Latest impact of other themes on historic themes

[natesroom]

wow totally missed those years of KI and KII

[Sir Dano]

Hey, I never said anything about the minifigures looking good, just their shield emblems.

23 hours ago, Exetrius said:

less flashy colours and less cartoony style. 

This is precisely why I don't like them, they're too abstract and don't match the cartoony aesthetics of lego minifigures to me, especially compared to earlier heraldry designs.

Edited July 26, 2022 by Sir Dano

[LordDan]

On 7/24/2022 at 8:10 PM, SirBlake said:

Based on observation I believe it is a true statement that KKII is the least favored theme in the history of castle themes. Whether you base that on values or how it’s represented in the MOC community (it isn’t present, pretty much at all), I feel it is a safe statement. To be clear, I’m not saying nobody likes it, just that it is overwhelmingly thought to be the worst theme in general. If you disagree, I would love to hear your reasoning. 
 

As an example of my position, I offer this poll:

Scroll down to “least favorite theme”. I would call those results “overwhelming”.  

Personally, 6 year old me loved Knights Kingdom II and thought it was the best castle theme of all time. I loved the play features, story told through the comics in the instruction booklets and artwork, Etc . Looking back now, a lot of the sets are pretty sparse of detail and the super bright colored knights are a little off putting, but I love all the heraldry, shields, unique helmet designs, etc.

 

[SirBlake]

5 minutes ago, LordDan said:

Personally, 6 year old me loved Knights Kingdom II and thought it was the best castle theme of all time. I loved the play features, story told through the comics in the instruction booklets and artwork, Etc . Looking back now, a lot of the sets are pretty sparse of detail and the super bright colored knights are a little off putting, but I love all the heraldry, shields, unique helmet designs, etc.

 

I certainly respect the impact of nostalgia, and see the value in the perspective of a 6 year old when it comes to this stuff. 30 year old me didn’t get it, lol. 

[Aanchir]

24 minutes ago, LordDan said:

Personally, 6 year old me loved Knights Kingdom II and thought it was the best castle theme of all time. I loved the play features, story told through the comics in the instruction booklets and artwork, Etc . Looking back now, a lot of the sets are pretty sparse of detail and the super bright colored knights are a little off putting, but I love all the heraldry, shields, unique helmet designs, etc. 

I enjoyed KKII a lot in my teen years, though after year one I focused entirely on the constraction sets instead of the playsets — which I have since come to regret, after realizing how much cooler a lot of the later KKII playsets were compared to the ones from the first year! I loved the idea of a band of knights with varied personalities and strengths going on a very Arthurian sort of quest to save their kingdom from a wicked sorcerer. Even today I feel like the storyline and characters are pretty compelling!

In hindsight, aside from the awkward mid-2000s playset designs, my main grievances with the theme are the same ones that bothered me as a child:

• First and foremost, the theme was entirely lacking in female characters, to the point that they had to make up new figures as the "queen" for both sides in the KKII chess set! That's a pretty severe downgrade from the previous Knights' Kingdom sets which offered both a queen and a princess with knightly aspirations!
   
• Second, the lack of civilians/supporting characters and everyday settings like farmsteads or inns (as sometimes portrayed in the trading card illustrations) made the world feel quite a bit smaller and less lively than I would have liked, and failed to showcase aspects of the main characters' lives outside of their quest.
   
• And third, while it may seem a bit silly, it's always bothered me that there were no large-scale horses to accompany the constraction figures! The third year at least gave them some accompanying builds, but otherwise there wasn't much to do with them besides make them fight each other. By comparison, Bionicle (the other major constraction theme of the time) had a wider range of creature builds to accompany its heroes/villains, as well as accessories like Masks of Power to search for and villagers to protect.

All that said, I wouldn't mind a Castle series like Knights' Kingdom 2 with a similar sort of character-driven quest narrative, evocative scenery, and larger-than-life, fantasy-influenced architecture if it came out today — provided the builds were more in line with current LEGO set design standards and the cast of characters was a little more well-rounded. After all, those are just a few of the numerous attributes that I loved so much about the Elves theme!

[DaleDVM]

I am sure the appeal had to do with age.  In 2004, 37 year old me didn't exactly like KKII either.  And yet when I came out of my dark age in 2007, I bought all of the sets anyway?  It was such an unpopular theme, that I was able to buy the 2004(5) sets online from stores like Target and Walmart for sale prices in 2007 & 2008.  This was a good 3+ years after the sets were retired. The 2005 Vikings sets were still available and at sale prices from most retailers as well at that time.

I didn't buy the KKII stuff until after I had bought up a good amount of the fantasy era castle stuff.  I said to myself, no matter how bad LEGO castle gets, I am going to buy some of everything going forward so I have a complete collection.  Luckily for me, everything after 2005 has been pretty good.  Or at least much better than the fright knight and KKII sets which drove me into my dark age in the first place.  Of course this is all just my opinion.

[wanderer1980]

Well I love Knights Kingdoms II
Yes, the colorful knights are absolutely horrifying, but Vladek's army is awesome.
The color combination with dark red and black is wonderful. The Legs of the Lava Monsters (Nexo Knights) go perfectly with it.
The shields of the Shadow Knights aka. Scorpion Knights are one of my favorite shield shapes and colors. I just had to build a phalanx with it.
In addition, the alternative shields, torsos and breastplates offer great opportunities to build your own matching King and Kingsguard.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 17, 2022 by wanderer1980

[Sir Dano]

The horned helmet in 60332 works really well if you want to make a knight with some extra plumage.

[Rjbricks]

On 8/17/2022 at 8:36 PM, wanderer1980 said:

Well I love Knights Kingdoms II
Yes, the colorful knights are absolutely horrifying, but Vladek's army is awesome.
The color combination with dark red and black is wonderful. The Legs of the Lava Monsters (Nexo Knights) go perfectly with it.
The shields of the Shadow Knights aka. Scorpion Knights are one of my favorite shield shapes and colors. I just had to build a phalanx with it.
In addition, the alternative shields, torsos and breastplates offer great opportunities to build your own matching King and Kingsguard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great idea with the shield wall. Scorpion motif doesn’t fit with my current factions though I have used a few kk2 knights into ‘baddies’.

 

[Aurore]

6 hours ago, Sir Dano said:

The horned helmet in 60332 works really well if you want to make a knight with some extra plumage.

Interesting! And perfectly appropriate for an austere 15th century tournament knight...

Spoiler

Such as this one (from a 15th century French manuscript):

 

On an unrelated note, and according to promobricks, the 2023 wave of Harry Potter sets is likely to bring us interesting parts for fantasy MOCs - again. At least a mermaid and a little underwater monster (probably a new mould).

Edited August 23, 2022 by Aurore

[Wardancer]

The upcoming Christmas calendar has a teen groot in dark tan. This will make cheap army building possible with dryads or little Ents or whatever you wish to call it.

[kalexicon]

23 hours ago, Wardancer said:

The upcoming Christmas calendar has a teen groot in dark tan. This will make cheap army building possible with dryads or little Ents or whatever you wish to call it.

I mean, if you consider $45 for a set with one copy of the minifig "cheap." I would expect Bricklink prices to still be at least $6-7 per fig. It's four years old now, but 76102 had a teen Groot minifig as well, for less than half the price per set. The advent calendar is only a better option (setting aside aftermarket inflation) if you really prefer the new dark tan version.

(That said, I did see some advent calendars marked down to $14 at Costco in the last months of November last year - at that price, throw in the full turkey mold, sure. Resell the two unique sweater prints and you've almost paid for the set.)

[Wardancer]

Hmm I have been hoping for lower prices on bricklink. I need heads for my demogorgon bodies (ripped from cheap keychains). We shall see.

Edit: just realized the Christmas Calendar Groot is a bit different from the One before. It has a different green.

Edited August 31, 2022 by Wardancer

[TeriXeri]

Since serious play landscape kit from 2013, got a 2022 remake , looks like the Reddish Brown horse is in production again (last time was 2019 via Bricklink Designer program sets, and regular sets from 2012-2014 before that)

Edited September 1, 2022 by TeriXeri

[natesroom]

22 minutes ago, TeriXeri said:

Since serious play landscape kit from 2013, got a 2022 remake , looks like the Reddish Brown horse is in production again (last time was 2019 via Bricklink Designer program sets, and regular sets from 2012-2014 before that)

Ive never heard of this before, but the link i could find on lego https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/identity-and-landscape-kit-2000430 has the price at $800 dollars??

Edited September 1, 2022 by natesroom

[TeriXeri]

15 minutes ago, natesroom said:

Ive never heard of this but the link i could find on lego https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/identity-and-landscape-kit-2000430 has the price at $800 dollars??

Yes, but the Brown Horse from that made it to Pick a Brick in Europe at the same price as the Tan and Dark Orange horses, which were also recently added.

The brown horse was not rare or anything, as it was in multiple sets from 2012-2014 (including small sets) + Bricklink designer sets in 2019, also still sold a lot on Bricklink itself, but the fact new horses of this color/print are being produced again, could mean it might appear in more sets again also.

The new for 2022 Dark Brown saddle also appeared on Pick a Brick also, but quite steeply priced.

Edited September 1, 2022 by TeriXeri

[Rjbricks]

17 hours ago, TeriXeri said:

Yes, but the Brown Horse from that made it to Pick a Brick in Europe at the same price as the Tan and Dark Orange horses, which were also recently added.

The brown horse was not rare or anything, as it was in multiple sets from 2012-2014 (including small sets) + Bricklink designer sets in 2019, also still sold a lot on Bricklink itself, but the fact new horses of this color/print are being produced again, could mean it might appear in more sets again also.

The new for 2022 Dark Brown saddle also appeared on Pick a Brick also, but quite steeply priced.

Steep? Just had a look. That’s f***ing vertical!

 

[jodawill]

I just saw that the CMF 24 series includes a female Black Falcon archer. I wish it was a faction we haven't already seen recently, but it might be cool... IF they abandon the stupid blind boxes.

[Agent Kallus]

Orc, archer, Marie Antoinette lookalike  all sound great for historic themes

 

[Shroffy123]

I'm not liking the blind boxes either. CMF are too expensive to end up with figs you don't want . 

[zoth33]

Orc and archer sound great especially with the updated fantasy era orc shield.  The zookeeper has a Koala which will be nice to have. 

[Classic_Spaceman]

26 minutes ago, Shroffy123 said:

I'm not liking the blind boxes either. CMF are too expensive to end up with figs you don't want . 

Blind boxes are not set to appear until September, per Promobricks. 
 

The Minifig descriptions: 

3 hours ago, leafan said:

Oooh, look no further...courtesy of PromoBricks (using Google translate):

Orc with cloak, sword and shield with updated fantasy era Orc logo.

Black Falcon Archer with red hair, cape, bow and black falcon (they also mention a printed falconry glove).

French lady with a wide skirt, a powdered face, a wig and a small white dog.

The falcon is a new mould with spread wings, not a recolour of the old parrot. 
 

[Lion King]

1 hour ago, Shroffy123 said:

I'm not liking the blind boxes either. CMF are too expensive to end up with figs you don't want . 

It’s not boxes for Seires 24. It’s for third, unknown seires of 2023 (after Disney series). 

[Shroffy123]

17 minutes ago, DBlegonerd7 said:

It’s not boxes for Seires 24. It’s for third, unknown seires of 2023 (after Disney series). 

Right. I'm just making point I'm not a fan of the boxes. 

[Sir Dano]

Nobody likes the boxes.