Future Castle sets - put your hopes and ideas here

[Alfadas]

I don't know if this has been covered before, I just thought it was a good idea to post a new topic where you can post your ideas for future castle sets, if there someday will be a new theme. Just to be clear, not the standard sets, such as the battle pack and the castle, just ideas for cool sets.

I will go first:

- a small trade outpost, whit a few armed guards and a couple of citizens. €45

- a village set like this one, with other things a medieval town needs, so other things then the inn, stable and black smith, like maybe barracks, a couple of houses, a field with a farmer. €100

I hope you share nice ideas with the rest of the castle fanatics, and I hope that TLG will make sets of some of the ideas.

[Blakstone]

After a point, you get a lot of the brick you need. It becomes a matter of what the minifigures look like. I think that the licensed sets and the Collectable Minifigure series have the most detailed and impressive minifigs. Castle 2013 and The LEGO Movie tie in failed to impress me because the figures looked too cartoonish.

I think a Castle revival needs a more realistic heraldry like the Lions that resembled the British lion and the Black Falcons. As a kid neither of these factions were "the good guys" and since the Forestmen were rebelling against the English king, the Lion faction was mostly a villian. The Black Falcons were just a rival for the Lions. I think Castle would do better if the kids got to decide for themselves who are the heroes and who are the villains.

I think Castle 2013 had the right idea with the modular wall segments where the Gatehouse can be attached to the castle. However, the Gatehouse has huge openings making it highly insecure for a fortress.

I can see a siege tower and castle wall being a great set. I think the last time they did this was during the Fantasy line.

Any sort of Forestman set in the woods would be excellent. I remember enjoying the peasant cart with a hidden compartment for a treasure chest that was buried by hay bales.

Kingdoms had a great assortment of civilian and knight sets with the MMV, MVR sets you mentioned but also the blacksmith with a working forge hammer.

[Hive]

My hopes for future Castle? That they abolish the current Castle theme ASAP and replace it with something more like Kingdoms or Fantasy Castle.

In terms of sets, I'd like to see more stuff like the Medieval Market Village, Mill Village Raid, Blacksmith Shop, Guarded Inn, etc. A rare medieval boat would be very much welcome as well. Oh, and a smaller Joust set than the very expensive Kingdoms one (which I have yet to find at a reasonable price).

I think Castle would do better if the kids got to decide for themselves who are the heroes and who are the villains.

This, I completely agree with. I'd like the factions and, especially, the faces of the minifigures to be more "neutral". While I enjoy the level of detail LEGO put on the heads these days, I think they could benefit from making them less deterministic in their cartoonish good/evil looks.

My dream Castle theme would be a "Classic Castle" line with the return of Black Falcons, Forestmen and Crusaders with re-imagined versions of classic sets, with modern techniques, parts and colours. A pipe dream, I know... but man, that would be awesome.

[Blakstone]

As a kid first getting into castle LEGO, I knew nothing about heraldry but you could tell there was a depth behind it. My mom was able to give me more background on what they meant and which real life groups they represented.

Why are dinosaurs so popular? Because they are based on something real. Even Lord of the RIngs is based on a lot of ancient myth and the films looked great because they were grounded in reality. Jelly Bean knights and cartoonish shield designs kept me from buying any of the the Castle 2013 (except for the cheapest set).

If Castle 2014 or 2015 is more grounded in reality, I would support it.

[Lord Butters]

I agree with more civilian type buildings.

I would also like to see a second castle/fort for the other faction, as opposed to the tower that the current and previous lines received.

[SirBlake]

I agree with pretty much everything above...

• kill the current castle line ASAP

• MMV/MVR type civilian sets would be great

• either revive classic factions with fresh artwork (like the black falcon in Kingdoms joust) or entirely new factions with heraldry that doesn't suck like the 2013 Castle line sucks.

The only half-step I can see that keeps the current line alive is to do MMV/MVR type civilian sets and I can ditch the crown lion/red dragon figs.

[LegoPanda]

from the the first grey castles (i think) until in the 90s almost every single castle set with wall could connect to each other, and looked good, i wish something like that would come back, also the forest men are a great faction according to me, but the black falcons, the black falcons always where best, they only didn't get enough attention as they deserved, so i thing there should be more different factions, so everyone could decide who their goodies and baddies are. there used to be so many factions, the first lion knights even had 2 torso designs so you could make an extra if you chose to

[Hrafnblod]

Mostly what people have already said. Better heraldry, more civilian sets, and just more sets period. This last castle wave was completely half-assed. I didn't hate it as much as a lot of people here (though the lions were admittedly stupid looking on the shields and flags), but 5 sets? And really, the Kingdoms line had its own issues. The 'evil' faction, if they have to have one, needs a proper base of operations. Dragon mountain or the green dragon knight's tower/fort aren't really sufficient (though I really like the latter), I want a castle for each faction. Does it have to be a $100 one? No, of course not. But back in the heyday of castle, every team had their own home base. Just giving the dragon knights something like Fire Breathing Fortress would've been cool, not as big as the 'main' castle perhaps but still a functional fortress, instead of just a facade. Basically I'd just like to see more castle.

Unfortunately it looks like it's sitting out for 2014, hopefully we get something more like fantasy castle when it comes around again. I doubt we will though, at least until LotR/The Hobbit have played out, since they take that niche. Fantasy was the last time Castle was really -great,- IMO. Every one of the 4 factions had a distinct home base of their own, which was really nice. And they were all fleshed out well in general.

[SirBlake]

I think from a structure/build standpoint, Kingdoms offered better sets, just didn't get enough of them. Your point is well taken though; multiple factions, all with a suitable home base. Not bad at all.

[gedren_y]

There was the germ of a good idea in 2004 when Lego gave us a castle that could belong to one faction or the other. As a castle it was a total fail, but the idea of having a set where you could choose which faction gets to own it is a wonderful one.

Modular wall, fortress, and tower sets that can be combined in different ways, each with enough heraldry and color pieces so you can choose from different factions. Neutral faces are also a big want.

[SerenityInFire]

I personally would love to see a return to the Black Knights/Dragon Masters heraldry.

My biggest request: MORE CAVALRY! MORE BARDING!

Maybe an army builder set for each side that has a swordsman, a spearman, an archer, a foot knight and a mounted knight with barding.

Oh, and more siege weapons too. I love siege weapons.

[qiadris]

Something I would like to see would be a medieval city, even though it would belong to a later period than what we are used to. It would be a good chance to include neutral buildings with no heraldry and civilian buildings.

[wesker]

We definitely need more factions. One of the great things about the classic Castle line from the 80s-90s was being able to expand the universe with the different parties. You can't really do that with the modern lines when they keep reusing Lions and Dragons all the time.

I'd also like to see more variety in castle design. All the modern castles look the same to me. I miss the days when each faction had their own distinctive stronghold.

[Blazej_Holen]

I think that those actual castle (Lion) knights are far more better than those fols from Kingdoms/fantasy era series (I mean those blue crownies)... These has good heraldry on their coats (the soldier with white and blue tunic, or those crossbowman with chainmail or scale mail with plate gorget) and has nice pieces of armours. Sure these lion emblems are boring and too childish and a bit repetitive. So many versions of Lion knights (Royal one, Leo´s knights, those red lions from Kingdoms, and now we have some more of them :D) Models of actual castle sets are boring as well. Nothing new. Childish prefab castle without proper throne room or any other barracs for soldiers, empty Gatehouse full of holes and almost without any sign of practical defense..and just ugly Dragon mountain wtih some really weird folks with weird armour :)

I would like to see more realistic heraldry like a lion with two tails, falcon or even a english lion or french lily...new helmets (like the great helmet form kingdoms) and maybe some molds or printings like chain cape... Also some nice variation of plate armour, tower shields pavise, pikes etc..

These storylines about good knight vs evil knights are just boring and repetitive.

So TLG should create a proper Castle (or some stronghold) set with Duke, or some lord and his men at arms

Part of medievall village, such as Town hall, shop, bakery, armoury, barracks, proper tawern, jhouse of the lord or nobleman

Proper medieval ship with one mast and big sail including about 3-4 soldiers and 2 civilians (lord and or princess)

Small joust (on foot maybe) with square arena etc... more civilians

Kind of Defense tower with 3-4 guards and maybe a cart with civilian as well

Some bandits hideout (like wolfpack and or forestmen)

...

this are just my wet dream... :(

[Alfadas]

And don't forget more vikings with helmets without horns, maybe give them a few small sets like the wolfpack once had.

[Lord Butters]

A Knights vs Forest Men/Bandits era could do well, especially with the wider range of colours and bricks available that did not exist during the late 80s and early 90s when Forest men and Wolf Pack were in their pomp.

[Cult_Of_Skaro]

Frankly, having only liked around ten sets from the past 7 years, what I want is a line of Castle rereleases, like the Black Knight's Castle, the Black Falcon's Fortress (Yes, again. ), and the Forestmens' Hideout. Now those are some good Castle sets. I would especially love a temporary return of old grey and brown for the rereleases only, though I wouldn't mind it if they just used bley and rown.

Edited January 13, 2014 by Cult_Of_Skaro

[Junpei]

I would love to see the return of Vikings, those sets were great.

One thing I would want even more would be the King's Castle- in yellow. Damn, that would be beautiful.

With brick-built horses using the pony-ear technique.....

TLH

[fhomess]

I love the idea of multiple factions. A forestmen faction seems to be high on everyone's wish list, and Robin Hood is popular with kids so I just don't see a reason to ignore that idea. I also think that the modularization of a city is a must. Make a series of smaller buildings that each back against a city wall that can then be joined into a greater whole.

In terms of thinking along the lines of a castle wave:

Small set ideas: Knight on horseback, Palace Guard with small shelter, Joust training set

Medium set ideas: Smaller joust set, Armory, Toll bridge crossing, Siege tower (ala 6061), Trebuchet, Castle wall under construction

Big set ideas: Castle with tudor influences, Medieval retreat (not a castle, per se), Medieval port

Edited January 13, 2014 by fhomess

[AlphaQuad]

Fantasy Era was the best IMO. They should have added the last missing faction which were the woodland elves!

[Freddy Bricker]

A cave, I don't care how, but I feel my kingdom needs a cave, I'm in the cave mood.

[skeaghshee]

I hope like many others for more civilian sets in the future.

The marketplace the windmill and the joust was great sets, also wulfpack and forestmen were some of my favours in my childhood.

[Tuinman]

I'm also one who is hoping for some nice medieval civil sets; a farm, a watermill, a smithee would be awesome. I don't have bought castle sets since i came out of my dark ages, just LOTR and Hobbit. the castle sets just don't appeal to me that much and my budget is limited, though I'm still considering buying a few. Some civilian buildings in the castle theme would be a nice addition to my middle earthe sets.

[nemorino]

I can agree with some of your opinions: the current Castle line is very lame. I had several Kingdoms sets (7189, 7946), none of the current line reaches the level of them. When the news came of the new Castle wave, I was hoping of more civilian sets and forestmen. And finally we've got these dissapointing, boring wave. I have to admit, the minifigs are great, but all the concept is a big fail, I didn't buy any of them.

Seeing the popularity of the classical age roman and greek collectible minifigs, I think the next Castle line have to be a roman line. Lego can give us several factions: romans, greeks, germans, gauls, egyptians and carthaginians. They have already most of the necessary molds. I think these sets would fly off the shelves, I can already see the boxes with the label "Castrum". (Playmobil has classical sets for ages and they are very popular. I cannot understand why Lego missed this opportunity.)

[frogstudio]

I wish for a decent castle for the "evil" faction. The last one that I can recall that was worth it was Vledeks Dark Fortres... and that was 9 years ago!!! I'd also love to see more civilian sets.