2025 Castle [wishlist/speculation]

[TeriXeri]

I find it funny, with that GWP, being Sea Serpent from the Black Knights, not to be confused with the official descriptions of Serpent Knight (wearing black) and Sea Serpent from the 3-in-1 Horse Castle + Dragon sets.

Very good winner.

 

Edited May 28 by TeriXeri

[Lion King]

That’s a wonderful news about Sea Seprent GWP! But…I’m keeping my hope at its lowest level.  I’m little worried they might not do it very well jsut like they did wiht Majestro’s workshop. 

[hikouki]

Wow, another revival faction?

New factions and Revivals.

Not complaining!!!

[DaleDVM]

Considering this is a throwback, I would imagine they will print up some Black Knights.  However, it is possible they will hand this ship over to a faction that will be in production at the time.  Kraken...  cough...

Obviously, I am hoping for a Black Knight revival.

[Shroffy123]

I wouldn't be upset if they make it a Kraken ship. But the Black Knights was my introduction to Lego as a kid. Happy this set was picked.

[hikouki]

32 minutes ago, DaleDVM said:

Considering this is a throwback, I would imagine they will print up some Black Knights.  However, it is possible they will hand this ship over to a faction that will be in production at the time.  Kraken...  cough...

Obviously, I am hoping for a Black Knight revival.

 

29 minutes ago, Shroffy123 said:

I wouldn't be upset if they make it a Kraken ship. But the Black Knights was my introduction to Lego as a kid. Happy this set was picked.

I would very much like a full-sized Kraken ship!!!

They can keep this as Black Knights!

[RichardGoring]

25 minutes ago, hikouki said:

 

I would very much like a full-sized Kraken ship!!!

They can keep this as Black Knights!

Agreed! It would be such a shame to make this into a Kraken ship, which really defeats the purpose of a nostalgia set. And the Kraken's deserve their own ship that is much more prominent, perhaps as their own floating/maurading base.

[DonQuixote]

5 hours ago, Lion King said:

That’s a wonderful news about Sea Seprent GWP! But…I’m keeping my hope at its lowest level.  I’m little worried they might not do it very well jsut like they did wiht Majestro’s workshop. 

Yes that gwp was garbage. I wasn't bothered getting it unlike Blacktron gwp

[Westbrick]

I think if the competition was about nostalgia, they have to stick with the original faction. That’s not to say you wouldn’t be able to convert it to another…

[Blazej_Holen]

I think that they can reuse griffin knight torso just with differetn plain legs. Then there is a space for creating a new versatile torso (maybe for black knights), depicting that printed breastplate. This, oval and triangle shield and a cloth sail would be only things Lego need to do. I guess that only exlusive part would be a sail, if they actually release some redesigned Black Knights set... Based on the experience with how Lego treats new parts and prints, I consider this as a possible way how to do it properly...

Anyway, I am really looking forward to the Sea Serpent... These competitions and votes along vith BDP clearly shows, that there is really big interest among AFOL community in the old Castle line revival... There could be some novelty here and there, but Black Knights and possibly few new forestman sets are what we need and want. 

[The Reader]

On 5/22/2025 at 5:39 PM, Yperio_Bricks said:

So today I went to town and bought the Viking Village

Good choice!

[Black Falcon]

18 hours ago, Yperio_Bricks said:

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

Any other result would have really surprised me, happy it won.

18 hours 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. 

I would hope for a cloth sail - if they keep with the prickbuilt one, that one surely would be a sticker - very likely the flag anyways. Shield should be a print, but if they will be doing two versions...

17 hours ago, Cyprinus said:

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

Yeah, sadly not. There are still some sets that I didn´t buy yet and are retiring this year, so a GWP like this would be perfect to buy alongside them.

8 hours ago, DaleDVM said:

Considering this is a throwback, I would imagine they will print up some Black Knights.  However, it is possible they will hand this ship over to a faction that will be in production at the time.  Kraken...  cough...

Obviously, I am hoping for a Black Knight revival.

There is no way they would change the faction for it. However I could see them using the Griffin Torso and legs, they would actually fit quite well for the serpents crew and if we get printed shields and a cloth sail I would be happy with that.

2 hours ago, Blazej_Holen said:

I think that they can reuse griffin knight torso just with differetn plain legs. Then there is a space for creating a new versatile torso (maybe for black knights), depicting that printed breastplate.

As said above, I can totally see them doing that, but see no reason why they shouldn´t include the legs too. Black Falcons had plain legs too but got updated printed legs when they made the new version. However for the thrid crewmate, I would expect them to just use the plate mail piece like in the fan design.

2 hours ago, Blazej_Holen said:

This, oval and triangle shield and a cloth sail would be only things Lego need to do. I guess that only exlusive part would be a sail, if they actually release some redesigned Black Knights set... Based on the experience with how Lego treats new parts and prints, I consider this as a possible way how to do it properly...

If there would be new Black Knights sets, they wouldn´t reuse torsos though, but make new ones. The only reason why I see them using the griffin knights torso (aside from the fact that it just works well) is that a gwp wouldn´t have the budget for shields, sail and torsos. 

[Artanis I]

Been waiting for black knights to return... I keep voting for the ones on Bricklink and they never get picked. Hopefully a proper castle comes out next year, this boat can accompany it... 

[Khargeust]

The only way I see them doing the sea serpent gwp with full prints and fabric veil is if they release a remake of Black Knights Castle at the same time because that would reduce the cost significantly. Otherwise, it will be a disappointment that does things halfway like the Majisto Magical Workshop gwp.

As I mentioned earlier, the Black Knights are the only ones missing from the recent  reboot of the factions that made up Castle's golden age. Their emblem has been digitally remade and appears in the instruction booklet and / or in a panel of the box for set 10305. I don't know if this was meant to be a sign of their future return already since its release in 2022, but the upcoming retirement of this set at the end of the year is a great opportunity for LEGO to release a big Black Knights set in 2026-2027. I sincerely hope they will not deceive us.

Also, I suspect that the winner of this contest was already selected in advance and this may be a pretext to make the Sea Serpent the GWP that will accompany a future Black Knights Castle. This vote also allowed them to probe the interest of AFOLs for old themes. Perhaps this is just a fabrication on my part, but I can easily imagine that this could happen.

Edited May 29 by Khargeust

[Blazej_Holen]

2 hours ago, Black Falcon said:

Any other result would have really surprised me, happy it won.

I would hope for a cloth sail - if they keep with the prickbuilt one, that one surely would be a sticker - very likely the flag anyways. Shield should be a print, but if they will be doing two versions...

Yeah, sadly not. There are still some sets that I didn´t buy yet and are retiring this year, so a GWP like this would be perfect to buy alongside them.

There is no way they would change the faction for it. However I could see them using the Griffin Torso and legs, they would actually fit quite well for the serpents crew and if we get printed shields and a cloth sail I would be happy with that.

As said above, I can totally see them doing that, but see no reason why they shouldn´t include the legs too. Black Falcons had plain legs too but got updated printed legs when they made the new version. However for the thrid crewmate, I would expect them to just use the plate mail piece like in the fan design.

If there would be new Black Knights sets, they wouldn´t reuse torsos though, but make new ones. The only reason why I see them using the griffin knights torso (aside from the fact that it just works well) is that a gwp wouldn´t have the budget for shields, sail and torsos. 

I think that griffin torso could (and possibly would) be reused in Black knights set (if we get one). Its very similar to the original scale male torso used back in 90s. Bratsplate piece would be weird on "non-knight" minifig... I think that those breastplate prints from 90s were great. So many posibilities for use, so I hope we get those in new design...

1 hour ago, Khargeust said:

The only way I see them doing the sea serpent gwp with full prints and fabric veil is if they release a remake of Black Knights Castle at the same time because that would reduce the cost significantly. Otherwise, it will be a disappointment that does things halfway like the Majisto Magical Workshop gwp.

As I mentioned earlier, the Black Knights are the only ones missing from the recent  reboot of the factions that made up Castle's golden age. Their emblem has been digitally remade and appears in the instruction booklet and / or in a panel of the box for set 10305. I don't know if this was meant to be a sign of their future return already since its release in 2022, but the upcoming retirement of this set at the end of the year is a great opportunity for LEGO to release a big Black Knights set in 2026-2027. I sincerely hope they will not deceive us.

Also, I suspect that the winner of this contest was already selected in advance and this may be a pretext to make the Sea Serpent the GWP that will accompany a future Black Knights Castle. This vote also allowed them to probe the interest of AFOLs for old themes. Perhaps this is just a fabrication on my part, but I can easily imagine that this could happen.

My thoughts exactly... I have strong feeling, that there is a Black Kinghts castle on its way, with release in 2026 (as the LKC and MTS will be retired). There are too many hints here and there that supports this theory :)

 

 

[Black Falcon]

20 minutes ago, Blazej_Holen said:

I think that griffin torso could (and possibly would) be reused in Black knights set (if we get one). Its very similar to the original scale male torso used back in 90s. Bratsplate piece would be weird on "non-knight" minifig... I think that those breastplate prints from 90s were great. So many posibilities for use, so I hope we get those in new design...

Yeah, well as I said I could totally see them using it because it fits so well - the only reason I don´t think it would be used if they would make a big set for them at the same time is, that they might want them to look different from the griffin knights - else the only thing that makes a difference for those two factions would be the shields (and probably the griffins ugly helmet). But who knows.

As for the third knight, I would simply think they would put the breastplate on the same figure like the other two knights. 

[TeriXeri]

Griffin torso would still work, even if the original set had blue or black arms, other Black Knights in set 6059 Knight's Stronghold had the same print and red arms.

Scale mail print wasn't exclusive to Black Knights either, as Royal Knights used it later.

For a GWP it would be a solution, for a full Icons / remake of Black Knights, of course something more unique and not darkred would be nice.

 

Black Knights , Wolfpack, and Dragon Masters will have / had GWP or a figure, or a hint of sorts (lion knights instructions). Along with more possible Serpent Knights, so chances for some icons black-walled castle seem quite decent in near future. 

If it's a big enough set, could even have multiple factions included, Lion Knights castle had Falcons + Forestmen too, and Wolfpack could be the bandits.

A big icons type of Black Castle set could have Dragon Masters / Black Knights and Wolfpack together, and as those factions used similar black walls and red roofs, they could even have some big set split in sections like Lion Knights Castle could.

However, Black Knights and Dragon masters perhaps would be a bit weird to have together as they officially never shared sets, but they have shared helmet plumes, and shields.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 29 by TeriXeri

[Black Falcon]

28 minutes ago, TeriXeri said:

Black Knights and Dragon masters perhaps would be a bit weird to have together as they officially never shared sets, but they have shared helmet plumes, and shields.

A wolfpack figure was in 6082 Fire Breathing Fortress, so there's a connection there. Dragon Masters and Black Knights together would be a bit more odd, as they shared characteristics , yet never officially seen in sets together.

With all the similarities it sometimes seems like the Dragon Knights are actually the successors of the Black Knights, though they go way more into fantasy. But eitherway I don´t see them doing both of them together. For the Lion Knights castle it was easy to include the Black Falcons alongside the Forestmen, because the former were already in production - for a black castle I would actually only expect the ghost, one or two wolfpack bandits and the black knights themselves - not sure if we should expect civilians here, but if they would include some I would guess no more than two, as I also don´t expect them to do a castle at the size of the Lion Knights, more a set between 200 and 300€ maybe? 

 

[DonQuixote]

3 hours ago, Blazej_Holen said:

I think that griffin torso could (and possibly would) be reused in Black knights set (if we get one). 

My thoughts exactly... I have strong feeling, that there is a Black Kinghts castle on its way, with release in 2026 (as the LKC and MTS will be retired). There are too many hints here and there that supports this theory :)

 

 

 

Yes that will be a wet dream come true

[TeriXeri]

1 hour ago, Black Falcon said:

With all the similarities it sometimes seems like the Dragon Knights are actually the successors of the Black Knights, though they go way more into fantasy. But eitherway I don´t see them doing both of them together. For the Lion Knights castle it was easy to include the Black Falcons alongside the Forestmen, because the former were already in production - for a black castle I would actually only expect the ghost, one or two wolfpack bandits and the black knights themselves - not sure if we should expect civilians here, but if they would include some I would guess no more than two, as I also don´t expect them to do a castle at the size of the Lion Knights, more a set between 200 and 300€ maybe? 

 

True, a 2-faction set with Black Knights, Wolfpack + Ghost could work very well, as they share more similar architecture compared to the more pointy roofs and yellow wall decorations + brown gate/cages of Dragon Masters which clearly were designed with those dragons in mind.

What I could imagine would be a gatehouse/bridge section over water like Wolfpack Tower, which could be it's own thing, and then a Drawbridge+Portcullis large gate like Black Monarch's/Black Knight's Castle , with red roof sections and walls/tower. (Royal Knights also had the cheaper Royal Drawbridge set useable like that, to put in front of the main castle)

Just not a direct raised-baseplate copy.

 

 

Edited May 29 by TeriXeri

[Black Feather]

Does seem convenient that LKC retires this year and LEGO has a nostalgia contest where they pick an awesome black night set as one of the choices in to vote for a GWP that comes out next year.  They replaced the castle 3 in 1 pretty quick after retiring it.  Hoping they have similar plans to replace LKC as well.  

[SpacePolice89]

20 hours ago, Black Falcon said:

With all the similarities it sometimes seems like the Dragon Knights are actually the successors of the Black Knights, though they go way more into fantasy. But eitherway I don´t see them doing both of them together. For the Lion Knights castle it was easy to include the Black Falcons alongside the Forestmen, because the former were already in production - for a black castle I would actually only expect the ghost, one or two wolfpack bandits and the black knights themselves - not sure if we should expect civilians here, but if they would include some I would guess no more than two, as I also don´t expect them to do a castle at the size of the Lion Knights, more a set between 200 and 300€ maybe? 

 

I don't see why the Black Knights and Dragon Knights couldn't appear in the same set. They have been shown together on several occasions and even fighting each other. That means that they must both exist at the same time period.

 

 

[Khargeust]

Can you explain me the omerta on the set 21358 Minifigure Vending Machine ? I see people talking about the figs here and there in the thematic forums but there is nothing on the set itself. Also, you can't find absolutely no review on internet, video or pictures / writings. For a set that will be released in less than 48 hours I find it strange ! Must be unprecedented. 

[Yperio_Bricks]

39 minutes ago, Khargeust said:

Can you explain me the omerta on the set 21358 Minifigure Vending Machine ? I see people talking about the figs here and there in the thematic forums but there is nothing on the set itself. Also, you can't find absolutely no review on internet, video or pictures / writings. For a set that will be released in less than 48 hours I find it strange ! Must be unprecedented. 

I don't want to take away from the vending machine build in any way, but I think the ugly truth is, most people are only interested in the minifigs and Lego basically turned this set into a minifig pack with a sidebuild. And of course with a large sidebuild they will make more money compared to a $40 people pack like the 60234 Fun Fair. If the minifigs would be in sets that match their respective themes or in a people pack or would be available at PAB right away, would there be any incentive to buy the vending machine set? Mostly only people who want the minifigs NOW are going to buy the set, the rest is waiting until they appear at PAB

Edited May 30 by Yperio_Bricks

[Khargeust]

19 minutes ago, Yperio_Bricks said:

I don't want to take away from the vending machine build in any way, but I think the ugly truth is, most people are only interested in the minifigs and Lego basically turned this set into a minifig pack with a sidebuild. And of course with a large sidebuild they will make more money compared to a $40 people pack like the 60234 Fun Fair. If the minifigs would be in sets that match their respective themes or in a people pack or would be available at PAB right away, would there be any incentive to buy the vending machine set? Mostly only people who want the minifigs NOW are going to buy the set, the rest is waiting until they appear at PAB

Maybe my point of view is marginal, but I love the minifigures AND the machine itself. I spent thousands of francs and hundreds of euros on these machines during the second half of the 90s and early 2000s, particularly to acquire DBZ figurines.

Beyond nostalgia, I'm eager to see if the mechanism works well and if it delivers the same satisfaction as the real machines.

Otherwise, I'd be happy to order more Castle figurines from PAB.

Edited May 30 by Khargeust