Rockstaremcee

Thoughts on Non-Lego Components/Accessories i.e. BrickWarriors

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All over my facebook advertising currently is ads for Brick Warriors and similar.  Some of the companies like Citizen Brick make things that catch my interest like the:

 index.jpeg.5452d8bb528e142ff29c69bd688f9e64.jpeghttps://citizenbrick.com/products/zombie-barista

and similar creative products.  Usually I steer clear but these Brick Warrior packs being thematic increases my interest.  How do people feel about these products?

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I don't buy their figures,  but I have loads of brickforge and brickwarriors parts. They fill a gap that LEGO haven't filled.

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"How do people feel about these products?" is a question that might need more specification in the Eurobrick community.  It could have several different angles:

- how is the quality?

- how is the perceived value for what you get?

- how do you feel about mixing non-Lego products with Lego products?

 

I find the quality of Brick Warriors to be nice.

Value-wise, some of their products are good value, but they seem to be getting more and more expensive with their newer releases.  I especially find most of their themed character packs to be too expensive for my tastes.  I could buy several unique minifigs that I dont have from Bricklink for the same price as 1 themed character pack from Brick Warriors.  The Brick Warriors packs do come with several accessories for that higher price, but it's not enough to justify the much higher price in my eyes.

I don't have any reservations about mixing Lego and non-Lego.  I do know there are people here who feel differently, though.

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My feelings on stuff like this definitely vary. There are some accessories that I think really do a good job both "fitting in" with the design standards of real LEGO parts and serving a useful purpose that existing LEGO parts don't, while there are others that feel so detailed that they have sort of an "uncanny valley" effect when juxtaposed with the more basic shapes of real LEGO parts.

For example, the BrickWarriors tattered wings feel far too detailed for their size, IMO — the membrane and cutouts are just fine, with little more detail than we're used to in parts like the Ninjago ghost blades or a tattered cape element, but the "muscles" on the main limb are far too clearly defined, considering that they are thinner than standard minifig arms and legs, which lack this sort of molded muscle definition. So even in their primary intended use on minifig armor, that discrepancy will always be extremely apparent.

By comparison, BrickWarriors' spurs do a better job avoiding detail that is unnecessary or out of proportion with the part. The shape, at least, looks rather believable as something that COULD exist as a LEGO part and fit in aesthetically with existing ones, yet perform a function that no existing part can match.

Also, from what I've seen at conventions, the material and color quality of BrickWarriors parts also leave a lot to be desired, to the point that BrickWarriors parts that appear together in a bin with official minifigure parts and accessories stick out almost as conspicuously as Mega Bloks parts from the 90s.

I've been more reliably impressed by what I've seen from BrickForge in terms of color matching and material quality, though there aren't a whole lot of their designs that particularly appeal to me. One part of theirs that I was actually so impressed that I purchased one (despite never having really made use of it since) was their centaur legs.

Citizen Brick has excellent quality custom printed elements! While a lot of it is gory zombie stuff, military stuff, etc. which doesn't interest me so much, they do really well at maintaining a similar economy of detail to LEGO parts — sticking mostly to solid colors and controlled lineweight, rather than an overuse of gradients and stippling. Granted, LEGO themselves went through a period when they created prints and stickers with some awful-looking stipple effects for shading, but classic prints as well as modern ones mostly steer clear of them.

EclipseGrafx has also had some impressive quality custom prints from what I've seen.

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Personally I would never use non-LEGO products alongside official LEGO stuff.  I guess that makes me a LEGO purist.  I also prefer purist MOCs to ones that incorporate third party products.  I have nothing against companies like Brick Warriors or people that use their stuff, but it's not for me either in my own collecting/building or when viewing other people's work.  I can't even really explain why I feel that way, obviously Brick Warriors seems to produce quality stuff, but... it's just not LEGO lol.

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On 6/21/2019 at 4:27 PM, Aanchir said:

My feelings on stuff like this definitely vary. There are some accessories that I think really do a good job both "fitting in" with the design standards of real LEGO parts and serving a useful purpose that existing LEGO parts don't, while there are others that feel so detailed that they have sort of an "uncanny valley" effect when juxtaposed with the more basic shapes of real LEGO parts.

For example, the BrickWarriors tattered wings feel far too detailed for their size, IMO — the membrane and cutouts are just fine, with little more detail than we're used to in parts like the Ninjago ghost blades or a tattered cape element, but the "muscles" on the main limb are far too clearly defined, considering that they are thinner than standard minifig arms and legs, which lack this sort of molded muscle definition. So even in their primary intended use on minifig armor, that discrepancy will always be extremely apparent.

By comparison, BrickWarriors' spurs do a better job avoiding detail that is unnecessary or out of proportion with the part. The shape, at least, looks rather believable as something that COULD exist as a LEGO part and fit in aesthetically with existing ones, yet perform a function that no existing part can match.

Also, from what I've seen at conventions, the material and color quality of BrickWarriors parts also leave a lot to be desired, to the point that BrickWarriors parts that appear together in a bin with official minifigure parts and accessories stick out almost as conspicuously as Mega Bloks parts from the 90s.

I've been more reliably impressed by what I've seen from BrickForge in terms of color matching and material quality, though there aren't a whole lot of their designs that particularly appeal to me. One part of theirs that I was actually so impressed that I purchased one (despite never having really made use of it since) was their centaur legs.

Citizen Brick has excellent quality custom printed elements! While a lot of it is gory zombie stuff, military stuff, etc. which doesn't interest me so much, they do really well at maintaining a similar economy of detail to LEGO parts — sticking mostly to solid colors and controlled lineweight, rather than an overuse of gradients and stippling. Granted, LEGO themselves went through a period when they created prints and stickers with some awful-looking stipple effects for shading, but classic prints as well as modern ones mostly steer clear of them.

EclipseGrafx has also had some impressive quality custom prints from what I've seen.

I agree with you on the quality and the standout of the wings from Brickwarriors.  I have some of the tattered wings and their demon wings from BrickWarriors and the tattered wings definitely stand out with more detail.  I did like the Nexo Knights gargoyle wings, those were great.  There is a definite difference in quality when in hand as compared to the official Lego.  They have some really nice weapons and helms for fantasy and historical type themes.  The weapons seem to be better quality than minifig head, wings, etc.   I really like their elven armor, swords, helms.  Brickwarriors has more stuff that fits what I build which is fantasy and castle.  

Brickforge does have some nice stuff but just not the variety of parts that BrickWarriors has.  They also have more modern warfare items.  

As for the custom prints I haven't really ordered any.  I did get a custom Godzilla a flea market that is pretty good quality.  

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19 hours ago, Phyre said:

Personally I would never use non-LEGO products alongside official LEGO stuff.  I guess that makes me a LEGO purist.  I also prefer purist MOCs to ones that incorporate third party products.  I have nothing against companies like Brick Warriors or people that use their stuff, but it's not for me either in my own collecting/building or when viewing other people's work.  I can't even really explain why I feel that way, obviously Brick Warriors seems to produce quality stuff, but... it's just not LEGO lol.

Same. I mean, some stuff looks cool and fills that niche void that LEGO hasn't filled yet, or it's cheaper to equip soldiers for example of a Roman legion with BrickWarriors or whoever than official LEGO, but for me, that's the fun of the official parts, using what you have to make something new. It's the imagination aspect. Of course, I'd love more "realistic" looking equipment for historical figures/themes.

Making your own stickers is something I am totally ok with, though, because LEGO already makes stickers for their own parts.

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I am a minifigure fan not one of the company. So i see custom parts and prints just like Lego pieces. On both sides there are poorly done pieces and some little pieces of art. I use them together with own prints, painting, cutting and gluing. In my opinion the perfect figure represents something i love the best way possible while still looking as cute as it can.

Some things i love:

Brickforges simplified but still recognizable Lord of the Ring Parts: Narsil (Aragorn's Sword, which was even in the videogame but never released physically), Gandalfs staff and Sword Glamdring, Viking Helmet and so on.

Brickwarriors Gladiator Gear (you can make one of the best historical minifigs ever by combining the Galea and net with the poorly done official Retiarius from the minifigure series).

Painting Ork hairpiece ears in Different colors so you can get some Variation in your Mordor Army with all kinds of grey, red, green and many other kinds of orcs.

Using capes with fluffy fur for Thorin and Fili so you can't see the stupid distance between their hairpiece and the Torso resulting from the reuse of Kilis hairpiece for figures without quiver... What was Lego thinking?!

Cutting off Dumpledore's hair and glue it to Gandalfs hat to make him look like he should have been in the beginning.

In short words: mild customizations to make a figure a much better but still official looking playable toy not a fragile display model that you can easily identify as a custom.

What i don't like is on a subjektive level too detailed accessory, WWII and modern military stuff as well as all kinds of gore. It feels just wrong to me to include such things in a cute simplified toy world. But that's just my opinion. I am aware that it could seem like a double standard and it's of course strongly influenced by cultural background.

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On 6/22/2019 at 7:52 AM, Phyre said:

Personally I would never use non-LEGO products alongside official LEGO stuff.  I guess that makes me a LEGO purist.  I also prefer purist MOCs to ones that incorporate third party products.  I have nothing against companies like Brick Warriors or people that use their stuff, but it's not for me either in my own collecting/building or when viewing other people's work.  I can't even really explain why I feel that way, obviously Brick Warriors seems to produce quality stuff, but... it's just not LEGO lol.

This is basically how I feel as well.

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I was intrigued by a number of the BrickWarriors parts initially and bought some, but have been disappointed in the quality.  They do not feel like real Lego in my hand and I am unsure if they are made with ABS or not.  I am also not a fan of their mini designs.  I have found that BrickForge parts feel like good quality to me, although they don't seem to be doing a lot of design work or have a lot of inventory these days.  Citizen Brick is outstanding, but they don't have a lot of new stock most of the time.  EclipseGrafix can be good, although they appear to UV print to me, which leaves raised surfaces that some people don't like.

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I'm not sure if my opinion is important, as I never bought a single thing from non-LEGO producers, but I'll still try.

I think that 3rd party stuff is legit. Lego intentionally doesn't do lots of things (like modern weapons, etc.), and even some of their parts are not really aesthetically pleasing for me. E.g. most of the swords are either too bulky, too long, or simply too silly. They also cannot design a proper spear, I really dislike the fact that the shaft and head are from the same material. Same goes for axes and halberds, except for the tomahawk (which is rare and not exactly massively useful) and the elaborate spear that has weird spearhead.
Lego doesn't have many nice helmets. There is a ton of SW ones, but for a Castle enthusiasts the option are not that rich. Speaking of defensive accessories: vintage shields are costly, and they often suck qualitywise, which is not surprising due to their age.
Official lego animals (like cow, pig, and the extremely and unreasonably rare goat) don't mix well with old 1980's and 1990's stuff, and they are pretty expensive, too.

So these three things (at least) are the main parts that I'm going to purchase from BF in the autumn.
Animals, so that they match well with my vintage horses.
Articulated spears. Maybe halberd, and maybe a few bows without arrows.
Helms... eh, not so sure. One trouble with all the 3rd party stuff is that it's often overdone and doesn't match well with the old lego. Too many details, etc. Also, there is some truly weird fantasy nonsense that's beyond ugly. (In my eyes, ymmv!).

I'd LOVE to buy genuine lego parts, but not for the price they command (goat, vintage shields), in a crappy quality (vintage shields and torsos), or when I simply don't like them (cows and pigs, articulated horses, both old and new spears). So, lets try the other brands.

tl, dr: There's a niche to be filled and BF+friends tries well.

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7 hours ago, Aine said:

I'm not sure if my opinion is important, as I never bought a single thing from non-LEGO producers, but I'll still try.

I think that 3rd party stuff is legit. Lego intentionally doesn't do lots of things (like modern weapons, etc.), and even some of their parts are not really aesthetically pleasing for me. E.g. most of the swords are either too bulky, too long, or simply too silly. They also cannot design a proper spear, I really dislike the fact that the shaft and head are from the same material. Same goes for axes and halberds, except for the tomahawk (which is rare and not exactly massively useful) and the elaborate spear that has weird spearhead.
Lego doesn't have many nice helmets. There is a ton of SW ones, but for a Castle enthusiasts the option are not that rich. Speaking of defensive accessories: vintage shields are costly, and they often suck qualitywise, which is not surprising due to their age.
Official lego animals (like cow, pig, and the extremely and unreasonably rare goat) don't mix well with old 1980's and 1990's stuff, and they are pretty expensive, too.

So these three things (at least) are the main parts that I'm going to purchase from BF in the autumn.
Animals, so that they match well with my vintage horses.
Articulated spears. Maybe halberd, and maybe a few bows without arrows.
Helms... eh, not so sure. One trouble with all the 3rd party stuff is that it's often overdone and doesn't match well with the old lego. Too many details, etc. Also, there is some truly weird fantasy nonsense that's beyond ugly. (In my eyes, ymmv!).

I'd LOVE to buy genuine lego parts, but not for the price they command (goat, vintage shields), in a crappy quality (vintage shields and torsos), or when I simply don't like them (cows and pigs, articulated horses, both old and new spears). So, lets try the other brands.

tl, dr: There's a niche to be filled and BF+friends tries well.

The newer lego spears have a different tip from the shaft.  The axes also have a blade that is separate from the handle.  There are a decent amount of castle helms over the years and in several colors.  I find the spears and axes fine.  I like the new long swords from lego.  I do have some brickforge and brickwarriors stuff but it is definitely not on legos quality level but they do have some nice weapons and helms that fit good and work well for my many different armies.  

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On 6/22/2019 at 1:52 AM, Phyre said:

Personally I would never use non-LEGO products alongside official LEGO stuff.  I guess that makes me a LEGO purist.  I also prefer purist MOCs to ones that incorporate third party products.  I have nothing against companies like Brick Warriors or people that use their stuff, but it's not for me either in my own collecting/building or when viewing other people's work.  I can't even really explain why I feel that way, obviously Brick Warriors seems to produce quality stuff, but... it's just not LEGO lol.

On 6/23/2019 at 5:57 AM, Hive said:

This is basically how I feel as well.

Same.

I like some things from these companies, and there is one shield I will definitely order if I ever see it available, but overall I tend to stay away.  I don't really care what others do as far as customization, even the full on customization Gorilla94 is talking about above.  Sometimes I am blown away by custom minifigures.  But it's just not something I like to do with my LEGO.

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21 hours ago, Grover said:

I was intrigued by a number of the BrickWarriors parts initially and bought some, but have been disappointed in the quality.  They do not feel like real Lego in my hand and I am unsure if they are made with ABS or not. 

Pretty certain they are ABS, but @Thrash can tell us for sure. For the most part, I have been pleased with BW's quality. Occasionally, I get a part that has a patch of weird lustre, and BW's orange colour seems a bit washed out compared to LEGO's. But mostly, the quality is pretty good. The designs are often more elaborate than LEGO's but not more than LEGO's printing, so still within aesthetic parameters.

Quote

I have found that BrickForge parts feel like good quality to me, although they don't seem to be doing a lot of design work or have a lot of inventory these days.  

I agree. BF has significantly reduced the number of new moulds it produces - at least in historic/fantasy themes.  

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On 6/21/2019 at 9:27 PM, Aanchir said:

For example, the BrickWarriors tattered wings feel far too detailed for their size, IMO — the membrane and cutouts are just fine, with little more detail than we're used to in parts like the Ninjago ghost blades or a tattered cape element, but the "muscles" on the main limb are far too clearly defined, considering that they are thinner than standard minifig arms and legs, which lack this sort of molded muscle definition. So even in their primary intended use on minifig armor, that discrepancy will always be extremely apparent.

 

2

I don't have the tattered wings, but do have the bird and dragon wings and the tattered ones as based on the latter:

BirdWings__01307.1401328594.png?c=2&imbyDragonWings__17498.1399400934.png?c=2&im

These are some of my favourite parts. I prefer them to LEGO's equivalent wings. The muscles do not bother me. LEGO arms don't have muscles as they choose to use the same plain arms for all characters or similar ones like the bat-wing types. However, the torsos often show highly detailed muscle patterns, so having it on the arms is not a problem for me. 

 

 

Another of my favourite parts are the molded capes.

Cape__51704.1400680860.png?c=2&imbypass=

To me, being plastic, these are more LEGO-like than LEGO's own cloth ones. There is never any problem with them creasing, or shifting to the side, or fading, or getting dusty.

 

On 6/23/2019 at 4:26 PM, Grover said:

I was intrigued by a number of the BrickWarriors parts initially and bought some, but have been disappointed in the quality.  They do not feel like real Lego in my hand and I am unsure if they are made with ABS or not.

 

I am surprised. I have always been impressed at how good the quality of both brickwarriors and brickforge parts is.  I did once get a short-shot from brickforge, but other than that I have never had another molding problem and I find the colour consistency is good.

 

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16 hours ago, zoth33 said:

The newer lego spears have a different tip from the shaft.  The axes also have a blade that is separate from the handle.  There are a decent amount of castle helms over the years and in several colors.  I find the spears and axes fine.  I like the new long swords from lego.  I do have some brickforge and brickwarriors stuff but it is definitely not on legos quality level but they do have some nice weapons and helms that fit good and work well for my many different armies.  

Yes, I know of the new spears, and I was very happy when I found them. But when I got them, I realized that the tip is a bit bulky, and it's from a soft ABS, so it's a bit weird. But they are still an improvement over the old ones!
I try to fall in love with the new axes and well, they are nice, but I really wish they'd come in one piece: nostalgia factor, I know...
Those long swords are amazing! There's one small issue though, that they are a tiny bit too long, so that they touch the ground when they hang from the saddle. If only they'd been half a stud shorter!
Speaking of helmets: there are lots of really nice helms, but what I miss are some light ones. Something like the classic bullet helmet 3896 or the 3844 helmet with nasal guard. Especially the 3896 is a real light helm, a period-true one for my needs, I'd love if lego made them again. TLG were also really really close with the viking helmet, but I dislike the holes for horns.
But this is about my aesthetical preferences, it's not an objective measure.

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8 hours ago, MAB said:

Another of my favourite parts are the molded capes.

To me, being plastic, these are more LEGO-like than LEGO's own cloth ones. There is never any problem with them creasing, or shifting to the side, or fading, or getting dusty.

This is one of the parts I had considered, but I feel that it would be much better with dual molding and / or printing, so I'll stick with LEGO's old capes for now:

Image result for lego cape plastic

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It's a little pity that those old capes weren't done in green. I'd buy tens of them.

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On 6/24/2019 at 7:40 PM, x105Black said:

This is one of the parts I had considered, but I feel that it would be much better with dual molding and / or printing, so I'll stick with LEGO's old capes for now:

Image result for lego cape plastic

Another advantage of LEGO's old capes over some of the third-party molded ones is that their smaller size makes it so that they won't obstruct backwards arm movement (a weakness of many wider minifig neck accessories whether third-party or official). And they make a nice apron when put on the front of the figure, which I believe was done in some official sets for blacksmiths. They can even be used over top of epaulettes or other neck accessories that don't cover the back.

By comparison, the BrickWarriors version shown above would not fit as neatly in combination wtih other neck acessories. It is still OK for the sorts of uses it was designed for (i.e. as a minifig's ONLY neck accessory), but for other uses it will be more limited

Overall, though, I think the cloth capes tend to generally remain my favorite from a utility standpoint, since their flexibility makes it easier to use them in conjunction with other neck accessories like armor that molded capes might be more likely to collide with. And on the flip side, certain fabric capes can often more effectively be used UNDERNEATH certain neck accessories, hair pieces, beard pieces, or headgear pieces that cover part of a figure's back. For a plastic cape to be used over or under another neck accessory it generally needs to be designed for that, like how Wyldstyle's scarf in The LEGO Movie 2 sets is designed to fit snugly over her quiver.

A handful of examples of official minifigs that would have the sorts of collision issues I'm describing:

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On 6/21/2019 at 10:52 AM, MAB said:

I don't buy their figures,  but I have loads of brickforge and brickwarriors parts. They fill a gap that LEGO haven't filled.

This is definitely my primary objective when shopping third party.

On 6/21/2019 at 10:59 AM, thetang22 said:

"How do people feel about these products?" is a question that might need more specification in the Eurobrick community.

I feel the ambiguity leads to an open conversation and people can discuss their interpretation of my question giving me a better understanding of their opinions on the topic. ;-)

On 6/21/2019 at 3:27 PM, Aanchir said:

My feelings on stuff like this definitely vary. There are some accessories that I think really do a good job both "fitting in" with the design standards of real LEGO parts and serving a useful purpose that existing LEGO parts don't, while there are others that feel so detailed that they have sort of an "uncanny valley" effect when juxtaposed with the more basic shapes of real LEGO parts.

 

Yes, akin to MegaBlock parts, this is a turn off for me.

On 6/21/2019 at 6:19 PM, AmperZand said:

I have reviewed BrickWarrior parts here and here, and BrickFortress parts here.

As seen in my BrickShelf gallery, I favour the use of third party pieces, though I can understand why some FOLs don't. 

Wow, you put out thorough and valuable information.  I really appreciate all of your efforts and the energy you put in to your reviews.  Thanks for being awesome!  :wub:

On 6/22/2019 at 12:52 AM, Phyre said:

Personally I would never use non-LEGO products alongside official LEGO stuff.  I guess that makes me a LEGO purist.  I also prefer purist MOCs to ones that incorporate third party products.  I have nothing against companies like Brick Warriors or people that use their stuff, but it's not for me either in my own collecting/building or when viewing other people's work.  I can't even really explain why I feel that way, obviously Brick Warriors seems to produce quality stuff, but... it's just not LEGO lol.

That's great!  No judgement here, that's exactly why I asked for feelings.  :thumbup:

On 6/22/2019 at 8:48 PM, KotZ said:

Same. I mean, some stuff looks cool and fills that niche void that LEGO hasn't filled yet, or it's cheaper to equip soldiers for example of a Roman legion with BrickWarriors or whoever than official LEGO, but for me, that's the fun of the official parts, using what you have to make something new. It's the imagination aspect. Of course, I'd love more "realistic" looking equipment for historical figures/themes.

Making your own stickers is something I am totally ok with, though, because LEGO already makes stickers for their own parts.

Yes!  I like that spirit of creativity!  I too would love excessive amounts of new equipment for the historical themes, or bringing old ideas up to the new build standards etc.

On 6/23/2019 at 2:29 AM, Gorilla94 said:

I am a minifigure fan not one of the company. So i see custom parts and prints just like Lego pieces. On both sides there are poorly done pieces and some little pieces of art. I use them together with own prints, painting, cutting and gluing. In my opinion the perfect figure represents something i love the best way possible while still looking as cute as it can.

I admire your art!  This an area that definitely is more of an outlier and I hope helps push LEGO towards better future development.  I would say recently I have begun to experiment with this much more after coming across broken pieces and already modified pieces from collections.  I have multiple "reject" bins of parts that are broken/painted/modified as well as non-Lego bins as I sort through the bounty of my conquests.  Seeing that sometimes these things can be made better/more applicable sparks new creative ideas. 

On 6/23/2019 at 2:27 PM, Aine said:

I'm not sure if my opinion is important, as I never bought a single thing from non-LEGO producers, but I'll still try.

...
Lego doesn't have many nice helmets. There is a ton of SW ones, but for a Castle enthusiasts the option are not that rich. Speaking of defensive accessories: vintage shields are costly, and they often suck qualitywise, which is not surprising due to their age.
Official lego animals (like cow, pig, and the extremely and unreasonably rare goat) don't mix well with old 1980's and 1990's stuff, and they are pretty expensive, too.
... One trouble with all the 3rd party stuff is that it's often overdone and doesn't match well with the old lego. Too many details, etc.
...
tl, dr: There's a niche to be filled and BF+friends tries well.

Yes, your opinion is important!  While I can't wholly agree with your feelings on the weapons and helmets, I can certainly still respect it.

"There is a ton of SW ones," - SW? I don't know that abbreviation.  I like the thoughts on Castle parts, tell me more!  :moar:
"vintage shields are costly" - this is where I tell myself to 'embrace the suck' and just pay for it, although I enjoy the challenge of hunting for deals, and finding treasure in unsorted bins of bricks etc

"Official lego animals" -  :handclap: This is definitely a feeling I understand.
"Too many details, etc." - this seems to be a common feeling among the populace

"tl, dr: There's a niche to be filled and BF+friends tries well." - Well said.

On 6/24/2019 at 10:38 AM, MAB said:

I don't have the tattered wings, but do have the bird and dragon wings and the tattered ones as based on the latter:

These are some of my favourite parts. I prefer them to LEGO's equivalent wings. The muscles do not bother me. LEGO arms don't have muscles as they choose to use the same plain arms for all characters or similar ones like the bat-wing types. However, the torsos often show highly detailed muscle patterns, so having it on the arms is not a problem for me.

Another of my favourite parts are the molded capes.

To me, being plastic, these are more LEGO-like than LEGO's own cloth ones. There is never any problem with them creasing, or shifting to the side, or fading, or getting dusty.

 

I had not seen these parts and think I need to invest in a couple to check them out!

"these are more LEGO-like than LEGO's own" - I hadn't thought about this!  And I agree with the movement and wear concerns. 

Fitment and minifigure range of motion/movement ability affecting playability {Like the hair/cape/quiver issues] I definitely see as a current frustration of available LEGO options.  It feels inconsistent with the versatility of most of LEGO's parts.

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16 hours ago, Rockstaremcee said:

Yes, your opinion is important!  While I can't wholly agree with your feelings on the weapons and helmets, I can certainly still respect it.

"There is a ton of SW ones," - SW? I don't know that abbreviation.  I like the thoughts on Castle parts, tell me more!  :moar:
"vintage shields are costly" - this is where I tell myself to 'embrace the suck' and just pay for it, although I enjoy the challenge of hunting for deals, and finding treasure in unsorted bins of bricks etc

"Official lego animals" -  :handclap: This is definitely a feeling I understand.
"Too many details, etc." - this seems to be a common feeling among the populace

"tl, dr: There's a niche to be filled and BF+friends tries well." - Well said.

I had not seen these parts and think I need to invest in a couple to check them out!


SW stands for Star Wars. Bricklink finds 232 search results for "helmet sw", but only 16 results for "helmet castle". Granted, this isn't the best way how to find the needed helm, and lots of them may go unnoticed due to search engine failure, but it's still significant. Even if you look for all kinds of "helmet Roman" or "helmet gladiator", it's still clear that Castle doesn't get that much attention as SW.

I would gladly pay for the vintage 1984-1993 shields, if there weren't three troubles with them: the state of them in general, the state of golden prints specifically, and the incoherent heraldics. Take a look at any faction from the days of old, and you'll realize that there is a level of inconsistency that you may (or may not) dislike. I know that it's about color schemes, I know that Early Middle Ages heraldics was far from set in stone, and i know that I'm talking about children's toy, but still, if I pay 2 USD for a tiny piece of plastic, I'd rather be happy with the purchase.

The official LEGO animals, and the level of details are in fact the same trouble. In past years (decades?), LEGO creates more detailed, more realistic moldings. They have reasons for doing that (see the reasoning for the new horse), and they seem to have success with this policy. I mostly like what they do, but my issue is that I'm trying to make a vintage collection with only a superficial touch of modernity, and this isn't that easy as I thought it to be. Considering the prices of lego animals, the way how you buy them piece by piece from BL, this isn't funny. I'd rather have 4 cheaper and nicer cows from one seller, than the more expensive and less aesthetically pleasing ones, while paying four times the postage fees.

Edited by Aine

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9 hours ago, Aine said:

SW stands for Star Wars. Bricklink finds 232 search results for "helmet sw", but only 16 results for "helmet castle". Granted, this isn't the best way how to find the needed helm, and lots of them may go unnoticed due to search engine failure, but it's still significant. Even if you look for all kinds of "helmet Roman" or "helmet gladiator", it's still clear that Castle doesn't get that much attention as SW.

In fairness, 155 of the "helmet SW" listings on BrickLink are just alternate prints for the same molds (which is more obvious when you sort the search results by item number), five more are buildable action figure heads, four are accessories for star wars helmets (e.g. chin guards and rangefinders), and one is a stickered tile with a picture of a helmet. So that's really just 72 actual helmet molds, one of which is simply the generic crash helmet mold also used in Castle.

And as you point out, there are a lot of ways that medieval or historic helmets on BrickLink don't turn up in a "helmet, castle" search. Stuff that doesn't turn up in that search includes:

  • seven Castle visor molds used to turn generic crash helmets into Castle headgear
  • The CMF Flying Warrior, Hun Warrior, Spartan Warrior, Roman Soldier, Gladiator, Viking Woman, and Battle Goddess helmets (some of which you brought up)
  • The Fright Knights Bat Lord helmet
  • The Royal Knights crown
  • The Fantasy Era dwarf helmet with wings
  • The Viking helmet
  • The LotR/The Hobbit Lake-Town Guard and Mouth of Sauron helmets

Star Wars still has more helmet molds overall, but I think that mostly comes down to it being a established at a time when LEGO was becoming a lot less hesitant about introducing new molds, and with a stable presence in all the years since, and based on a licensed IP with few non-helmet headgear molds and many characters whose helmet shapes aren't really negotiable.

Castle, on the other hand, came about decades before LEGO was comfortable introducing lots of variety in helmets, hats, or hair. It's had a couple hiatuses over the period that LEGO Star Wars has been around, represents a setting in which a lot of people wore hats and hoods instead of more protective headgear, and since it's non-licensed (aside from LotR/The Hobbit), has far fewer cases where a particular figure CAN'T simply use an existing headgear shape in either a new or existing color.

Don't get me wrong — I far prefer non-license-specific headgear over the alternative, and love when new molds like that (e.g. hair+headgear molds like the CMF Classic King, or many minifig and mini-doll hairstyles) are introduced, as it opens up worlds of possibilities for custom minifigs that headgear based on a particular licensed IP might not.

But at the same time, I understand why licensed themes might get more dedicated new headgear molds than non-licensed themes. And it's important to remember they aren't getting those at no cost — in a lot of cases extremely complex and specific new molds seem to have a far more obvious correlation with prices that seem inflated than whether or not a theme is licensed.

I wouldn't mind higher prices on Castle sets since they've been stagnant for a while now, while other themes like Ninjago, City, and Friends have achieved super impressive builds by not limiting their price points so much. But I'd rather if any price hikes went mostly towards improved builds, and not just towards overly specific new molds. Particularly when so many great historic molds have shown up in the CMF series, but have not yet been repurposed to a wider extent in mainstream historic and fantasy themes.

I feel like perhaps I'd feel more warmly about customizers filling the void if THEIR customs tended to be as versatile as a lot of official LEGO headgear is. But a lot of it is similar to LEGO's licensed theme headgear in that it doesn't really fire up my imagination for more varied applications beyond the particular uses the designer had in mind. Because of their greater ability (and greater sales incentive) from producing wide varieties of parts, they tend to make a lot of them far more specific to one real-world equivalent than official LEGO parts.

In a more 20th/21st-century context, compare how BrickArms' firearm pieces are often specific to ONE real-world firearm model — whereas even in a licensed theme like Star Wars, LEGO takes care to "genericize" their blaster pieces somewhat so that they can be equally well-suited to representing the weapons of multiple characters from multiple periods of that fictional universe's history.

BrickWarriors runs into the same issue with a lot of their 20th century army helmets (making them specifically accurate to one country's helmets when a middle ground might be able to serve just as well for several different countries), and with unnecessarily detailed versions of headgear types LEGO already has had more generic versions of for decades like a shako, bicorne, tricorne, wizard, or cowboy hat. That's where a lot of custom parts manufacturers lose my interest.

Edited by Aanchir

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Wow, what a detailed post!

I agree with you in every point, and I should have noted that the SW helms are mostly copies of a particular mold with another print or whatever. It's also true that there are lots of non-Castle yes-Castle helmets (or headgear in general) like the CMF ones or the LotR/HP stuff.
Until a new Castle line shows up, I don't expect any new molding, but they should definitely reuse the ones that you've mentioned, namely coz the development must hav been pretty expensive, so why not use it.
Speaking of a need for a correct type of helm: yep, that's where SW and other licensed themes really need specific parts, while Castle may do with what already exists. I'm just a bit sad that in all those helmets and other headgear that they produced in last three decades, there are few generic ones (no bat wings, no horns, no grille, etc.) that would fit my period (um... yeah) like the 3896 and 3844 do.
Funny thing is that there are some molds from Friends or city that I'd use, like a riding hat with long hair: if e.g. 18829pb01 came in a metal color, this will be sick helm for a barbarian horsemen.
And yes, most of what the BRICKxxx companies design doesn't really thrill me.
 

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On 6/24/2019 at 9:03 AM, AmperZand said:

Pretty certain they are ABS, but @Thrash can tell us for sure.

I can indeed!  All BrickWarriors pieces are made from ABS plastic.  The only difference between our parts and other companies' (and thus the difference in feel) is that we chose more of a matte finish while some others went for a shiny finish.

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