What exactly constitutes a "real" Castle theme?

[Lego David]

LEGO Castle has come in many forms over the years. It began with the peaceful yellow Castle in the late 70's, and then transitioned into being more "realistic" in the 80's, and then started getting more fantasy elements in the 90's, with the introduction of the first LEGO Dragon, and the Blue Wizard Majisto. After that, Castle started becoming more experimental, with lines like Fright Nights, and Knight's Kingdom I and II. As you would imagine, those lines got a little bit of flak from fans due how different they were. When 2007 rolls around, we get Fantasy Castle, a line that is beloved by some, but ignored by others because "the fantasy elements ruin it". Afterwards, we make a brief return to "realistic" Castle with Kingdoms, and then we go back to Fantasy again with Castle 2013. And then, in 2016 we get probably the most famous case of a "not real" Castle theme with Nexo Knights, which most fans wouldn't even categorize as a Castle theme, due to it relying more on Sci-Fi vehicles rather than well... actual Castles. I've even heard some people go as far as mockingly call NK "Knight's Kingdom III". 

So, with all that in mind, I would like to ask... What exactly would most people classify as a "real" Castle theme? And what would people actually want from a hypothetical return of LEGO Castle? Should a LEGO Castle reboot have some fantasy elements, or no fantasy elements at all? 

[John Cromwell]

Personally, I would like a reboot of the classic Castle from the 80s and 90s. The same Black Falcon shield, Crusader torso, Black Knights oval shield, etc. Of course, I would also like Lego to reverse the Bley Shift and use classic colors so as to not have an 80s Black Falcon set with dark grey and then a 2021 Black Falcon set with bluish dark grey, but... that's another story.

13 minutes ago, Lego David said:

Should a LEGO Castle reboot have some fantasy elements, or no fantasy elements at all? 

I wouldn't mind some fantasy elements thrown in. The Dragon Masters were a great addition to the Castle line, with their wizard, magic wand, and dragon included. It breathed a bit of fresh air into a line which was becoming a little stale.

 

But, since it's pretty wishful thinking to think Lego would reboot 80s and 90s Classic Castle, I would say yes, have one faction that uses fantasy elements and have another (or two) that are purely Medieval castle. AND let us, the consumer, chose who is good and who is bad. Don't make an obviously 'evil' faction and an obviously 'good' faction. That's were the beauty of the Classic Castle shown, since no one was inherently good, or bad, we were allowed to chose.

[MAB]

DBG and LBG castles, with a touch of browns, tans, black and white. Not yellow.

I was fairly happy with Kingdoms style sets but some modern versions of older factions would be good. I'm not a fan of crown knights though. So eagles / falcons / stags / lions / dragons / serpents / boars / wolves / fleur de lys instead. New style prints and not rather plain ones. I would prefer detailed print like this:

Plus no flesh on the torsos / legs, so we can use fleshies if we want to.

As to fantasy vs no fantasy - both. Castle doesn't have to be a single idea theme. I'd like to see them iterate maybe biannually. So two years of "realistic" followed by two years of "fantasy".

And include civilians too.

 

 

[caiman0637]

Some fantasy is good. In my opinion, dragons and wizards are good things to add. But unicorns, trolls, etc. is too far. Again, this is just my personal opinion.

[valon]

nexo knight was good theme, but NOT as castle, to call it knights kingdom III is not nice to knights kingdom !!!! that had knights and castles that made it a castle theme !!!! in my opinion a real castle theme is a theme with knights and castle, ninjago although the current season has a castle ( sort of ) wizards orcs and dragons has no knights so it is not a castle theme. the next ninjago theme, where they fight savages, has a castle ( sort of ) and a king/wizard ( they look to be the same person ) and a dragon, but does not have knights so it is not a castle theme. I theme such as fantasy era, that has a castle and knights, is a castle theme, but not a historical one, because of the dragons and wizards and orcs. In short a castle theme is a theme with knights and a castle

[AmperZand]

I would love to see a re-imagining of Fantasy Era with a sylvan faction consisting of elves (think the two CMF elves), centaurs, satyrs and unicorns, a human faction with knights, wizards, moulded dragons and griffins, a dwarf faction with boars and bears, and an orc faction with orcs, goblins, trolls and moulded giants.

[valon]

15 minutes ago, AmperZand said:

I would love to see a re-imagining of Fantasy Era with a sylvan faction consisting of elves (think the two CMF elves), centaurs, satyrs and unicorns, a human faction with knights, wizards, moulded dragons and griffins, a dwarf faction with boars and bears, and an orc faction with orcs, goblins, trolls and moulded giants.

that sounds really cool !!!! i am working on a theme like that for worldbuilder ( except that it focuses on knights vikings and elvles ) wich i will be posting on world builder once i have more builds for it. if you like,  you could help with builds and storybuilding ( if you have a story or builds in mind for a theme like that )

[Vindicare]

43 minutes ago, valon said:

nexo knight was good theme, but NOT as castle, to call it knights kingdom III is not nice to knights kingdom !!!! that had knights and castles that made it a castle theme !!!! in my opinion a real castle theme is a theme with knights and castle, ninjago although the current season has a castle ( sort of ) wizards orcs and dragons has no knights so it is not a castle theme. the next ninjago theme, where they fight savages, has a castle ( sort of ) and a king/wizard ( they look to be the same person ) and a dragon, but does not have knights so it is not a castle theme. I theme such as fantasy era, that has a castle and knights, is a castle theme, but not a historical one, because of the dragons and wizards and orcs. In short a castle theme is a theme with knights and a castle

Uh...”In short a castle theme is a theme with knights and a castle.” Yet you open with calling Nexo Knights not a castle theme, despite it having knights & a castle. Interesting. 

 

I loved Classic Castle as a kid. When I started buying LEGO again my first purchases were Forestmen. Then I love Fantasy Era Castle only slightly less than I do Kingdoms. The builds are what won, Joust & Mill Village Raid in particular. Although Medieval Market Village goes great with those two sets. Then Troll Battle Wheel is one of my favorites. Mythical castle is just as “real” a theme as the real/Classic castle theme I’d say.  

[valon]

Just now, Vindicare said:

Uh...”In short a castle theme is a theme with knights and a castle.” Yet you open with calling Nexo Knights not a castle theme, despite it having knights & a castle. Interesting. 

 

I loved Classic Castle as a kid. When I started buying LEGO again my first purchases were Forestmen. Then I love Fantasy Era Castle only slightly less than I do Kingdoms. The builds are what won, Joust & Mill Village Raid in particular. Although Medieval Market Village goes great with those two sets. Then Troll Battle Wheel is one of my favorites. Mythical castle is just as “real” a theme as the real/Classic castle theme I’d say.  

i agree, what a ment with nexo knights was that it was not a good castle theme, it had knights and a castle so it was a castle theme, but did not fit in the fantasy or historical category. I call it its own category of techno castle, because of the futureistic aspects, i liked it by the way but execpt for the bad guys it was not good as a castle theme ( i notcied the thing about your clone army under your post, mine is about 245 )

[Vindicare]

57 minutes ago, valon said:

i agree, what a ment with nexo knights was that it was not a good castle theme, it had knights and a castle so it was a castle theme, but did not fit in the fantasy or historical category. I call it its own category of techno castle, because of the futureistic aspects, i liked it by the way but execpt for the bad guys it was not good as a castle theme ( i notcied the thing about your clone army under your post, mine is about 245 )

Totally get it. I did like it as well, just never bought any(more because there was higher priority buys). It was a huge departure & I also would much rather have had a normal Castle theme. The minifgs were cool & it introduced some great parts & prints. 

Dang, that’s a nice size army! 

[Aanchir]

1 hour ago, valon said:

i agree, what a ment with nexo knights was that it was not a good castle theme, it had knights and a castle so it was a castle theme, but did not fit in the fantasy or historical category. I call it its own category of techno castle, because of the futureistic aspects, i liked it by the way but execpt for the bad guys it was not good as a castle theme ( i notcied the thing about your clone army under your post, mine is about 245 )

In that case it sounds like your definition might be better phrased as "a theme focusing on knights and castles, but without any technological elements from the 20th century or later".

You could certainly narrow your definition even further than that, but I feel like that's about as much as you could narrow this definition without also excluding 19th century technologies like airships, which tend to be relatively popular even in fantasy media that's otherwise more medieval-inspired like Dungeons and Dragons, The Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, World of Warcraft, and even LEGO Elves.

For my part, I don't tend to be too concerned about putting themes into any sort of rigid categories, even if it can be a fun distraction at times to think about the ways certain themes are alike or different, or the past themes which might have influenced them. After all, Rock Raiders can be considered a space theme, but also an underground theme. Ultra Agents can be considered a sci-fi theme, but also a spy theme. Nexo Knights can be considered a castle theme, but also a sci-fi theme. And Hidden Side can be thought of as a horror theme, but also a modern-day theme. There's no reason to think that any of these categories are somehow more essential to these themes' identities than any other.

Edited December 10, 2020 by Aanchir

[valon]

25 minutes ago, Vindicare said:

Totally get it. I did like it as well, just never bought any(more because there was higher priority buys). It was a huge departure & I also would much rather have had a normal Castle theme. The minifgs were cool & it introduced some great parts & prints. 

Dang, that’s a nice size army! 

i also would have prefered normal or fantasy castle to, i liked it as a space type theme not as castle even if it techinally is/was a castle theme !!!! ( 189 is not to shabby !!!! )

[Niku]

I consider Castle all waves from the first on 1978 to the last on 2013, some are great other not so much but all is castle. I like the classic look and feel yet I also have on high regard as well the fantasy aspect.

But to me Nexo is not Castle.
Has futuristic, sci fi elements that truly feel they dont belong in the spirit of castle.

[MAB]

For me, Nexo Knights doesn't fit into traditional castle but does fit into the spirit of castle. It has the spirit of (fanrasy) castle, reimagined in a future/alternate universe. It has knights, castles, wizards, trolls-like characters, horses, siege engines, ... All the spirit of castle just not in a traditional setting.

[valon]

4 hours ago, MAB said:

For me, Nexo Knights doesn't fit into traditional castle but does fit into the spirit of castle. It has the spirit of (fanrasy) castle, reimagined in a future/alternate universe. It has knights, castles, wizards, trolls-like characters, horses, siege engines, ... All the spirit of castle just not in a traditional setting.

i agree, it was just a bad castle theme !!!!

[Niku]

Well maybe spirit was not the correct word to tell. I find it difficult to explain myself, pardon this.
Tomorrow Lego could produce a new theme that has planes or spaceships mixed with pirates and put some flags, cannons and a parrot to the sets and it may have the pirate spirit-essence-substance but would totally not fit on what a pirate theme had been in the past (Yes I know there are space pirates examples but is like calling someone a ninja because is sneaky and silent, or cowboy just because it wears a hat)
There are lot more characteristics and traits to a ninja or cowboy to fit the description, and yes it might fall on the cliche or archetype but is preferable to a ninja wearing a yellow raincoat, throwing pizzas instead of shurikens and a cowboy using a falx and riding an elephant.
I see a theme as the sum of its parts and when you weight the quantity of those parts that do not match the overall of a theme it feels strange. May be cool or not, but is strange.
Nexo Knights as said earlier has useful parts and some cool villains but thats it. It differs so much of castle in execution and intention. It is an odd mix that imo went bad as a theme.
I may be fixated about this but I can see a proper castle only as classic or fantasy(fantasy can be streched but it has boundaries/limits). Beyond that it might be something cool or strange but not castle.
And respect those of you that like NK just not my cup of tea.

[valon]

Just now, Niku said:

Well maybe spirit was not the correct word to tell. I find it difficult to explain myself, pardon this.
Tomorrow Lego could produce a new theme that has planes or spaceships mixed with pirates and put some flags, cannons and a parrot to the sets and it may have the pirate spirit-essence-substance but would totally not fit on what a pirate theme had been in the past (Yes I know there are space pirates examples but is like calling someone a ninja because is sneaky and silent, or cowboy just because it wears a hat)
There are lot more characteristics and traits to a ninja or cowboy to fit the description, and yes it might fall on the cliche or archetype but is preferable to a ninja wearing a yellow raincoat, throwing pizzas instead of shurikens and a cowboy using a falx and riding an elephant.
I see a theme as the sum of its parts and when you weight the quantity of those parts that do not match the overall of a theme it feels strange. May be cool or not, but is strange.
Nexo Knights as said earlier has useful parts and some cool villains but thats it. It differs so much of castle in execution and intention. It is an odd mix that imo went bad as a theme.
I may be fixated about this but I can see a proper castle only as classic or fantasy(fantasy can be streched but it has boundaries/limits). Beyond that it might be something cool or strange but not castle.
And respect those of you that like NK just not my cup of tea.

i agree, sort of, nexo knights was a bad castle theme, but it was a castle theme, it had all the elements of a castle theme, but other elements that made it terrible as a castle theme i have said this other places but if lego wanted to combine to classic theme, it would have made more sense to combine castle and pirates wich could have worked rather then castle and space, wich put elements into castle and space that made it terrible

[Aanchir]

11 hours ago, valon said:

i agree, sort of, nexo knights was a bad castle theme, but it was a castle theme, it had all the elements of a castle theme, but other elements that made it terrible as a castle theme i have said this other places but if lego wanted to combine to classic theme, it would have made more sense to combine castle and pirates wich could have worked rather then castle and space, wich put elements into castle and space that made it terrible

I definitely get how you feel that a hybrid theme like that would fit in better with people's existing collections, but usually hybrid themes of this sort are intended to stand out, not fit in. From what we've seen and heard about the theme's development from designers, the entire concept of Nexo Knights was first pitched many years before its launch as a broad idea for a "future castle"/"future knights" theme, and it's doubtful that LEGO would have ever chosen to develop that pitch into a full theme in the first place if they thought the futuristic twist would be some kind of deal-breaker.

The idea that it came out of some sort of broader exploration of ways of "renewing" the Castle theme often seems to be based on the assumption that the theme was some sort of last-ditch effort to "save" a classic theme they feared was losing relevance, but that seems to mostly be a projection of what fans felt Nexo Knights' purpose should have been, or perhaps the only reason they could imagine a theme like Nexo Knights getting developed.

But to me it seems a lot more likely that it was envisioned as a cool and slightly absurd concept for a new sci-fi theme and decided to pursue it on those grounds.

Edited December 12, 2020 by Aanchir

[valon]

53 minutes ago, Aanchir said:

I definitely get how you feel that a hybrid theme like that would fit in better with people's existing collections, but usually hybrid themes of this sort are intended to stand out, not fit in. From what we've seen and heard about the theme's development from designers, the entire concept of Nexo Knights was first pitched many years before its launch as a broad idea for a "future castle"/"future knights" theme, and it's doubtful that LEGO would have ever chosen to develop that pitch into a full theme in the first place if they thought the futuristic twist would be some kind of deal-breaker.

The idea that it came out of some sort of broader exploration of ways of "renewing" the Castle theme often seems to be based on the assumption that the theme was some sort of last-ditch effort to "save" a classic theme they feared was losing relevance, but that seems to mostly be a projection of what fans felt Nexo Knights' purpose should have been, or perhaps the only reason they could imagine a theme like Nexo Knights getting developed.

But to me it seems a lot more likely that it was envisioned as a cool and slightly absurd concept for a new sci-fi theme and decided to pursue it on those grounds.

well, what i ment was that it would stand out, but also fit in with the castle theme, fantasy era standouts out from other castle themes, but it fits with castle wich nexo knights does not 

[Grover]

On 12/10/2020 at 7:19 AM, Lego David said:

So, with all that in mind, I would like to ask... What exactly would most people classify as a "real" Castle theme? And what would people actually want from a hypothetical return of LEGO Castle? Should a LEGO Castle reboot have some fantasy elements, or no fantasy elements at all? 

I would consider a real 'Castle' theme any historic or fantasy based medieval theme.  That means no firearms or later technology.  Magical substitutes for technology and anachronistic jokes that are not part of the main theme would be acceptable, in my opinion.  In my mind, firearms are the dividing line the separates technology that is too 'futuristic' to define a Castle theme.  I was happy with all of the previous Castle themes to a greater or lesser degree.  Some had more gaudy colors that I was not in love with, but they did have parts that were usable.  Nexo Knights was not a Castle theme to my way of thinking: it was a science fiction theme that was inspired both by classic space and some castle elements, but that made it effectively neither.  It had a few parts here and there (most notably a new visor and new pentagonal tiles) that were useful, but overall, the theme was uninteresting to me and I never bought any of the sets.  The castle parts were largely colors I would never use in any of my medieval builds, fantasy or not, and the futuristic technological aspects were unappealing to me.  I don't know, kids may have liked it, but I had no use for the sets and refused to buy them even when I found some on 75% clearance.  There were simply not enough parts that I could use in my MOCs to warrant a purchase.  I think I got a free Lavaria that I used as a demon, but that's about it.

As for fantasy or no fantasy elements, I am happy either way.  Wizards, dragons, orcs, etc. are great, but I'm just as happy to have historic medieval sets like coopers, mills, stonemasons, blacksmiths, etc.  I would be happy with the return of an unlicensed medieval theme, fantasy or not.

Edited December 12, 2020 by Grover

[Gorilla94]

Well... a "castle" is from my point of view (and the Oxford English Dictionary's) a fortified immobile building in most cases made of traditional material. In German the word "Castle" is closely related to "mountain" which shows how much a Castle is defined by being a immobile building. The Nexo knight's "Castle" was a metal tank on wheels... an open metal Tank on the top offering no protecting at all from the various flying units of the theme... and a vehicle in danger of driving into a mine field or get attacked from Below while parking - something that is a risk necessary to take when attacking but certainly none a place for civilians to flee into should have. I can hardly see anything "castle" about the theme.

A knight is more than just a guy in an armor. He is the result of a society where a whole village is needed to get one guy into chainmail and on a horse. He is an expert in holding his lance and riding a straight line. This whole concept would not exist with this amount of recources and technology where keeping a bunch of war robots in a hut in case you get attacked would work better in every way. And certainly there would be no simple soldiers wearing a helmet not protecting the face...

Edited December 12, 2020 by Gorilla94

[Sarophas]

I feel that a Castle theme should be a mix of both reality and fantasy. The reason being that everyday life in the middle ages was heavily influenced by religion and superstition, which could also be called "fantasy". Therefore trolls, dwarves, goblins, faeries, wizards, dragons, etc. played a significant part in the way a person from that time viewed the world. I would like to add, that it is a balancing act to make it work properly.

Kingdoms (which released during my dark ages) was an amazing take on the ordinary things, that unfortunately are too often overlooked! That being said, I have a weakness for armor, weapons, castles and all the classic castle tropes, so I for one do not mind to see the "obligatory" big castle, joust, damsel in distress, etc.

I wish for LEGO to create a series that is based in real history (such as arms/armor, clothing, buildings) and to really make some interesting new pieces, like new helmet visors (KK did a good job on that, except the colors ), instruments (a lute for example), and so on.

[valon]

i agree, fantasy castle is definatley still castle and more accurate to how people thought in the middle ages, just looking at a painting that i have in my room from the medieval times ( sorry that sounds really pretenious !!!! ) it has things in it that definately do not exist, but people though did in the medieval times so even if you think that only medieval themes count as castle, fantasy still does !!!!

[Aanchir]

15 hours ago, Grover said:

I would consider a real 'Castle' theme any historic or fantasy based medieval theme.  That means no firearms or later technology.  Magical substitutes for technology and anachronistic jokes that are not part of the main theme would be acceptable, in my opinion.  In my mind, firearms are the dividing line the separates technology that is too 'futuristic' to define a Castle theme.

This is an interesting perspective! That said, I have to wonder — do you have any geographic considerations for what you consider a Castle theme? After all, countries like China and Japan were using gunpowder weapons like fire arrows, fire lances, and hand cannons much earlier than Europe was.

For their part, although LEGO chose not to brand the Ninja theme as a Castle theme (at least not in any of the catalogs I've seen), it did seem to take the place of the Castle theme in 1998 and 1999. What's more, its box art featured the same yellow-orange borders that had been reserved for Castle themes in years prior.* So in one way or another LEGO seemed to feel it performed an equivalent role to their earlier Castle sets, although it did feature both cannons and firearms.

Also, just how generous would you be with that allowance for fantasy equivalents of technology? Like, would you accept automata with robot-like "artificial intelligence", as long as they ostensibly run on magic, clockwork, or some combination of the two rather than post-industrial technologies like steam engines or electricity? What about handguns or rifles that fire some sort of supernatural or spiritual energy rather than bullets (a fairly common concept in anime, manga, and video games)?

I feel like at a certain point, even a definition spelled out as carefully as this one carries the risk of allowing its fantasy technologies to become functionally indistinguishable from more modern or sci-fi equivalents, almost like an inversion of Clarke's Third Law. And even without invoking any kind of supernatural forces, it doesn't take a whole lot for an armored siege cart with a tube-shaped projector for "Greek Fire" to look more like a tank than anything you'd find in a medieval setting. So in the end, you might at times still end up having to rely on gut instinct to determine which elements don't feel "Castle-y" enough. 

Mind you, this is not a weakness of your definition so much as a challenge of trying to define the ontological attributes of a LEGO theme or narrative genre in the first place! I'm not sure I could come up with a definition that includes fantasy tech but clearly and decisively excludes excludes any sort of tech that would pull the theme into another genre entirely. But it's certainly still fun to compare our different approaches to dealing with these sorts of questions.

* Solid, color-coded borders on boxes were the norm for LEGO System sets throughout much of the 90s: blue for Town, Boats, and Model Team; grey for Trains; black for Space; purple for Pirates; pink for Paradisa; brown for Wild West; etc. But series like LEGO Ninja and LEGO Insectoids were some of the last themes to adhere to this design standard — by this time, some other System themes like Time Cruisers and Adventurers had already started decorating the top, bottom, and sides of their boxes with painted backdrops and textures like on the front and back, rather than placing the front box art neatly within a solid-colored rectangular frame.

[Grover]

1 hour ago, Aanchir said:

This is an interesting perspective! That said, I have to wonder — do you have any geographic considerations for what you consider a Castle theme? After all, countries like China and Japan were using gunpowder weapons like fire arrows, fire lances, and hand cannons much earlier than Europe was.

That is an excellent point.  I had not considered that, but I would probably isolate the geography to continental Europe and the British Isles.  China, Japan, the Vikings, the middle east, etc., even if contemporaneous, probably deserve their own treatment based on large cultural differences.  You are correct in that the Ninja was consolidated with Castle in the late 1990s, although I never fully understood that since I thought that each theme deserved its own separate attention.

1 hour ago, Aanchir said:

Also, just how generous would you be with that allowance for fantasy equivalents of technology? Like, would you accept automata with robot-like "artificial intelligence", as long as they ostensibly run on magic, clockwork, or some combination of the two rather than post-industrial technologies like steam engines or electricity? What about handguns or rifles that fire some sort of supernatural or spiritual energy rather than bullets (a fairly common concept in anime, manga, and video games)? 

I feel like at a certain point, even a definition spelled out as carefully as this one carries the risk of allowing its fantasy technologies to become functionally indistinguishable from more modern or sci-fi equivalents, almost like an inversion of Clarke's Third Law. And even without invoking any kind of supernatural forces, it doesn't take a whole lot for an armored siege cart with a tube-shaped projector for "Greek Fire" to look more like a tank than anything you'd find in a medieval setting. So in the end, you might at times still end up having to rely on gut instinct to determine which elements don't feel "Castle-y" enough. 

Another great question, and a much harder one.  I think that you are correct in asserting that at some point you have to rely on gut instinct to decide what is 'castle-y'.  Some video games, such as Skyrim, certainly have these magical robots that push the boundaries in an almost steampunk way.  I tend to think that gnomes and dwarves will push the limit of magical contraptions more based on the fantasy genre, but even these should not be ubiquitous, such as trapping lightning elementals in wires to make electricity and such.  I'd be more in favor of small, almost humorous uses of magic, such as magical lights instead of candles and torches, perhaps turned on and off with hand claps, or magical methods of communication to further a plot.  Magic does bend the rules of reality by its very definition, so it must be used carefully if not sparingly in order to maintain a suspension of disbelief through a self-consistent set of rules for the fantasy universe.  How that relates to Lego is an interesting question, but I think that the level of magic that they have had in the past with wizards, orcs, dragons, etc. has been pretty good.

Personally, I find that the end of the medieval is marked by weapons that do not require great skill and training to wield.  Early firearms were more difficult to maintain and had lower rates of fire than longbows, but had an advantage in labor since anyone could be trained to use one in a short time, whereas the loss of an archer represented years of invested training.  Even magic usually requires great study in most fiction, so I would be OK with it.  Thus, things like the fully automatic crossbow used in the Van Helsing movie are simply modern adaptations of a machine gun, whereas a wizard throwing a ball of fire wiping out 20 troops is reasonable given the amount of training he/she had to go through to achieve mastery.  That's all probably too detailed for the Lego universe, but I don't think it hurts to have some backstory to a theme in order to maintain consistency throughout.

As an amusing aside, I will date myself, but I think of the yellow borders as City themed, since all the yellow "Legoland" city boxes were yellow with blue or white lettering!

Edited December 12, 2020 by Grover