10305 Lion Knights' Castle 90th anniversary set

[BTappel]

2 hours ago, Lyichir said:

I know that on one side of the part they opened up is the forestmen's hideout (underneath the little market area). The Verge article shared earlier had a pretty good view of that. The other thing they could potentially be seeing would be the pathway from that area to the secret entrance near the tree, which hasn't shown up clearly in any of the pics so far,

This seems the likeliest scenario.  It appears the secret entrance by the tree leads to a tunnel that goes thru/around the prison and ends in the secret room under the trap door in the market area.

[MAB]

58 minutes ago, jodawill said:

I have no problem with a queen's castle because that's pretty normal from an historical perspective. There have been lots of queen rulers. I think it's a cool idea.

In fact, if you think back to the Castle chess sets, Kingdoms, Fantasy Era and the Giant Chess all had one side with a king and queen, whereas the other side had a queen with a wizard so presumably the queen was the ruler for that side. Although that side was the evil side associated with magic and witchcraft.

Edited June 21, 2022 by MAB

[morthaur]

1 hour ago, Lyichir said:

I did like the suggestion somebody in this thread had to use the CMF classic king and queen as the regents, and have the "lady of the castle" be their younger and more battle-ready daughter/heir. Though that may largely just be my fondness for those figures speaking.

It'd be just like King Leo, Queen Leonora, and Princess Storm!

[Aanchir]

On 6/18/2022 at 7:52 PM, RichardGoring said:

I think the blacksmith is just too large to go next to anything else they might produce, and keep the same scale. The blacksmith is 11" tall. This is 14.5", but that's to the top of the flag, and the top of the battlements are going to be more like 12-13".

I mean, that sounds fine to me. It's certainly more proportionate than if you displayed the MMV's 21-brick-tall houses together with Fantasy Era or Kingdoms castles with curtain walls are less than half that height!

When opened, this castle's curtain wall is 14 bricks and 1 plate tall in the front and 17 bricks and 2 plates tall in the back (the latter is also the height of the bridge/balcony). Even that front measurement is close to the 15-brick-tall height of the Medieval Blacksmith's roof line. That's certainly tall enough to be worth displaying alongside the Medieval Blacksmith in my opinion, and I am absolutely planning to do so!

That said, I expect I'll end up to displaying the blacksmith shop off to one side of the castle, rather than behind the castle walls, mainly because the hunter woman, hunting dog, and bearskin rug suggest a more out-of-the-way setting to me, such as near the edge of a forest.

I've been hard at work trying to reverse-engineer as much of this set as possible on stud.io, and I'm fascinated with each new detail I discover! But there's still a number of details I haven't quite figured out yet, like how the bell is attached to the inside of the campanile, or all the intricacies of the cave network below the gatehouse (though I can tell that in the very least, there is a tunnel entrance to the left of the drawbridge that connects to the secret hideout beneath the market, in addition to the hidden passage out of the dungeons next to the big tree).

One thing I have managed to verify over the course of this process is that multiple copies of the castle can be joined together, just as with old-school castles like 6080 and 6085. Here is one arrangement you can create by pairing two copies of the set (though obviously this is still a work in progress, so don't be surprised if a lot of pieces appear to be missing in this image).

Edited June 22, 2022 by Aanchir

[natesroom]

I went ahead and redrew the "New" Lion logo from the flag which was a high res photo. File is available in vector

LionFlag by Natesroom, on Flickr

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1u0uQhmm0kuuDgEQDkRsAXf8THRRLdtol/view?usp=sharing

Edited June 22, 2022 by natesroom

[cehnot]

Anybody else thinking of combining 2 sets into a larger scale model? I have seven 3in1 castle sets I been toying with in studio trying to merge several great mocs from rebrickable.com, but now that I watched that interview showcasing the set as two detachable sections it made me abandon my current idea. The castle appears to be 2 modules. Use a second set to build another set of towers that connect with the other castle. 

[natesroom]

sounds like a good idea. i would be interested in that idea.

[ForgedInLego]

If you want to combine two castles without exposing the interiors and leaving a hole in the wall for the water wheel you could try this arrangement! (image cred to @Aanchir)

[RichardGoring]

In the Verge interview, they said that you could connect (up to 100) sets together. Lovely work by @Aanchir on that. I still think that I'd prefer the castle to be taller relative to the Blacksmith, but yes, I take your point.

One day, it would be nice to try to combine two sets together to make something that little bit larger, more along the scale of the Blacksmith. But I'm sure highly talented people will do it and post instructions before I even build one set. One day though..

I'm really looking forward to the build on this. It strikes me as being something fun and delightful. I'm loving the enthusiasm shown by the designers in their interviews.

[Roebuck]

4 hours ago, Aanchir said:

I mean, that sounds fine to me. It's certainly more proportionate than if you displayed the MMV's 21-brick-tall houses together with Fantasy Era or Kingdoms castles with curtain walls are less than half that height!

When opened, this castle's curtain wall is 14 bricks and 1 plate tall in the front and 17 bricks and 2 plates tall in the back (the latter is also the height of the bridge/balcony). Even that front measurement is close to the 15-brick-tall height of the Medieval Blacksmith's roof line. That's certainly tall enough to be worth displaying alongside the Medieval Blacksmith in my opinion, and I am absolutely planning to do so!

That said, I expect I'll end up to displaying the blacksmith shop off to one side of the castle, rather than behind the castle walls, mainly because the hunter woman, hunting dog, and bearskin rug suggest a more out-of-the-way setting to me, such as near the edge of a forest.

I do not think I have enough room to display the blacksmith far enough from the castle so it would not look out of scale, but I will give it one try before I conclude and move the blacksmith. What would probably be a excellent fit is Mill Village Raid and Medieval Market Village (and probably Kingdoms Joust in some displays)

[Triceron]

I'm considering downgrading the Blacksmith to a smaller moc to have it fit better with the castle.

Something like this might work better scale, and use the rest of the parts to fashion another small building or outdoor marketplace, and use the interior pieces to further decorate the castle.  I have Hagrid's Hut ready to be pieced out for this as well.

[the Inventor]

I also made a smaller blacksmith shop to better fit in with other sets: https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/188946-moc-blacksmith-shop-alternative-model-of-21325/

[brimbolet]

5 hours ago, Triceron said:

I'm considering downgrading the Blacksmith to a smaller moc to have it fit better with the castle.

 

2 hours ago, the Inventor said:

I also made a smaller blacksmith shop to better fit in with other sets: https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/188946-moc-blacksmith-shop-alternative-model-of-21325/

Oh, I really like the two smaller models!

I just bought the blacksmith myself, to get the forest hideout of course, so I'm planning on building it according to instructions, but after a time I'll have to downsize it too, so it'll fit the old falcon castle and the other vintage sets I'm trying to collect.

Regarding the anniversary set, I just saw the video with the mechanism that transforms the balcony above the mill into the footbridge when the castle is opened. So unexpected and brilliant !!!

Edited June 22, 2022 by brimbolet

[TeriXeri]

I've seen some decent downscales of the Blacksmith as well, will be trying my hand at downscaling it as well as it's massive compared to 3-in-1 castle and even this newer one.

Nothing wrong with the blacksmith set itself, just that pretty much all my collection are either 3-in-1 scale or "Castle Scale" , blacksmith even still looks massive compared to taller castles like Jestro's Lair or Knighton Castle.

I don't have Medieval Market village but I do like the concept of the hinged buildings for wider display and showing interior/backside easily.

Edited June 22, 2022 by TeriXeri

[astral brick]

Beautiful model, hopefully the beginning of a reboot line, however I can't help thinking there is at least a one hundred in excess to the price.

[jodawill]

I was looking through all of the minifigure PAB parts last night, and I noticed that Majisto's wand is still in production in another color. It's too bad they didn't at least bring that piece back in glow in the dark white. I keep thinking that for as little effort as they put into that minifigure, they probably should have just done something else. It seems like a very strange choice to include him here at all. I'm wondering if maybe they just had a dollar left in their budget at the very end and had to decide how to use it, so they just threw him in out of existing parts. I think if they had coordinated with other designers, they probably could have had the glow in the dark wand used across multiple sets. That makes me think this was just a last minute decision.

[brimbolet]

Instead of a wand for the magician, a glow in the dark ghost would have been even better.

[natesroom]

Yeah - the Opportunity to bring back the ghost should have been a highlight.

[Dr.Cogg]

I thought they were going to use this as the wizard, its from pick a brick.

[SirBlake]

9 minutes ago, Dr.Cogg said:

I thought they were going to use this as the wizard, its from pick a brick.

They should have.

[jodawill]

I don't think that wizard looks anything like Majisto. Personally, I wish they hadn't included him at all because that's the wrong theme. But it's not a huge deal. I agree - a glow in the dark ghost would have been amazing. But I'm sure that wouldn't have fit in their budget. (Obviously not, considering the totally generic Majisto they settled for...)

[dimc]

Some spare legs from my collection and a grey/white hairpiece will easily turn the wizard into another civilian. I have plenty of Majistos from the Magic Shop to use, and I can take the walking stick with gem for him.

[Something_Awesome]

On 6/20/2022 at 7:46 PM, Lord Insanity said:

Up till now I definitely would have considered 6086 to be the best castle Lego has done.  I always viewed 6081 as more of a small fortress like the Black Falcon Fortress.

 

For the tree, of the currently produced colors dark brown would have been the best.  Seriously go outside and actually look at trees.  Most real trees are more grayish than brown.  Old dark gray with its greenish hue was probably the closest Lego color to what most real tree bark actually is.  Between modern reddish brown or black I would have to go with black.  Reddish brown just looks wrong as a tree, like its made of mud or chocolate.  Now making several trees a few of them being reddish brown can look good when balanced with other trees in black and dark brown.

 

This analogy seem a bit off.  The new castle would be more like comparing it to Hydra Agents fighting Captain America during WW2.  If half of them are women it doesn't matter because in real life none of the soldiers were Hydra Agents fighting Captain America at all.  The new castle has a wizard and "Robin Hood's" merry men included.  Historical accuracy is no where to be found.

What is really funny is you don't even have to swap heads, all you have to do is keep the knight visor down (or full helmet on) and you can't even tell what gender the figure is one way or the other. 

All fake/fictional works still have rules that are followed. Breaking of them makes it harder and harder to suspend disbelief. You can suspend disbelief of dragons and wizards, but not all the knights of the Lion Knights being all female. The "fundamental" (for lack of a better word) rules need to be kept intact or the work becomes a joke. Like, imagine Game of Thrones. Everyone can suspend their disbelief for dragons and magic. It makes sense in that universe. But fire making you cold would make zero sense even in a world as fantastical as the one that Game of Thrones takes place in. especially if no explanation was provided. Just imagine that whenever a character approached fire, they got cold. The people who watched the show or read the books would think this to be more ridiculous than dragons or sorcery.

I am OK with swapping out the heads. This is a non-issue for me. I am just giving an explanation as to why people are laughing at this set and accusing LEGO of being "woke."

Edited June 22, 2022 by Something_Awesome

[Triceron]

6 hours ago, the Inventor said:

I also made a smaller blacksmith shop to better fit in with other sets: https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/188946-moc-blacksmith-shop-alternative-model-of-21325/

Very nice build!  Do you happen to have any instructions for this moc?

[MAB]

9 minutes ago, Something_Awesome said:

All fake/fictional works still have rules that are followed. Breaking of them makes it harder and harder to suspend disbelief. You can suspend disbelief of dragons and wizards, but not all the knights of the Lion Knights being all female. The "fundamental" (for lack of a better word) rules need to be kept intact or the work becomes a joke. Like, imagine Game of Thrones. Everyone can suspend their disbelief for dragons and magic. It makes sense in that universe. But fire making you cold would make zero sense even in a world as fantastical as the one that Game of Thrones takes place in.

I am OK with swapping out the heads. This is a non-issue for me. I am just giving an explanation as to why people are laughing at this set and accusing LEGO of being "woke."

Yet people have no issue in believing and enjoying stories about all-female Amazonian armies. It all depends on where you believe the setting of the castle is. If it is not medieval Europe but instead some female dominant fantasy land, then an all female army makes sense. If you are happy to suspend belief about dragons, then why not belief about other fantasy too? Maybe you have a hard time believing fire is cold because yo are used to orange/red flames meaning hot, but what if it is green fire or blue fire. Then it could be believable that it makes you cold in a fantasy world if characters acted like it is cold.

Of course the issue is would less people want to buy the set if it is set in a female dominant fantasy land (and I imagine less people would).

 

Edited June 22, 2022 by MAB