Future Castle sets - put your hopes and ideas here

[Laphroag]

I'd like to see some kind of monastery or cathedral/church building. But I have never seen Lego make sets that are tied to religions. Maybe they have some sort of policy of not getting into religious themes since there are always whack-jobs out there who will get offended.

[Mr. Cube]

I want return of the Black Falcons (you know...why they put that new Black Falcon only into Kingdoms Joust set?)...return of the Blak Falcons,Forestmen, Wolfpack + maybe another castle faction.

[Hive]

I'd like to see some kind of monastery or cathedral/church building. But I have never seen Lego make sets that are tied to religions. Maybe they have some sort of policy of not getting into religious themes since there are always whack-jobs out there who will get offended.

I think it's a very wise and understandable decision of LEGO not go get involved with religion in any sort of way. Enough people enforce religion on children without the new for it to be in toys as well, not to mention the fact that including religion x in a LEGO set might put off religions y and z from buying the set. Best to just stay clear of religion alltogether.

[Alfadas]

Yeah, I agree with Hive. It would be cool to have a church or something. But indeed it would be better if TLG doesn't involve in religion.

[Dr Leg O Brick]

The closest I think we'll get to a Church is something like what was in the joust, a unspecified room with a stain-glass window and a pedestal with a book.

Edited January 15, 2014 by Dr Leg O Brick

[Hrafnblod]

One thing I would like to add, I think the one thing last year's castle wave did well was its small set. It was great for army building, with two soldiers (and standard ones, too! Not elite knights) for each side, plus a dog, and a few little scenery pieces. Would love to see more army building sets like they did with that. New heraldry besides dragons/lions would be very welcome. More than one actual castle would be cool, too. Older lines (late '80s and '90s) tended to have several sized castles, albeit they were helped by large molds to still be large. It would be nice to have a ~$50 fort like Dark Dragon's Lair or something, in addition to that faction's larger fortress. Mostly though I'd just like to have actual variable sized forts that are actual keeps and such, not just one tower and a catapult.

[rodiziorobs]

While I agree that the good knights/evil knights, the bland heraldry, and lack of minor factions and civilian scenes (although the few civilian scenes they have done have been stellar) are all problems with the current (and past) lines, I think I could ignore all of that if the castles themselves were better.

For example, the current and most recent past large castle sets have just felt like big slabs of wall thrown against each other to make a square and that for some unknown reason, the knights feel like defending whatever is(n't) inside. You could take a cardboard box and draw LEGO on the outside of it, and it wouldn't be that different.

Compare that to LOTR and Hobbit themes, where the walls themselves have some additional detailing, curve instead of making right angles, and have different heights and elevations, beyond just 1st/2nd floor and towers. The build itself--even if you're not a big fan of LOTR--is more interesting and varied.

That being said, I wonder if LOTR isn't part of the reason we haven't really gotten much high-quality design out of the castle themes lately. TLG doesn't want its generic line taking business from the licensed one, but they also don't want to kill the castle line off completely in the meantime, to reassure us castle fans that the theme is still around (or else we would be up in arms about it, am I right?). So, they produce a few sub-par themes as place-holders for a few years while the Tolkien licenses are still active, throw in a few gimmicks (like the resurrected big dragon mold) to try and appease us and get our money anyway.

I suspect (and hope) they are waiting in the wings with some killer castle themes, factions, and heraldry, that they will unveil to us once LOTR and the Hobbit have gotten off the stage. In the meantime, the licensed themes work as parts packs for the rest of us, if a good bargain can be found.

[The_Cook]

That being said, I wonder if LOTR isn't part of the reason we haven't really gotten much high-quality design out of the castle themes lately. TLG doesn't want its generic line taking business from the licensed one, but they also don't want to kill the castle line off completely in the meantime, to reassure us castle fans that the theme is still around (or else we would be up in arms about it, am I right?). So, they produce a few sub-par themes as place-holders for a few years while the Tolkien licenses are still active, throw in a few gimmicks (like the resurrected big dragon mold) to try and appease us and get our money anyway.

It's not so much that the current castle line is a "placeholder" but that it's target age range is different. It's squarely aimed at 5-7yr olds whereas LOTR is targetted at a slightly older age range. Seen from that perspective the build style and quality makes sense.

I suspect (and hope) they are waiting in the wings with some killer castle themes, factions, and heraldry, that they will unveil to us once LOTR and the Hobbit have gotten off the stage.

Maybe. However, if the management at TLG determine that the Castle range sells mostly to 5yr olds then we'll get another set of simple builds because that's where their target market is. Being a private company we never get to see the sales figures and purchase demographics which would allow us to make some more reasoned guesses as to where they might take the line; if the civilian sets didn't sell well then it will be a long time before TLG tries that experiment again.

On-topic: a return to the Falcon Heraldry would be nice, although my suspicion is that "Black Falcon's" in modern vernacular implies "the bad guy's" because they've got Black in the tile. Wheras for most of the AFOL's the factions were typecast therefore the Black Falcons could have been be either good, bad or neither. Reinvent them now as bad guys and there could be uproar from the AFOL community. Introduce them as neutral and the sets struggle to find the conflict that is needed to drive a storyline that creates play. Similar argument for neutral Forestmen; how do you generate the good/bad conflict that generates the simple storyline that starts play happening.

Edited January 16, 2014 by The_Cook

[Haltiamieli]

Like many have said, some continuity would be great awesome, like in ye olde times. Not rebooting the theme every other year with yet another pair of new lion and dragon factions but keeping the overall theme and adding new factions while fading out others. One year there could be northern seafarers pillaging the Griffin Kingdom coastline (medieval ships! vikings! a chance for some civilian set like MVR!), another it could be Forestmen stealing from the Black Falcons (I think these two ambivalent-ish factions could play rather well with one another). Then a year devoted to a grand tournament with brave knights from half a dozen kingdoms, or a year with even more brave knights on a quest to fight against the many legendary beasts terrorising the kingdom...

[Blakstone]

I don't know if I mind a simple build if I found the minifigures and bricks useful. I only bought one of the latest wave, Forest Ambush, but I bought three of the Lone Ranger's Calvery Builder Set. I bought those because if I ever wanted to build a Civil War or any Indian War MOC, I would be ready. I had not seen the Lone Ranger movie. I don't know if the US Calvary fights the LR or helps him. The set is neutral in that regard. As a kid though, I would make them fight.

I hope that LEGO continues to make more of the Castle sets easy to connect. They should make sense to do so as well. The Gatehouse Raid looks to weak to be attached to a Castle wall. But Prison Tower Rescue and Outpost Attack don't. Imagine what kids (and AFOLs) could do if there as a Castle version of Uruk Hai Army.

[Hrafnblod]

Like many have said, some continuity would be great awesome, like in ye olde times. Not rebooting the theme every other year with yet another pair of new lion and dragon factions but keeping the overall theme and adding new factions while fading out others. One year there could be northern seafarers pillaging the Griffin Kingdom coastline (medieval ships! vikings! a chance for some civilian set like MVR!), another it could be Forestmen stealing from the Black Falcons (I think these two ambivalent-ish factions could play rather well with one another). Then a year devoted to a grand tournament with brave knights from half a dozen kingdoms, or a year with even more brave knights on a quest to fight against the many legendary beasts terrorising the kingdom...

This seems to be a pretty consistent wish from AFOLs, but Lego seem to have ditched this kind of practice entirely over the years. Space worked the same way, back in the day, as did Pirates when it was still a regular theme. Nowadays though, all they seem interested in doing are one or two year themes and then moving on with a 'reboot,' which in Castle basically amounts to getting the same exact sets only with simpler builds/worse minifig design. I don't really hold out any hope that they'll go back to the "continuing saga" style of growing the Castleverse with lots of factions over the course of years. Due to the way kids play these days (for better or worse, they seem to move on to their iPads and Xboxes instead of traditional toys toward the traditional upper-end of Lego's target group), you just aren't going to have kids building their collection over 5-6 years. More efficient in a business sense to just push out essential remakes every two years to sell them to a new batch of 5-9 year olds.

[qiadris]

Yeah, I agree with Hive. It would be cool to have a church or something. But indeed it would be better if TLG doesn't involve in religion.

A way to not be involved in religion would be having temples for one (or several factions) but they should not resemble real world temples, which is what those that want a "church" would like to see.

[SirBlake]

Like many have said, some continuity would be great awesome, like in ye olde times. Not rebooting the theme every other year with yet another pair of new lion and dragon factions but keeping the overall theme and adding new factions while fading out others. One year there could be northern seafarers pillaging the Griffin Kingdom coastline (medieval ships! vikings! a chance for some civilian set like MVR!), another it could be Forestmen stealing from the Black Falcons (I think these two ambivalent-ish factions could play rather well with one another). Then a year devoted to a grand tournament with brave knights from half a dozen kingdoms, or a year with even more brave knights on a quest to fight against the many legendary beasts terrorising the kingdom...

All of this is so right on. So many good ideas in here. Some of the designers have to agree with us on the revival of classic factions, right? I know business decisions aren't all theirs to make, but there must be voices in the halls of TLG that want to see something like what many of us are describing (Black Falcons/Forestmen/modular builds, etc.)

[Lord Butters]

Looking over older sets we seem to be missing in recent times:

naval units

forests/hideouts/mountain areas

a second castle/fortress

A wave like Kingdoms but with the above added would be great, with a big set like MMV added at the end.

[naf]

I don't know much about the fantasy era castle sets, but this latest Castle line seems very lacking in creativity. It has a horse-cart raid, a good guy's outpost tower, a bad guy tower, and a big square castle. All of these sets were present in a similar form in the Kingdom's line. Makes me wonder why they went ahead and killed Kingdoms only to rehash the exact same sets with the new line.

Would love a return to forestmen. Naval units would be very cool. We can always use civilian sets too. My kids love playing with the MMV and MVR, not everything has to be martial in nature to attract a kid's interest. I would like to see some different castles produced instead of the standard square box that's been a staple in the Castle theme since the 80's.

[SerenityInFire]

Totally agree with the above post even though I like the current castle line. I really wish Kingdoms lasted longer than two years.

[gedren_y]

Technically, Kingdoms isn't gone. At least in the US. Kingdoms Joust is still available on the Shop At Home.

[SirBlake]

Technically, Kingdoms isn't gone. At least in the US. Kingdoms Joust is still available on the Shop At Home.

Just because they aren't sold out of one final set doesn't mean the line is still alive.

[StephanSz]

I'd like to see a +-150 euro creator castle set, with a very realistic castle. Just like they do in the trains theme. Retail sets for the kids and creator sets for (A)FOLs. The sets can be combined, so you can use the kids sets with the creator sets.

With a little effort, Lego could add flags and minifigs for two factions, so you can choose which faction the castle belongs to. Or even provide a secondary build, so you can buy two castles and make them slightly different.

It would be great for everyone who doesn't like the current castle theme (which btw I really like and got all the sets from).

And it would be no 1 on my wishlist!

[DungeonsAndFlagons]

A lot of my wish list has been covered above. But I will pour out a list:

- Return of the Falcons, Forestmen, Wolf Pack

- More civilian buildings like a port/harbour for example. Or a good old fashioned mine (Dwarves had one)

- Ships for the harbour/port obviously as well.

- A Castle/fortress for the second and/or third factions

- Bridges

- Less carriages and blacksmiths

- People fishing/fishing shack

- Mountain fortress with bridges high in the mountains

- Hideout for bandits with secret entrances and traps

- Barbarian raiders/Vikings again maybe

- Squires

- Less Kings and more general/lord characters (special equipment)

- Religious orders/Paladins (never going to happen due to LEGO's rules

- Toll-house on road or river/bridge

- Woodcutters cottage

- Village festival

- Less cartoon lions (I replaced all of my Castle Lions stuff with Crown gear from the earlier wave)

- Boar faction!

- Mercenaries

I think that will do for now.

[Ridge Montante]

I wanna see more factions. Just having two is a little boring and plain to me. At least one more would be fine. But I would also like to see one or two castle ships. Something like the 6057 Sea Serpent would be perfect. I'd also like to see a bigger "bad guys" castle.

[The Architect]

This isnt really related to the question but I'd really like to see a greek, or a roman theme instead of castle, castle, castle, every single year.

[1xandermander]

I think that the new castle sets had good architecture and they looked good, but the problem was that they barely came out with any sets. Also the lion castle barely came with any lion knights!!!!!! If they do continue with this series they need a set or two that comes with a crap load of guys; maybe one where both sides are all lined up and prepared for battle. I agree that the dragon knights would need their own castle.Both sides would need more horses (they only came out with TWO in the sets.) Going back to the minifigure count, you needed to buy mostly every set to get a decent amount of minifigures for two armies, also they should give the dragon knights a king and the lion knights a wizard (I've done this with my sets but you know.) With a king and wizard on both sides there could be some major battles going on. And I liked how in the old castle sets they had one set (that I don't have) where the good guys got a dragon as well.

This isnt really related to the question but I'd really like to see a greek, or a roman theme instead of castle, castle, castle, every single year.

I totally agree.

[Tyrant]

I'm sure some of this has already been said but I will voice my support if nothing else.

If the current line were to continue, I would like to see the following:

-A large fortress for the Dragon faction

-Some type of civilian set that isn’t just a rehash of something we have had in the last few years

-A jousting set

-A ship and port set

-A smaller ship for whichever faction doesn’t get the larger ship in the above set

In general I would like to see the following sets and design ideas:

-Stop having the evil faction ruled by wizards. Give them a King and Queen. They can keep the Wizard, just give us real rulers. Likewise, the good faction can have a wizard too. I would be okay with both factions getting Jesters too for that matter.

-Stop making one faction blatantly evil.

-If we are just going to repeat factions, start repeating the others like Black Falcon and Forestmen.

-We need more ships

-Both sides need actual castles

-There need to be civilian sets. They can either be neutral and then added to either side or they can make different ones for each side

-There should be more than 2 factions

-A large, highly detailed castle (similar the SW UCS sets), but with figures, would be nice. Given that it would be on the expensive end, I don’t believe it needs to belong to the current “good guys”

-We need some way for older factions to get barding, oval shields, and more detailed figures

-More individuals beyond the royalty would be nice. Nobles or knight captains for instance

-In the vein of the above, smaller keeps/forts for the nobles or knight captains

-A neutral town assembled building by building like the winter sets

Edited January 23, 2014 by Tyrant

[Alfadas]

I agree with Tyrant. All the points are true! We need some medieval navy, with WAY more civilians. The idea for making a village (or city) in steps like the winter village is a really good idea.