Lego Icons 10332 Medieval Town Square Discussion Thread

[DonQuixote]

54 minutes ago, Horation said:

"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?"

Infinity-it isn't going to happen

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

Yes you're right. Lego will go bankrupt if they had included a dragon shield in the Majisto GWP and a Wolfpack shield in the medieval market town. So I will buy this set as a form of charity so the CEO's of Lego can still buy a Lamborghini for their 16 year old sons. Please donate now. 

13 minutes ago, Sir Dano said:

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.

That's because those leakers hyped this set up for a year. 

13 minutes ago, Sir Dano said:

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.

A classic castle release is something special. Something rare. And the Lion knights castle really spoiled me with so many shields and prints... So yeah... I expected something similar. And I knew for a year there was going to be a Wolfpack member. So yeah, I expected a shield.... 

I am happy I still have all my old classic castle sets from 1984-1993. And all the Wolfpack sets with shields. Dragon Masters with halbards, large dragon shields, cool helmets with dragon plumes and printed dragon capes and flags. Still in top condition.. Yes I was spoiled. Had a good donating godfather..

When it comes to classic Lego I am becoming a child again. 

I often watch old catalogs and commercials on YouTube. 

So many good memories playing with my friends pirates and castle  

Edited February 16 by DonQuixote

[eric_son_of_joseph]

4 hours ago, DonQuixote said:

Never I see criticism on the Lego company from you.

If I dislike a set or feel it's not worth the purchase price, I refrain from buying it.  That's a reasonable reaction from a mature adult.  Verbally criticizing the company for not producing a product which meets my expectations is pointless.  It's not going to make me feel better and it'll just waste my time.  It would actually make me feel worse because I'd realize that I was complaining about a LEGO set.

[iragm]

2 hours ago, jodawill said:

I'd rather see a regular wave of castle sets than one big set every year.

Yeah, everyone here would, but there isn't a market for that.  I just think it's awesome that we're getting something, since there really weren't many castle sets that appealed to me between 1993 and 2022.  This set, while deeply flawed, offers us some great designs, some of the best minifigures ever, and is pretty cheap.

[DonQuixote]

21 minutes ago, eric_son_of_joseph said:

If I dislike a set or feel it's not worth the purchase price, I refrain from buying it.  That's a reasonable reaction from a mature adult.  Verbally criticizing the company for not producing a product which meets my expectations is pointless.  It's not going to make me feel better and it'll just waste my time.  It would actually make me feel worse because I'd realize that I was complaining about a LEGO set.

And yet I will post a critical review on the Lego website and every time the Lego company deletes my review. Even if I have proven that I have bought the set.

And yes I will probably still buy the set, just to do a critical review. Because I love Lego. And if you love something, you want to make it better by doing a critical review. 

But when my review is very positive, it stays.

Other people out here with the same experience? 

[jodawill]

That Snow White set is a masterpiece. It makes me a little sore that this set didn't get that budget. But I shouldn't complain too much considering how much they did splurge on 10305. I guess they can't do that every year.

I hope all of the hats and printed tiles from that set show up on PAB. There are a lot of good parts there, and it has a lot of great building techniques also.

20 minutes ago, DonQuixote said:

And yet I will post a critical review on the Lego website and every time the Lego company deletes my review. Even if I have proven that I have bought the set.

And yes I will probably still buy the set, just to do a critical review. Because I love Lego. And if you love something, you want to make it better by doing a critical review. 

But when my review is very positive, it stays.

Other people out here with the same experience? 

I wrote a negative review when they changed the color of the baseplate and increased the price by 60%. It stayed up and it was one of the too reviews until they rereleased it in the paper bag. It makes me wonder what you said in your review.

[Aanchir]

41 minutes ago, jodawill said:

That Snow White set is a masterpiece. It makes me a little sore that this set didn't get that budget. But I shouldn't complain too much considering how much they did splurge on 10305. I guess they can't do that every year.

I'm not sure how much different the budget really is between Snow White's cottage and the town square. After all, several of the big complaints about this set also apply just as much to that one — it has lots of stickers, very few new non-minifig printed elements, and no large animals. They just aren't expected in that set like they are in this one because of the different theme and subject matter.

It does have a few things this set lacks, like a larger number of newly printed/recolored minifig parts, but also over 1000 bricks fewer for only a slightly lower price. So I suspect that the overall budget is probably similar, just allocated differently (more emphasis on figs and less emphasis on bricks).

[Mopasali]

58 minutes ago, jodawill said:

That Snow White set is a masterpiece. It makes me a little sore that this set didn't get that budget. But I shouldn't complain too much considering how much they did splurge on 10305. I guess they can't do that every year.

Disney fans tend to pay a lot for merchandise.  Maybe I'm the odd ball, but I prefer MTS to Snow White Cottage for value and play - yes, more figures (10 vs 8), but it is one building with very similar Minifigures for almost the same price.  It is an excellent interpretation from an iconic piece of culture, but it's one residential house ultimately with lots of similar accessories (several mining picks, beds, chairs, cups...) to accommodate the 7 dwarves.  I like dollhouse style, but many fans do not, and it's the price of a modular!  The largest animal is a bunny!  No horse for Prince Charming.  But the black Icons box is much better suited to the cottage.

[DonQuixote]

56 minutes ago, jodawill said:

 

I wrote a negative review when they changed the color of the baseplate and increased the price by 60%. It stayed up and it was one of the too reviews until they rereleased it in the paper bag. It makes me wonder what you said in your review.

Criticism about Eldorado Fortress remake :

1 The governors office is open back and way too small.The original was still open back (but it's a playset) and you can easily put 2 minifigs in it.

2 The doors of the original Eldorado Fortress look so much better. (still have that set). I really dislike the new gates.

3 The weak white printing of the minifigs. It's better to print blue on a white torso then what we got now. 

My reviews of Pirates of Barracuda bay, Lion knights castle, Galaxy Explorer, Viking Village and Rivendell are super positive. I nominated Viking Village for best set of 2023 because of the nice prints and nice design for just 125€(third party seller). Viking Village is so good for what you get that I was thinking : does Lego even has profit on that set? Purchasing that set felt like stealing from Lego 

[Breakspear]

*Controversial opinion incoming*

I can't believe I'm writing in defense of stickers, but here goes.

I have found the recent debate around TLG’s production cost management system (allocating a limited number of slots per set) quite instructive. It’s something I was only vaguely aware of previously. What I was aware of is that TLG almost bankrupted itself in the 2000's due to the uncontrolled expansion of its parts inventory.

With that in mind...

…rather than see the inclusion of stickers in the MTS as an inherent downgrade (which has been my own default mindset to date) it might be more productive to 'flip the script' and treat them an optional bonus. The designer didn't have to include stickers. He clearly used up his full allocation of production slots on new minifigure prints, the goat re-colour, the queen’s shield print, other parts re-colours etc. Presumably, he could have stopped there.

But he didn't. He choose to make intelligent use of a single sheet of 10(?) stickers (which requires just one production slot) to imbue the set with heaps of extra detail which would otherwise simply not appear. [If all the stickers were printed parts, they would require between 10-20 slots - I'm still a little vague on whether one printed part = one production slot or two].

As consumers/collectors, if forced to choose between the option of stickers or or nothing (i.e. blank bricks), I suspect many of us would choose stickers every time (even if - in our heart of hearts - we'd still prefer prints).

[To be clear, it’s totally valid to: a) have a personal preference for prints over stickers (I still do); b) question whether the production slot allocation for this specific set was appropriate given its target demographic; c) question TLG's consumer pricing strategy and the overall value for money of the set; d) question TLG's overall approach to setting production budgets.]

4 hours ago, jodawill said:

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.

These are such great points. Of course a single set cannot satisfy all needs/tastes simultaneously. Yet without a diverse wave to cater to a range of interests - and with zero certainty over if, or how long, TLG will continue producing new Castle sets - the expectations placed on each one-off set are always sky-high.

I agree the level of criticism aimed at individual sets might decrease if there were regular waves of sets at varying price points/levels of complexity/quality.

In addition, I also think it would be helpful if TLG introduced a more transparent classification system to help buyers better identify the sets that were designed to cater to their particular wants/needs. The current age rating system for Lego Castle sets is broken, and the only clear distinction in consumer segmentation is whether something is released under Creator 3-in-1 or ICONs. ICONS and IDEAs are a complete grab bag of concepts, united only by black box packaging (mostly) and the 18+ rating.  A more sophisticated system might look something like how TLG markets its Star Wars sets: There is the Ultimate Collector Series (mid-large size, high price, high fidelity, high complexity sets designed for display), the Master Builder Series (Mid-large size, high price, high complexity sets, designed for play) and a range of age-appropriate children’s sets. (Mid-small size, low price, low complexity, low fidelity sets, designed for play). Greater transparency over target audience of a set might reduce the volume of spurious complaints (e.g critique's that a play set has poor displayability, or that a display set too large/too expensive/lacks play features etc) and help us to judge sets more fairly on their own merits.

[zoth33]

3 hours ago, Sir Dano said:

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.

What makes me laugh is that years ago when we had no sets people were saying that any castle set lego makes they will buy because they just wanted some castle stuff.  Now that we started getting castle stuff people have issues with every set.  I mean people were literally saying the LKC was to grey, it's not like you can't add a few different colored bricks if you wanted.  Obviously everyone has different tastes and it's hard to please everyone that's why I don't care that much if the set isn't good and I don't like it I won't get it.  And it's fine to have opinions that's what's great about america you have the right to free speech.  But I find it counter productive to say the same criticism over and over like 10 times because it accomplishes nothing.  I mean yes we can all see that the set could use more animals but repeating it thousands of times does nothing and changes nothing.  We have no idea what restrictions the designer had on the set.  Personally I'm just going to add my own details to the set and add some more animals and be done with it.  

4 hours ago, jodawill said:

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.

yeah I think it's great to criticize things that's how we learn but repeating things over and over and over doesn't progress anything.  I think giving ideas on how to improve the set helps but at this point we aren't getting any more animals or shields so either you have to add your own or just not buy the set at this point.  Hopefully lego will see the feedback and improve.  

[Horation]

3 hours ago, DonQuixote said:

Yes you're right. Lego will go bankrupt if they had included a dragon shield in the Majisto GWP and a Wolfpack shield in the medieval market town. So I will buy this set as a form of charity so the CEO's of Lego can still buy a Lamborghini for their 16 year old sons. Please donate now. 

I can feel the anger 

to quote myself, from that post you were quoting "If you don't like it=don't buy it", I don't understand how YOU could possibly understand that to mean "buy the set to save the company"

 

@Breakspear, a new print usually means 1 slot, except if the part has a double sided print (ex : new torso) or is also a recolour/a new mould (ex : every star wars alien head).

[Black Feather]

Forget all this budget and slot crap.  Just a few basically neutral changes would vastly improve my opinion of the set.  It is pretty rare that we get a nostalgia based castle set like this.  Been more than a year since LKC.  You decide we only get one new shield.  OK.  But why is it something with no nostalgic value at all.  Nice.  But if we only get one and you seem to be targeting  older castle fans (and other buyers won’t care) why not give us something we were wanting and hoping for.  If they had done a black knight or wolf pack shield would anyone be on here upset that we didn’t yet another new print dedicated to the queen who never existed before LKC.  Greedy witch already has her own shield.  Own torso.  Even own barding.Some will say they like the new shield better than a redo of those or another.  But seriously doubt anyone would have “missed” not getting that.  

[zoth33]

21 minutes ago, Black Feather said:

Forget all this budget and slot crap.  Just a few basically neutral changes would vastly improve my opinion of the set.  It is pretty rare that we get a nostalgia based castle set like this.  Been more than a year since LKC.  You decide we only get one new shield.  OK.  But why is it something with no nostalgic value at all.  Nice.  But if we only get one and you seem to be targeting  older castle fans (and other buyers won’t care) why not give us something we were wanting and hoping for.  If they had done a black knight or wolf pack shield would anyone be on here upset that we didn’t yet another new print dedicated to the queen who never existed before LKC.  Greedy witch already has her own shield.  Own torso.  Even own barding.Some will say they like the new shield better than a redo of those or another.  But seriously doubt anyone would have “missed” not getting that.  

You are missing the fundamental point of lego and that is that you can create what you want.  Example if you don't want the Queen make a King and make the barding his and the shield his it's really not that hard.  That was the fun of lego when I was younger we didn't get any of that back in the 80's and 90's  There where no orcs, demons, goblins etc.  You had to make your own.  It's called using your imagination and it seems like today we have forgotten all that and just want what we want.  Life is full of things that we want and don't want.  And even sometimes we have to do things we don't want to do but have to.  If you don't want to buy it because it doesn't have a shield don't buy it and wait till something catches your eye or you could buy the set and make mods to it yourself and have fun with it.  Personally I used to build the sets when I was younger then I would change them around and build something different and change the figs around and have fun with it because that's the point to have fun building with lego.  

[Shroffy123]

20 minutes ago, zoth33 said:

You are missing the fundamental point of lego and that is that you can create what you want.  Example if you don't want the Queen make a King and make the barding his and the shield his it's really not that hard.  That was the fun of lego when I was younger we didn't get any of that back in the 80's and 90's  There where no orcs, demons, goblins etc.  You had to make your own.  It's called using your imagination and it seems like today we have forgotten all that and just want what we want.  Life is full of things that we want and don't want.  And even sometimes we have to do things we don't want to do but have to.  If you don't want to buy it because it doesn't have a shield don't buy it and wait till something catches your eye or you could buy the set and make mods to it yourself and have fun with it.  Personally I used to build the sets when I was younger then I would change them around and build something different and change the figs around and have fun with it because that's the point to have fun building with lego.  

Agreed.

[Black Feather]

34 minutes ago, zoth33 said:

You are missing the fundamental point of lego and that is that you can create what you want.  Example if you don't want the Queen make a King and make the barding his and the shield his it's really not that hard.  That was the fun of lego when I was younger we didn't get any of that back in the 80's and 90's  There where no orcs, demons, goblins etc.  You had to make your own.  It's called using your imagination and it seems like today we have forgotten all that and just want what we want.  Life is full of things that we want and don't want.  And even sometimes we have to do things we don't want to do but have to.  If you don't want to buy it because it doesn't have a shield don't buy it and wait till something catches your eye or you could buy the set and make mods to it yourself and have fun with it.  Personally I used to build the sets when I was younger then I would change them around and build something different and change the figs around and have fun with it because that's the point to have fun building with lego.  

You missed MY point.  I wasn’t talking about creative concepts like king or queen.  Just purely about parts which I cannot create on my own like torso or shield prints.  My only problem with the queen in LKC is that they used so many parts for that new character.  Especially a wasted torso instead of the double axe.  Would have annoyed me equally if it was a king or other new printed part hogging character.  But even that did not bother me too much in that set because they gave so much already.  Probably my favorite LEGO set.  Have two.  And God knows how much I spent on PAB.  But in the new set we only get one printed shield.  And again for that new character who already has a shield made just for her.  And nothing else.  So harder to overlook.

[Sir Dano]

1 hour ago, Black Feather said:

 You decide we only get one new shield.  OK.  But why is it something with no nostalgic value at all.

As someone whose first big castle set was royal knights drawbridge, the shield in the MTS is just close enough to trigger my nostalgia and I quite like it.

Would Wolfpack and Dragon Masters shields have been nice to have too? Sure, but we didn't get any so I don't see the point in whining about it constantly.

[Black Feather]

35 minutes ago, Sir Dano said:

As someone whose first big castle set was royal knights drawbridge, the shield in the MTS is just close enough to trigger my nostalgia and I quite like it.

Would Wolfpack and Dragon Masters shields have been nice to have too? Sure, but we didn't get any so I don't see the point in whining about it constantly.

Doesn’t look that similar to me.  Different logo and different colors.  Most importantly, the new one appears to be more of a fancy decoration than a shield.  But if it reminds you of that one and you like it I don’t begrudge you that.  Not constantly whining about Wolfpack and/or Black Knight.  Just threw those out as examples of a more useful part.  Not going to buy 50 of what we got off PAB.  Just like not buying the queen torso like I would the double axe.  

[Khargeust]

Do we know when first reviews will appear ?

[Artanis I]

17 hours ago, DonQuixote said:

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!

I am the same with those 3. I also like the look of the small medieval bakery & the green-sailed viking boat sets in BDP4.

[Mopasali]

1 hour ago, Black Feather said:

But in the new set we only get one printed shield.  And again for that new character who already has a shield made just for her.  And nothing else.  So harder to overlook.

I definitely get that *some* fans want more nostalgia, but there really are lots of Castle nostalgia pieces recently: Dragon Masters torso, Forestmen shields and torsos, Lion Kings bardings, torsos, shields, Black Falcons bardings, torsos, shields, several other factions shields, and the very affordable CMF 25 Bat Lord.  Most of that is on PAB, too.  And who knows what's on the horizon.  Medieval is getting more true nostalgia remakes than any other old theme, except maybe Harry Potter (e.g., Beauxbaton's carriage and Aragog this Summer).

But Lego is probably right to not just focus on nostalgia as even medieval fans have their own preferences between Kingdoms, Castle, Lord of the Rings, and Vikings, and you can't please all of them.  And the prior faction stories can lock people into a set system rather than being creative.  

I don't have any nostalgia for particular factions, and I think there are fans like me that like Lego and like medieval settings in general.  Generic parts can be used in different ways - historically accurate settings (lion decorations for Scandinavian kingdoms), classic mythologies (CMF harpy, CMF centaur, Forestmen for Robin Hood), or other IPs that are too adult for Lego (wolf for Game of Thrones, LKC warrior queen as Cintra in Witcher, Nexo Knights and Dreamzzz for undead in World of Warcraft, Monty Python's black knight, etc...). 

Maybe royalty or knights at a banquet need lots of beautifully printed clothing and accessories, but a green hat stolen from the Succulents set and a bow works for several different rebuilds, not just Forestmen.

[Roebuck]

7 hours ago, jodawill said:

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.

Regarding feedback, some people at Lego might be reading here, but if people want to make sure they arguments are heard by TLG they should give a review here:
https://survey.medallia.com/legoproduct

6 hours ago, Sir Dano said:

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.

Yes the set is nice, but the reason some of us are complaining about some parts of the sets are:

1. it's 10-15 years since we got a similar set and it might be 10-15 until we get a new one
2. we get one normal Castle set every second year at best, most other themes get a lot every year
3. LKC set a standard which we assumed this set would follow
4. in addition MMV and MVR set a standard which we assumed this set would follow
5. the prelim of the set leaked 1 year ago and some of us expected that (maybe foolishly and had way to much hype for a year also stupid it turn out)

3 hours ago, Aanchir said:

I'm not sure how much different the budget really is between Snow White's cottage and the town square. After all, several of the big complaints about this set also apply just as much to that one — it has lots of stickers, very few new non-minifig printed elements, and no large animals. They just aren't expected in that set like they are in this one because of the different theme and subject matter.

It does have a few things this set lacks, like a larger number of newly printed/recolored minifig parts, but also over 1000 bricks fewer for only a slightly lower price. So I suspect that the overall budget is probably similar, just allocated differently (more emphasis on figs and less emphasis on bricks).

Do not forget the huge Disney tax

[Ixen Darastrix]

20 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. 

Seriously, not the way the world works, lego is not making any profit on staff sales, they will in fact be losing money on those sales, but benefits like this aid in staff retention, which saves on hiring and training costs and keeps the overall experience level higher, 50% discount is rather large, but just because they treat their staff well does not mean they are greedy, it is simply part of the grand balancing act that is running a business

[GeoBrick]

14 hours ago, DonQuixote said:

That's because those leakers hyped this set up for a year. 

Oh, that happens all the time in these parts (the forum). Nothing new there.

Really, the only sensible approach is to wait for close to the purported release date, and then form an opinion on what you see.
Then its time to "vote with your wallet", or bite the pill, purchase the set, and change/add (to) it what you want.

[GreenhouseBricker]

22 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. 

Duckbricks also said that the 50% staff discount was only at the official Lego headquarters in Billund, Denmark. This is not something Lego offers to the all staff. You have to travel to Demark for it to apply. He also mentioned in the video that the base prices for Lego in Denmark (or at least at the HQ in Billund) are higher then in North America so the discount was really like 30%-40%.

[kuzyabricks]

I'm a little sick of people constantly wanting nostalgia pandering. I couldn't care less if a double axed shield wasn't in the set or it's a lion knight guard. They're obviously creating and expanding their new factions and people should stop constantly complaining when they don't get their childhood dream faction shield and figure in every single new castle set. Lego shouldn't have to constantly have callbacks to their previous themes or it's going to get stale FAST