Latest impact of other themes on historic themes

[zoth33]

2 minutes ago, Sir Dano said:

Gryphon looks like it would fit right in with the classic castle factions, which makes it the superior choice.

Yes is does look like that would be a faction they would have included in the Kingdoms era of sets.  

[Agent Kallus]

Honestly I'd be pretty happy with any of them ( especially if it's on pick a brick) 

1 - Kraken, 2 - Griffon, 3 - Crow, 4 -Bull

Though the one I've seen most mentioned online is the Kraken so it'd be my bet for winner ( which is nice as it was my pick as previously stated).

[Breakspear]

Wow, what a great bunch of designs to choose from. The various animal sigils all look great.

I'm still weighing up my vote, but am likely to go with the Crows (Ravens) .The Tournament Knight CMF is (IMO) the best looking new faction in recent years, and I would love to get a second variant.

The gryphon a great heraldic animal, and gives off strong 'medieval' vibes. The colours are perhaps a little drab compared to the other designs, but I'm confident it would look great as a full figure. I'm imagining the figure wearing a dark red surcoat with white gryphon chest emblem, white arms and silver helmet and pauldrons. I'm confident it would look great. A very safe choice.

I love the redesign of the Bull shield. Splitting the background colour into four quadrants looks great - I wish Lego would do this more often! I like the larger number of rivets around the edge of the shield. I would not not mind if this won.

Judging by social media, the Kraken seems to have seized the popular imagination. Personally, I find the colour choices least appealing for some reason. Would have preferred to see more high contrast colour combinations, such as 'dark azure and yellow', or 'teal, black and white'. Overall, the Kraken feels like a bit of a wildcard choice and the one which gives Lego maximum scope for creativity. It could end up being really excellent figure - or not!

Edited May 28, 2024 by Breakspear

[sporadic]

22 minutes ago, Breakspear said:

Judging by social media, the Kraken seems to have seized the popular imagination. Personally, I find the colour choices least appealing for some reason. Would have preferred to see more high contrast colour combinations, such as 'dark azure and yellow', or 'teal, black and white'. Overall, the Kraken feels like a bit of a wildcard choice and the one which gives Lego maximum scope for creativity. It could end up being really excellent figure - or not!

Yeah, Kraken's colors are a little wishy washy and a little too modern for my tastes and I hope they change them to something stronger if it wins.

3 hours ago, jodawill said:

I'm really annoyed that the kraken is even an option because it postdates the medieval period by hundreds of years.

The first known mention of the Kraken in the historical record is in 1180 CE.  Not post-medieval at all.

[Classic_Spaceman]

I went gold Spaceman and ravens crows.
I have been wanting a gold Spaceman for some time as an anniversary figure (we could have gotten one in the CMF), despite it not being the most useful as a division colour. For Castle, I was really torn between the griffins and the crows - I prefer the griffin design (and would have gone with it, had the crows not been an option), but the chance to get a potentially massable (via PAB) followup to a great CMF was too good to pass up! 
I do hope that we get some of the unmade designs at a later date, though, since the griffins are excellent and the bull update is nice as well (the kraken is a bit more DnD in its design and colours for me to see it fitting seamlessly beside the classic Castle factions). 
 

[BitByBrick]

Griffin got my vote. I’d also vote for the Kraken if allowed two votes. Hoping no one votes for the crow, since it has already been done. No re-hashing old designs please. New factions are always welcome. Also like the Gold Spaceman. 

[Classic_Spaceman]

2 minutes ago, BitByBrick said:

Griffin got my vote. I’d also vote for the Kraken if allowed two votes. Hoping no one votes for the crow, since it has already been done. No re-hashing old designs please. New factions are always welcome. 

See, this is why I was torn - I want new factions, but I also want generic soldiers (or variants, like the Black Falcon archer) for established factions. 
 

[ToaDraco]

I'm VERY excited by the prospect of a Kraken faction, especially with those colors! Teal, dark green, and spring yellowish-green is such a fantastic combination and the possibilities of what such a faction would look like are tantalizing. Do they simply come from a coastal fishing city or are they fish people, a la Lovecraftian Deep Ones? Do they have armor and weapons adorned with tentacles? Do they have octopus-shaded helmets? What types of weapons would they have? Do they have proper swords and spears or do they use makeshift weapons out of hooks, nets, paddles and whatever else?

Regardless of whether or not it wins this vote, I certainly hope LEGO is planning to make sets in the near future that utilize this faction because there is so much potential around the idea. As a huge Lovecraft fan, I'm chomping at the bit for more Lovecraftian LEGO goodness. Hidden Side came close but wasn't quite there.

[kuzyabricks]

Easiest choice ever. Griffins seem kind of cool but whoever didn’t vote for Krakens is essentially just trying to deny Lego fans of the coolest castle faction yet. I can not wait to see what it will turn out to be and how they will incorporate  the kraken to the castle theme. 

[Classic_Spaceman]

39 minutes ago, ToaDraco said:

Regardless of whether or not it wins this vote, I certainly hope LEGO is planning to make sets in the near future that utilize this faction because there is so much potential around the idea. 

IMO, whatever faction wins will not feature in any subsequent sets (aside from maybe a shield), since I think that LEGO wants exclusive Minifigs for the prize machine set. 

40 minutes ago, ToaDraco said:

I'm VERY excited by the prospect of a Kraken faction, especially with those colors! Teal, dark green, and spring yellowish-green is such a fantastic combination and the possibilities of what such a faction would look like are tantalizing. Do they simply come from a coastal fishing city or are they fish people, a la Lovecraftian Deep Ones? Do they have armor and weapons adorned with tentacles? Do they have octopus-shaded helmets? What types of weapons would they have? Do they have proper swords and spears or do they use makeshift weapons out of hooks, nets, paddles and whatever else?

I suspect that no matter the faction, we will just get a palette-swap of the basic Lion/Falcon design. I doubt that LEGO has the budget to begin developing a bunch of faction-specific parts for options that may not win. Looking at the Classic Spacemen, all need three changes/SaPs (helmet, airtanks, torso print), so I suspect that the budget for the Castle Minifig will be similar (torso, legs, shield). I am not holding out hope for any new helmet, armour, or weapon pieces (though I would love to get a flat silver recolour of the DnD Dragonborn’s armour!). 
 

[Roebuck]

2 hours ago, BitByBrick said:

. Hoping no one votes for the crow, since it has already been done. No re-hashing old designs please. 

The Crow/raven will most likely be a completely new figure within that fraction, even the Shield might be the bigger mould one just in the same colour pattern, so that is invalid argument I would say.. 

[Khargeust]

I voted for all factions. Maybe my vote will not count, but I can't decide however.

[GeoBrick]

12 hours ago, sporadic said:

And the Griffin doesn't?  They're both mythological creatures with Mediterranean origins.   (EDIT) After some research I realized I was conflating the Kraken with other giant sea creature lore from Greek/Roman/etc. sources.  Still, don't see why one mythological critter is better than another.

The Griffin does too, of course, but the Kraken is to me a bit more of a fantasy creature in my mind. Perhaps its just the Griffin was used more in RL heraldry.
Thinking further on that, and with a line of D&D CMF figs in the pipeline, I wonder if perhaps LEGO is trying to swat two flies in one go. A shield with new heraldry used in both CMF and the Ideas set.

[CastleManiaX7]

Bulls! Updated shield design looks amazing, faction colours are on point. Will be awesome to see a modern take on the Bulls and I hope they win.  

I'd bet Crows take it though, with Krakens coming second. Kinda surprised tbh by how many seem to like the Kraken design, which is admittedly pretty cool (but those colours!).

[Artanis I]

Make them all...

We've already got the crows, and I've made a sizeable army with a bunch of those in it. Since the bulls are pretty old now, re-doing them would be fine, but I'd rather have the other two. I like the turquoise & green colour scheme, so that would be my preference.

But I do want them to do all 4...

[Yoggington]

6 hours ago, Classic_Spaceman said:

See, this is why I was torn - I want new factions, but I also want generic soldiers (or variants, like the Black Falcon archer) for established factions. 
 

It is interesting to see one side of the vote pushing for something 'new and cool', whereas I also fall on the side of 'bolster what we've got'.

As neat as a Kraken/Griffon faction would be, Having an army of 15x the same fig is less appealing to me than variants of what we've got. Like I loooove the Falcon Falconer, and how you now have two sets of legs, torsos, arms you can interchange to make a few combos. Then add the Red Falcon fig, and the classic Falcon pieces for so many combos.

A Raven minifig with a slightly different torso and legs from the CMF one could give a ton of options when combined with the already existing.

[brimbolet]

I'll vote for the griffin, I just hope the shields won't be stickers... it would be so nice to see some new heraldry (also geometric figures) in the minifig towers in stores. There're so few historic figures out there!

[ToaDraco]

6 hours ago, Classic_Spaceman said:

IMO, whatever faction wins will not feature in any subsequent sets (aside from maybe a shield), since I think that LEGO wants exclusive Minifigs for the prize machine set. 

I suspect that no matter the faction, we will just get a palette-swap of the basic Lion/Falcon design. I doubt that LEGO has the budget to begin developing a bunch of faction-specific parts for options that may not win. Looking at the Classic Spacemen, all need three changes/SaPs (helmet, airtanks, torso print), so I suspect that the budget for the Castle Minifig will be similar (torso, legs, shield). I am not holding out hope for any new helmet, armour, or weapon pieces (though I would love to get a flat silver recolour of the DnD Dragonborn’s armour!). 
 

Oh I have no illusions that they would make a bunch of specialized molds for this figure, I'm mostly speculating and fantasizing about what a whole Kraken faction would look like if given a proper theme, or half of one at least.

[Westbrick]

1 hour ago, Yoggington said:

As neat as a Kraken/Griffon faction would be, Having an army of 15x the same fig is less appealing to me than variants of what we've got. Like I loooove the Falcon Falconer, and how you now have two sets of legs, torsos, arms you can interchange to make a few combos. Then add the Red Falcon fig, and the classic Falcon pieces for so many combos.

By swapping weapons and helmets, and ‘upgrading’ one of them with a breastplate, I managed to get a little army from the Crow/Raven CMF. But it depends on the design - if it looks extremely ‘individual’ then yes, it would be a lot harder to do this with a new/kraken knight. I’d have to have him as just a lone, wandering knight.

[Westbrick]

The new Legend of Zelda Great Deku Tree looks like it has some interesting pieces for me. Torsos look good, and that round shield could work for vikings, too. 

[Aurore]

5 minutes ago, Westbrick said:

The new Legend of Zelda Great Deku Tree looks like it has some interesting pieces for me. Torsos look good, and that round shield could work for vikings, too. 

Same for me! I'm thrilled by the new minifig parts and especially the new elvish hairstyles - even if these ones look a little bit cartoony. The set seems to contain many printed parts (incl. shields) that will be useful for medieval-fantasy builders. 

[sporadic]

5 hours ago, GeoBrick said:

The Griffin does too, of course, but the Kraken is to me a bit more of a fantasy creature in my mind. Perhaps its just the Griffin was used more in RL heraldry.

Yeah, that's fair.  Sea life other than "land animal with the tail end of a fish" seems rare on real world heraldry.  I couldn't find any examples in my (minimal) searching.  Even the fish-bodies were hard to find on sites not associated with fantasy and/or things like SCA sites where accuracy only goes so far.

Of course, a lot of the shields in Lego already don't fit with RL heraldry in numerous ways, so that doesn't matter too much to me.

[Classic_Spaceman]

6 hours ago, Yoggington said:

It is interesting to see one side of the vote pushing for something 'new and cool', whereas I also fall on the side of 'bolster what we've got'. 

I would be interested to see all four options ranked, since I wonder how much the votes will be split. For the CS spaceman, gold is the most visually distinct, so I can see it winning because the non-gold votes get split four other ways (gold is the most popular on the Brickset forum, and tied with dark azure here). 
For Castle, we might see the new-and-different side split between the kraken and griffin, with the give-us-faction-variants side voting for the crow. That said, the kraken is the visual standout among the heraldry options (and the top pick on Brickset), so I can see that winning for the novelty. 

My rankings: 1 - Griffin, 2 - Crow, 3 - Bull, 4 - Kraken 
 

5 hours ago, brimbolet said:

I just hope the shields won't be stickers... 

That is quite unlikely, since I assume that LEGO has budgeted for a new printed shield. 
 

[Alexandrina]

11 hours ago, Classic_Spaceman said:

IMO, whatever faction wins will not feature in any subsequent sets (aside from maybe a shield), since I think that LEGO wants exclusive Minifigs for the prize machine set.

Maybe this is true, but I don't think that Lego wanting an exclusive minifigure in the set and Lego developing the faction further in the future are mutually exclusive.

The prize machine is due out some time this year iirc (correct me if I'm wrong). We know that Lego cannot possibly have sets with these factions in the pipeline, beyond maybe a basic sketch - as they don't know which faction is going to win. Even if Lego immediately set to work on a set/theme for the new faction the moment the poll closes, it's going to be 2026 at least before we see that set materialise, by which point the prize machine - if it's not already discontinued - will be approaching EOL. So sure, Lego might want an exclusive to get people to buy the set, but would they really care after the prize machine's no longer for sale? It's not like they're going to go out of their way to never touch the faction again for the sake of the second-hand market.

My personal take on it is that Lego aren't committing to making a set, but that it isn't impossible if an idea arises, and if/when they want a change from the Falcons/Lion Knights, the new faction will be an obvious pick.

Does anyone else think of the Greyjoys from ASOIAF when they see the kraken? The colours aren't a match, but that was the immediate medieval-fantasy analogue that came to my mind.

[unclejeffie]

10 minutes ago, Alexandrina said:

Maybe this is true, but I don't think that Lego wanting an exclusive minifigure in the set and Lego developing the faction further in the future are mutually exclusive.

The prize machine is due out some time this year iirc (correct me if I'm wrong). We know that Lego cannot possibly have sets with these factions in the pipeline, beyond maybe a basic sketch - as they don't know which faction is going to win. Even if Lego immediately set to work on a set/theme for the new faction the moment the poll closes, it's going to be 2026 at least before we see that set materialise, by which point the prize machine - if it's not already discontinued - will be approaching EOL. So sure, Lego might want an exclusive to get people to buy the set, but would they really care after the prize machine's no longer for sale? It's not like they're going to go out of their way to never touch the faction again for the sake of the second-hand market.

My personal take on it is that Lego aren't committing to making a set, but that it isn't impossible if an idea arises, and if/when they want a change from the Falcons/Lion Knights, the new faction will be an obvious pick.

Does anyone else think of the Greyjoys from ASOIAF when they see the kraken? The colours aren't a match, but that was the immediate medieval-fantasy analogue that came to my mind.

Yes indeed the greyjoys!