What was the best Lego castle before 10305? Which is the greatest of all time?

[jodawill]

20 minutes ago, SirBlake said:

CMF have certainly helped to keep things interesting, but nothing replaces a full theme when it comes to fully building things out. The bear and crow knights could really use some foot soldiers and archers. 

I really regret now not buying the tournament knight with the raven shield. It's over $20 now! I remember when that came out, I was thinking it looked great, but it didn't go well with any of my other castle minifigures. It would probably look fantastic as a third faction in 10305. I should at least buy one for a tournament setup. But I wish I had bought a couple dozen when they were in stores. Then again, the outfit doesn't really fit a soldier, so I wouldn't have anyone to carry those raven shields. I would totally go for a wave of raven knight sets!

[Triceron]

5 minutes ago, jodawill said:

I really regret now not buying the tournament knight with the raven shield. It's over $20 now! I remember when that came out, I was thinking it looked great, but it didn't go well with any of my other castle minifigures. It would probably look fantastic as a third faction in 10305. I should at least buy one for a tournament setup. But I wish I had bought a couple dozen when they were in stores. Then again, the outfit doesn't really fit a soldier, so I wouldn't have anyone to carry those raven shields. I would totally go for a wave of raven knight sets!

Same happened to me, I missed out mostly due to Covid and avoiding going out during the time the CMF came out, namely because my wife was pregnant at the time and we tried to minimize any outdoor exposure.  And whenever I did get to the stores, it was always hard to find that series because the usual outlets weren't stocking up on Lego as often as they usually had, or they had places that didn't let you feel the bags (again due to Covid).

I was never interested in the Tournament Knight and was okay with skipping it, but now I do feel like I missed out because it's actually a pretty cool minifig.  Frightening Knight (green bear) is also one that I really want to have.  There are enough CMF knights to build up a mini 'Round Table' of characters.

[JaBaCaDaBra]

6086

what else?

[MAB]

13 hours ago, SirBlake said:

The success of the Ideas/Creator/90th sets will hopefully be a strong influence on future offerings. 

A downside is that these are adult aimed and/or expensive sets. To get more small sets for army building, parts packs and small vignettes to be added to the larger sets, then LEGO need to believe in kids wanting castle sets too.

 

6 hours ago, Rattlebricks said:

6090 also my personal fav, followed by 6086. Not big fan of this new lion castle design though, but its still good overall.

That would be awesome but sadly Lego keeps rebooting castle theme instead of expanding it. The 70s-90s are the best ones.

They have to reboot the theme (if they want to do Castke), as it has not been around for a decade. They can't just sell expansions to sets from 10, 20 or 40 years ago. 

Or if you are talking of factions, I'd prefer they do both. Modern print versions of old factions (as they are doing), plus I'd like to see some new ones. The boar insignia from CMF would be good. I'd also hope to see some fantasy again. Elves and dwarves would be nice to see again.

[klokriecher]

On 7/17/2022 at 9:54 AM, MAB said:

They have to reboot the theme (if they want to do Castke), as it has not been around for a decade. They can't just sell expansions to sets from 10, 20 or 40 years ago. 

Or if you are talking of factions, I'd prefer they do both. Modern print versions of old factions (as they are doing), plus I'd like to see some new ones. The boar insignia from CMF would be good. I'd also hope to see some fantasy again. Elves and dwarves would be nice to see again.

Agreed. It's been too long, since we had a really good castle theme. Maybe an ice castle theme could be interesting...

[DaleDVM]

I voted 7946 as the last great castle.  Because it was... even if it is a bit flashy with the red bits.  

My favorite castle of all time was 6085 Black Monarchs castle.  I was not a big fan of the raised baseplates back in the day and Black Monarch's castle was pretty big considering it was built on baseplates.  2 of these sets put together made an awesome large castle with gates at either end, possibly for guarding an important road for trading/strategic purposes which passed right through the fortress.  


It also was easily expandable with the 6059 set as well.

  

I am looking forward to the best castle set of all time in a week or so!

[brimbolet]

44 minutes ago, DaleDVM said:

It also was easily expandable with the 6059 set as well.

Wish they'd make some addition for the anniversary castle in the future too!

Great poll by the way, though the results are somewhat surprising. I really didn't expect that the difference in the last question will be so crushing. 

[natesroom]

On 7/17/2022 at 12:03 AM, Triceron said:

Same happened to me, I missed out mostly due to Covid and avoiding going out during the time the CMF came out, namely because my wife was pregnant at the time and we tried to minimize any outdoor exposure.  And whenever I did get to the stores, it was always hard to find that series because the usual outlets weren't stocking up on Lego as often as they usually had, or they had places that didn't let you feel the bags (again due to Covid).

I was never interested in the Tournament Knight and was okay with skipping it, but now I do feel like I missed out because it's actually a pretty cool minifig.  Frightening Knight (green bear) is also one that I really want to have.  There are enough CMF knights to build up a mini 'Round Table' of characters.

I missed on series 1-4 my first CMF is series 5 Gladiator and Evil Dwarf - I kick myself that i didnt know about or realize these were coming out and i missed the cool Viking and Musketeer in 4, the freaking elf in 3.. The Spartan in 2 (not mention the pharaoh and of course the Classic Forestman in 1 not to mention the indian girl... Then i missed 11 the barbarian not sure how i missed this set. Also 12 missed all 4 army builders

Got 13-16 - Missed 17, 18 was crap except the shield also missed the raven knight and viking in 20.. 

Actually now that i've typed this all out i'm disappointed in myself, lol.

16 hours ago, DaleDVM said:

I voted 7946 as the last great castle.  Because it was... even if it is a bit flashy with the red bits.  

My favorite castle of all time was 6085 Black Monarchs castle.  I was not a big fan of the raised baseplates back in the day and Black Monarch's castle was pretty big considering it was built on baseplates.  2 of these sets put together made an awesome large castle with gates at either end, possibly for guarding an important road for trading/strategic purposes which passed right through the fortress.  


It also was easily expandable with the 6059 set as well.

  

I am looking forward to the best castle set of all time in a week or so!

How can you go wrong with 12 army figs (11 unique) with 702 pieces and it retailed for $70 dollars which would be about $160 dollars today value. At todays piece per price value that set should still be about $70 bucks but guarantee they would add $20 for the minifigs and only give you 8, lol.

Edited July 27, 2022 by natesroom

[jodawill]

16 hours ago, DaleDVM said:

I voted 7946 as the last great castle.  Because it was... even if it is a bit flashy with the red bits.  

My favorite castle of all time was 6085 Black Monarchs castle.  I was not a big fan of the raised baseplates back in the day and Black Monarch's castle was pretty big considering it was built on baseplates.  2 of these sets put together made an awesome large castle with gates at either end, possibly for guarding an important road for trading/strategic purposes which passed right through the fortress. 

It also was easily expandable with the 6059 set as well.

I am looking forward to the best castle set of all time in a week or so!

That really was a great set. My first choice for another castle revival would definitely be Black Knights. It's my understanding that 10305 is also modular like those old ones, but it uses clips instead of pins so you can have the walls at any angle you want. Of course, that means either creating your own expansion walls or buying multiple copies of a $400 set. It would definitely be preferable if they had some cheaper sets to sell as add ons.

15 hours ago, brimbolet said:

Wish they'd make some addition for the anniversary castle in the future too!

Great poll by the way, though the results are somewhat surprising. I really didn't expect that the difference in the last question will be so crushing. 

Do you mean the one about whether 10305 is the best castle of all time? Did you think more people would think a previous castle was better than this one? Honestly, I'm surprised that so many people don't think it's the best castle of all time. It's definitely hard to compete with the two Black Knights castles though.

[Triceron]

18 hours ago, DaleDVM said:

I voted 7946 as the last great castle.  Because it was... even if it is a bit flashy with the red bits.  

My favorite castle of all time was 6085 Black Monarchs castle.  I was not a big fan of the raised baseplates back in the day and Black Monarch's castle was pretty big considering it was built on baseplates.  2 of these sets put together made an awesome large castle with gates at either end, possibly for guarding an important road for trading/strategic purposes which passed right through the fortress.  

This was my top pick.  It's my favourite design of a castle, and came with so many minis.  It's my white whale.  

 

1 hour ago, natesroom said:

I missed on series 1-4 my first CMF is series 5 Gladiator and Evil Dwarf - I kick myself that i didnt know about or realize these were coming out and i missed the cool Viking and Musketeer in 4, the freaking elf in 3.. The Spartan in 2 (not mention the pharaoh and of course the Classic Forestman in 1 not to mention the indian girl... Then i missed 11 the barbarian not sure how i missed this set. Also 12 missed all 4 army builders

Got 13-16 - Missed 17, 18 was crap except the shield also missed the raven knight and viking in 20.. 

Actually now that i've typed this all out i'm disappointed in myself, lol.

Yeah, the entire CMF series started when I was well into my Dark Ages, so I didn't really know or care about them until well after the Ninjago movie was out

I lucked out a couple years back when someone was selling their minis to get some money to start their Mandalorian collection, so I got a bunch of the Wizards and Dwarves and Goblins for a good price.  I just picked up a Barbarian last weekend for regular price, and I'm pretty happy I even found it.

[SirBlake]

32 minutes ago, jodawill said:

Do you mean the one about whether 10305 is the best castle of all time? Did you think more people would think a previous castle was better than this one? Honestly, I'm surprised that so many people don't think it's the best castle of all time.

Same. As much as I love the classic crusaders and black knights castles, even the dinky black falcons sets, this new one makes them all look so simple. Disregarding the scale and part usage for a moment, just the nature of how the angles work, with hidden passages that I’m still trying to get my head around… I can’t wait to build it!

[Triceron]

31 minutes ago, jodawill said:

Do you mean the one about whether 10305 is the best castle of all time? Did you think more people would think a previous castle was better than this one? Honestly, I'm surprised that so many people don't think it's the best castle of all time. It's definitely hard to compete with the two Black Knights castles though.

I voted Black Monarch's as best castle of all time.

I think of it as a full package, and the Black Monarch's Castle is a much more solid Castle set that has very few drawbacks whereas the Lion Knight's Castle is a very impressive collection of Castle's history, but has little quirks like missing prints on the Wizard and the higher price point.  As a rough comparison, I consider Barracuda Bay to be the ideal size and focus, where it may have fewer parts and minis but everything is solid with little to complain about.

[jodawill]

1 minute ago, Triceron said:

I voted Black Monarch's as best castle of all time.

I think of it as a full package, and the Black Monarch's Castle is a much more solid Castle set that has very few drawbacks whereas the Lion Knight's Castle is a very impressive collection of Castle's history, but has little quirks like missing prints on the Wizard and the higher price point.  As a rough comparison, I consider Barracuda Bay to be the ideal size and focus, where it may have fewer parts and minis but everything is solid with little to complain about.

Huh. I haven't read through the discussions on Barracuda Bay, so I'm not sure what other people thought of that set. I thought the entire island concept was a big, sloppy mess. If they had dropped that entirely, the price of the set probably would have been more like $100. And the childish flags on that ship were a major turnoff for me. It's a great ship, but I felt like at that price, I might as well get one of the originals. I didn't feel like there was a compelling reason to buy the new one. It would have left a better impression on me if they had used the 2015 flags. But still, half the set is just a massive pile of crap.

I think 10305 would have actually benefited if they had dropped the wizard entirely. Having the skirt, the lack of print, the new beard, and lacking the proper wand, it doesn't even resemble Majisto in the slightest. They could have put that section of the budget toward pretty much anything else. I think the quirks of the set could be easily forgiven if we could get some more sets in this wave. I'd especially like to see a some more variety in the knights (such as a Black Falcon with a dark bley visor on a black helmet), a Black Falcon flag, and maybe even some kite shields. And, of course, more variety in the forestmen would be very welcome. But for it being a single set, I think they did pretty much everything they could.

I wouldn't change much about 10305. The only things that really bug me are the minifigures. I would swap out Majisto and the children for more soldiers or peasants. But I'm sure other people appreciate these things. After all, one of the designers singled out Majisto as being his favorite minifigure in the set, although I personally can't understand that at all. Majisto doesn't even belong in this era.

But these are just nit picks, and I will correct these problems when I get my copy.

[natesroom]

49 minutes ago, jodawill said:

I wouldn't change much about 10305. The only things that really bug me are the minifigures. I would swap out Majisto and the children for more soldiers or peasants. But I'm sure other people appreciate these things. After all, one of the designers singled out Majisto as being his favorite minifigure in the set, although I personally can't understand that at all. Majisto doesn't even belong in this era.

I can't even understand how a designer could even pretend that the minifigure is majisto with the plain blue torso and the skirt. In all 5 sets he appears with the blue "Forestman" print and legs and an actual wand.

With Evil Wizard CMF 13, New 2022 BAM Wizard, the 70403 Dragon Wizard, Merlok from Nexo Knights, Wizard CMF 12, Kingdoms Dark Green Chess Wizard, Kingdoms Blue Wizard, Fantasy Era Good Wizard, Fantasy Evil Wizard, even the 2020 BAM: hol236 Halloween Wizard... any variation of those would have been better.

This is almost as bad as the 10176: King's Castle wizard.

Edited July 27, 2022 by natesroom

[brimbolet]

2 hours ago, jodawill said:

Do you mean the one about whether 10305 is the best castle of all time? Did you think more people would think a previous castle was better than this one? Honestly, I'm surprised that so many people don't think it's the best castle of all time. It's definitely hard to compete with the two Black Knights castles though.

Yes. Somehow I wrongly assumed that more people would've voted for vintage castles in general, so the difference would be 60-40 in favor of the new 10305.

Hard to compare it with all the previous smaller castles that were aimed at kids, but personally I don't think 10305 is the best castle up to date. It's certainly the biggest and has plenty of good details, secret passageways etc... but it also has strange design decisions (drawbridge among others).

My favorite is the Black Falcon Fortress: expandable with all the great addons during the first waves, it has the first "civilian" structure inside the walls and its roof resembles gothic architecture. Black Knights Castle would be my very close second place.

2 hours ago, Triceron said:

I think of it as a full package, and the Black Monarch's Castle is a much more solid Castle set that has very few drawbacks whereas the Lion Knight's Castle is a very impressive collection of Castle's history, but has little quirks like missing prints on the Wizard and the higher price point.  

I have similar feelings; with all the various nods towards the glorious castle past something went amiss. It's certainly not some small prints on the figures or even the price, but it lacks in my eyes something special that would make it really rise above all the other castle sets.

Anyway I'm really looking forward to see some interesting modifications and expansions of it here on eurobricks.

[SirBlake]

5 minutes ago, brimbolet said:

Hard to compare it with all the previous smaller castles that were aimed at kids, but personally I don't think 10305 is the best castle up to date. It's certainly the biggest and has plenty of good details, secret passageways etc... but it also has strange design decisions (drawbridge among others).

Would you mind expounding on this? I'm interested to see what "strange design decisions" you see. I don't see the drawbridge as strange, personally, but it's definitely different.

[Triceron]

2 minutes ago, brimbolet said:

I have similar feelings; with all the various nods towards the glorious castle past something went amiss. It's certainly not some small prints on the figures or even the price, but it lacks in my eyes something special that would make it really rise above all the other castle sets.

Anyway I'm really looking forward to see some interesting modifications and expansions of it here on eurobricks.

Hmm, I agree with this too.

There is an element of 'I think I can one-plus this' that has me not putting this up as best castle spot, even if it may be more technically and practically impressive than all previous Castle sets.  At an impression level, I can look at something like Black Monarch's or Royal King's castle, and see them as perfect display pieces at it is.  When I see Lion Knight's Castle, all that goes through in my mind is how I'd modify it to suit my personal tastes.  I'll say I feel a similar way about the Medieval Castle 3-in-1, where I see it as a cool looking castle, but it's more MOC potential than what I consider a solid standalone set.

But of course, I may feel differently once I've built it in person.  I had mixed first impressions with the Medieval Blacksmith, but after having and building it it's become one of my favourite display sets.

[brimbolet]

4 minutes ago, SirBlake said:

Would you mind expounding on this? I'm interested to see what "strange design decisions" you see. I don't see the drawbridge as strange, personally, but it's definitely different.

I've seen many castles, city walls and gates or their ruins across Europe from west to east, but to my knowledge medieval drawbridges always used a rope or chain (with or without liftarm) to lower the bridge, what can be easily spotted today by the small openings above the gate.

Drawbridges with just a counterweight and no visual ropes are very uncommon for this time period, unless I'm mistaken. I would have just added ropes or chains for visual effect in the current set. It's certainly not a big deal but without it the castle entrance looks to me unfinished. The gate also looks too narrow for the ox-cart to pass through. My biggest gripe is the lack of some inner court by the way.

 

[jodawill]

You know, people might think I'm crazy, but I actually think the Duplo castles 10569 and 10577 are some of the best castle sets Lego has released since the early '90s. I bought them for my son a few years ago. The horses and minifigures look great, and we've built all kinds of medieval stuff with those parts. It's been a lot of fun. It's a different target audience, but for the age group, they're both fantastic sets. I actually like them better than all of the Lego System castles that have been released in the past ~20 years.

I'd love to see them release some more Duplo sets like that. I've also always thought it would be cool if they made Duplo classic space sets.

[SirBlake]

1 hour ago, brimbolet said:

I've seen many castles, city walls and gates or their ruins across Europe from west to east, but to my knowledge medieval drawbridges always used a rope or chain (with or without liftarm) to lower the bridge, what can be easily spotted today by the small openings above the gate.

Drawbridges with just a counterweight and no visual ropes are very uncommon for this time period, unless I'm mistaken. I would have just added ropes or chains for visual effect in the current set. It's certainly not a big deal but without it the castle entrance looks to me unfinished. The gate also looks too narrow for the ox-cart to pass through. My biggest gripe is the lack of some inner court by the way.

 

Very interesting. Thanks for the added detail. I’m jealous, as I’ve never been to a real historic castle before. That is likely a big blind spot for me as far as accuracy goes. The lack of end-support on the drawbridge still doesn’t really bother me, but I see where you’re coming from. 
 

The tiny courtyard, such as it is, that’s there isn’t much, but does the job well enough for it to not be a big sticking point for me. The fact that the gate house is also the main entrance to what seems to be the keep, or at least the largest part of the castle rather than leading to an open area is a little weird, but again, these small quibbles are so far outweighed by so many other aspects, I just can’t let it bother me. 

[Rjbricks]

4 hours ago, jodawill said:

 

I think 10305 would have actually benefited if they had dropped the wizard entirely. Having the skirt, the lack of print, the new beard, and lacking the proper wand, it doesn't even resemble Majisto in the slightest. They could have put that section of the budget toward pretty much anything else. 

Yep, I’ve plans for most of the other minifigs but this guy? He’s going to be dismembered and his components  filed away. RIP Majisto

[TeriXeri]

 

11 minutes ago, Rjbricks said:

Yep, I’ve plans for most of the other minifigs but this guy? He’s going to be dismembered and his components  filed away. RIP Majisto

Same here, I wouldn't even call him majisto, I still have the original one which looks notibly different, and even Merlok 1.0 had better printed blue torso/skirt brick with a unique print + face.

I don't have a whole lot of old Castle figures, but old majisto just is a nicer figure, I'll just visit this castle with the old cart set, as I don't really think a Wizard living in 10305 fits with the Era at all either, I still got some 1993 dragon knights, maybe at some point I'll make some build for them once I move my old LEGO to the new.

Edited July 27, 2022 by TeriXeri

[jodawill]

6 minutes ago, TeriXeri said:

 

Same here, I wouldn't even call him majisto, I still have the original one which looks notibly different, and even Merlok 1.0 had better printed torso/skirt brick.

I don't have a whole lot of old Castle figures, but old majisto just is a nicer figure, I'll just visit this castle with the old cart set, as I don't really think a Wizard living in 10305 fits with the Era at all either, I still got some 1993 dragon knights, maybe at some point I'll make some build for them once I move my old LEGO to the new.

We need to get a hashtag started. #NotMyMajisto

[brimbolet]

31 minutes ago, Rjbricks said:

Yep, I’ve plans for most of the other minifigs but this guy? He’s going to be dismembered and his components  filed away. RIP Majisto

An opportunity perhaps to update your avatar pic? 

[Triceron]

I'll probably swap out his hat and make him an Alchemist or an old Scribe/Librarian of some sort.