2025 Castle [wishlist/speculation]

[Blazej_Holen]

21 minutes ago, Black Feather said:

Voted for Kraken but disappointed by the overall look.  The brown helmet and legs make it look odd.  The torso and shield are great.  The helmet is so easy to fix it is not even worth complaining about in itself.  But since the legs are printed to align with the torso that is more of an issue.  Man, I wish they used the same color for the legs as the arms.  That would look a lot better to me at least.  Griffin looks awesome. Though I will switch the helmet. 

Helmet is in copper, not reddish brown. Its a weird choice, but it can be swapped easilly. Legs and torso are fine.

[hikouki]

52 minutes ago, Black Feather said:

Voted for Kraken but disappointed by the overall look.  The brown helmet and legs make it look odd.  The torso and shield are great.  The helmet is so easy to fix it is not even worth complaining about in itself.  But since the legs are printed to align with the torso that is more of an issue.  Man, I wish they used the same color for the legs as the arms.  That would look a lot better to me at least.  Griffin looks awesome. Though I will switch the helmet. 

Great idea - dark green legs would I think look good!

30 minutes ago, Blazej_Holen said:

Helmet is in copper, not reddish brown. Its a weird choice, but it can be swapped easilly. Legs and torso are fine.

I feel the shape of the helmet is the issue. They should have used a different one.

I think overall, Lego probably did not want to invest in any new mould for this set, but at the same time wanted to put out something unique.

[Lyichir]

I like the helmet choice for the Kraken knights—not only does it look cool with the scarf covering the mouth, but it's also sort of fitting for a faction based on a Norse legend to use viking helmets. The teal and copper/brown also makes for a really distinctive color scheme that doesn't overlap too much with other existing factions/heraldry. I kind of want to try to come up with some MOCs for this fresh new faction, which isn't actually that common an experience for me as a more casual castle fan!

The Griffin knights excite me a little less—the silver and dark red works fine but also feels like a slightly generic "good guy" faction. Not that that's bad in and of itself (it makes me slightly nostalgic for a thoroughly mediocre Mega Bloks castle I had as a kid), but it inspires me a little less than the Kraken knights. Which is ironic, because the Griffin was actually my top choice in the poll and the Kraken my least favorite!

[karrit]

I'm still not convinced that the Kraken Helmet is actually copper.  It looks Brown to me.

[TeriXeri]

I hope they actually make some sets for those knights later, even if it takes 1-2 years,  and not just BDP stuff, for now they obviously want to sell their big set for those.

CMF being one off is one thing, this set is not the same.

Edited Sunday at 09:35 PM by TeriXeri

[Yperio_Bricks]

16 minutes ago, karrit said:

I'm still not convinced that the Kraken Helmet is actually copper.  It looks Brown to me.

Same here! I still think it just the shiny render. We'll see!

 

17 minutes ago, Lyichir said:

I kind of want to try to come up with some MOCs for this fresh new faction, which isn't actually that common an experience for me as a more casual castle fan!

Curious too see what kind of MOCs people will come up with for the Kraken Knights!

I was always interested in castle since I left my dark ages but none of the other (classic) factions really was drawing me into the theme. After hearing the Kraken Knights won I was aboard the hype train and now after seeing the minifigs I am in love

 

[Triceron]

I lucked out and snagged a thrift store bundle that had the Atlantean helmets (1 grey 2 gold) from Aquaman sets.  I'm ready for the Kraken pieces to go up on PAB.  Just hoping they stock up well.

 

I also have some grey fuselage pieces that I might use to make a small raising ship for the Kraken.  I plan to have em rival the Black Knights' ships

Edited Sunday at 10:12 PM by Triceron

[thewatchman]

5 hours ago, hikouki said:

 

I think LKC was a great build but Lego built it only in "one dimension" so to speak. They just wanted a castle built with modern pieces but evoked the classic Castles theme.

OTOH, MF was built with much artistic freedom. I think setting the castle in a snowy environment is one dimension or layer of change that Lego would not have entertained. 

Moving forward, I do hope future castles will incorporate more of this artistic freedom, especially now that we have new factions, with some of them being somewhat unconventional. I linked a reddit post above and you can see that some of those BDP8 submissions had color themes or settings that weren't quite there in previous classic sets of the Castles theme.

I really hope so too. I’d love a desert castle with sand around, or a forest one with a lot of autumn leaf mess.

3 hours ago, Black Feather said:

Voted for Kraken but disappointed by the overall look.  The brown helmet and legs make it look odd.  The torso and shield are great.  The helmet is so easy to fix it is not even worth complaining about in itself.  But since the legs are printed to align with the torso that is more of an issue.  Man, I wish they used the same color for the legs as the arms.  That would look a lot better to me at least.  Griffin looks awesome. Though I will switch the helmet. 

I feel really similar. I love the torsos, I don’t even mind the legs but they feel a lot more like Vikings than a castle faction. An easy remedy with a few different helmets so I’m not overly bothered. 

[MAB]

I think the kraken will look good with either dark green legs, or switching the arms out for reddish brown. As above, I have a load of the helmets from the Aquaman sets, and the Viking helmets will go to Rohan soldiers.

I like the idea of the generic print for the Griphon as they can be just soldiers but that belt is horrible. Why do they need to do that on the torso. It looks silly so high and also limits the legs that can be used.

Edited Sunday at 10:29 PM by MAB

[Cyprinus]

12 minutes ago, MAB said:

I like the idea of the generic print for the Griphon as they can be just soldiers but that belt is horrible. Why do they need to do that on the torso. It looks silly so high and also limits the legs that can be used.

Isn't that the standard for torsos that come with dedicated printed legs?

[hikouki]

1 hour ago, Lyichir said:

I like the helmet choice for the Kraken knights—not only does it look cool with the scarf covering the mouth, but it's also sort of fitting for a faction based on a Norse legend to use viking helmets. The teal and copper/brown also makes for a really distinctive color scheme that doesn't overlap too much with other existing factions/heraldry. I kind of want to try to come up with some MOCs for this fresh new faction, which isn't actually that common an experience for me as a more casual castle fan!

The Griffin knights excite me a little less—the silver and dark red works fine but also feels like a slightly generic "good guy" faction. Not that that's bad in and of itself (it makes me slightly nostalgic for a thoroughly mediocre Mega Bloks castle I had as a kid), but it inspires me a little less than the Kraken knights. Which is ironic, because the Griffin was actually my top choice in the poll and the Kraken my least favorite!

There are several draws for me about the Krakens. First the overall novelty of a (most likely) sea-faring faction that has not existed before. Everyone else was land-based and/ or affiliated with birds. Second is the overall mystery of their lore. Where did they come from? Who are they aligned with?

Maybe those Griffin torsos are going to have griffin logos as the back? Not too long ago, there were BAM pieces for Black Falcon knights and they looked generic from the front but had the big logo at the back.

[thewatchman]

18 minutes ago, MAB said:

I think the kraken will look good with either dark green legs, or switching the arms out for reddish brown. As above, I have a load of the helmets from the Aquaman sets, and the Viking helmets will go to Rohan soldiers.

I like the idea of the generic print for the Griphon as they can be just soldiers but that belt is horrible. Why do they need to do that on the torso. It looks silly so high and also limits the legs that can be used.

Yeah I agree, dark green legs would have looked great. What helmets from aqua man might match? I’m trying to think of options to use myself.

[Black Falcon]

11 hours ago, Khargeust said:

I don't share your enthusiasm for the BDP program at all. It's a half-hearted solution for Castle fans. Above all, we need original sets and new themes with full ranges of sets.

At least it shows everyone that AFOLs like castles ;). And hoepfully, one day....

10 minutes ago, hikouki said:

Maybe those Griffin torsos are going to have griffin logos as the back? Not too long ago, there were BAM pieces for Black Falcon knights and they looked generic from the front but had the big logo at the back.

Yeah, but that was on a printed cape, which to me just looked silly because it was so short. Doesn´t seem that the Griffins wear a cape, so very likely no logo on the back either.

[Black Feather]

19 minutes ago, MAB said:

I think the kraken will look good with either dark green legs, or switching the arms out for reddish brown…

Was thinking about dark green legs but not liking cutting off the continued printing.  Brown arms might work if that looks good.  Will have to compare these ideas side by side because I love the torso just not the overall look of the figures they made.  I have tons of alternate helmets to choose from, so that part of it is no big deal.

[hikouki]

Is the color of the Kraken torso also teal, just like with the spaceman?

Looking at the photos more closely, I do think the helmet is reddish brown. It appears the same color and sheen as the whip. The legs look darker because of the shadow.

I think dark green legs and pearl dark gray helmets would look good.

Keeping the original helmet and legs would perhaps look good with reddish brown arms.

But overall, I'm happy with the Kraken fig because it has identity and personality. The Griffin looks generic. It needs some distinctive markings.

[karrit]

1 hour ago, hikouki said:

Is the color of the Kraken torso also teal, just like with the spaceman?

Looking at the photos more closely, I do think the helmet is reddish brown. It appears the same color and sheen as the whip. The legs look darker because of the shadow.

I think dark green legs and pearl dark gray helmets would look good.

Keeping the original helmet and legs would perhaps look good with reddish brown arms.

But overall, I'm happy with the Kraken fig because it has identity and personality. The Griffin looks generic. It needs some distinctive markings.

I believe the base color for the Kraken Knight is the same Teal as the Spaceman.  I posted in another thread about 1/4 of the prize machine figs being the same color.

[Alcarin]

Can anyone send the link to see the figs you're discussing? 

 

EDIT: Found them. 

Edited yesterday at 09:29 AM by Alcarin

[MAB]

12 hours ago, Cyprinus said:

Isn't that the standard for torsos that come with dedicated printed legs?

There has been a mixture where the belt is above and below. The worst is where they do the design across the torso and legs, since there they have to be used together in many cases, or sometimes the torso is just about acceptable but the design looks silly on the legs in isolation. I find the belt on torso looks too high when standing next to a figure where the belt is on the hips.   For example, if the Gryphon and Kraken knights stand next to each other, it looks like one has long legs and a short body, whereas the other has short legs and a long body. I think the Kraken torso will look OK on plain legs. Whereas if you put the Gryphon torso on plain legs, it looks weird having the belt up so high and not on the trousers.

12 hours ago, Black Feather said:

Was thinking about dark green legs but not liking cutting off the continued printing.  Brown arms might work if that looks good.  Will have to compare these ideas side by side because I love the torso just not the overall look of the figures they made.  I have tons of alternate helmets to choose from, so that part of it is no big deal.

Yeah, it does mean losing the continuous print onto the legs but personally I don't mind that. A lot of my (modern) Black Falcons have plain black legs and I find it gives them the 'old school' look and it allows them to be posed without the print getting messed up. I will probably do the same here, buy just the torso and then use plain legs and existing helmets.

[DonQuixote]

I actually like the Krakens how they are now. And they were only my third favourite with the faction vote. Just above the Bulls. 

[GeoBrick]

I like both of them, but the Griffions have a leg up because it seems there's no decal on the torso.

[Triceron]

I've sorted out a bunch of my loose bricks into bins by color yesterday, didn't realize how many colors there were nowadays.  I had a bunch of pastels I didn't even know I had.

 

Anyways, I'm having a weird time trying to figure out a proper color scheme for the Kraken knights for a small raiding ship.  That and what kind of culture I want them to have.  I'm not a big fan of the copper viking helm or going with a viking aesthetic, so I'll probably be sticking to greys with gold accents for them instead.

I can see they will be using dark green, so I'll keep that as a motif.  I'm thinking using either olive green or sand green as accents for algae growth on sections of the ship.  In my mind, their culture will be raiding-heavy, taking what they want and slaving others.  A mix of Ironborn from ASOIAF and the Druchii (Dark Elf) Corsairs from Warhammer.  I think I might use greys and dark greys as a base color for their ships.  I'n considering whether to use brown or tan for wooden parts. I want to avoid Black as much as possible.

[hikouki]

Given that the Krakens have gaiters that don't seem to go too well with those helmets, is there any other headgear that will be compatible with it? How about placing Palpatine's hood over it?

[Yperio_Bricks]

The prize machine is said to be officially revealed today. Hope we learn about the color of the helmets!

[GreenhouseBricker]

3 hours ago, Yperio_Bricks said:

The prize machine is said to be officially revealed today. Hope we learn about the color of the helmets!

LEGO just posted the prize machine promo video on the to their official Instagram. 

 

3 hours ago, Yperio_Bricks said:

The prize machine is said to be officially revealed today. Hope we learn about the color of the helmets!

It looks like reddish brown

[Blazej_Holen]

18 minutes ago, GreenhouseBricker said:

LEGO just posted the prize machine promo video on the to their official Instagram. 

 

It looks like reddish brown

Sadly its not a copper… damn!

Edited 1 hour ago by Blazej_Holen