particular grey variant was unique to this set.
* This was the only Knights' Kingdom II set that included such a wide variety of characters, featuring all four heroes of the first wave and King Mathias as well as Vladek and one of his minions. A comparable range of characters was only included in 8877 Vladek's Dark Fortress, but it lacked the king.
* The set's design bears resemblance to 6091 King Leo's Castle.
== Minifigures Included ==
== Gallery ==
8781 Back.jpg|The back of the castle
8781 Conversion from Good to Evil.jpg|Switching the castle from good to evil
8781 Glorified.jpg|A glorified image of the castle
8781 concepts.jpg|Original concept art
8781 good concept.jpg|Concept art for the "good" castle
8781 bad concept.jpg|Concept art for the "bad" castle
castle.gif|An animation of the transformation from Mathias's castle to Vladek's
== See also ==
* 6091 King Leo's Castle, similarly designed set
* 8780 Citadel of Orlan, another large castle of Morcia
* 8877 Vladek's Dark Fortress, the main castle of the antagonist faction
== External links ==