DaleDVM

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.

Hey everyone. It is 4 weeks until the opening party Wednesday night June 17th. I don't know about anyone else, but I still have about 200 hours of building to do. So I guess this is gonna be a full time job for the remaining time I have. PIZZA PARTY The Eurobricks annual pizza party will be held Saturday night about an hour after public viewing hours are complete. This translates to 5PM or so. What I need from you... is to visit me by my display on Saturday BEFORE 3:30 PM. At 3:30 the order goes in and you don't want to miss out on the yumminess! My name is Dale Klein and my display is called Goldcrest. It is a huge castle display that is 25 feet long. You can't miss it. I sit by my display almost the entire time during public hours so you should be able to find me. When you meet me I require a friendly introduction, just in case I forgot your name and for you pizza party virgins. I also need $5 and what type of pizza you want me to order. The concession area is closed by the time we eat, so PLEASE do bring something to drink. Since the concessions are closed we use those tables to eat. I cover any additional costs and handle everything else. I order deep dish from Lou Malnatti's along with some garlic bread. I haven't heard anyone complain yet about the pizza or walking away hungry. Chicago pizza is hearty stuff! We have been doing this since the second Brickworld. Last year it surpassed 50 people and grows each year. Make sure to try and meet new people. Put a face to that Eurobricks name you have been chatting with. I love this event and look forward to meeting some new AFOLs. COSPLAY? Also last year was the first year I displayed in costume according to my theme. A whole lot of people thought cosplay should be something that expands at Brickworld. I have not heard anything from anyone since last summer. I can bring my costume, but as it is incredibly warm and uncomfortable. I do not want to be the only one in costume. If anyone was wishing to partake in a little cosplay now is the time to let me know. Looking forward to seeing everyone and someone please tell me they are way behind on building too. Misery loves company.

According to the OP the upcoming theme will be fantasy based. I have not heard anything on this matter. I would imagine this is correct. The last two themes were all human. The fantasy era from 2007-2009 was a more popular line according to what I have heard about sales. Finally TLG had a designer do a seminar at Brickworld where he said in no uncertain way that kids flat out like sets with two obvious sides. One good and one bad. They also by far prefer the baddies to be fantasy elements. I think we got the human vs human castle themes over the last 5 years because of LOTR/Hobbit. I would expect the castle theme to be more fantasy and less realistic moving into the future.

Indeed it was the <insert that tiresome argument> aspect of the heraldry that bothered me from the 2013 line. The minifigs were top notch! Even the builds were not too bad in my opinion. However, the builds are never really an issue for me anyway. I see sets as ingredients for my MOCs and little more. However, a better build is nice just for the fact that more sets will be sold and the castle line becomes more profitable for LEGO. Profits lead to more Castle LEGO sets. When a line gets designed the top ten things I am looking for is 1) nice (and hopefully new) heraldry, color scheme also falls in here 2) nice minifigs 3) new minifig accessories 4) new animals 5) sets good for army building 6) new elements for building 7) sets filled with good parts for MOCing 8) old elements in new colors 9) Good price per parts 10) Well designed sets In conclusion things that cannot be MOCed end up at the top of my list. I don't care as much about things I can easily change myself.

I have heard January from two different store managers from two different stores. I posted the first source some time ago on this thread. I got this original information from asking about the castle line. Since then I was voluntarily offered the second piece of information from a different LEGO store manager. This one also mentioned that it was likely to come in January. Why did they offer this info? Likely because when castle comes out I buy like 6-20 of each set and they are hoping I will open my wallet again soon. Besides what else can a manager and I talk about while feeling through hundreds of CMF bags to get all of the goblins. Note that I did not get any info about the type of castle theme being released just that it will be castle and a good sized release. If the release is in January then expect solid information before September.