Castle Sets 2010

[Clone OPatra]

It's interesting to me that the extremely chained-out dragon knight only comes in the tiniest non-impulse set and possibly the castle. It looks like the dragon knight with body armor in the castle set has the same chained printing on his legs as the one in the tiny set.

With all those bad-megablocks looking chains, why wouldn't he be protecting the dragon knights' own tower? I'm happy enough with the figure selections in the sets, but I think there should have been another bad-megablocks chain dragon knight in the tower. Just having two simple dragon guards does not seem enough for the Dragon Knights' only stronghold in this wave.

Besides that, these sets look well-detailed and great. The dragon tower has a great forest-y feel, and wonderful color combos. I also love that beacon on top, though I'm not sure what it's for. Maybe if we eventually get a Dragon castle, that will have a beacon too.

The one other thing I don't like besides the lack of a chained out Dragon Knight in the tower is the use of the oriental spears. The one just holding the flags on the tower is ok since it's just decorative, but I do not like that the Lion Knights in the castle have them to use. I think these spears do not match a medieval style well at all, and they're just too big for figures to actually attack somebody with. I would have much rathered that they have halberds, or even more normal spears. Those oriental spears just don't work, especially in a Castle theme.

[KristofBD]

Indeed the text on the scroll seems different. Also, the legs and hat aren't printed, so may be this is a preliminary pic?

Regarrding the scroll itself, may be there are different versions of it? Now that would be interesting (though unlikely).

Best, K

Edited May 9, 2010 by KristofBD

[posades]

Indeed the text on the scroll seems different. Also, the legs and hat aren't printed, so may be this is a preliminary pic?

Regarrding the scroll itself, may be there are different versions of it? Now that would be interesting (though unlikely).

Best, K

It's odd because the pic of the box has both legs/hat printed, but the close up of the set doesn't. I'm hoping the box is the final set-up, the wizard looks a bit bland with no printing.

[metalandi]

We already had a review of the magician, and there he had the printing, so that picture was taken at a preliminary status.

[Stiel]

We already had a review of the magician, and there he had the printing, so that picture was taken at a preliminary status.

We have seen this happen several times, for example in 7092. Look at the knight's helmet here:

http://castle.lego.com/en-gb/products/castle/7092.aspx

and then at the shop:

http://shop.lego.com/Product/?p=7092

(The first one is what you actually find in the box.) So the morale is that even on lego.com, it is possible that you find the wrong picture.

[Jack Bricker]

If you look at the box art on the PoP series you will find the old katanas but, you get the new ones in the set. I think that Lego is probably making final adjustments to the theme right now and even if they don't I am sure that most castle fans would agree that this castle theme is still way better than the old KK theme of ten years ago.

[ZO6]

Though I think there is plenty of room for improvement with this theme, I still very much look forward to picking up all these sets.

I like the minifigures quite a lot, I'm glad we are back to two human factions. They all have great prints, and their weapons/gear look fabulous as well. I would have liked to have seen more original looking set designs, but these are still much more appealing than many of the other Castle stuff from the past decade.

[josykay]

I really really like the new "Kingdom-Theme". Because I am a fan of those classical Knight-Sets .I am very happy that Lego released a new knight-Theme, that goes back to the roots:

Two human fractions at war, no trolls, orcs, dwarfs and stuff like that. Just Human vs. Human. A view dragons, ghosts or wizards/witches would be all right, but the "Castle-theme" is just to much Lord of the Ring/ fantasy.

Those 2010 sets seems to be a modern version of the classic knights I love so much but with some new weapons, helmets and stuff like that. Especially those helmets like the heavy armored Dragon-Knight at the big castle wears are beautifull

But a copy does not mean it is bad. Those sets are the best "Castle/Kingdom-Sets" Lego ever released after the serie, that contains "Black Knights Castle". The serie with the first dragons and wizards was also ok, but then the knight theme went down.

Now they are back, fighting in all their glory. The think I like most, that you now can not see clearly which fraction could be the evil one (Human vs Undead? Guess who is the Evil. Dwarf vs. Troll... very difficult... oh wait, Shiny Knights vs. dark fright knights with bat helmet and evil witches...), the keep and all other sets look very nice and... well i do not know, how i could say it best... the "Kingdom"-Theme is fantastic! It is the most beautifull after 10 years of waiting and very strange sets.

They are just perfect. The things i don´t like are the new wand and that srange new spear.. Just a brown stick. The original "glow in the dark-fairy wands" were simply the best! Those spears aren´t a big problem, because I own more then enough normal spears to replace them.

But i have to admit, that the division of the Minifigs to the sets is sometimes very strange. Especially the allready mentioned heavy armored dragon knight, wo is in the lion-knight-castle set. Or that also heavy armored lion knight at the dragon knights tower. Because of him the lion knights minifigs seem to be much nicer than the dragon knight ones although it is da dragon knight set.

For the future I would wish, that Lego releases more dragon knight sets, including a very nice and big keep und that the high fantasy theme will be reduced....

So long,

Josy, a pirate and knight fan. :)

Edited May 11, 2010 by josykay

[Shroffy123]

Is it more probable that these sets will appear in June? Or more likely August?

[Dr.Cogg]

new pics on brickshelf.

[Sir Dillon]

new pics on brickshelf.

Do you have a link?

[Nagyzee]

Hello everyone!

To be honest I'm not too enthusiastic about this new theme. I simply loved Fantasy Era and that was what got me to return to collecting Lego (though the Viking ship was close to succeed already a few years before.) I think most of the sets of Fantasy Era were great, on par with the classics of the 80s and early 90s and at the same time very fresh, too. Orcs, trolls and dwarves were all great and I think there were further possibilities in the theme.

Kingdoms is (are?) a lot closer to the roots but because of this I find it a bit dull. Maybe if more factions are introduced and/or they expand on the civilian side of medieval life it will get better in this regard. At this point though I'm not too interested in the big sets but some of the new torsos, the new great helm and so on are great, so I'll be getting the small sets and impulses probably.

[Dr.Cogg]

I'm not good at creating links,but if you go to brickshelf and click castle the first kingdom pics you see should be them.

[WhiteFang]

I'm not good at creating links,but if you go to brickshelf and click castle the first kingdom pics you see should be them.

Is this the right Brickshelf folder? If so, I believed most of us in Eurobricks have seen this.

[Nagyzee]

This one?

[Sir Dillon]

Both those links have been posted here before, though they do tend to get lost quickly in all the posts. I just updated the first post earlier with the new pictures, and the link to Nicholai's gallery is at the very bottom of the post.

Kingdoms is (are?) a lot closer to the roots but because of this I find it a bit dull. Maybe if more factions are introduced and/or they expand on the civilian side of medieval life it will get better in this regard.

I like this new line, but your opinion is well stated. I don't understand what people are looking for when they say they want sets more like the "classics", but find the Kingdoms sets boring. These are the closest in style we've had to the older sets in a long time.

[Nagyzee]

I can't comment on that as I didn't want sets like the classics. I wanted to see quality in design on par with classics and that was present in the Fantasy Era, too. I don't see that much point in redoing the old stuff. Maybe except for revisiting the Forestmen as the brown colours would add an extremely lot to their structures fused into trees. (Though Dark Forest already accomplished this one partly, too.)

FE was great in my opinion because the dwarves, trolls, etc. had their own never seen before unique style while the crownies could satisfy the needs of those wanting something classic. At least to me crownies were classic enough in architecture.

On the whole I'm getting a bit bored with the same old castles and Tudor style buildings of the good guys and also with the black fantasy castles of the bad guys. In my opinion it would be nice if Lego Castle explored different eras and regions within medieval history a bit more bravely. There are lots of possibilities. Even if we stay in Europe distinct characteristics of regions and eras could offer sets/themes with a unique feel. The good guys could fight the bad guys with some 15th century cannons and arquebus in front of buildings featuring renaissance characteristics just as well or among longhouses or among Eastern Catholic style buildings or whatever. It doesn't always have to be English (/Western European) high middle ages. I wish the Viking line would have seen some distinct Viking architecture. There was virtually none. A longhouse would have been awesome instead of the tenth siege engine.

Edited May 12, 2010 by Nagyzee

[blueandwhite]

I like this new line, but your opinion is well stated. I don't understand what people are looking for when they say they want sets more like the "classics", but find the Kingdoms sets boring. These are the closest in style we've had to the older sets in a long time.

I suspect there is a large divide between fans who feel a strong attachment to the castle sets from the 80s and 90s and fans who have come to prefer the more recent fantasy line. Personally I prefer the classic sets over the more recent fantasy theme. While I enjoyed the Crown faction, I had no interest in the skeletons, dwarves or orcs. The sets themselves look to be comprable to the first year of fantasy sets and are certainly a step above the second and third year sets IMO. I've heard a number of people criticize the Kingdoms theme stating the sets are boring, however looking at the previous fantasy era sets I don't really see anything that stands out in the set design. If anything, I actually find that the Kingdoms sets look to be an improvement on the fantasy line. While the fantasy line had a wide variety of new figures and creatures, the sets themselves were actually pretty dull.

I do agree with Nagyzee that LEGO could explore some different areas of medieval architecture. Spanish or Italian architecture would certainly be nice, as would an Eastern European theme. Still, I suspect LEGO will always go the safe route and stick to what looks to be medieval England. As for tudor buildings; we've only had one set since Dan Siskind's Blacksmith Shop so I'm not sure I agree that such structures have been done to death. Moreover, if you stripped the Fantasy sets of their figures and simply dropped in KKI or KKII figs I can't really say that the sets themselves would truly stand the test of time. While the Crownie castle was a step up on the KKI and KKII stuff, I can't really say that it ever reached the likes of classic sets like 6085 or 6074.

I'm really looking forward to the Kingdoms line, and even if it only lasts a year I can't say that I'm disappointed by the shift away from the fantasy line; a line which to me lived and breathed on the appeal of its minifigs.

[RocketClone]

I like this new line, but your opinion is well stated. I don't understand what people are looking for when they say they want sets more like the "classics", but find the Kingdoms sets boring. These are the closest in style we've had to the older sets in a long time.

I think people want castle sets more in the lines of civilian-like sets, kind of like these two lion knight sets.

6040 Blacksmith Shop

6041 Armor Shop

Rockets away! :skull:

Edited May 12, 2010 by RocketClone

[Elander]

Hi folks,

I am in favour that we have at any time three lines. I think with three lines have everone what he want.

-the “Castle Classic” line

(no license/ in future maybe “Robin Hood” or “Crusades“).

human vs. human,

for example: Romanesque church/Gothic style

-another “History” line

(no license, today “Pirates”/ in future “Rome/Greek” or “Wild West”)

human vs. human ,

for example: Renaissance-architecture (in the days of Napoleon)

-the “Fantasy” line

(today “Prince of Persia/Harry Potter”/ in future the “Tolkien”-era)

elves, dark elves vs. orcs (normal legs), goblins (short legs)

for example: LEGO created eagle with bronze armor (corresponding a elf (eagle-rider) with lance) vs. LEGO created balrog with black armor (dragon-rider)

for example: a really dwarf- or elf-architecture.

Yes, LEGO have in every theme with some new interesting LEGO-elements and –figures unlimited possibilities.

The new “Castle Classic” line is in my opinion „ok“. Here have LEGO the chance with 4/5 new elements to give us for example a new “Gothic style“. (New window, column, ...other simple decorations).

[Mac-K]

Hello everyone! Just thought I'd bring this up, both 7947 Prison Tower Rescue and 7950 Knights Showdown are now available on the Toys "R" Us website for order, in addition to 7949 Prison Carriage Rescue which has been there for a little bit. I believe it's just for the U.S., I couldn't find them on the Canadian or British sites.

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4004259 - Prison Tower Rescue

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4004257 - Knights Showdown

Get them while you can!

[Shroffy123]

Does anyone know if these sets are showing up in stores yet?

[The Green Brick Giant]

I really want the Wizard and he better say "You really are more powerful than you can ever imagine" because I want to give that to a friend.

Would be crazy if LEGO went "Let's do a different tile for NA, however this is LEGO, and they are nuts.

[Svelte]

The big Castle set has just been added to toysrus.com for the US The other sets bar Impulses are there too

[Shroffy123]

New Kingdom set 7946 is on ebay for $179, with $79 shipping :/ The caption says it wont be released until August. I hope thats wrong and its actually June!