LEGO Castle 2013

[Clone OPatra]

The other bigger sets have a few as well. It's not just the fact they use the large panels so much that bugs me though, why didn't they use any of the cool new detail bricks with the brick pattern on them? A couple of these in the bigger structures would of made them looked so much more detailed and required minimal effort of Lego's part.

They did use the profile bricks, in the big castle itself. They're right under the panels.

I get that, but even the Troll Mountain Fortress released over 3 years ago seems to have waaaay more detail and look infinitely better. Maybe I am just spoiled by the LotR sets, but in comparison these just don't appeal to me at all like I remember the older castle sets. Now that we have seen what Lego is capable I was hoping the new Castle sets would be a little more detailed and exciting than what we are getting...

The older castle sets, talking about the early 90s and before (but not all the way back to the earliest days), do have a certain pleasing aesthetic created by their raised baseplates. They weren't all purely square, and had nice proper courtyards that were a lot more playable because of the baseplate designs.

Since 2007 Castle, though, LEGO has been sticking to castles that revert to the aesthetics of their original casltes: gate, square, four walls, tower with throne. Sure, they could make the walls entirely brick built like in Helms' Deep (besides for the back structure, whose walls are panels), but brick-built walls would drive up the price like crazy. Troll Mountain Fortress was a great set, but it worked on the 'lots of built rocks' level because it had a very unique styles. It also incorporates its fair share of BURPs, though. A knights' castle should look less sloppy, with more smooth surfaces, just like real life castles.

I'd love to see new castles with raised baseplates and more unique looks, but honestly this castle still looks good even if it doesn't present anything brand-spanking-new.

[CMP]

That little prison cart set actually looks pretty cool. Looks to be a $20 set or so, which is a shame, but I'm pleasantly surprised by the cart's design, it's a far cry from those crappy little siege engines. Gah, those wheels....

[Wardancer]

Two types of Head armor for horses

Are we sure that these are two types and not just 2 colours? It is hard to believe they make two horse helmets at the same time. But it looks like the red one has more evil eye holes than the golden one. What do you guys think?

[Nagyzee]

Take a closer look, they did use the "brick" bricks. The entire base of the castle is "brick" bricks, which is a realistic way to use them.

I don't find it such a great use to be honest for two reasons:

- There is a huge contrast between that one layer of brick bricks and the big smooth panels above them. They don't blend in that nicely. Maybe if the brick bricks were scattered more irregularly.

- The brick bricks are not in grey colours so it looks like that the stone castle was built on a foundation of bricks. Which is quite stupid.

Btw this theme is quite meh for me. The heraldry is really awful and a huge step backwards. Some of the figs are quite good but he builds are so-so only. The general set-up has been done to death, too. I mean yet again we get a king in his castle with his knights vs. an evil wizard attacking with siege engines from his smaller lair. Couldn't they just think up a slightly different conflict for once?

Edited January 31, 2013 by Nagyzee

[Brinstar]

People are lining up to condemn these sets but I really like them. It is obvious that Lego is targeting a different, younger, audience with the new castle theme. Anyone expecting the level of detail found in Helms Deep, with all those clever building techniques you usually associate with shop at home exclusives, was always going to be disappointed. I think the new castle is an improvement over 7094 Kings Castle Siege from the fantasy era and probably comparable to 7946 Kings Castle from Kingdoms. I really like the gatehouse and think that overall it looks like a sturdy, well built and attractive castle.

Perhaps my biggest disappointment is with the dragon knights. I do wish Lego had used the opportunity to bring back the Wolfpack or Black Falcons as the main adversary. I don't think it would have made the theme any less appealing and it would have been a nice touch for fans of classic castle.

Everybody keeps banging on about LOTR. I acknowledge that Helms Deep was an incredible set but most of the line did very little for me. The new wave hardly looks like its going to be particularly inspiring either. I'd take these sets over the truly awful Mines of Moria any day of the week.

[Wardancer]

Maybe the dragon knights can be combined with the CMF black knight colorwise. Boars and dragons, why not?

I like that the new barding is wavy at the bottom edge. I hope they make it in more neutral colors soon. The black one from the joust and the dark green one from Kingdoms have nice color schemes.

Also I like the flags made from fabric.

[gedren_y]

I'm a parts buyer, not a set builder, so the design of the siege weapons means very little. The wheels on the catapaults are actually better than the dwarf battle wagon from the previous Castle. These do not have the technic holes, and the lion faction's catapault has brown wheels useful for trees. No, I won't buy these sets to keep as is, but the parts will go a long way to building realistic minifig scale castles.

There are tons of nice parts, and the heraldry for the lions is more akin to Royal Knights than to KKI, which I like. The dragon faction does look a little like the bull faction of KKI, but without the limited characters. Their shield design would have been better if the shields were black with just the red printing. I spied the new short sword in the pics, resize them to the original to see it.

[Niku]

I will surely buy the dragon set and the ambush one.

The castle only if I get all the LOTR sets.

[Teh Stud]

Now that I have seem the actual torso heraldry, I am very pleased. The Crown is by far still one of my favorite designs, and it will be good to be able to build the army even more after several years.

Since the lion shield is my least favorite, we should figure out a way to trade each other. :)

[legobear]

I pray and pray these are prelims. It's a step back from 2007 AND Kingdoms for sure. Huge supporter of Castle here and hugely disappointed. However, one good thing is that the pieces are good and the blue scheme looks good. Otherwise, I want to throw some minifigures at whoever designed Castle for 2013 . The red knights look too evil and too awful. I dislike the evil vs good thing as a whole but ahhh it's for kids. Always teaching kids "we" are good and "others" are evil c'mon Lego . What's with the overkill on the knight with the crown print? Wrong faction there . I'll be going for the minifigures I want to accumulate and that's about it for this year .

[Teh Stud]

There are some cool new pieces. That is a plus.

It's the heraldry which turns me off. The lions and dragons from Kingdoms was so superior. I don't like the cartoon lion at all. The dragon is ok, but nothing special.

I'll probably pick up some of the new pieces on bricklink and skip these sets. Too bad. I would have loved a new minifig faction to collect.

[Algernon]

Looking at the pictures I find myself kind of disinterested. I like Castle but these sets are so bland there's nothing drawing me to them.

[Faefrost]

Here are pics of most of the sets!

http://www.flickr.co...68247/lightbox/

http://www.flickr.co...68421/lightbox/

OK those pics look much netter to my eye than the preliminaries. The blue actually pops nicely on the Castle. Not crazy about the heraldry, but still better than some of the old stuff (KKII). And honestly if you want to swing it over to a Kingdoms style, by a Chess set to populate it and replace the blue wedges with red ones.

[Deathleech]

I don't find it such a great use to be honest for two reasons:

- There is a huge contrast between that one layer of brick bricks and the big smooth panels above them. They don't blend in that nicely. Maybe if the brick bricks were scattered more irregularly.

- The brick bricks are not in grey colours so it looks like that the stone castle was built on a foundation of bricks. Which is quite stupid.

Btw this theme is quite meh for me. The heraldry is really awful and a huge step backwards. Some of the figs are quite good but he builds are so-so only. The general set-up has been done to death, too. I mean yet again we get a king in his castle with his knights vs. an evil wizard attacking with siege engines from his smaller lair. Couldn't they just think up a slightly different conflict for once?

Exactly! Why use the detail bricks on the bottom, which is already different color and already has contrast? They SHOULD of used some of the detail bricks in all those gray walls so they have some texture and look more realistic instead of looking like flat smooth gray walls all over. Heck, I would even go for some more stickers like in the last King's Castle set. As much as I hate stickers it at least breaks up the smooth gray monotonous look.

[Niku]

That little prison cart set actually looks pretty cool. Looks to be a $20 set or so, which is a shame, but I'm pleasantly surprised by the cart's design, it's a far cry from those crappy little siege engines. Gah, those wheels....

I agree on the little chariot it looks fine, maybe the roof is kind of lacking but overall is fine.

Actually after giving it a second look the castle is better and the other set that is a gate has grown on me.

At the end might get the whole line.

[Albero - BEL]

For me it's a huge step back from Kingdoms and also from the fantasy lines, I'm not crazy about the minifigs as well and I'm also tired of catapults.

I will not buy these sets and save money for some LOTR.

[Kliq]

I like the looks of the gatehouse and the dragon mountain, as well as the dragon knight's prison carriage! That said, I am not a fan of the dragon itself, nor the catapults in the gatehouse and dragon mountain sets. I love the figs, though. I wish I could see a better pic of the Dragon's wizard.

[Echo]

All of this moaning and whining is unjustified. Yeah, it's probably not as good as Kingdoms, but only by a little bit. I think it looks like standard LEGO castle at it's most prototypical. Is it new and exciting? Hardly. Does it suck? Certainly not.

[Mike S]

I think a lot of us are spoiled by the awesome kingdom factions. I'm not really interested in these factions but that doesn't make the design bad. The heraldry on the cloth flags actually looks pretty nice. And the castle from a kid's standpoint is a solid fortress with plenty of battlements. I doubt I will get any of these sets except for the dragon mountain which is a must have because of the dragon. On a bright note, with the return of castle, there is an increased chance for the return of some of the more loved factions such as the falcons and the wolf clan in the coming years.

[natesroom]

Theres no way these are prelims. They've printed them they have the box art next to them these are probably 99% final. (some people are "hoping" they are prelim)

These are great for targeting young ppl into Lego Castle, like i was in the 80's and these will be perfect to build with a child. I Love the look of the dragon set, and i will probably buy 3 of those.

[Artifex]

I think a lot of us are spoiled by the awesome kingdom factions.

I am, definitely!

Kingdoms was the theme that brought me back from my Dark Age.

On a bright note, with the return of castle, there is an increased chance for the return of some of the more loved factions such as the falcons and the wolf clan in the coming years.

I don't believe that. I think the Falcons got the Kingdoms Joust homage and that's it for them. The Wolffpack didn't even get something like that.

For some reason, Lego has decided that the Falcons, Forestmen and Wolfpack are gone for good.

The Forestmen seem to have been turned into the elves of the CMF (or the male elf, that is). What's in store for the Wolfpack only time will tell. But remember the Black Falcons haven't showed up in the CMF, so why should the Wolfpack do so?

[Haltiamieli]

For what's it worth, the goodies' shield is much better than the 90's Royal Knights shield it is based on. I still wish they would have chosen differently, but it's ok even as it is. The dragon shield on the other hand looks really lame. That's disappointing. And I'm not liking the minifigures with bright blue arms, black hands and dark bley bodies. The combination somehow looks very awkward. Hopefully they'll look a bit better in real life.

The castle isn't spectacular but it is still quite nice, with a sturdy gatehouse, some nice details and enough room for playability. I think, however, that it would look much better with dark bley bottom level instead of the medium dark flesh or whatever colour those brick bricks are.

Hoping to have a better look at the smallest set soon.

Edited January 31, 2013 by Haltiamieli

[kermit]

I must say after seeing better pictures of the sets especially the castle I think it could of been better. It looks too simplistic and almost similar to the kingdoms castle. A major let down indeed. The dragons mountain however looks absolutely brilliant.

[Sigolf Brimabane]

I might get the smallest set or the gate. I like the look of the good guys, except the shield :/ But maybe I should just buy another MMV...

[Maxim I]

After seeing some good pics of the baddies, I am staying neutral on them.

I do agree it is kinda childish, but I totally didn't liked the heraldry of the skullies & those baddies of Kingdoms... So in my opinion it is again an improvement!