10305 Lion Knights' Castle 90th anniversary set

[Cyberfounder]

I think they just wanted the logos to match with the Black Falcons updated design. It would be awesome to have a few of the old logos (wolfpack, Black Knights) in an updated form. 

I'm more surprised they did not include an "ovoid shield" for either the Black Flacons or the Lion Knights with the new logos, I know it was not around in the 80's and only got introduced in the early 90's, but it would have be a nice addition. 

[iragm]

I found a way to get 30% off anything at Lego - had to jump through quite a few hoops but to me it was worth it.  I saw this on r/legodeal but the post was removed because it wasn't reliable.

1. I installed the Capital One Shopping app into Chrome. 
2. I visited the Lego page for 10305 and hard refreshed the page (control + F5) 4 or 5 times.
3. I closed Chrome, reopened it, and did step 2 again.
4. I didn't open Chrome again, nor did I visit lego.com
5. The next day I got an introductory email that said Welcome To Welcome to Capital One Shopping, I clicked on one of the links in it to engage with the email, but didn't do anything else.
6. The next day (around 48 hours after I visited the castle page), I got an email with the subject "Offer confirmed: Thanks to your recent purchases, you can get exclusive Rewards on Lego - Lion Knights' Castle" (note: I did not buy anything, lego related or not).  The email offered $120 back on the castle.
7. I clicked the link in the email, making sure to open it with Chrome.  This took me to the castle page.  I then clicked the capital one shopping extension (not sure if I had to do this) and a few seconds later a popup appeared in the top right corner that said "30% off all purchases on Lego.com" with an activate button.  I clicked activate, added the castle to my cart, and bought it.
8. The usual Lego order process happened with no indication from Capital One that I was getting money back.  I figured if it didn't work, I'd just return the castle.
9. 5 days later, (a day after the castle arrived), I got a confirmation email with the subject "Success! We've received your order and are processing your $119.99 in rewards now."  It'll be a month before this clears, and it's as a gift card, but that is nearly as good a cash.

A few things to note:

Looks like this is capped at $500 off, and it's a single order.  I should have bought 4 copies of the castle to maximize it.  I did sell a few minifigures from the set, and after eBay fees, I have a "free" castle for about 2 hours of flipping.

I use Firefox and only use Chrome when I'm buying things on bricklink because of the brickhunter extension.  I didn't open Chrome between the initial visit and when the email arrived.  Not sure if that matters or not.

Capital One Shopping has already sent me another offer with 18% off anything on lego.com, but that is nowhere near enough to get me to buy anything else.

[SirBlake]

Wow, that’s quite a hack. Too many hoops for me, but still cool of you to post this. 

[Follows Closely]

I picked up a second castle (without figs). I captured a comparison photo before the tear down.

Spoiler

 

 

Edited December 14, 2022 by Follows Closely

[kchan98]

On 12/14/2022 at 1:26 PM, Follows Closely said:

I picked up a second castle (without figs). I captured a comparison photo before the tear down.

 

Thanks for sharing. Curious how many everyone has since we're at the 6 month mark.

I personally have 2, i'd like to pick up a few more before it retires. The selection of bricks and minifigs makes it worthwhile. 

[eldiano]

I’m waiting for Lego to drop the august Pick a Bricks so I can buy more mini figs, then I’ll rebuild my castle again 🤣 I got lucky with black knights and forestmen I need lion knights now

[DaleDVM]

I am waiting to see if the minis make it onto bricks and pieces.  I have 3 castles now but will get 3 more if I can't get the minifigs.  

 

[natesroom]

2 hours ago, eldiano said:

I’m waiting for Lego to drop the august Pick a Bricks so I can buy more mini figs, then I’ll rebuild my castle again 🤣 I got lucky with black knights and forestmen I need lion knights now

you gotta post here when they release im not sure when they will show up

[eldiano]

3 minutes ago, natesroom said:

you gotta post here when they release im not sure when they will show up

First thing January 2023.  They haven’t released new bricks since mid November 

[SirBlake]

3 hours ago, kchan98 said:

Thanks for sharing. Curious how many everyone has since we're at the 6 month mark.

6 month mark? It just came out in August. Just over 4 months ago  

 

[kchan98]

14 hours ago, DaleDVM said:

I am waiting to see if the minis make it onto bricks and pieces.  I have 3 castles now but will get 3 more if I can't get the minifigs.  

 

Oops August release, feels like it's been out 6 months.

I agree, it would be nice to get more of the Lion torsos. Hopefully they don't fade like the ones from the 80s. 

[natesroom]

1 hour ago, kchan98 said:

Oops August release, feels like it's been out 6 months.

I agree, it would be nice to get more of the Lion torsos. Hopefully they don't fade like the ones from the 80s. 

mine never faded and they are 40 years old

[RichardGoring]

My first one arrived today. Might get a second if I could figure out something good to do. Quite like the idea of combining it with the Harry Potter Great Hall to make a feasting hall.

Also picked up 10223 Kingdoms Joust for $100 earlier in the week. That was a good deal!

[SirBlake]

2 hours ago, RichardGoring said:

My first one arrived today. Might get a second if I could figure out something good to do. Quite like the idea of combining it with the Harry Potter Great Hall to make a feasting hall.

Also picked up 10223 Kingdoms Joust for $100 earlier in the week. That was a good deal!

That was an amazing deal! I really love that set. I built a mostly-mirrored second half with spare bricks and it really gives it some mass. I think it’s fair to say it’s the highest quality Kingdoms set based on build and parts usage. Plus great horse barding and the singular “gen 2” Black Falcon. 

[natesroom]

i never thought of building the back side out of my own bricks... lol i kept the 2nd one in the box, lol DOH im gonna start on that now!

[SirBlake]

46 minutes ago, natesroom said:

i never thought of building the back side out of my own bricks... lol i kept the 2nd one in the box, lol DOH im gonna start on that now!

Awesome! It’s a fun build. I didn’t have the right red slopes for a second roof, so I made crenellations in the same style as the castle gate house and I think it works great with them back-to-back. 

[RichardGoring]

Indeed, excellent deal. I had some forestmen sets as a kid, with just two token knights for them to fight against, so not much nostalgia for it, but it goes nicely with the castle. Especially with other factions visiting.

[Roebuck]

4 hours ago, SirBlake said:

Plus great horse barding

Talking about horse barding, I hope we get one for the forestmen for the first time in a set, in addition to one for the raven knight from CMF. The latter is even less likely, but it is my favorite knight from the last years and the barding would look fantastic in those colors I think

[natesroom]

12 hours ago, SirBlake said:

Awesome! It’s a fun build. I didn’t have the right red slopes for a second roof, so I made crenellations in the same style as the castle gate house and I think it works great with them back-to-back. 

Pic or its all done in studio...lol

[SirBlake]

3 hours ago, natesroom said:

Pic or its all done in studio...lol

Hahah, I’ll see what I can do about that when I get home. 

[SirBlake]

8 hours ago, natesroom said:

Pic or its all done in studio...lol

Pics!

 

It didn't make sense to me to have a door open up to another door, so I came up with this different facade.

 

Edited December 20, 2022 by SirBlake

[natesroom]

i like it alot!

[RichardGoring]

Nicely done!

[Follows Closely]

Great set. Love that theme.

[jodawill]

On 12/19/2022 at 2:02 AM, Roebuck said:

Talking about horse barding, I hope we get one for the forestmen for the first time in a set, in addition to one for the raven knight from CMF. The latter is even less likely, but it is my favorite knight from the last years and the barding would look fantastic in those colors I think

This is funny. I know some people hate the forestmen shields because it doesn't make any sense for them to have their own heraldry. Somehow, I love those shields because I grew up seeing them. But barding just seems completely over the top to me.

I do agree that barding for the raven knight would be amazing. I would pay out the nose for that. Imagine if we could get a new jousting set with FOUR barding designs, each in different colors, and they included the raven knight!