"Golden Age of Lego"

[SpacePolice89]

7 hours ago, MAB said:

What do you mean by original themes? As I don't think things like Town Plan, or the old pre-minifigs Legoland theme, or the Homemaker theme and so on would sell so well these days.

I meant the original minifigure themes that were present every year (Town, Castle, Space and later also Pirates). I believe that you knew what I meant and just trying to be sarcastic.

7 hours ago, Yperio_Bricks said:

Lets take Adventurers and Indiana Jones for example. The thing is, if there would be Adventurers sets on the shelves or Indiana Jones sets, the reaction of the majority of customers would be completely different. For every nostalgic AFOL there are a thousand regular customers who have never heard of Adventurers but know Indiana Jones and have seen one or more of the movies. Then there is all the other Indiana Jones merch and video games etc.

Every one (well, not everyone but you know what i mean) in the world knows Star Wars and can relate to the movies and shows, books, comics, video games, theme parks, etc. while Classic Space and the other space themes are basically only known to people who grew up with them or to AFOLs who later learned about them.

Don't get me wrong, i am not against classic themes, but we as AFOLs are just a minority, living in a bubble, while the vast majority of customers lives in othe bubbles where Lego lagacy and folklore is irrelevant. So from a business perspective licenses make a lot of sense.

I kinda agree but it is also a bad move to ignore your own fans and only cater to fans of various kinds of popular culture. Maybe it would be best for Lego to compromise and have a little bit of both? I believe modern kids like cool spaceships no matter if it's Star Wars, Spyrius or something completely new. 

[SpacePolice89]

4 hours ago, danth said:

Think Castle or Pirates or Space.

@SpacePolice89 is that what you meant?

Yes. Those three and classic town. City is a great replacement for town but I miss the other three greatly.

[MAB]

18 minutes ago, SpacePolice89 said:

I meant the original minifigure themes that were present every year (Town, Castle, Space and later also Pirates). I believe that you knew what I meant and just trying to be sarcastic.

No, just pointing out that LEGO existed before minifigures and that there were plenty of themes (including some nostalgic ones too for some people) before the 'original' ones.  Early minifigure sets are nostalgic to kids that grew up with them but later ones are nostalgic to kids that grew up with those ones. Ninjago, Nexo Knights and Chima will be nostalgic to kids that enjoyed them when they were a kid. If the first minifigure sets were based on other subjects such as a space conflict vs insect aliens or historical with no conflict then presumably they would be the ones people want as they were the original minifigure based themes. 

33 minutes ago, SpacePolice89 said:

I kinda agree but it is also a bad move to ignore your own fans and only cater to fans of various kinds of popular culture. Maybe it would be best for Lego to compromise and have a little bit of both? I believe modern kids like cool spaceships no matter if it's Star Wars, Spyrius or something completely new. 

They do have both. There are spaceships, both licensed and unlicensed, in current sets. They are not only carering for fans of licences. Similarly there are plenty of other swooshable and pushable vehicles in both licensed and unlicensed themes that have similar play styles. 

[SpacePolice89]

12 minutes ago, MAB said:

They do have both. There are spaceships, both licensed and unlicensed, in current sets. They are not only carering for fans of licences. Similarly there are plenty of other swooshable and pushable vehicles in both licensed and unlicensed themes that have similar play styles. 

During the last couple of years we have only had three Space sets (Galaxy Explorer, Blacktron GWP and Creator Cyber Drone) while they have released hundreds of Star Wars and Marvel sets.

[TeriXeri]

8 minutes ago, SpacePolice89 said:

During the last couple of years we have only had three Space sets (Galaxy Explorer, Blacktron GWP and Creator Cyber Drone) while they have released hundreds of Star Wars and Marvel sets.

That's only if you narrow space to a very specific type of set, and leave out something like 60354: Mars Spacecraft Exploration Missions just because it released under City, it was a set with probably the most classic type of space parts in a while outside of Icons, or LEGO Movie 1/2 Benny sets

I can understand the other City 2019 / 2022 sets not being part of the classic definitions of space as they were more Mars/Moon concepts, but 60354 felt like a true space set to me, rather then a City set, even if it has Mars in the name, it goes way beyond any sort of realism.

Edited December 20, 2023 by TeriXeri

[MAB]

7 minutes ago, SpacePolice89 said:

During the last couple of years we have only had three Space sets (Galaxy Explorer, Blacktron GWP and Creator Cyber Drone) while they have released hundreds of Star Wars and Marvel sets.

Of course if you ignore all the spaceships in City, Friends, Technic, Creator, Monkie Kid and so on then there are no unlicensed spaceships.

[SpacePolice89]

2 minutes ago, TeriXeri said:

That's only if you narrow space to a very specific type of set, and leave out something like 60354: Mars Spacecraft Exploration Missions just because it released under City, it was a set with probably the most classic type of space parts in a while outside of Icons.

I was referring to the Space as a theme. I have very little interest in the current City space.

[TeriXeri]

4 minutes ago, SpacePolice89 said:

I was referring to the Space as a theme. I have very little interest in the current City space.

If Space, Castle or Pirates only count as Themes, they have all been gone since after 2013, 2013 and 2015.

Edited December 20, 2023 by TeriXeri

[SpacePolice89]

Just now, MAB said:

Of course if you ignore all the spaceships in City, Friends, Technic, Creator, Monkie Kid and so on then there are no unlicensed spaceships.

I mentioned the Creator Cyber drone in my previous post and Friends and Technic aren't even minifigure themes. Space is Space and Monkey Kid and Ninjago are something completely different, they are good in their own way but not the same as Space. That's like trying to replace Star Wars with Batman. 

5 minutes ago, TeriXeri said:

If Space, Castle or Pirates only count as Themes, they have all been gone since after 2013, 2013 and 2015.

There have been a few sets released for them through Icons, Creator and Ideas but they have unfortunately been one offs. 

[TeriXeri]

-

Edited December 20, 2023 by TeriXeri

[danth]

Boy, Eurobricks does love to gaslight it's Space fans.

We should all be happy because of the ugly megablocks Monkie Kid shuttle, the City NASA sets, and Technic sets now?

Just keep being intentionally obtuse, Eurobricks.

The 2024 Space sets are pretty good and pretty sci-fi, but the previous stuff from various theme are not what fans of Space themes want. OBVIOUSLY. AND you all know that.

[TeriXeri]

17 minutes ago, danth said:

The 2024 Space sets are pretty good and pretty sci-fi, but the previous stuff from various theme are not what fans of Space themes want. OBVIOUSLY. AND you all know that.

I'd love new spaceships with bright transparent canopy colors instead of current offerings,  even me, I got plenty of nostalgia for 80s and 90s subthemes, and even if LEGO does something new with different , bold transparent colors, I'd love it more then this Creator offering obviously. 

Nexo Knights was the theme that brought me back to LEGO after 15 years, not for it's castles (1st wave had Fortrex, no castle like Jestro's Lair yet), bikes or cars, but the colors and shapes, especially the angled and neon parts, and no it was not a space theme.

City Space could have gone one step further with different colors, setting it apart further from 2019/2022 white spaceships and various nasa, but maybe Icons is the best place "To Boldly Go where LEGO has gone before" (at least for bringing back old theme designs/colors/factions)

Edited December 20, 2023 by TeriXeri

[MAB]

24 minutes ago, SpacePolice89 said:

I mentioned the Creator Cyber drone in my previous post and Friends and Technic aren't even minifigure themes. Space is Space and Monkey Kid and Ninjago are something completely different, they are good in their own way but not the same as Space. That's like trying to replace Star Wars with Batman. 

1 hour ago, SpacePolice89 said:

I believe modern kids like cool spaceships no matter if it's Star Wars, Spyrius or something completely new. 

And what if they like a cool spaceship in Monkie Kid?

Kids can play out space themed play with any spaceship, it doesn't matter what the badge on the box says, or what logo is on the torso or what colour parts the ship is made from.

 

[danth]

9 minutes ago, MAB said:

And what if they like a cool spaceship in Monkie Kid?

What if a Space fan doesn't like the Monkie kid space ship because it's actually a space shuttle and it has horrendous colors and literal clouds for tail fins and includes weird monkey demon figures and isn't part of a larger unified Space theme?

[SpacePolice89]

10 hours ago, MAB said:

And what if they like a cool spaceship in Monkie Kid?

Kids can play out space themed play with any spaceship, it doesn't matter what the badge on the box says, or what logo is on the torso or what colour parts the ship is made from.

 

What is cool is very subjective, I don't like the aesthetics of the newer in house themes. Especially when they have hideous colors like the Monkie Kid spaceship. When I was a kid I remember not wanting certain toys because they looked like they were meant for little kids. I get the same feeling with the whole Monkie Kid lineup as well as Dreamz. The ten year old me went crazy for a cool spaceship with a prison cell and laser cannons under the wings but I wouldn't have looked twice at a spaceship for monkeys, a flying school bus or a huge flying light blue bunny.

[MAB]

17 minutes ago, SpacePolice89 said:

What is cool is very subjective, I don't like the aesthetics of the newer in house themes. Especially when they have hideous colors like the Monkie Kid spaceship. 

Sure, what is cool is subjective. But in this post you said that LEGO are ignoring fans and only catering for fans of licensed themes when it comes to spaceships.

12 hours ago, SpacePolice89 said:

I kinda agree but it is also a bad move to ignore your own fans and only cater to fans of various kinds of popular culture. Maybe it would be best for Lego to compromise and have a little bit of both? I believe modern kids like cool spaceships no matter if it's Star Wars, Spyrius or something completely new. 

You say there should be a little bit of both as a compromise. And that modern kids like cool spaceships no matter if it is something new. LEGO are clearly making non-licensed spaceships. They might not be to your taste, but it is untrue to say they only cater for fans of popular culture. They are making spaceships that appeal to kids, just like the spaceships in the 80s appealed to kids then. 

[Peppermint_M]

That Asimov Quote is wholly accurate and true. Nothing will make anyone happy like when they were a child, though something might appeal to them.

You say:

1 hour ago, SpacePolice89 said:

What is cool is very subjective, I don't like the aesthetics of the newer in house themes. Especially when they have hideous colors like the Monkie Kid spaceship. When I was a kid I remember not wanting certain toys because they looked like they were meant for little kids. I get the same feeling with the whole Monkie Kid lineup as well as Dreamz. The ten year old me went crazy for a cool spaceship with a prison cell and laser cannons under the wings but I wouldn't have looked twice at a spaceship for monkeys, a flying school bus or a huge flying light blue bunny.

I agree, it is very subjective. My spaceship wants were things that looked like those from Thunderbirds, the 80s Flash Gordon film (Somewhere there is a red torso with a faded sharpie lightning bolt), the ship ELO has on their album covers and the exhibition colour jets (Red Arrows, Blue Angels and the like). All these exciting colours available to build spaceships out of is great! I love that Marvel has made their space based stories so colourful too, with the real Chris Foss looks, so that the tie-in toys look good. 

Anywho, I don't know what will make anyone happy. Nothing makes everyone happy and I think the marketing guys at TLG will carry on aiming at kids.

 

[SpacePolice89]

1 hour ago, MAB said:

Sure, what is cool is subjective. But in this post you said that LEGO are ignoring fans and only catering for fans of licensed themes when it comes to spaceships.

You say there should be a little bit of both as a compromise. And that modern kids like cool spaceships no matter if it is something new. LEGO are clearly making non-licensed spaceships. They might not be to your taste, but it is untrue to say they only cater for fans of popular culture. They are making spaceships that appeal to kids, just like the spaceships in the 80s appealed to kids then. 

I find it hard to believe that modern kids would like the Monkie Kid spaceship and similar spaceships more than a dedicated sci fi space theme, no matter if it's an established subtheme like Blacktron or something entirely new. My cousin's kid asked me this summer where I bought my Galactic Mediator. He said said it looked so cool and that he wanted one. I tried to persuade his parents to let me order one for him from Bricklink but they thought it was too expensive.

[SpacePolice89]

10 minutes ago, Peppermint_M said:

That Asimov Quote is wholly accurate and true. Nothing will make anyone happy like when they were a child, though something might appeal to them.

You say:

I agree, it is very subjective. My spaceship wants were things that looked like those from Thunderbirds, the 80s Flash Gordon film (Somewhere there is a red torso with a faded sharpie lightning bolt), the ship ELO has on their album covers and the exhibition colour jets (Red Arrows, Blue Angels and the like). All these exciting colours available to build spaceships out of is great! I love that Marvel has made their space based stories so colourful too, with the real Chris Foss looks, so that the tie-in toys look good. 

Anywho, I don't know what will make anyone happy. Nothing makes everyone happy and I think the marketing guys at TLG will carry on aiming at kids.

 

A lot of the Star Wars sets are aimed at adults or older teenagers while modern in house themes seems to be geared towards kids under the age of 8. They used to have texts on boxes saying "Ages 7-12" which was their target age group and that age group (9-12 year olds) along with older people liking the previous design language are almost completely ignored.

[Peppermint_M]

Considering that the "ages" have been taken off the boxes (With 4+ and 18+ being A Branding exception and not an age "restriction") for a while, I don't think it is a true reflection.

Ninjago, Dreamzzz, Monkie Kid are all themes with the same target age demographic as Star Wars and Superheroes. More complex building techniques are used, with the 4+ sets giving access to the younger fans.

City, Friends and Classic are pitched "all ages" or up to 8 with their more simplistic approach to design and accessibility. 

Creator (to an extent), Technic, Art and the more premium 18+ are for older LEGO fans, or something to attract a more mature audience with a product that is less "playset" and more Build to Display. Again, some of those sets are not complicated to build and are an effort to catch a market share of the adults with disposable income who want to build something instead of just own (Like Funko Pop or other vinyl figures that older teens and adults might pick up). 

Not sure what you refer to with "design language" as to me that sounds like the structure and build techniques of a set. Not to be mean, but most older sets are very simplistic in both design and build, so I am glad we are able to get more complicated designs and parts that allow much more variety in build style. 

Nostalgia tells me that Sphinx Secret Surprise was the best set ever (it is my favourite) but rebuilding it now... I made an upgrade to match my childhood vision instead of the 90s set, the simple build was nice but not exceptional and would not have survived in today's market. Though, it won't change the enjoyment I had when I was young or take away from that either, it just meant I have the parts and skills to make something bigger and better. 

A tribute set to an older theme is a nice treat, but no herald of a return to the past. It just means TLG knows that they can get some money off a bunch of 40-somthings with disposable income or a child in their life to use as an excuse to buy a toy. 

[MAB]

5 minutes ago, SpacePolice89 said:

I find it hard to believe that modern kids would like the Monkie Kid spaceship and similar spaceships more than a dedicated sci fi space theme, no matter if it's an established subtheme like Blacktron or something entirely new. My cousin's kid asked me this summer where I bought my Galactic Mediator. He said said it looked so cool and that he wanted one. I tried to persuade his parents to let me order one for him from Bricklink but they thought it was too expensive.

That is probably because you only like what you like and cannot seem to understand why other people like things that you don't. Having those well known characters really helps sell the sets no matter whether they are based on space, historical, pirates, or modern tech, compared to anonymous characters in a narrow theme. You say that they don't make unlicensed spaceships, when in fact they do. There are plenty. Some fantasy in their evergreen action themes, some more realistic in City and Friends. Just because they aren't in a separate Space theme doesn't mean that they don't exist. You say that LEGO should come to a compromise, but that is exactly what they are doing putting spaceships into their other themes - it is a compromise between them having a full kid-focused space theme and not having a kid-focused space theme.

Things have changed a lot in 40 years. LEGO have realised that girls like science and technology these days, and hence they are including space and spaceships in Friends which is mainly bought by or for girls. Just because they have minidolls instead of minifigures doesn't make them any less a spaceship. If minidolls had existed 40 years ago and LEGO had also wanted to sell space based sets to girls, then I imagine that there would have been Space playsets with minidolls. Another huge change is the boundary between licensed and unlicensed are rather blurred these days. Although they are unlicensed, internal brands such as Ninjago, Monkie Kid, Friends and even to some extent City are character based themes, and are essentially part of pop-culture just like external IPs. LEGO and some of its themes have become pop-culture. The existence of those named characters help keep those themes popular year after year, and help LEGO sell incredibly wide range of types of sets within a single theme. Ninjas in historical yet modern buildings, with dragons, mechs, flying boats, steampunk and futuristic technology such as jets and things that look just like spaceships. While LEGO has the freedom to design whatever they want within the theme, it is essentially an in-house license that is selling the sets (like Star Wars sells Star Wars). LEGO has therefore done away with the individual and narrow themes of the past and put aspects of them back into their now mainstream evergreen themes. Those themes can last year after year as they are fresh because they jump from genre to genre while keeping the core characters the same, something that a theme based only on spaceships that have to be a particular colour and have fairly plain and rather non-descript characters cannot do. A dedicated sci-fi space theme is a dedicated sci-fi space one year and a dedicated sci-fi space theme the next year, and the next and the next. Would some kids like that, of course. But would some kids like what they are currently doing put wide ranges of set types into core character based themes? Sales figures seem to indicate that they do. Even Classic Space is essentially pop culture. That is why people seem to want the same old design minifigure in a new colour. Or new ships in the same old colours. Yet do a new space character in different colours, and it is dismissed as not interesting.

 

[SpacePolice89]

1 hour ago, MAB said:

That is probably because you only like what you like and cannot seem to understand why other people like things that you don't. Having those well known characters really helps sell the sets no matter whether they are based on space, historical, pirates, or modern tech, compared to anonymous characters in a narrow theme. You say that they don't make unlicensed spaceships, when in fact they do. There are plenty. Some fantasy in their evergreen action themes, some more realistic in City and Friends. Just because they aren't in a separate Space theme doesn't mean that they don't exist. You say that LEGO should come to a compromise, but that is exactly what they are doing putting spaceships into their other themes - it is a compromise between them having a full kid-focused space theme and not having a kid-focused space theme.

Things have changed a lot in 40 years. LEGO have realised that girls like science and technology these days, and hence they are including space and spaceships in Friends which is mainly bought by or for girls. Just because they have minidolls instead of minifigures doesn't make them any less a spaceship. If minidolls had existed 40 years ago and LEGO had also wanted to sell space based sets to girls, then I imagine that there would have been Space playsets with minidolls. Another huge change is the boundary between licensed and unlicensed are rather blurred these days. Although they are unlicensed, internal brands such as Ninjago, Monkie Kid, Friends and even to some extent City are character based themes, and are essentially part of pop-culture just like external IPs. LEGO and some of its themes have become pop-culture. The existence of those named characters help keep those themes popular year after year, and help LEGO sell incredibly wide range of types of sets within a single theme. Ninjas in historical yet modern buildings, with dragons, mechs, flying boats, steampunk and futuristic technology such as jets and things that look just like spaceships. While LEGO has the freedom to design whatever they want within the theme, it is essentially an in-house license that is selling the sets (like Star Wars sells Star Wars). LEGO has therefore done away with the individual and narrow themes of the past and put aspects of them back into their now mainstream evergreen themes. Those themes can last year after year as they are fresh because they jump from genre to genre while keeping the core characters the same, something that a theme based only on spaceships that have to be a particular colour and have fairly plain and rather non-descript characters cannot do. A dedicated sci-fi space theme is a dedicated sci-fi space one year and a dedicated sci-fi space theme the next year, and the next and the next. Would some kids like that, of course. But would some kids like what they are currently doing put wide ranges of set types into core character based themes? Sales figures seem to indicate that they do. Even Classic Space is essentially pop culture. That is why people seem to want the same old design minifigure in a new colour. Or new ships in the same old colours. Yet do a new space character in different colours, and it is dismissed as not interesting.

 

It's funny that you call having no Space line at all a compromise. Imagine if I would say that there will be no more Star Wars sets and only Classic Space and that all SW fans should just be happy about it because it's also about space. It doesn't work that way. I have no problem whatsoever with Friends but I'm only interested in minifigure scale sets. The first Lego figures were actually brick built minidoll sized figures which I also have no interest in. I don't just like something because it's old, I like it for what it is. A real compromise would be having some classic themes, some licensed themes and some new themes (like Ninjago) available every year. Trying to combine too many themes like Nexo Knights is a very bad idea and should be avoided at all costs. 

[TeriXeri]

It's interesting how this talk about kids, keeps to point at individual sets or themes as if they exist in a vacuum.

Of course there are many people who build sets once, keep it together, or even store it seperately, which is understandable.

But I think there are also plenty of kids who take things apart fast, either to combine it with the rest of their collection, or just start making different things immediately.

I think most Kids likely have less worry about their collections staying pristine/complete , as opposed to AFOL keeping databases (of larger collections that's very understandable)

29 minutes ago, SpacePolice89 said:

Trying to combine too many themes like Nexo Knights is a very bad idea and should be avoided at all costs. 

Maybe, on a set basis, it was a vehicle theme most of all, only 2 major location sets, and 3 villain color changes over the 2.5 years, but when seen different, from a parts perspective, I think it still provided lots of new and interesting parts (many still in use), and many parts still very useful for space building. 

With Nexo, at least you could combine the many Blue, Grey, and Transparent Neon Orange parts together to build something really big, same goes for the Lava or Rock Monster color schemes, with themes like Dreamzzz, Hidden Side, or Monkie Kid, , it's quite a random jumble of colors all over the place, even Ninjago , especially with the 2 new main hero characters added, just means more colors will be seen as each Ninja seems to need their own Mech/Vehicle/Dragon pretty much every other year.

 

Kids probably worry less about color spaghetti (I remember building plenty of things from just red/yellow/blue/black/white/grey), but now there are many many more colors and small parts in rotation.

 

But ultimately I suppose the pitfall of those Hero Action themes, like Nexo , Ninjago, Monkie Kid, DreamZZZ is that they are designed around a cast of characters + villain of the year/years, and then those themes have to accomodate a main set for most, or each character. Whereas something like a Space, Castle or Pirate theme of old, had it quite simple, I mean, Classic Space just had 3 colors of basic unnamed astronauts, vehicles were blue, grey or white, and not named something like "Zane's Super Car, or Clay's Falcon Blaster, Mr Oz Space Car, or Mei's Dragon Bike"

Castle did have their own "Robin Hood" , as Forestmen were called in some regions , or Richard Lionheart, etc, but beside maybe a King's Carriage, or quite a few captain Redbeard Pirate Ships,  it cannot be compared to the named characters of now.

 

So parts wise, many current sets might be suitable to MOC things of "old", but as themes they have not been intended to be themes of old, basicly since the generic "themes" of 2013 Castle, 2013 Space, or 2015 Castle ended.

But as more action themes have come and went, and no generic themes have returned, it seems to work decently for LEGO (Vidiyo and perhaps the abrupt ending of Hidden Side being the worst cases), decent enough to keep their nostalgic sets as Icons or GWP, and the main themes as character-driven action themes (City being the exception as it recently stopped using media-driven LEGO City Adventures characters)

 

And no, I'm not trying to tell people "the parts exist,  just go make your own Spaceships", that's not my intent. 

 

Edited December 21, 2023 by TeriXeri

[MAB]

50 minutes ago, SpacePolice89 said:

It's funny that you call having no Space line at all a compromise.

Why is it funny? Do you understand what compromise means? LEGO clearly don't believe a stand along kid-focused Space theme will do as well as what they are currently doing with their in-house themes. However, thy have made the concession that vehicles and spaceships that could appear in such a theme appear as sets in their long running themes,alongside other non-space sets in the same themes. That is a compromise. 

They have also made a concession in realizing that it is adults that want nostalgia based sets, and produced sets for adults. So there is another compromise, that we get some big expensive sets for adults but not complete themes for kids.

50 minutes ago, SpacePolice89 said:

Imagine if I would say that there will be no more Star Wars sets and only Classic Space and that all SW fans should just be happy about it because it's also about space.

Those SW fans would probably buy SW sets from the next brick building company that partners with Disney. Disney are not going to decide that LEGO no longer wants SW, so lets just forget about that property.

50 minutes ago, SpacePolice89 said:

I have no problem whatsoever with Friends but I'm only interested in minifigure scale sets.

Friends sets are minifigure scale. Minifigures fit inside the Friends space shuttle in the same way a minidoll can.

50 minutes ago, SpacePolice89 said:

A real compromise would be having some classic themes, some licensed themes and some new themes (like Ninjago) available every year. Trying to combine too many themes like Nexo Knights is a very bad idea and should be avoided at all costs. 

And what if those classic themes do not sell so well? Alien Conquest and Galaxy Squad were Space themes, yet didn't appear to do so well. Not well enough to suggest to LEGO that they should continue to do distinct Space themes year-on-year or even once every few years. Ninjago is hardly a new theme. It has far outlasted the original incarnation of Classic Space, both in time and massively when it comes to sets and sales. Doing things like Nexo Knights is not a bad idea, trying something new is how Ninjago started. LEGO has to try new things to find something that resonates with kids. It wouldn't surprise me if NK play tested well but didn't make it once released partly because it was on shelves at the same time as Ninjago and they were both covering similar styles of fantasy based play sets. Many of the NK sets, especially vehicles, could easily be Ninjago sets with a little colour adjustment and different minifigures.

Edited December 21, 2023 by MAB

[Yperio_Bricks]

1 hour ago, TeriXeri said:

Castle did have their own "Robin Hood" , as Forestmen were called in some regions , or Richard Lionheart, etc, but beside maybe a King's Carriage, or quite a few captain Redbeard Pirate Ships,  it cannot be compared to the named characters of now.

Richard Coer de Lion was a permanent guest in my room when i was a child. As were Robin Hood and the evil prince John And the Black Knight was a character himself! And there were many more like Ivanhoe or Blackbeard or Lord Nelson or Lancelot.

If there are no named characters, children will create them themselves!