24 minutes ago, dimc said:

I love Steve's Lego blog! I never got this far into it though, mostly reading reviews of the 80s themes. I only had the basic black dragon set and the traitor transport. After that was basically my dark ages, and no royal knights meant no modern faction to fight.

I had Witch's Magic Manor and the Batlord + Black Dragon mini set were my only sets from this era.  If the Bull Knights came right after, I would have continued collecting, but they switched up to Ninja theme and that's when I entered my Dark Ages.

Also love Steve's Lego Blog.  I'd love to hear his opinion on all the recent Classic Castle revival :D

It's also kind of sad that there isn't more of a dedicated Wiki for Lego history.  His blog is so much more elaborate (and entertaining!) than anything else I've seen.

Edited July 15, 20222 yr by Triceron

27 minutes ago, Triceron said:

I had Witch's Magic Manor and the Batlord + Black Dragon mini set were my only sets from this era.  If the Bull Knights came right after, I would have continued collecting, but they switched up to Ninja theme and that's when I entered my Dark Ages.

Also love Steve's Lego Blog.  I'd love to hear his opinion on all the recent Classic Castle revival :D

It's also kind of sad that there isn't more of a dedicated Wiki for Lego history.  His blog is so much more elaborate (and entertaining!) than anything else I've seen.

I never had any ninjas back when they came out, though I do vaguely remember seeing them in the catalogs. I did get one in a haul and it was quite fun. I have a historical connection with Japan, so I've actually left a few samurai around the house just for funsies. I can see how they feel very different from the Castle that we mostly think about, but I would love to see some redone with the new parts from the Asian sets in the past few years.

This exists: https://brickipedia.fandom.com/wiki/LEGO_Wiki

Several pages back, we had a discussion about how long it's been since Lego released a "truly great" castle, and someone said it was worthy of a separate thread. Here's the poll for anyone interested in participating.

3 minutes ago, jodawill said:

Several pages back, we had a discussion about how long it's been since Lego released a "truly great" castle, and someone said it was worthy of a separate thread. Here's the poll for anyone interested in participating.

Voted. This will be interesting to see the results.

I agree the 3x3in1 Castle is cool, but the comment that actually made sense to me was that it felt like  a house and less like a castle. If i could find a good castle design with 2 sets of the 3 in 1 i would be down to building that.

22 hours ago, LegoJakob said:

Well, let's compare them then.

The 10305 castle for 400 euro has 4500 parts. 3x31120 for 300 euro has 3000 (used) parts. 
Dimensions of the closed 10305 are 38(height)x45(width)x34cm(depth). 3x31120 is 42(h)x31(w)x39(d) cm.
10305 has a better minifig collection in terms of number, variation, and animals.

So, I really don't see how it's too expensive, too small or overall lacking.
The only point I can understand is someone not liking the design of it, as that's a question of taste.  

3x31120 has roughly 3300 parts. I'm not sure how much used parts would cost for that set or why you left the price comparison out.
In any case it's been some time since 31120 came out and I was able to get them for 80 euros a pop, which came down to 7 cents per piece VS the new castle's 9 cents per piece. (not counting a bunch of leftover pieces even)
10305 indeed has a more diverse minifig collection, which is a double negative for me. As an AFOL I don't play with minifigures and since interior had to have a lot of usable room and play features for said minifigures, that limited the castle design options and undoubtedly influenced the previously mentioned dollhouse effect.

All Lego is too expensive :) But Castle is not a licensed line and if I recall Ninjago City had roughly 4900 pieces and I got it at the first small discount I've found for 270 euros.
In a way it's also too expensive for the way it looks, as it is somewhat plain. Again, because Lego wants expensive sets to look more grown up and more like playsets all at once, and this is both very difficult to start with and they're not doing the best job of it, we end up with half-solutions.

I believe the style of the castle is a question of taste, and indeed I like the general style of 10305 more than that of 3x31120.
But the execution less so. I can imagine a better executed castle in 10305 style, but 10305 isn't it. 3x31120 has that imaginative fantasy flair Lego used to have, while 10305 just comes across as inoffensive.
So paying 400 euros for something you love, even though others might hate it, is understandable. That's why we have different options, and everyone can find something for themselves.
Paying 400 euros for something that's just fine, and will probably be just fine to everyone else is only an option if you really have entirely too much money so why not :)

The most impressive part of it is that Madewithbrix had to pick from three lots of identical bricks and that's it, while Lego designers could pick whatever bricks they wanted and despite that,
all I can think of is when that promo video came out and folks were suggesting we got a glimpse of the new castle, which seemed silly to me as the castle in the video was just a more boring, upscaled 31120
and felt like something they made on the fly just for that video :(
 

11 hours ago, natesroom said:

I agree the 3x3in1 Castle is cool, but the comment that actually made sense to me was that it felt like  a house and less like a castle. If i could find a good castle design with 2 sets of the 3 in 1 i would be down to building that.

Only if your idea of castles is ties only to Lego castles, not real castles. I mean, Lego started with simple blocky castles because they could hardly make something complex back in the day. But the fact they never steered far from that just shows they're not really trying that hard anymore.
Here's a house I wouldn't mind living in:

Edited July 16, 20222 yr by Merlo

52 minutes ago, Merlo said:

3x31120 has roughly 3300 parts. I'm not sure how much used parts would cost for that set or why you left the price comparison out.

I seem to have compared it with https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-80329/mocscout/medieval-fortress-31120-medieval-castle-alternative for some reason, but the general point is the same.

Anyway, buying used parts instead of 3x 31120 or comparing it with discounted prices wouldn't be a fair comparison at this point IMO.

3 hours ago, Merlo said:

10305 indeed has a more diverse minifig collection, which is a double negative for me. 

Great news - you'll be able to sell those minifigs for at least half the cost of the castle, as long as you sell them before they are available on PAB.

I can certainly see why people wouldn't like this castle, but to me, it's nearly perfect.  Certainly the best castle in 30 years.

Interesting that the instructions have a reference to Nexo Knight as part of LEGO Castle history,  in LEGO's view at least, that means the gap between castle sets was much smaller.

2014-2021 if you consider LEGO movie 1 70806: Castle Cavalry as the last castle retail set.

2017-2021 if they consider a set like Knighton Castle. (they show Fortrex from 2016)

Edited July 16, 20222 yr by TeriXeri

3 hours ago, iragm said:

I can certainly see why people wouldn't like this castle, but to me, it's nearly perfect.  Certainly the best castle in 30 years.

I can't see what they could have done not to be perfect, then :)

3 hours ago, TeriXeri said:

Interesting that the instructions have a reference to Nexo Knight as part of LEGO Castle history,  in LEGO's view at least, that means the gap between castle sets was much smaller.

2014-2021 if you consider LEGO movie 1 70806: Castle Cavalry as the last castle retail set.

2017-2021 if they consider a set like Knighton Castle. (they show Fortrex from 2016)

They can consider Star Wars part of Lego castle history for all I care. We all know it’s not. Same with Nexo. 

3 hours ago, SirBlake said:

They can consider Star Wars part of Lego castle history for all I care. We all know it’s not. Same with Nexo. 

True, overall it's a bit weird page anyway , missing a lot of things AFOL love, Night Lord Castle and MMV are good picks but there could've been better picks for the other instead of year 2000 junior castle, 2004 jelly knights etc.  , better choices would've been something Black Knights, Dragon Knights, Royal Knights, or the 2010 King Castle for example.

Fortrex is even more out of place, even 1998 Ninja would've been a better choice.

Sorry bit of a needless rant about some pages/pictures (not trying to start a nexo debate here)

Edited July 16, 20222 yr by TeriXeri

So, maybe this will be a little unorthodox. But I finished mine 10305 Lion Knight's Castle, in the middle of this week. One day before I started seeing reviews.

And just finished a little video, about how I built it, (and what twist did I put in there). I will upload the pictures later, and make an official topic about it. If you are interested, see my video here.

 

Update: here is the link, to my 10305 topic.

Edited July 17, 20222 yr by kahir88

6 minutes ago, kahir88 said:

So, maybe this will be a little unorthodox. But I finished mine 10305 Lion Knight's Castle, in the middle of this week. One day before I started seeing reviews.

And just finished a little video, about how I built it, (and what twist did I put in there). I will upload the pictures later, and make an official topic about it. If you are interested, see my video here.

Awesome! That's how I played Lego back in the day: trying to recreate things from the catalog.

5 hours ago, TeriXeri said:

Interesting that the instructions have a reference to Nexo Knight as part of LEGO Castle history,  in LEGO's view at least, that means the gap between castle sets was much smaller.

2014-2021 if you consider LEGO movie 1 70806: Castle Cavalry as the last castle retail set.

2017-2021 if they consider a set like Knighton Castle. (they show Fortrex from 2016)

I'm sure most of us would disagree about Nexo Knights, but it may be good news that Lego considers Nexo Knights to be an official castle theme. That might mean that they never actually gave up on castle. Maybe Nexo Knights was an experiment that simply replaced the latest wave of castle sets, and they'll go back to traditional castle soon. (It's already been long enough since Nexo Knights that we could see another castle wave next year.)

If they do end up releasing a new wave of castle sets, I would imagine them to be more traditional, a return to form as it were, just like the 2015 pirates theme brought back the blue coat soldiers.

1 hour ago, kahir88 said:

So, maybe this will be a little unorthodox. But I finished mine 10305 Lion Knight's Castle, in the middle of this week. One day before I started seeing reviews.

And just finished a little video, about how I built it, (and what twist did I put in there). I will upload the pictures later, and make an official topic about it. If you are interested, see my video here.

That's really impressive. How much time did you spend on that?

3 minutes ago, jodawill said:

I'm sure most of us would disagree about Nexo Knights, but it may be good news that Lego considers Nexo Knights to be an official castle theme. That might mean that they never actually gave up on castle.

It’s a tired debate, and I believe Nexo has been properly categorized by authorities such as Bricklink and Eurobricks. Nexo isn’t associated with castle for good reasons that I’d rather not dig back up.

As a life long castle fan, I can assure you that they certainly did give up on Castle for the better part of a decade. There’s some subjectivity to that conclusion, but there is no argument that can be made that can convince me that castle wasn’t abandoned during that time. Castles don’t have tank treads. Medieval soldiers are not robots. Chivalric knights do not pilot helicopters.

I will continue to try and fight through it when it shows up, but if I had a magic wand, I would make it so “Nexo” could not be typed in the historic themes forum  

 

On 7/15/2022 at 3:58 AM, Merlo said:

While watching a review I had a feeling that a finished castle is only the first half of the castle. I'd expect it to be twice the size for that price tag. Upon further inspection it does seem I exaggerated a bit, but still, in my mind the castle was huge, in order to compensate the lack of exterior detail, when in reality it's not so much. I kept glancing at my 3x31120 MOC by Madewithbrix and I had a sad feeling the new Lego castle wouldn't quite compare in neither presence, design nor price point.

Honestly, I feel the size and detail easily justify the price to me — even if it's still a tough pill to swallow! After all, its full size is around twice that of Modular Buildings from recent years like Corner Garage, Police Station, and Boutique Hotel that cost $200 USD apiece.

9 hours ago, Merlo said:

3x31120 has roughly 3300 parts. I'm not sure how much used parts would cost for that set or why you left the price comparison out.
In any case it's been some time since 31120 came out and I was able to get them for 80 euros a pop, which came down to 7 cents per piece VS the new castle's 9 cents per piece. (not counting a bunch of leftover pieces even)
10305 indeed has a more diverse minifig collection, which is a double negative for me. As an AFOL I don't play with minifigures and since interior had to have a lot of usable room and play features for said minifigures, that limited the castle design options and undoubtedly influenced the previously mentioned dollhouse effect.

All Lego is too expensive :) But Castle is not a licensed line and if I recall Ninjago City had roughly 4900 pieces and I got it at the first small discount I've found for 270 euros.
In a way it's also too expensive for the way it looks, as it is somewhat plain. Again, because Lego wants expensive sets to look more grown up and more like playsets all at once, and this is both very difficult to start with and they're not doing the best job of it, we end up with half-solutions.

Even if minifigs are not really a plus in your book, the lack of minifigs and molded animals was perhaps the BIGGEST criticism that 31120 got from other AFOLs in this forum, so it's not as though they're something that LEGO only threw in to boost its "kid appeal" as a playset. Just because you don't care for minifigures doesn't mean they're of no interest to AFOLs.

For that matter, I hardly think the dollhouse-style interior really meaningfully detracts from the outside appearance. In fact, a lot of the most gorgeous and interesting exterior details in this set directly relate to the interiors of those parts of the set: for instance, the garderobe, stairs, and gate on the back of the gatehouse, the cavern/tunnel openings and big Forestmen-style tree near the moat, the water wheel and natural spring outside the mill/granary, the many arches and stairs that connect the different chambers, the balcony over the water wheel that turns into a bridge, and the bell tower — which would of course be pointless without a bell!

Ninjago City itself was widely regarded as one of the best sets of 2017 even by many AFOLs who ordinarily had little interest in Ninjago. The idea that its AFOL-appeal was somehow compromised or sullied by its emphasis on by its interior details seems absurd to me — after all, its density of detail (inside and out) was in fact a big part of why AFOLs fell in love with it in the first place! And I am surprised that anybody would describe a set that massive, complex, and detailed as "somewhat plain".

If anything, sets that prioritize the size and appearance of their exteriors over the detail, authenticity, and livability of their interiors strike me as more of a KFOL thing than an AFOL thing. How often have you seen any Castle, Town, or City set that even approaches the Modular Buildings and Ninjago City collections' level of interior detail? Granted, there are plenty of other AFOLs like you out there who care more about shelf presence than furnished/detailed interiors — the various 18+ sets focusing on static sculptures of famous buildings, sports stadiums, and huge Star Wars ships are a testament to that. But that perspective is far from universal, even among AFOLs!

I only started buying Lego online recently, so I'm not too familiar with the trends for sales.  I hear this is a Direct to Consumer product, so does that mean they will only exclusively sell this set through Lego stores and Lego online?  Or is it just an limited time exclusivity thing?

I thought Monkie Kid sets were also D2C, but it seems like they eventually made their way to other outlets like Amazon, where I got my Monkie Kid sets at discount.  I'm not sure if this is the same thing, or if it's meant to stay exclusive like the Build a Minis and Gift with Purchases.

Edited July 16, 20222 yr by Triceron

2 hours ago, jodawill said:

 

That's really impressive. How much time did you spend on that?

I started exactly two weeks ago. I worked on it every weekend, from dawn till dusk. During the week, I came home from work, and continued the castle. Sometimes I worked on it, before I went to work.

11 hours ago, Merlo said:

Only if your idea of castles is ties only to Lego castles, not real castles. I mean, Lego started with simple blocky castles because they could hardly make something complex back in the day. But the fact they never steered far from that just shows they're not really trying that hard anymore.
Here's a house I wouldn't mind living in:

Spoiler

Previous quote:

Still the House/Castle comment still stands. The overall statement was the x3 in one design "feels" like a larger fortified house. The new castle "feels" like an expansive castle. This photo actually would be a test case for interpretation for both ideas. The problem with lego scale, is that its tough to create the "feel" based on the size.

Edited July 16, 20222 yr by natesroom

The Lion Knight's Castle is everything and even more and better than I could wish for!

It's impressive, it's big, it has a lot of edges, it seems to have a lot of advanced building techniques, it is imposing but also cheerful and it's full of nostalgic references... it's perfect!

When it's opened it's a fantastic display piece and turned around it's also playable like a dollhouse. When it's closed, it's a solid castle where all rooms are accessible with stairs and ladders.

I only regret a shield with a Maltese cross is missing, but only because all those other emblems from the yellow castle are included.

This castle is so great and satisfying, it makes me wonder if I could ever wish for anything more... a set with Black Knights and the Wolfpack perhaps!

 

 

Okay real talk, as a Lego VIP with a store nearby on August 3rd, who’s all planing to line up early? I’m not taking chances with this purchase, has anyone seen the forest hideout GWP sold at Legoland stores yet?

4 hours ago, eldiano said:

Okay real talk, as a Lego VIP with a store nearby on August 3rd, who’s all planing to line up early? I’m not taking chances with this purchase, has anyone seen the forest hideout GWP sold at Legoland stores yet?

I’m purchasing day 1 online and in store.  I’m with you, no chances being taken with this one,

You know, the set is in stores only on August 8, right? Its (online) pre-ordering that starts on August 3...

On 7/16/2022 at 9:32 AM, Merlo said:

As an AFOL I don't play with minifigures and since interior had to have a lot of usable room and play features for said minifigures, that limited the castle design options and undoubtedly influenced the previously mentioned dollhouse effect.
 

As an AFOL, I do play with minifigures. I use minifigures, and animals, and so on posed to give a bit of life to the build. A model with no people populating it always looks a bit odd to me. A cart without a horse or other animal pulling it, a table with food on it but no people to eat it, an armory full of swords but no soldiers, ... it looks like all the life was suddenly vaporised.