Lego Icons 10332 Medieval Town Square Discussion Thread

[Black Feather]

7 hours ago, jodawill said:

He also said this is the first queen's shield they've made. What makes it a queen's shield? Why did the queen's shield in 10305 not count?

This was one of my few complaints about the LKC.  They really unloaded the bank on that one completely new character.  Own torso.  Shield.  Helmet.  Even barding was split to match her shield instead all red or all blue or both like I would prefer.  Would have much preferred the much more modest addition of a double axe logo knight.  Could have left everything other than the logo the same and would work.  Now we still don’t get that.  And yet another addition for the queen.  Good to be the queen I guess.

[Black Falcon]

2 hours ago, danth said:

This set really feels like it's missing a guard and some farm animals. That was my first thought upon seeing the pics. "Shouldn't there be more farm animals? And why only one guard? Seems stingy."

Medieval Market Village had two cows and a horse. Mill Village Raid famously had two goats and a pig and a horse. So the paltry single goat here really hurts.

And both those sets had at least two guards. So there are established expectations here.

Then I read this set literally is "missing" those things, because the original pic shows them. So the original design had it right, and then Lego penny pinchers cut them.

Also, stickers, really? I'm not paying multiple hundreds of dollars for stickers.

I am happy there is just one Guard, as each guard would mean one peasant less. I wouldn´t mind if they would have added no guard at all though, of course with the guarded inn it makes sense that there is one. But really I prefer peasants over guards especially since we already got many of them in the castle.As for the rest I agree with you.

6 minutes ago, Torio said:

The way the designer talked about the family of cheese-makers, with the parents out of town buying a new cow, tells me there could be an accompanying GWP with the missing parents and a cow.
Just a thought. 

Seems unlikely they would add a cow in a GWP when they don´t even add it to the set, though I would love if they would do something like that. Then again they would likely only reuse existing torsos and one thing of minifigs in a set is the number of new torsos. For me it sounded more like the things he mentioned were things that were supposed to be part of the set but got cut from it.

[eric_son_of_joseph]

2 hours ago, Arjo said:

Out of curiosity, between the BL mountain fortress and the medieval townsquare which do you like best (in absolute terms, and relative i.e. bang for your buck)?

Congratulations to the designer of the Mountain Fortress as well as those who enjoy it and were able to purchase a copy.  But for me, Medieval Town Square all the way.  I find it a lot more fun and interesting.  If MTS had a price of $380, like Mountain Fortress, I'd still go with MTS.

[danth]

2 hours ago, Black Falcon said:

I am happy there is just one Guard, as each guard would mean one peasant less. I wouldn´t mind if they would have added no guard at all though, of course with the guarded inn it makes sense that there is one. But really I prefer peasants over guards especially since we already got many of them in the castle.As for the rest I agree with you.

Yes, the single guard is nowhere near as big a problem as the lack of animals, for the exact reason you stated. It's hard to get medieval civilians so I understand preferring them over guards.

I wouldn't complain though if they threw in another guard and kept all the civilians though.

But I guess some would prefer an extra civilian over another guard.

Edited February 9 by danth

[Mopasali]

I hadn't seen people post this, but just2good got to have a casual talk with the designer in the fall.  Similar information as the group talk Tiago posted, but there's closeups of the set as he talks through it!  The designer really seemed to focus on the historical accuracy for this set, but the houses did go through a lot of color swaps in the design process.  Note it seems the version shown in the video to fans has two more printed shields than what the revealed set has.

 

 

[Roebuck]

15 hours ago, jodawill said:

When he was asked if the parts were printed, he said, "Too many stickers, I'd say." I guess the designer feels the same way as the rest of us.

14 hours ago, JohnTPT17 said:

 Also, whenever the designer would talk about how "Mom and Dad left to get a cow," I do feel like something is missing in this final design. Adding in that cow and another minifig or two would help things feel more lively. I

14 hours ago, jodawill said:

The thing about mom and dad leaving to get a cow seems to me to either be the designer being very disgruntled that his masterpiece was destroyed by bean counters at the last minute, or it he could be alluding to a future set. I'm leaning more towards him being disgruntled because he also seemed very annoyed by the stickers. I don't think he's happy with how this set turned out. He obviously had a much grander vision than what we actually got, and I feel sorry he's having to read so many negative comments when it clearly isn't his fault it ended up this way.

13 hours ago, JohnTPT17 said:

I agree with you. Some higher-up somewhere ordered the set to be scaled back, and corners had to be cut. Even then, I still think that Lego could have figured out a way to add back in some animals and/or do some more prints without increasing the price dramatically (or even just accept a slightly lower profit margin on this set). I mean, the cow and the lamb almost feel out of place in the Lion Knight's Castle, but something is clearly missing here - especially with the tax collector having a hand-pulled cart. He definitely should have a horse! And big new printed parts were allowed for the Lion Knight's Castle, Eldorado, the Blacksmith, and the Space Icons, so it really feels like this set got the short end of the stick on that front.

12 hours ago, brimbolet said:

It's so ridiculous; after many years of big profits (especially during the pandemic) Lego isn't willing to put a bunch of animals into the set but they increase the piece count with tons of 1x1 pieces. No wonder the designer is heartbroken. Cows from other manufacturers cost 3$.

11 hours ago, Black Falcon said:

It seemed to me like he wasn´t very happy with both the Stickers and the missing cow (and very likely also that he couldn´t add more minifigs, hence the missing parents).

And yeah the number of stickers are very sad I hope there are at least some printed pieces for this set. The shield so far is the only one I noticed.

Yes poor guy, he made a masterpiece then he was told it was to expensive and was forced to get rid of a lot of bricks, basically all the animals and several minifigs in addition to most of the prints ended up like stickers. It is still a nice set, but could have been the GOAT. Reminds me of the Zack Snyder cut debacle a few years ago, the studio cut the movie to pieces, but colleges and fans kept pestering them to release the directors cut edition and they got their will in the end. Maybe we should start pestering Lego to release the Henrik Rubin Saaby cut of the set

13 hours ago, jodawill said:

In the just2good video, the designer said "they" didn't want to include the cow because it's in the castle.

What he basically said was he could include one animal with the budget and since the cow was in the castle he went with the goat. That was the right decision here, but one he shouldn't had to make

11 hours ago, jodawill said:

Here's a pretty clear image of the door. It seems promising that they would dedicate a new mold to something that's clearly historical. I wish we could get more dedicated castle molds. This is probably the best door they've made since they retired the shutter hinges.

From what I understand it comes in another set, can not see with this low budget that they could make a new mould anyway..

[temes]

I think "Mom and Dad left to get a cow" could mean that we will get a "Medieval farm" set in the future, which completes the storyline and that would explain the lack of animals in this set.

[Captain_SoyBeard]

11 hours ago, Black Feather said:

Would have much preferred the much more modest addition of a double axe logo knight.

I'm waiting for that as well! We must have those. Would be great as a mercenary faction.

Is the big shield included in the market fully painted by that "painter"? It's white at the edges which makes me think there's more paint to add for the frame?

[Nilker]

12 hours ago, Arjo said:

it was possible to get a really nice gwp and 2x vip in which case that would be decent enough value for me personally

I'm also counting on some nice medieval GWP or double VIP points. I'm a little afraid because there are no leaks about Castle gift with purchase, but sometimes LEGO can announce them completely by surprise a few weeks before release, and I'm counting on that. Am I the only one who dreams of a remake of Wolfpack Renegades?

[iragm]

2 hours ago, Captain_SoyBeard said:

Is the big shield included in the market fully painted by that "painter"? It's white at the edges which makes me think there's more paint to add for the frame?

It's white around the edges because TLG can't print all the way to the edges of bricks, and the oval shield was already in production in white.

[TeriXeri]

Yeah the white shield is made for the 2022 10311: Orchid set, and the smaller Daffodils set currently (40646: Daffodils was made in 2023-2023, but got re-released as 40747: Daffodils for 2024)

Edited February 9 by TeriXeri

[Captain_SoyBeard]

1 hour ago, iragm said:

It's white around the edges because TLG can't print all the way to the edges of bricks, and the oval shield was already in production in white. 

But isn't it painted all the way to the edge on the small shields and the round shields?

e: This is a crop from a picture on Brickset.com:


Why is it visual white on the edges? Is it because of the painter in the scenario hasn't finished his work?

This one is printed all the way to the edge:

Edited February 9 by Captain_SoyBeard

[vizzitor]

That's a render, not a photo. Here's the actual shield from the Brickset review. You can see the grey all around the print:

[R0Sch]

15 hours ago, Torio said:

The way the designer talked about the family of cheese-makers, with the parents out of town buying a new cow, tells me there could be an accompanying GWP with the missing parents and a cow.
Just a thought. 

Don't interpret too much into the character backstory. It's just something LEGO Designers are trained to do. Such stories are requested during job interviews too.

[Lion King]

38 minutes ago, R0Sch said:

Don't interpret too much into the character backstory. It's just something LEGO Designers are trained to do. Such stories are requested during job interviews too.

It’s just a theory Torino shared. But yeah I agree with you.

[DonQuixote]

13 hours ago, eric_son_of_joseph said:

Congratulations to the designer of the Mountain Fortress as well as those who enjoy it and were able to purchase a copy.  But for me, Medieval Town Square all the way.  I find it a lot more fun and interesting.  If MTS had a price of $380, like Mountain Fortress, I'd still go with MTS.

It's 340€ here in Europe .And I have chosen the Mountain Fortress over the medieval market. 

Lego doesn't take the castle theme serious. That's why a Black Falcons castle is only for Bricklink and that's why they cut corners on the medieval market and Majisto GWP. 

It's Starwars and Disney all the way for the Lego group. The rest are just side projects... 

It's so dissapointing that the leaked picture of the market from last year looks so much more impressive then what we got now. 

[Captain_SoyBeard]

1 hour ago, vizzitor said:

That's a render, not a photo. Here's the actual shield from the Brickset review. You can see the grey all around the print: 

 

That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the frame around the shield, not the plastic beneath. I know it's printed on white plastic however the print stays quite far from the edge and that's what I mean.
 

Because the scene features a painter it's relevant to ask if that painter is done with his work and has moved on to his next object or if he is still working on it?

 

This shield has a yellow frame but the one in the market square doesn't appear to have a frame:



And I'm obviously not talking about the grey plastic underneath just like I'm not talking about the white plastic in the case I'm trying to make. Can anyone understand me?

Edited February 9 by Captain_SoyBeard

[Lion King]

I just saw Medieval Town Square on Lego S@H. It does look great!

but I wonder if it’s in a matching scale wiht Lion Knits’ Castle?  Blacksmith set is oversized. 

[Cyprinus]

11 minutes ago, Lion King said:

I just saw Medieval Town Square on Lego S@H. It does look great!

but I wonder if it’s in a matching scale wiht Lion Knits’ Castle?  Blacksmith set is oversized. 

Yeah, it is a companion set to the Castle. The designer even said the town provides stuff for the castle.

[Black Feather]

5 hours ago, Captain_SoyBeard said:

Is the big shield included in the market fully painted by that "painter"? It's white at the edges which makes me think there's more paint to add for the frame?

I think it is complete and extra white is on purpose for the visual effect.  It is royal shield for the queen for display and decoration rather than combat.  So white instead of gray with the gold in the logo and the fancy gold framing that doesn’t go to the edge.  I would have preferred a gray one in one or both of the regular LK styles.  But again I think they only wanted one to save money.  Rather than choose blue or yellow they just gave another part for the queen.

Edited February 9 by Black Feather

[HotdogBricks]

40 minutes ago, Captain_SoyBeard said:

That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the frame around the shield, not the plastic beneath. I know it's printed on white plastic however the print stays quite far from the edge and that's what I mean.

Because the scene features a painter it's relevant to ask if that painter is done with his work and has moved on to his next object or if he is still working on it?

I think the shield is completed by the painter. Look at this close up picture. The shield print cannot be moved any further to the edge or else the pattern would get cut off. The only reason there is so much white visible is because the pattern goes up and down.

[JohnTPT17]

32 minutes ago, HotdogBricks said:

I think the shield is completed by the painter. Look at this close up picture. The shield print cannot be moved any further to the edge or else the pattern would get cut off. The only reason there is so much white visible is because the pattern goes up and down.

Yup - I think this is it.

If you need another example, look at the Magic Mirror from the Disney 100 CMF - it does something similar.

[Black Falcon]

1 hour ago, DonQuixote said:

It's 340€ here in Europe .And I have chosen the Mountain Fortress over the medieval market. 

Lego doesn't take the castle theme serious. That's why a Black Falcons castle is only for Bricklink and that's why they cut corners on the medieval market and Majisto GWP. 

It's Starwars and Disney all the way for the Lego group. The rest are just side projects... 

It's so dissapointing that the leaked picture of the market from last year looks so much more impressive then what we got now. 

I wouldn´t agree with that but I think the reason might be how good things sell. Disney and their franchises attract a lot of consumers including kids and likely those sets sell better than castle does. I actually think that the Eldorado Fortress might not have sold that well, hence the cut in it´s EOL-Date. And that might have lead to a gut in the Town Squares budget. I mean if we compare the number of prints, minifigures and animals the Lion Kings Castle had (though they might have given it more budget because it was an aniversary set) The Town Square is clearly lacking in all regards compared to it. Even the Eldorado Fortress seems to have a better budget when we consider the sails and printed parts - unless the Square has more prints than expected. Really looking forward to see reviews of this set.

Anyways, it isn´t just Disney but also Ninjago for instance seems to get better budget since it is selling better.

 

[Cyprinus]

2 minutes ago, Black Falcon said:

I actually think that the Eldorado Fortress might not have sold that well, hence the cut in it´s EOL-Date. And that might have lead to a gut in the Town Squares budget. I mean if we compare the number of prints, minifigures and animals the Lion Kings Castle had (though they might have given it more budget because it was an aniversary set) The Town Square is clearly lacking in all regards compared to it. Even the Eldorado Fortress seems to have a better budget when we consider the sails and printed parts - unless the Square has more prints than expected. Really looking forward to see reviews of this set.

I fully expect Eldorado not to sell too well, since while it might have reached the design goals (ie. modularity and having a brick-built raised baseplate replacement) it wasn't without a cost - most reviews complained about how repetitive and boring building the rock parts was - while eating a huge chunk of the parts included - and going modular lead to some weird design choices. The set ended up being either a very expensive playset (in a theme far less popular with kids than the alternatives) or a display piece with some glaring issues. Nostalgia factor was a thing, but I know Pirate fans who still decided to skip it due to all the issues (or at best wait for a decent discount).

The quality of some prints also was lackluster (ie. the white parts of some torsos)...

[durazno33]

Is there a picture that shows what is depicted on this shield? I hope it isn't blank.