2023 Majisto GWP

[Aanchir]

4 hours ago, R0Sch said:

The scroll is just a sticker on a 2x2 tile and the interior looks just as bad as the original set. The second floor is completely empty. 

I was expecting the stickered scroll to be honest, since there's no other reason for the shutters to be stickered instead of printed unless they were sharing a sticker sheet with another element. I might've preferred it on a different piece like the "book cover" instead of a standard tile like the original set, but to me that's a pretty minor issue.

But yeah, I am… deeply bummed about that interior, especially after having only minor nitpicks about what we'd seen of the set so far. It feels like a huge missed opportunity to do more with the space than the original set did, especially since a lot of the bricks eating up space on the upper level's interior are in no way as structurally necessary as they were in the original set.

Arguably, it does somewhat less with the space than the original set, since it omits the barrel on the ground level and the torch on the upper level for reasons I can hardly fathom (surely it would not have cost much to include a simple torch like those from 10305, or an even simpler wall sconce like those on the exterior). It doesn't even seem to have any treasure in the treasure chest!

I definitely still want to get this set, because I genuinely do like the exterior a bunch and feel it holds a lot of promise. But I figure I'll be modding the interior extensively to get it to a state I'm happy with. Maybe my hopes for the interior were over-inflated after how impressed I was with the Forest Hideout — after all, that set didn't really make many upgrades to its own interior, aside from adding a ladder which the original set lacked. I suppose the main reason I expected different here is that the original set had more furnishings in the first place.

Still, I can't help feeling like a lot more could have been done here at no additional expense or increase to the piece count. I guess that's what bothers me most about this — unlike frustrations others have expressed about the lack of classic molds and prints, which are very clearly motivated by what the set's budget could allow, the shortcomings of the interior that frustrate me seem so easily avoidable.

[GeoBrick]

Definitely room for improvement on the interior around the fireplace. And for a minute I thought we would get a new reversed brick slope, but its unfortunately an error on the picture. Its going to be a small sticker sheet with just three stickers.

[Yperio_Bricks]

Are the blue window shutters stickers too or printed tiles?

[RichardGoring]

It may be worth noting that:

1. LEGO is not going to change it gender balance policy on figures.
2. LEGO avoids controversial topics.

If this topic about female knights comes up on the forums every single time a historical set is released, there's a chance someone at LEGO gets spooked and they cancel all future castle sets. 

The interior of the workshop looks really plain and is somewhat disappointing. I quite like the outside, but there's little value in it opening up, which is a shame.

[Alexandrina]

21 minutes ago, Classic_Spaceman said:

I think that PAB is only killing the small army-builder sets and Minifig packs of old; siege equipment, prison wagons, watchtowers, carriages, and other small-to-mid-size sets would still sell as they have something to offer beyond just the Minifigs. 

That said, those same sets are also more expensive. In a non-PAB world I'd probably buy a dozen or so little tiny sets (those ones with a minifigure and a tiny build) but I'd be unlikely to get more than one of a mid-range set unless it was a really compelling build, and I'd definitely not be buying more than one of a large set - simply because I don't have infinite money. People who can afford to buy mid-size or larger sets in great plenty are the minority, I think.

[jodawill]

Boy, this set keeps getting worse with every new reveal. The interior doesn't have a sense of any structure. It just looks like a bunch of random parts strewn about. It even looks like the ceiling is too low on the bottom floor for either of the minifigures to fit inside. Nothing in the treasure chest... Majisto's scroll is just magically hovering in front of his hand. (I guess that's because he's a magician, right?) This really feels insulting to be honest. It's hard to imagine this set being any worse. And, as has been pointed out, there are a lot of things that could have improved this without changing the budget.

I'm grateful I'm not paying that suggested subscription fee for the opportunity to buy this.

[Classic_Spaceman]

26 minutes ago, Aanchir said:

But yeah, I am… deeply bummed about that interior, especially after having only minor nitpicks about what we'd seen of the set so far. It feels like a huge missed opportunity to do more with the space than the original set did, especially since a lot of the bricks eating up space on the upper level's interior are in no way as structurally necessary as they were in the original set.

I agree completely; there are no furnishings, and the fireplace looks awful. Also, I fully expected the classic dragon coins that have appeared in Harry Potter sets to show up here (for obvious reasons), but we did not even get crown coins! We really should have gotten torches, racks of potions, cauldrons, etc - For a “magical workshop”, it is shockingly bare. 😕
 

21 minutes ago, Yperio_Bricks said:

Are the blue window shutters stickers too or printed tiles?

Stickers. 
 

[brimbolet]

I was foolishly hoping that when opened there'll be a printed shield hidden inside the workshop after all. Too bad...

With the piece count from the original nearly doubled (185 vs 365), even though they used BURPs (that I'm really fond of), I really didn't expect the interior to be so... small & empty. No pots, magic potions etc. Can hardly be called a workshop or even storage room. 

Certainly not worth 250$

[Classic_Spaceman]

19 minutes ago, Alexandrina said:

That said, those same sets are also more expensive. In a non-PAB world I'd probably buy a dozen or so little tiny sets (those ones with a minifigure and a tiny build) but I'd be unlikely to get more than one of a mid-range set unless it was a really compelling build, and I'd definitely not be buying more than one of a large set - simply because I don't have infinite money. People who can afford to buy mid-size or larger sets in great plenty are the minority, I think.

In great plenty, sure, but the overall number of people who buy a $50-$60 carriage would exceed the ones who buy a $400 castle, so LEGO would still be making a profit off of these sets. 
 

8 minutes ago, brimbolet said:

With the piece count from the original nearly doubled (185 vs 365), even though they used BURPs (that I'm really fond of), I really didn't expect the interior to be so... small & empty. No pots, magic potions etc. Can hardly be called a workshop or even storage room. 

Exactly! Where did those pieces go? 
 

[brimbolet]

Looking closer at the dragon torso, I can't understand what the knight has instead of a chain mail beneath her head. Extension of the grey helmet?

[jodawill]

5 minutes ago, brimbolet said:

Looking closer at the dragon torso, I can't understand what the knight has instead of a chain mail beneath her head. Extension of the grey helmet?

I also don't understand the blue sliver on the side. I guess it's supposed to represent a cutout for the arms that extends into the torso, but with the torso being red plastic, it just looks bad. The original looked better than this (and it was one of the worst castle torsos to begin with). Now that I've seen it up close, I'm not sure I'll even buy any from PAB.

[Roebuck]

If I have enough parts in the PAB cart to get it I will, but if to many of the parts I want are out of stock I will not buy something just to get this set. I have been so hyped for this set for a long time, but now only a few days before I can get it I am losing interest

[Classic_Spaceman]

16 minutes ago, brimbolet said:

Looking closer at the dragon torso, I can't understand what the knight has instead of a chain mail beneath her head. Extension of the grey helmet?

It looks like some kind of collar; blue would have been better than silver, though. 
 

8 minutes ago, jodawill said:

I also don't understand the blue sliver on the side. I guess it's supposed to represent a cutout for the arms that extends into the torso

I see it as a blue tunic with a red-and-black surcoat. 
 

Edited November 13, 2023 by Classic_Spaceman

[brimbolet]

9 minutes ago, jodawill said:

I guess it's supposed to represent a cutout for the arms that extends into the torso, but with the torso being red plastic, it just looks bad. 

Don't like cutouts on torsos usually. Makes it much harder to swap arms or heads if I want to.

4 minutes ago, Classic_Spaceman said:

It looks like some kind of collar; blue would have been better than silver, though. 

Yes, blue would have been better.

Is it just me or is the blue on the cutouts a different shade from the arms?

[Classic_Spaceman]

10 minutes ago, brimbolet said:

Is it just me or is the blue on the cutouts a different shade from the arms?

It is not a different shade, but print is often not a 100% match for plastic of the same colour. 
 

[MAB]

1 hour ago, RichardGoring said:

It may be worth noting that:

1. LEGO is not going to change it gender balance policy on figures.
2. LEGO avoids controversial topics.

If this topic about female knights comes up on the forums every single time a historical set is released, there's a chance someone at LEGO gets spooked and they cancel all future castle sets. 

It comes up for just about every theme, not just Castle. So long as Castle allows them to add a little more petrol to one of their Ferraris, they will keep making Castle.

[Classic_Spaceman]

1 hour ago, RichardGoring said:

If this topic about female knights comes up on the forums every single time a historical set is released, there's a chance someone at LEGO gets spooked and they cancel all future castle sets. 

Not at all likely. The people who complain about female knights are far outweighed by those who either like them (as I do) or simply do not care about the genders of knights; the complainers are just a somewhat loud minority in LEGO discussion circles. Additionally, I doubt that some replaceable female heads have dissuaded anyone from buying sets like the LKC, so the complaints are just background noise from LEGO’s pov. 
 

[MAB]

2 hours ago, Classic_Spaceman said:

I mean that GoT changed the public perception of Medieval fantasy; Classic LEGO Castle was very heavily inspired by literary tropes, as those were the popular associations with the genre pre-GoT. After the show became a global phenomenon, those classic tropes were replaced by the more ‘mature’ themes of GoT in the public consciousness; LEGO wanted to avoid the connotations now inherent to Medieval fantasy, so they ended the Castle line in favour of Nexo Knights (a space theme with knights more than a castle theme!). I actually went into more detail on this theory in a couple of Instagram posts last year. 
 

Watch just about any 15 or 18 rating 70s or 80s sword and sorcery movie and it is not that far from Game of Thrones,whereas there were also plenty of movies aimed at kids in the genre too. The crossing in to soft core porn aspect of GoT was more to do with being made by HBO and not because it was Medieval fantasy genre. Just about everything HBO made at a similar time seemed to follow the same pattern. Rome, Vinyl, True Blood, True Detective, etc. 

Edited November 13, 2023 by MAB

[Aanchir]

1 hour ago, Classic_Spaceman said:

I agree completely; there are no furnishings, and the fireplace looks awful. Also, I fully expected the classic dragon coins that have appeared in Harry Potter sets to show up here (for obvious reasons), but we did not even get crown coins! We really should have gotten torches, racks of potions, cauldrons, etc - For a “magical workshop”, it is shockingly bare. 😕

I was not particularly expecting coins to show up (you're right that the HP ones would be a great fit, but regrettably I fear that those are IP-locked). I was more anticipating gems, since that's what the original set's treasure chest contained. I wasn't even picky about whether they used something fancier like the Adventurers ruby piece, or simple transparent 1x1 round plates/tiles closer to the gems from the original set. It doesn't discourage me getting the set since it's such a simple improvement to make, but that simplicity makes it all the more perplexing why the designers didn't include any themselves.

1 hour ago, Classic_Spaceman said:

Exactly! Where did those pieces go?

I mean, the roof supports, front door, and second-story walls are a lot more parts-intensive than their counterparts from the original set. I fully expected that those factors would make up a lot of the difference in piece count. As we can see here, the back wall/chimney is also way more parts intensive (for my part, I feel like that could have been simplified some, although the current design seems pretty decent by my reckoning).

Even so, it seems to me like it would have been easy to get rid of the eight medium stone grey parts inside 4x8 turret pieces on the second story and replace them with a simple 2x6 cot using HALF as many pieces. Then the single-piece workbench downstairs could have been replaced with one made from two 1x2 log bricks and one 2x4 plate (like those already used in other parts of the set). That's three simple improvements which would actually take FEWER pieces than the current design of the interior, which seems to reduce the upper level's floor space for no reason than because that's what the original set did.

I suppose in the very least I'm thankful that the aspects of the set I'm most bothered by are among the easier ones for me to mod on my own.

1 hour ago, jodawill said:

I also don't understand the blue sliver on the side. I guess it's supposed to represent a cutout for the arms that extends into the torso, but with the torso being red plastic, it just looks bad. The original looked better than this (and it was one of the worst castle torsos to begin with). Now that I've seen it up close, I'm not sure I'll even buy any from PAB.

The knight torso looks fine to me, tbh. Certainly an improvement on the original, since having molded shoulderpads instead of printed ones helps cut down on some of the gratuitous detail, and I appreciate them re-imagining it as a surcoat instead of an awkwardly flattened-out breastplate.

I assume the silver collar is a gorget of some kind, although I'm not familiar with any real-life medieval steel gorgets that are split down the middle like that. Another color suggesting a softer collar material might be more realistic, although I do think the silver creates some visually pleasing continuity with the helmet and shoulderpads.

[eldiano]

This is one of those times where I don’t mind paying 69.99 for this set on ebay versus paying full price of 250$ GWP.  Lego wants to cuts corners so do I. I won’t sound like an echo chamber here but it’s ludicrous, not to mention releasing no print majisto with no cape at all or parrot. 

Edited November 13, 2023 by eldiano

[Classic_Spaceman]

1 hour ago, eldiano said:

This is one of those times where I don’t mind paying 69.99 for this set on ebay versus paying full price of 250$ GWP.  Lego wants to cuts corners so do I. I won’t sound like an echo chamber here but it’s ludicrous, not to mention releasing no print majisto with no cape at all or parrot. 

It may honestly be cheaper to just get the sticker sheet and Dragon Masters torso (or full Minifig) from BrickLink. 
 

[Alexandrina]

2 minutes ago, Classic_Spaceman said:

It may honestly be cheaper to just get the sticker sheet and Dragon Masters torso (or full Minifig) from BrickLink. 

There are also quite often (at least where I am, which is nowhere near anything) people selling GWPs on Facebook Marketplace for very reasonable prices - usually people who've bought a set and happened to receive a gift they didn't want. I wouldn't be surprised if the Majisto GWP is going for £20 or thereabouts by early next year, when looking in the right place.

[Mandalorianknight]

5 hours ago, RichardGoring said:

It may be worth noting that:

1. LEGO is not going to change it gender balance policy on figures.
2. LEGO avoids controversial topics.

If this topic about female knights comes up on the forums every single time a historical set is released, there's a chance someone at LEGO gets spooked and they cancel all future castle sets. 

This definitely is not the case. Lego is controversy-averse in general, yes, but when it comes to this stuff, they don't seem to care. They do the same with lego star wars, ~50% of our storm and snowtroopers have been female over the past few years, which is... not quite accurate to any canon or legends material, not to mention the extras under the armor in real life. Same with the Hoth Rebels, who are not a group of norwegians (though there it at least fits better, as the rebels are a ragtag group and not space nazis). (I also want to add, if they made these new diverse prints based on actual characters, I'd be not only fine with it but happier than I would if they kept re-using genericish prints similar to the extras. If Hazrim Namir, Roja, and/or Beak had been in the hoth rebel pack, I'd have bought one, no question.)

There is a 0% chance that lego stops producing castle sets because some of us complain about the gender makeup of the figs. There is a pretty low chance that they change it, too, but they aren't going to stop making sets because some of us have gripes about the faceprints on the knights.

4 hours ago, jodawill said:

Boy, this set keeps getting worse with every new reveal. The interior doesn't have a sense of any structure. It just looks like a bunch of random parts strewn about. It even looks like the ceiling is too low on the bottom floor for either of the minifigures to fit inside. Nothing in the treasure chest... Majisto's scroll is just magically hovering in front of his hand. (I guess that's because he's a magician, right?) This really feels insulting to be honest. It's hard to imagine this set being any worse. And, as has been pointed out, there are a lot of things that could have improved this without changing the budget.

I'm grateful I'm not paying that suggested subscription fee for the opportunity to buy this.

Yeah, especially for such a high threshold, this is definitely not worth it. This is what I'd expect for $150ish. $250 is insane.

Majisto could fit inside height wise- but with his legs taking up a 2x2 footprint, I don't think he can actually fit inside the first floor when closed. The knight avoids that issue, but with that plume she'd have to be bending over the 2x4 that they pretend is a suitable official table build in 2023 to fit in there.

Edited November 13, 2023 by Mandalorianknight

[Sir Blew]

On 11/12/2023 at 6:53 PM, MAB said:

This set is not based on medieval times. It is fantasy. If you don't need a wizard in a castle set, then this set is not for you. If you want male soldiers and no wizards, then you can wait for a historically accurate set. You might be waiting for a long time though.

Mediaeval fantasy is based on mediaeval legends and folklore from mediaeval times. It's mediaeval based regardless of how many wizards and dragons it has in it.

[Alexandrina]

5 minutes ago, Mandalorianknight said:

They do the same with lego star wars, ~50% of our storm and snowtroopers have been female over the past few years, which is... not quite accurate to any canon or legends material, not to mention the extras under the armor in real life.

I mean, there are female stormtroopers in every era but the Clone Wars (which is obviously an exception because all the clones are the same guy). We've had named female stormtroopers in canon since 2006, and their prominence in the recent era is definitely more pronounced (and also, since they are fully covered in the armour, it's impossible really to tell - but there seems to be evidence that even in the OT there were female stormtroopers, though whether that was actors in the suits or just George Lucas' intention is something I'm unclear on as the comment saying so cites a book I don't own).

8 minutes ago, Mandalorianknight said:

Majisto could fit inside height wise- but with his legs taking up a 2x2 footprint, I don't think he can actually fit inside the first floor when closed.

He could squeeze in under the BURP by the brown ladder couldn't he? I actually think the knight will have a harder time fitting in because the plume gives her extra height.