Great villains need personal transportation, and 71457 Pegasus Flying Horse supplies the Nightmare King with his personal steed in a handsome black with a magenta mane and tail and coral and white highlights. Read on for our review of the set, which contains 482 pieces, 3 minifigures, and a Grimspawn, which can be pre-ordered now and will ship August 1st for US $49.99 | CAN $64.99 | UK £46.99.
The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
Unboxing the parts, instructions, and stickers
Let’s get right to the elephant (pegasus?) in the room: the name of this set. We know that sometimes things are lost in translation, but this one feels like it slipped through the cracks. In Germany the set name is just “Pegasus”, and the French add a comma (“Pegasus, the flying horse”), but the Spanish version translates exactly the same as the English, and both feel clunky. Add to that the fact that this horse does not have its own wings, but does have a unicorn horn, and we’re even more confused.
On to the set! The boxes follow the consistent format for the first Dreamzzz wave – the first alternative is illustrated on the front, and both choices are visualized on the back. The back of the box also implies that Zoey’s companion Zian can replace what must be a sort of winged nightmare parasite on the horse’s back.
Inside are five numbered bags, the beautifully illustrated instruction manual, a small sticker sheet, and two loose black and magenta wings – matching the wings used as sails on the Nightmare Shark Ship.
As noted in our previous Dreamzzz reviews, it’s worth taking a closer look at the instructions. The cover art is lovely, and the interior illustrations make it clear what you’re building, and make the character introductions pop. Once again we have an illustration of Zian becoming the horse’s “wings”, kicking the Nightmare King’s flying eye off!
The build
The first bag builds two Nightmare flying eye creations, one a cage for carrying captured dreamers away, the other the winged throne that turns the horse (unicorn?) into a pegasus (pegacorn?). The cage is a bit finicky; it’s easy to knock the wings off or push the teeth-like opening bars out of alignment. This is an 8+ set, so some pieces need to be kept contrasting colors to make sure the instructions are simple to follow, but it seems like the dark grey bar holder with clip pieces could have been kept black. A black mount for the eye would also be nice, but this is really searching for flaws in a serviceable side build.
The winged (parasitic?) throne is next. It’s another quick build, but quite effective. The placement of the eye emphasizes the hooded look of the eyelid, with the eye seeming to peer out from underneath the throne and between the wings, and adds to the sense of malice.
Bags two, three, and four introduce the Nightmare King and build the horsicorn. The build is mostly black, with white highlights on the hoofs as well as used on the head. The illustration of the horse makes it look like it just has a white head, but in the brick, it gives a more skeletal impression, which certainly is appropriate for a nightmare creature. There are also some 3×4 triple-curved wedges in pearl dark gray which are very attractive, though black is available and might have been more consistent.
The horse’s mane, tail, and fetlocks, everywhere there’s longer hair, are done in magenta with several textured elements. The modified plate with rock fingers appears to be new in magenta and overlaps very nicely with the mane, as well as highlighting the fetlocks. The tail is done with a combination of magenta animal horn and barb pieces and looks bushy and appropriately spiky.
When finished, the flying throne grips the … sorry, the horn is right there, we’re calling it a unicorn … grips the unicorn with its rib-like talons, supplying wings that are appropriately sized as well as a perch for the Nightmare King. The legs aren’t jointed but all four have plenty of rotation, and the head is adjustable as well, making it pretty flexible for play.
The choice in this set is what sort of companion or … suit? … you build for Zoey. The first option is her griffin-like companion Zian. It’s a cute little build, though pretty obviously a throw-in…
… unless you happen to have watched the show, or paid attention to the artwork that LEGO released with the initial Dreamzzz announcement. If you have, then you’ll know that this is Zian:
We think Zian deserves a build on the scale, both in size and number of pieces, of the pega-uni-horse. This, obviously, is not it.
The alternate build makes a kind of butterfly suit for Zoey. It’s nifty but leaves a bunch of parts on the table – including four of those new large leaves in teal, which are great to have for dreamy or alien vegetation. It’s also impossible to get it to stand upright unless you find something to attach it to. It is fun to swoosh around.
The minifigures
The Nightmare King is one of the, if not the standout figure of this wave. The crown, the detailed printing, the dual-molded sword, the cape – it’s a fantastic figure and a big draw for this set.
The alternate face is more mummy-like, though that does fit with some of the scraps of wrapping on his torso and legs. That cape, though. It does a fantastic job of capturing how the Nightmare King’s power can be channeled in to Night Terrors which flow from him to seek out dreamers to feed on. We’re sure it’ll get used as part of some great custom figures as well.
Zoey is portrayed in the show as a loner, preferring to keep to herself, but she keeps getting drawn into working with the rest of the team. It’s a key part of her character, and because of that, she hasn’t actually gotten an hourglass yet. Perhaps its inclusion here is a hint of things to come in the rest of season one or in season two? Otherwise, this is a lovely figure, with detailed printing all over the torso and legs, including scarf printing that continues the nice teal cape, and an elaborate protectively braided hair piece.
Here’s a look at both sides of the figure without the cape in the way, as well as the cape in its maybe leaf-inspired shape. The rear of the hair continues the detailed braids. Hopefully, we’ll get this hair in black and brown shades at some point, but it’s still great to have.
Our cast of characters is rounded out by Nova, in her adorable sloth pajamas, and Susan, a winged Grimspawn henchspawn of the Nightmare King. Nova is one of the side characters that gets captured in their sleep, so has a sleeping expression on one side and an awake expression on the other. The back of the pajamas has some simple back printing. Sloth fans will definitely want this torso. Susan has detailed printing on the front and head, wings, and a horned dual-molded helmet that looks really cool. The back of the figure is entirely unprinted, which makes sense since it’s all covered by the wings.
Conclusion and recommendation
This is the least expensive Dreamzzz set we’ve looked at so far, and while it’s not perfect, the solid unicorn build along with four standout figures make it a good value. It’s also by far the cheapest way to get the excellent Nightmare King figure. Zian is a disappointment compared to its appearance in the show, but most people looking at this set won’t have watched that. Maybe the pieces could have improved another part of the model, but LEGO was surely looking at balancing play value by giving Zoey a companion to balance the flying horse. In summary, you get the main villain along with a spectacular steed, an adorably evil sidekick, a hero, and a great pajama fig. The unicorn might be confused about what it is, but it’s a solid set.
71457 Pegasus Flying Horse contains 482 pieces, 3 minifigures, and a Grimspawn. It can be pre-ordered now and will ship starting August 1st from the LEGO Shop and worldwide for US $49.99 | CAN $64.99 | UK £46.99 or from Amazon. It may also be available from third-party sellers on eBay.
The LEGO Group sent The Brothers Brick an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
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