Is the medieval theme as popular as it used to be?

[plastic-man]

Back in the 1980s when I was into Lego in a big way with my brother, there were two themes that we focused on - space and medieval. Unfortunately, I can't remember what sets we had specifically as it was so long ago. Though I had the impression that both of these themes were very popular at the time. 

Though these days when I browse the Lego sets in department stores, I see a decent variety of themes but no medieval theme. No knights, no castles. A complete absence of anything even related to the medieval time period with the Lego sets on display. 

Also, my young nephews are into Lego and it seems that the space theme is very popular with them. And other themes as well such as ocean exploration. Though they have no medieval themed Lego. And they didn't seem to be familiar with it either (when I asked them about it.) I actually wondered if medieval Lego was still being produced or if it had been phased out long ago. Perhaps it is still around but not in local stores / shops where I am anymore. Can you still buy this kind of Lego in your local stores or is it mainly available online these days?

 

 

[DonQuixote]

Classic themes are very niche now. Lego is allmost all about licensed themes.  The only castle set you will find in stores right now is the creator horse knight castle 31168. The other 2 sets are only available online at the Lego webstore and they are targeted for nostalgic adults. They also are expensive. They will retire at the end of the year so if you want them ,you need to hurry!

[plastic-man]

Don, thank you for the explanation. That's very interesting. I'm actually getting the impression that these days, medieval may be even more niche than space. I'm trying to remember if I saw any space themed Lego the last times I looked at Lego sets in stores. There could have been a possibility of that. 

And yes, I do see the licensed themes really dominating now. Lego has certainly been very successful with that (especially movie tie-ins.) Star Wars etc. 

Gosh, I remember many decades ago in primary school, a fellow student (another kid) had a home made Star Wars Tie-Fighter (which I assume he made himself.) It was not made of Lego though. It was made of common household items (two icecream container lids and some kind of tube etc.) I was quite impressed. It looked really good. 

 

 

[SpacePolice89]

I believe that the Castle theme would be very popular if they would release a full wave of sets in stores. Modern versions of Castle like Kingdoms and the fantasy era sets were very popular and sold in large numbers. Recent Creator sets from classic themes like the Medieval Castle and the Pirate Ship have also been successful, that is proof that we need full waves of sets from themes like Castle in stores ASAP. Stuff like castles and pirates are always popular with kids and would be much better sets and healthier for the mind than the Hollywood sets that are currently being sold. If Lego made a proper new Castle theme with sets in all sizes it would be one of the most popular themes and sell in great numbers. 

[MAB]

LEGO isn't all about licensed themes. Licensed:unlicensed sets have been about 50:50 for a number of years. If you look at themes, then there are way more licensed themes than unlicensed but that is because few in-house themes now dominate massively.

So the big difference is the number of sets in the unlicensed themes. For minifigure based play sets, the big three have dominated for over a decade: City, Friends and Ninjago. Then there are the shorter lived themes such as Dreamzzz, Monkie Kid, and previously Chima, Nexo Knights, Hidden Side, Vidiyo, etc. But Ninjago has swallowed up the traditional historical and architecture type sets that would probably have been Adventurers, it has futuristic tech that could almost be space while the realistic space has gone into City. If I go to the lego.com website right now, City has 73 sets, Friends 50 and Ninjago 42 sets. The little write up on the Ninjago page says it all: ... amazing NINJAGO toys, including mechs, minifigures, weaponised vehicles, motorbikes, dragons, ninja temples and other buildings. That has consumed the small 6-8 set in-house themes. By sticking with the same characters LEGO have made it so that any Ninjago set bought today sort of fits with a Ninjago set bought 3 years ago, 5 years ago or 10 years ago even though they might cover future technology, ancient architecture and some sort of performance vehicle. Whereas previously a Galaxy squad set didn't fit with an Atlantis set bought a few years before, or a Fantasy Era set from 5 years before or a Racers set 10 years before.

 

 

[SpacePolice89]

6 hours ago, MAB said:

For minifigure based play sets, the big three have dominated for over a decade: City, Friends and Ninjago.

There are no minifigs in Friends, only minidolls.

[DonQuixote]

3 hours ago, SpacePolice89 said:

There are no minifigs in Friends, only minidolls.

Unpopular opinion : I quite like the minidolls 

[zoth33]

4 hours ago, DonQuixote said:

Unpopular opinion : I quite like the minidolls 

Not enough articulation for me and the necks look weird.  The legs are the deal breaker for me.  

[Wardancer]

It is very popular outside the restraints of offical Lego.

Many builds for the Bricklink Designer program are castles

Bluebrixx is releasing one modular Castle theme after the other, from playable themes up to 20000 part castles for adults:

https://www.bluebrixx.com/de/alle-themenwelten/mittelalter/burgen-und-festungen/

 

[MAB]

58 minutes ago, Wardancer said:

It is very popular outside the restraints of offical Lego.

Many builds for the Bricklink Designer program are castles

It is also popular with adults in ICONS and to some extent Creator. LEGO has decided it is best to aim what would be the Castle theme predominantly at the adult market.

[Triceron]

It's a bit incomparable as I don't think new generation of kids are growing up with any type of Castle Lego in the same way as it's being bought by Adults who grew up with it.  The sets kids go for would be what's readily available on store shelves, while Castle has become adult collector items that you can only get in the Lego store or online.

 

My 3 year old gets exposed to all sorts of Lego themes from Marvel and DIsney to Friends and Ninjago.  Yet her only exposure to Castle would only ever be through my collection.

Edited October 28, 2025 by Triceron

[hikouki]

5 hours ago, Triceron said:

It's a bit incomparable as I don't think new generation of kids are growing up with any type of Castle Lego in the same way as it's being bought by Adults who grew up with it.  The sets kids go for would be what's readily available on store shelves, while Castle has become adult collector items that you can only get in the Lego store or online.

 

My 3 year old gets exposed to all sorts of Lego themes from Marvel and DIsney to Friends and Ninjago.  Yet her only exposure to Castle would only ever be through my collection.

Agree. The market is split. And Lego was responsible for splitting it.

Castles, Pirates, etc. are more for AFOLs.

Kids now are getting what, those minidolls?

[karrit]

LEGO seems to reserve Castle builds for Disney IP & Harry Potter IP.  Space Builds are Star Wars IP and soon Star Trek IP.  Pirates again Disney IP & now One Piece IP.  These are familiar to the kids due to movies & TV shows.  They occasionally throw a bone with in house sets for City or Creator and rarely what they now call the Icons Collection.  Unfortunately these are usually big high priced sets with no corresponding small allowance money priced sets so not things the kids can get interested in building a collection with.  They are brought up wanting the IP sets because there isn't enough non-IP low priced sets that can grab their interest and spark their imaginations.   

[MAB]

3 hours ago, karrit said:

LEGO seems to reserve Castle builds for Disney IP & Harry Potter IP.  Space Builds are Star Wars IP and soon Star Trek IP.  

Only if you exclude all the castle and space builds that LEGO does in their in-house themes. Last year, they even did a space year.

3 hours ago, karrit said:

Unfortunately these are usually big high priced sets with no corresponding small allowance money priced sets so not things the kids can get interested in building a collection with.  They are brought up wanting the IP sets because there isn't enough non-IP low priced sets that can grab their interest and spark their imaginations.   

Yet when Castle was on the shelves alongside Ninjago, Ninjago outsold it. The kids voted with their purchases and Ninjago won. Ninjago today is what Castle and Space (or the variations of them in later years) were back in the 80s and 90s.  Those sets grab their interest and spark their imagination. 

7 hours ago, hikouki said:

Kids now are getting what, those minidolls?

They also get minifigures. There are many more minifigure based sets than minidoll based.

12 hours ago, Triceron said:

It's a bit incomparable as I don't think new generation of kids are growing up with any type of Castle Lego in the same way as it's being bought by Adults who grew up with it.  The sets kids go for would be what's readily available on store shelves, while Castle has become adult collector items that you can only get in the Lego store or online.

They overlapped for a while and presumably LEGO took note of sales in 2010-2014. Castle sat on shelves while Ninjago took off. Kids went for the exciting stuff rather than what they saw as stale. And presumably they also see Castle as what their parents are interested in.

[SpacePolice89]

1 hour ago, MAB said:

Yet when Castle was on the shelves alongside Ninjago, Ninjago outsold it. The kids voted with their purchases and Ninjago won. Ninjago today is what Castle and Space (or the variations of them in later years) were back in the 80s and 90s.  Those sets grab their interest and spark their imagination.

Do we have any source for that? I know that the 2013 Castle subtheme is not that well liked but I've never seen any sales figures. And the fantasy era and Kingdoms sets are well liked and those were released just before the 2013 Castle subtheme so I don't think that kids suddenly lost interest in the Castle theme. The drop in design quality from Kingdoms to 2013 Castle was huge so that might be a reason for bad sales (if they were bad). 

[MAB]

1 hour ago, SpacePolice89 said:

Do we have any source for that? I know that the 2013 Castle subtheme is not that well liked but I've never seen any sales figures. And the fantasy era and Kingdoms sets are well liked and those were released just before the 2013 Castle subtheme so I don't think that kids suddenly lost interest in the Castle theme. The drop in design quality from Kingdoms to 2013 Castle was huge so that might be a reason for bad sales (if they were bad). 

No, we don't get sales figures. But we do get to see sets left on shelves, sets discounted, discussion about how bad people think sets are. But more importantly we get to see what LEGO chooses to focus on, which is almost certainly informed by sales as sales are what drives any company. They brought back / extended Ninjago and decided to stop doing Castle. They drip feed nostalgic Castle figures in CMF and do adult budget Castle sets but not kid budget ones. That gives a very good indication that their data is showing they should keep Castle aimed at AFOLs and other themes aimed at kids. 

Edited October 29, 2025 by MAB

[BrickBob Studpants]

On 10/27/2025 at 6:19 AM, SpacePolice89 said:

If Lego made a proper new Castle theme with sets in all sizes it would be one of the most popular themes and sell in great numbers. 

Bold claim. Based on what evidence, exactly?  I highly doubt the previous castle themes ever outdid their competitors, be they in-house or licensed. I don‘t see why a generic castle theme would ever be able to compete with or even best well-established themes like City or Ninjago, let alone Harry Potter or Star Wars. 

People used to point at Playmobil for comparison, but guess what, they nowadays have just as many licensed themes as LEGO does, and their financial reports aren‘t looking so good 

I wouldn‘t mind castle returning with a new theme to replace Dreamzzz, but it‘s not gonna be the #1 best-selling theme. That‘s delusional, frankly

[MAB]

2 hours ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

Bold claim. Based on what evidence, exactly?  I highly doubt the previous castle themes ever outdid their competitors, be they in-house or licensed. I don‘t see why a generic castle theme would ever be able to compete with or even best well-established themes like City or Ninjago, let alone Harry Potter or Star Wars.

Not just that, but it would probably sell more to kids if it was the same castle design but came with Ninjago characters instead of Lion Knights or Black Falcons or any other classic faction, because of the large existing market for Ninjago. The good thing now is that while they are making castle sets for adults, the parts for minifigures are available reasonably cheap and typically very easy to get hold of through online PAB so any set can easily be turned into Castle.

Ninjago needs little advertising as it is a constant known, year after year, whereas any new (kid) theme has to start from nothing when it comes to getting kids into it. LEGO know what they are doing when it comes to theme longevity. It is a downer for us as it means no more one year themes like they used to do 10-20 years ago, where if you didn't like one, you knew another was coming a year later.

 

[AmperZand]

On 10/27/2025 at 2:02 AM, DonQuixote said:

Classic themes are very niche now. Lego is allmost all about licensed themes.  The only castle set you will find in stores right now is the creator horse knight castle 31168. The other 2 sets are only available online at the Lego webstore and they are targeted for nostalgic adults. They also are expensive. They will retire at the end of the year so if you want them ,you need to hurry!

There’s also 31161 Creator Medieval Dragon. Traditionally, LEGO has thought of European style dragons as part of Castle settings. The image of 31168 Creator Horse Knight Castle in the background of the box art of the Medieval Dragon suggests it still does.

[SpacePolice89]

6 hours ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

Bold claim. Based on what evidence, exactly?

Castle got new sets and subthemes every year as long as they were good and people liked them. Knights Kingdom (2000) was so bad that it killed off Castle for some years. The same happed with Castle 2013. As long as the design was good there were no problems. The popular fantasy era and Kingdoms sets are proof of that. Castle stuff is always popular if the sets and subthemes are well designed. 

Edited October 29, 2025 by SpacePolice89

[BrickBob Studpants]

4 minutes ago, SpacePolice89 said:

Castle stuff is always popular if the sets and subthemes are well designed. 

I don‘t doubt they sell somewhat, but whether they can compete with the big boys is the question  Castle 07/08 didn‘t have Ninjago to compete with, for instance. 

[SpacePolice89]

15 minutes ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

I don‘t doubt they sell somewhat, but whether they can compete with the big boys is the question  Castle 07/08 didn‘t have Ninjago to compete with, for instance. 

I don't see Ninjago as a problem for a hypothetical new Castle subtheme. Castle was successful when it coexisted with Pirates and Space and all those themes were well designed and popular. 

[Yoggington]

On 10/28/2025 at 7:35 AM, Wardancer said:

It is very popular outside the restraints of offical Lego.

Many builds for the Bricklink Designer program are castles

Bluebrixx is releasing one modular Castle theme after the other, from playable themes up to 20000 part castles for adults:

https://www.bluebrixx.com/de/alle-themenwelten/mittelalter/burgen-und-festungen/

 

I find it a bit wild that Lego hasn't at any stage (that I'm aware) followed this blueprint. Not even necessarily a castle, but it does work very well for Castle Blaustein.

You sell a core set and then 20 optional expansions / DLC for that set. 

They gotta know what completionists so many Lego fans are. You get an AFOL to buy just one of the 20 "optionals" and you can be sure they'll be chasing every last one for years to come. Nobody ever bought just one Modular building.

[HawkLord]

I think there will always be a space for non-licensed sets just from a financial position alone. Lego doesn't have to lose money on licensing costs for their in-house themes. 

That said, while Castle doesn't appear to be as big, there are some great themes that contribute to Castle, like Ninjago.

[GeoBrick]

I feel we can't really complain about a lack of medieval/castle set opportunities in the last 5 years. Since the Medieval Blacksmith was released there's always been something out the for castle fans, and a reasonable variation in the heraldry and fief represenration. We started with a resurgence of the Black Falcons, followed by a return of the Lion Knights and Forestmen. Then came for the afficiado's a variation with the Silver Falcons and a Dragon Knight torso, not to mention several medieval CMF's. For those favouring medieval civilian life came a Medieval Town available, followed by no less then 4 (four!) brand new fiefs with unique heraldry which will potentially.keep us occupied for the next couple years collecting.