Of course it's a castle theme. It's also wildly different from previous castle themes. Both things can be true, and are.

LEGO's themes and the divisions and relationships between them just don't match the Eurobricks organizational scheme as neatly as we might like, but oh well. In this case it means something can be a "castle" theme and yet still not really belong in the Historic forum, even though that's the home of all previous castle themes.

I see nothing inherently wrong with Nexo Knights in and of itself; I think it has a bunch of creativity and charm and fun to it, and I'd like to get some of it for myself. That said, I do feel for all the fans of more traditional medieval historic / fantastic themes, regarding their fears they won't see any new castles of a more traditional sort for a while.

Edited October 12, 20159 yr by Blondie-Wan

  On 10/12/2015 at 2:26 AM, Blondie-Wan said:

Of course it's a castle theme. It's also wildly different from previous castle themes. Both things can be true, and are.

Agree.

This is definitely a Castle theme. Even one of the designers confirmed it

My votes:

1) No on being a Castle theme. While Mark Stafford saying it is Castle is basically the final word, I am looking for a more natural justification than simply word from above. In this vein, anything could be Castle simply by virtue of the higher authorites saying so - even Town, Aquazone, or Galaxy Squad - regardless of any deeper basis for the claim .

2)Dont care about what weve seen so far, Parts-wise, there is some nice stuff, but mostly stuff that doesnt appeal to me. Build-wise the sets look well crafted.

3) No on buying any sets - not for some boycott or statement, but simply becasue Im not a buyer of Action themes (with the exception of Adventurers and similar), and there is nothing here that would push me to buy it.

4) it makes no difference to me - since Im not a buyer of these themes. I appreciate that theyre successful and lead to more sales of LEGO, and I follow the Ninjago cartoon and am tentatively liking the NK teasers, but set-wise these are unappealing to me, and I would rather see TLG devote more resources to more traditional themes.

Though that said, it does make a difference to me insofar as they replace a theme I appreciate, which I fear will be the case, since Mark Stafford claims its a Castle theme.

  On 10/11/2015 at 5:38 PM, BrickJagger said:

^ For everyone that voted "Not a Castle theme". This is post made in the Nexo Knights thread by Mark Stafford, one of the designers of this theme.

That's great, but I took the poll as our opinion rather than that of LEGO.

  On 10/12/2015 at 12:37 AM, Dannylonglegs said:

Ultimately is it really important what the theme is considered?

It does, insofar as it will preclude any actual medieval fantasy Castle themed sets for the duration of its existence (as far as anyone here can tell). Maybe Mark Stafford could weigh in on that point.

  On 10/12/2015 at 1:05 PM, x105Black said:

It does, insofar as it will preclude any actual medieval fantasy Castle themed sets for the duration of its existence (as far as anyone here can tell). Maybe Mark Stafford could weigh in on that point.

He already did... Poor Mark. again, I think that Nexo Knights is different enough from straight castle that we could see a small Castle wave during its stay, although they likely won't invest in a multiple wave medieval Castle theme. And maybe as this theme grows, well get a non-treaded castle.

I really do think that this will be an opportunity for Lego to branch out and do another historic theme, so as unfortunate as it is that the shields and torsos don't look compatible with our Castle figures (sucks when Lego tries something new and unique, right? ) , if this means we get a concurrent Greco-Roman or Ancient Chinese theme, then it'll all be very much worth it!

~Insectoid Aristocrat

  On 10/12/2015 at 2:34 PM, Dannylonglegs said:

He already did... Poor Mark. again, I think that Nexo Knights is different enough from straight castle that we could see a small Castle wave during its stay, although they likely won't invest in a multiple wave medieval Castle theme.

Yeah, I noticed that in another thread after I made this post. A most disappointing revelation.

I also think that they are different enough to exist concurrently, but apparently LEGO does not.

Hm, categorizing this as a Castle theme means that this probably will become the most reviled Castle theme so far (though that also depends on whether it really will mean the absence of more traditional Castle sets) - along with possibly becoming a very popular Action theme...

After all this discussion, I hope it sells like hotcakes. I hope it becomes a perennial thing like Ninjago.

I voted yes, it's a castle theme. Easily the least traditional castle theme to date, but a castle theme. And yes, I love what we've seen so far! It seems so fresh and imaginative, with lots of advanced building techniques and creative functions and wacky re-imaginings of Castle concepts. It's got a lot of the same magic that drew me to themes like Bionicle, Ninjago, and Elves, but at the same time, it feels wholly unique from these themes.

I might get some of the sets. I know I won't be buying everything — I don't think I can commit that strongly to a theme this big and expensive, especially when I'm trying to manage how much stuff I bring into the house so I can hopefully organize the stuff I already have. But I bought at least a handful of Chima sets that interested me, and I expect this theme to be no different in that regard. Ideally, I'd like to at least get enough sets to get the five main characters. How much more than that I get will probably depend on how much I enjoy the story.

And yes, I absolutely love the trend towards media-driven themes. So many of my favorite themes growing up were the ones that pushed things in that direction. Themes like Aquazone that took place in invented worlds not grounded in such familiar tropes and archetypes as Space or Castle. Themes like Bionicle that turned character-driven storytelling into a core component of their brand direction. Even in themes that were less story-driven, I ate up every silly little character blurb or story that came to me in the LEGO Mania Magazine. This year, my three favorite themes have been Bionicle, Ninjago, and Elves. If Nexo Knights has a solid story behind it, with a good balance between drama, action, humor, and heart, then it could easily join them in next year's roster.

That's not to say that there's no place for less story-driven themes. There's a reason why themes like City and Creator are regularly among the LEGO Group's top-selling brands. But as much as I appreciate the designs in these themes, I have little interest in collecting them. And while I love the LEGO City mini-movies for their simplistic humor and charm, I don't fall in love with their characters the way I do with the heroes of LEGO Ninjago, LEGO Bionicle, or LEGO Elves. And when I do build City or Creator type models, it's the subjects I'm imitating from real life that inspire me, not something inherent to those themes. Whereas when building Ninjago or Bionicle models, it's generally the world and characters LEGO has created that inspire me.

To me, this is not part of the Castle theme. It's too deviated from what really defines Castle to me. As for the second question - I don't care about it. I don't hate it, it just doesn't feel like anything that could interest me. So no, I am not going to buy those sets (based on what we've seen so far), and as for the final question - it really makes no difference to me, although I suppose those media-driven themes add something more to the building experience.

It looks like 2016 is going to be a year of strange hybrid themes - Ninjago flying pirates, futuristic space knights, what's next - Friends ghost hunters?

Friends ghost hunters, would be interesting

  On 10/19/2015 at 7:59 PM, Dr.Cogg said:

Friends ghost hunters, would be interesting

Might not be a good idea to do that so soon after Scooby-Doo. But before the Scooby-Doo theme was announced I had been thinking about the possibility of a mystery-solving Friends subtheme with a spooky twist, sort of like Scooby-Doo meets Nancy Drew. It could feature slightly spookier animals than usual (owls, black cats, mice, etc), a cool color palette with colors like Medium Lavender, Sand Green, and Earth Blue, and maybe a little more conflict than typical LEGO Friends sets (because you've gotta have some crooks to catch).

On the box art for the fortrex the castle in background looks like it could be a spaceship.