LEGO Castle 2013

[Sigolf Brimabane]

I can't really share in the complaints since LEGO first and foremost is toys aimed at children for most of the time. Kids deserve good toys, i.e. LEGO, and since they would probably like to have knights, castles and dragons this is good for them. As a kid I really loved the Fright Knights, the Royal Knights and Knights Kingdom, so every once in a while there will be kids' themes too :)

[Kai NRG]

Just curious: What's so bad about King Leo's logo? (I just got back into LEGO, thus I do not really know the backstory). It seems that historically, some monarchies have used a lion as their logo so it doesn't seem too strange to me.

I don't have too much problem with it, more that I already have plenty enough for me, but in general it's not a stellar looking lion face and much below current standards. But I kind of doubt that that's actually going to be the logo used; even if it is what shows up on the boxes (and it looks slightly like it, I suppse), that's still preliminary.

[Hive]

Just curious: What's so bad about King Leo's logo? (I just got back into LEGO, thus I do not really know the backstory). It seems that historically, some monarchies have used a lion as their logo so it doesn't seem too strange to me.

The problem lies not with the fact that they use a Lion as their emblem. LEGO has done that several times before, and history saw a great deal of it.

The problem lies with the design of that particular emblem, it simply looks outright horrible and overly childish. It does not look like a fearsome lion, it looks like a cuddly teddy bear from a toddlers' tv show.

If they have to depart from the Kingdoms variant (which was also a lion), I'd much, MUCH rather see them revive this version of a lion shield:

[Gatekeeper]

I really like the dragon from the Fantasy era, I have a number of them and they are currently circling my lego space with their riders in tow. I would be very happy if lego brought back that particular beast. I also wish that lego would make a wizards hat in RED. I cannot order more from overseas because they are way too expensive and I want red wizard hats!

The rest of the sets I'm okay with, I see that they are probably more geared toward a younger age demographic. That being said, I don't care, I like lots of the "young kid" sets. Dino is a my sleeper hit, I love those sets.

[Shroffy123]

I'm not sure why all the disappointment. We can barely see any details in the pictures. With better resolutions and time, I think most of us with enjoy this wave. Honestly my only disappointment is that its a late summer release :(

[Brickington]

The problem lies not with the fact that they use a Lion as their emblem. LEGO has done that several times before, and history saw a great deal of it.

The problem lies with the design of that particular emblem, it simply looks outright horrible and overly childish. It does not look like a fearsome lion, it looks like a cuddly teddy bear from a toddlers' tv show.

If they have to depart from the Kingdoms variant (which was also a lion), I'd much, MUCH rather see them revive this version of a lion

Well said.

I'm not sure why all the disappointment. We can barely see any details in the pictures. With better resolutions and time, I think most of us with enjoy this wave. Honestly my only disappointment is that its a late summer release :(

It is like you spoke for me. That's exactly what I think.

[Bricknblue]

It looks like the bad guys will be controlled by a witch.

I do not like how the "good" guys and the "bad" guys castle / bases look exactly the same. I which the Dragon Mountain was black or had some more brown and leaves or something.

Otherwise nice to see some real Castle besides LotR crap.

[Crownie]

Otherwise nice to see some real Castle besides LotR crap.

And the poo flinging has begun.

[BrickG]

Idunno the new sets look too colorful to me. My favorite Castle series was the Fantasy one. Dark Blue. Enemies that weren't just other humans. Fun almost LOTR stuff (then LOTR came :P).

I think in fact they're making this really kiddie on purpose and really trying to contrast it with the LotR sets. Maybe with the theory that there's no conflict in the consumers then (or fewer). I don't think it'll work.

Edited December 28, 2012 by BrickG

[Sered]

Well, what can I say...

...the new sets are horrible. They remind me KK1's sets. :thumbdown: :thumbdown:

Edited December 28, 2012 by Sered

[Brickington]

Otherwise nice to see some real Castle besides LotR crap.

Good point.

[Faefrost]

Well, what can I say...

...the new sets are horrible. They remind me KK1's sets. :thumbdown: :thumbdown:

In what way? I'm honestly curious, I missed the KK and KKII eras so I an not quite sure what about these brings that to mind? To me these look like a fairly good modern interpretation of a classic style Castle line, targeted at the younger audience? I'm not quite grasping all of the hate? Is it simply we worked ourselves into a froth expecting Black Falcons, or Forrestmen or some similar return from our youths? I know we here all want more civilian stuff, but I don't think that did great on the retail shelves vs the knight conflict sets. While we loved Mill Village Raid it was often found on discount clearance. I think those type sets do better as exclusives.

So what is it we are asking for? What do we want? Because reading this thread makes me very confused?

[Brickington]

Yes, I mean come on guys? Do you expect TLG to be focus on AFOLs. No, LEGO is a kid's toy company, and that's not going to change.

[Kai NRG]

In what way? I'm honestly curious, I missed the KK and KKII eras so I an not quite sure what about these brings that to mind? To me these look like a fairly good modern interpretation of a classic style Castle line, targeted at the younger audience? I'm not quite grasping all of the hate? Is it simply we worked ourselves into a froth expecting Black Falcons, or Forrestmen or some similar return from our youths? I know we here all want more civilian stuff, but I don't think that did great on the retail shelves vs the knight conflict sets. While we loved Mill Village Raid it was often found on discount clearance. I think those type sets do better as exclusives.

So what is it we are asking for? What do we want? Because reading this thread makes me very confused?

I agree about the civilian sets, while those are great for a 13+ age bracket that's more interested in a realistic display than raming knights on horses into each other, they don't sell nearly as well with the younger audience. I personally loved (and still love) KKII (perhaps because I like rainbows and jelly beans? ), but the problem both with those sets and these is the large amount, at least judging by the small thumbnails we've got, of single piece walls (or whatever they're called technically), the fact that they don't seem to be brick built. That's natural if LEGO is targeting a younger audience here as they would not be interested in building a set for an hour before they could play with it (and bigger pieces speed up the building process). But of course for MOCers it's a bit of a let-down. Personally I don't mind, because the less I want from Castle the more I have for other themes.

[The_Cook]

It kinda makes sense from a sales standpoint, these castle sets are aiming at the younger market who (in general) need simpler builds, by doing so they're not cannibalising the market for the detailed sets which is currently represented admirably by LoTR.

Of course as MOC'ers the EB community wants more detail (and more parts) but that's not who Lego is selling or marketing to with this line.

[Kliq]

I disagree with the point that bigger pieces mean less time spent building and more time playing for Lego's younger audience. The Castle of Morcia 8781 is widely considered the worst Lego castle, as it presents the highest level of juniorization during KKII. It had 637 pieces. On the other side, we have Black Knight's Castle 6086, widely considered to be one of the greatest Lego castles, with 588, fewer than that of the Castle of Morcia.

This just goes to prove that Lego can do more with less, it is all about the design. From what we can see in the blurry preliminary pictures, it looks like a lot of BIG

pieces. It's a shame that they can't take a page out of their own book and build sweet designs like they did in the past, even with fewer pieces. Don't forget, the much loved 6074 Black Falcon's Fortress only had 430 pieces. I still am, though, holding out hope that these sets will look better in their final forms.

Edit: Wow, Eurobricks code switches out the word J U N I O R I Z E D for a sad tag.

Edited December 28, 2012 by Kliq

[Rogue Angel]

I think the catapults are what are most reminiscent of KK2. After MMP, the Mill and Joust, people have been hoping this caliber of set would continue. When I was young, the castle wall piece was THE BEST PIECE because they let me build tall castles and keeps. Lego is incorporating these into the new sets, which makes sense because they are great for kids. Clearer pictures will sort out the quality of the sets and figs, but they are definitely reverting to their standard castle style.

[Aanchir]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37049087@N02/8311551525/in/photostream. First pictures of the new theme. The style of the buildings is like the multi coloured knights's kingdoms.

I have absolutely no idea where all these comparisons to KK2 are coming from. Granted, I stopped buying minifig-scale KK2 sets in 2005 (read: when they actually started to get decent). But compared to the admittedly awful castle designs of 2004 KK2, these castle designs look simply glorious. For that matter, the new King's Castle looks even better than Vladek's Dark Fortress, and IMHO, perhaps even better than the King's Castle from Kingdoms. Look at that wonderfully sturdy-looking gate! The less eye-searing color scheme than Kingdoms! No obvious keep, but that's better than the bizarre wide-open throne room of the Kingdoms equivalent.

I heard one person criticize the "giant, one-piece catapults". From what I see, there is exactly one of those, in the Dragon Mountain set. In contrast, the King's Castle set has two brick-built catapults, albeit not as realistic as the one-piece catapults are (rather, there's one on the siege engine in the peculiar style of the Avatar: The Last Airbender sets, and one on the castle itself using one of these).

Overall, I'm having a hard time understanding why fans of historic themes aren't celebrating the castles of this theme.

There are some echoes of KK1, such as the brightly-colored, large-wheeled siege engines (though if you recall, those were not absent from Kingdoms by any stretch of the imagination, any more than the one-piece catapults were).

In the very least, this theme is scarcely any worse than Kingdoms was, and I have a hard time understanding how people got their expectations so high when recent precedent would naturally point toward a theme not unlike this one.

[ZCerberus]

Okay, so I can sense a lot of dissappointment over these very small pictures, but let's not rush to judgment yet!

I agree with some of the dissappointment. Here is what I don't like:

1. Color scheme... bad guys are red good guys are blue. A bit boring. I liked the dark green in the Kingdoms line or the dark blue in the fantasy era much better.

2. Set ideas... same old same old. We have a castle, a wall, a bad guy tiny hideout, a forest and a carriage

3. Looks more like the begining of the Fantasy Era with that logo.

4. Looks like good guys sigil is a blue and white lion instead of a red and white lion. Yawn.

However, there are some things we should be pleased with.

1. LEGO is using the new horse and it appears they have bardings that will allow the horse to stand on its hindquarters with the barding on. Didn't we all want this? I think yes!

2. The "bad guys" look like they have black armor with silver trim. Love that combo from the CMF and Falcon knight from the joust set. Hooray.

3. The bad guys are probably sporting a new sigil. Can't tell what it is, but hopefully it will allow us to make some sweet new knights.

4. Fantasy Era wasn't as mature as some of the Kingdom's sets, but it produced some great figures and accessories. Who doesn't love the orcs and trolls? Seems there are fantasy elements here as well, so this seems more like bringing back Fantasy Era than the dreaded Knight's Kingdom. Let's reserve a little judgmenet for better pics.

[KristofBD]

Well, probably more LOTR sets to come, while these sets please the younger castle fans. I'm ok with that. I generally do not like the pics/sets, but will be interested in how the minifigs will turn out. I actually like the baddies' colour scheme. Could be nice.

[Echo]

These don't look horrible so much as they do uninspired. A very standard looking Castle theme. Does not interest me very much at the moment, but I'll wait and see how they look in higher resolution before passing too harsh a judgement.

[The_Creator]

The problem lies not with the fact that they use a Lion as their emblem. LEGO has done that several times before, and history saw a great deal of it.

The problem lies with the design of that particular emblem, it simply looks outright horrible and overly childish. It does not look like a fearsome lion, it looks like a cuddly teddy bear from a toddlers' tv show.

If they have to depart from the Kingdoms variant (which was also a lion), I'd much, MUCH rather see them revive this version of a lion shield:

Exactly, a redesigned Crusaders shield using gold instead of yellow would have been much better.

Very Disappointed this wasn't more Kingdoms sets or a revamp or Forestmen/Black Falcons.

When I first saw the pics I thought "Playmobile?" then the things I though of next were, "KKII, KKI, and a tad of Fantasy Era"...

Curious what the head armor for the new horse will be like, also it'll be interesting to see what the barding is like.

Overall not very excited, still might buy the sets but even paying high prices for Kingdoms sets looks better to me than buying this theme.

EDIT:

Also those good guys figs look ALOT like Crowies... If they are that'll increase my chances of getting this theme.

Edited December 28, 2012 by The_Creator

[Kliq]

In the very least, this theme is scarcely any worse than Kingdoms was, and I have a hard time understanding how people got their expectations so high when recent precedent would naturally point toward a theme not unlike this one.

I just took another long look at the prototype castle to see where my disdain comes from. What I see is a smooth flat front made up almost entirely of this piece http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=60808. It is nearly an entire wall make up of those pieces! "Uninspired" is a great word. It is highly unattractive when compared to the last two castles.7946 and 7094. Before those castles (and this is the tie in to the KKII comparissons) we had 8823 and 8781 as the flagship castle sets. These sets were awful designs. The design of the 2013 castle is a step up from these, as at least it has four walls, but I can still see an overuse of the big pieces reminiscent of KKII and illogical spaces. 7946 had some great rooms, with doors even, and nearly everything had an access. The prototype picture seems to look more like the Fisher-Price TRIO castle than a Lego castle.

Still, it is a prototype picture and should be appreciated as such before writing off the look of the sets completely.

[Etzel]

I just took another long look at the prototype castle to see where my disdain comes from. What I see is a smooth flat front made up almost entirely of this piece http://www.bricklink...tem.asp?P=60808. It is nearly an entire wall make up of those pieces! "Uninspired" is a great word. It is highly unattractive when compared to the last two castles.7946 and 7094. Before those castles (and this is the tie in to the KKII comparissons) we had 8823 and 8781 as the flagship castle sets. These sets were awful designs. The design of the 2013 castle is a step up from these, as at least it has four walls, but I can still see an overuse of the big pieces reminiscent of KKII and illogical spaces. 7946 had some great rooms, with doors even, and nearly everything had an access. The prototype picture seems to look more like the Fisher-Price TRIO castle than a Lego castle.

Still, it is a prototype picture and should be appreciated as such before writing off the look of the sets completely.

I really can't see how this new castle and Kingdoms' 7946 differs much. They both uses the 60808 wall piece a lot, has a draw bridge, portcullis and towers. The 7946 was in fact the first castle that used that wall piece. I see this theme as a complete remake of Kingdoms, it looks almost exactly the same, which is both good and bad. What it has in common with KKI however, I can't see, apart from some blocky siege weapons and the good guys color scheme (which reassembles the crownies from Fantasy Era more).

"Uninspired" might be a good grade for this theme, I'll agree on that, but not necessarily bad. But I really don't think Kingdoms' first wave was any better ( the second one however with the Mill Raid and King's Carriage was a more fresh new take on the Castle theme).

[Itaria No Shintaku]

What it seems to me is:

those sets are meant to drag young possible castle fans into castles... to make them buy LotR/Hobbit sets after.

I however honestly do not share all this disappointment, as a castle MOCer if prices will be reasonable, though a step back from FE is obvious, I will surely buy some of those sets.