Sigolf Brimabane Posted January 31, 2013 Posted January 31, 2013 (edited) Very much disappointed by the look of the logos... :( The minifigs look really good and the colour scheme too! The shields are pretty, apart from the ugly lion... The sets don't seem particularly bad. Not worse than other castles IMO. For kids it is as good as anything x) Those big things are really good for kids. They allow them to build large castles. And the king has a golden sword! :D Edited January 31, 2013 by Sigolf Brimabane Quote
yogurt Posted January 31, 2013 Posted January 31, 2013 I like the look of the castle design, the two tiered gatehouse and buttresses do a good job of breaking up the big grey wall problem. I don't like the dragons head on the catapult and the red and black colour scheme is poor. The bad guys shield design looks ok but the Lion shield is awful (why they've resurrected the worst shield design I don't know). The rest of the castle has the usual play features, secret door, catapults etc that I would expect but I'm not a fan of the blue decorative pieces on the walls (the red used on the last castle looked much better). I don't know if its just the photograph but something looks... well wrong, about the horse and it's barding. I'm pleased that they've included a knight as well as the king, and hopefully there will be two horses for the royalists (I doubt there will be though). However the set has the usual problem of not enough minifigs and the ever present factional imbalance of the good guys outnumbering the baddies. It'll be interesting to see what changes they make for the final version. Quote
dyntar Posted January 31, 2013 Posted January 31, 2013 While I don't hate the sets. I do think they could have been better. This seems like a combination of Kingdoms, crownies, lions, dragons and bull factions thrown into one theme. The castle looks good for what it is and we get a different sword in gold for the king. The armour on the kings men is an interesting mixture with the crown, the lion, the scale mail armour and tunic with leather strap. plenty of variation. The princess looks pretty good. It will be good to see some close ups of the printing on the dragon faction. Quote
Maxim I Posted January 31, 2013 Posted January 31, 2013 In the beginning I was really disappointed with the design of the heraldry, but now that I have seen the torsos I am really happy! In my eyes, this is finally the wave that can combine crownies with lions!! (if you look good, you see that some soldiers have a lion on their body, while others have the crown) However, I am still not convinced about the baddies. But then again, the colours of them both are just perfect for me! (Long live Kaliphlin!!!) Quote
Sigolf Brimabane Posted January 31, 2013 Posted January 31, 2013 The armour on the kings men is an interesting mixture with the crown, the lion, the scale mail armour and tunic with leather strap. plenty of variation. I think so too. The good minifigs look amazing! Only the shields are bleh... I love the colours but not the lion :/ I think maybe that these knights would look awesome with the white and blue Viking shield x) Or maybe with Boromir's shield :0 Something else than the lion shield at least and they would be great. Quote
just2good Posted January 31, 2013 Posted January 31, 2013 Interesting... The princess is using a Friend's hairpiece (Emma's). Quote
Artifex Posted January 31, 2013 Posted January 31, 2013 Thanks a lot for sharing the links and pics, guys! I don't like the heraldry. The crown and the lion are no more than ok, but they are not for me. That "bull-dragon-wolf" thing is just plain meh to me. You can't really compare the new heraldry to the Kingdoms rampant Lions and Dragons, I guess. I don't know, but maybe that crown and the lion seem a bit <insert that tiresome argument> when compared to the Lions and Dragons of the past few years. I really don't think there was any reason to juniorize the heraldry, but I don't work at Lego. I have no words for the other heraldry thingie (is it a dragon-bull-wolf or a red tree? ). Apart from the heraldry, the blue minifigs look good, though. Interesting mix of armor printings, gloves and colors. The red minifigs we still have to wait and see, I guess. As for the castle set, well... As I said in another post, the design looks good. the castle is growing on me. I like it much better now that we have better pics. Even the brown line thing seems nicer than I thought at first. Is it me, or ist that back tower in the middle of the far wall -- instead of in the corner, like previous castles? Are there 3 towers (in the corners) plus that one in the middle? Or is it 2 in the corners and the one in the middle of the back wall? Can any one please confirm that? I hope that castle is "modular" like the Kingdoms one. SO you can buy multiples and have bigger castles. The Gatehouse Raid set looks good to (i believe that's the set you can see in the background). Quote
andhe Posted January 31, 2013 Posted January 31, 2013 (edited) Liking the figures (or at least the parts) as the torsos look easy to add to existing factions (they seem to be using both the crown AND lion head, and I bet the baddies black/red combo would look good alongside the series 7 evil knight). The castle does look like mainly large parts, I guess to be cheaper, and easier for kids to build. I'm sure this will do well with the lower age range, but the lack of originality in this design is disappointing for other collectors/builders. Will probably stick to the smaller sets, especially if the smallest set does have 4 figures, and hope that they have the black bucket helms as the picture below suggests. The horse armour does look a bit odd though, and not keen on the friends hairpiece. From German toy fair by Brickset, on Flickr Edited January 31, 2013 by andhe Quote
fuavarra Posted January 31, 2013 Posted January 31, 2013 It's nice that we get a new white horse. I will give it to Gandalf ^^ The castle is nothing special at all but the knights and the sword of the king look interesting. Quote
Mr. Elijah Timms Posted January 31, 2013 Posted January 31, 2013 I just don't get it-- why are some of the blues sporting the lion as their primary herald, and others are wearing the crown?! Why not just re-use the crown then instead of the new lion eyesore I mean logo?? Hard to see where and how all this can smoothly fit into out existing collections... And maybe im in the minority, but I actually think the castle looks okay, if not spartan. I guess I'd developed such an expectation for something far worse from all the previous reports. Quote
Kai NRG Posted January 31, 2013 Posted January 31, 2013 The castle looks like it's aimed for younger builders, which is what I expected, but the "dragon catapult" really seems like it went a bit over the top... the good side heraldy is not too bad - it looks like a lion (similar, but not the same as the old kind), with a crown on. The other one still looks a bit fuzzy. I have no plans on getting the castle, but that would probably have been the case almost no matter what, so it's really not that bad. Quote
Wardancer Posted January 31, 2013 Posted January 31, 2013 Hmm, in comparison to the ultra detailled lotr figs these look sub par. I am very happy that they make horse equipment. I do not like the horse helmet entirely, the socket for the extra plume is too big. Quote
natesroom Posted January 31, 2013 Posted January 31, 2013 Looks good to me and i'll probably get the whole set and then some. Quote
Wardancer Posted January 31, 2013 Posted January 31, 2013 The bardings are too colorful for my personal taste, but it is good to know that the mold exists. I am not sure but I think there are no dark bley legs with armor print, so these might be useful. Correct if I am wrong. Quote
Gatekeeper Posted January 31, 2013 Posted January 31, 2013 I see the Heroic Knight from Series 9 is a great influence on the Lion Crownies..... (Crownie Lions?) I like the figs. I also don't mind the larger set either. As many have said we need to see the price point. However, I can't imagine it's much different than the normal pricing tiers. Quote
Wolvarie Posted January 31, 2013 Posted January 31, 2013 Anyone seen a picture of the smallest Castle set?? Quote
metalandi Posted January 31, 2013 Posted January 31, 2013 I don't get from where that comparison to KK always comes from. Has anyone ever compared any KK set with the pictures from this new castle. I don't see much similarities, if any, even. The castle has an enclosed structure, and looks like a solid building, unlike the KK sets which mostly looked like a thrown together mess without any real architecture design. There are not more big parts, than in any other castle from the last 5 years. The only bigger parts i can see are the wall elements, which have been used in all castles from the last 5 years, so there's no difference. The ONLY thing that looks a bit strange is the catapult, but as far as the castle itself goes, it looks like a "normal" castle to me, nothing extremely exciting, but it doesn't need to be. Also remember that the bigger castles from KK and KK2 both used raised baseplates, which this one doesn't. So please tell me, what excactly are the things that remind you of KK. Quote
Brickington Posted January 31, 2013 Posted January 31, 2013 I haven't checked this topic in a while and now there's minfigs pictures. All of that blue might make me switch to the kaliphin guild. Quote
andhe Posted January 31, 2013 Posted January 31, 2013 (edited) ^^I think people might be refering to the colour? At first glance there seems a predominance of bright blue for the goodies and red for the baddies (similar to KK). There doesn't seem to be many new parts (someones pointed out a sloped corner brick, in blue), but as noted on flickr, there seems to be good parts in new colours ie. the new highlander sword in pearl gold, the flame/plume in regular blue and the great helm in black (currently only available with the Kingdom's joust). From the fig picture above, you can see the horse barding is open at the back to allow movement of the new horses (black horse in the distance, top left). Let's just say I'm hoping for minifig battle packs like there have been for the Fantasy Era, and Kingdoms. Edited January 31, 2013 by andhe Quote
Kliq Posted January 31, 2013 Posted January 31, 2013 Blech, what an awful color scheme and heraldry for the good guys. The bad guys aren't so bad. I actually like that the bad guys have a variety of different helmets, it makes them seem like more of a bunch of mercenaries or something. I'm still not a huge fan of the design of the castle, something about it just rubs me the wrong way. Maybe it is just all of those damn lions everywhere. Being a castle collector, I have no choice but to purchase it. I'm sure it'll be fun. I really don't like the King's sword. That design doesn't look right amongst the standard castle weapons. I also realize I don't like the new horse being in the castle line, either. With its barding on, it looks like a Duplo horse (all angles smooth and rounded). I also don't like the bad guys' catapult. Why must siege equipment resemble some kind of animal? The more I look at the castle, the more I think I will like the way it looks in real life. Quote
BigHobbit Posted January 31, 2013 Posted January 31, 2013 (edited) Here are pics of most of the sets! http://www.flickr.co...68247/lightbox/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/61839591@N08/8431768421/lightbox/ Edited January 31, 2013 by BigHobbit Quote
robuko Posted January 31, 2013 Posted January 31, 2013 (edited) I haven't checked this topic in a while and now there's minfigs pictures. All of that blue might make me switch to the kaliphin guild. All immigrants welcome. I think this castle looks pretty decent for a toy, and I think it will bring kids in to the theme. Drawbridge, portcullis, catapults, hidden treasure, lots of play features to like. But Oh My Goodness the heraldry is awful. Crownielions I'm fine with, and I love the armour, but the worst Lion shield should be left to hide in shame at the bottom of the drawer and this new dragon (?) is even worse. Does anyone like either of them? I have seen a lot of people don't, but I'm curious if anyone changed to a more positive view. ^IThe other sets look intriguing. The dragon is a must after I missed the fantasy one and the HP one. Edited January 31, 2013 by robuko Quote
BigHobbit Posted January 31, 2013 Posted January 31, 2013 (edited) I really like the Dragon Mountain set (or Dragon Peak, or whatever it's called). It looks much better than the preliminary pic, which looked closer to the gray Castle colors. So glad I decided to hunt on Flickr. Edited January 31, 2013 by BigHobbit Quote
Sigolf Brimabane Posted January 31, 2013 Posted January 31, 2013 Oh my Gods... That's one ugly dragon :( Why can't they make more dragons like the one from the Viking era? Dragons shouldn't be fat like that. They are supposed to be more worm-like. I hope, but in vain, that there will be a Lindorm once. I should have gotten the Viking era ship with Jörmungandr, and the fortress with Fafnir. Too bad I didn't have much own money back then x) Quote
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