Lego Icons 10332 Medieval Town Square Discussion Thread

[DonQuixote]

Duckbricks (US Lego Master 2023) on YouTube said that Lego employees can buy sets with 50% discount!!! 

That means the production costs are pretty low. 

So it's very greedy to not include a wolf shield in this premium set. 

I am willing to pay 5€ extra for the set if it would have that shield. 

[JohnTPT17]

1 hour ago, Horation said:

It frustrates me a fair bit because it would not only "slightly decrease the profit margin", it would instead go OVER the budget for the department, so it would cost a lot more to accommodate than just the cost of the prints or just the material cost of the animals (very low, in this case).

At the end of the day, there is still someone who sets the budget for the department. Those budgets have to be set by someone, so when I said that "Lego could have figured out a way" to make it work, I'm referring to whoever came to the designer with the budgetary restraints. Some themes/sets simply get more budget (CMF's are a good example of this), so it's not unreasonable to think that one particular set could have an increased budget. That's why many of us in the thread have been blaming the "pencil pushers" for the final look, and not the designer.

1 hour ago, Horation said:

(Also, congrats for your suggestion, if businesses followed your "just accept a lower profit margin to make ME happy" advice, let's just say there would be fewer successful businesses out there...

Your personal attack is both unwanted and unwarranted. Looking at the average CMF series as an example, there are a large number of new parts/prints. It costs money to make those prints/new molds. However, that high quality (and, ergo, a higher "perceived value" from most consumers) means that a large volume of those sets are sold. If the MTS had more prints/minifigs/animals, the profits for an individual unit might be smaller, but more sets might be sold - IE, a higher total profit at the end of the day. Could that possibly be about making me more satisfied with the final product? Sure. But there's a number of people that don't feel like they are getting a good "perceived value" with the set, which could lead to less sets being sold, and less money in Lego's pockets in the long term. 

[Triceron]

Jut my thoughts on the budget since we're on the topic -  This set is designed to appeal to the whales; the AFOLs who grew up with Castle and have the coin to spare.  It's very simple to see that this isn't your average kids playset, even if it's designed with some of those features in mind.  It's not just a display set either, but it's meant to be somewhere in between, in order to best capitalize on the people who want more of what they had as a kid.

The budget is probably taking into an account a lower amount of sales than say a small set that can go on retail.  They know this is a niche market, which is why it's a Lego Exclusive as well.  If we follow the pattern they have with most exclusive releases, they're not really designed for mass market appeal, they're designed to be specialized to a niche.  So in a ways, it's a give and take.  We Castle Enthusiasts will always have criticisms because WE are the niche being appealed to.  So it's absolutely valid to voice what we want, because at the end of the day this isn't being made for kids or to grandparents or as a wedding gift.  It's a premium set aimed at Castle collectors.

We might not always get what we want, and sometimes our expectations could be considered too high to be realistically met, but they're not invalid for wanting, especially if we can reasonably compare said expectations to other products they have released.

10 hours ago, Roebuck said:

They should have increased the price with 50$ and included something like this;

• a lot of animals
• 2-4 more minifigs
• more prints
• and used what was left on bricks

I'm totally on board with more animals.  But seeing it written here like this, I'm not sure if it would justify a jump to $280.

To be very honest, I'd rather them not retiring the barnyard animals on PAB immediately after the Barn and Animals set retired.  That was probably the biggest blow to me.  I'm not as frustrated that this set doesn't have animals as much as I am at losing access to them on PAB after knowing they are not in the set.  At least we could have continued having that option and throw in $50 ourselves and pick and choose whichever animals we wanted to fill in the gaps.

I already have the animals from LKC, plus 4 brown chickens and 2 pink pigs.  I would have liked to have the piglet, the calf, and a couple sheep with removable fur.  I wouldn't necessarily need another bunch of pigs and cows and horses since I have plenty of em, so I think having the choice outside the set would be better than just tossing them in there.  I'm just sad that Lego decided to ninja-retire that last year, with very little time to react.

[Black Falcon]

3 hours ago, DonQuixote said:

I am not counting on future castle or pirate sets because the budget of this medieval town square is so limited. I am done with Lego Ideas and their 'Icons' sets. The only Icons sets that really appealed to me are Lion knights castle and Rivendell.

Well I wouldn´t just rule out all coming sets of those themes just because you didn´t like certain sets. Icons and Ideas still bring good sets out, but as always now every set might appeal to everyone, though I agree with you that the newer classic themes sets have a hard time compared to the Lion Knights Castle. I do think they were very generous with that ones Budget because it was a 90 Year celebration set though.

3 hours ago, DonQuixote said:

From now on I am gonna focus on Bricklink Designer Program sets. Yes it's expensive but I like it, that you can vote for it and you will actually get what you voted for. Waiting for Mountain Fortress now and looking forward to other cool sets from BDP. The Black Falcons encampment from the same designer from Mountain Fortress. It contains a trebuchet,catapult, ballista, siege tower and tents. The Forrestmen's castle looks also fantastic! 

Do you happen to have links?

[JohnTPT17]

5 minutes ago, Black Falcon said:

Do you happen to have links?

Forestman's Castle is Forest Stronghold (To be sold in Wave 3 in October): https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-3/1127/Forest-Stronghold

The Black Falcon Encampment I believe refers to the Advanced Encampment, which is being voted on as a part of Wave 4: https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-4/1382/Advanced-Encampment

[DonQuixote]

10 minutes ago, JohnTPT17 said:

Forestman's Castle is Forest Stronghold (To be sold in Wave 3 in October): https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-3/1127/Forest-Stronghold

The Black Falcon Encampment I believe refers to the Advanced Encampment, which is being voted on as a part of Wave 4: https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-4/1382/Advanced-Encampment

Thanks John!  They look fantastic, don't they? Designed by people who know what we classic castle fans want! At least, what I want!  I am drooling over this sets 

Edited February 15 by DonQuixote

[Black Falcon]

10 minutes ago, JohnTPT17 said:

Forestman's Castle is Forest Stronghold (To be sold in Wave 3 in October): https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-3/1127/Forest-Stronghold

The Black Falcon Encampment I believe refers to the Advanced Encampment, which is being voted on as a part of Wave 4: https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-4/1382/Advanced-Encampment

Ah thanks, thought he also meant a wave 4 Forestmen set. But yeah I agree that both of them don´t look bad and I might get the forestmen set. 

As for the Mountain Fortress, it isn´t bad an certainly has some very nice details but overall it didn´t appeal to me that much. But not every Set can appeal to everyone so that´s fine.

[MAB]

On 2/10/2024 at 7:48 PM, Aanchir said:

It especially frustrates me that we keep seeing pumpkins in medieval-inspired sets — I feel it would be relatively simple to include a different vegetable in their place such as lettuce, cabbage, or even some type of old world gourd like a melon or calabash.

I don't mind this, but then I don't consider LEGO sets to be historically accurate to any particular time or location. Or also that these vegetables are correctly sized. Turnips and swedes and so on can be made quite easily with a minifigure head and a green flower on the end but they still look a bit like a head with a flower on the end, so getting some better shaped vegetables to mix in is good even if the real world vegetable didn't exist in the real world place at the real world time we believe this action is taking place. In that sense, it is not really that different to so many female soldiers in the castle. Historically unlikely, but fine for a LEGO set. The oversizing of many LEGO vegetables and other food, such as the huge carrot, could also mean that the pumpkin is not a pumpkin but a vegetable similar in size to a carrot or turnip or similar.

[Aanchir]

Mountain Fortress has a lot of beautiful details on the outside, but the inside seems rather stark and gray compared to the Lion Knights' Castle. The walls and roof of the bedroom apartment also seem rather bland and low-detail compared to the rest of the exterior. I feel like compromises were probably made in these areas to keep it below 4000 parts. It's understandable, but I would have preferred if the builder had reduced the size to allow for a better balance of interior+exterior detail.

Because of this, I don't feel so bad about missing out on it. But I'm sure that those who do get it will be very happy with it, whether they leave it as is or choose to mod it to improve some of those areas that are more lacking in detail. And it's certainly an impressive feat for the builder to have even designed such a magnificent castle, let alone to have gotten it produced for sale!

46 minutes ago, MAB said:

I don't mind this, but then I don't consider LEGO sets to be historically accurate to any particular time or location. Or also that these vegetables are correctly sized. Turnips and swedes and so on can be made quite easily with a minifigure head and a green flower on the end but they still look a bit like a head with a flower on the end, so getting some better shaped vegetables to mix in is good even if the real world vegetable didn't exist in the real world place at the real world time we believe this action is taking place. In that sense, it is not really that different to so many female soldiers in the castle. Historically unlikely, but fine for a LEGO set. The oversizing of many LEGO vegetables and other food, such as the huge carrot, could also mean that the pumpkin is not a pumpkin but a vegetable similar in size to a carrot or turnip or similar.

If I felt there were another old-world vegetable that the pumpkin could represent in this shape and color I wouldn't have a problem with it, but I'm not convinced there are any that the shape and color would be a suitable match for (perhaps that part in one of its various other colors might pass as a turnip/swede/rutabaga, but not in Bright Orange).

And I feel like women in combat tend to feature a lot more prominently in medieval fiction and folklore than pumpkins do. In various rare/exceptional cases, they even existed in real life — after all, it's much easier for individuals to defy the cultural and social norms of their time than for vegetables to cross oceans without human intervention.

It's certainly not a deal-breaker for me, any more than the one in the Medieval Blacksmith was. I just would have preferred a different fruit or vegetable in its place, like a melon, calabash, cauliflower, or cabbage.

[Mopasali]

1 hour ago, MAB said:

The oversizing of many LEGO vegetables and other food, such as the huge carrot, could also mean that the pumpkin is not a pumpkin but a vegetable similar in size to a carrot or turnip or similar.

To be accurate, orange carrots didn't exist until right after the medieval time period!  We should get them in every color *but* orange!  I recall there's a white one in a medieval set (LKC?) to serve as a parsnip?  I'm American, and I don't know if most Americans would recognize a parsnip in the store, let alone in Lego.

If we want cabbages, we need to wait for Avatar sets, but I think the only rumored Netflix series is Wednesday, not AATL. :(

[DonQuixote]

People complaining about pumpkins and female knights not being historically accurate.... Majisto, dragons, ghosts and vampire knights are? Lol 

It's never meant to be realistic.It's a toy 

The only thing I complain is : dear Lego company, if you remake an old castle faction, can we please have a shield with that faction.... Thinking about Majisto GWP and now Wolfpack.... 

I want Dragon Masters and Wolfpack shields 

[Horation]

3 hours ago, JohnTPT17 said:

At the end of the day, there is still someone who sets the budget for the department. Those budgets have to be set by someone, so when I said that "Lego could have figured out a way" to make it work, I'm referring to whoever came to the designer with the budgetary restraints. Some themes/sets simply get more budget (CMF's are a good example of this), so it's not unreasonable to think that one particular set could have an increased budget. That's why many of us in the thread have been blaming the "pencil pushers" for the final look, and not the designer.

The budgets are set by physical restraints (for the most part) as the factory can't hold an endless amount of prints, or an endless amount of part colours, or an endless streak of animal moulds, so when you said "Lego could have figured out a way" you were either saying A) they had to make the storage area bigger (expensive) or B) they had to use the limited storage space and basically remove some other parts from themes you cared less about, which sorry to tell you sounds really entitled ("MY themes are more important than these other ones", I don't think that is what you mean, but that is how it sounds, no unwarranted or unwanted personal attacks intended.

3 hours ago, JohnTPT17 said:

Your personal attack is both unwanted and unwarranted. Looking at the average CMF series as an example, there are a large number of new parts/prints. It costs money to make those prints/new molds. However, that high quality (and, ergo, a higher "perceived value" from most consumers) means that a large volume of those sets are sold. If the MTS had more prints/minifigs/animals, the profits for an individual unit might be smaller, but more sets might be sold - IE, a higher total profit at the end of the day. Could that possibly be about making me more satisfied with the final product? Sure. But there's a number of people that don't feel like they are getting a good "perceived value" with the set, which could lead to less sets being sold, and less money in Lego's pockets in the long term. 

Sorry if you interpreted what I said as a personal attack.                                                                                              (sidenote : when is a personal attack wanted? asking because it seems redundant to say it is an attack and unwanted...)

What I was frustrated about was the fact you said they should "just accept a lower profit margin" just to accommodate YOUR personal preferences, when it is obvious that accepting lower profit margins is unacceptable for ANY business. 

But I now see you meant to say that lowering the individual margins would increase sales, which makes much more sense, but I still feel this is wrong, since (as I've explained in this very thread before) selling more copies means higher costs, so it is actually better to sell few copies at a high profit than many copies at a low profit (ex: it is better make 100 times 60$ than 120 times 50$, since it'll take fewer employee-hours to prepare 100 orders, use less packaging, less storage space, fewer customer service complaints, etc...)

4 hours ago, DonQuixote said:

Duckbricks (US Lego Master 2023) on YouTube said that Lego employees can buy sets with 50% discount!!! 

That means the production costs are pretty low. 

So it's very greedy to not include a wolf shield in this premium set. 

I am willing to pay 5€ extra for the set if it would have that shield. 

I can feel the anger about that shield 

Congratulations! You have just discovered the concept of marginal cost on your own! (after I already told you that said cost was likely at most 20% of the set's price)

It being very greedy implies that including an additional Shield was an easy task : to make a printed shield you need to add a slot in storage for that part, as I have explained one BAZILION TIMES : the reason certain parts are printed and others are stickers is because they can't store every single part in its printed form, so either find me a part they shouldn't have printed in this set or in another set from another theme, the 5 euros is irrelevant here, it would cost a lot of money to make their storage building bigger, so not just 5 euros per set.

Edited February 15 by Horation
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[DonQuixote]

4 minutes ago, Horation said:

The budgets are set by physical restraints (for the most part) as the factory can't hold an endless amount of prints, or an endless amount of part colours, or an endless streak of animal moulds, so when you said "Lego could have figured out a way" you were either saying A) they had to make the storage area bigger (expensive) or B) they had to use the limited storage space and basically remove some other parts from themes you cared less about, which sorry to tell you sounds really entitled ("MY themes are more important than these other ones", I don't think that is what you mean, but that is how it sounds, no unwarranted or unwanted personal attacks intended.

Sorry if you interpreted what I said as a personal attack.                                                                                              (sidenote : when is a personal attack wanted? asking because it seems redundant to say it is an attack and unwanted...)

What I was frustrated about was the fact you said they should "just accept a lower profit margin" just to accommodate YOUR personal preferences, when it is obvious that accepting lower profit margins is unacceptable for ANY business. 

But I now see you meant to say that lowering the individual margins would increase sales, which makes much more sense, but I still feel this is wrong, since (as I've explained in this very thread before) selling more copies means higher costs, so it is actually better to sell few copies at a high profit than many copies at a low profit (ex: it is better make 100 times 60$ than 120 times 50$, since it'll take fewer employee-hours to prepare 100 orders, use less packaging, less storage space, fewer customer service complaints, etc...)

I can feel the anger about that shield 

Congratulations! You have just discovered the concept of marginal cost on your own! (after I already told you that said cost was likely at most 20% of the set's price)

It being very greedy implies that including an additional Shield was an easy task : to make a printed shield you need to add a slot in storage for that part, as I have explained one BAZILION TIMES : the reason certain parts are printed and others are stickers is because they can't store every single part in its printed form, so either find me a part they shouldn't have printed in this set or in another set from another theme, the 5 euros is irrelevant here, it would cost a lot of money to make their storage building bigger, so not just 5 euros per set.

I am beginning to wonder,.. 

Are you a lawyer paid by multinationals to defend them at all costs? That's what you always do.

Never I see criticism on the Lego company from you.  

There are small companies that do custom printing on official Lego bricks and their quality is even better then Lego(especially white printing) according Jangbricks (a well known independent Lego reviewer) . If they can do it, I am sure a multinational can do it to. 

So why are you defending those multinationals all the time? 

[Roebuck]

5 hours ago, Horation said:

How many times do I have to explain this people, the budget doesn't work the way y'all think it does, so let me explain again :

How you think it works : each set has a $ budget, say 500 000$, a new mold is 100 000$, a new print 40 000$, etc... 

How it ACTUALLY works (source : Lego employee interviews and my own experience in production) : each department gets a parts budget, say 10 recolours/prints, 5 new molds, etc...

So when you say "set X had a bigger budget", what you SHOULD be saying is "set X was made with more parts available in the budget". Same thing goes with prints, so when people say something like this :

Come down, I know how it works, but it easier just to say budget and that is basically what it is even if it consist of several parts. This set should had more parts budget for recolours/prints if it had it would ended up costing more money. On the other hand if they only included extra animals in colours that already are in production it do not affect that part of the budget. They are however expensive parts, so they must remove a lot of other cheaper parts per extra animal added, maybe one of the small houses even. Or they could have increased the price of the set and included both..

3 hours ago, Triceron said:

I'm totally on board with more animals.  But seeing it written here like this, I'm not sure if it would justify a jump to $280.

That was probably also TLG reasoning and I am sure the prelim would cost at least 50$ more. On the other hand several of those animals would had come in new colours in a set like this and adding further value and use to them.

3 hours ago, Triceron said:

To be very honest, I'd rather them not retiring the barnyard animals on PAB immediately after the Barn and Animals set retired.  That was probably the biggest blow to me.  I'm not as frustrated that this set doesn't have animals as much as I am at losing access to them on PAB after knowing they are not in the set.  At least we could have continued having that option and throw in $50 ourselves and pick and choose whichever animals we wanted to fill in the gaps.

I already have the animals from LKC, plus 4 brown chickens and 2 pink pigs.  I would have liked to have the piglet, the calf, and a couple sheep with removable fur.  I wouldn't necessarily need another bunch of pigs and cows and horses since I have plenty of em, so I think having the choice outside the set would be better than just tossing them in there.  I'm just sad that Lego decided to ninja-retire that last year, with very little time to react.

I will not help people in a year or two, but you can probably get the farm set on sale from shops with left over stock now if the animals are gone from PAB there..

[Aanchir]

48 minutes ago, Mopasali said:

To be accurate, orange carrots didn't exist until right after the medieval time period!  We should get them in every color *but* orange!  I recall there's a white one in a medieval set (LKC?) to serve as a parsnip?  I'm American, and I don't know if most Americans would recognize a parsnip in the store, let alone in Lego.

This isn't strictly accurate — orange carrots have existed since at least the sixth century (as evidenced here), and at least some of the carrots described as red back then also may have been closer to what we'd call orange today (since the word "orange" wasn't a standard color term back then). But it was definitely a non-standard color for carrots at the time — the first stable lineage of orange carrots was developed in the Netherlands in the 18th century.

48 minutes ago, Mopasali said:

To be accurate, orange carrots didn't exist until right after the medieval time period!  We should get them in every color *but* orange!  I recall there's a white one in a medieval set (LKC?) to serve as a parsnip?  I'm American, and I don't know if most Americans would recognize a parsnip in the store, let alone in Lego.

If we want cabbages, we need to wait for Avatar sets, but I think the only rumored Netflix series is Wednesday, not AATL. :( 

The Lion Dance set from a few years ago had cabbages built from a head and wig piece in two shades of green, but that particular wig hasn't appeared in that color since and is probably out of production. Still, I imagine there are other part combinations which could be similarly effective.

48 minutes ago, DonQuixote said:

People complaining about pumpkins and female knights not being historically accurate.... Majisto, dragons, ghosts and vampire knights are? Lol 

It's never meant to be realistic.It's a toy

Again, wizards, dragons, ghosts, and so forth were not a part of medieval history, but they WERE an established part of medieval legends/folklore, and remain staples of medieval fantasy fiction. I don't at all expect themes like Castle or Pirates to perfectly reflect medieval history, but I do expect them to reflect the imagery of medieval stories, broadly speaking.

In that regard, even the pumpkins are not really a big deal — I'm sure there have been plenty of medieval fantasy movies, TV shows, and video games that have featured pumpkins without regard for accuracy. I haven't even bothered to remove the one from my copy of the Medieval Blacksmith, because it's too small a detail to bother me all that much. But given the choice, it'd be nice to see a different vegetable in their place in future sets.

Edited February 15 by Aanchir

[JohnTPT17]

23 minutes ago, DonQuixote said:

I am beginning to wonder,.. 

Are you a lawyer paid by multinationals to defend them at all costs? That's what you always do.

Never I see criticism on the Lego company from you.  

There are small companies that do custom printing on official Lego bricks and their quality is even better then Lego(especially white printing) according Jangbricks (a well known independent Lego reviewer) . If they can do it, I am sure a multinational can do it to. 

So why are you defending those multinationals all the time? 

Just ignore the person - it's what I've done at this point. No one is going to change anyone's opinion at this point, and it all just feels like a way to provoke a reaction (thus, me hinting at someone "wanting" a response). Lego is my hobby and my freetime; I'm not going to get into pointless arguments about it with other people.

[DonQuixote]

So Horation. 

How much for this set with Wolfpack shield? Since it seems you know it all. 

And with Wolfpack shield I am more convinced of purchasing this. Now it has to many flaws for me. 

[zoth33]

4 hours ago, DonQuixote said:

Duckbricks (US Lego Master 2023) on YouTube said that Lego employees can buy sets with 50% discount!!! 

That means the production costs are pretty low. 

So it's very greedy to not include a wolf shield in this premium set. 

I am willing to pay 5€ extra for the set if it would have that shield. 

I really don't think that means that production costs are low.  Isn't it also very greedy to say I want, I want, I want?   I get what you're saying but sometimes it sounds like entitlement and not criticism.  Especially with the way some people say things like I wanted at least 2 cows or I wanted a better print sounds like spoiled children not an adult conversation.  

[Black Falcon]

I personally don´t see an issue with people saying what they expected from a set or would have wanted to see included, as long as it is not just to say something negative and there are actually also the things they like mentioned. Also I have to say that I actually think that the discussion about the vegetables was quite interesting and was adding more to the conversation in this thread than just to say it is fantasy, they can do whatever ;).

[zoth33]

1 minute ago, Black Falcon said:

I personally don´t see an issue with people saying what they expected from a set or would have wanted to see included, as long as it is not just to say something negative and there are actually also the things they like mentioned. Also I have to say that I actually think that the discussion about the vegetables was quite interesting and was adding more to the conversation in this thread than just to say it is fantasy, they can do whatever ;).

I don't have an issue with peoples opinions at all.  I'm just saying some people here, on reddit, IG say the same thing over and over in the same thread and instead of using actual criticisms they say I wanted this or I wanted that it just sounds very childish.  I also wish there was more figs and animals in the Town Square but I'm not so bent or mad that all I say is I want, I want, I want.  We can have civil discourse and not sound so self indulgent.  We all have different tastes, ideas, feelings, etc It's just the way some people do it that gets taxing to listen to or read.  At this point this is the set we are getting if you don't like it don't buy it or mod it if you want.  Also there are a lot of people that like the set.  Constantly complaining about something isn't going to make it magically appear in this set.  Lego may take note for future reference but the same arguement several times isn't going to change anything.  

[Cyprinus]

2 hours ago, Aanchir said:

Mountain Fortress has a lot of beautiful details on the outside, but the inside seems rather stark and gray compared to the Lion Knights' Castle. The walls and roof of the bedroom apartment also seem rather bland and low-detail compared to the rest of the exterior. I feel like compromises were probably made in these areas to keep it below 4000 parts. It's understandable, but I would have preferred if the builder had reduced the size to allow for a better balance of interior+exterior detail.

Honestly even just using plates of a different color for the rooms (like LKC did) would go a long way towards making the interiors less of a blending together mess (and while they are a different color, I don't know why they used dark grey arches,,, don't look too good imho).

[Aanchir]

1 hour ago, Cyprinus said:

Honestly even just using plates of a different color for the rooms (like LKC did) would go a long way towards making the interiors less of a blending together mess (and while they are a different color, I don't know why they used dark grey arches,,, don't look too good imho). 

Yeah, but changing the floor colors would probably have involved substantial changes to the build, since a lot of the floor plates extend out to the exterior walls (unlike those in LKC). So I get why that would not have been a simple change for the builder to make.

[jodawill]

I'd like to think that it's helpful to provide any positive or negative feedback so people working at TLG can read it and understand why the set is or is not selling well and know how to attract more sales the next time around.

I think part of the issue here actually is that they listened to all of the negative feedback on the ridiculous prices on all of these multiple hundreds of dollar sets they've been releasing during a time when people are struggling financially. They course corrected very swiftly when they saw how strongly people reacted to this.

If we had gotten the set we wanted, it would have been very expensive, and many customers are more price sensitive than the diehards here on Eurobricks. And, as someone previously pointed out, $50 more would bring it too close to 10305 in price, and they probably wanted to offer this set to people who couldn't afford that one.

For me, it's just frustrating that sets like this are so rare. I'd rather see a regular wave of castle sets than one big set every year. This set would be received much more positively if it was one of six sets released at the same time. One set alone will never be enough to satisfy everyone. They need diverse price points and subject matter. Right now, the options are 1) take it or 2) leave it. At least that's better than the very bad (almost) decade after the 2015 pirates when there was nothing for fans of historical themes whatsoever.

[Horation]

2 hours ago, DonQuixote said:

I am beginning to wonder,.. 

Are you a lawyer paid by multinationals to defend them at all costs? That's what you always do.

Never I see criticism on the Lego company from you.  

There are small companies that do custom printing on official Lego bricks and their quality is even better then Lego(especially white printing) according Jangbricks (a well known independent Lego reviewer) . If they can do it, I am sure a multinational can do it to. 

So why are you defending those multinationals all the time? 

"Agree with me that this is bad or you are a paid shill/lawyer !"

"small company X can do something at a small scale but a high cost, if they can do it, why are you a paid shill/lawyer defending company Z?"

2 hours ago, DonQuixote said:

So Horation. 

How much for this set with Wolfpack shield? Since it seems you know it all. 

And with Wolfpack shield I am more convinced of purchasing this. Now it has to many flaws for me. 

Infinity-it isn't going to happen

Too many flaws = don't buy it! (vote with your wallet)

[Sir Dano]

It's really funny watching people complain about this set when there are much worse ones out there. I'm just glad we're getting another castle set.

Yeah, more shields would have been nice, but it's a minor thing that's not gonna stop me from buying this excellent looking set day one.