Would you like the Vikings theme to return?

[ED-209]

Mind if I dream along? That idea is very good, but I don't think TLG would make banners. More vikings, more fun!

Dream along by all means!

Sorry, I meant flags but for some reason said banners!

Although now that I think about it, a banner made of cloth or thin flexible plastic would be pretty cool. They used one for the trolls a while back:

http://www.bricklink...tem.asp?P=61747

Fur shoulders - basically a piece that would fit around the neck, much like a suit of armour, that would give the illusion of fur lining the top of a cape.

That's a fantastic idea, Fives!

Hey, I'd even be happy with a second fabric "cloak" that had a ragged edge and only came to shoulder-length, but a moulded plastic part would be sensational! Now you've made me terribly sad that these don't really exist!!

I'm not too keen on basing the look on the Vikings TV show to be honest. I watch the show because it's a fun show, but it's pretty historically inaccurate in lots of ways. The Norse were cleaner and better groomed than contemporary Europeans. They spent long winters indoors and made colourful and intricately decorated clothing. The typical image of their clothes being all dirty browns and having coarse visible stitching is just totally off!

I could just see a set called Hermboldt's Forge. All the swords would be pearl dark gray and pearl light gray swirled to simulate Damascus steel, which his swords are believed to have been made of. The set would be an enclosed forge with something simulating bellows, a somewhat open workshop, Hermboldt himself, a couple of wealthy patrons, and possibly a rugged looking thief. I could see this as a $30 set.

Like others, wishful thinking.

Cool idea! And given how frequently blacksmiths show up in the normal Lego Castle themes, I think your idea is completely reasonable!

So, like Fives, I felt invigorated by this thread and wanted to try a quick mock up of some character designs! They're a little rough in spots, but they illustrate they type of thing I'd really like to see. And BTW I based the helmet off the Brickforge one, because it's cool and historically accurate. I just trimmed the nose section down a little so you can see more of the minifig's face.

Anyway, here's what I came up with:

[Alfadas]

That are some cool looking figs you got there, ed209. I really like that berserker, the one with blue war paint. I would certainly want all of those figs.

[kermit]

I love the viking`s theme and am sad that i missed out on it. I was lucky to snag the viking ship on ebay for a reasonable price but I still want more, like a mountain top fortress, a cave hideout and even a fishing village complete with huts, a small animal farm and a fishing boat.

[gedren_y]

Wonderful designs, ED-209. Though the guy with war paint should have actual Nordic runes and a snarling face. He is supposed to be a berserker, right? I also like the pendant variations. One of them should be wearing a lightning bolt, though.

I would also propose that a piece representing a torc be designed. Important Celts and Norsemen alike wore them.

[Blakstone]

Most of the non licensed themes do not have really detailed minifig printing. I think that ED-209's designs are excellent. I am not sure that we really need multiple viking factions.

But they would complement Castle 2013 or Kingdoms factions.

[SirBlake]

Ed! Wonderful designs! I can't find a fault with any detail. I would love to add these to my collection and my 8 year old daughter likes them too and wants to know what the Jarl's wife and kids look like. :-)

[Cyberbricker]

I would really like it if they could bring out like a sort of collectors line for the "Castel Themes", not just system sets, but really the detailed stuff, like some of the MOC builders do here on EB.

Edited March 7, 2014 by Cyberbricker

[Blakstone]

Cyberbrick, that would work. But I would really like a Collectible Minifigure series that was a variety of Castle, Vikings, and other historical figures. I could easily see this quality of minifigs with newly designed helmet molds. We got them for the Romans already.

The structure I can MOC on my own.

[ED-209]

That are some cool looking figs you got there, ed209. I really like that berserker, the one with blue war paint. I would certainly want all of those figs.

Thanks Alfadas, I want them now too!

I love the viking`s theme and am sad that i missed out on it. I was lucky to snag the viking ship on ebay for a reasonable price but I still want more, like a mountain top fortress, a cave hideout and even a fishing village complete with huts, a small animal farm and a fishing boat.

You did well, the longship is easily the most iconic of the Lego sets! I missed it when they were in shops, but I wound up buying the hull, mast and sail from Bricklink years later, and making a MOC version instead.

I also love the idea of a smaller set with a cave hideout! I don't know why exactly the idea appeals to me, but it does! It could be called "Raiders' Fjord" or something!

Wonderful designs, ED-209. Though the guy with war paint should have actual Nordic runes and a snarling face. He is supposed to be a berserker, right? I also like the pendant variations. One of them should be wearing a lightning bolt, though.

I would also propose that a piece representing a torc be designed. Important Celts and Norsemen alike wore them.

Thank you, and yes he's intended to be a berserker! Most of his war paint is meaningless, but the mark on his left pectoral is the rune "ur", which can be interpreted as "strength" if you go in for that sort of thing. And his pendant is the rune for Tyr, the god of combat and justice (where as the two men wearing tunics both sport Thor's hammer pendants). I was thinking of updating the berserker with more runic paint marks if you think it's worth it?

I also love the torc idea, would you envisage it as a new piece, or would trying to incorporate it into the torso printing be another option?

Ed! Wonderful designs! I can't find a fault with any detail. I would love to add these to my collection and my 8 year old daughter likes them too and wants to know what the Jarl's wife and kids look like. :-)

Thank you, and that's an excellent question! Tell her she can decide which figures are related to which others!

The more I think about the idea of a new (and historically accurate!) Viking range, the more I wish it was actually going to happen!

Alfadas, this is your thread and I don't want to hijack it, but have you thought about a community build idea? Imagining the various price-points and piece-counts that TLG would use, and then working out what buildings/vehicles/figures/accessories would be in which sets, and then have contributors tasked with designing and making specific sets? Or some sort of competition/voting perhaps? I don't know if anyone else would be interested in that kind of thing, but I certainly would!

And thank you again to everyone for the kind words!

If anyone has any suggestions I'd be happy to make some more figure designs. (But I might start a new thread in the Minifig Customisation forum if I do any more!)

[Sigolf Brimabane]

Wouldn't the god of berserkers (and ulfhednar) be Óðinn? Óðinn (Wotan/Woden) means fury (german Wut, Old Norse Óðr).

I'm not too sure war paint would be historically accurate. Isn't that more Pictish?

The figures look great, though :)

[ED-209]

Wouldn't the god of berserkers (and ulfhednar) be Óðinn? Óðinn (Wotan/Woden) means fury (german Wut, Old Norse Óðr).

I'm not too sure war paint would be historically accurate. Isn't that more Pictish?

The figures look great, though :)

That is true, reports seem to indicate that berserkers sought favour with Odin/Wotan, but to be honest I'd only remembered that after I'd posted the earlier images!

Serves me right for staying up too late working on this!

And yes, the picts were said to wear woad paints on their bodies, but there's little evidence to suggest that the Norse ever did. I just felt it was feasible, without being proven demonstrably incorrect by archaeological evidence! But it is true that the berserkers were said to go bare-chested into battle, and/or to wear a bear-skin as a cloak. This is sometimes suggested as wearing the head part as a hood in a sort of shamanistic effort to take on the strength of the bear. So maybe a "bear's head hood" would be a good piece to see made for the berserkers?

[Sigolf Brimabane]

That is true, reports seem to indicate that berserkers sought favour with Odin/Wotan, but to be honest I'd only remembered that after I'd posted the earlier images!

Serves me right for staying up too late working on this!

And yes, the picts were said to wear woad paints on their bodies, but there's little evidence to suggest that the Norse ever did. I just felt it was feasible, without being proven demonstrably incorrect by archaeological evidence! But it is true that the berserkers were said to go bare-chested into battle, and/or to wear a bear-skin as a cloak. This is sometimes suggested as wearing the head part as a hood in a sort of shamanistic effort to take on the strength of the bear. So maybe a "bear's head hood" would be a good piece to see made for the berserkers?

A bear-hood would be totally awesome

[Alfadas]

Alfadas, this is your thread and I don't want to hijack it, but have you thought about a community build idea? Imagining the various price-points and piece-counts that TLG would use, and then working out what buildings/vehicles/figures/accessories would be in which sets, and then have contributors tasked with designing and making specific sets? Or some sort of competition/voting perhaps? I don't know if anyone else would be interested in that kind of thing, but I certainly would!

I also would like that, but I am not the one to organize it. Maybe a new thread, made by someone more experienced then I am, someone who has contacts at TLG, so that they can make the winning sets.

[gedren_y]

To get a torc to look correct, it would have to be a separate piece. Printing would get lost under a cape, and a torc was worn over cloaks.

War paint for the gods' protection was used throughout northern Europe before the Roman conquest and supplanting with Roman culture. Most people don't think of the Norse culture as a form of Celtic culture, but it was. The word 'woad' does come from a derivation of Odin. The weekday names Wednesday, Thursday and Friday come from the Norse gods names.

A good way to bring back Vikings would be to pit them against the classic Celts. There has already been a CMF Highland Warrior and a CMF Bagpiper, so Celtic parts designs exist.

Edited March 8, 2014 by gedren_y

[Admiral Khan]

Dream along by all means!

Sorry, I meant flags but for some reason said banners!

Although now that I think about it, a banner made of cloth or thin flexible plastic would be pretty cool. They used one for the trolls a while back:

http://www.bricklink...tem.asp?P=61747

That's a fantastic idea, Fives!

Hey, I'd even be happy with a second fabric "cloak" that had a ragged edge and only came to shoulder-length, but a moulded plastic part would be sensational! Now you've made me terribly sad that these don't really exist!!

I'm not too keen on basing the look on the Vikings TV show to be honest. I watch the show because it's a fun show, but it's pretty historically inaccurate in lots of ways. The Norse were cleaner and better groomed than contemporary Europeans. They spent long winters indoors and made colourful and intricately decorated clothing. The typical image of their clothes being all dirty browns and having coarse visible stitching is just totally off!

Cool idea! And given how frequently blacksmiths show up in the normal Lego Castle themes, I think your idea is completely reasonable!

So, like Fives, I felt invigorated by this thread and wanted to try a quick mock up of some character designs! They're a little rough in spots, but they illustrate they type of thing I'd really like to see. And BTW I based the helmet off the Brickforge one, because it's cool and historically accurate. I just trimmed the nose section down a little so you can see more of the minifig's face.

Anyway, here's what I came up with:

They look awesome, but I would much rather have them with light flesh skin than yellow.

[SirBlake]

Ed, those ladies and kids are great additions! I showed my daughter and got a squeal of delight. I know we say this from time to time, but I sure hope TLG is paying attention to this thread.

[Alfadas]

Ed, I completely forgot to say I love the woman and kids. Same design, other colors. Just amazing. Now I want the vikings to return even more. But no female kids?

[Cyberbricker]

Cyberbrick, that would work. But I would really like a Collectible Minifigure series that was a variety of Castle, Vikings, and other historical figures. I could easily see this quality of minifigs with newly designed helmet molds. We got them for the Romans already.

The structure I can MOC on my own.

That would be great 2! The more factions the more fun!

[greenalfonzo]

I would prefer a new viking line to be opposed to a 'standard' castle line. The standard castle faction would have a smallish keep/castle, fortified house/inn, and more peasants than normal.

[Mr. President]

More Viking sets would be absolutely amazing. We know for a fact that TLG knows how to make the style - as with the original Vikings theme, the CMF characters, and the elements of Lord of the Rings that are inspired by Norse mythology - and it would really add a new dimension to their product offerings.

[Alfadas]

I made a new thread asking for someone to make the challenge, they said make something and put it on cuusoo. Not the answer I was looking for. But offcourse that is something we all can do. Make something, put it on cuusoo, reach 10k supporters and have TLG make it.

[ED-209]

I also would like that, but I am not the one to organize it. Maybe a new thread, made by someone more experienced then I am, someone who has contacts at TLG, so that they can make the winning sets.

My apologies, I didn't mean to try and convince TLG to make the range. I meant merely a fan project to design a range of sets as if Lego were to launch a "rival clans" Viking range. To try and capture the style an official product range, if that makes sense to you.

Extremely roughly, how about this:

1. Blacksmith: small set (and no Castle theme would be complete without one! ) consisting of a little shed with an outdoor forge and a rack of swords, axes, and helmets. The blacksmith is wearing a tunic and leather apron, with dark brown gloves, soot on his face, and hair tied back in the Qui-Gon Jin ponytail. Probably a secret compartment inside the building for the smith to store his loot, and an enemy fig in helmet and armour come a-raiding.

2. Raiders' Fjord: a small-to-medium set. A small cave built from dark grey slopes, and a small fishing boat built from back-to-back rowboats. Two fishermen are seeking shelter from the storm, but stumble into the hideout of a pair of desperate cut-throats! The boat could contain crates and/or barrels with fish, and a string net. The fishermen arm themselves with oars and a dagger (to represent a saex).

Thanks to Kermit for this idea!

3. Longhouse attack: mid-sized set, the building opens up for play, contains one "blue" warrior with his wife and child, and a couple of "reds" as a raiding party. And perhaps one or two small animals, pig/goat/chicken/etc, and maybe a loom or something inside? Maybe it could even have some sort of "action feature" where part of the roof pops off and flame pieces swivel into view? That sounds very much like the sort of thing TLG would include!

4. Longship: a big set, with a crew of "blue" warriors and a couple of "reds" climbing/swinging aboard (in the same way they always package the enemy minifigs with the ships in the Pirate range). A cloth sail, a dragonhead prow, shields lining the sides and a whole lot of oars.

5. The "red" Jarl's Fortress: biggest set, basically a palisade made from the big "log cabin" wall pieces, a group of "reds" (including the "red" Jarl and his wife) defend against a party of "blues" (armed with a battering ram perhaps?) We can probably make the concession to include those little catapults, or flick-fire ballistas or something.

So yeah, I'm sure that "proposal" would still need a lot of refinement, but I could envisage something simlar to that actually working as a real product range. Maybe?

They look awesome, but I would much rather have them with light flesh skin than yellow.

That's certainly very easy for me to change if you want to see what they'd look like? But I went with yellow because TLG still use yellow for the non-licensed themes. Although I don't really have much of a preference either way, I just wish they were consistent!

Ed, those ladies and kids are great additions! I showed my daughter and got a squeal of delight. I know we say this from time to time, but I sure hope TLG is paying attention to this thread.

LOL, I'm glad she liked them!

I don't know if they're paying attention to it or not, but I'm certainly going to make some of these ideas myself!

But no female kids?

I never said that!

(BTW, that's a 1x2 brick for her skirt)

I would prefer a new viking line to be opposed to a 'standard' castle line. The standard castle faction would have a smallish keep/castle, fortified house/inn, and more peasants than normal.

That could certainly work, basically cast the Vikings as the "evil faction" in an otherwise standard Castle range. I'd certainly snap up all the sets if TLG released that. But honestly I'd prefer both factions be Vikings - simply becasue you can never have too many Vikings!

I made a new thread asking for someone to make the challenge, they said make something and put it on cuusoo. Not the answer I was looking for. But offcourse that is something we all can do. Make something, put it on cuusoo, reach 10k supporters and have TLG make it.

Maybe that isn't a bad idea? Although the CUUSOO guidelines expressly state that you should only submit a single model, not a proposal for an entire range. They also mention not to propose "you should bring back theme X" suggestions, and I'm not sure if this discussion would fall into that category?

[Alfadas]

Oops. Silly me. I like your ideas, and the female kid . Let me think on my own ideas for "new" sets.

[Kauaijohn]

Seeing the viking minifigs was what drew me to LEGO a few years ago, so I'd certainly be up for a new viking theme. Unfortunately, I missed out on the sets in stores and now the prices on eBay, etc. are too high for me. A new group of viking sets would not only give me something exciting to collect and build, but also give me someone to lay waste to all my Castle theme sets! Hmmm... I wonder where to get a few hundred Large Flame pieces?

I'd definitely be interested in a Vikings revival. I'd mostly be in it for the figs and hopefully some updated prints and molds. I'm really more interested in castle builds but Vikings would be more interesting than the current castle line. It could be a really cool mashup to have the Vikings raid medieval castle and civilian structures. I'd be all over that.

Yep! Me too!

[Ardelon]

I wasn't much of a fan of the Viking theme; never got any of the sets. But if it would be done more to my liking, I'd be all for it.

The thing that bothered me the most were the robotic creatures - I'd prefer molded ones. I think the fantasy dragon and the current warg molds would work great, and the Smaug mold could be even better.

As for the helmets, I'd prefer more accurate helmets without horns, with some having spectacle visors as in the brickforge Viking helmet. But if horns are necessary to sell the toys to kids as a stereotypical portrayal of Vikings, then I hope at least that the horns would be smaller - the old Vikings with their helmets looked a bit ridiculous being almost as wide as they were tall. Looking at them at the time, I wished the horns had been made part of the helmet, like the medicinman's bison cap from the Western theme. In any case, a combined helmet + hair mold, like what the CMF Viking woman / Valkyrie had, would be a great leap forward.

Having said that, I'd like to see a more "primitive" dark age theme, and I guess Vikings are the most likely take on it. I'd hope it includes lots of artistic elements as seen on the serpent/lindworm tile or the Valkyrie torso and skirt.

Another thing is it has a lot of potential for antagonists - dragons, wargs, sea serpents, trolls, light and dark elves, (frost) giants... Contrary to the discussion above, I don't think TLG would pit the Vikings against human opponents. First of all, there is a wealth of non-human opponents like I mentioned above, which makes it easier for TLG to set the theme within their simplistic black-and-white morality. Second, kids might find two rival Viking factions boring, and third, I'm not sure whether a Danish company would portray evil Vikings, since Vikings are part of Danish heritage.

So my answer is, I would welcome a Viking theme so long as some things were done differently from the last time.