Is anyone else fearing that Nexo Knights is meaning NO new castle them

[SirBlake]

19 hours ago, zoth33 said:

I don't like some sets out there either but I buy the ones I do like or ones I can use parts for MOC's.  I think people just need to find the whatever they like and go with that and not complain about sets  you don't like.  Find some sets that you do like that you can use and be happy.  The negativity on these forums gets out of control some times.  Why cant we all be happy this is supposed to be a site to bring people together that all have the love of lego in common not why we hate things.  Instead we should be enjoying the hobby we all love. 

But what happens when there's nothing to like?

I'm as vocal as anyone when there's something wonderful to talk about, but the simple fact is that there's kind of nothing, at least for the theme that I'm most passionate about. (you'll see plenty of cheerleading from me for Speed Champions, for instance).

It's been discussed before, but the highlights are these:

1: I (and others here) subjectively hate the design of NK. I said subjectively because I don't hold it against anyone who likes the theme, but I ask or the same respect in return. I mainly hate it because it keeps things I would otherwise like off of the shelves, and that's ok too. Just because I hate it, doesn't mean that I troll the action themes forum. As soon as the speculation thread moved there, I backed off. The only place more traditional castle fans have to discuss the theme, or more accurately, the lack of anything that resembles the castle themes we love, is this one right here, and we're being lambasted for expressing opinions. I refuse to apologize for having these opinions, but I also respect others. That should be returned in kind.

2: Appreciation for other useful themes. I think it's great that there's a ginormous Disney castle and that there are some neat parts in Elves sets. Fantastic. The thing is, none of these are close enough to actual castle theme to qualify as a replacement and I sure can't afford to buy elves sets for cool window pieces or similar interesting parts.

3: Deal with it. You know what? Talking about my disappointment in what's available is dealing with it, and if a big western fan wants to start a thread talking about how they are underserved, more power to them. Someone mentioned how pirates doesn't get much love. You know who complains about it? Just about everyone in the pirates forum, and if there was some junky space-ified wiz bang action theme (my opinion, not an objective dissertation on all things in that forum) all about pirates, you can bet they would have discussions about how unfortunate it is that there isn't a proper pirates theme. I don't blame them one bit.

 

In conclusion: You like NK? Great. I'm happy for you. Let the rest of us have our little crybaby thread without beating us up about it.

[josykay]

On 27.2.2017 at 0:39 PM, MAB said:

LOTR (and The Hobbit) and Castle were not mutually exclusive. There were sets like Dragon Mountain and King's Castle out at the same time as LOTR.

True,  but Castle II was more like an unloved stepchild, having much less sets, than the previous Castle and Kingdoms, with no second relase wave, no big final set... and generally speaking rather weak. Compared to LtR and Hobbit, Castle II just was ridiculous. And Knights Kingdom styled crests and color shemes didn't really help much either.

While they are not mutually exclusive, it is is pretty clear, which series got the love from the designers.

I fear, Lego in general hasn't any love left for non licensed/ trademarked castle or pirate stuff, looking at the very weak Pirates 2015 series, which has fairly weak sets in total, and wasn't eaven in many toyshops around the world, while again, being much smaller than all earlier pirate series. I think, we might get some newsets taking place in a medival/ fantasy setting in the future. But I honestly believe, it will go more like Nexo Knights, Ninjago and Elves, with clear, named characters not any generic stuff.

Edited February 28, 2017 by josykay

[Artanis I]

52 minutes ago, SirBlake said:

But what happens when there's nothing to like?

I'm as vocal as anyone when there's something wonderful to talk about, but the simple fact is that there's kind of nothing, at least for the theme that I'm most passionate about. (you'll see plenty of cheerleading from me for Speed Champions, for instance).

It's been discussed before, but the highlights are these:

1: I (and others here) subjectively hate the design of NK. I said subjectively because I don't hold it against anyone who likes the theme, but I ask or the same respect in return. I mainly hate it because it keeps things I would otherwise like off of the shelves, and that's ok too. Just because I hate it, doesn't mean that I troll the action themes forum. As soon as the speculation thread moved there, I backed off. The only place more traditional castle fans have to discuss the theme, or more accurately, the lack of anything that resembles the castle themes we love, is this one right here, and we're being lambasted for expressing opinions. I refuse to apologize for having these opinions, but I also respect others. That should be returned in kind.

2: Appreciation for other useful themes. I think it's great that there's a ginormous Disney castle and that there are some neat parts in Elves sets. Fantastic. The thing is, none of these are close enough to actual castle theme to qualify as a replacement and I sure can't afford to buy elves sets for cool window pieces or similar interesting parts.

3: Deal with it. You know what? Talking about my disappointment in what's available is dealing with it, and if a big western fan wants to start a thread talking about how they are underserved, more power to them. Someone mentioned how pirates doesn't get much love. You know who complains about it? Just about everyone in the pirates forum, and if there was some junky space-ified wiz bang action theme (my opinion, not an objective dissertation on all things in that forum) all about pirates, you can bet they would have discussions about how unfortunate it is that there isn't a proper pirates theme. I don't blame them one bit.

 

In conclusion: You like NK? Great. I'm happy for you. Let the rest of us have our little crybaby thread without beating us up about it.

A big +1 to that, with emphases added.

21 minutes ago, josykay said:

I fear, Lego in general hasn't any love left for non licensed/ trademarked castle or pirate stuff, looking at the very weak Pirates 2015 series, which has fairly weak sets in total, and wasn't eaven in many toyshops around the world, while again, being much smaller then all earlier pirate series. I think, we might get some newsets taking place in a medival/ fantasy setting in the future. But I honestly believe, it will go more like Nexo Knights, Ninjago and Elves, with clear, named characters not any generic stuff.

The Space theme has already gone that way, so I think you are right. Mind you, it was around 4 years ago that those last Space sets were available.

[BrickJagger]

30 minutes ago, josykay said:

True,  but Castle II was more like an unloved stepchild, having much less sets, than the previous Castle and Kingdoms, with no second relase wave, no big final set... and generally speaking rather weak. Compared to LtR and Hobbit, Castle II just was ridiculous. And Knights Kingdom styled crests and color shemes didn't really help much either.

While they are not mutually exclusive, it is is pretty clear, which series got the love from the designers.

I fear, Lego in general hasn't any love left for non licensed/ trademarked castle or pirate stuff, looking at the very weak Pirates 2015 series, which has fairly weak sets in total, and wasn't eaven in many toyshops around the world, while again, being much smaller then all earlier pirate series. I think, we might get some newsets taking place in a medival/ fantasy setting in the future. But I honestly believe, it will go more like Nexo Knights, Ninjago and Elves, with clear, named characters not any generic stuff.

Like Aanchir said, I think we'll get a new Castle theme in 2019 per the 3-year-cycle rule. I've seen quite a large body of people clamoring for Castle's return over the past year, and considering Castle is more popular than Pirates and *arguably* Space, we'll probably get a long-lasting Castle theme soon.

What kind of Castle it will be is what I'm most interested in. Regular, generic stuff like Castle 2013? Village life? Fantasy? Vikings? There really are a lot of possibilities for Lego to explore, considering that last incarnations of each of those subjects will be a decade old.

[zoth33]

4 hours ago, SirBlake said:

But what happens when there's nothing to like?

I'm as vocal as anyone when there's something wonderful to talk about, but the simple fact is that there's kind of nothing, at least for the theme that I'm most passionate about. (you'll see plenty of cheerleading from me for Speed Champions, for instance).

It's been discussed before, but the highlights are these:

1: I (and others here) subjectively hate the design of NK. I said subjectively because I don't hold it against anyone who likes the theme, but I ask or the same respect in return. I mainly hate it because it keeps things I would otherwise like off of the shelves, and that's ok too. Just because I hate it, doesn't mean that I troll the action themes forum. As soon as the speculation thread moved there, I backed off. The only place more traditional castle fans have to discuss the theme, or more accurately, the lack of anything that resembles the castle themes we love, is this one right here, and we're being lambasted for expressing opinions. I refuse to apologize for having these opinions, but I also respect others. That should be returned in kind.

2: Appreciation for other useful themes. I think it's great that there's a ginormous Disney castle and that there are some neat parts in Elves sets. Fantastic. The thing is, none of these are close enough to actual castle theme to qualify as a replacement and I sure can't afford to buy elves sets for cool window pieces or similar interesting parts.

3: Deal with it. You know what? Talking about my disappointment in what's available is dealing with it, and if a big western fan wants to start a thread talking about how they are underserved, more power to them. Someone mentioned how pirates doesn't get much love. You know who complains about it? Just about everyone in the pirates forum, and if there was some junky space-ified wiz bang action theme (my opinion, not an objective dissertation on all things in that forum) all about pirates, you can bet they would have discussions about how unfortunate it is that there isn't a proper pirates theme. I don't blame them one bit.

 

In conclusion: You like NK? Great. I'm happy for you. Let the rest of us have our little crybaby thread without beating us up about it.

You just proved my point with your last statement.  All I build is castle or fantasy moc's and I have been getting castle sets since I was a kid that is the theme  I love the most.  I understand it sucks not having a true castle theme out now but there has to be some sets you like that have good figs or parts for mocing.  I think we got spoiled with all the lord of the rings, hobbit, and castle sets recently.  I always find useful parts and figs in the ninjago line and star wars has some good sets too. I also find a lot of the Marvel and DC sets useful.  Usually people who are into castle/fantasy are into science fiction also.   All I'm trying to say is there has to some sets that you think are good.  I'm not beating anyone up about it.  I just find the villains from nexo knights very useful and a lot of the pieces I can use to build other projects with.

[Robert8]

5 hours ago, BrickJagger said:

Like Aanchir said, I think we'll get a new Castle theme in 2019 per the 3-year-cycle rule. I've seen quite a large body of people clamoring for Castle's return over the past year, and considering Castle is more popular than Pirates and *arguably* Space, we'll probably get a long-lasting Castle theme soon.

What kind of Castle it will be is what I'm most interested in. Regular, generic stuff like Castle 2013? Village life? Fantasy? Vikings? There really are a lot of possibilities for Lego to explore, considering that last incarnations of each of those subjects will be a decade old.

Considering Nexo Knights is quite similar to Knights Kingdom II, then the next Castle line should be something on the line of Fantasy Era. It is too soon for another "realistic" castle line like Kingdoms. 

[x105Black]

On 2/25/2017 at 6:52 PM, Lyichir said:

Seriously, your entire comment smacks of the worst kind of AFOL elitism. Creating a toy that is beloved by a wider number of children isn't "pandering to the lowest common denominator"—it's just good design to try to make products that appeal to as many people as possible. Similarly, "flashy candy colors" are not necessarily a bad thing, and I personally much prefer them to the typically dull, drab colors of color-starved themes like Star Wars or Lord of the Rings. And for crying out loud, Nexo Knights sets do have "real quality"! They're intricately designed and generally have great shaping and functionality—frankly, it's insulting to the hard work of the designers in Billund to pretend as if their sets are worse by some objective measure that you and only you can judge. If you can't find anything to enjoy about today's sets, that's a darn shame. But blaming Lego for your own absurdly high standards is a cheap way to justify your own bitterness.

Fair enough.  I'm glad that there are people that can appreciate Nexo Knights and the candy colors.  I personally prefer the dull, drab, darker colors of the Tolkien sets, it was a much more realistic feeling Castle theme.  It felt warm and inviting to me.

I apologize for my use of "lowest common denominator" because it seems to have been taken wrong.  I was talking about the obvious pandering to a general audience of children, not saying that anyone who appreciates the theme is somehow less.  As I said, I'm glad people like it.  I just don't, and there are reasons for that.  You disagree with my reasons.  One man's junk is another man's treasure, as it were.

Of course, I should add, I mean no offence to the designers.  I know that they work hard to create these sets.

On 2/26/2017 at 1:04 PM, Aanchir said:

Do you honestly think your temporary disappointment matters more than anybody else's? There's no underwater or underground or secret agent or western or viking or pirate or space themes right now, either. There's not even an ongoing fantasy action figure theme right now besides Star Wars. Do you think as a Bionicle fan I'm not frustrated by that? But I deal.

And there are loads of great sets out there for Castle fans if they'd just step outside the myopic bubble of what they consider "true Castle". Even if we ignore Nexo Knights sets, Elves is loaded with great fantasy adventure sets like an inn, shops, castles, dragons, etc. Seriously, when's the last time the Castle theme included an inn? Ninjago lacks a lot of European medieval fantasy fare, but has great sets with classical Asian-styled architecture, brilliant dragons, and fantastical villains and monsters that could fit nicely into a swords-and-sorcery setting. The Disney theme has a wealth of different fantasy castles, including the Disney Castle itself, the biggest LEGO castle set there's ever been. Continuing to insist that there's nothing for Castle fans today is just being obstinate.

Judging from the way LEGO castle tends to be re-imagined every three years like clockwork, I'm pretty confident there will be a "real" Castle theme again in 2019 or so after Nexo Knights ends. It's not a long time to wait in the grand scheme of things. You guys made it way longer without an AFOL-approved Castle theme in the early naughts. In the meantime, maybe think about expanding your idea of what sets can be useful to you so you don't continue to set yourself up for disappointment any time LEGO takes a few years to try something new and different?

How is this more drab than this or this or this? Star Wars does have some brightly-colored sets (especially in the Rebels sets), but I wouldn't call them the norm.

That said, I think your point kind of gets to something else I was going to say to x105Black, which is that Nexo Knights does not in any way imply that kids can't like sets in neutral colors, or that LEGO believes they can't. From the very beginning, the bad guy vehicles in Nexo Knights have used colors like grey, black, and brown extensively. Kids and adults alike can enjoy sets with neutral colors, sets with bright colors, or sets with neutral and bright colors together. And none of those color schemes are inherently less mature than others. It doesn't disrespect kids to have sets that emphasize bright colors over neutrals. But it disrespects kids and adults alike to call brightly-colored sets "immature" and call people who like them the "lowest common denominator".

I was not very excited for the sets for the first half of the year, besides the Battle Suits, but I'm really excited for some of the stuff coming in the second half, especially the Knighton Castle and all the big brick-built monsters! Like Jestro's lair or the Fortrex, the new castle feels more like an actual livable space than any castle from the actual Castle theme ever has. And this is not a recent problem, since before 2000 it was rare for LEGO castles to even include so much as a treasury or throne room.

I hope that when Castle DOES come back (which it will), it will at least take some cues from Nexo Knights in this respect, because I'm fed up with "true" LEGO castles being purely action-focused and not having anything for the king and his knights to do when they're not out fighting.

Did I say anywhere that my disappointment matters more than anyone else's?  No, I was merely posting my own opinions, as others have done.  I'd fully support anyone who feels disappointment over a lack of attention to their favorite theme.  I miss some of those myself.  I'd be happy to see a new Pirates, Space, or Viking theme.

I do feel that this year's sets are worse than the previous year.  I like some of the colors more, but I don't always like how they are used.  And you're right, bright colors are no less mature by nature, but I personally find the bright flashy candy colors of Nexo Knights to be less mature than the subdued, darker colors of the Tolkien themes.  It's one of the many reasons I like Star Wars sets, as well.  I lean towards a darker, more nuanced overall color palette and aesthetic in my builds, and really like the way official sets look when they follow that as well.

Furthermore I agree with SirBlake's responses.  Posts like mine are how I deal with it.

On 2/27/2017 at 6:30 PM, SirBlake said:

But what happens when there's nothing to like?

I'm as vocal as anyone when there's something wonderful to talk about, but the simple fact is that there's kind of nothing, at least for the theme that I'm most passionate about. (you'll see plenty of cheerleading from me for Speed Champions, for instance).

It's been discussed before, but the highlights are these:

1: I (and others here) subjectively hate the design of NK. I said subjectively because I don't hold it against anyone who likes the theme, but I ask or the same respect in return. I mainly hate it because it keeps things I would otherwise like off of the shelves, and that's ok too. Just because I hate it, doesn't mean that I troll the action themes forum. As soon as the speculation thread moved there, I backed off. The only place more traditional castle fans have to discuss the theme, or more accurately, the lack of anything that resembles the castle themes we love, is this one right here, and we're being lambasted for expressing opinions. I refuse to apologize for having these opinions, but I also respect others. That should be returned in kind.

2: Appreciation for other useful themes. I think it's great that there's a ginormous Disney castle and that there are some neat parts in Elves sets. Fantastic. The thing is, none of these are close enough to actual castle theme to qualify as a replacement and I sure can't afford to buy elves sets for cool window pieces or similar interesting parts.

3: Deal with it. You know what? Talking about my disappointment in what's available is dealing with it, and if a big western fan wants to start a thread talking about how they are underserved, more power to them. Someone mentioned how pirates doesn't get much love. You know who complains about it? Just about everyone in the pirates forum, and if there was some junky space-ified wiz bang action theme (my opinion, not an objective dissertation on all things in that forum) all about pirates, you can bet they would have discussions about how unfortunate it is that there isn't a proper pirates theme. I don't blame them one bit.

 

In conclusion: You like NK? Great. I'm happy for you. Let the rest of us have our little crybaby thread without beating us up about it.

This is a great post.  I couldn't agree more.  Let us have this.

On 2/27/2017 at 7:45 PM, BrickJagger said:

Like Aanchir said, I think we'll get a new Castle theme in 2019 per the 3-year-cycle rule. I've seen quite a large body of people clamoring for Castle's return over the past year, and considering Castle is more popular than Pirates and *arguably* Space, we'll probably get a long-lasting Castle theme soon.

What kind of Castle it will be is what I'm most interested in. Regular, generic stuff like Castle 2013? Village life? Fantasy? Vikings? There really are a lot of possibilities for Lego to explore, considering that last incarnations of each of those subjects will be a decade old.

I agree, 2019 seems like the closest possible date.  I'm very interested in what we will see, as well.  I'm personally hoping for something between Fantasy and Kingdoms, with some civilians (and dark colors, of course), but I fully expect something like 2013.  I'll be happy to see it, though, and I hope that LEGO would be wise enough to use a lot of the new parts that have come out in the years between Castle themes.  Many newer parts are very appropriate, and that's what I was hoping for in a Castle theme before we all found out about Nexo Knights.

[Legoman123]

I've not really voiced my opinion on Nexo Knights but quite frankly I think it is one of the worst themes Lego has came up with.  I hate the Medieval feel with a futuristic look.  I would absolutely love Lego to release more traditional castle theme sets.  Even another Market Village.

It just seems Lego has something against Castle, Western and Pirates.

[zoth33]

3 hours ago, Legoman123 said:

I've not really voiced my opinion on Nexo Knights but quite frankly I think it is one of the worst themes Lego has came up with.  I hate the Medieval feel with a futuristic look.  I would absolutely love Lego to release more traditional castle theme sets.  Even another Market Village.

It just seems Lego has something against Castle, Western and Pirates.

We just had several waves of the hobbit and lord of the rings and they threw  us some regular castle sets in with those waves.  And before that se had a steady flow of castle sets with kingdoms and fantasy era.  Pirates is a little more sparatic and Western hasn't been done for a while.  Castle was going strong for a while so I don't get your statement unless your not counting lord of the rings and the hobbit.

[Robert8]

But Nexo Knights is not a complete aberration, is it?

I mean, the villains side has had some nice pieces and minifigures, like Jestro himself (the first one) which are useful for fantasy MOCs

Edited March 2, 2017 by Robert8

[Legoman123]

I guess I should have being more specific, as I wasn't counting the Hobbit or LOTR, I just felt like that could have expended more with more medieval buildings not necessarily just a castle every year if that makes sense. 

 

Edited March 2, 2017 by Legoman123

[Itaria No Shintaku]

Wow I read so much debating about this topic.

The very fact itself that even here on eurobricks NK is considered ACTION THEME and fits not this section of the forum (white TLG thinks differently as I stated before, for them this is a CASTLE THEME!!!) is very interesting.

I myself see nothing in this theme that is castle-ish, it's just a random fantasy theme. It has very nice minifigures (the evil guys) to me that can fit a rpg-fantasy themed castle subline, but nothing more. They are full with big bulkish unuseful pieces, I understand they can appeal the youngsters, but to me there is nothing like Fantasy Era. That's the best theme TLG has produced so far IMHO. That's only my opinion, I respect the ones who love this theme, but to their disgrace I hope so much it ends as soon as possible because I strongly believe there will be no space for the castle themes I like for the time this remains on the shelves.

On the other hand, I see a point. NK has the power shields that connects to that videogame, the ongoing cartoon... I have very high doubts about this working on a normal castle line. So, I understand why TLG focuses on stuff like that. Ninjago reached out to have even its personal movie. I bought some of the villains too because they can fit a fantasy themed castle line even there, but I honestly understand when people like x105black come here and say "yeah, there are plenty of interesting pieces scattered amongst the NK, Elves, and Ninjago subthemes, but I'd gladly buy a set containing all stuff that I need instead of spending money and being full of a lot of pieces I can't find an use for." That's a point.

So, in the end, I see the reasons why TLG doesn't focus on historic themes any more (like pirates, western or classic castle)... it's because nowadays kids aren't interested in these. They want their named character, not their unknown-knight character. They want to see on a monitor (videogame/cartoon) that character. I think TLG also has an eye for AFOL by scattering interesting pieces here and there, but you can buy them only on bricklink. My fellow AFOLs are losing way interests in the sets as they are. That's a very common refrain in my community. But again LEGO is for kids, they are TLG's major customers, so it's pretty normal, though disappointing, that they look always at them when designing a new line.

[MAB]

Some of the NK villains are also fantasy theme castle. Plus there are normal historic helmets too, so there is something, albeit small.

Edited March 2, 2017 by MAB

[x105Black]

3 hours ago, MAB said:

Some of the NK villains are also fantasy theme castle. Plus there are normal historic helmets too, so there is something, albeit small.

Few and far between.  And as Itara said above, not worth buying a set when so many of the other pieces are so useless to me.

[Artanis I]

8 hours ago, MAB said:

Plus there are normal historic helmets too, so there is something, albeit small.

They are all in crAzy colours, makes them a lot less useful. Better off just getting normal ones from BL from previous Castle.

This Castle hiatus combined with the Space theme hiatus (yes, there are parts and models in the action themes that fit the Space thing, but no sets for a coherent 'theme' that you could build a diorama with, like that monorail shared yesterday), along with the abrupt unfinished end of the Tolkien theme has me hardly touching Lego over the last year or two, despite being on websites every day. If not for SW I'd possibly give it up.

[Aanchir]

10 hours ago, Itaria No Shintaku said:

So, in the end, I see the reasons why TLG doesn't focus on historic themes any more (like pirates, western or classic castle)... it's because nowadays kids aren't interested in these. They want their named character, not their unknown-knight character. They want to see on a monitor (videogame/cartoon) that character. I think TLG also has an eye for AFOL by scattering interesting pieces here and there, but you can buy them only on bricklink. My fellow AFOLs are losing way interests in the sets as they are. That's a very common refrain in my community. But again LEGO is for kids, they are TLG's major customers, so it's pretty normal, though disappointing, that they look always at them when designing a new line.

I don't quite agree that "nowadays kids aren't interested in these" (well, maybe for Western, but that was never really a core product category for them, just a brief two-year theme). The number of castles and Castle-ish subject matter we've been getting in non-Castle themes seems to indicate to me that things like kings, castles, knights, dragons, fantasy creatures, etc. still resonate very strongly with kids.  Really, Nexo Knights seems more to me like LEGO taking a few years off from traditional Castle to see if they can leverage its timeless appeal in a radical new way, than giving up on the traditional stuff entirely. It's not as though other "weirder" Castle themes of the past like Fright Knights or Knights' Kingdom II represented a permanent departure from what LEGO Castle had once meant. They were just LEGO taking a little detour off the path, so to speak. And just because Nexo Knights is a little further off the beaten trail than usual doesn't mean LEGO has no plans to return.

A person in 2004 might've said that kids had no interest in Space sets anymore and only cared about Star Wars. Yet in the past decade there have been four different non-licensed Space themes and various stand-alone Space sets. Our hypothetical 2004 spokesperson might've also imagined that buildable figure themes like Bionicle would be the new normal for kids' play preferences, whereas they've actually become more niche over time as other, more brick-based themes have made a huge comeback. Kids' interests do change with time, but those changes aren't necessarily as permanent and straightforward as we sometimes imagine them to be. They tend to ebb and flow, retracing their movements in ways that can be hard to see coming ahead of time.

[RetroInferno]

Castle theme was the most popular theme in Germany ( Lego's largest milk cow ) if I remember correctly. If there's anything we should be mad about is the 2013 theme which was extremly poor in my opinion, this must have tank horribly for them to produce only 5 sets.

If they wanted to please both space and castle fans by merging them trying to please everyone they sure did missed the mark.

[AmperZand]

20 hours ago, Robert8 said:

But Nexo Knights is not a complete aberration, is it?

I mean, the villains side has had some nice pieces and minifigures...

Very true, see MOC below. Some of the NK bad guy minifigures are actually quite appealing to a fantasy buff like me. But if I had to choose between another theme that was only useful for one faction or a more traditional fantasy theme like Fantasy Era, I'd go with the latter every day of the week and twice on Sundays.

 

Edited March 3, 2017 by AmperZand

[Legoman123]

6 hours ago, RetroInferno said:

Castle theme was the most popular theme in Germany ( Lego's largest milk cow ) if I remember correctly. If there's anything we should be mad about is the 2013 theme which was extremly poor in my opinion, this must have tank horribly for them to produce only 5 sets.

If they wanted to please both space and castle fans by merging them trying to please everyone they sure did missed the mark.

I didn't actually know that, but personally I think they need to expand from the typical 'outpost' 'villain's/heroes castle' etc'.  They should get a whole village/city theme going, so we have stores, houses, castle etc. 

[MAB]

9 hours ago, Artanis I said:

They are all in crAzy colours, makes them a lot less useful. Better off just getting normal ones from BL from previous Castle.

 

2

 

I've found that there are quite a few good castle pieces in new _and useable_ colours if you look close enough.

Such as flat silver ...

 

Flat silver ...

 

Hood in purple ...

 

And many other parts such as King Halbert's crown and beard, the "bots" tend to have quite good silver / grey helmets, then fairly regular stuff like this in black that are not unique to NK ...

 

 

Would I pay RRP? No chance, but that is true for most themes. But when a good deal comes up then there are plenty of useful minifig parts and quite a few useful grey parts, and the stuff I don't use sells easily to classic space fans.

 

 

 

[Itaria No Shintaku]

9 hours ago, Aanchir said:

A person in 2004 might've said that kids had no interest in Space sets anymore and only cared about Star Wars. Yet in the past decade there have been four different non-licensed Space themes and various stand-alone Space sets. Our hypothetical 2004 spokesperson might've also imagined that buildable figure themes like Bionicle would be the new normal for kids' play preferences, whereas they've actually become more niche over time as other, more brick-based themes have made a huge comeback. Kids' interests do change with time, but those changes aren't necessarily as permanent and straightforward as we sometimes imagine them to be. They tend to ebb and flow, retracing their movements in ways that can be hard to see coming ahead of time.

And Alien Conquest, Space Police III and Galaxy Squad were a big flop.
Because children weren't interested in those.

[MAB]

2 hours ago, Itaria No Shintaku said:

And Alien Conquest, Space Police III and Galaxy Squad were a big flop.
Because children weren't interested in those.

 

 

In what sense were they a flop? I know they weren't top sellers for the years they came out (City and SW would have beaten them) but they still sold. They were available at discount, but that is true of all themes.

Edited March 3, 2017 by MAB
typo

[Itaria No Shintaku]

41 minutes ago, MAB said:

In what sense were they a flop? I know they weren't top sellers for the years they came out (City and SW would have beaten them) but they still sold. They were available at discount, but that is true of all themes.

In the sense they were a super flop. Where I am, you can easily find still Galaxy Squad on the shelves... it's a theme from 4 years ago, it's the only theme you will find easily on the shelves as NO ONE wants it.
I bought some of these sets only for the minifigures because they had 80% discount. 80% man! How bad can this have sold if I find it at 80% discount! The only thing I've seen in the recent past that sold less than it was Simpsons CMF N.2

[MAB]

15 minutes ago, Itaria No Shintaku said:

In the sense they were a super flop. Where I am, you can easily find still Galaxy Squad on the shelves... it's a theme from 4 years ago, it's the only theme you will find easily on the shelves as NO ONE wants it.
I bought some of these sets only for the minifigures because they had 80% discount. 80% man! How bad can this have sold if I find it at 80% discount! The only thing I've seen in the recent past that sold less than it was Simpsons CMF N.2

 

OK. I seem to remember it selling quite well. I bought a load of hive crawlers at 50% off, and they sold on BL and ebay at full RRP quite quickly a couple of weeks after retirement.

 

[Aanchir]

4 hours ago, Itaria No Shintaku said:

And Alien Conquest, Space Police III and Galaxy Squad were a big flop.
Because children weren't interested in those.

Source? Because I've seen no evidence to back that up. In particular, Space Police III got two more waves after its initial launch — that doesn't happen with "big flops".

Maybe where you are, Galaxy Squad didn't sell well. But that's hardly any indication that the same is true everywhere. And even sets from highly successful themes like City, Friends, and Ninjago sometimes linger on shelves for years depending on where you look.

More to the point, LEGO has a tendency of revisiting their classic themes from time to time even when they DON'T expect them to sell as well as their top brands. It's easy as a fan to think that themes can neatly be divided into "good sellers" and "bad sellers", but the truth is that it's more of a spectrum. And as long as LEGO is cautious with how much they invest in each of their product lines, there's often still a lot of money to be made in that space in between mega-hits like Star Wars and City and poor performers like The Lone Ranger or Heroica.