2025 Castle [wishlist/speculation]

[iragm]

On 12/24/2024 at 1:31 PM, Khargeust said:

Black Knights

 

On 12/24/2024 at 2:23 PM, Khargeust said:

I mean the exclusive torso from the 40601.

That's a Dragon Masters torso.  And lots of GWPs have one-off torsos.

Personally, I would be fine with Black Knights not coming back if we got a new faction like the raven, griffin or kraken.  I grew up in the era of Black Knights and they are fine, but honestly the dark green dragon knights from kingdoms are cooler in every way except for the plumes.  If the dragon plumes came in black or dark green...

[Cyprinus]

Apparently the new 3-in-1 Castle is a "Horse Knight" castle.
And there is a 40$ 390 piece "unicorn castle" coming alongside it.

[Agent Kallus]

I wonder if they'll have some sort equine heraldry or if it just means there'll be a stable and brick built creator horses. 

The unicorn castle could turn out interesting, time will tell.

[Cyprinus]

1 hour ago, Agent Kallus said:

I wonder if they'll have some sort equine heraldry or if it just means there'll be a stable and brick built creator horses.

I imagine the former. Brick built horses in a castle set in 2025 aren't something most would want to see.

Quote

The unicorn castle could turn out interesting, time will tell.

It will be rather small though...

[R0Sch]

Could the leaker simply mean the Pink Crown faction, meaning a yellow castle remake?

And what if the Unicorn Castle is a faction with this shield:

[Black Falcon]

3 hours ago, R0Sch said:

Could the leaker simply mean the Pink Crown faction, meaning a yellow castle remake?

Seems pretty far stretched to me, since the only reason to call them horse knights would be because they had a hobbyhorse included. And I still don´t think that yellow castle would be a thing kids are looking for - so from the name alone, a new faction would make the most sense to me - could also be that it was just named that way because there are horses in the set, but given the source, I would expect it to the first.

 

3 hours ago, R0Sch said:

And what if the Unicorn Castle is a faction with this shield:

I wouldn´t mind if they would include it, but IMO that shield is just too old and they would rather make a new one instead, if there is even one included. My best guess for this Set would be that it is more like a playcastle with two kids included, rather than a "real" castle.

[Cyprinus]

I would find it amusing if the horse knights turned out to be Rohirrim with the serial number filed off...

[Triceron]

Creator is  notorious for brick built creatures.  It would make it very sad if horses were brick built.

[Roebuck]

11 hours ago, Cyprinus said:

Brick built horses in a castle set in 2025 aren't something most would want to see.

It is creator 3 in 1 not Icons How many moulded animals had the last one; 0, but 5-6 brick-built ones in the main model

[R0Sch]

Exactly, that's why it would make total sense to make the yellow castle which also contained several brickbuilt horses. Something like this would look so cool:

 

[Black Falcon]

10 hours ago, Triceron said:

Creator is  notorious for brick built creatures.  It would make it very sad if horses were brick built.

Yeah I definitely would prefer moulded ones, and in that case would prefer no horse over a brickbuild one, and rather more bricks used for the castle itself.

10 hours ago, Roebuck said:

It is creator 3 in 1 not Icons How many moulded animals had the last one; 0, but 5-6 brick-built ones in the main model
 

We had a moulded crab in the past too, but especially with the size of the horse, brickbuild is almost granted I guess. In the end it is sad, because replacing it with moulded ones isn´t that cheap really.

Edited December 30, 2024 by Black Falcon

[Lyichir]

18 minutes ago, Black Falcon said:

Yeah I definitely would prefer moulded ones, and in that case would prefer no horse over a brickbuild one, and rather more bricks used for the castle itself.

I mean, using bricks for the model itself is part of why Creator 3-in-1 usually opts for brick-built animals—the bricks used for a brick-built animal in one model can be used on the main build in the other two models (and vice-versa, with different parts from the main model being able to be used for side builds in the other two).

[Black Falcon]

5 minutes ago, Lyichir said:

I mean, using bricks for the model itself is part of why Creator 3-in-1 usually opts for brick-built animals—the bricks used for a brick-built animal in one model can be used on the main build in the other two models (and vice-versa, with different parts from the main model being able to be used for side builds in the other two).

Can be, sure but how often do they just turn out to be leftover pieces anyways? And sure, for bigger, more complex animals and creatures it makes total sense - which is not to say it doesn´t otherwise - and overall the design philosophy of creator is to build almost everything out of bricks, so it makes total sense in that matter. 

In the end, the creator theme has its own charm as it is, and I guess the main "problem" here is actually that the expiring creator castle was kinda a good parts source for castle fans, and as such a brickbuild horse is just less usefull in the new one, than a moulded one would be - since it would just looks strange next to all the moudled ones ;). I guess in the end kids won´t care that much, though the moulded one has more playability ;).

[Aanchir]

57 minutes ago, Black Falcon said:

Can be, sure but how often do they just turn out to be leftover pieces anyways? And sure, for bigger, more complex animals and creatures it makes total sense - which is not to say it doesn´t otherwise - and overall the design philosophy of creator is to build almost everything out of bricks, so it makes total sense in that matter.  

In the end, the creator theme has its own charm as it is, and I guess the main "problem" here is actually that the expiring creator castle was kinda a good parts source for castle fans, and as such a brickbuild horse is just less usefull in the new one, than a moulded one would be - since it would just looks strange next to all the moudled ones ;). I guess in the end kids won´t care that much, though the moulded one has more playability ;). 

That depends how you define playability, I think. Brick-built animals, even at minifig scale, often have a lot more articulation than their molded counterparts — for example, the shark in 31109 Pirate Ship has not only a posable jaw but also posable pectoral and tail fins, the birds' wings can pivot, and the horse in the B-model can move all four of its legs independently. But the more limited articulation of molded animals can also make them sturdier, easier to stomp around without the limbs buckling at the joints, and easier to place in a pose that's guaranteed to be balanced — all things that can make them more play-friendly for younger kids.

It's a real trade-off for sure — even outside decisions about "molded vs. brick built animals", it's a big part of why mechs and brick-built creatures in sets aimed at younger kids often have fewer points of articulation than those aimed at older kids (despite that often making them less popular with TFOLs and AFOLs). Neither is intrinsically more or less playable, they just cater to different styles of play.

[Lyichir]

34 minutes ago, Aanchir said:

That depends how you define playability, I think. Brick-built animals, even at minifig scale, often have a lot more articulation than their molded counterparts — for example, the shark in 31109 Pirate Ship has not only a posable jaw but also posable pectoral and tail fins, the birds' wings can pivot, and the horse in the B-model can move all four of its legs independently. But the more limited articulation of molded animals can also make them sturdier, easier to stomp around without the limbs buckling at the joints, and easier to place in a pose that's guaranteed to be balanced — all things that can make them more play-friendly for younger kids.

It's a real trade-off for sure — even outside decisions about "molded vs. brick built animals", it's a big part of why mechs and brick-built creatures in sets aimed at younger kids often have fewer points of articulation than those aimed at older kids (despite that often making them less popular with TFOLs and AFOLs). Neither is intrinsically more or less playable, they just cater to different styles of play.

Not to mention that the ability to rebuild is itself a form of playability (arguably the main one for the Creator 3-in-1 theme).

[GreenhouseBricker]

The BDP Series 4 Siege Encampment has 18 minifigures! 😍

 

https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-4/1382/Siege-Encampment

[Black Falcon]

1 hour ago, GreenhouseBricker said:

The BDP Series 4 Siege Encampment has 18 minifigures! 😍

https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-4/1382/Siege-Encampment

Kinda weird that they didn´t make a Picture of all the minifigs like they did with the other sets

Edited January 6 by Black Falcon

[GeoBrick]

1 hour ago, GreenhouseBricker said:

The BDP Series 4 Siege Encampment has 18 minifigures! 😍

 

https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-4/1382/Siege-Encampment

That's a nice change, but quite unexpected.
On the animal front, the set appears to include one cow, one horse, one sheep and a lamb.
 

[Yoggington]

1 hour ago, GreenhouseBricker said:

The BDP Series 4 Siege Encampment has 18 minifigures! 😍

 

https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-4/1382/Siege-Encampment

That seems .. unnecessary?

It's pushed the price up to an amount I am unwilling to pay. I don't think I was buying this one regardless, but now I'm certainly not.

 

I like the improvements to the Seaside harbor - the modularity of it, and the rear view went unnoticed to me before. I don't think I'm quite on board with purchasing though. I may save my money for the next series as both Tortuga & Transylvania are high on my list.

[Roebuck]

8 hours ago, GreenhouseBricker said:

The BDP Series 4 Siege Encampment has 18 minifigures! 😍

 

https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-4/1382/Siege-Encampment

6 hours ago, GeoBrick said:

That's a nice change, but quite unexpected.
On the animal front, the set appears to include one cow, one horse, one sheep and a lamb.
 

Not bad, I like the look of the set. I do not buy the BL sets, but some really good ones this round. Would be interesting if Lego made something similar, after all all the minifigs are just reuses so we do not get anything new here except stickers..

 

[karrit]

They are some interesting builds but the Siege Encampment seems way overpriced due to all the minifigs.  It's not really something I'm interested in.  I might consider the Harbor one but really want the Tortuga & Transylvania ones coming in the later series.

[KristinnK]

The Siege Encampment set is certainly a strange beast. It's not a single big structure, but in fact many different smaller ones, that would have made much more sense to sell as separate sets. It's almost like a whole Castle wave combined into one huge set, except it doesn't have any actual castle walls. I question the wisdom of having selected this set and selling it in this form.

[Danielbrrssn]

In my opinion it seems to be perfect. I have so many different castles but not that much things to put between (more then my Mocs).   

[MAB]

10 hours ago, karrit said:

They are some interesting builds but the Siege Encampment seems way overpriced due to all the minifigs.  

It's even worse when they are just widely available PAB parts. The build really needs to stand out when the minifigs are nothing special.

[KotZ]

12 hours ago, karrit said:

They are some interesting builds but the Siege Encampment seems way overpriced due to all the minifigs.  It's not really something I'm interested in.  I might consider the Harbor one but really want the Tortuga & Transylvania ones coming in the later series.

6 hours ago, KristinnK said:

The Siege Encampment set is certainly a strange beast. It's not a single big structure, but in fact many different smaller ones, that would have made much more sense to sell as separate sets. It's almost like a whole Castle wave combined into one huge set, except it doesn't have any actual castle walls. I question the wisdom of having selected this set and selling it in this form.

1 hour ago, MAB said:

It's even worse when they are just widely available PAB parts. The build really needs to stand out when the minifigs are nothing special.

Maybe they're banking on people already having the Lion Knights' Castle or just a castle in general, or the parts to build one? And while the set does have a lot of widely available PAB parts, do a lot of people have parts to make good looking siege engines? Cities/walls are probably more feasible, at least for the general public.

But then, BDP seems to be more for people and AFOLs like us rather than a parent buying a set for their kid or someone just getting back into LEGO; BDP is pretty niche.

But I agree, the price is way too high for this, the figs are nothing special, and neither are the pieces. Personally, I don't mind if a set has more widely available parts, but the build at least for this, and no offense to the designer, it's very... basic? Sure it uses SNOT techniques and does look good and coherent (and let's be honest, lot's of LEGO's siege sets are just one vehicle and a small wall) and nice to have a variety of equipment and a camp, but the design is a bit more basic than I would hope from the BDP.