2025 Castle [wishlist/speculation]

[SpacePolice89]

7 hours ago, Lion King said:

Yeah, I would be interested to see @SpacePolice89’s evidence to support his so-called claim… 

Last year the Galaxy Explorer (Classic Space) and the Blacktron Cruiser (Blacktron 1) were discontinued. Since then no new sets or subthemes/factions have been introduced for the Space theme.

8 hours ago, Yoggington said:

How do you reckon?

There are no sets for the Space theme available and related Creator, Ideas and Icons sets are also not available.

[icm]

By that logic, no sets for the Space theme were available in 1988, when the last Classic Space sets were retired. Because nothing from a previously existing subtheme was available. It's ok to like new sets and new subthemes too. But this is getting off topic from Castle.

[SpacePolice89]

51 minutes ago, icm said:

By that logic, no sets for the Space theme were available in 1988, when the last Classic Space sets were retired. Because nothing from a previously existing subtheme was available. It's ok to like new sets and new subthemes too. But this is getting off topic from Castle.

It is related to the topic because the "year of space" treatment is disastrous for any theme. In 1988 one subtheme just got replaced by another, I don't understand what you are trying to say. It is indeed very ok to like new subthemes, but sadly no new subthemes exists for Space nor are sets made for the old ones. Since Galaxy Squad there hasn't been any new subthemes (this is not my opinion, this is a fact!), only one off sets made for older subthemes like Classic Space and Blacktron 1, all of which were discontinued prior to the so called "year of space". Castle doesn't either currently get new subthemes but at least sets are made on a yearly basis for the Lion Knights and the Black Falcons. 

[icm]

I'm trying to say that you're being very picky in what you consider to be a Space set. That's all.

[SpacePolice89]

1 hour ago, icm said:

I'm trying to say that you're being very picky in what you consider to be a Space set. That's all.

Space is a theme just like Pirates and Castle. Saying the City sets are Space sets is like saying that Star Wars and Marvel are the same thing.

[Cyprinus]

2 hours ago, SpacePolice89 said:

It is related to the topic because the "year of space" treatment is disastrous for any theme. In 1988 one subtheme just got replaced by another, I don't understand what you are trying to say. It is indeed very ok to like new subthemes, but sadly no new subthemes exists for Space nor are sets made for the old ones. Since Galaxy Squad there hasn't been any new subthemes (this is not my opinion, this is a fact!), only one off sets made for older subthemes like Classic Space and Blacktron 1, all of which were discontinued prior to the so called "year of space".

This seems like splitting hair - we may not be having an official subtheme, but the various sets in the City and Friends lines clearly form a cohesive whole. They may not be under a subtheme, sure, but I'd argue we should be looking at more than just that. Because if we go "these are city sets, they don't count as Space, it would mean we didn't get a Castle set in quite a while, since they're under the Icons, Ideas or Creator 3-in-1 umbrellas.

Quote

Castle doesn't either currently get new subthemes but at least sets are made on a yearly basis for the Lion Knights and the Black Falcons. 

What set did either get in 2022?

Edited March 29, 2024 by Cyprinus

[Black Falcon]

2 hours ago, SpacePolice89 said:

Space is a theme just like Pirates and Castle. Saying the City sets are Space sets is like saying that Star Wars and Marvel are the same thing.

Actually. No it is not. At least not in the sense of a real theme. While at the beginning those themes existed for real, like what we are refering to as classic space or classic castle was just named Space and Castle, later themes were themes on their own and while playing surely in space or in a medieval castle era they were never labled as such. Just as Ninjago is a theme of it´s own in that matter so are Life on Mars, Mars Mission or Knights Kingdom. We shouldn´t forget that the categorization we have on brickset that is quite commonly used today isn´t official, though of course it is quite usefull as you can find all (older) castle Sets quite fast using the Castle Theme there - though you won´t find the newer Set that are under Icons now.

One funny point though, there are indeed two newer Castle lines, that were officialle labeled Castle, where one of them is labeled Fantasy Era in Brickset and the other one isn´t listed as an own Subtheme at all and the sets are just all thrown into the Castle theme on their own.

[SpacePolice89]

4 hours ago, Cyprinus said:

This seems like splitting hair - we may not be having an official subtheme, but the various sets in the City and Friends lines clearly form a cohesive whole. They may not be under a subtheme, sure, but I'd argue we should be looking at more than just that. Because if we go "these are city sets, they don't count as Space, it would mean we didn't get a Castle set in quite a while, since they're under the Icons, Ideas or Creator 3-in-1 umbrellas.

What set did either get in 2022?

Lion Knights Castle was released in 2022. Icons, Ideas and Creator are not normal themes like City (modern day stuff) or Castle (medieval period) because they can include anything and any style.

[icm]

It is true that you have to navigate the Shop at Home website as Menu, Shop, Interests, Space instead of Menu, Shop, Sets by Theme, Space. But I think you're letting our benevolent godlike corporate overlords dictate your thinking far too much by the presence or absence of one logo on a box or one link on a menu. That's like arguing relentlessly over the presence or absence of a punctuation mark in a translation of an ancient text. It seems to me that one would have to have strikingly little imagination to let the City or Friends logos on the boxes prevent one from playing with the City or Friends rovers exactly the same way as one would play with a rover from 1980s or 1990s Space. It's what's in the box, not what's on the box, that counts, in my opinion.

Besides, no Black Seas Barracuda had a Pirates logo on the box. Not 6285, not 10040, not 21322. Do they not count as Pirates sets? Neither version of Eldorado Fortress has a big beautiful Pirates logo on the box. Are they not really Pirates?

[SpacePolice89]

1 minute ago, icm said:

It is true that you have to navigate the Shop at Home website as Menu, Shop, Interests, Space instead of Menu, Shop, Sets by Theme, Space. But I think you're letting our benevolent godlike corporate overlords dictate your thinking far too much by the presence or absence of one logo on a box or one link on a menu. That's like arguing relentlessly over the presence or absence of a punctuation mark in a translation of an ancient text. It seems to me that one would have to have strikingly little imagination to let the City or Friends logos on the boxes prevent one from playing with the City or Friends rovers exactly the same way as one would play with a rover from 1980s or 1990s Space. It's what's in the box, not what's on the box, that counts, in my opinion.

Besides, no Black Seas Barracuda had a Pirates logo on the box. Not 6285, not 10040, not 21322. Do they not count as Pirates sets? Neither version of Eldorado Fortress has a big beautiful Pirates logo on the box. Are they not really Pirates?

True, but it's not that what is the problem. The City Space sets doesn't feel like real Space sets nor are they labelled as such in any catalog or list. They are amazing sets in their own right but they are not Space sets. Trust me, I'd buy Blacktron or Futuron sets no matter what they would be called but City Space doesn't feel like Space.

[icm]

That's, like, your opinion, man.

I don't think it's worth my time to keep debating the point. Cheers.

[Cyprinus]

46 minutes ago, SpacePolice89 said:

True, but it's not that what is the problem. The City Space sets doesn't feel like real Space sets nor are they labelled as such in any catalog or list. They are amazing sets in their own right but they are not Space sets. Trust me, I'd buy Blacktron or Futuron sets no matter what they would be called but City Space doesn't feel like Space.

That is a highly personal opinion entering "no true Scotsman" territory.

56 minutes ago, SpacePolice89 said:

Lion Knights Castle was released in 2022. Icons, Ideas and Creator are not normal themes like City (modern day stuff) or Castle (medieval period) because they can include anything and any style.

Sorry, meant 2023.

[Lion King]

47 minutes ago, icm said:

That's, like, your opinion, man.

I don't think it's worth my time to keep debating the point. Cheers.

Agreed. No solid evdience to support his so-called claim. 

I’m totally fine with City Space subtheme so I would be interested to see how Lego come up with plans for City and Friends for Castle and Pirates in futur. Just like Breakfast and Bed Castle for Friends recently. 

[Wardancer]

The Castle theme is less useful for teaching young girls that they can be astronauts. 
Ever since Bluebricks is continously pumping out high quality medieval sets I have gotten tired of waiting for Mama Lego to let some crumbs fall under the table. 

[Aanchir]

On 3/27/2024 at 8:07 PM, sporadic said:

To me, City/Friends are easy to do Castle subthemes with.  Castles do exist in the modern day, after all.  A museum, heritage site, or archaeological dig are right up there.  More fancifully, a Ren Faire/Amusement Park with the modern/medieval juxtapostion could be silly fun with a lot of gags and hidden features and little details and such.  Done even better you can take out the modern aspects and just use it as a Castle set.

Omigosh, a LEGO Friends ren faire would make such a neat set or range of sets! I could imagine it having food stands, an archery area, an arena for mock jousts/duels, fun medieval costumes and accessories, arts and crafts vendors… definitely lots of neat possibilities!

One other possibility that occurs to me for including castle scenery in a modern-day theme like City/Friends would be a film set or studio. I've also thought for a while that Nancy Drew "teen detective" type scenarios could be neat to see in the Friends theme, and a castle is one of several settings that could potentially fit with that sort of concept (though that might be better suited to a dedicated subtheme of its own rather than part of a castle-inspired range).

[sporadic]

47 minutes ago, Aanchir said:

One other possibility that occurs to me for including castle scenery in a modern-day theme like City/Friends would be a film set or studio. I've also thought for a while that Nancy Drew "teen detective" type scenarios could be neat to see in the Friends theme, and a castle is one of several settings that could potentially fit with that sort of concept (though that might be better suited to a dedicated subtheme of its own rather than part of a castle-inspired range).

Totally off topic, but this has got me thinking of a new thing Lego could do that would be awesome.  So, I've played a fair number of "Escape Room in a box" style games which are typically a single, puzzle oriented story board game that is one and done.  They're very fun, but there's no replay value and nothing to show for at the end.  What if there was a Lego version, where building the set involved storytelling and puzzle solving as well?  At the end, after solving the mystery, you have a cool display piece rather than a bunch of cardboard.  We mostly play the ones that are replayable and gift them on to someone else when done with them in our house, but having a 'finished' story piece would be better.  Like people who hang their finished Legacy game boards. *

Alternatively, the model is built first, and then you play the game, using the details of the model to discover and solve puzzles.  I think the D&D adventure attached to Red Dragon's Tale is perhaps leaning in that direction.  Have to wait and see once I get my hands on it.

I could see a whole subtheme like Friends or Adventurers that use a consistent set of characters to do Nancy Drew/Scooby Doo/Encyclopedia Brown style mini-mysteries.  In fact, smaller sets with smaller puzzles in the style of Encyclopedia short stories and larger "novel length" stories in larger sets... it could be really, really cool...

I'm going to have to think a bit on this.  I have some (limited) experience in game design.  Might have to fiddle a bit and see if I can come up with some interesting mechanics and build an Ideas set out of it.

* - For those not in the board game scene, a Legacy game is a board game that is played over multiple games where the outcome of one game affects later plays.  There is a generally a story that evolves over each game and game rules can be extended or altered significantly from start to end of the campaign.

[SpacePolice89]

2 hours ago, Cyprinus said:

Sorry, meant 2023.

The Viking Village was released in 2023 but I don't know if it counts as a castle set?

[icm]

It counts as Castle or Castle-adjacent to me, but may not count as Castle or Castle-adjacent to many other people, just as many 2024 sets that count as Space to me don't count as Space to you.

[Cyprinus]

1 minute ago, SpacePolice89 said:

The Viking Village was released in 2023 but I don't know if it counts as a castle set?

It probably does (even if I forgot about it), but you specified Lion Knights/Black Falcons getting yearly sets, and it certainly isn't a set related to either ;P

[SpacePolice89]

54 minutes ago, Cyprinus said:

It probably does (even if I forgot about it), but you specified Lion Knights/Black Falcons getting yearly sets, and it certainly isn't a set related to either ;P

Almost yearly then. The Medieval Town Square (2024) is a really nice Lion Knights set. And the Majisto GWP (Dragon Knights) was released in 2023.

[sporadic]

41 minutes ago, SpacePolice89 said:

Almost yearly then. The Medieval Town Square (2024) is a really nice Lion Knights set. And the Majisto GWP (Dragon Knights) was released in 2023.

If GWPs 'count', then we had a Classic Space set in the last two months.  So with that, the Galaxy Explorer and the Blacktron GWP, we're getting an 'almost yearly' release of Space sets too.  You seem to want to count everything as valid for other themes, but discount everything for Space because of tiny details that don't matter to almost anyone but you.  It just doesn't add up.

To be fair, I, too, would like some kind of Icons throwback for Classic Space of scale (IE, Lion Knight's Castle equivalent) given the "year of Space" extravaganza going on (and I still hold out hope that Lego has something that hasn't been spoiled yet given it's only March).  But at the end of the day, it's not that Lego isn't making Space sets, it's that you have a very particular idea of what a Space set should be.  That's not Lego's fault, though.

But really, this is supposed to be about Castle in this thread.  Can we move this discussion back to the Space thread where it's still ongoing as well?

(Edited to correct dating of the Micro Rocket Launchpad.  I didn't get mine until March due to backorders on other stuff, but it is still very recent)

Edited March 29, 2024 by sporadic

[SpacePolice89]

57 minutes ago, sporadic said:

But really, this is supposed to be about Castle in this thread.

You are right about that. With The Medieval Town Square as a brand new set and the Lion Knights Castle still available I doubt that we'll get any new sets through Icons in the near future. Maybe from Creator 3 in 1 because that castle will be discontinued this year. I'd love a full wave of sets as a standalone subtheme but that is highly unlikely to happen. 

[iragm]

5 hours ago, Wardancer said:

Ever since Bluebricks is continously pumping out high quality medieval sets I have gotten tired of waiting for Mama Lego to let some crumbs fall under the table. 

Their pirate line is garbage, but I just looked at their castle stuff and there's a lot of stuff that looks amazing.  I don't trust third party bricks, but I have a lot of bulk and their instructions are free, so I'll have to build a few of their designs and see if they hold up.

[Black Falcon]

26 minutes ago, SpacePolice89 said:

You are right about that. With The Medieval Town Square as a brand new set and the Lion Knights Castle still available I doubt that we'll get any new sets through Icons in the near future. Maybe from Creator 3 in 1 because that castle will be discontinued this year. I'd love a full wave of sets as a standalone subtheme but that is highly unlikely to happen. 

I doubt they will do a new Creator 3 in 1 Set just because the actual one is going to retire. Before that Set came up it they haven´t had stuff like that for quite a while. Though of course they just started to do such sets again not that long ago.

How likely Castle would get new Sets is likely also based on how good all the sets avaiable lately are selling but also if Lego does consider it worth to do playsets again or just keeps on concentrating for more adult-orientated ones. And actually how good the City- and Friends-Playsets are selling might also have a play in that. If they even consider it at all, that is. 

Anyways, I am pretty sure we will still see another castle set this year but that one will only be a gwp. Wouldn´t be surprised to see another space gwp too, actually.

[Yoggington]

Oh okay, I get you. Sorry, not meaning to pick a fight.

You're hoping for things that are recreations of "the classic space theme" of Lego's past. Unfort, I don't think we'll see much of that outside of occasional nostalgia-bait.

I see these as very much space-related. But I'm talking about the much more general space, as in, astronomy & vague sci-fi elements. I don't need the blue brick and yellow cockpits to be satisfied. If Lego would release a JWST model I'd be a happy man.