I recently ran a thread under General Discussion about Top 3 Best\Worst Sets of all time. Knights Kingdom came up quite a bit on the Worst list, while the standard Castle theme came in #1 on the best. What is the difference between these 2? Why the hate toward Knights Kingdom? I grew up on Legos, but grew out of it through out the 90's up until I had my son a few years back. Then my love was rekindled with alot of great sets Lego has been putting out. What did I miss on the Knights Kingdom run?

I think it was the really bright colours and lots of large pieces that put people off Knight's Kingdom. I liked some of it, but I agree with others that it was the weakest of the Castle themes.

:skull:

Knight Kingdom is in the worst list because it looks kiddy (my opinion).

Other than that, the hero, looks like jelly bean, a various of color they have and their armor is ugly too compare to the normal knight armor. There are too many color in the set, and the pieces looks strange if I'm not mistaken.

Knight Kingdom 2 is getting better but still it is not so attractive. But people would choose Knight Kingdom 2 than Knight Kingdom.

Simply put, Its not classic Castle. I personally have no problem with the sets, but I'm not a huge fan of the big figures...

I have the big Vladek castle, and it really is a nice set. It is very similar to the style of the current Castle line, and I like it very much.

While not exactly a direct answer to your question, you might find it interesting to read this thread: [link]

Knight Kingdom is in the worst list because it looks kiddy (my opinion).

Other than that, the hero, looks like jelly bean, a various of color they have and their armor is ugly too compare to the normal knight armor. There are too many color in the set, and the pieces looks strange if I'm not mistaken.

Knight Kingdom 2 is getting better but still it is not so attractive. But people would choose Knight Kingdom 2 than Knight Kingdom.

I think you are mixing up the themes. Knights Kingdom featured no jelly bean heros, that was Knights Kingdom II.

I think KK1 was quite good, the minifigs was alright and some of the smaller sets like this and this was not bad. The big castle wasn't really good though.

But KK2 was bad (one reason for my dark age) and I think the main reason was, as many others has said, the stupid colours of the minifigs. Another thing I didn't liked was that there was no ordinary soldiers. Everything was based on those ugly knights and their fight with the evil vladek.

And why? Why? Why? Why did they have to include a catapult in every single set? It's really annoying!

Also, pieces like this one brings down the grade a lot.

I agree with Etzel. There's a big difference between KK1 and KK2. Since both came out during my Dark Age, even I was guilty of assuming that the term Knights Kingdom refereed to just KK2. I didn't like KK2 because of all the big prefabbed pieces (to use of less Lego bricks), strange color combinations (like the completely powder blue knight) and all the silly built in play functions like the catapults and swinging axes. And lets not forget about the Bionicle type knights they came out with too.

yeah, i've always noticed a lot of venom directed at KKI and especially KK2. KK1 has a special place in my heart because although i had many lego castle sets before it, i had never acquired THE castle from a theme until KK1. it was also the first princess/queen minifig i ever got. i always really thought all the figs from the KK1 castle were really great (well except maybe that pesky king).

KK2 on the other hand... ugh. although i have recently started collecting some of the good minifigs from the end of that run (like the red and dark green chainmail knights)

Edited February 18, 200916 yr by supertoad64

I don´t like KK2 because it was more fare away from all the other castle lines than any other line ever has been. The good King had no real army, instead his soldiers were a bunch of Power Ranger- Knights in terrible colors with really bad looking "swords" like this one.

The sets themselves consisted mainly of big, <insert that tiresome argument> pieces like the one mentioned in a previous post here, and just have a look at this annoying thing and the "horses": http://www.chutspe.gmxhome.de/sets/8779.jpg

I looked up the lines in Bricklink - Knights Kingdom I is simply Castle to me, no difference at all.

Knights Kingdom II is a line I don't see any consistency in . Half the sets are big Bionicle-like monster things which I can't stand, the other half are minifig scale (so not compatible unless we are in a version of the Middle Ages that had big fighting machines) and those are okay. Like castle but with a twist - not bad at all.

I liked it. Fright Knights had been the last castle before that and I wasn't allowed it (My mum had "views") so KKII was great. I didn't like the giant knights (I bought one for the arms and legs, plus all the purple) I like colour coding and the large parts are slightly awkward but are useable. The swords and shields were great and so was the armour and helmets. Ok, so the speedo knights (yellow legs, black "belt" ) were a bit off...

Simply put, KKII wasn't classic castle so it got a whole pile o' hate. All fandoms seem to scorn things that don't fit exactly to theur nostalgia. Such is life.

I don't think that was bad theme.In my opinion there is no bad Lego theme! (Ok Galidor is... ).

In KK we got many cool recolored pieces,colorful shields and armor(nice for making armies), and one of the best Castle figures- Vladek!

I think the real reason is that it simply does not have the same feeling or style as Classic Castle. For me, it all felt a little too kiddish. The bright colors and big rainbow swords were too unrealistic. I also did not like the fact that it had a set story and all of the sets conformed to it. There were only the 4 knights which didn't allow a lot of room for army building.

Interesting topic LME. I enjoy reading others' view points in regard to themes like Knights Kingdom.

While I don't exactly hate the theme; for me, KK was very similar to the collection of Town sets in the late 1990s to early 2000s.

Design really god bad. Larger pieces were used and with KK, Rainbow Knights with large silly-looking swords served as the figs. Lego really drifted from the very high quality design and detail that was Classic Castle.

I actually own a number of the KK sets, and while I somewhat like a few of them, they're just not Classic Castle.

While the new Castle theme is nice, I'm not totally impressed with the castle structures (like 7094 King's Castle Seige). It's a lot better than KK, but still not Classic Castle. It's all about the detail and quality of the design.

I don't hate it I'm non-plussed by most of it. I must agree with darthperson with regards to Vladek castle it's a great set and in my opinion better than some other evil castle we've had before, I look forward to comparing it to the troll fort later in the year. I also liked the naval unit even though it wasn't the best ship ever I still liked it. As the TheBrickster said there were a number of weaknesses but I think it wasn't the worst theme just a slightly subpar one.

Unfortunately, I got out of my 10 year dark age at about the time that KKII was in full swing. I agree that the good guys in the KKII line were terrible, I hated the colors and especially those awfull "space" swords.

However, I feel the bad guys were pretty well done. They fit pretty well into the current Castle line as an evil human faction.

Vladek's dark fortress was a decent evil-looking castle set as well.

Well, while I was present for most of the line, I missed what in my opinion appeared to be the development of the potential of the theme, sets like "Battle at the pass"

http://www.peeron.com/inv/sets/8813-1 the minifigs seem much cooler in this set, the designs still suck though. Good value too, lots of figs.

KK1 was not all that bad with King Leo and the Bull knights. The minifigs were still cool but the castle sets were beginning to be <insert that tiresome argument>. This problem didn't start with KK1 but with the frightknights a couple of years earlier.

KK2 was the worst of both worlds with <insert that tiresome argument> sets and horrible minifigs. This combo made this the most hated of the castle lines as it had very few redeeming qualities. However, the new dark red color that came with vladek's armies and his fortress was a great new step towards the color combos we have today. The 2006 sets in KK2 like battle at the pass were much improved and the late minifigs had some great color combos. The Sir Kentis, Sir Adric, Dracus, and Karzon minifigs had some of the best color and armor combos ever released imho. The black and gold dragon shield that came with the rogue knight battleship that year is one of the best shields ever made. However, these came much too late to save this line. Luckily for us the new darker colors have stayed with lego in the new castle sets and I think TLG has learned a lesson from the KK2 mistake.

If this was the direction lego had to take to get where it is today, I am fine with it. I love the fantasy line and the market village is a godsend. Keep up the good work lego.

Well there are KKI and KKII but I do believe you are refering to KKII here.

KKII had really ridiculous colors. Purple and light blue were the worst. The designs were also terrible, especially the castles. And as usual way too many catapults. I also hated the swords. Way too large and unwieldy. They actually had quite a good evil faction though.

KKI is actually quite nice. I love the introduction of the broad brim helmets. The queen and princess minifigs were also really nice. The catapults and siege machines were nicely designed, stable and mean-looking. The only downside was the castle design. It was really empty with too many weak points for enemies to attack.

KK wasn't terrible. In fact, there were some nice sets in that line. It's just that it was kinda like a Castle line that was corrupted by a Power Rangers storyline.

Edited February 20, 200916 yr by Oky Wan Kenobi