MAB

It really depends what definition of minifigure scale you use. It will not be minifigure scale if you define it by the dimensions of the location (tower) by the dimensions of a person. However, it will (hopefully) be minifigure scale in that minifigures can interact with the build. Orthanc, for example, is clearly not minifigure scale based on the height of the tower compared to the height of a minifigure, but it is minifigure scale in that the interiors are designed around minifigures. I also consider that both a display and play set. I hope Barad Dur is similar.

Nice idea. I remember drawing figures similar to that in Maths class!

To me, these 40 or so years apart are similar. They are more similar than they are different. If any LEGO fan from then picked up a modern figure, they'd recognize it as being similar to those of the past. Whereas these ones, I'd call these different. The new ones are just updated to modern standards mainly because the old ones were not particularly detailed. I think they are more in line with what modern collectors expect. I don't think I'd buy into modern LEGO if it was producing decorated parts that look like they were designed 40 years ago. But I prefer modern sets to use modern parts and modern design techniques, even if they are based on nostalgic sets of the past. Similarly if I want castle figures, I want them to be made with today's design standards even if sometimes the detail goes a little too far. If I wanted an old design, I'd build the old set. I'd feel LEGO was being quite lazy and that I was being taken for a ride if it just re-released old sets using only old parts without improving on the design at all.

Castle minifigures look like the old designs, just with small updates. The colours used in new Castle sets is also similar to those of the 80/90s. Same with Pirates. Blacktron Cruiser is close to the original but so is the Forestman Hideout.

That page also contains Dungeons and Dragons, Snow White, Lord of the Rings, Vikings, Pirate Ship and Eldorado Fortress. This is just advertising showing other stuff that is slightly similar to try to get you to look at as many of their products as possible and purchase them.

I use the 32+1 drawer cabinets for minifigure parts, and also one for technic parts. They are pretty good quality, although they were only £7.99 when I last bought them. For building parts, these drawers are not really big enough.

The vintage macaroni bricks can be offset, unlike modern ones. So you could use those to create a 4x4 circular cross section cane. Plus it would have an open core to run cables through.

For me, the value of older sets is that they are old and vintage and have survived rather than the play value. We have seen with bricklink, people want age appropriate parts to restore their sets. They tend not to want to use modern parts to restore an old set. If LEGO were to re-release vintage sets instead of modern updates, I really wonder who they are for. They are not for the vintage collector and they are not for the modern kid. That leaves the nostalgic adult that remembers the sets but doesn't care about authenticity. No doubt there are reasonable numbers in that group now. But as they don't care about authenticity then design changes to use modern parts should be fine. However, I prefer what they did with GE and LKC, scaling them up to match the growth in the builder.

They also charge more than the manufacturing costs for sets, whether that is real money or the monetary value of VIP points.

Which set do you think the original version of the Lion Knight's Castle is?

King Theoden. I thought this was the most beautiful figure at the time of release and it hasn't been bettered since. It looks like him, the armour is superb but the figure also looks good without the armour.

I think I'd prefer to see Kingdoms or Fantasy Era style and if not, some Black Knights and Wolfpack, maybe a bit more Forest or Dark Forest. Anything but Classic Castle. The heraldry was rather plain and I wouldn't have any use for more yellow.

The only thing good about reintroducing that set would be the number and variety of minifigs. They have just done a grey Creator castle. If they did something similar in yellow but with the existing factions done recently, I doubt it would sell too well. It is just a minifigure pack with a lot of yellow bricks.

They look real to me.