What would you like for the next Castle line?

[Roebuck]

1 hour ago, poppakap said:

I'm looking through all the castle sets.  I really think Lego could do something better. I want a castle that is like twice as big as the regular castles and has some rooms in it. Barracks, a throne room, armory, etc. 

If we are lucky, we will get a big D2C Hogwarts castle next year Not under the castle theme, but could be useful anyway 

[thetang22]

They could make individual sections of a castle that exist on their own, or could combine them to make a bigger structure.  They have already done this in a small way with castle gates being separate from the proper castle...just turn it up to 11 with more sets representing different parts of a castle.

[CyberInsaneoHD]

I would like some new pieces of armour/weapons. All the current ones are very old models.

With that said there are some very good faction ideas here. I just hope the next historical/fantasy line comes soon, which it will come eventually, because when they come out Castle is always one of Lego's most successful lines.

[Dr.Cogg]

Set with the designs like the Elves line and monsters like the Nexo Knight line.

[x105Black]

On 9/8/2017 at 5:33 AM, Dr.Cogg said:

Set with the designs like the Elves line and monsters like the Nexo Knight line.

I agree, to a point.  I'd add to that the color scheme of Tolkien sets.

I think that a focus on locations like the Elves line would be good.  Some of their sets have great shapes, like the Treetop Hideaway, Sky Castle, and a few others.  That said, let's get full builds rather than just dollhouse facades.

The Nexo Knights have had some great villains.  Certain aspects of the Lava faction and Stone faction have been great.  I particularly liked the Ash Attackers and Stone Stompers, and named characters like Flama, Moltor, General Garg, and Lord Krackenskull.  Also, the level of detail on all of the minifigures has been great.  The royalty have all looked very good, Merlok and Stone Clay also look great.  So there are certain aspects of the Nexo Knights minifigure selection that could be great if brought into a new Castle theme.

I'm adding the Tolkien color scheme because I find it to be far superior to either the Elves or Nexo Knights.  Elves focus more on the pastel colors, especially in the light blues and lavenders, but also mix it with light greens and magentas.  Nexo Knights focus more on simple colors like the blue, red, green, and yellow of the knights, but also add in bright colors like translucent neon orange.  Yes, both themes use a lot more colors, but those colors are always pretty prominent.  Tolkien used a lot of dark brown, dark green, dark orange, sand green, and other darker or more natural colors.  I much prefer this for a Castle theme.  Both Elves and Nexo Knights have color schemes that suit them, and I think that the Tolkien color scheme would suit a Castle theme.

Changing gears a little here, we were talking about factions.  I think I mentioned this already, but it may have been in another thread.  Duplo has had a different faction for their Castle theme in 2005.  I think it would fit into the Castle theme nicely.  Here is a shield depicting a Phoenix faction:



They appeared in the Black Castle set, all other sets from 2004 - 2008 had a Dragon faction as the villains (except one, which I will get to later):



It's a good looking Dragon faction, though.  I wouldn't mind a Dragon faction using this color scheme.

Also, in the most recent Castle themed Duplo set from 2014, Big Royal Castle, they used these Eagle and Lion factions:



That Eagle isn't bad at all, and might make a good substitute for the all-too-common Lion that is used for the hero faction.

I should also point out that this Duplo Castle theme had a lot of molded dragons.  There are dragons in Dragon Tower (dark red), Castle Black Dragon (black), and Black Castle (green).  Additionally, there is a set called Dragon Tournament that features 2 dragons (black armored & green), and it seems this is the only other appearance of the Phoenix faction.  There is a character in gold Phoenix armor overseeing the tournament:



Just throwing some ideas out there.

I like the Phoenix Faction, the Eagle faction is also pretty nice, and I love all of the molded dragons.  These are things I'd love to see in a new Castle theme.

[MAB]

14 hours ago, x105Black said:

Also, in the most recent Castle themed Duplo set from 2014, Big Royal Castle, they used these Eagle and Lion factions:



That Eagle isn't bad at all, and might make a good substitute for the all-too-common Lion that is used for the hero faction.
 

1

That Duplo set was interesting in that although there is clearly conflict, there is no clear steer as to good vs bad factions. They are both "good" characters (white eagle vs lion). Whereas earlier duplo sets had the clear distinction of the bad knights usually wearing black (often with red) and the black dragon insignia.

 

 

[x105Black]

5 hours ago, MAB said:

That Duplo set was interesting in that although there is clearly conflict, there is no clear steer as to good vs bad factions. They are both "good" characters (white eagle vs lion). Whereas earlier duplo sets had the clear distinction of the bad knights usually wearing black (often with red) and the black dragon insignia.

I agree.  It brings me back to the days of the conflict between the Lion Crusaders and the Black Falcons.  I think the Eagles here are the aggressor, attacking the Lion Castle, but the design of the faction doesn't directly indicate villainy.

[Artanis I]

It is a dated custom that the guy who isn't clean-shaven is the bad guy (or the badass good guy)

[thetang22]

2 hours ago, Artanis I said:

It is a dated custom that the guy who isn't clean-shaven is the bad guy (or the badass good guy)

Lol - that actually went through my mind: "he has stubble, whereas the other is clean shaven...so naturally they intend the stubble-wearer to be the bad guy".

[Digger of Bricks]

How about a historically set action/adventure multitheme, with characters based upon well known, public domain mythological/literary figures such as, say...

Sinbad of the Seven Seas, Robin Hood and his Merry Men, King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, Hercules, Zorro, Van Helsing, Sherlock Holmes, Captain Nemo...

You get the idea. 

[Nerd-with-a-Pencil]

1 hour ago, Digger of Bricks said:

How about a historically set action/adventure multitheme, with characters based upon well known, public domain mythological/literary figures such as, say...

Sinbad of the Seven Seas, Robin Hood and his Merry Men, King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, Hercules, Zorro, Van Helsing, Sherlock Holmes, Captain Nemo...

You get the idea. 

I would be down for that.

[Grover]

1 hour ago, Digger of Bricks said:

How about a historically set action/adventure multitheme, with characters based upon well known, public domain mythological/literary figures such as, say...

Sinbad of the Seven Seas, Robin Hood and his Merry Men, King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, Hercules, Zorro, Van Helsing, Sherlock Holmes, Captain Nemo...

You get the idea. 

Agree 100%.

[gedren_y]

I came up with something along this vein a while ago.

On ‎9‎/‎6‎/‎2017 at 11:24 PM, gedren_y said:

I see a number of good ideas, but if we can set aside the name Castle for a spell, I have an idea.

Fables, a theme centered around classical tales from various cultures. Mostly folklore, but some based on real historical figures and events.

Examples:

The Labors of Heracles (proper Grecian name) - A full wave could come out of this.
Jason and the Argonauts - A few sets including the Argo.
The Labyrinth
The Trojan Horse
Marathon
Beowulf - This could give a full wave. A Lego Grendel wouldn't be hard.
The Epic of Gilgamesh - Maybe, as I'm not as conversant with the material.
Journey to the West - I have little knowledge of Asian folklore, but material from this could be applicable, and has seen major media adaptations.
The Arthurian Saga - Obviously, but sanitized like everything else. The Welsh version is the way I'd go, so I can get a Taliesin minifig.
Robin Hood - Another obvious choice.
Vercingetorix - Gaul vs. Rome
Boudicca - Celts vs. Rome

This could be the overhaul that Lego historical fantasy needs. The varied subject matter would also give TLG the ability to avoid overlap with other themes.

 

[Digger of Bricks]

27 minutes ago, Nerd-with-a-Pencil said:

I would be down for that.

Or, if not a conglomerate multitheme, perhaps at least a theme focused upon a single literary property. For instance, a playtheme who's main characters would be King Arthur and his Round Table Knights, with adventures and storylines at least lightly inspired after their various legends and fables associated with them.

I know previous story driven Castle themes have probably touched upon Arthurian legends for inspiration before, but this would be a theme that would explicitly use the named characters.

[icm]

I think a Castle theme that explicitly uses and names the Knights of the Round Table and the other Arthurian characters is the most likely to succeed in the era of story-driven themes with named characters while still pleasing traditional Castle fans.  There would be plenty of material to draw on for the stories and no copyright issues, and the more unsavory parts of the legend could easily be avoided.  I think a Castle theme branded with King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table would also get a lot of good press outside the usual Lego circles.  The only question is, from a business point of view, is there sufficient global interest in King Arthur?

[gedren_y]

Use my idea and you wouldn't be tied down to one heroic saga. Then you can cherry pick the best parts of each saga before moving on.

[Digger of Bricks]

Sinbad the Sailor would make for a pretty darn cool action/adventure theme, which essentially, would be an Arabian take of sorts on Lego's Classic Pirates line and other nautical themes and genres. Just think of Ray Harryhausen's The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, with all its mythical monsters. 

2 hours ago, gedren_y said:

Use my idea and you wouldn't be tied down to one heroic saga. Then you can cherry pick the best parts of each saga before moving on.

Certainly, as that would also allow Lego to experiment with genres and sagas that otherwise Lego wouldn't be so sure of as a standalone theme. Start off with only one or two sets, and go from there depending on their success. Subthemes that do better than others would receive more focus in future waves, while others can be revisited later down the line to test the waters again if they didn't fare well initially.

[MAB]

23 hours ago, gedren_y said:

Use my idea and you wouldn't be tied down to one heroic saga. Then you can cherry pick the best parts of each saga before moving on.

The problem with that is that they will miss out minifigures that people want if they just do a small part of a (known) saga. Get Arthur and Lancelot and Guinevere, hopefully Merlin and Mordred, but probably no Uther Pendragon or Morgan la Fay. Or maybe just a small set, containing Arthur and Lancelot.

[x105Black]

3 minutes ago, MAB said:

The problem with that is that they will miss out minifigures that people want if they just do a small part of a (known) saga. Get Arthur and Lancelot and Guinevere, hopefully Merlin and Mordred, but probably no Uther Pendragon or Morgan la Fay. Or maybe just a small set, containing Arthur and Lancelot.

This is true.  And when it becomes all about the characters and story from known lore, it starts to feel like a licensed set.

[MAB]

20 hours ago, x105Black said:

This is true.  And when it becomes all about the characters and story from known lore, it starts to feel like a licensed set.

Yes, but that's good as I want a fleshie Arthur, not yellow. :-)

 

[Digger of Bricks]

20 hours ago, x105Black said:

This is true.  And when it becomes all about the characters and story from known lore, it starts to feel like a licensed set.

I think Lego should use these characters for their theme's own original storyline, with plot elements either lightly inspired or twisted from the original source material. In other words, I think such a theme should be a contribution to the lore, not a direct copy of it.

[MAB]

2 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

I think Lego should use these characters for their theme's own original storyline, with plot elements either lightly inspired or twisted from the original source material. In other words, I think such a theme should be a contribution to the lore, not a direct copy of it.

I can see the headlines now. Professor X from University of Somewhere complaining about the incorrect plot line in new LEGO theme.

[Digger of Bricks]

23 minutes ago, MAB said:

I can see the headlines now. Professor X from University of Somewhere complaining about the incorrect plot line in new LEGO theme.

Ha, even though they are at the very least legends. 

But seriously, other literary figures could be given the same approach, as opposed to sets that depict outright verbatim scenes from associated literature. Characters such as Zorro, Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, and such have so many interpretations, stories, and reimaginings associated with them that adding on to that lore wouldn't be that groundbreaking. Therefore, Lego can take whatever liberties they want to the character(s) so to make the story more appealing to their target audiences. 

[x105Black]

18 minutes ago, Digger of Bricks said:

Ha, even though they are at the very least legends. 

But seriously, other literary figures could be given the same approach, as opposed to sets that depict outright verbatim scenes from associated literature. Characters such as Zorro, Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, and such have so many interpretations, stories, and reimaginings associated with them that adding on to that lore wouldn't be that groundbreaking. Therefore, Lego can take whatever liberties they want to the character(s) so to make the story more appealing to their target audiences. 

This sounds like something completely different from a Castle theme.

[Digger of Bricks]

21 minutes ago, x105Black said:

This sounds like something completely different from a Castle theme.

Of course, as I was only using those as other examples of well known, public domain literary figures that offer much flexablity in terms of reimagining/reinterpretation, primarily since we were on the subject of the Arthurian lore and legends.