Best LEGO heraldry?

[Hive]

 

Crusaders (1984)

Falcon Knights (1984)

Forestmen (1987)

Black Knights (1988)

Wolfpack (1992)

Dragon Masters (1993)

Royal Knights (1995)

Fright Knights (1997)

Knights' Kingdom Lions (2000)

Knights' Kingdom Bulls (2000)

Shadow Knights (2004)

Crown Knights (2007)

Skeletons (2007)

Trolls (2008)

Dwarves (2008)

Kingdoms Lions (2010)

Kingdoms Dragons (2010)

Castle Lions (2013)

Castle Dragons (2013)

Collectible Minifigure Knight (2013)

[Aanchir]

Part of me feels like this list feels incomplete without the various heraldry from the Yellow Castle! I know those factions weren't named or clearly defined, but some of that heraldry was interesting in its own right. Not to mention various other KK2 heraldry, the revamped Black Falcon heraldry from the Kingdoms Joust, and various other CMF heraldry like from the shields of the Elf, Evil Dwarf, Evil Knight, Frightening Knight, Forest Maiden, Elf Maiden, etc. There are a lot of these that I would rate more highly than the Fantasy Era skeleton or troll heraldry.

In general I often have a hard time picking favorites, especially when a lot of the options are fairly similar in terms of content. I will say that I actually prefer some of the more simplified or geometric heraldic motifs compared to, say, the lifelike lion and dragon motifs from Kingdoms or detailed skull motifs from Fantasy Era. After all, minifigures themselves are by their nature rather simplified and stylized. In a world where skulls look like this or this, why should they even know what a real human skull would look like?

In that sense, of those listed here, I think I might be partial to the 2013 Lion Knight heraldry. The colors are bright, the patterns are crisp, and yet the lion looks like a fairly reasonable approximation of what a male lion might look like as a molded LEGO animal, unlike the much more exaggerated facial features of the Royal Knight and KK1 heraldry, or the curvy and furry looking lions from the Crusaders or Kingdoms Lion Knights.

The Forestmen heraldry also deserves a shout-out for having perhaps the most LEGO-like appearance of any of the pre-2000s heraldic animal motifs, with a simplified shape and black dot eyes not unlike a LEGO horse, as well as some really great colors at a time when very few LEGO themes were really using non-primary colors extensively in their graphic designs.

Stepping outside of traditional "Castle" sets, though, I'm also really fond of some of the more abstract heraldry from the Elves theme, such as Ragana Shadowflame's insignia (which was actually a reuse of an insignia that set designer Wes Talbott had previously designed for one of his D&D characters), or Cronan Darkroot's stylized eye motif.

[ProvenceTristram]

I know Wolfpack is probably going to ultimately win this, given their devoted following. However, I am a Kingdom Lions (2010) guy, and probably always will be. Their heraldry matches that of both Britain and Bohemia, so it syncs up incredibly well with my lineage. 

[Hive]

Yes, I omitted a lot of great designs. I didn't feel I could add them all (and originally only planned on having around 10 in the poll), so I went with those who were an actual faction - with the 2013 CMF as a bonus that doesn't really fit in with the others.

5 minutes ago, ProvenceTristram said:

I know Wolfpack is probably going to ultimately win this, given their devoted following. However, I am a Kingdom Lions (2010) guy, and probably always will be. Their heraldry matches that of both Britain and Bohemia, so it syncs up incredibly well with my lineage. 

I'd honestly be surprised to see Wolfpack win.

I personally went with a lion myself, though the earliest one: the Crusaders. Especially the second version, on a blue backdrop. Absolutely gorgeous.

[TeriXeri]

1. Dragon Masters
2. Royal Knights

While the Dragon Masters design might not be 100% original due to Black Knights before it, it still had great shields and flags that went great with the actual green dragons with red wings that were in the sets.

Royal Knights just had a very nice design with good contrast and use of colors that feel really more classic LEGO with the black, white, yellow, red, blue. 

 

Some Nexo Knight shields have really nice icons on them if you look past the transparent parts and scannable borders. Some very much inspired by other Castle lines,s ome of those prints would still look good if put on regular shields or opaque tiles.

 

Edited April 14, 2019 by TeriXeri

[Aine]

Black Knights. There's something special about them.

Edited April 14, 2019 by Aine

[dgherko]

The yellow castle four designs are not here.  As are all the other geometric designs Blue and silver, the four square design,  The Easter egg Knights are not here with their second generation as well.

 

I love the CMF elf, maiden, female barbarian, evil knight with the boar's head, female elf, Roman soldiers, Egyptian soldier even the costumed unicorn.

 

So many great shields and one I don't have yet.  The town set with the castle scene 1592 tunics and shields

 

Favorite design CMF elf, of those listed Black Knights

[leafan]

Despite my avatar, I had to pick Black Falcons. It's just so iconic and I had those figures as a kid.

[fhomess]

My favorite faction as a kid was the Black Knights, but I like the Crusaders heraldry the best.  I appreciate why people like the Falcons, but they've always been second fiddle in my mind.  I do miss the days when we didn't have to be so explicitly told who the good guys and who the bad guys were.

Castle Lions are my favorite modern heraldry, although I found the blue on their buildings a bit much.

I do love me some Yellow Castle factions, too.

Edited April 15, 2019 by fhomess

[Cyberfounder]

I voted for the Black Falcons, but I like the wolfpack the same way, but I could only pick one. BRING BACK THE WOLFPACK. 

[The Jersey Brick Guy]

It was a toss up between the Dragon Knights and Royal Knights. Had to go with some of my favs in the Dragon Knight wave.

[Grover]

I like the classic ones best, but the counterchanged falcon is outstanding.

[MAB]

My favourites are not there:

Boar's head from CMF Evil Knight

Stag's head from CMF Elf

[x105Black]

I went with Forestmen.  Wolfpack and Black Knights were close behind.

[Wardancer]

1. CMF Elf Stag

2.CMF Forest Maiden golden Tree

3. Friends Goblin King golden eye 

[kahir88]

I want to say: My favorite heraldry is my own upgraded Wolfpack heraldry, but I can't say it. :D

http://Generals of the Wolf Brigade by Miklós Neszt, on Flickr

We made a small RPG club more than a decade ago, and I came up with a similar logo for us. Which was inspired by the wolfpack heraldry. Now I'm using this, for my army in the GoH forums.

So, this is why my most favorite heraldry is the Wolfpack.

[TeriXeri]

I'd love to see a reimagined Forestmen set using the new Deer mould (colors could be Dark Tan with Dark Brown antlers).

2017 had a 1x1 printed tile with the heraldry so it's not like LEGO has forgotten about them.

I still stand by my Royal Knights vote being my favorite heraldry, I just love that it uses the 5 more "classic" LEGO colors (red/blue/yellow/black/white)

Edited April 27, 2019 by TeriXeri

[Mike S]

I love all the old classics - crusaders, black falcons, wolfpack, forestmen, black knights, but Kingdoms Lion is the most visually attractive in my opinion so that is what I went with.

[Witold]

On 4/27/2019 at 3:36 PM, Mike S said:

I love all the old classics - crusaders, black falcons, wolfpack, forestmen, black knights, but Kingdoms Lion is the most visually attractive in my opinion so that is what I went with.

For me, the old classics are the best as well. Personally I think the best heraldry is Crusaiders.