Lego Icons 10332 Medieval Town Square Discussion Thread

[Roebuck]

Probably few pixels as well, so you do not notice it when it is small, but when it is enlarged it turns out grainy. I had a chance to peek in a store catalogue once and those pictures where really small. Lego have done this for many years and know how to avoid high quality leaks most of the time..

I have seen some lists of coming D2C this year (do not know how reliable they are), and looks to be no sets from the survey so far. It could mean that they come next year, but could also mean that they just where some model sketches they have no intention of releasing just used them for the survey.


 

[Triceron]

I'll confirm firsthand that Lego provides official 'thumbnails' of their products, which can be blurry as heck when enlarged.

I worked on the Ninjago TV series a few years back, and for new products that hadn't been announced or shown publicly, the only reference images we got were incredibly tiny thumbnails.  Luckily the TV show monster and mech models don't have to look 1:1 to the products so our studio had creative control over the designs in the show,l.  It was hard trying to discern any details to match the product at all, and we relied more on concept artist reinterpretations.  I get Lego wants to keep their products secret and prevent big leaks, and it was an interesting process working around what little they provided.

 

Ninjago was their own IP, so it was more flexible with TV show designs.  I heard other shows based on IPs (Jurassic World, Batman, etc) had stricter guidelines to follow.

Edited March 20, 2023 by Triceron

[zoth33]

10 hours ago, Triceron said:

I'll confirm firsthand that Lego provides official 'thumbnails' of their products, which can be blurry as heck when enlarged.

I worked on the Ninjago TV series a few years back, and for new products that hadn't been announced or shown publicly, the only reference images we got were incredibly tiny thumbnails.  Luckily the TV show monster and mech models don't have to look 1:1 to the products so our studio had creative control over the designs in the show,l.  It was hard trying to discern any details to match the product at all, and we relied more on concept artist reinterpretations.  I get Lego wants to keep their products secret and prevent big leaks, and it was an interesting process working around what little they provided.

 

Ninjago was their own IP, so it was more flexible with TV show designs.  I heard other shows based on IPs (Jurassic World, Batman, etc) had stricter guidelines to follow.

That's interesting to hear.  I figured the licensed themes would be stricter with their properties.  

[Roebuck]

Promobricks know nothing more about the set yet
 

Too bad, hopefully we get at least one of the sets confirmed from the survey soon, that will at least confirm that some of the sets are on its way

[KraK]

On 3/31/2023 at 3:45 PM, Roebuck said:

Promobricks know nothing more about the set yet

I don't know pomobricks. Who are they ? Are they directly related to LEGO?
Is it a bad sign that they have no news?

[Roebuck]

9 minutes ago, KraK said:

I don't know pomobricks. Who are they ?

A German news site.

12 minutes ago, KraK said:

Are they directly related to LEGO?

No not as far as I know, but they are usually very well informed.

12 minutes ago, KraK said:

Is it a bad sign that they have no news?

Yes because if the set was coming in the next months they most likely would know something about it
Of course they are not Lego so it may come soon even if they do not know about it or sometime later and leaks has not popped up yet..

[Khargeust]

I'm confident that the set will be released somewhere in 2024 or 2025, for mainly three reasons :

- the designers of 10305 initially claimed wanting the castle with nearby civil scenery, but it was abandoned (I can't find the source, however I'm absolutely sure I read or heard it somewhere from Mike Psiaki or Milan Madge when the set was released, if anyone can share it!) ;

- this is the perfect opportunity to surf on the anniversary castle's popularity ;

- in the perspective where LEGO does not wish to produce a new Castle sub-theme with full range of sets, but rather to continue the strategy of large one shots expensive sets, the choice of a Medieval Market is obvious. 10193: Medieval Market Village is very popular and still highly desired today.

Edited April 12, 2023 by Khargeust

[Roebuck]

9 hours ago, Khargeust said:

the designers of 10305 initially claimed wanting the castle with nearby civil scenery, but it was abandoned (I can't find the source, however I'm absolutely sure I read or heard it somewhere from Mike Psiaki or Milan Madge when the set was released, if anyone can share it!) ;

I do not have the source either, but it is right that they started the design with a village in front of the castle, turned out it was to big so they removed the village early on and just kept some small details from it like the civilian figs, cart etc.
 

9 hours ago, Khargeust said:

I'm confident that the set will be released somewhere in 2024 or 2025, for mainly three reasons :

I hope you are right even if I would have preferred it sooner rather than later. The leaked set was closer to finished in the design compared to some of the other sets, however until we get solid news of at least one of the sets from the survey are being released I do not think we can do more than hope..

[Roebuck]

Regarding when we can get it, we have gotten the following retro sets the last years:
 

• 2020 Pirates D2C (Pirates of Barracuda Bay)
• 2021 Castle D2C (Medieval Blacksmith)
• 2022 Space D2C (Galaxy Explorer)
• 2022 Castle D2C (Lion Knights' Castle)
• 2022 Castle GWP (Forest Hideout)
• (2022 Pirates GWP  (Ray the Castaway)) Work as a pirate set, but it is not one I would say so do not count
• 2023 Space GWP (Blacktron Cruiser)
• 2023 Rumored Pirates D2C (Eldorado fortress)

So if we assume we get 1-2 D2C and 1-2 GWP every year between the themes evenly distributed, we should get:

• A Pirate GWP this year.
• A Space D2C this year or in 2024
• A Castle D2C in 2024 or 2025 so you might be right @Khargeust on the other hand we got a Castle D2C in both 2021 and 2022 so we can get one every year from now on

[Lionbear8]

I hope we get the market and I hope it slots in with the castle set 10305. And I hope we get another extension down the track! 

 

 

[jodawill]

On 4/14/2023 at 3:06 AM, Roebuck said:

Regarding when we can get it, we have gotten the following retro sets the last years:
 

• 2020 Pirates D2C (Pirates of Barracuda Bay)
• 2021 Castle D2C (Medieval Blacksmith)
• 2022 Space D2C (Galaxy Explorer)
• 2022 Castle D2C (Lion Knights' Castle)
• 2022 Castle GWP (Forest Hideout)
• (2022 Pirates GWP  (Ray the Castaway)) Work as a pirate set, but it is not one I would say so do not count
• 2023 Space GWP (Blacktron Cruiser)
• 2023 Rumored Pirates D2C (Eldorado fortress)

So if we assume we get 1-2 D2C and 1-2 GWP every year between the themes evenly distributed, we should get:

• A Pirate GWP this year.
• A Space D2C this year or in 2024
• A Castle D2C in 2024 or 2025 so you might be right @Khargeust on the other hand we got a Castle D2C in both 2021 and 2022 so we can get one every year from now on

There's also the Majisto's Workshop GWP.

[Triceron]

I think the Creator 3-in-1's should count toward it too, since they had actual Black Falcons and Pirates in the respective sets.

[Roebuck]

10 hours ago, jodawill said:

There's also the Majisto's Workshop GWP.

Forgot about that one One more for Castle so it increases the chance of the D2C coming sooner rather than later since it seems Lego have the most faith in Castle out of the 3 themes

7 hours ago, Triceron said:

I think the Creator 3-in-1's should count toward it too, since they had actual Black Falcons and Pirates in the respective sets.

I do not agree since Creator 3-in-1 is just basic bricks with a few minifigs that already exist they will most likely give none or maybe a single useful parts to the theme Then you can say this count as well:

They are more in line with other themes that sometimes gives us a useful part like:

[Aanchir]

On 4/17/2023 at 1:54 AM, Roebuck said:

I do not agree since Creator 3-in-1 is just basic bricks with a few minifigs that already exist they will most likely give none or maybe a single useful parts to the theme

I feel like that's a little bit of an unfair judgment. Just because Creator 3-in-1 sets are made primarily from basic bricks doesn't mean they are implicitly worse or less useful to medieval builders than "play theme" sets. After all, I don't think I've ever seen Town builders don't tend to question the usefulness of Creator 3-in-1 houses and shops, despite having fewer specialized parts than you'd expect in a City set.

Moreover, even if a set like the 3-in-1 Medieval Castle might seem basic compared to some other modern Castle sets, it's arguably a lot more refined and detailed than many of the classic sets that it draws inspiration from, despite having more emphasis on basic building elements than they did. Not only does its architecture include authentic medieval details like arrowslits, machicolations, half-timbering, and a garderobe, but even many of its accessories and furnishings like the well, torches, weathervane, throne/armchair, fireplace, and anvil far surpass any equivalent features from 80s or 90s castle sets.

[Roebuck]

8 minutes ago, Aanchir said:

I feel like that's a little bit of an unfair judgment. Just because Creator 3-in-1 sets are made primarily from basic bricks doesn't mean they are implicitly worse or less useful to medieval builders than "play theme" sets. After all, I don't think I've ever seen Town builders don't tend to question the usefulness of Creator 3-in-1 houses and shops, despite having fewer specialized parts than you'd expect in a City set.

Moreover, even if a set like the 3-in-1 Medieval Castle might seem basic compared to some other modern Castle sets, it's arguably a lot more refined and detailed than many of the classic sets that it draws inspiration from, despite having more emphasis on basic building elements than they did. Not only does its architecture include authentic medieval details like arrowslits, machicolations, half-timbering, and a garderobe, but even many of its accessories and furnishings like the well, torches, weathervane, throne/armchair, fireplace, and anvil far surpass any equivalent features from 80s or 90s castle sets.

It is not about how well they are made, I think the 3-in-1 Medieval Castle is a great looking set for what it is. However what do they bring to the theme? With City it is no issue since we get over 50 normal sets every year so plenty of minifig parts to choose from and include in the Creator 3-in-1 set. Say we get a Creator 3-in-1 Castle set every 3 years, but without any other Castle set to back it with minifigs, weapons etc then we end up with something like this:


A decent castle that probably is a nice parts-pack for people building a castle moc if the price is right, as a army-builder set to inhabit the same moc pretty useless, this on the other hand:

[eldiano]

It's just funny how a few years back lego came out and mentioned that lego and pirates would continue as creator sets then dropped full sets in between.  I just want a regular wave this time around.  I'm already stoked for the El Dorado Fortress 2.0. I'm just a sucker for castle and pirates 

[BrickJagger]

On 4/17/2023 at 1:54 AM, Roebuck said:

I do not agree since Creator 3-in-1 is just basic bricks with a few minifigs that already exist they will most likely give none or maybe a single useful parts to the theme Then you can say this count as well:

I have bad news for you about the very first castle Lego ever made haha

[Roebuck]

8 hours ago, BrickJagger said:

I have bad news for you about the very first castle Lego ever made haha

On the contrary I would say that just proves my point  In 1978 they started on scratch and had to make a lot of the new moulds for the Castle theme. The castle is just basic bricks the same with the horses and the figs have stickers, but they used the hole budget on new moulds for weapons etc. This was a a big success and the next sets used the budget on printing figs ect and then in 1985 they went all the way with new parts and print including the horse and more modern fractions and started introducing special wall parts for the castle. So the sets in those early days brought a hole lot of new useful parts to the theme compared to the Creator 3-in-1 sets today

[Aanchir]

On 4/20/2023 at 1:48 AM, Roebuck said:

On the contrary I would say that just proves my point  In 1978 they started on scratch and had to make a lot of the new moulds for the Castle theme. The castle is just basic bricks the same with the horses and the figs have stickers, but they used the hole budget on new moulds for weapons etc. This was a a big success and the next sets used the budget on printing figs ect and then in 1985 they went all the way with new parts and print including the horse and more modern fractions and started introducing special wall parts for the castle. So the sets in those early days brought a hole lot of new useful parts to the theme compared to the Creator 3-in-1 sets today

Truth be told, I was a bit surprised to learn about some of the reasons behind the design of the classic castle wall elements in "The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks"!

The 1978/1979 sets that introduced the minifigure were considered somewhat experimental, so the three minifigure "play themes" at the time were afforded a relatively limited production capacity (with the heaviest emphasis on the Town theme, since "present day" sets had already proven reliably popular in the pre-minifig era). And because the "yellow castle" had such a MASSIVE piece count for its time (even after efforts to reduce its scale), it took up the entire production capacity afforded to the Castle theme in its debut year, hence the lack of any smaller sets to complement it until the following year.

Thanks to the success of the yellow castle and its immediate follow-ups, the designers were allowed more new element frames (i.e. new molds, decorations, and color changes) for the theme's 1984 relaunch, along with the possibility of new waves of sets each year. But they realized that if they continued making castles out of basic bricks like the Yellow Castle would continue to limit how many new castle sets they could afford to release per year. Wall panels were their solution for how to make large, substantial-looking walls using fewer bricks and less raw material.

The reason for the unusual odd-numbered width of the classic castle wall panels was that prototyping new elements was much more time-consuming back then than it is today in the age of computer-aided design software and rapid-prototyping equipment. designers didn't want to waste time waiting for physical prototypes of the new wall panels to be molded before they could move on to the actual model development stage. So instead, they opted for a buildable placeholder made from existing brick and arch pieces. And since narrower windows would be more authentic than wider ones, they based their design on the odd-numbered 1x3 arch instead of the even-numbered 1x4 arch.

Page 93 of the book even provides a quote from Niels Milan Pedersen: "If it had been today, with instant 3D printing of prototype elements, I am sure it would have been an even number of studs. In fact, when the piece was revised, they made the new castle panels four studs log. We were right about the window size though: they kept that the same!"

[Roebuck]

1 hour ago, Aanchir said:

We were right about the window size though: they kept that the same!"

I would say they where right about a lot of things back then

The book sounds like a interesting read full of useful details

[TeriXeri]

On 4/17/2023 at 7:54 AM, Roebuck said:

I do not agree since Creator 3-in-1 is just basic bricks with a few minifigs that already exist they will most likely give none or maybe a single useful parts to the theme Then you can say this count as well:

3-in-1 Pirate ship Captain Torso is still unique 3 years later (yes it appeared in Castle in the Forest but that's a very limited product) , and the Viking Ship got 3 new unique torso's and 1 dual moulded crown/hairpiece.

So I'm not dismissing 3-in-1 having more Castle potential just yet.

Edited April 21, 2023 by TeriXeri

[Classic_Spaceman]

4 hours ago, TeriXeri said:

3-in-1 Pirate ship Captain Torso is still unique 3 years later (yes it appeared in Castle in the Forest but that's a very limited product) , and the Viking Ship got 3 new unique torso's and 1 dual moulded crown/hairpiece.

So I'm not dismissing 3-in-1 having more Castle potential just yet.

The Viking torsos may get reused in the upcoming Viking Village, but your point still stands as LEGO did not design them knowing that the village would win the poll. 
 

[Sir Dano]

2 hours ago, Classic_Spaceman said:

The Viking torsos may get reused in the upcoming Viking Village, but your point still stands as LEGO did not design them knowing that the village would win the poll. 
 

Unless the poll was rigged from the start...[/tinfoil_hat]

[Roebuck]

8 hours ago, TeriXeri said:

3-in-1 Pirate ship Captain Torso is still unique 3 years later (yes it appeared in Castle in the Forest but that's a very limited product) , and the Viking Ship got 3 new unique torso's and 1 dual moulded crown/hairpiece.

So I'm not dismissing 3-in-1 having more Castle potential just yet.

Yes they all count since apparently Creator 3-in-1 used the budget to bring us those parts and that's why I wrote "most likely give none or maybe a single useful parts to the theme". A single CMF or BAM minifig normally gives us more than that so as a big big set made for the "theme" it is rather useless when it comes to new parts. The castle set had 0 and the pirate 1 torso so that is probably where future set will be between 0-1 The viking set was surprising especially with the new mould. Was that the first time the theme got a new mould? I wonder if the part was made for a cancelled Thor, Vidiyo set or similar  Other than that it got 3 new torsos, however that can partly be blamed on the fact that it was almost 20 years since the last Vikings sets (or maybe the budget has increased so they can include more new torsos in future set)..

[Classic_Spaceman]

1 hour ago, Roebuck said:

The viking set was surprising especially with the new mould. . . I wonder if the part was made for a cancelled Thor set 

No character has a headdress and hair that really resembles that piece, though - Even in concept art.