2011 Kingdoms + US prices

[Piranha]

I would be surprised if Kingdoms sold well, there was barely any promotion for it.

I have never seen any other promos for LEGO other than walking in the LEGO aisle.

[ziljin]

I don't know but I see a lot of commercials for lego city, and lego NinjaGo. And they even made a mini movie! Maybe I missed the commercials for Kingdoms.

[Zeya]

I don't know but I see a lot of commercials for lego city, and lego NinjaGo. And they even made a mini movie! Maybe I missed the commercials for Kingdoms.

Lego commercials play during kids shows. It's like how they play life insurance commercials late at night - they know who the audience is. In the US, you can go watch Lego commercials with Comcast On-Demand. You can probably watch them on youtube, I imagine.

Are there Kingdoms commercials in existence? And would the lack of commercials imply that they don't need any to sell units, or would it mean that they don't care about the line? (I think the former.)

[Hoboman]

It must vary greatly since I haven't seen that set anywhere in town. I've only heard of it because of the forum and peeron inventory.

I will be over at Target again in the morning, so if you want me to pick up a couple and send them to you reply to my PM.

[Piranha]

Lego commercials play during kids shows. It's like how they play life insurance commercials late at night - they know who the audience is. In the US, you can go watch Lego commercials with Comcast On-Demand. You can probably watch them on youtube, I imagine.

Are there Kingdoms commercials in existence? And would the lack of commercials imply that they don't need any to sell units, or would it mean that they don't care about the line? (I think the former.)

LEGO does not make commercials for every single theme nor do they need to. Only new and current popular sellers like SW and City consistently get commercials.

I would assume people who purchase LEGO don't need motivation to buy

[ziljin]

So has there been any news on a chess or tic tac toe set? I am very sad that they stopped making those for castle. At least they made a Advent Calendar in the US for Kingdoms.

[Bearded Castle Guy]

I will be over at Target again in the morning, so if you want me to pick up a couple and send them to you reply to my PM.

@hoboman

The Target I shop got a single shipment in with the Target Practice in, ever since any resupply has been the 30080 Ninja Flyer and there is the basically never selling Toy Story and Atlantis poly's taking up space as well... The Target my sister in-law shops had two shipments in the same time frame, I suspect people in your area just are not buying the Target Practice poly's so you still have stock, since the time I found the ones i bought I've been in... seven different locations, ZERO Target Practice poly's.... If you think there is any chance of you wanting them, buy them while you can....

In general, just a reminder, Target uses the same SKU # for whichever polybag's they are sticking on the registers. This mean you cannot just take the receipt, get the number and have them check other stores. You'd get the quantity of that SKU but the register lumps the Toy Story, Atlantis, NinjaGo, the Target Practice or any other variety into that total and there is NO way to know how many of any particular poly any location has lumped into that assortment number. I've tried already.....

[Ogre]

Something that's been bugging me about the Kingdoms line...

In heraldry, the colour white is used to represent silver and yellow represents gold...so, IMO, the Lions should be flying red and white banners (since, to my knowledge, LEGO doesn't make silver ones) not red and GOLD...especially since green and GOLD are the colours of the Dragons.

That is all.

Oh, okay...one other thing: why no lances with mounted knights? What gives?

[Artanis I]

Something that's been bugging me about the Kingdoms line...

In heraldry, the colour white is used to represent silver and yellow represents gold...so, IMO, the Lions should be flying red and white banners (since, to my knowledge, LEGO doesn't make silver ones) not red and GOLD...especially since green and GOLD are the colours of the Dragons.

This has been the case since the 80s, it's nothing new. The Black Falcon sets had green, white, blue, red & yellow flags for example. At least these days it's consistent within factions.

[Ogre]

This has been the case since the 80s, it's nothing new. The Black Falcon sets had green, white, blue, red & yellow flags for example. At least these days it's consistent within factions.

I think that what bothers me most about it is having both factions with a colour in common.

Just seems so...wrong. LOL

[Artanis I]

I think that what bothers me most about it is having both factions with a colour in common.

Just seems so...wrong. LOL

Unlike much of Europe and many other countries of the world with red, white & blue flags... and Arab countries with green, red, black & white...

[ziljin]

if anything the recent factions are more unique. The older factions reuse the same colored legs, arms, helmets, plumes/feathers, and streamers.

[blueandwhite]

if anything the recent factions are more unique. The older factions reuse the same colored legs, arms, helmets, plumes/feathers, and streamers.

Oh, I think that the old factions are every bit as unique as the new ones. The original lion knights had two different pieces of heraldry (the lion and the crossed axes), the black falcons are the only faction to use a black and blue colour scheme and feature mostly black armour. The so-called black knights introduced the kite shield and introduced the dragon plumes; an element only shared by their lessor counterparts the dragonmasters. While the old factions were certainly more simplistic, I don't think they lacked distinctiveness.

[TheLegoDr]

Oh, I think that the old factions are every bit as unique as the new ones. The original lion knights had two different pieces of heraldry (the lion and the crossed axes), the black falcons are the only faction to use a black and blue colour scheme and feature mostly black armour. The so-called black knights introduced the kite shield and introduced the dragon plumes; an element only shared by their lessor counterparts the dragonmasters. While the old factions were certainly more simplistic, I don't think they lacked distinctiveness.

I will concur! I love those old sets.

[DarthSion]

I used to get lego for bday and xmas as a child, I recently come back into lego a couple of years ago with the force unleashed rogue shadow set release, anyway I decided this year to get stuff other than star wars and I am just wondering, why does lego not have a dedicated medieval theme, why is it for a couple of years kingdoms, then something else for a few years.

Just seems stupid star wars has mostly clone wars stuff but they still do OT and the odd PT sets, but castle type changes all the time, or at least that is how it seems to me after spending some time shopping online for lego.

[Beefbanana]

Oh, okay...one other thing: why no lances with mounted knights? What gives?

Yeah, I didn't get that either, how can the knights hit something with a short sword?

[ziljin]

My only medieval military knowledge is from wikipedia and Medieval 2 total war.

But I think that not all of them used lances. Some used lances and swords, some used spears. and some only used swords/axes/maces/and other short range weapons. And wikipedia says later on infantry were able to sufficiently defend against cavalry charges so later on the horses were merely transportation and the knights dismounted and fought with swords and whatnot instead of using lances.

[Artanis I]

I used to get lego for bday and xmas as a child, I recently come back into lego a couple of years ago with the force unleashed rogue shadow set release, anyway I decided this year to get stuff other than star wars and I am just wondering, why does lego not have a dedicated medieval theme, why is it for a couple of years kingdoms, then something else for a few years.

Just seems stupid star wars has mostly clone wars stuff but they still do OT and the odd PT sets, but castle type changes all the time, or at least that is how it seems to me after spending some time shopping online for lego.

Lego has been releasing medieval themed sets for decades, however there was a bit of a "dark age" (very difficult pun to avoid) not long ago, and the last decade or so the theme has been rebranded every few years, because TLG want to have the theme head in a different direction each time. We have swings between highly concentrated fantasy and more historically accurate. "Kingdoms" is more historically accurate, and with more adult friendly sets compared to what we had 5 years ago (Knights Kingdom II, featuring the dreaded jelly bean knights...) "Castle" (commonly known as the "Fantasy Era") incorporated undead skeleton warriors, trolls/orcs, dwarves & dragons - these are generally assumed to be fantasy elements, not historically accurate.

TLG changes the direction of the medieval theme for many reasons, and rebrands it each time to give distinction. Just like a band changes its name when they don't want to play their old (maybe outdated) songs anymore. It sends out a message to those who wrote off the last lot: "Hey, we've changed! Expect something different, something better!"

Star Wars is unique in that there is source material to make sets from - and plenty of it. So many ships, vehicles, characters and movie scenes to reproduce, and in time re-release with improvements. There are only so many different things to make for a medieval set. Therefore new factions need to be introduced, with different colours to keep things fresh. You can't just release 3 or 4 different 1 man horse carts for the same faction (even if the next one is an improvement over the last), whereas in Star Wars there are many different speeders, ships, vehicles etc that can be available at the same time (that perform the same function) because we know these all exist in the source material, and can justify their coexistence.

That reason stands for most non-licensed themes actually, not just medieval. Star Wars is an exception, not a rule.

[DarthSion]

Still makes no sense to me, but thanks for the info.

Anyone seen the advent calendar on amazon uk?.

[ziljin]

Star Wars is one of the most popular franchises in the entire world. So Lego Star Wars is extremely popular as a result. And also like Artanis said its a huge universe. And George Lucas wants to make Star Wars as long as he lives I think. The Star Wars the Clone Wars he plans on making at least 100 episodes regardless of ratings. Now if the ratings continue to be good who knows how many more episodes will be made. This was originally a short miniseries that bridged the gap between Episode II and III. And now the Clone Wars saga has more content than the original and prequel movies. George Lucas also said he's working on making a Live Action TV series that happens between Episode 3 and 4 but that has been on hold since everyone just watches reality tv now (his words).

Lego Castle is not as popular so they have to mix things up to make it new and refreshing. I am sure if they just made the same thing over and over again it would still be popular amongst adult fans but Lego wants to capture all markets not just one.

[DarthSion]

I get that, I just don't get why not have castle theme, some sets are accurate some are fantasy instead of swapping every couple of years.

[ziljin]

I get that, I just don't get why not have castle theme, some sets are accurate some are fantasy instead of swapping every couple of years.

Because you can't just release the same product forever and not expect people to get bored of it.

[Ogre]

Unlike much of Europe and many other countries of the world with red, white & blue flags... and Arab countries with green, red, black & white...

Hey, LEGO has no bearing on what happens in the 'real world'! LOL!

[Niku]

Lego commercials play during kids shows. It's like how they play life insurance commercials late at night - they know who the audience is. In the US, you can go watch Lego commercials with Comcast On-Demand. You can probably watch them on youtube, I imagine.

Are there Kingdoms commercials in existence? And would the lack of commercials imply that they don't need any to sell units, or would it mean that they don't care about the line? (I think the former.)

LEGO does not make commercials for every single theme nor do they need to. Only new and current popular sellers like SW and City consistently get commercials.

I would assume people who purchase LEGO don't need motivation to buy

There are commercials for Kingdoms.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TLFB20WiRg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aACdJfWOtZo

[TheLegoDr]

Wow, I've never seen Lego commercials before! Thanks, I've been watching youtube for a while now because of it. I'm hooked!