Future Castle Sets?

[valon]

14 minutes ago, DaleDVM said:

I do have other castles, however nothing near this size and this is my only full city.  As a homage to all factions there are knights representing every faction in the tournament being held and a tent made in their colors for every single historic faction including all of the KKII knights.  With 3 exceptions.  I do not have tents for the 2013 factions.  Because that part of the display was done before then...  And Jayko's faction.  He is being refused access by "Crownie" security outside the city.  And I have him crying, because...  he is Jayko.  Nuf said.

cool !!!! it makes sense, because the crown knight look like a very powerfull faction, i agree on knights kingdom II i liked that theme, but other castle themes were better and he is a loser

[DaleDVM]

Concerning the question, do kids want to play with pirates and castle?  Of course they do.  And yes the numbers of kids that find this or that attractive change over time. 

Anecdotes about one's own children not wanting castle or pirates is just fine.  But they are just that.  Anecdotes.

For a larger sample size, do you know who random fans of LEGO talk to about castle sets?  Me.  I talk personally to tens of thousands of LEGO fans at shows annually.  Because my display is a walk around, I am not behind a table during shows.  I sit right amongst the crowd and love talking with them and answering the repetitive questions.  And, I have been doing this for 16 years now.

Granted, I do not have much data from the last 14 months (Covid), but unless everyone is going to argue the LEGO market and kids have totally changed since late 2019...  I can say this for certain.  The number of parents complaining to me about the lack of castle sets for their kids has been steadily growing for about 5-6 years now.  The kids don't complain, they just ask me where I got my knights because they can't find any in the stores.  Kids are so cute because they have little concept of time and live in the present.(i.e. have no idea I collected my knights decades ago)  Some fans have complained about pirates to me as well and my display only has a couple of medieval ships.  Some parents are upset to the point that they are complaining about TLGs decisions and priorities to me.  And like I pointed out earlier in this very thread.  I don't defend TLG like I used to.  

As a side note: I can't tell you how many parents complain to me about the overwhelming number of LEGO licensed themes.  The complaint is typically this: licensed themes have sets that are supposed to be a very specific thing "usually from a movie".  Which makes it so the kids never want to make anything else from those parts.  They only want their parents to fix it when they break it.  In other words the kids are no longer creating with their licensed sets as they are determined to keep them as they were designed to be.  

Obviously, I didn't have these type of conversations with LEGO fans a decade ago when castle sets were regularly available.  This large sample size over a long period of time tells me that LEGO fans have certainly noticed core themes going away.  They complain to me because many people come to a show, see my display, and think this guy must be connected to the company.  I really need to tell them to start writing to TLG.  I refuse to believe that the world changed completely since Kingdoms was discontinued in 2013.  And I know that Kingdom's did sell well.  

Perhaps LEGO knows better than I do.  But to be honest, I think they listen to number crunchers more than people who are closer to the products and the customers.  2013 castle not selling well only tells them one thing.  They don't take LOTR, Hobbit, HP, juniorized sets, 3 back to back to back Castle themes being available for 8 straight years, etc. into their calculation for the lack of sales. The number crunchers just see Castle=Bad.  

I guarantee that if they ever do a castle theme again.  It will sell well in that first year just due to pent up demand.  

Sadly, one off sets, creator, ideas, etc. will not get the sales a full Castle theme will.  Why?  There are no bad guys to fight.  The 3in1 pirate ship also will not sell as well.  There are no red/blue coats for them to fight against.  

I can only hope pent up demand will outstrip the effect of having only one faction available.  Because if these sets don't sell well TLG will take all of the wrong lessons IMHO.

 

[Alexandrina]

2 hours ago, DaleDVM said:

Sadly, one off sets, creator, ideas, etc. will not get the sales a full Castle theme will.  Why?  There are no bad guys to fight.  The 3in1 pirate ship also will not sell as well.  There are no red/blue coats for them to fight against.  

I'd love to know what specifically leads you to believe this. There's no unwritten law of nature that says any successful theme/subtheme must have bad guys to fight. True, the last few decades' Castle themes have, but going back further to the 1990s, most subthemes weren't put in direct opposition to one another. They coexisted on the market - but in some cases that was the same as it would be nowadays, when one subtheme is no longer getting new sets but still having its old sets made, while a new subtheme is overlapping. The golden age of Space didn't have bad guys to fight. Fire - one of the most enduring subthemes of any Lego theme full stop - hasn't ever had a 'bad guy' to my knowledge (someone will link me to a set with a naughty arsonist from 1989 or something now!) Yes, fire itself is the nemesis, but there's nothing to stop a medieval theme having environmental foes.

I fully suspect that the Blacksmith will turn out to be among 2021's biggest sellers. The 3-in-1 still hasn't had any images leaked, to my knowledge, so until that time we won't know for sure - but I'd be surprised if that was also a strong seller by the standards of the 3-in-1 range. If Lego genuinely felt that medieval sets couldn't sell without bad guys, they wouldn't be releasing two sets without any bad guys. But Lego clearly believe the sets they've got planned for this year will sell perfectly fine.

[Aanchir]

12 hours ago, eldiano said:

I agree, Lego biggest problem is really itself.  There's too much existing lines to choose from, if they were to narrow it down just to the classics i'm sure the younger generation would follow, They did heavily push for The Lego Movie merch!!! When this past covid 19 filled christmas swept local retailers you could tell the "police" city sets took a hit since it was really the only set no one wanted to buy for their kids amongst all the previous tensions, but seen their yearly report of 2020 I'm glad they made a come back, while I don't miss the days of the nearly 85% being out of stock, you could tell people went back to the basics haha

This wasn't really the point I was trying to make, to be honest. Certainly some of the most popular lines of the past decade (City, Classic, Creator, Duplo, and Technic) could qualify as "the basics". But other themes like Ninjago, Friends, and Star Wars that are much further removed from the sort of sets that were popular in the 80s have ALSO managed to achieve outstanding success in their own right.

Moreover, I don't think it's a bad thing at all that many LEGO themes end up experiencing shorter and more moderate levels of success. After all, there are plenty of AFOLs who look back fondly on themes that never ended up lasting an extremely long time or becoming top sellers, from older ones like Wild West, Ninja, and Rock Raiders to more recent ones like Exo-Force, Agents, and Monster Fighters (not to mention short-lived licensed themes like The Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, and The Simpsons).

The reason I brought up the many shorter-lived themes that LEGO has invested heavily in was to point out that even if LEGO did choose to invest that heavily in new Castle, Pirates, and Space themes, there's no guarantee that it would result in outstanding or lasting success for any of those themes. After all, a two- or three-year run is usually the most that LEGO expects even for their "big bang" themes — Ninjago's tremendous, enduring success was something even its creators hadn't anticipated. No matter how much time, care, attention, and money LEGO puts towards making a new theme the best that it can be, it's ultimately buyer preferences that determine whether it becomes a persistent best-seller or just a flash-in-the-pan craze.

[Poco Lypso]

1 hour ago, Alexandrina said:

I'd love to know what specifically leads you to believe this. There's no unwritten law of nature that says any successful theme/subtheme must have bad guys to fight. True, the last few decades' Castle themes have, but going back further to the 1990s, most subthemes weren't put in direct opposition to one another. They coexisted on the market - but in some cases that was the same as it would be nowadays, when one subtheme is no longer getting new sets but still having its old sets made, while a new subtheme is overlapping. The golden age of Space didn't have bad guys to fight. Fire - one of the most enduring subthemes of any Lego theme full stop - hasn't ever had a 'bad guy' to my knowledge (someone will link me to a set with a naughty arsonist from 1989 or something now!) Yes, fire itself is the nemesis, but there's nothing to stop a medieval theme having environmental foes.

I fully suspect that the Blacksmith will turn out to be among 2021's biggest sellers. The 3-in-1 still hasn't had any images leaked, to my knowledge, so until that time we won't know for sure - but I'd be surprised if that was also a strong seller by the standards of the 3-in-1 range. If Lego genuinely felt that medieval sets couldn't sell without bad guys, they wouldn't be releasing two sets without any bad guys. But Lego clearly believe the sets they've got planned for this year will sell perfectly fine.

Technically the creator set is rumoured to contain a civilian that can be used as either merchant or thief.

 

 

 

[DaleDVM]

1 hour ago, Alexandrina said:

I'd love to know what specifically leads you to believe this. There's no unwritten law of nature that says any successful theme/subtheme must have bad guys to fight.

These are my common sense opinions.  Supported by TLGs very own focus groups.  Not only do kids want an adversary.  They prefer an obvious adversary.  They preferred skeletons back when fantasy era started vs a second human knight faction.  Hence why the Crownies fought first against the skeletons, and then against the trolls.  I was privy to insider information back then when I knew quite a few LEGO group employees.  But people do not need inside information when TLG has had opposing factions in their castle sets for decades.

However, I am really bored with debating.  You think kids want knights in armor with swords and nobody to fight against.  You think pink castles fill the needs of people who are fans of the LEGO castle theme.  I think your opinion, while valuable, is yours and in a tiny tiny minority of castle fans.

[caiman0637]

1 minute ago, DaleDVM said:

These are my common sense opinions.  Supported by TLGs very own focus groups.  Not only do kids want an adversary.  They prefer an obvious adversary.  They preferred skeletons back when fantasy era started vs a second human knight faction.  Hence why the Crownies fought first against the skeletons, and then against the trolls.  I was privy to insider information back then when I knew quite a few LEGO group employees.  But people do not need inside information when TLG has had opposing factions in their castle sets for decades.

However, I am really bored with debating.  You think kids want knights in armor with swords and nobody to fight against.  You think pink castles fill the needs of people who are fans of the LEGO Castle theme.  I think your opinion, while valuable, is yours and in a tiny tiny minority of castle fans.

You're right, nobody wants a pink enemy-less castle. I really don't see why this is debatable.

[Alexandrina]

11 minutes ago, DaleDVM said:

However, I am really bored with debating.  You think kids want knights in armor with swords and nobody to fight against.  You think pink castles fill the needs of people who are fans of the LEGO castle theme.  I think your opinion, while valuable, is yours and in a tiny tiny minority of castle fans.

You're bored of debating, because you posted your opinion on a public forum and I engaged with it while offering an opinion of my own? I'm a bit confused as to why me pointing out the fact that pink castles are not a historical impossibility somehow renders every view I have on the subject to be the view of a tiny tiny minority. You saying your opinions are 'common sense opinions' doesn't automatically make them correct, and mine wrong - and as I already mentioned, I'm not sure they are necessarily common sense so much as one of two competing views. I'm well aware that recent Castle factions have tended to have opposing factions. It doesn't follow that just because past themes have done that means future themes will. Maybe not so much in Castle, but through Lego in general there are plenty of precedents for subthemes without opposing factions. The aforementioned Fire subtheme of Town/City is a good example. Paradisa never had enemies that I'm aware of (though the moustachioed waiter in Sand Dollar Café is a little shady if you ask me). Even in historical/action-oriented themes, the Native Americans subtheme of Western didn't have any opposing factions (they were on sale at the same time as the previous year's bandits/cavalry, but never included in a set together). The Time Cruisers and Time Twisters never shared sets, or even a year of release. There are definitely ways Lego can do even a full Castle theme without distinct opposing factions - and I'm not saying they're my preferred choice, or the best choice, but the possibilities exist.

On top of that, I was a kid once, not too long ago. Often I'd only have a single set from a theme, so even the themes with distinct factions were often distilled to a single faction in my play. It never stopped me having fun. It never stopped me wanting more sets. If Lego believed that it was impossible to sell sets without two factions, they'd have both factions in every set from a wave - not just available at the same time. Bricklink lists, for instance, eighteen sets under the Rock Raiders label. Two of them contain the rock monster, the sole enemy of the Rock Raiders. One of those two was the flagship big set. I'd wager that a great many kids in 1999/2000 had Rock Raiders sets without having the Rock Monster (anecdotally, I've bought three collections second-hand in the last twelve month that had Rock Raiders parts, and not a trace of either of the two sets with the rock monster despite pretty much every other set being accounted for - but take this with more salt than the ocean because it's a pure anecdote). Lego can't rely on kids having enough money to buy every set in a theme - and usually even the ones they can buy will be one at a time. While us AFOLs can often afford to drop more money than is sensible on new sets the day they come out, kids might scrape together their pocket money/birthday money for a set, and then have to save all over again for the next one.

In recent historical themes Lego have generally done this. A quick glance through the last three Castle waves (Castle 2013, Kingdoms & Fantasy Era) and the most recent Pirates wave has turned up only three non-polybag sets that didn't include both active factions (I may have missed a few more) and one of those was Blacksmith Attack, which did include an innocent blacksmith against the set's knight. (Incidentally, I remembered this because Blacksmith Attack was for a long time my only Castle set, until I got Prison Carriage Rescue a year or so later and finally had enemy knights.) I concede that it's likely they'll do it again when Castle returns as a full theme (barring maybe one or two smaller sets with a single figure, a la the original Knights' Kingdom or the 2009 Pirates). But it's not guaranteed. After all, Lego could easily have put an enemy faction in the Blacksmith or the 3-in-1 this year, if they wanted to.

36 minutes ago, caiman0637 said:

You're right, nobody wants a pink enemy-less castle. I really don't see why this is debatable.

This is a public forum full of AFOLs with varying views. Acting like it's not even debatable that nobody could possibly want a set - having already seen at least one person in this thread (me) saying that they do want that set - is a bit presumptuous. Especially when nobody here's ever said that a pink castle is exactly what the masses have been clamouring for. All I have ever said is that the Vidiyo set (not intended to be a Castle set in its own right) may not necessarily be ahistorical, and may well provide some useful parts.

[Poco Lypso]

1 hour ago, Alexandrina said:

All I have ever said is that the Vidiyo set (not intended to be a Castle set in its own right) may not necessarily be ahistorical, and may well provide some useful parts.

Which set exactly is this? I couldnt find anything vidiyo-6castle related on legos website

Edited March 18, 2021 by Poco Lypso

[Aanchir]

7 hours ago, DaleDVM said:

I guarantee that if they ever do a castle theme again.  It will sell well in that first year just due to pent up demand.  

That seems like a pretty safe prediction — although at the same time, I wouldn't be surprised if it were in fact part of the reason that LEGO keeps themes like Pirates on hiatus for so long between new waves in the first place! By "spreading out" new waves of sets within a particular category, LEGO ensures that they feel fresh and groundbreaking to kids (who, as you mention, tend to live in the present, and will likely think of their first  new and revolutionary even if it has more or less the same features as ones released many years prior).

This doesn't just apply to themes like Castle or Pirates, of course. It's safe to say that LEGO Atlantis wouldn't have been as popular if it had been released hot on the heels of the 2007 Aqua Raiders sets, that Ultra Agents would have sold worse if it had been released immediately after the 2008–2009 Agents sets, or that Hidden Side would not have performed as well if released immediately after the 2012 Monster Fighters sets!

Likewise, the reason that even a lot of large, multi-wave themes only tend to last two or three years is because it's expected that their performance will begin to wane as soon as buyers no longer see them as "fresh" or "new". Themes like City, Ninjago, and Friends that are able to to maintain a more stable level of popularity year after year are the exception, not the norm. And if Ninjago had ended in 2013 as originally planned, it's safe to assume that it would have been at least a few years before LEGO attempted another ninja-related theme.

7 hours ago, DaleDVM said:

I can say this for certain.  The number of parents complaining to me about the lack of castle sets for their kids has been steadily growing for about 5-6 years now.  The kids don't complain, they just ask me where I got my knights because they can't find any in the stores.  Kids are so cute because they have little concept of time and live in the present.(i.e. have no idea I collected my knights decades ago)  Some fans have complained about pirates to me as well and my display only has a couple of medieval ships.

Keep in mind that the types of builds that are highly popular with convention-goers aren't guaranteed to sell well, even when they ARE available as sets. Train layouts, monorails, and roller coasters are a good example. It goes without saying that moving models like that which can potentially span several tables draw a LOT of attention from convention attendees of alll ages. However, the high cost of a working train layout or roller coaster means that the buying audience for these types of sets is not large enough to support more than occasional/sporadic releases — not unlike recent release patterns for castles or pirate ships.

7 hours ago, DaleDVM said:

Obviously, I didn't have these type of conversations with LEGO fans a decade ago when castle sets were regularly available.  This large sample size over a long period of time tells me that LEGO fans have certainly noticed core themes going away.

As true as this is, it definitely doesn't just apply to "core themes". During the various hiatuses of the Harry Potter theme, it wasn't at all unusual to hear kids and AFOLs alike wishing that sets and figures from that theme were more readily available. Same with fans wishing LEGO still dinosaur-related sets during hiatuses between dinosaur-related themes, Egyptian-inspired sets during hiatuses between Egyptian-inspired themes, or ninja-related sets during hiatuses between ninja-related themes.

Back in 2009, when the Space, Castle, and Pirates themes were all still active, it was not uncommon to see "bring back [insert theme here]" topics and petitions on Eurobricks and the LEGO Message Boards alike, pleading for a return of themes like Classic Space, Ninja, Wild West, Harry Potter, Adventurers, Spider-Man, etc. Needless to say, there's no way that LEGO could keep ALL the themes that fans want available at all times — even focusing on "core themes" barely scratches the surface!

This is, of course, assuming that by "core themes" you mean stuff like Town/City, Castle, Space, and Pirates. And while these were certainly "core themes" from 1989 to 1997, I think it's debatable whether that's reason enough for them to hold onto that status in perpetuity. After all, if Pirates had already managed to cement its status as a "core theme" by the end of its initial nine-year run, then the same could be said for other themes which were able to maintain a successful nine-year run, like Fabuland (1979–1989), Bionicle (2001–2010), Ninjago (2011–present) and Friends (2012–present). But presumably you aren't counting these as part of your own definition, given that from every indication, themes like Ninjago and Friends are still going strong and show no sign of "going away".

2 hours ago, caiman0637 said:

You're right, nobody wants a pink enemy-less castle. I really don't see why this is debatable.

Clearly at least some people do, considering that castles in pink and other pastel/floral colors (often without enemy characters) have become a mainstay of the Disney theme. For that matter, the Elves theme managed to last a good four years, even though many of its sets either had no enemy characters at all, or only had small enemy creatures like bats or goblins rather than full-size enemy figures.

I understand entirely if you aren't happy with these sorts of sets, but you can't just pretend other LEGO fans don't exist because they don't happen to share your preferences. I mean, grey or black castles often feel kind of boring/mundane to me, and I've mentioned before that I would love to see more castles built in colors like Sand Blue, Sand Green, Sand Yellow (dark tan), or Medium Nougat. But you don't see me claiming that nobody wants yet another grey or black castle!

Edited March 18, 2021 by Aanchir

[Alexandrina]

2 minutes ago, Poco Lypso said:

Which set exactly is this? I couldnt find anything vidiyo-6castle related on legos website

One of the sets included in the summer leaks is supposedly a pink castle. I'm not 100% sure if it's even confirmed to be pink or if that's just an assumption from the name/theme (it's called something like Candy Castle).

3 minutes ago, Aanchir said:

Themes like City, Ninjago, and Friends that are able to to maintain a more stable level of popularity year after year are the exception, not the norm. And if Ninjago had ended in 2013 as originally planned, it's safe to assume that it would have been at least a few years before LEGO attempted another ninja-related theme.

On top of that, they're no more guaranteed for the future than Castle/Pirate/Space were in their heyday. (Well, there'll always be a Town theme of some sort, but other than that...)

It would be a brave soul who'd stake any money on Ninjago ending in 2021, while it's still an incredibly popular theme, but eventually it'll enter a decline - all themes do - and at that point it would make sense for Lego to retire it, make room for something new, and bring it back a few years down the line when it's fresh again (though Ninjago as a story-based theme is probably not going to return as is after a hypothetical multi-year hiatus). I'd be surprised if Ninjago continues its run through to 2030 without an interruption - simply because that's the lifespan of a Lego theme.

Friends is a different beast - I don't actually know much about it, but my impression is that it's sort of a modern-day Paradisa with minidolls rather than minifigures - but that's not immune either. Other than Town and Basic, I'm not sure any theme in Lego's repertoire is immune to being dropped.

It's a good thing for all medieval fans that Castle has retained such a strong following during its off years. How much clamouring is there for themes like Fabuland to make their triumphant return?

[gedren_y]

16 minutes ago, Alexandrina said:

Friends is a different beast - I don't actually know much about it, but my impression is that it's sort of a modern-day Paradisa with minidolls rather than minifigures - but that's not immune either.

Friends is what Scala and Belville tried to be, Lego's share of the doll-buying market. The minidoll is only slightly larger than, and nearly the exact same shape as, the original Polly Pocket toys, which had been huge with young girls in my area for decades. So much of the Disney lines are minidolls because the Disney Princesses brand is predominantly a doll toy brand, and any Disney movie that has a character that could be added to that brand, should Lego get the license, will have minidoll sets. Because of the type of play associated with dolls isn't very combative, adversaries are basically a moot issue. Lego did try to bridge the gap between the dolls and action figures with the DC minidolls, but that doesn't seem to have done very well.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Adversarial play is the mainstay of castle and pirates toys, though multiple factions within such toys do not necessarily need to be depicted as such, or even in the same set. Just having multiple factions available at the same time is enough for the actual play experience. The biggest issue tends to be generating active interest in the theme when there is so much competition. There is hope for renewed public interest in historical fantasy, though, because multiple streaming services are in the midst of producing series in that genre. Yes, most of those are geared towards adult viewers, but if only a couple are family viewing friendly, an in-house Castle theme could capitalize on that.

[Alexandrina]

11 minutes ago, gedren_y said:

There is hope for renewed public interest in historical fantasy, though, because multiple streaming services are in the midst of producing series in that genre. Yes, most of those are geared towards adult viewers, but if only a couple are family viewing friendly, an in-house Castle theme could capitalize on that.

In that, the fall from grace of Game of Thrones can't have helped, especially with nothing in the genre ready to replace it. The Witcher went some way (though that series had major issues in my view, to the point that I'd argue that it's worse than Game of Thrones ever was) but you're right - it's the coming Lord of the Rings/House of the Dragon/Wheel of Time that'll revitalise the genre. The Wheel of Time particularly - at least the bit I've read so far - seems like its archetypes could be easily transplanted into a Lego world.

[zoth33]

4 hours ago, Alexandrina said:

In that, the fall from grace of Game of Thrones can't have helped, especially with nothing in the genre ready to replace it. The Witcher went some way (though that series had major issues in my view, to the point that I'd argue that it's worse than Game of Thrones ever was) but you're right - it's the coming Lord of the Rings/House of the Dragon/Wheel of Time that'll revitalise the genre. The Wheel of Time particularly - at least the bit I've read so far - seems like its archetypes could be easily transplanted into a Lego world.

Game of Thrones is way to adult oriented for Lego to even think about and the last season was a hot mess.  A lot of the actors/actresses had issues with the way they were killed off or the way their story arc ended.  I personally did not like that they didn't have Jon Snow and the Night King at least fight for a little bit, that was extremely disappointing as it was built up for so long.  Cersei and Varys' endings were horrible just to mention a few.  

As for the Witcher.  I thought it was fine.  A little hard to follow the timeline if you weren't paying attention.  I think season 2 will be better.  

LOTR was already done by lego and they might be able to acquire the license again.   As far as the show goes if they ruin Tolkien's works they won't get far.  The one ring.net has updates on the shows progress but a lot of people on there and other sites are really worried with casting and the possibility of people pushing their agenda's on the show itself instead of staying true to Tolkien's work.  I will hold judgement until the show comes out.  There was also a lot of grumbling about the Witcher casting as well.  

House of Dragon could be good but once again the talk of sjw and agenda pushing in that show also.  So once again if they don't stay true to the source material with some added things to keep it fresh it will be a dumpster fire also.  One of the lead actresses is already complaining about violence against women from GOT to this new series.  Also once again I will watch the show to see how it is and see for myself.  

The Wheel of Time is not something I've read, but will eventually get to.  I'm currently starting the Stormlight Archive.  I'm sure it will have people complaining about that too and if it doesn't stay true to the source material and have bad casting.  

I hope Lego does see that High fantasy is still very popular both in the tv media, movies, books and video games.  If Lego sees this and makes a theme of their own.  I really hope if they do something High fantasy they do a show to accompany it.  I think it could be very interesting.  I am hoping for new things in the future instead of old rehashes but I will  take the old rehashes too.  

[Alexandrina]

6 hours ago, zoth33 said:

Game of Thrones is way to adult oriented for Lego to even think about

Oh, I know - we would never have seen a license. I only mentioned it as it was the face of the genre in popular media for some time and just... died. 

[Classic_Spaceman]

I am not going to get into this discussion - I am just dropping in to point out that the Castle in the Forest Ideas proposal is one of the 31 models being considered for the BrickLink Designer Program. Only 13 of the models will actually be produced, so anyone with a BrickLink account and a desire for more castle sets should support this - Both now, and (obviously) when crowdfunding starts on June 1st. 
 

Edited March 19, 2021 by Classic_Spaceman

[Poco Lypso]

34 minutes ago, Classic_Spaceman said:

I am not going to get into this discussion - I am just dropping in to point out that the Castle in the Forest Ideas proposal is one of the 31 models being considered for the BrickLink Designer Program. Only 13 of the models will actually be produced, so anyone with a BrickLink account and a desire for more castle sets should support this - Both now, and (obviously) when crowdfunding starts on June 1st. 
 

TBT - the only reason for me to buy this set would be interesting minifigs and it seems there arent any figs at all.

[valon]

42 minutes ago, Classic_Spaceman said:

I am not going to get into this discussion - I am just dropping in to point out that the Castle in the Forest Ideas proposal is one of the 31 models being considered for the BrickLink Designer Program. Only 13 of the models will actually be produced, so anyone with a BrickLink account and a desire for more castle sets should support this - Both now, and (obviously) when crowdfunding starts on June 1st. 
 

how much will it cost i do not want to spend 700 !!!!

[Classic_Spaceman]

26 minutes ago, Poco Lypso said:

TBT - the only reason for me to buy this set would be interesting minifigs and it seems there arent any figs at all.

IIRC, the initial design had Minifigs, so I assume that the final one will as well (Also, even if it does not have Minifigs (which is unlikely), supporting the model/set would show LEGO that there is a market for more, and more detailed, castle sets). 
 

20 minutes ago, valon said:

how much will it cost i do not want to spend 700 !!!!

Per the FAQ, prices have not been set yet. 
 

Edited March 19, 2021 by Classic_Spaceman

[MAB]

On 3/15/2021 at 6:21 PM, Poco Lypso said:

Hmm... the only 'pirates' of medieval times I could think of are vikings

There were Muslim pirates operating along the Barbary Coast (North African) in the medieval era. One of the last Crusades was against those pirates, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary_Crusade. There were also pirates acting in the Baltic Sea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltic_Slavic_piracy.

Of course, these are not the pirates of the LEGO theme, which tends to be based on European pirates and soldiers in the Caribbean and American coast.

 

[Poco Lypso]

5 minutes ago, MAB said:

There were Muslim pirates operating along the Barbary Coast (North African) in the medieval era. One of the last Crusades was against those pirates, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary_Crusade. There were also pirates acting in the Baltic Sea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltic_Slavic_piracy.

Of course, these are not the pirates of the LEGO theme, which tends to be based on European pirates and soldiers in the Caribbean and American coast.

 

Thanks for the info!

Unfortunately it's unlikely lego will ever touch any of the more 'mature' subjects like the crusades . Knights battling in the Holy Land would be such a marvelous theme!

[MAB]

On 3/18/2021 at 4:00 AM, eldiano said:

I agree, Lego biggest problem is really itself.  There's too much existing lines to choose from, if they were to narrow it down just to the classics i'm sure the younger generation would follow,

Or they jump to other toys that are doing the broader and more modern themes that they want to play with.

 

1 hour ago, Classic_Spaceman said:

I am not going to get into this discussion - I am just dropping in to point out that the Castle in the Forest Ideas proposal is one of the 31 models being considered for the BrickLink Designer Program. Only 13 of the models will actually be produced, so anyone with a BrickLink account and a desire for more castle sets should support this - Both now, and (obviously) when crowdfunding starts on June 1st. 
 

I'm not going to buy it (unless as an investment) as it is not really a Castle set. You can get similar parts packs from Star Wars, sell off the minifigures and end up with much cheaper parts. Without anything historical in it, it is only really for people that cannot MOC or are willing to pay high prices for a MOC.

Castle being dead might even be a good thing if it means they start to explore a little more than just a small section of European history, widening it in both date and location. Although I imagine any new historical figures will only really be available through the CMF for the near future, but hopefully parts from other themes will continue to be useful.

 

[valon]

19 minutes ago, Poco Lypso said:

Thanks for the info!

Unfortunately it's unlikely lego will ever touch any of the more 'mature' subjects like the crusades . Knights battling in the Holy Land would be such a marvelous theme!

Deus vult !!!!! 

[Poco Lypso]

14 minutes ago, MAB said:

Or they jump to other toys that are doing the broader and more modern themes that they want to play with.

 

I'm not going to buy it (unless as an investment) as it is not really a Castle set. You can get similar parts packs from Star Wars, sell off the minifigures and end up with much cheaper parts. Without anything historical in it, it is only really for people that cannot MOC or are willing to pay high prices for a MOC.

Castle being dead might even be a good thing if it means they start to explore a little more than just a small section of European history, widening it in both date and location. Although I imagine any new historical figures will only really be available through the CMF for the near future, but hopefully parts from other themes will continue to be useful.

 

I can't really see how castle being dead could ever be a good thing and how it would relate to exploring any kind of history.

 

1 minute ago, valon said:

Deus vult !!!!! 

and who are they fighting?

Nice collection btw!!!

[valon]

22 minutes ago, Poco Lypso said:

I can't really see how castle being dead could ever be a good thing and how it would relate to exploring any kind of history.

 

and who are they fighting?

Nice collection btw!!!

the top ones are not mine, but i have some templar knights !!!! ( very few arabs though )