10305 Lion Knights' Castle 90th anniversary set

[SirBlake]

Just now, Triceron said:

Oh, I was referring to Bricklink specifically for that comment.

Oh, yeah. Makes sense. Thankfully we can call them whatever we want. Anything bigger than the old rounded short sword is a long sword to me. 

[dimc]

19 minutes ago, GeoBrick said:

I would've thought: "aweasword". 

swordscomic is leaking.

Also, I may have to find one of those small gold pieces to use under a gem for the wizard. I settled on a black lightsaber hilt because all of my antennas are the old rounded style. I didn't realize I couldn't attach the gem directly to it.

Edited August 5, 2022 by dimc

[jodawill]

Jason Kingsley made a great video on the different types of medieval swords. His entire channel is golden. Everyone should check it out.

 

[SirBlake]

Jason is great! Love his channel. 

[jodawill]

3 minutes ago, SirBlake said:

Jason is great! Love his channel. 

I watched that channel for a long time before I discovered he's the CEO of a video game company. I still can't wrap my head around that. I just can't picture him talking about modern technology.

[Aanchir]

Real-world practicalities aside, I feel it was a good symbolic choice to give the lady of the castle a bigger, fancier sword than her subjects. Sort of like how Royal King/King Richard Lionheart got a fancy (and by some accounts, magical) silver greatsword in the Royal Knights sets.

On that note, I quite like that the lady of the castle wears white, since it feels like a nice callback to the white details used for not only the Royal King, but also for the Lion Knight Maiden/Damsel from 6023 — who, in De LEGO Krant, is named Jonkvrouw Machteld Eleonora (Lady Matilda Eleanor), and expressly identified as the daughter of Sir Richard/Ridder Pieter van Blankevoort (Sir Peter Whiteford) from 6080.

Also on the subject of colors, I do find it interesting that the Black Falcons in this set carry Bright Blue and Flame Yellowish Orange banners. Traditionally, they flew either Dark Green (classic green) and White banners, or in later sets, Bright Blue and White banners. I remember there being a lot of talk about this when 31120 Medieval Castle came out and fans were talking about what colors they'd prefer to replace the Bright Red and White banners with in order to better unify their Black Falcon faction. But these banner colors certainly don't look bad, IMO!

1 hour ago, eldiano said:

Interesting! Although I’m a diehard history fan of “events” i never read into medieval weaponry that much, naturally i always like to vary my Minifigures, they must be different, i just never thought that much into it about guards, knights and kings, i just thought it was cool to buy them all this extra armor, halberds and swords!

In a lot of old print materials (catalogs, magazines, etc) LEGO drew a fairly clear distinction between "knights", and "castle guards/soldiers/men-at-arms". Knights were figures that rode horses, had printed and/or molded breastplates, wore helmets that covered the face (sometimes with hinged visors), and were often ornamented with additional accessories like capes, feathers, or dragon-shaped helmet ornaments. Guards/soldiers had printed tabards and helmets with no protection for the face besides a chin guard or nose guard.

Sometimes a further distinction was made between guards/soldiers and bowmen/archers— the latter, of course, had either bows and quivers or crossbows, though other design differences tended to be set-specific or faction-specific. In 6080, for example, all the guards had blue legs, grey helmets with nose guards, and crossed-axe emblems on their torsos, whereas all the archers had red legs, black helmets with chin guards, and Lion Knight emblems on their torsos.

Conversely, other set descriptions (especially shorter ones) just used the term "knight" generically for ALL knight and soldier figures regardless of rank, design, or armaments! And many later Castle themes became a lot less strict about giving minifigs rank/division-specific "uniforms"
 

I myself often prefer when Castle minifigs can be distinguished by rank/division. For one thing, it helps a lot with coming up with interesting chess set builds (something I really enjoyed doing back in the day) if you can have distinct categories of minifigs to use for pawns, knights, rooks, etc! Also, especially when characters lack individual names/identities, assigning them particular jobs or ranks can make it easier to decide on where you want them to go or what you want them to do either when playing with them or putting them on display, rather than treating all soldiers from a particular faction as totally interchangeable.

But I realize a lot of builders out there do prefer less "regimented" Castle armies, and that's totally valid too!

1 hour ago, SirBlake said:

I’m not sure they have made anything official as far as naming goes. That’s the terminology that’s used on Bricklink, which we tend to use as gospel, but as far as TLG is concerned, I think they’re all just “swords”.

It varies. LEGO officially calls part 3847/76764 "Mini Sword", 95673/18034 "Mini Short Sword", and 98370/18031 "Mini Long Sword". Likewise, 71014/44493/99232 is "Broadsword/Battle Sword", 31073/88420/21459 is "Ninja Sword", 93247 is "Egypt Sword", 93055 is "Dragon Sword", etc.

But they just call part 66964 "Sword, No. 18". They seem to have started simply numbering most new sword designs (including non-Castle ones) in mid-2012, beginning with those introduced in the Lord of the Rings theme.

[eldiano]

6 hours ago, Aanchir said:

Real-world practicalities aside, I feel it was a good symbolic choice to give the lady of the castle a bigger, fancier sword than her subjects. Sort of like how Royal King/King Richard Lionheart got a fancy (and by some accounts, magical) silver greatsword in the Royal Knights sets.

On that note, I quite like that the lady of the castle wears white, since it feels like a nice callback to the white details used for not only the Royal King, but also for the Lion Knight Maiden/Damsel from 6023 — who, in De LEGO Krant, is named Jonkvrouw Machteld Eleonora (Lady Matilda Eleanor), and expressly identified as the daughter of Sir Richard/Ridder Pieter van Blankevoort (Sir Peter Whiteford) from 6080.

Also on the subject of colors, I do find it interesting that the Black Falcons in this set carry Bright Blue and Flame Yellowish Orange banners. Traditionally, they flew either Dark Green (classic green) and White banners, or in later sets, Bright Blue and White banners. I remember there being a lot of talk about this when 31120 Medieval Castle came out and fans were talking about what colors they'd prefer to replace the Bright Red and White banners with in order to better unify their Black Falcon faction. But these banner colors certainly don't look bad, IMO!

In a lot of old print materials (catalogs, magazines, etc) LEGO drew a fairly clear distinction between "knights", and "castle guards/soldiers/men-at-arms". Knights were figures that rode horses, had printed and/or molded breastplates, wore helmets that covered the face (sometimes with hinged visors), and were often ornamented with additional accessories like capes, feathers, or dragon-shaped helmet ornaments. Guards/soldiers had printed tabards and helmets with no protection for the face besides a chin guard or nose guard.

Sometimes a further distinction was made between guards/soldiers and bowmen/archers— the latter, of course, had either bows and quivers or crossbows, though other design differences tended to be set-specific or faction-specific. In 6080, for example, all the guards had blue legs, grey helmets with nose guards, and crossed-axe emblems on their torsos, whereas all the archers had red legs, black helmets with chin guards, and Lion Knight emblems on their torsos.

Conversely, other set descriptions (especially shorter ones) just used the term "knight" generically for ALL knight and soldier figures regardless of rank, design, or armaments! And many later Castle themes became a lot less strict about giving minifigs rank/division-specific "uniforms"
 

I myself often prefer when Castle minifigs can be distinguished by rank/division. For one thing, it helps a lot with coming up with interesting chess set builds (something I really enjoyed doing back in the day) if you can have distinct categories of minifigs to use for pawns, knights, rooks, etc! Also, especially when characters lack individual names/identities, assigning them particular jobs or ranks can make it easier to decide on where you want them to go or what you want them to do either when playing with them or putting them on display, rather than treating all soldiers from a particular faction as totally interchangeable.

But I realize a lot of builders out there do prefer less "regimented" Castle armies, and that's totally valid too!

It varies. LEGO officially calls part 3847/76764 "Mini Sword", 95673/18034 "Mini Short Sword", and 98370/18031 "Mini Long Sword". Likewise, 71014/44493/99232 is "Broadsword/Battle Sword", 31073/88420/21459 is "Ninja Sword", 93247 is "Egypt Sword", 93055 is "Dragon Sword", etc.

But they just call part 66964 "Sword, No. 18". They seem to have started simply numbering most new sword designs (including non-Castle ones) in mid-2012, beginning with those introduced in the Lord of the Rings theme.

Thanks, spanish was my first language and growing up I couldn’t understand the manual so it was all pictures for me, with that said you don’t know the struggle I went to with the old school lego boxes that featured alternate sets, I always thought I was missing something and could never replicate them 😭

I need my legoland kingdoms quest fever and it did not disappoint 🤣

 

 

Legoland store does have every single new set:

 

I also found the 10305 lion knight castle in my Legoland discovery center store!!
sneaky sneaky 😒

NO LIMITS on the purchases haha 🤣

Edited August 6, 2022 by eldiano

[brimbolet]

With the new castle on shelves, do you think the black falcon torsos/shields (from blacksmith set) will return to brick & pieces anytime soon, or will there be the same ban imposed as on the lionknights parts?

[SirBlake]

10 minutes ago, brimbolet said:

With the new castle on shelves, do you think the black falcon torsos/shields (from blacksmith set) will return to brick & pieces anytime soon, or will there be the same ban imposed as on the lionknights parts?

I would love to have that answer, but I don’t think anybody knows. 

[eldiano]

2 hours ago, brimbolet said:

With the new castle on shelves, do you think the black falcon torsos/shields (from blacksmith set) will return to brick & pieces anytime soon, or will there be the same ban imposed as on the lionknights parts?

Yes eventually, they always got new stock once in a while, there was never a ban on lion knights, it’s just ever since the PAB update there have not been any 2022 bricks from this year available.

🫣

When medieval blacksmith, medieval castle, pirates of barracuda bay went live on shop.lego you could buy the exclusive bricks right away on B&P  but I incidentally messaged lego about this and they said currently working on it!  
I will wait until they do so, those minifgure prices are outrageous at the moment…

 

Edited August 6, 2022 by eldiano

[eldiano]

It’s a Dream come true for me and a great time to be a castle fan! Very few LEGO sets bring out the kid in me, this is one of them, it was much needed after the stuff i’m going through right now, I’m dead set on expanding the castle on the other side when they finally let us buy 2022 pieces.

After the coronation ceremony of the new queen, the castle celebrates with a feast for all kingdoms nearby:

No rest for the weary!

A day to remember!

Rear View

Newly promoted Lion Knight guards being taught how to defend by fellow Lion Knights

Black Falcon’s never rests to protect the royalty inside

“Pay your coin to your Witcher” oh whoops wrong series haha, he’s potty training the prince meanwhile court jesters are proving anything can be juggled:

The queen has yet to find this hideout:

Poor guard can’t catch a break from too many arrivals

Elite knights exchanging tactics in the armory:

Dragon knights up to no good

Hard to Resist:

Kitchen Slips:

The Nobleman needed his refill

….but the queen doesn’t approve:

Crime never pays! (I honestly forgot that LEGO didn’t add a rat on this set!!!)

Siblings at play!

A legendary walk to remember! Magisto has come home!

“They’ll never find us resting here!!!!”

 

 

Edited August 6, 2022 by eldiano

[SirBlake]

Excellent! Really fun to see that great selection of minifigs around the castle. 

[eldiano]

53 minutes ago, SirBlake said:

Excellent! Really fun to see that great selection of minifigs around the castle. 

Thanks!! The 90 years of play continues indeed, this set grows on you for sure,

[Black Feather]

Someone is selling the wizard from 10305 on eBay for $75 if anyone is interested.  

[Shroffy123]

1 hour ago, Black Feather said:

Someone is selling the wizard from 10305 on eBay for $75 if anyone is interested.  

Seems like a pretty bad deal 😕 

[Warbinator]

It seemed like a shame to cover up the queens unique torso print, and I also wanted to display her with her crown, so I gave her sword, armor and helmet to another knight. The queen kept her cape and I made her a scepter out of spare parts. I designated two of the female knights to be her queensguard, and the mounted knight is her champion. 

 

 

[Wesley D]

I hope you all can enjoy building and playing your castle!

I'm out of luck, Wednesday I stood up in the middle of the night to order mine as soon as it was available online, but now I get the message the shipment is delayed, because LEGO are receiving a high volume of orders.

[Rjbricks]

2 hours ago, Wesley D said:

I hope you all can enjoy building and playing your castle!

I'm out of luck, Wednesday I stood up in the middle of the night to order mine as soon as it was available online, but now I get the message the shipment is delayed, because LEGO are receiving a high volume of orders.

Same here. : (

[GeoBrick]

3 hours ago, Warbinator said:

It seemed like a shame to cover up the queens unique torso print, and I also wanted to display her with her crown, so I gave her sword, armor and helmet to another knight. The queen kept her cape and I made her a scepter out of spare parts. I designated two of the female knights to be her queensguard, and the mounted knight is her champion. 

I'd have thought the champion would be part of the Queens Guard by definition. And why not a female champion as well? 

[RichardGoring]

5 hours ago, Black Feather said:

Someone is selling the wizard from 10305 on eBay for $75 if anyone is interested.  

OMG! I'd pay that just for that glorious torso. The way the light shines off the blue is mesmerizing. Uninterrupted by any form of decoration. You might even call it vantablue.

Absolute steal for the lucky winner of that auction. 

[GarmadonFan]

5 hours ago, RichardGoring said:

OMG! I'd pay that just for that glorious torso. The way the light shines off the blue is mesmerizing. Uninterrupted by any form of decoration. You might even call it vantablue.

Absolute steal for the lucky winner of that auction. 

Leaving the wizard without any printing is a weird choice. I get that including Majisto would have been incompatible with the factions that LEGO has developed but there are printed wizard parts available right now that would have worked. 

[SirBlake]

Has anyone that ordered online received theirs yet? I have a tracking number that says it’ll arrive today, but the current status says it’s in Illinois, so FedEx hasn’t picked it up yet. I’m sure the estimated delivery date is going to change tomorrow and/or when the status changes. I’m beyond tired of waiting for this thing. 

[Rjbricks]

I feel for you.

I have the “luxury” of not having the time or space to build it even when it dies arrive. Otherwise I’d be extremely narked to find it’s been delayed. 

[jodawill]

12 minutes ago, SirBlake said:

Has anyone that ordered online received theirs yet? I have a tracking number that says it’ll arrive today, but the current status says it’s in Illinois, so FedEx hasn’t picked it up yet. I’m sure the estimated delivery date is going to change tomorrow and/or when the status changes. I’m beyond tired of waiting for this thing. 

FedEx tracking is just wacko. Yesterday, it said it would arrive by the end of the day, but the only status update was "label created" in Illinois. This morning, it updated to show it was in transit, and it says it will be here tomorrow.

I would definitely prefer them to use a different shipping service. I made several orders in June. One of them came looking like it had been run over by a truck. Thankfully, the contents weren't majorly damaged. Another one arrived in a trash bag. I don't really trust FedEx with this package, but oh well. Hopefully at some point I'll be able to buy one in the store and pick out a nice box to put on my shelf.

Speaking of displaying the boxes, I saw people talking about how they use the shipper boxes to prevent gravity from making the boxes collapse. I was thinking I could just fill the box with shipping paper and hold the flaps together with scotch tape over the original tape.

[Hive]

17 minutes ago, SirBlake said:

Has anyone that ordered online received theirs yet? I have a tracking number that says it’ll arrive today, but the current status says it’s in Illinois, so FedEx hasn’t picked it up yet. I’m sure the estimated delivery date is going to change tomorrow and/or when the status changes. I’m beyond tired of waiting for this thing. 

Nope, mine haven't even been sent yet. Really frustrating to me that LEGO can't even handle shipping in stock goods in a timely fashion. I can live with bricks & pieces usually taking 6 weeks to ship, as that's a special fan service they aren't really making a lot of money on - but selling sets is their core business. They should employ more workers for packaging.