2011 Kingdoms + US prices

[Ogre]

So, I went kind of insane this past week and bought all of the Kingdoms sets that I didn't have, because of various sales, coupons, etc.

The only one I'm still waiting on is the King's Castle (shipping via Canada Post from B&N...ugh) but, the rest are already in my hot little hands.

I was only missing two of the older sets: the castle and the Dragon's tower set. Built the tower last night. Not bad. A decent build but, I don't know why they needed two instruction booklets for it. I also picked up duplicates of the "Knight's showdown" and "Prison Carriage Rescue" just to bulk-up my troops a bit.

In addition, I managed to snag the entire new summer line of sets, including two of the blacksmith set and two of the Dragon's prison set.

I have to say, ALL of the sets are mighty stellar and all of them look MUCH better in person than they do in pictures (IMO, of course). The best of the bunch, IMO, is the Mill Village Raid...by FAR. Runner-up though, is the new King's Carriage. Very impressive carriage and the printing on the king is just STELLAR! I'm loving the fact that LEGO is getting MUCH more detailed with their minifigs now. Leg printing, back printing, intricate details...just fantastic!

IMO, if you've been 'on the fence' about getting these new Kingdoms sets, you really should snag them...especially if you can find them on sale. They are TOTALLY worth the purchase and you'll find that they are a wonderful addition to any 'castle' layout/collection you've got going on.

[Sirens-of-Titan]

This may be a bit of an odd question but have there been any news about battle packs, or exclusive sets yet? I know there is an Alien Conquest battle pack and I would love to see one for the new kingdoms hopefully something more civilian/farmer oriented.

[DaleDVM]

I would guess there is a chance that the battle packs may become available again. I highly doubt any new ones would be made with the same Kingdoms factions. As far as castles go, I would imagine King's Castle will remain available for another year like the King's Castle Siege did in the fantasy lineup...

At Brickworld TLG is unveiling a new product. I hope it is the UCS Jousting set that has been speculated about. It would be so apropos because my layout has a giant medieval tournament with an large medieval city built around it.

[ziljin]

If they do make a jousting set, they need to make some sort of small jousting set to support the tournament one and serve as a cavalry armybuilder. Like The Final Joust in the previous Castle line. On bricklink Lion Knight Horse Bardings are 5+USD and Dragon Knight Horse Bardings are 7+USD!!!!

[DaleDVM]

I can see the lion barding being expensive. But the Dragon barding is in a $20 set. Anyone paying those prices is crazy!

[ziljin]

I can see the lion barding being expensive. But the Dragon barding is in a $20 set. Anyone paying those prices is crazy!

I think the problem is that because its only 20 bucks, most people are buying the set to keep the barding because they figured it would be at least 5 dollars (making the rest of the set around 15 dollars which is very price efficient). And everyone seems to love the dragon knights so not a lot of people are willing to part with the Dragon Knight Horse Barding.

[Ogre]

After building all of my new Kingdoms sets last week, I have to say: LEGO has really raised the bar on the quality of their 'Castle' themed minifigure prints!

Wow, wow, wow!

So much better than 'the old days' where we got insignia stuck on the middle of the chest and that was it.

These Kingdoms figs are GORGEOUS!

And, I have to say, the new additions to the line make me appreciate the Advent Calendar that much more and now, I think I'll have to agree with the folks out there who state that it's better than 7979.

I really hope this theme sticks around for a while. It would be nice to see LEGO ADD to it, instead of REPLACING it. *fingers crossed*

Edited June 12, 2011 by Ogre

[Nicker]

I was thinking about the rumored Jousting set a bit more and I speculate that it may easily have a medieval fair theme along with the jousting in order to increase the size of the set to make it similar to the size of other exclusive sets.

[Ogre]

I was thinking about the rumored Jousting set a bit more and I speculate that it may easily have a medieval fair theme along with the jousting in order to increase the size of the set to make it similar to the size of other exclusive sets.

That would not upset me.

[Jack Bricker]

A jousting set would be nice if they do it right with multiple knights and peasants but, I would much prefer a giant UCS castle. Something like the death star is to star wars or the Imperial Flagship is to Pirates. Think about it. A castle with a proper kitchen, royal bedroom, throne hall, training court, barracks, no airy towers, walls that are twice as high in typical lego castles and the castle should be twice as big. That would be awesome.

[Ogre]

A jousting set would be nice if they do it right with multiple knights and peasants but, I would much prefer a giant UCS castle. Something like the death star is to star wars or the Imperial Flagship is to Pirates. Think about it. A castle with a proper kitchen, royal bedroom, throne hall, training court, barracks, no airy towers, walls that are twice as high in typical lego castles and the castle should be twice as big. That would be awesome.

Would be sweet.

And the other elements (jousting, etc.,) could be released as individual sets for the theme, rather than one large set.

Doubtful that they'd do that for "Kingdoms" though, since the 'good guys' castle has already been released.

[Jack Bricker]

Would be sweet.

And the other elements (jousting, etc.,) could be released as individual sets for the theme, rather than one large set.

Doubtful that they'd do that for "Kingdoms" though, since the 'good guys' castle has already been released.

They could do a UCS Dragon Knights castle. Also I haven't seen any dragons with the dragon knights yet. Why can't they come out with a big brick built dragon cave. That would be so sweet.

[Aanchir]

They could do a UCS Dragon Knights castle. Also I haven't seen any dragons with the dragon knights yet. Why can't they come out with a big brick built dragon cave. That would be so sweet.

So far, there have been very few "fantasy" elements in Kingdoms. IMO, adding actual dragons would disrupt the whole idea of Kingdoms as an only-slightly-fictionalized medieval theme.

Personally, I'm not sure a D2C Kingdoms set would really allow for a castle that satisfies everyone's demands. Keep in mind that, although the MMV was a lot more detailed than the typical Castle set, it wasn't actually too much bigger than a typical large set. I'd love to see someone MOC a castle along these lines that still seemed marketable as a Kingdoms set, but I have difficulty visualizing a medieval castle set that really resembles an actual medieval castle structurally.

[Haltiamieli]

Personally, I'm not sure a D2C Kingdoms set would really allow for a castle that satisfies everyone's demands. Keep in mind that, although the MMV was a lot more detailed than the typical Castle set, it wasn't actually too much bigger than a typical large set. I'd love to see someone MOC a castle along these lines that still seemed marketable as a Kingdoms set, but I have difficulty visualizing a medieval castle set that really resembles an actual medieval castle structurally.

Yeah. King's Castle (7946) already has more than 900 parts, but nevertheless it is quite small, the walls are low and there's only two small towers without backwalls instead of a proper castlehouse. And the set uses a lot of big wall parts to achieve even this.

The biggest Lego set so far has been (afaik) Taj Mahal with less than 6000 bricks, the Death Star had less than 4000. I think one can see these numbers in different lights, but I don't think TLC could really do a castle that would blow AFOLs' minds without vastly exceeding earlier records. And that would be sort of risky and problematic.

[Lummox JR]

On the subject of battle packs, I'd actually like to see Lego release a castle-themed minifigs pack that aren't soldiers. The closest they've ever come to this is set 6103, which introduced probably one of the few actual peasant/villager characters they ever made before the release of the Medieval Market Village. (The only other civilians I can think of right now would be the first blacksmith, armorer's shopkeeper, and guarded inn keeper.) In 6103 they had a couple of soldiers, a couple of forestmen (I'd love to see them come back), and a villager with a pitchfork.

My ideal "pack" set from the new Kingdoms would be a number of civilian minifigs including a couple of pitchforks and several buckets, along with a cow, a pig, a goat or two, and say maybe two chickens. Or as a compromise, one set could be the civilian minifigs and another pack could have some livestock and various accessories (buckets, torches, tools, etc.).

[ziljin]

On the subject of battle packs, I'd actually like to see Lego release a castle-themed minifigs pack that aren't soldiers. The closest they've ever come to this is set 6103, which introduced probably one of the few actual peasant/villager characters they ever made before the release of the Medieval Market Village. (The only other civilians I can think of right now would be the first blacksmith, armorer's shopkeeper, and guarded inn keeper.) In 6103 they had a couple of soldiers, a couple of forestmen (I'd love to see them come back), and a villager with a pitchfork.

My ideal "pack" set from the new Kingdoms would be a number of civilian minifigs including a couple of pitchforks and several buckets, along with a cow, a pig, a goat or two, and say maybe two chickens. Or as a compromise, one set could be the civilian minifigs and another pack could have some livestock and various accessories (buckets, torches, tools, etc.).

Wish they could just infinitely release battlepacks/minifig packs. Seems like now all they would have to do is just keep the torso printing on a computer server and just choose them to print onto torsos. Torsos might not be the same color as the original minifigs, but that's okay by me. Can even count as army uniform variation.

Back to your post, a civilian battlepack type set would be great. It should be like that City minifigure set (since sets tend to have more pieces than battlepacks)4 Peasants and some farming accessories would be great.

[Jack Bricker]

So far, there have been very few "fantasy" elements in Kingdoms. IMO, adding actual dragons would disrupt the whole idea of Kingdoms as an only-slightly-fictionalized medieval theme.

Personally, I'm not sure a D2C Kingdoms set would really allow for a castle that satisfies everyone's demands. Keep in mind that, although the MMV was a lot more detailed than the typical Castle set, it wasn't actually too much bigger than a typical large set. I'd love to see someone MOC a castle along these lines that still seemed marketable as a Kingdoms set, but I have difficulty visualizing a medieval castle set that really resembles an actual medieval castle structurally.

I have to disagree, MMV was a lot bigger by about 600 pieces and it only cost $100. If Lego made a 4000 piece castle and marketed it like the Taj Mahal for around $300 I could certainly see a large castle that would be detailed, a great parts pack, and would be just plain awesome. Don't forget that Lego did surprise the Pirate community with the Imperial Flagship even though it did contain only 1600 pieces and I could see a castle with more normal bricks going for around $300. At the very least Lego could widen the Kings castle by about 6" and double the height of the walls.

Edited June 15, 2011 by Jack Bricker

[madoka]

My ideal "pack" set from the new Kingdoms would be a number of civilian minifigs including a couple of pitchforks and several buckets, along with a cow, a pig, a goat or two, and say maybe two chickens. Or as a compromise, one set could be the civilian minifigs and another pack could have some livestock and various accessories (buckets, torches, tools, etc.).

Things you won't hear in the toy aisle any time soon:

"But mom, I don't want that set with the jousting knights, catapults and weapons! I want that set with the peasants and buckets."

[MurkyMajare]

Does anyone know when (or if) the 2011 sets will be available in Europe (specifically in Norway) and/or on S@H ?

Could not get a straight answer from their customer service.

[Aanchir]

I have to disagree, MMV was a lot bigger by about 600 pieces and it only cost $100. If Lego made a 4000 piece castle and marketed it like the Taj Mahal for around $300 I could certainly see a large castle that would be detailed, a great parts pack, and would be just plain awesome. Don't forget that Lego did surprise the Pirate community with the Imperial Flagship even though it did contain only 1600 pieces and I could see a castle with more normal bricks going for around $300. At the very least Lego could widen the Kings castle by about 6" and double the height of the walls.

I'm talking about "bigger" in overall size/weight, not in terms of piece count. Yes, the Taj Mahal had an enormous piece count, but almost all of those pieces were fairly tiny detail pieces-- the largest pieces were plates, baseplates, and Technic bricks. MMV, similarly, had a lot of smaller detail pieces rather than big pre-made castle walls. And so despite a higher piece count, the MMV wasn't that much larger in terms of overall scale than the typical LEGO castle.

You have a good point about how the price of MMV was pretty minimal for a set that stunning, and that TLG could easily release a larger set at a higher price point, but I still feel a castle that meets the criteria people seem to be asking for in a castle would be far too expensive even for a D2C set. People don't want a small or open-walled tower, which would mean a larger, more spacious keep would be required-- I'm guessing at least an 8x16 overall footprint. The castle walls, if they are intended to be an actual structure rather than just thin walls, would also need to have a fairly large footprint. Add in minifigures-- which can always be counted on to drive the price up further-- and there's only so much expansion that TLG could afford.

Note also that most sets over $150 have been Star Wars sets. This is partly because Star Wars sets have to be more expensive than regular sets due to licensing costs, but also because these are some of the only sets that can be counted on to be popular enough to sell even for such outrageous prices. Star Wars sets have an enormous fanbase that extends even outside of the typical LEGO fan community. This is not the case with Kingdoms sets, which have a much smaller fanbase both among kids and AFOLs.

I'm not saying I wouldn't like to see a better LEGO castle set-- when I was a kid, I had a lot of fun trying to build castles of my own, sometimes based on David Macaulay's book Castle which went into great detail about the architecture and function of medieval castles. At the same time, I think it's just not realistic to expect much more than the sort of castle TLG has been offering us for years now. The Flying Ninja Fortress is the closest thing I can think of to a castle with the bulk people are hoping for, and even that probably wouldn't satisfy people's demands since it's only a front wall and two side walls.

Naturally, of course, if TLG does release a castle of this level of detail, then I'll enjoy the surprise a great deal. I rarely buy LEGO's D2C sets and certainly wouldn't buy this one, since I'm not a Kingdoms fan myself. But at the same time, I'm always happy to see TLG's designers going above and beyond expectations when it comes to D2C set design.

[MCNwakeboard]

While I would gladly purchase an expanded/UCS castle, I think TLG did a decent job on the current Kingdoms castle by making a castle that can be expanded fairly easily. I purchased two castles from a TRU BOGO deal and pretty much stacked one on top of another to create something like this.

Flickr

After a while I've tired of the cookie-cutter castle, so I'm working on my own version of a UCS castle. So while a UCS Castle is possible, I don't mind the focus on peasant life with MMV, MVR and a possible jousting set for some great designs, accessories and minifigures.

[Tugarin]

Things you won't hear in the toy aisle any time soon:

"But mom, I don't want that set with the jousting knights, catapults and weapons! I want that set with the peasants and buckets."

Are you sure? That problem doesn't exist in my world as I'm surrounded by women and girls most of the time. What I heard was more along the lines of "If you don't buy the set with those cute goats your life is going to miserable!"

LEGO City has some of the same issues with the constant production of Police and Fire Stations. Given a choice I'd imagine girls would rather play with the Green Grocer or The Pet Shop. If LEGO really wants to connect with young girls and women they need to continue with these civilian sets and expand them into a full range. My female friends and their daughters don't want pink, they want minifigures and playsets set in the normal theme with which they can role-play. I see the girls having more fun with the MMV and MVR (which surprisingly isn't being raided when the girls are playing) than any other Castle/Kingdoms set I own.

[Jack Bricker]

I think it would be great if Lego expanded the civilian theme as well. A medieval church, tournament, fair, and a giant windmill would be a good start. And I would also love to see some medieval cottages. Those would be awesome.

[prvi svog imena]

If the rumor is true, I cannot wait for the joust set to come out. I also like the civilian themes, and for one am glad that they are not issuing another catapult, because they went too far.

But on that note, the new advent city calendar has a catapult in it :) They just had to insert it somewhere, and if Castle won't take it, City will.

[ziljin]

If the rumor is true, I cannot wait for the joust set to come out. I also like the civilian themes, and for one am glad that they are not issuing another catapult, because they went too far.

But on that note, the new advent city calendar has a catapult in it :) They just had to insert it somewhere, and if Castle won't take it, City will.

Wish I had more money.

Even though Wave 2 only has a handful of sets, I must buy more copies of Blacksmith Attack for blacksmiths to make peasant militia and escape from prison's dragons for dragon knight heavy cavalry. And probably some more Prison Carriage Rescues for Dragon Knight light cavalry!

Just wish there was some cheap set with more dragon knight soldiers. At least half my army are elites! Especially since I put my dragon knight armors on generic minfigures to make more elites!