Breakspear

I note the packaging design is different from the other retro releases (Forestmen's Hideout and the Blacktron Cruiser), but is consistent with other recent GWPs (e.g. Houses of the World, the Magic Maze). Notably: No yellow banner in the upper left box corner with the name of the set plus "Lego Castle System" in blue font. An age rating of 12+, rather than 18+ (which was the case for Forestmen and Blacktron) The golden yellow ribbon along the bottom saying "Limited Edition" These seem like odd design choices given the 'nostalgia' premise of the set.

Whether or not it was the intent, I agree it would make a fantastic Clouseau. Just need to swap out the head. Could also work as Inspector Gadget.

Wonderful to get a first glimpse at the full line-up for the new series, although I'm finding the yellow background of the character sheet a bit jarring! A couple of standout figures plus several I'm curious to learn more about. Overall, less consistent than the incredible Series 24. Some observations: Noir Detective: Seems to be inspired by Sam Spade/Philip Marlowe. Is the hat mould new? Looks smaller than past Lego fedoras. The red herring made me smile. Batlord: So fun to see a new interpretation of this classic Lego character. Interesting new helmet but surprisingly retro shield. Curious to see the back of the cape, as well as the print details on the torso and legs. Goatherd: Wonderful to set the return of goat. Will reserve judgement on the goatherd himself, as difficult to judge the torso and leg print design. Seems to be wearing a sheepskin waistcoat, with perhaps some sort of ribbon/necktie around his neckline? And possibly some subtle arm printing? Does not appear distinctly medieval, so might work in a variety of settings? Head print looks very unique - interested to see if there is an alternate face print. Mushroom Fairy: Cool hat, and lovely butterfly print accessory. I wish they had done more with the rest of the character, but I understand the look they were going for. Harpy: Happy that they attempted this character, but would have preferred a more naturalistic interpretation. Might swap out the head if there are good alternatives. Train Suit: Design of costume is very 'toy-like'. Perhaps a reference to the original wooden trains Lego made in the 1940s and 50s? Barbarian: Interesting, but hard to judge fairly due to poor image quality. Maybe inspired by Red Sonja. I like the idea of the moulded circlet/headband on the hair - that's pretty rare. Good use of dual-molded arms. The recoloured DreamZZZ sword works well. Eager to see the high res-images. The other characters (E-gamer, Athlete, Crossfitter, Triceratops, Dog groomer) are less interesting to me personally, but seem well executed.

Yay, I got two: Train Costume and Noir Detective.

Curious! The silloutettes are interesting. While not immediately suggestive of any specific types of figure(s) (i.e. no distinctive headgear, ears, horns, antennae etc), it does prompt a couple of thoughts: Can we infer anything from the 'naked' minifigure head on the far left? Figures with no hair or hat pieces are unusual in CMFs so it immediately make me think of the Series 1 Demolition Dummy and Super Wrestler (luchadore) figures. The looping 'arm' shape immediately below may be the hair of a figure with pigtails (perhaps the Lego Batman Movie CMF Series 2 Harley Quinn hairpeice?) The bulbous shaped head (centre-left) could be a costume fig or perhaps some type of new helmet. Perhaps a 'scrum-cap' worn by rugby football players? The shape on the far right of the image reminded of the Series 16 Rogue but on closer inspection I think it is different.

Here are my guesses: Wicked King - with fabric cape and ermine collar pieces plus recolour of crown/hair combo with black hair Parrot Costume Person - with a macaw style headpeice, torso has wings instead of arms with pinapple accessory Noir Dectective - with torso-printed trenchcoat with fabric high collar piece, hair/hat combo and magnifying glass accessory Tooth Fairy - with wand accessory and printed 1x1 round tile with tooth symbol Train Driver - with waist-attaching steam-train cosume accessory Love Goddess (Aphrodite) - white toga-style robe, printed sandals, heart-peice accessory. Penny-Farthing Rider - with new penny-fathing style bicycle accessory Fairy Queen - with new crown/hair peice and harp/lyre accessory Imperial Sailor (tie-in to Eldorado Fortress) - with new staw hat/hair combo and a boathook accessory Rugby Union Player - with striped football unform with printed boots and rugby ball accessory Samurai Lord - with long bow, new chonmage-syle bald/hair piece ,and new printed war fan accessory Vet Nurse - with new guinea pig accessory Initially I thought they might do a special mystery figure/chase figure (like Mr Gold or the Highwayman) to help boost uptake/acceptance of the switch to blind boxes. Having seen the carnage of ripped packaging at some stores, I'm now convinced that Lego launching a chase figure would be precisely the wrong thing to do!

Older kids definately can enjoy Duplo. My nearly six year old girl has graduated to Lego at home, but loves playing with Duplo when she visits friends who have a large sack of it. I think she enjoys the feeling of near total masterty that comes from working with such a simple/familiar/intuative product: the size of the bricks and limited range of shapes make it super easy for her to construct quite large, stable builds very quicky, in a way which is very satisfying. This compares with the slower, fiddlier experience of building with Lego, where the smaller scale and greater menu of bricks choices require with much greater thought and concentration. I'm not saying one is better then the other, but they offer distinctly different play experiences and sources of satisfaction to kids in the 4-6 year age range. I know there is a tipping point somewhere when kids suddenly reject toys they consider 'too baby-ish', but she hasn't reached it for Duplo... yet.

Fantastic to get confirmation that this set is coming. Given its civilian-focus, I'm hoping it inlcudes a diverse mix of new/unique minifigure prints. If the level of detail matchs the recent Viking Village then we will be in for a treat. The rumoured professions of the figs already mentioned are delightfully specific: tax collector, guard, cheesemaker, jester, tapestry weaver, carpenter, crook (thief/rogue), sheildsmith. This makes me hopeful that Lego will give most figures distinct torso prints, rather than just spamming a bunch of generic peasant outfits. Given the presence of an inn and a farmhouse, can we perhaps expect the inclusion of a farmer and an innkeeper too? On the question of which military factions will be included, the Lion Knights and Forestmen seem most likely to me. The specific mention of the 'Broken Axes' Inn makes me hopeful that we get a new Crossed Axes torso varient for the Lion Knights. The sheildsmith opens up the possibility that the shields/heraldry of other factions could be included in the set as easter eggs, even if they are not present as figures (similar to the Lion Knights Castle 10305). I'm very curious about the likely design and layout of the buildings. The Prelim image somewhat reminds me the Harry Potter Diagon Ally set (i.e dolls-house style shop fronts on seperate baseplates that you can display in a row).

I think this idea would work well as a themed series. At a rough estimate, there have only been about 15 or so CMFs that could be thought of as representing aspects of conteporary nations/cultures (e.g. the Royal Guard, the Geisha, the Lederhosen Guy, the Flamenco Dancer, the Bagpiper, the Mariarchi etc). This compares with the nearly 50 or so food/animal suit CMFs, and 40+ sport/recreation themed CMFs. So lots of scope for Lego to more in this space.

That's a really interesting thought and would reflect with how some other blind bag/blind box systems seem to work: each series is released as a unified collection, with the design of all figures reflecting some overarching theme or style. This reduces the level of consumer uncertainty, even if they don't know the specific figure they will receive. Lego should understand this principle as its licensed CMF themes already operate on this principle. I note that some toy/collectable brands which use 'themed series' (I'm thinking Popmart and LOL Dolls) tend to compensate for the lack of thematic diversity within a series by releasing lots of niche themed series concurrently or in quick succession. This allows them to maximise their appeal to a wide range of consumer tastes at any given time (e.g.. you didn't like the recent 'pyjama party' and 'world of sports' themed collections? Don't worry, the 'famous people from history', 'fairy tale', and 'greek gods' collections are coming out next month!). Of course nobody is going to complain if its their particular niche that is being served. . But seriously (and to the point made by Accio Lego above) I do think the switch to blind boxes changes the calculus and makes the idea of niche/themed series more palatable. One thing that excites me (and for the record, I'm not a Space collector) about the idea of a themed series for Space is the greater range of new Lego character designs it could result in. Characters that wouldn't otherwise be included in a mixed-theme unlienced CMF series because they arn't architypal enough to represent their theme/genre alone. Things like a space doctor, a space scientist, a space courier, a space cowboy, a space engineer/mechanic, a space farmer/colonist etc. That's my hope anyway!

Difficult choice! My favorites are Govenor Broadside and the classic bluecoats as they were the main imperials of my childhood. Sabre Island forever! The classic redcoats ended up becoming my younger brother's imperial faction, which probably put me off them just a tiny bit! That said, I'm extremely keen to see a modernised take on the classic Redcoat minifigures (i.e. without the blue details of the 2009 versions).

The new grey hair/beard combo piece from the DreamZzz Mr Oz's Spacebus set (71460) gives me strong castaway vibes (think old Ben Gunn from Treasure Island).

In terms of full figures what I'd like most are: An updated version of the Imperial Armada nobleman with the silver gorget printed on his torso. An updated version of Captain Ironhook with torn shirt and bandolier A updated version of pirate/merchant captain "Steve" (Ascot Guy) An imperial navy sailor figure (it has always annoyed me that the infantry/soldiers have to sail the imperials ships): Flat straw hat in tan or black, dark blue jacket over blue and white striped shirt, red waist sash, white trousers with printed shoes. A male Roccoco aristocrat (counterpart to the recent female CMF Roccoco Aristocrat) - could be repurposed as a gentleman pirate. A female Islander (counterpart to the existing CMF Island Warrior) A female Aztec (countpart to existing CMF Aztec Warrior or CMF Ancient Warrior) In terms of specific new pieces/elements, I'm mainly hoping for new hats or hair/hat combos. In particular: A straw or tarred "boater" style hat, suitable for imperial naval seamen (similar hats worn by gondoliers or barbershop singers). Ideally would want this available in both Tan and Black options. An imperial armada morion-style helmet in Flat Silver (to compliment existing breastplate in that colour). A bicorne/short powdered wig hat/hair combo A tricorne/long powdered wig hat/hair combo

I agree, its pretty hard to imagine the effort it must have required! I'm no expert on all this, but certainly war-time emergency enlistment rules (no medical checks etc) seem to have helped a lot in enabling them to sign-up in the first place. I can imagine some recruiting officers turning a blind eye. In all four examples I gave, all were ultimately discovered (in some cases pretty quickly): In case of the female soldiers, one was 23 and one 24. I'm not sure how long they maintained their secret within their unit. What's clear is that by the time the truth was known, they had already won enough respect/reputation with their comrades that they were permitted to continue in their careers. In the case of the mistresses, its doubtful they needed maintain an authentic disguise as they could rely on the protection of their generals. The uniform was just a fig leaf to get around army regulations.

Indeed, and some of the individual stories are pretty amazing! Like Friederike Krüger who recieved the Iron Cross for bravery, and was granted special dispensation by the Prussian King continued to serve in the Prussian Army after her gender was discovered. Or Nadezhda Durova, who served with distinction in the Imperial Russian cavalry but struggled to gain promotion due to her youthful appearance and inability to grow a moustache. More amusing are the stories of the mistresses of senior generals who accompanied them on campaign, disguised in the uniforms of male junior staff officers. Napoleon's mistress Pauline Foures and Marshal Massena's mistress Henriette Lebreton are two notable examples of this. All of this is to say, for those that need historical inspiration for their Lego characters, there are a few interesting avenues you can pursue.

Given the approach taken with the recent Forestmen and Blacktron promos, I think a reboot of Dragon Masters via a GWP is actually a real possibility. My only concern is that the printing on the figure might be too simple (e.g. torso only). We shall see. if instead LEGO decides to use one of the existing rebooted factions, I expect it would be the Lion Knights.

Yes, I’m hopeful they will do a fig which will tie-in with 10320 in some way. IMO the most egregious omission from that set was a Captain or sailor for the merchant ship. Lego has never given us proper naval or merchant seamen before meaning soldiers have always had to crew the imperial ships. As the next cmf series will be in boxes rather then blind bags, and Lego knows that this move is unpopular with collectors, I’m also wondering if Lego will a) try to win over collectors by stacking the series with popular tropes (Knights/Pirates/Space etc or b) include some sort of chase figure e.g. a Heidi-inspired goatherd?!.

Regarding the new Disney Castle, the new Prince Charming minifigure has a new torso print dress uniform which may have some interesting possibilities. I think its suposed to be modelled on the uniform of the Austrian/Hapsburg Emperor. The design of the print is rather simple, but (I think) not too cartoonish. The shoulder braid/aiguillette and golden detail around the neck/collar are perhaps more suited to Napoleonic era Mocs then the golden age of piracy, but could perhaps be used as a govenor, general, aide de camp, cavalryman or drummer boy.

This might be old news to some, but the recently announced 76419 Hogwarts Castle and Grounds includes a new minifigure of the Hogwarts Architect featuring a really interesting new beard mould. Currently the new beard is exclusive to this set and only confirmed in one colour (pearl gold?). However, I presume it will be released in other colours in coming years. If recoloured in white it would be perfect for a modernised Majisto/Cerlin figure (perhaps in the rumoured upcoming Majisto GWP). It could work well in dwarf or viking mocs.

I wonder if much of the perceived ‘lazy’ design of this set stems from Lego’s own decision to primarially brand and market the set based on its similarity to the original Eldorado Fortress? Imagine if – rather than promoting the set as a faithful remake – Lego had instead chosen to place the current main alternate build on the front of the box as an original creation (complete with its own unique name/identity - e.g. Eldorado Redoubt/Landing/Trade Post?) and placed Eldorado Fortress on the back of the box as an alternative build/Easter egg? In other words, the same approach as Pirates of Barracuda Bay. While this switch would address none of the substantive design critiques (e.g. black vs brown docks, 'gappy' parapet walls, simplistic palm trees, lack of art/lore in the instruction manuals etc), the psychological effect in terms of perceived total creativity/innovation would, I believe, be reasonably profound. There are some hints that Lego may have considered taking this approach – for example the lifestyle video on Lego.com focuses almost exclusively on the alt build. Ultimately, they clearly decided that appealing directly to the traditionalism/nostalgia of the original Eldorado Fortress was the safer choice.