DaleDVM

I am not going to name anyone in particular. However, in the center of the hall there were a bunch of LEGO group employees displaying a bunch of old sets from the vault in Billund. They are involved in developing and promoting the LEGO game line.

I look at the castle in Billund... I like it. However, I see 3 shields with great heraldry. And that lion heraldry from 2013 is just awful. Cartoonish and bad color choices. Just my opinion. I may not have made it clear, but I didn't mind the set design in the 2013 sets. I had a big problem with set design from fright knights through knights kingdom. The heraldry on the new facade at Legoland also worries me for the future of castle. All of that old heraldry, nothing hinting at something new coming down the pike? Have they ever promoted future sets at Legoland before? I wouldn't know. @Aanchir. I agree with a lot of the thoughts you expressed. However, I really don't think we can compare contemporary designs to those from 30 years ago. I also do not think kids have final purchase decisions on sets. I think their parents do. Often a parent will veto a childs purchase decision if the parent does not agree the set is cool. I think adults opinions on sets is as important as the kids. As an AFOL the heraldry is literally the most important part of a new castle line to me. Parts for MOCing I can get anywhere. The heraldry, figs, accessories, and perhaps animals are the only things I get out of a castle set that are unique. I would argue that they play a large role in the overall appeal to the target "child" audience as well. The heraldry is more prominent on the packaging than it is in the set. As for castle sets being too similar to those in the past. That wouldn't seem to matter much for the target audience. Because a new crop of kids is playing with the castles. They may seem like a rehash of old sets to AFOLs but parents don't mind buying their kids sets similar to those they played with as a kid. In fact it might be a selling point. Since this thread is speculative I will include my observations at Brickworld this past weekend. I didn't get any official word from TLG employees, but their body language at Brickworld Chicago hinted that I was going to be disappointed with the set offerings next year. I fear we may have longer to wait for a new castle line. I hope I am wrong...

I just wanted to send a shout out to the Eurobricks crew!!! All of you that contributed to the award winning "Potion Shop" collaborative display should be proud! I do not have a copy of the group photo that I took for you, so hopefully somebody can post that here. It was a pleasure being able to hang out with all of you, and as always you inspire me. You are a bunch of very talented artists, but even more importantly you are great people to be around for 4 days. I can't wait to see what you do next year! Safe travels.

I love the debate, but I have a hard time taking a strong stand on what makes the best castle set at this time. I am desperate for any castle at this point... I know this much. Fright Knights followed by Knights Kingdom I and II slowly bled the castle theme. Fantasy sold great. Kingdoms sold well. 2013 Castle did not. Lesson? Don't make the factions look too cartoonish and it will sell. Not releasing new castle at the same time as LOTR/Hobbit is probably smart too. I know that a return to fantasy is the best idea for sales. Kids love obvious bad guys. (skeletons, trolls, etc) Fact is... It has been way too long since we have had castle to buy. However, my wallet has been spared for a few years now. I think with a several year drought of castle to buy, anything will sell relatively well at first. However, longevity requires a quality attractive product. I think next year we may see something happen. I hope so and it does seem to finally make sense with other themes winding down. I just want a couple of decent factions. I am hoping for some new useful molds obviously. There have been a lot of new parts (over the past 3 years) that will benefit a new castle that haven't been able to be used by the designers yet. I think a new castle may take on a new look than what we have been used to in the past. I don't desire a rehash of old factions. If I want the old factions they are already available. There are plenty of things to use for heraldry that have not been used yet. The one thing I desire above all else is more civilian sets. I have over 6 thousand castle figs. Yet only a few hundred are peasants/civilians and not much variety as we all know not a lot of variety has ever existed. A new medieval market type set perhaps with a sawmill or stonemason hut for a change of pace. Add in a new farm animal. That is what I am hoping for. And it would sell...

Thanks for the discussion. I have enjoyed reading the opinions. Just to toss in some input from an old classic castle guy. Lack of castle sets and now Nexo Knights threw me into a mini dark age. I have barely built anything or bought anything in the last 12 months. I have mostly abandoned these forums. I am still going to conventions and active in my LUG. However, TLG has nothing that has inspired me since Kingdoms. 2013 castle and LOTR sets were useful for me and I bought a lot, but they have been off the shelves for over a year. The Cinderella castle is what brought me back to visit. It is a nice set. However, heraldry, figures, and new molds are what get me excited the most. Nothing makes me want to build like having a new faction of knights to make a kingdom for. I suppose the CMFs offer a little inspiration. However, hundreds of clones of the same minifig do not make a faction for me. I need a little variety to make my MOCs look good. Nexo Knights are nice enough for what they are, a theme aimed at young boys. When I was young I liked the classic castle theme. I am not sure if I was young again whether I would enjoy Nexo Knights? I do know that both Ninjago and Nexo Knights draw kids away from castle themes so they will not run them together. I think that Ninjago actually even hurt LOTR sales. I know the target audience is different but minifigs with swords and hand to hand combat skills has crossover appeal. Castle fans were attracted to the ninja theme back in the late 90's. It is obvious many castle kids were drawn to Ninjago. If Ninjago wasn't available I would imagine LOTR and other castle sets would sell much better. I will note this. With Ninjago now being an evergreen theme, and if Nexo Knights is successful, the castle themes we were used to are going to be a rare sight on shelves. I am thinking that things have changed for the near future and possibly forever. I would guess that the castle theme's presence will be spotty for a prolonged period of time. This makes me sad, but even with as much LEGO as I buy, I know that I am not the target audience.

I am so sorry I didn't make a post earlier. The Pizza Party is on as always. After 9 years we can't let a Eurobricks tradition come to and end?! Come by my castle display on Saturday by 3:00 PM. Please let others know about this since I am so late in announcing it this year. I am at table site #72 on the layout map. I need $5, an introduction, and what kind of pizza you want to eat. I cover any additional cost, but please bring something to drink. Pizza should be here by 4:30 or so. Everyone is invited. Have fun and eat unhealthy (also a Chicago tradition), Dale

I saw the videos you are talking about BrickJagger. TLG slam on classic castle guys is kind of a slap in the face IMHO. Macy's video is the only one that doesn't do that so she is now the only Nexo Knight I support. As for the regular rank and file knights, their baby blue armor reminds me of this chess set I own. Besides that their torsos have as futuristic of printing as the rest of the guys.

It took me 15 minutes to type my post and that darn Hinckley posted everything. I will get you Mark! What I want to know is what Mr. Larson thinks of these sets?

I have sat silently by until the official announcement which came today. Here is a link to photos of a pair of the official sets. http://lego.gizmodo....egos-1735385185 I have looked them over closely. The new pyramid piece is very interesting and when it comes out in other colors I am sure I will want some. The new book is interesting but looks less like a book than the past version. It is nice this book is at least designed to be held by a minifig. Most of the minifigs have prints that are useless to historic builders. However a couple may be interesting, the queen and maybe the king for instance. The villains and monsters in particular can be very useful for fantasy castle folks. I think the small logos in the armor may be printed onto 1x1 tiles and put onto the armor from the inside? Similar to the one on the little robot in the below photo. Those 1x1 tiles might be nice. The same logos on the shields, flags, banners, etc. may also be useful to me. The king's sword looks interesting too. However, the shields themselves appear to be very bulky. they may be more useful for larger creatures like fantasy era trolls. Just not sure about them. Other than a few parts and figs here and there, this theme is a disappointment to this castle fan. For those that are into this, enjoy. To be honest, although I hate where this went, I think kids may very well like this theme. If so castle is likely dead for quite a while. I know we are not supposed to mention the thread moving but... When this gets moved to the action forum can we open another thread for us castle fans to discuss the future or lack thereof. I need a shoulder to cry upon!

I am not trying to be bombastic or a troll in any way. I am happy for those who will enjoy a theme like this. That being said, mere words cannot express my level of disappointment. This is the worst possible outcome for my needs. It may be that we may get a few new molds and even a few attractive figures. However, the heraldry is already looking like it is too futuristic to be of any use for historic castle builders. My guess is the weapons, armor, accessories, and colors will be too outlandish as well. I hope I am wrong! The worst part of all is the Nexo Knights may be very successful. With a TV show, books, and advertising campaign it is more likely than not. If it is a hit, this theme could kill the castle theme for the foreseeable future. Civilian figures, animals, realistic weapons, armor, accessories and other useful parts are likely to be scarce, if found at all in these sets. I have literally zero expectations at this point. When I was told so many months ago that something big was happening in castle, I sure didn't expect this. I would imagine the store manager that told me also had no idea this was going to be an action theme aimed at young children. The last couple of years has been tough as a castle collector. The near future looks bad. I guess I will save a lot of money and I will be hitting up bricklink a lot more.

Just got caught up reading the last couple of months worth of posts. I am very very disappointed that the new castle line is also the action theme. Obviously, I only have Ninjago and Chima to go off of, but I am truly worried. The word that I had gotten about this theme was large and fantasy/castle in January. The exact type of theme was not indicated to me at all. If history for action themes holds to form we can expect... -On the good guys side, multiple releases of the same named "hero" minifigs that are too specific to represent rank and file castle army figs. I doubt we will get any types of generic soldiers on the good side. I can only hope that the minifig parts can be changed around easily to turn them into a faction as opposed to one character. -On the bad guys side, usually there are one or two main villains and their minions. We may possibly get some mass normal troops on the bad guy side. -Civilian styled sets have not been a big factor in the action themes. Even the new Ninjago temple set is populated mostly by named characters. This would be devastating to me. New civilian minifigs are the thing I need more than any faction of castle guys. -The action themes always get drawn into making a lot of vehicles. I hope steampunk influence is light and these themes do not get vehicle centric. In general I don't care a lot about set design because I just use the parts to MOC with. However, I do want the sets to be appealing simply so they sell well. Then TLG can make more factions, parts, colors, etc in the future that I can MOC with. For this reason I hope the theme is appealing. Perhaps I will be surprised by this new theme, but I just drastically lowered my expectations for the next 3 years of LEGO collecting. I just hope the heraldry, colors, prints and any new molds are useful.

Tickets ahead of time are advised. You get in the door without waiting so it is faster.

OK Brickworlders, we are down to two weeks. I put in about 80 hours of build time in the last two weeks. Strangely enough, I still have 200 hours of building to do! How does this happen? I am beginning to get very very nervous. Cecilie, I can honestly say I am vaccinated for rabies. So it is OK if I bite people... and by people, I mean you OK you got me. If I made a spaceship it would look castley and be manned by a crew of knights and peasants.

Looks like it is going to be a big turnout from Eurobricks this year at Brickworld! Once again I received no love on the collaborative. I swear I can build more than castles and I don't bite (hard)... Never mind that I would be even further behind on my own building and likely not get anything completed. he he. Simon, If I had recognized you as being human previously, I would certainly have given you accolades. Whether that makes you super or sub-human is a debate for another day... Captainowie you could dress up as a giant ball like violet in Willie Wonka. Then we could roll you around the convention hall! Good Times. And obviously everyone it doesn't count as cosplay unless people actually notice you are in costume! I can't wait to see everyone and their builds!

You will be missed Vincent. I didn't even mind ordering your special pizza without cheese. Take care and I hope to see you in 2016! Cecilie I can't wait to see you. So glad you are bringing some newbies.