CM4Sci

LEGO Castle 2013

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Some observations:

- On the carriage door, there is a 1x1 round tile in pearl gold with a lock printing on it. That looks so cool. Also one on a door in that dragon set.

- Horse helmet looks new. Didn't they say the new horse design won't mesh with the old horse helmets?

- Flags on castle look like that plastic material, not cloth. Not sure though.

- King's sword looks like pearl gold. No more shiny chrome, sad.

- Set with dragon has chrome treasure in the tresure chest. Hopefully ships that way.

- Castle corner pieces have stickers

- Evil wizard has printing on his hat brim

Does anyone know what set has the princess? I don't see her in the big castle set. Maybe she's in that tower with the dragon (blocked from view)?

I like what I'm seeing for the most part. I personally might be cutting down on purchases this year and may not get them all. I would have preferred a different color scheme, and could live without a dragon (or a smaller one). But I'm feeling that Lego charm coming through here, and that's what's really important when it comes to Castle. I had thought Castle was dead for the duration of LotR, and I'm glad to be wrong on that account!

All of this moaning and whining is unjustified. Yeah, it's probably not as good as Kingdoms, but only by a little bit. I think it looks like standard LEGO castle at it's most prototypical. Is it new and exciting? Hardly. Does it suck? Certainly not.

That sums up how I feel, too.

The Forestmen seem to have been turned into the elves of the CMF (or the male elf, that is). What's in store for the Wolfpack only time will tell. But remember the Black Falcons haven't showed up in the CMF, so why should the Wolfpack do so? :cry_sad:

That's not true about the CMF elf. There was a forestman in CMF series 1:

col01-14.jpg?0

I'll gladly take "homage" figs like him and the Kingdoms Joust falcon knight, if TLG isn't willing to make a full-blown faction redux for us.

Edited by Zeya

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I think the sets look okay. The Kingdoms sets were better, but these aren't terrible IMO. I like the look of the figures. The dragon emblem is different, but I like the look of the Dragon soldiers and I always welcome more printed euro armor. I also like the Lion/Crown figures. There seems to be a nice mix of figures for that side and I like the color scheme. Honestly, for me the only major disappointment is that the bad guys are lead by a wizard again. I guess an actual King or Queen is too much to ask for the "bad guys". I also really like that keyhole piece.

The sets themselves are okay with me. I like the sturdy looking gatehouse on the castle and the overall design looks decent. Not great, but decent. I buy most of the castle sets for parts these days anyway, but I do build them once to see them and then I consider keeping them as is, modifying them, or dismantling them.

Would I have vastly preferred new Black Falcons, Forestmen, Wolfpack, or new old style-esque Crusaders? Absolutely. I just don't think I had any real reason to believe that was going to happen. I am surprised they keep using Dragons and Lions/Crowns. Since they are reusing them this much though, I would find it curious if we don't see remakes of the other factions down the road.

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All of this moaning and whining is unjustified. Yeah, it's probably not as good as Kingdoms, but only by a little bit. I think it looks like standard LEGO castle at it's most prototypical. Is it new and exciting? Hardly. Does it suck? Certainly not.

Agreed. In some ways I think its a shame that Lego were not more original in their approach to the theme. The three larger sets closely resemble the three larger sets from the first wave of the kingdoms theme; a castle, prison tower and outpost. This is mostly likely due to the fact that they know from experience that these kind of sets sell well. Lego took more of a gamble with the second wave of Kingdoms, especially with the mill village raid, a set that was generally well recieved by afols and on websites such as this. Judging by the fact that the line was pulled from the shops after 6 months, I would imagine those sets were not as well recieved by children, who were the main target market. This theme shows Lego reverting to what they know sells well.

The fact that we even get a castle theme was a surprise to me. After the introduction of LOTR I feared a long hiatus for castle, similar to what the space theme witnessed after the introduction of Star Wars. The fact that we can enjoy both is a cause for celebration as far as I'm concerned.

Edited by Brinstar

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Wow. These are even worse than I feared... terrible, terrible sets and figures. Very few redeeming qualities.

...I'll probably still end up buying some for parts on sale, but I think I'll for the most part stick to LOTR and Hobbit sets for my Castle fix this year. Sad, really.

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Well, I was looking forward to some more Castle but these sets ae pretty underwhelming at first glance. The castle in particular lacks appeal with lots of big, chunky parts (although better shots of the other sets are needed before judgement can be passed on them) and the Lion Shields look like rehashes of earlier generations of products which is very disappointing considering the great, authentic medieval heraldic look they achieved with the Lion motif in Kingdoms. The castle also look seriously undermanned - a couple of bowmen, a knight and the King only in defense? At this rate in a few more generations of Lego Castle Kings will be reduced to opening and defending the gates of their castles alone. At least they gave the attackers a siege weapon this time unlike in the Kingdoms castle.

On the bright side some of the torsos and armour look nice, but in general it looks like a bit of a letdown after Kingdoms. I'll probably get the Dragon set as I only have the black dragon from King's Castle Siege and that seems to contain the most interesting minifig variety too but otherwise I'll leave it up to my son to get some of these if he's interested.

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Even though this theme looks terrible, I like the look of the Dragon Mountain set. Nice and dark-looking.

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I think the reason these sets look very underwhelming is because LEGO is making this theme for kids. A lot of younger kids don't know LOTR, but they may still want knights and castles, so it seems LEGO has LOTR for the older kids/teens and AFOLs, and then the new Castle sets for younger kids.

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Hmm. I'll probably get the smallest set, and maybe the Dragon's Fortress set. The dragon looks awesome!

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Still not keen on the heraldry, but that's probably my only "complaint" if you want to call it that.

All sets: sold. :sweet:

Let's be honest, these sets (particularly the castle) are hardly any different from the 1st wave of the much celebrated Kingdoms. Although I would prefer a continuation of the Kingdoms colours (dragon knight castle... :dangry: ) this should mesh fairly well. The only thing KKI about it, really, is the heraldry, box art & that catapult. (It still reminds me of KKI, but doesn't resemble it very much at all.) It's nothing like KKII (thank The Maker) nor the 80s or 90s stuff, except perhaps the back tower of the castle reminding me a little of that Black Knights castle (the freaking awesome one from 1992 on the raised baseplate) where the ghost was hidden.

Now that we're certain that the fantasy era dragon is back (slightly modified) I suppose I don't mind so much, as it won't be exactly the same as the 3 I already have. Hopefully.

One thing to speculate: will there be any skeleton minifigs? I don't see any, and although their introduction in 1995(?) had me all over them, I've had just about enough for a while due to their overuse in recent years. (Fantasy era Castle & Ninjago didn't help...)

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Some observations:

- On the carriage door, there is a 1x1 round tile in pearl gold with a lock printing on it. That looks so cool. Also one on a door in that dragon set.

- Horse helmet looks new. Didn't they say the new horse design won't mesh with the old horse helmets?

- Flags on castle look like that plastic material, not cloth. Not sure though.

- King's sword looks like pearl gold. No more shiny chrome, sad.

- Set with dragon has chrome treasure in the tresure chest. Hopefully ships that way.

- Castle corner pieces have stickers

- Evil wizard has printing on his hat brim

Does anyone know what set has the princess? I don't see her in the big castle set. Maybe she's in that tower with the dragon (blocked from view)?

The Princess is a prisoner to be rescued in Dragon Mountain. They seem to be sticking pretty close to classics. And yes the old horse headgear will not fit on the new horses. The ears are wider.

And keep in mind with these new Castle sets. We're GETTING NEW CASTLE SETS!! And ok maybe not as detailed as Kingdoms, they still look really good comparred to just about everything else. They have a very classic Castle look and feel. Yes they are kid friendly, but that doesn't mean they are bad sets. Look at our poor friends over on the Pirate forum. They are sitting there beating their heads against the wall. LotR's gets a nice boat. Chima gets a boat. Friends gets a gorgeous boat. And for them. Nada!

Edited by Faefrost

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I think the reason these sets look very underwhelming is because LEGO is making this theme for kids. A lot of younger kids don't know LOTR, but they may still want knights and castles, so it seems LEGO has LOTR for the older kids/teens and AFOLs, and then the new Castle sets for younger kids.

So the question is: Was Kingdoms aimed at AFOLs?

I don't think so.

I can understand that Lego may want a high fantasy, Dungeons & Dragons/World of Warcraft-like Castle theme, with wizards, knights and dragons aimed for kids.

What I can't understand is: If you threw a set with a dragon in Kingdoms, wouldn't it do the trick? Everybdy was expecting it anyway. There were unicorns, baby dragons and wizards already... Why not a dragon?

But Lego wants a fresh high fantasy theme for that. That's ok, marketing wise, that sounds good enough. So they come up with the new Castle sets. Any reason to juniorize the heraldry? Was Kingdoms not selling because of that? Or maybe because it was supposed to be a more realistic historic theme -- and that doesn't appeal that much to kids? Is it a crown or a very childish lion really that better than the rampant lion/dragon from Kingdoms? Probably yes to all of that. But only Lego can tell.

Be it as it may, in three years we'll get a new Castle/Kingdoms theme anyway. I bet it will be called Knights Kingdom III.

I know I sounded a bit negative, but I'm not, really. I understand Lego has to sell and that they are aiming at kids. I guess the new Castle sets will appeal to kids.

But do the LotR appeal the same for adults?

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What I can't understand is: If you threw a set with a dragon in Kingdoms, wouldn't it do the trick? Everybdy was expecting it anyway. There were unicorns, baby dragons and wizards already... Why not a dragon?

Be fair, they weren't unicorns. They were horses wearing horned battle helmets. The "baby dragons" on the dragon fortress were gargoyles. One appeared in that little box with the only wizard minifig (a set that wasn't exactly easy to get hold of), it's been argued that it could be a desk statue. As for that wizard, who says he practices magic? He might be more of a naturopath or chemist type conjurer. In my mind, there were no "fantasy" elements in Kingdoms.

Edited by Artanis I

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It's sad to see another black wizards hat, even printed. I really wanted this to have a red one, I am not about to import them they aren't cheap!

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You castle fans should be more happy. We Pirate fans don't get a license or a original them this year. And you guys get both and complain about not having enough new pieces. Give me a break. :tongue:

lol

I couldn't agree more!

These sets look great, and I can't wait for them to start showing up. New pieces, new shields . . . and is that a new helmet for the Red faction leader!?!?!?!? Us Castle fans got spoiled this year (LOTR and Castle). Keep'em coming Lego.

Nevermind, its not a new helmet its the wizard's staff.

I forgot to ask, does anyone know when these sets are to be released?

Edited by Shroffy123

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The minifigs and sets look boring to me, but that's good since I'll save money :classic: The only interesting thing is the horse and the white dress, which reminds me of Zelda for some reason :wacko:

Here's a close up of the minifigs

http://images.wikia....7ce582bb0_o.jpg

Edited by Otherworld

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I forgot to ask, does anyone know when these sets are to be released?

Likely it will be a Summer wave. That's when Kingdoms was released so I figure that's a good bet.

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I have heard August repeatedly.

So that means the new LOTR wave will be released in Spring? Interesting that we got pictures of Castle before LOTR.

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So that means the new LOTR wave will be released in Spring? Interesting that we got pictures of Castle before LOTR.

No, it's not. LOTR/Hobbit are licensed, and therefore subject outside design approval and timetables. TLG got in trouble when the Lone Ranger products page was online before the trailer for the movie was released. Castle is wholly in house, so they can release set information whenever they wish.

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Crazy question, based on this picture from the show

8431768247_5ea0446074.jpg

Is it just a trick of the lighting? It almost looks like the base color fo these is light tan? Which if so looks really good with the browns and blues, and almost harkens back to the old classic yellow castle. Now after looking at this I will be disappointed if it does turn out to be bley.

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Now after looking at this I will be disappointed if it does turn out to be bley.

You will be disappointed.

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I love the argument that since the sets are aimed at kids, it's ok for the heraldry to be terrible.

It would be interesting to show kids shields from kingdoms and these new shields and ask them which they like better.

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Also, everyone should stop comparing this to King Leo's Castle. I own King Leo's Castle, and it's totally different from this in every possible design aspect other than somewhat similar heraldry.

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I love the argument that since the sets are aimed at kids, it's ok for the heraldry to be terrible.

It would be interesting to show kids shields from kingdoms and these new shields and ask them which they like better.

I'm reasonably confident that Lego does focus groups on all of their products. These designs are certainly the ones that looked the coolist to the average eight year old boy. Any parents present probably deferred to the 'expert' (their child).

We AFOLs can always MOC something, right? It's alot easier to just buy a set but we do have the option.

Joe

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