2025 Castle [wishlist/speculation]

[DaleDVM]

Good lord, are those helmets a rarity.  They look nice. Could put them on commanders but definitely too expensive for an army. Well... for my armies anyway.

 

[zoth33]

5 minutes ago, DaleDVM said:

Good lord, are those helmets a rarity.  They look nice. Could put them on commanders but definitely too expensive for an army. Well... for my armies anyway.

 

I have 2 from the sets I bought.  I also have a lot of the pearl gold one's that I use for my sea elves and they look fantastic.  

[Yperio_Bricks]

5 hours ago, DonQuixote said:

Palpatine :' Now at the end, do you understand...' 

Vader : 'Resistance is futile my son.' 

'If you only knew the power of the castle side!' 

Yoda : 'Always 2 of them, they are : A knight and his squire. No more, no less.' 

Hehe

[GeoBrick]

11 hours ago, hikouki said:

 

Not a bad thing for MOCs, I get it.

But when your building a faction, you also want some figs with bespoke identity.

Well, yes, of course. LEGO could've made the choice to include one minifig with decal of the noble of the fief, and one generic in similar colors to depict the grunt. Lion's Knights went the right way with it, with two torso prints for them.

Edited May 23 by GeoBrick
expanded a bit.

[TeriXeri]

On 5/23/2025 at 4:01 AM, GeoBrick said:

Well, yes, of course. LEGO could've made the choice to include one minifig with decal of the noble of the fief, and one generic in similar colors to depict the grunt. Lion's Knights went the right way with it, with two torso prints for them.

Horse Knights follow the style of Lion Knights, and have 2 prints as well, 1 different one for the King.

But when it comes to generic leather, scales, platemail etc, I don't think every torso needs faction emblems, like I said before, Black Knights never even got any special minifig with emblems printed, instead they got 2 different size shields, 2 flag emblems, sails, special helmets with dragon plumes, and 2 printed horse barding ..

Back then, those torsos could easily be armoured versions of Lion Knights , Falcons and the then new Black Knights, and the later "3d" platemail armour piece made it even easier to hide those emblems too.

What's interesting is that they turned the "Black Knight" from 1988 supposedly into a ghost, as the 1990 minifigs have a new Black Knight with red beard, 1989 introduced new style of face via Pirates beyond just smileys, so I assume they made a little lore about "Black Monarch's Ghost, and used a similar Black Knight figure from 1990-1993, no real special torso to depict a leader/king etc as the unique face was already unique I suppose.

 

Edited May 24 by TeriXeri

[GeoBrick]

36 minutes ago, TeriXeri said:

Horse Knights follow the style of Lion Knights, and have 2 prints as well, 1 different one for the King.

But when it comes to generic leather, scales, platemail etc, I don't think every torso needs faction emblems, like I said before, Black Knights never even got any special minifig with emblems printed, instead they got 2 different size shields, 2 flag emblems, sails, special helmets with dragon plumes, and 2 printed horse barding ..

Back then, those torsos could easily be armoured versions of Lion Knights , Falcons and the then new Black Knights, and the later "3d" platemail armour piece made it even easier to hide those emblems too.

What's interesting is that they turned the "Black Knight" from 1988 supposedly into a ghost, as the 1990 minifigs have a new Black Knight with red beard, 1989 introduced new style of face via Pirates beyond just smileys, so I assume they made a little lore about "Black Monarch's Ghost, and used a similar Black Knight figure from 1990-1993, no real special torso to depict a leader/king etc as the unique face was already unique I suppose.

 

I hadn't even noticed that the King's torso has a different print. Nice catch! I hope the blue detailing around the neck continues on the back of the torso.

Back in the 80s-90s LEGO was indeed more ingenuitive with how they used the more limited range of available elements -and prints.

[TeriXeri]

I was just thinking, after Falcons and Lions pretty much seem to retire after 2025, if there will be no new Icons set with those factions,  one way for LEGO to keep Lion/Falcon torsos around longer, could be via a LEGO Fortnite set, which could have the Lionbrand character as lion knight, and then some generic falcon knights as in-game enemies, as in-game they populate castle ruins in the snow biome along with wolfpack figures, as a bonus they could feature a glow-in-the-dark skeleton as well. 

 

Edited May 24 by TeriXeri

[hikouki]

Griffins and Krakens torso prints are available at Minfigure Factory on the Lego web page. Bummer that you can only print on white torsos. So they will look like castle fan minifigs rather than army-builds.

[TeriXeri]

44 minutes ago, hikouki said:

Griffins and Krakens torso prints are available at Minfigure Factory on the Lego web page. Bummer that you can only print on white torsos. So they will look like castle fan minifigs rather than army-builds.

Those scales from the Griffin knights Printed on white could still work for Horse Knights , but still probably look very bad, especially when missing leg print.

White arms and legs were used a long time ago for the Royal Knight king, but still, even those legs used 2 colors.

 

Edited May 25 by TeriXeri

[MAB]

7 hours ago, TeriXeri said:

I was just thinking, after Falcons and Lions pretty much seem to retire after 2025, if there will be no new Icons set with those factions,  one way for LEGO to keep Lion/Falcon torsos around longer, could be via a LEGO Fortnite set, which could have the Lionbrand character as lion knight, and then some generic falcon knights as in-game enemies, as in-game they populate castle ruins in the snow biome along with wolfpack figures, as a bonus they could feature a glow-in-the-dark skeleton as well. 

 

If LEGO want to keep them around then they can choose to keep them around. They can decide to do exclusive battle packs with them in, or just keep them in stock for PAB. I wouldn't want them to start shoehorning well known unlicensed minifigures into licensed sets. 

[Rjbricks]

On 5/21/2025 at 2:57 AM, Triceron said:

I was thinking about how to use the 4 new factions in my Castle/Fantasy universe.

Horse Knights - The white on blue emblem is very striking and fits the style and theme of the DnD Dragonborn shield.  I'm thinking of having this represent a faction of Warhammer style High Elves (who also use blue ans white motif), and I might use these shields to represent infantry while the Dragon shields to represent Elites, like Dragon Princes.  The emblem wouldn't be a full faction, but more a sign of rank and file 

To make them stand out as Elves I'm thinking of having them use fleshtones instead of yellow.  I'll have to find some LOTR elf ears.

Snake Knights - I thought this could work to represent a Persian/Arabian/Desert dweller themed faction, like the people of Dorne, or the Shield breaker from Darkest Dungeon.

However the shield is using the Master shield mold, and they're represented by a nobleman so it doesn't really fit how I'd like it to work. I'd prolly prefer a round shield with the snake emblem.

Also, anyone think this dude was inspired by 

Gryphon Knights - I'm stuck on what subculture or hook to give them.  I have buckbeack ready to be used as a mount for them, but I'm stuck on how else to up their look.  I might make some custom silver cloaks for them, or maybe make them styled off the Brettonians from Warhammer.  I'm still thinking on this.

Nice ideas!

 

I'm envisioning the snake warrior being some kind of particularly unethical mercenary group.

 

I think the Horse Knights actually fit the Brettonian Knights colour scheme the most though. 

[TeriXeri]

5 hours ago, Rjbricks said:

I think the Horse Knights actually fit the Brettonian Knights colour scheme the most though. 

Agreed , white and grey  with some blue also fits with some of their artwork from Total War : Warhammer 3

Of course in-game 3d models, are different  colors by faction, Bordeleaux does follow white/gold/blue , the others have red/gold and red/blue.

Royal Pegasus and Grail Knight from the game :

 

Grey, Darkred, and Gryphon would fit Warhammer (The Empire) Reikland very well :

 

For Snake Knights, they could be Sartosa , in lore a City-State Pirate City, which even had conflict with the Bretonnian navy.

Of course the LEGO version is more a Castle version, without the guns and undead parts, although Haunted Mansion set has a nice vampire figure that could easily be one of their vampire-captains with a change of a hat, and that set even comes with a pirate hat + ship build.

 

Edited May 25 by TeriXeri

[TeriXeri]

-

Edited May 25 by TeriXeri

[Triceron]

8 hours ago, TeriXeri said:

Grey, Darkred, and Gryphon would fit Warhammer (The Empire) Reikland very well :

 

Nice observation! I hadn't even thought of Empire because my mind always equated standard fare Humans to be represented by Lion Knights.

But thinking back, even Karl Franz rides a rampant Gryphon into battle.

Now i just wish there were a big beefy gryphon mount just for that.

 

I feel like there's a huge missed opportunity for modular animal molds, like custom parts you put over standard 'lion' torso to make a different creature out of.  Sorta like how Jurassic World Dinosaurs are already semi-modular, where you can swap out legs or heads.

Then we can make mythic or fantasy beasts like manticore, chimaera, displacer beasts, etc

[Black Falcon]

On 5/21/2025 at 5:57 PM, DonQuixote said:

The Blacktron Renegade is retiring at the end of this year. Eldorado Fortress was retiring early.  I think there are enough people  interested in these classic themes but not enough for Lego to continue. It's licensed themes like Starwars and Harry Potter that make the big money.

I think for us castle/pitate/classic space fans it's just gonna be BDP,  a CMF figure ,a 3 in 1 set and a spaceman,pirate ,knight here and there. Just like the gumball machine.

I don't expect anything for Icons.

Keeping my expectations low is best I think.

I would actually be really surprised if we wouldn´t see any more Retro Icons Sets. Sure they haven´t been that long on the shelves, so sales probably were not as high as expected, but I don´t actually think that they sold that bad - but probably they are especially popular among AFOLs, so might aswell just be that many buy them short after release and after that sales just drop. 

On the other side, the retailer that got the renegade exclusive here has them sold out online and in most shops, so it can´t sell that bad.

On 5/22/2025 at 1:35 AM, DonQuixote said:

What do you think of the price for the gumball machine? 

Was going to  buy it just for supporting the designer.

But now my enthusiasm has been waned....that price.

It feels like I am paying for a Starwars set.

The new creator castle has been pre order for €99. A good deal.

But €170 for the gumball machine...and it looks small .

It's just too much. Lego is testing the die hard castle and space fans 

Honestly, many people complained about the price and sure it isn´t cheap and the price per piece looks high - but to me it doesn´t really look any more expensive than any other Lego Set to me. I mean when I look at it, there are a lot minifigures included, you have a lot big parts (the ball pieces that include the minifigures and even more the new pieces they made for the glass of the ball machine) and on the other side I see barely any small ones, whereas other sets include a lot 1x1 tiles etc. for details. Was never a fan of people judging based on parts per piece ratio and this set is a very good examply why.

On 5/22/2025 at 4:55 PM, hikouki said:

Not a bad thing for MOCs, I get it.

But when your building a faction, you also want some figs with bespoke identity.

That is, what the shield is there for ;).

[hikouki]

4 hours ago, Black Falcon said:

....

That is, what the shield is there for ;).

To each his own. I really prefer badges and emblems on the torsos.

My top faves are the 'Red Dragons' (Dragon Knight), and the Rogue (CMF series 16). The Red Dragons have a small enough emblem that allows for more of the scale mail design to show through.

[Black Falcon]

11 hours ago, hikouki said:

To each his own. I really prefer badges and emblems on the torsos.

Which is totally fine. I actually don´t mind either, the overall result should look great. For instance I do like the Dragonborn a lot, just overall a great figure, but I also love the Black Falcon Knight remake. On the other side I am not really a fan of the Dragon Knight from the Majistos Workshop GWP, that Torso just doesn´t work for me at all sadly.

11 hours ago, hikouki said:

My top faves are the 'Red Dragons' (Dragon Knight), and the Rogue (CMF series 16). The Red Dragons have a small enough emblem that allows for more of the scale mail design to show through.

You mean the Dragon Knights from the last Castle theme I guess? Personally not so much a fan of them, as I don´t really like the logo that much. But Rogue I can fully agree with you, that one is definitely among my favourite CMFs and Castle figures.

[hikouki]

33 minutes ago, Black Falcon said:

Which is totally fine. I actually don´t mind either, the overall result should look great. For instance I do like the Dragonborn a lot, just overall a great figure, but I also love the Black Falcon Knight remake. On the other side I am not really a fan of the Dragon Knight from the Majistos Workshop GWP, that Torso just doesn´t work for me at all sadly.

You mean the Dragon Knights from the last Castle theme I guess? Personally not so much a fan of them, as I don´t really like the logo that much. But Rogue I can fully agree with you, that one is definitely among my favourite CMFs and Castle figures.

Lions knights, Horse knights... the oversized logos do look good but it does not have to be that big and flashy! I think those are more for show. And yes, that dragonborn paladin looks really good! If they placed a logo somewhere on the Griffins that is the size of the dragonborn's amulet, maybe it would be ok? I guess they would have had to redesign it. My guess is probably the griffin logo does not look good shrunk down. Perhaps they could have just given them capes with logos? But it would not fit in that tiny capsule! Wishful thinking. Oh well...

Overall, I am really hoping that the gumball (as well as that 3-in-1) are not the last we will see of all 4 factions. Horse knights might be pretty well covered, but Snake, Kraken, and Griffin have more potential.

Maybe Lego could dedicate a BAM release?!?!? LOL (I think the upcoming BAM will be Dreamzzz, again.)

[Yperio_Bricks]

Sea Serpent by HallowedBrick02 won the 'A Twist of Nostalgia' contest and will be a GWP,  probably next year!

Edited May 28 by Yperio_Bricks

[RichardGoring]

Excellent!

[BitByBrick]

6 minutes ago, Yperio_Bricks said:

Sea Serpent by HallowedBrick02 won the 'A Twist of Nostalgia' contest and will be a GWP,  probably next year!

I like it. Let’s hope Lego doesn’t make too many changes. It would be nice to get both type of dragon shields and the flag. Sadly, I see them either doing stickers or only including current shield designs. In any event, I look forward to a fun GWP when it finally arrives, hopefully later this year or early next year. 

[Cyprinus]

8 minutes ago, BitByBrick said:

I like it. Let’s hope Lego doesn’t make too many changes. It would be nice to get both type of dragon shields and the flag. Sadly, I see them either doing stickers or only including current shield designs. In any event, I look forward to a fun GWP when it finally arrives, hopefully later this year or early next year. 

Considering how long it usually takes, it will probably launch closer to late 2026. Definately not this year.

[Blazej_Holen]

2 hours ago, Yperio_Bricks said:

Sea Serpent by HallowedBrick02 won the 'A Twist of Nostalgia' contest and will be a GWP,  probably next year!

It would be perfect if Sea Serpent will be GWP to the new Black Knights castle set ;)

Hope for a cloth sails and new shields (the redesign of original ones)…

[Triceron]

Yay!  I just hope I can find work before this GWP comes out.  I need to build up my funds again for a GWP.

Also the Minifigure Factory prints can be used as a basis for custom prints, like this example I found on Reddit.  But you gotta use letters and symbols to make this, so still a pain to achieve.

Edited May 28 by Triceron

[SpacePolice89]

I hope that they keep the Sea Serpent exactly as it is. I love the shields, the sail and the minifigs. I prefer this type of design so I hope that any changes will be minimal.