Future Castle Sets?

[MAB]

50 minutes ago, 1974 said:

#2. It's just a torso, you can find others cheaply. Creator sets are not for doll colectors

This is a good point. I think we are very lucky to be getting two Black Falcons. Creator sets could easily be done with no specific printed parts (aside from heads) at all, so just getting some desirable torsos (because they already exist) is good.

[Peppermint_M]

Also, they will be in Bricks and Pieces.

[Lego David]

I was not expecting a Creator Castle too look this good. I was quite positively surprised. I also appreciate how they decided to go the extra mile and make this look more like a civilian castle rather than the typical war fortresses we usually get. Also, the Black Falcon torsos are finally gonna be more widely available, so I can see army builders being very excited about that. 

Overall, this quite surpassed my expectations, and I am happy to say that it looks better than most Castle sets from the actual Castle theme. If this is the future for Castle, than it looks pretty bright (that is, if we do end up getting more sets in this style ).

Edited April 26, 2021 by Lego David

[MAB]

43 minutes ago, Peppermint_M said:

Also, they will be in Bricks and Pieces.

Yeah, but I hope they don't go out of stock by 3.35am every time they come in at 3.30am!

 

[Peppermint_M]

1 minute ago, MAB said:

Yeah, but I hope they don't go out of stock by 3.35am every time they come in at 3.30am!

 

true! We will have to make an RSS feed toolbar for stock alerts and a bot to place orders. 

[MAB]

4 minutes ago, Peppermint_M said:

true! We will have to make an RSS feed toolbar for stock alerts and a bot to place orders. 

The feed is sorted (see the B+P thread in licensed), it's the bot that I need!

 

[Flak Maniak]

If the Black Falcon torsos are easier to get on B&P, it will probably just be because more time has passed and more demand has been sated by their current (slow!) extra-parts-for-B&P manufacture schedule.

But, if they make a lot more of them, I'll be glad. Certainly, they're not making enough (or not charging enough per torso!) to meet demand.

We're sure the castle is $100, right? Was that established a while back? Or is it $150? We did hear the price, right?

I'd like to see more pictures that give a better idea of its full depth, of its total presence.

One thing that's clear to me about these high-end (non-Expert) Creator sets is... I think the designers are very intentionally trying to include a LOT of colors. They could easily have used way fewer colors overall. And in some other lines, I'd have expected them to use fewer!

At any rate, it looks neat; I think the yellow building bodies + reddish brown... Whatever you wanna call those cross bars, whatever they are, that looks good. And the dark blue roofs work fine with that. Honestly I'm kind of surprised there's that much dark bluish gray in there; I'd have expected more light bluish gray instead. But I'm not complaining; I love dark bluish gray and am meh on light bluish gray. One thing I'm not sure on is the dark green(?) bits on the center-left of the base. As I said, a lot of colors.

Oh and it's great to see a proper brick-built dragon here; gotta have a dragon for your castle. I'd say something about "What if it were bigger?", but, how much can one really ask for? It's not like this was going to be some Castle of the Forsaken Emperor situation with a GIANT dragon relative to the castle. Yeah sure, it's smaller than some recentish $15 and $20 dragon sets. But as long as a minifigure can ride it no or minor modification, I'm sure the kids will love it.

Again, I wanna see what it's like from a proper above-ish view, to get a sense of the area.

[Paul11283652]

A bit more colourful than I expected but real machicolations so that’s great.

[1974]

52 minutes ago, Flak Maniak said:

At any rate, it looks neat; I think the yellow building bodies + reddish brown... Whatever you wanna call those cross bars, whatever they are, that looks good.

It's called timber framing with wattle and daub (can be bricks too)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timber_framing

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wattle_and_daub

And in real life can be very colourfull indeed (allthough chocolate brown for the timber part is not something you see often. Black seem to be prevalent)

Cheers,

Ole

[GeoBrick]

2 hours ago, MAB said:

Yeah, but I hope they don't go out of stock by 3.35am every time they come in at 3.30am!

 

3in1 sets are usually around for a year or two, certainly the bigger ones. So its safe to say the Falcon outfit will be in production (and from time to time available on B&P) for at least as long as that.

[eldiano]

2 hours ago, Flak Maniak said:

If the Black Falcon torsos are easier to get on B&P, it will probably just be because more time has passed and more demand has been sated by their current (slow!) extra-parts-for-B&P manufacture schedule.

But, if they make a lot more of them, I'll be glad. Certainly, they're not making enough (or not charging enough per torso!) to meet demand.

We're sure the castle is $100, right? Was that established a while back? Or is it $150? We did hear the price, right?

I'd like to see more pictures that give a better idea of its full depth, of its total presence.

One thing that's clear to me about these high-end (non-Expert) Creator sets is... I think the designers are very intentionally trying to include a LOT of colors. They could easily have used way fewer colors overall. And in some other lines, I'd have expected them to use fewer!

At any rate, it looks neat; I think the yellow building bodies + reddish brown... Whatever you wanna call those cross bars, whatever they are, that looks good. And the dark blue roofs work fine with that. Honestly I'm kind of surprised there's that much dark bluish gray in there; I'd have expected more light bluish gray instead. But I'm not complaining; I love dark bluish gray and am meh on light bluish gray. One thing I'm not sure on is the dark green(?) bits on the center-left of the base. As I said, a lot of colors.

Oh and it's great to see a proper brick-built dragon here; gotta have a dragon for your castle. I'd say something about "What if it were bigger?", but, how much can one really ask for? It's not like this was going to be some Castle of the Forsaken Emperor situation with a GIANT dragon relative to the castle. Yeah sure, it's smaller than some recentish $15 and $20 dragon sets. But as long as a minifigure can ride it no or minor modification, I'm sure the kids will love it.

Again, I wanna see what it's like from a proper above-ish view, to get a sense of the area.

They are super easy! I just ordered 10 torsos on Saturday, I’ve managed to order almost everything from 21325 Black Falcon related to be honest, Torsos, legs, Armors, shields and swords a little bit at a time but in a 2 week time span, I always check it religiously

I’m somewhat mad this set’s not getting the coverage it deserves, i’ve seen more sites cover other sets coming out in June than this.

But so far estimated preorders are listing it for 99.99 usd so good question if it would be $150, to be honest I wouldn’t mind it, This is the only set I”m looking forward to get this year to be honest!  I am so curious to see what the backside holds, it’s a nice village/castle combo and would fit great with any castle but as usual not enough mini figs, would have loved to see pre fab chickens but oh well, that dragon looks good from the box art but we will see!

[R0Sch]

Castle looks good, but that dragon was unnecessary. Now it's just another fantasy castle.

Edited April 26, 2021 by R0Sch

[Lyichir]

1 hour ago, eldiano said:

I’m somewhat mad this set’s not getting the coverage it deserves, i’ve seen more sites cover other sets coming out in June than this.

Once we get better pics there'll probably be more reporting. This one still even has a confidential watermark even, meaning that RLFM (Registered Lego Fan Media) can't really report on it or risk losing benefits like review copies of sets. Other June sets that have been reported on have largely either been revealed in press releases or found early in retail stores, making them fair game for reporting.

21 minutes ago, R0Sch said:

Castle looks good, but that dragon was unnecessary. Now it's just another fantasy castle.

I wouldn't say it's unnecessary. A lot of kids (and adults!) really like dragons. Plus as a 3-in-1 set, it's likely that the dragon's parts are being used for some other purpose in the other two alt builds.

If the dragon really bothers you you could just... not build it. It's a pretty small part of the set's contents, all things considered.

[MAB]

2 hours ago, GeoBrick said:

3in1 sets are usually around for a year or two, certainly the bigger ones. So its safe to say the Falcon outfit will be in production (and from time to time available on B&P) for at least as long as that.

Yes, it is just how long will the wait be before resellers give up buying them. The BL price for a single torso has dropped from about 8x the B+P price to about 3x it. Once it drops below 2x, I imagine people will stop buying 200 per order and so LEGO's stocks will remain more steady.

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

1 hour ago, MAB said:

Yes, it is just how long will the wait be before resellers give up buying them. The BL price for a single torso has dropped from about 8x the B+P price to about 3x it. Once it drops below 2x, I imagine people will stop buying 200 per order and so LEGO's stocks will remain more steady.

I think the problem is not just scalpers but also army-builders. They also buy in large quantities.

[GeoBrick]

39 minutes ago, BrickHat said:

I think the problem is not just scalpers but also army-builders. They also buy in large quantities.

In a sense most of the AFOL's are army builders. I bought a couple extra myself, and depending on how many sets with them (that I like) will come out in times to come I probably purchase a small number extra. Its just how much of an army one wants/need.

I simply don't need hundreds of the little buggers. 

[eldiano]

17 minutes ago, GeoBrick said:

In a sense most of the AFOL's are army builders. I bought a couple extra myself, and depending on how many sets with them (that I like) will come out in times to come I probably purchase a small number extra. Its just how much of an army one wants/need.

I simply don't need hundreds of the little buggers. 

It’s like someone mentioned up above, I like diversity army building, storm troopers are ok because they literally look the same, knights can be varied from different helmets, armor, shields, etc IMHO I think! I can honestly say they might reuse the same torso found in 21325 if they reused a pirate torso so it might be the same, who knows

 

[GeoBrick]

3 minutes ago, eldiano said:

It’s like someone mentioned up above, I like diversity army building, storm troopers are ok because they literally look the same, knights can be varied from different helmets, armor, shields, etc IMHO I think! I can honestly say they might reuse the same torso found in 21325 if they reused a pirate torso so it might be the same, who knows

 

You're not the only one. You should see my "King's Army". It's only 20 or so of them, but I used every blue-tinted torso with a crown on it from the Fantasy sets.
Those came out when I was still in my dark age, so except for the Medieval Market soldiers they're all second-hand. It makes a nice bunch with dark grey and light-grey tinted legs, 3 types of helmets and 2 types of shields.

[Poco Lypso]

I'm quite impressed with the castle! Will buy at least one set and depending on parts value and a potential bargain price maybe a 2nd. The civilian minifig is more of a disappointment to me. So far I have avoided buying sets with yellow bricks (prefer tan colors) but to my surprise I like what I see.

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

1 hour ago, GeoBrick said:

In a sense most of the AFOL's are army builders. I bought a couple extra myself, and depending on how many sets with them (that I like) will come out in times to come I probably purchase a small number extra. Its just how much of an army one wants/need.

I simply don't need hundreds of the little buggers. 

Of course, I understand the desire to build an army of these little guys! However, given that Lego seems to be having trouble keeping stock available, it would seem they shouldn't allow customers to order hundreds in a single order, at least until they can provide a larger supply (saw a Castle fan on Instagram that keeps ordering batches of 200 ).

[Aanchir]

3 hours ago, Lyichir said:

I wouldn't say it's unnecessary. A lot of kids (and adults!) really like dragons. Plus as a 3-in-1 set, it's likely that the dragon's parts are being used for some other purpose in the other two alt builds.

Yeah, I suspect quite a few of the complaints about the main model involve parts that are used differently in the alternate models. For instance, the red elements from the banner in the A-model appear to be used for the roof of one of the market stalls in the B-model. And the lack of any obvious brick-built fantasy creatures in the B- and C-models suggest the green parts from the dragon may be used for additional landscaping details in those builds.

There have definitely been news stories and interviews in the past that mentioned just how much excitement and appeal dragons add to LEGO Castles — this article in particular stated, perhaps a bit hyperbolically, that "On one subject, boys of all ages and nationalities agreed: A castle without a dragon is worse than no castle at all."

1 hour ago, GeoBrick said:

In a sense most of the AFOL's are army builders. I bought a couple extra myself, and depending on how many sets with them (that I like) will come out in times to come I probably purchase a small number extra. Its just how much of an army one wants/need.

I simply don't need hundreds of the little buggers. 

I dunno about that generalization. Perhaps it might be true for adult fans of themes like Castle, Pirates, and Star Wars, but for my part I've never been bit by the army-building bug, and I suspect the same applies for other AFOLs whose preferred themes are less military-focused.

Now, admittedly, I am the kind of AFOL who some might disparage as a "doll collector" — in themes like Ninjago, Elves, and the LEGO Movies, I tend to plan many of my purchases around getting a wide variety of different character designs while minimizing duplicates. Moving out of my childhood home (where I shared much of my collection with my twin brother) and moving into my wife's apartment has forced me to keep some of this collecting impulse in check due to space limitations, and it might be a while before I really have a firm idea of how much LEGO I should be buying from here on out.

[Poco Lypso]

21 minutes ago, BrickHat said:

Of course, I understand the desire to build an army of these little guys! However, given that Lego seems to be having trouble keeping stock available, it would seem they shouldn't allow customers to order hundreds in a single order, at least until they can provide a larger supply (saw a Castle fan on Instagram that keeps ordering batches of 200 ).

Tbh, I am checking the b&p site almost every day and while I would definitely like to purchase a few I am quite pleased they are sold out ALL THE TIME. Maybe this will give lego a hint on how popular a classic theme can be.

[1974]

1 hour ago, Aanchir said:

who some might disparage as a "doll collector"

I did not mean that as a put down, it's just what I observe with modern LEGO collecting, especially among AFOLs

I always read BS reviews of sets (I like to know what's going on with LEGO even though I don't have any interest in buying that stuff) and there's pretty much always only a pic of the final build but many close-ups of the minifigs. I'd like to know if there are cool parts or interesting building techniques but alas that don't seem to interest the readers of BS

But then we got NE for that

Also, with the CMFs and more than a thousand different SW minifigs is obvious that is all the rage. In discussions on EB about upcomming sets it's not rare to read that a poster will or will not buy this very expensive set based on a single minifig. That really baffles me I mean, any minifig can be bought tthrough other channels anyway?

Back to Castle .. There was a Lions Knights/Crusader set issued not too long ago (modern parts/colours) but with a fairly (?) authentic torso. Was that set also hoarded massively like what is going on with the new Black Falcon minifigs?

Edit : this set (from 2016)

https://brickset.com/sets/5004419-1/Classic-Knights-Minifigure

Edited April 26, 2021 by 1974

[Aanchir]

4 minutes ago, 1974 said:

I did not mean that as a put down, it's just what I observe with modern LEGO collecting, especially among AFOLs 

I always read BS reviews of sets (I like to know what's going on with LEGO even though I don't have any interest in buying that stuff) and there's pretty much always only a pic of the final build but many close-ups of the minifigs. I'd like to know if there are cool parts or interesting building techniques but alas that don't seem to interest the readers of BS

But then we got NE for that

That's a fair frustration. Believe it or not, one of the reasons Brickset reviews tend to be relatively light on build photos is that in the past, when they HAVE included more build photos, some users have complained about it "spoiling" the building experience for them.

Personally I can't relate at all to that feeling — I often enjoy looking through new instruction manuals for neat building techniques and details as soon as they're uploaded to LEGO.com, and it doesn't remotely diminish the experience of actually building the sets myself. But I guess different builders enjoy different aspects of the LEGO building experience, and that initial feeling of surprise is a bigger part of that enjoyment for some people than it is for me.

I do appreciate detailed minifig photos a lot, though, especially since official pictures and instruction manuals can often be less reliable about showing what they look like from all angles than they are about showing the set from multiple angles or documenting the building process. And even BrickLink database photos of stuff like minifig hair and headgear can be unreliable at showing what they look like from both the front and back, which can have a big impact on how useful those pieces might be for other minifigures!

I definitely 100% agree about how great New Elementary's reviews are! It's one of my favorite sites to go to for reviews, specifically because they go into such painstaking detail about new sets and parts! Admittedly, my own reviews I've written for New Elementary didn't tend to include too many build photos — usually just one "in-progress" photo at the end of each set of numbered bags. If I ever get back into reviewing sets for them, I'll keep your feedback in mind and try to include more build photos!

[gedren_y]

I just had a fun thought. The Ship In A Bottle Ideas set is still available, and the printed flag it uses can still currently be found on B&P ($2.09 per, in the US). Using that design for a Castle faction would be an awesome way for Lego to create a foe for the current Black Falcons. It wouldn't even be all that hard given that a great number of parts currently in production would work for it.