What would you like for the next Castle line?

[Lyichir]

8 hours 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.

Hey, Professor X would probably be fine with a theme like this as long as it didn't feature derogatory stereotypes of mutants.

[Nerd-with-a-Pencil]

You know what I'd like? I'd like a castle (or at least a medieval village) theme based around Halloween/Spooky aesthetics; it would take inspiration from MediEvil, the works of Tim Burton/Henry Selick, and Certain items from a game called Terraria. There wouldn't be many bright colors, but potential for a lot of dark purple or sand/olive green. LEGO could still get their faction fix, with monsters like zombies, pumpkinheads, or ghosts forming the bad guys and either a 'city watch' or pitchfork-and-torch mob on the protagonist side. Also available is the potential for new molds: sickles, crows, big wolves, more detailed bats, gothic arches...

 

I know it's not likely to happen, but a boy can dream.

Edited March 9, 2018 by Nerd-with-a-Pencil

[firefly101]

I personally would love to see a continuation of the Kingdoms theme, with the Black Falcons, Forestmen, wolfpack and Bulls making a return. I think a Nice well built classic Castle line would be a nice break from all this Super hero, comic book, fantasy stuff. Sometime its gotta to end....

[gedren_y]

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

You know what I'd like? I'd like a castle (or at least a medieval village) theme based around Halloween/Spooky aesthetics; it would take inspiration from MediEvil, the works of Tim Burton/Henry Selick, and Certain items from a game called Terraria. There wouldn't be many bright colors, but potential for a lot of dark purple or sand/olive green. LEGO could still get their faction fix, with monsters like zombies, pumpkinheads, or ghosts forming the bad guys and either a 'city watch' or pitchfork-and-torch mob on the protagonist side. Also available is the potential for new molds: sickles, crows, big wolves, more detailed bats, gothic arches...

 

I know it's not likely to happen, but a boy can dream.

So you want something between Fright Knights and Monster Fighters. I could get behind that.

[MAB]

54 minutes ago, firefly101 said:

I personally would love to see a continuation of the Kingdoms theme, with the Black Falcons, Forestmen, wolfpack and Bulls making a return. I think a Nice well built classic Castle line would be a nice break from all this Super hero, comic book, fantasy stuff. Sometime its gotta to end....

Presumably when / if the movies end and/or sales drop, whatever comes sooner.

[Nerd-with-a-Pencil]

59 minutes ago, gedren_y said:

So you want something between Fright Knights and Monster Fighters. I could get behind that.

Heck yes. Fright Knights was before my time, but Monster Fighters will always be my favorite in-house theme.

[LordBevis]

On 13/02/2018 at 12:05 PM, gedren_y said:

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

 

This is easily something I would buy into and could have huge potential for new minifigure releases that allow for a strong diversity to be injected into mocs.

[HyperC]

I would be happy with any new castle set, maybe more like Löwenstein castle or smaller.

[BlackGloveBricks]

As always, I'm hoping for something that isn't "too junior"; meaning sets that avoid bright and obvious colors like blue and red.

New prints and heraldry would be more than welcome. 

And I'm always hopeful for a good smattering of "civilian" structures like markets, farmhouses, etc. to be included alongside strict castle constructions.

[Zarcania]

Just now, BlackGloveBricks said:

New prints and heraldry would be more than welcome. 

And I'm always hopeful for a good smattering of "civilian" structures like markets, farmhouses, etc. to be included alongside strict castle constructions.

Could not agree more!

[BlackGloveBricks]

37 minutes ago, Zarcania said:

Could not agree more!

I've got enough gray brick, etc... to build my own castles from now to eternity. 

It's those other kind of everyday, medieval/fantasy buildings that really add so much extra detail to a larger scale Caste build or layout! 

Bring them on!

[Lord James]

It would be refresshing to see castles that are not gray or black. Plenty of real castles are made of plain bricks. I don't think that look would appeal especially to Lego consumers, but a castle that's mainly dark red with some lighter Tudor elements would look good.

[Aanchir]

On 1/1/2021 at 5:10 PM, Lord James said:

It would be refresshing to see castles that are not gray or black. Plenty of real castles are made of plain bricks. I don't think that look would appeal especially to Lego consumers, but a castle that's mainly dark red with some lighter Tudor elements would look good.

I definitely agree, and even for conventional stone castles, it's not like stones only come in gray and black. Brick Yellow/Tan, Sand Yellow/Dark Tan, Sand Blue, Sand Green, Nougat, Medium Nougat, Dark Orange, White, could all arguably be put to good use either as the main color or accent colors for a stone structure.

For that matter, even pastel colors like Light Royal Blue/Bright Light Blue, Cool Yellow/Bright Light Yellow, Aqua/Light Aqua, or Spring Yellowish Green could be viable either as a main color or accents if you wanted to go for more "expressive" look that suggests some sort of ambient lighting, like the greenish colors of Castle Grayskull from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe or Minas Morgul from The Lord of the Rings.

That said, I would definitely understand if LEGO might currently prefer to avoid using of some of those colors like Brick Yellow/Tan or the various pastels for their own castles, since they'd overlap considerably with castle color schemes in other current themes like Harry Potter and Disney.

Edited January 3, 2021 by Aanchir

[gedren_y]

Many Scottish castles were made stone resembling sand red.

[mon-o-mat]

On 1/1/2021 at 11:10 PM, Lord James said:

It would be refresshing to see castles that are not gray or black. Plenty of real castles are made of plain bricks. I don't think that look would appeal especially to Lego consumers, but a castle that's mainly dark red with some lighter Tudor elements would look good.

This. Less Gray and black and less colorcoding on the not gray and black parts.

[BaalTheBuilder]

After looking at the new Blacksmith set, I’m excited about it and the potential eventual return of a castle theme, so naturally I have to read way more into the part selection than I should!

Have we heard anything that would suggest LEGO is no longer making breastplates? The old breastplates were some of my favorite parts, and their return for at least some minis would be my top wish for a returning castle theme. The fact that an armorer’s set doesn’t include a breastplate makes me wonder if lego sees the shoulder pads as its new and only armor piece. I can think of many reasons why this wouldn’t be the case, medieval armies and armor were quite diverse. Plus I appreciate that few medieval warriors actually wore big fancy breastplates, and that having no breastplate allows for more detailed minifig printing to showcase, like with the frightening knight. But I want some damn breastplates!

[Aanchir]

3 hours ago, BaalTheBuilder said:

After looking at the new Blacksmith set, I’m excited about it and the potential eventual return of a castle theme, so naturally I have to read way more into the part selection than I should!

Have we heard anything that would suggest LEGO is no longer making breastplates? The old breastplates were some of my favorite parts, and their return for at least some minis would be my top wish for a returning castle theme. The fact that an armorer’s set doesn’t include a breastplate makes me wonder if lego sees the shoulder pads as its new and only armor piece. I can think of many reasons why this wouldn’t be the case, medieval armies and armor were quite diverse. Plus I appreciate that few medieval warriors actually wore big fancy breastplates, and that having no breastplate allows for more detailed minifig printing to showcase, like with the frightening knight. But I want some damn breastplates!

The traditional Castle breastplate doesn't seem to be discontinued — it showed up in the LEGO Ninjago Skull Sorceror's Dungeon set just last year. It's possible they settled on these shoulder pads instead for pragmatic reasons, like because they'd fit more neatly into the forge/onto the anvil during the smithing process, or because it's easier to fit multiples of them in the shop (since they can hang against a wall without requiring armor stands like in that Ninjago set, which would take up extra floor space). The last of these is definitely a challenge I've encountered in my own MOCing efforts…

Alternatively, it could just be that the designers opted for these newer shoulder pad molds since it was an opportunity to introduce a little more novelty than reusing a mold that Castle fans within the set's target age range had already seen in other sets and themes over the years. Or it could have been a cosmetic choice since shoulder pad pieces can be used to add extra detail to the knight minifigures without covering up their printed Black Falcon surcoats. Or perhaps it was about making it possible for the blacksmith to "try on" completed pieces of armor — something that wouldn't be possible with a breastplate due to his molded beard?

Regardless of the reasons, the recolor of the Star Wars shoulder armor will definitely create some wonderful new minifigure customization possibilities. And even if you're bummed about the lack of a breastplate in this set, I don't think you need to worry about them disappearing from other sets in the future. That said, I can't fault you for reading too much into this sort of stuff, though — I mean, I can imagine myself doing the same thing if the presence or absence of a particular mold caught me by surprise!

[Pulp Detective]

I would love for the Forestmen to make a comeback ,never bought any of the sets since they released way before I was born but I always found their aesthetic very appealing. 

[zoth33]

2 hours ago, LOTR34 said:

I would love for the Forestmen to make a comeback ,never bought any of the sets since they released way before I was born but I always found their aesthetic very appealing. 

I have a bunch including the big forestmen hideout set.  It was a great set.  I remember playing with that all the time and attacking it with my knights.  The figs still hold up quite well too.  I have had only cracks in arms none on my torso's.  The 80's and 90's had some great sets and factions.  Although I think kingdoms was my favorite release because of the MMV and the raid sets along with the joust, the whole aesthetic of the theme was great.  I thought lego did a really nice job with that theme.  But yeah the forestmen, wolfpack, black knights, and dragon knights were some of my favorites from back in the day. 

[MAB]

I find the outfits of the forestmen a bit boring. I'd prefer more like the S3 elf, the rogue, the forest maiden, the centaur and so on. The new Black Falcon torsos look great. Keep the original heraldry but update the torso style. They could do the same with other factions, but the forestmen don't have heraldry on torsos.

Edited January 20, 2021 by MAB

[AmperZand]

7 hours ago, MAB said:

I find the outfits of the forestmen a bit boring.

The CMF S1 Forestman (pictured below) had an updated design of a 1980s Forestman’s torso. Is that the sort of design you had in mind?

I would be OK with that but would also be fine with the more stylised, plainer original Forestmen’s look. Both work for me.

[Aanchir]

5 hours ago, AmperZand said:

The CMF S1 Forestman (pictured below) had an updated design of a 1980s Forestman’s torso. Is that the sort of design you had in mind?

Yeah, I see no reason to think that if Forestmen were brought back they'd still look as plain-looking as they did back then, even if their original torso patterns didn't feature any heraldry. LEGO has gotten really good at modernizing characters and factions from older themes, even in cases where the original graphics were simple or repetitive — the various returning pirate characters in the Barracuda Bay set are good examples.

And frankly, there's probably a lot of entirely new Forestman minifigure designs that could probably be created just by taking further inspiration from some of the supporting characters of Robin Hood legends and literature (like Maid Marian, Friar Tuck, and Will Scarlet), not to mention utilizing  newer hair/headgear pieces and minifigure accessories that didn't exist back in the 80s and 90s.

That said, one reason I find the idea of new Forestmen sets appealing has nothing to do with the figures. Rather, it's that since my childhood, LEGO has gotten really, really good at building trees. There are a lot of great forest-building parts that exist today and didn't back then, like some of the more recent cylindrical panels, triple-leaf plates, arches, curved bricks/tiles, and hinges. Moreover, today's designers have numerous shades of brown and green that can be combined to create more variegated or organic patterns and textures.

Just look at the twisting, curved branches of the Elvenstar Tree, the rough-textured trunk of the Bonsai Tree, the towering height of the Jungle Rescue Base, and the sprawling branches and weaving walkways around the Tree House, and imagine how many cool Forestman hideouts could be created with so many different parts and building techniques to choose from!

Edited January 20, 2021 by Aanchir

[zoth33]

16 hours ago, MAB said:

I find the outfits of the forestmen a bit boring. I'd prefer more like the S3 elf, the rogue, the forest maiden, the centaur and so on. The new Black Falcon torsos look great. Keep the original heraldry but update the torso style. They could do the same with other factions, but the forestmen don't have heraldry on torsos.

If they brought it back the torso's wouldn't look plain.  They would do a more modernized version of it.  Just look at the wolfpack design on the rogue in the cmf.  They would definitely spruce up the design of the figs.  Plus they have more shades of green and brown than they did back then.  

[MAB]

17 hours ago, AmperZand said:

The CMF S1 Forestman (pictured below) had an updated design of a 1980s Forestman’s torso. Is that the sort of design you had in mind?

I would be OK with that but would also be fine with the more stylised, plainer original Forestmen’s look. Both work for me.

Yes, exactly that sort of thing. They look like modern designs (even just doing the black outlining helps here) but keep the original feel. I think the way the Black Falcons have been done looks great.

9 hours ago, zoth33 said:

If they brought it back the torso's wouldn't look plain.  They would do a more modernized version of it.  Just look at the wolfpack design on the rogue in the cmf.  They would definitely spruce up the design of the figs.  Plus they have more shades of green and brown than they did back then.  

Although I like the rogue, I think that is a step too far for being an updated Wolfpack. Sure, there is a link through that clasp, but it feels like a completely different character. Whereas other updates feel like they are updates of the same characters.