CopMike

New Lego horse

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Info from Matt Ashton, Senior Creative Director, LEGO Group

"Our core target audience of 5-10 year old boys has told us in ongoing testing that the original LEGO horse is a bit ‘baby-ish’, and too static to play with properly. So we’ve re-designed the LEGO horse to make it more dynamic, pose-able and appealing by adding a higher level of detail. The new horse will appear in the LEGO Lord of the Rings sets will be released in June 2012.

"The new horse can now kick, bolt and rear up on its hind legs, making it much more playable and pose-able, while the refined detail level has also made it seem more ‘grown-up’ and ‘cooler’ in kids’ eyes.

"In making these changes we have obviously had to take into consideration several different challenges.

"First, we are fully aware that the ‘original’ horse may be perceived as a LEGO icon in many consumers’ eyes. So, when designing the new horse, we did our best to create a new version that pays homage to the original horse, particularly its proportions, silhouette and decoration style.

"Second, we have made some design choices in regards to the compatibility between the ‘new’ horse and the existing horse accessories. The existing saddle element can be used with the new version of the horse. The new horse can also wear the current barding, although it cannot be posed while wearing this element. We will be developing a replacement barding for future product launches, ensuring that the horse can be dressed for battle and still be fully pose-able.

However, by streamlining the new horse’s head to make it more dynamic and more like a ‘real’ horse, we had to decide that the existing horse headgear/head plates would not compatible with the new horse. These pieces will also soon be replaced with new elements in future products.

"We apologize for any inconvenience or frustration this may cause to certain collectors, but we are striving to ensure that we are ultimately creating the best product and play experience for our core audience for the long term."

Pictures of the LOTR set with the new horse can be found here.

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Thanks for the info, CopMike. I personally like the new design. It's a modernized version of the horse that's been around for at least 20 years, so it looks similar yet is more pose-able and fits in better with today's sets. Also, it doesn't look <insert that tiresome argument> (i.e. too much detail so that it looks like an action figure rather than Lego), as opposed to molds like the Taun Taun and Wampa. :thumbup:

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I like the new swiveling legs. I'm a little bummed that they changed the head so that the old stuff won't fit anymore. Although, I admit that the new head shape looks nicer, much like the newer dog and cow heads. Luckily I don't have very many horse head pieces in my collection anyway : the benefits of being a newishFOL. :tongue:

Does anyone know if the legs move independently of the one on the other side? That is, are the hind legs connected by a solid axle (same with front two legs)?

Edited by Zeya

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Ok then, update the horsey. I did not really love the old horses, but I have mixed feelings about the new one. I think more articulation was possible. Regarding the new head not having compatibility with horse gear because it is more 'dynamic', that's really not acceptable. It is fine that TLG's sell toys to kids, that does not mean kids should design them.

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But I want old grey back! Sorry wrong thread, haha ... Horse looks much better. Not only 5-10 year old 'boys' (damn, that was wrong worded of TLG - the word is 'children') but also AFOLS want this new fangled horsie ..

Good move of TLG, me wants! :wub:

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definitely a welcomed change. Stop-motion animators will love it too I think...

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I join the chorus of support for the new horse, but something is strange in what the Lego rep wrote....boys 5-10 years old, more girls are into horses than boys. :wink:

Plus is this new horse design going to be used for Friend's as well as the more classic minifig themes ? :wink:

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Thanks for the info CopMike! :thumbup:

I just hope they decide to expand the color range too. I would love to see white, tan, grey and nougat. :wub:

A new barding to allow pose ability and new horse headgear sound great. I am looking forward to when those parts are introduced. :oh:

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I am looking forward to the new horse! I hope it makes it's way to City by 2013. I'm surprised the original made it this long without new features other than updated paint. I always thought of them a bit boorish when it came to play as a child. I seldomly did anything with them other them pose them eating or looking over a fence default_classic.gif

Luckily I don't have very many horse head pieces in my collection anyway

Does anyone know if the legs move independently of the one on the other side? That is, are the hind legs connected by a solid axle (same with front two legs)?

I too, have no head pieces for, or anything except saddles, for my horses. I am curious as to whether they are independent hind legs or not, as well. They shouldn't have any trouble making them independent, but I feel as if there was another animal or something that had joined legs. I just can't remember what it is default_classic.gif

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I quite like the new style, as it allows the horse to rear up.

But the classic/collector in me kind of wants to buy a big lot of horses from bricklink.

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Stop-motion animators will love it too I think...

Good point! I'm looking forward to some amusing horses-behaving-like-people brickflicks... the one rearing up on Uruk-Hai already amuses me.

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The horse is dead, long live the horse!

To my understanding the hind legs are connected to each other and do not move separately. Which is probably for the best, as the horse is thus easier to position on baseplates etc.

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I'm sad to see the legacy horse go by the wayside, but I agree that the newer horses look better and have better activity possibilities.

I'm happy that the bardings and saddles will work the new horses, I wish that the headgear would fit too, but I don't have much of that so I'm not too concerned there.

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I'm all for this, although if it were any other design I don't think I would be. Kudos to the designers of this masterpiece!

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It's about time! The horse was the first animal introduced into System sets all those decades ago. It's been long overdue a refresh. I'll be keeping the old horses for background purposes but the new horses will be hero horses. Now, if Lego will just release a normal non evil black horse I'll be happy.

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This is how a piece should be updated - with consideration for past uses, and with the intention of still being usable in as many of the old situations as possible.

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This is how a piece should be updated - with consideration for past uses, and with the intention of still being usable in as many of the old situations as possible.

My thoughts exactly. Im generally skeptical of changes (I preferred the old dog to the new one), but this upgrade was well thought out.

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Eh, I like the new rear up design, but I still prefer the old horse. It had the classic lego feel to it, but the new one is still good. Just my personal preference.

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This has been handled really well by Lego, they really need to do small leaks of information and an eventual community newsletter like this with every significant change they make (I'm thinking of the poor souls who opened their winter 2004 sets only to find completely new shades of gray).

The fact that they re-wamped the design while keeping it compatible with the highly collectible bardings and saddles is fantastic, and as far as I know there been very few types of horse headgear so I don't feel it's a big loss. I was originally fearing the re-design would make the horse less iconic, but I've come to terms with this change and in all honesty I like the idea of more poseability.

I join the chorus of support for the new horse, but something is strange in what the Lego rep wrote....boys 5-10 years old, more girls are into horses than boys. :wink:

Plus is this new horse design going to be used for Friend's as well as the more classic minifig themes ? :wink:

I think the Friends horse is very different from both the old and new horse, it's rounder and has a 2x2 instead of a 1x2 opening, and has been made rounder and cuter to appeal to girls. Boys like horses in the right situations, they were the sports cars of the middle ages after all...

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