Fantasy Creatures in Historic Themes

[WesternOutlaw]

From the dragons of the Castle and Viking themes, to goblins, trolls, and undead; krackens in Pirate waters, to the thought of apparitions in a Wild West Ghost Town, how well do you like fantasy in historic themes?

I know that this topic has been discussed among different historic themes, but I'd like to start this new topic relating to just how well fantasy creatures are desired in historic themes as a whole.

When history meets fantasy... what do you think?

[kill will]

I like them, as they can lead to a lot of creative MOCs where the builder isn't limited by reality. A great is example is your Grave Town, as the paranormal things give a greater depth and imagination than a historically accurate build would.

In sets, I think they work well, as it just allows the child/adult to make up all of their own versions of history. The play value is immense, instead of "boring old swords/guns", you can give mythical creatures powers, wizards, witches, anything. I know from when I was younger, I always played Castle with a slight amount of magic, but a whole lot of unearthly creatures. In city, I would have Matrix style shootouts or some random monster destroying the town. And of course with Pirates I would have all sorts of sea creatures.

But anyways, I am all for Fantasy in Historical themes, it broadens creativity even more.

[Tereglith]

I agree. Especially as a kid's toy, Lego historic themes must have some fantastic elements to remain interesting and relevant. I personally wouldn't mind if there was a little less fantasy, but I also don't mind the amount that there is now.

(Also, the "kraken" is a reasonable size for the well-docemented Pacific Giant Octopus, a recognized species that can reach ten feet in length. If it were a squid, a length of fifty studs would have to be reached before the creature would leave the realm of scientific documentation and become a fantasy element, as that would put it on a par with the Thimble Tickle specimen, the largest recorded squid at 55 feet.

-Your Friendly Neighborhood Architeuthologist)

[Commander Laquiet]

I said okay either way - some of the creatures have some very useful pieces, namely the vikings dragons and other creatures.

[Lorentzen]

I like it - but the important thing to remember is, that this is a toy for kids, and they LOVE fantasy. I say good job TLG

[Lordofdragonss]

I love to see more mythical creatures in Historic themes! I think lego Elves could rides Gryphons, the evil necromacer can have own Bone dragon... And hey! Who dosen't like Lego Dwarves? At all they are magical creatures at all...

[Cardinal Brick]

I don't mind fantasy in Castle, aslong as it's well done which is my criteria for accepting something from the TLC. I personally think that the Viking dragons were the best that Lego has produced not just due to their posability but also due to their scale they were the size that I expect a dragon to be.

In other themes I'm not as sure mainly as I havn't seen it done, I think there are so many other things that could be done in Pirates before the need for fantasy but if Lego produced a well made fantasy theme I wouldn't object. It's not as if it's 100 % history anyway.

[Legostein]

Hello!

A very interesting question! I guess that in more historic times superstition and witchcraft played an important role in peoples' minds. Hence I think that mythical creatures add to the world view of ancient days, and are a nice touch to round up a set. Much better than adding unreasonable catapults and cannons everywhere. Furthermore, some of those creatures are quite inventive and offer either useful new pieces or reveal some building techniques.

Cheers,

~ Christopher

[mikey]

I'm quite happy to see Fantasy Creatures, I think it just adds another level to the sets. We are free to pick and choose what Fantasy Elements we want to use in our MOC's. Mainly I like to build something 'realistic', but other times I value the option to throw in a few Orcs or a Skeleton Warrior. It all adds to the fun.

I voted for Like To See Fantasy Creatures, although I would not like to see more Fantasy Elements than what we get now, I think the current line has just the right mix. The Orcs are great little characters (although I would like to see a few different faces!). I do think that it would be nice to have a few more Dwarf sets though.

[jonwil]

I think what they did in Castle is fine.

I dont like the Kraken in the pirates line and think it would have been better looking (and more realistic) if they had used the shark instead (which is already being used in the Brickbeards Bounty)

[Batbrick]

-Your Friendly Neighborhood Architeuthologist)

Totally committing this to memory

Me? I voted the "like to see fantasy creatures" option, as I think they are very useful but also normal factions are great too. However, I always regret trying to army build even with the awesome trolls, as now I have an army of them that I don't know what to do with. I'd make them all Poison Ivy's plant people, but then I don't know what to do with the torsos! Arrgh!

Batbrick Away!

[Athos]

I like them if they are done well.

Not like Tygurah and Jun-Chi from the Adventurers, which were pretty dumb.

Steve

[Sir Dillon]

I generally prefer something other than creatures, but it depends on what they are. I don't care for the skeletons in the recent castle line, but I really like both the dwarves and the orcs/trolls. I enjoyed the creatures in the Viking line, but would have preferred a human adversary.

[JimBee]

I like the fantasy creatures. They definitely liven up the theme for me, and now that I look back, themes without them are somewhat boring in comparison. I'm not a huge fan of the giant cartoon-y dragons and trolls, but I love the orcs, skeltons, and dwarfs. Having a good vs. evil human theme will never be as good as the fantasy line to me.

[hollisbrick]

I like them if they are done well.

Not like Tygurah and Jun-Chi from the Adventurers, which were pretty dumb.

Steve

I thought Jun-Chi was a pretty sweet mold..anyway

I would love to see more fantasy and mythical creatures in Lego historic themes. Especially my dream theme, Dragon Worriors!

[Milan]

I like them, too.

Maybe because I like when there is something (creature) that is stronger than anybody else, and people have to use brain to defeat it (or just plain brute force).

Also, it feels epic to me to see that!

[Governor Wes]

I am ok with the fantasy creatures. But to a really young child it could damage his ideas on history.

Child: Mom? I saw a kracken in my lego set. I'm going to write my history report about them.

Mum: NO. They didn't exist.

Child: But lego says they did!

etc...

Then, lego isn't really for young children, so I'm ok!

Edited November 13, 2009 by Governor Wes

[Rijkvv]

I absolutely hate them.

After the horrible KK sets, I saw a picture of the back then new 2007 sets. I was happy to see such awesome knights, but then I saw the skeletons. Nooo! To me TLG kicked the once awesome Castle theme between other fantasy garbage from cheap toy brands.