I was a man on a mission today, and that mission was to find and purchase the summer LEGO Castle 2013 sets! Although the resurrected LEGO Castle theme sets weren’t expected to hit retail stores until June or July 2013, LEGO fandom was stunned when some new 2013 LEGO Castle sets were spotted at retail this week. I really, really wanted the LEGO Castle Dragon Mountain 70403 set, so I went LEGO dragon hunting at my earliest opportunity today. Well… I didn’t find the LEGO Dragon Mountain set. But–BUT!! I did manage to come across almost every other LEGO Castle Summer 2013 set during my travels…

I had to drive from Toys R Us to Toys R Us to do it, but I managed to track down a store that actually had some of the LEGO Castle 2013 sets on the shelf tonight. I was totally in all my glory with the sets within my grasp. Even so, the set that I was looking for most–70403 Dragon Mountain–was nowhere to be seen. There wasn’t even a price sticker on the shelf for it, so it very well may be a store exclusive set (Target perhaps?).

I was pretty unimpressed with the LEGO Castle 70404 King’s Castle from the earlier promotional photos, but when I actually got it into my hands and saw the various photos on the back of the box, I softened on the set. Not enough to pay ~$110 for it, but enough that I considered it. The castle really does look like it’s going to be a lot of fun–particularly when the red LEGO Dragon is available to pair with it (not that I’m bitter about not finding it or anything).

I wasn’t expecting the Forest Ambush 70400 set ($12.99) to be sold out, but it was the only set with shelf space that wasn’t present. The LEGO Gatehouse Raid and Gold Getaway sets were both in-stock, so I knew I’d be acquiring the evil black LEGO horse I wanted if nothing else. The LEGO Castle 2013 Gold Getaway set felt a bit more unique to me, so I settled on that one (and saved ten bucks over what I would have paid for the Gatehouse Raid set at Toys R Us).

The five 2013 LEGO Castle sets are as follows:

• 70400 LEGO Castle Forest Ambush
• 70401 LEGO Castle Gold Getaway
• 70402 LEGO Castle The Gatehouse Raid
• 70403 LEGO Castle Dragon Mountain
• 70404 LEGO Castle King’s Castle

The Summer 2013 LEGO Castle sets aren’t widely available at retail yet, but most of the sets are available to order online already from resellers. I picked up the LEGO Castle Gold Getaway 70401 set and will post a full review and photo gallery of the set later this week, once I’ve had a chance to put the set together and really dig my teeth into it (not literally).