DaleDVM

Thanks for the heads up on the new photos. The 3 in 1 castle is pretty nice. The alternate builds look great as well. I am in it mostly for the new faction parts... torsos, legs, shields. But the set being a nice design will help it sell better among the general populace. I agree with Teri. While I do a lot of rockwork and foliage on my MOC's because it adds a huge amount of realism to the overall look of a scene, LEGO terrain only eats into a playsets part count making the rest of the build less... Not only that, the TLG can't really devote enough parts to terrain to make it look really good. So, you end up with blocky rocks, overly steep ramps, and barely there trees. Just my opinion of course.

Great build, great lighting, and love the whole Flickr feed!

Considering this is a throwback, I would imagine they will print up some Black Knights. However, it is possible they will hand this ship over to a faction that will be in production at the time. Kraken... cough... Obviously, I am hoping for a Black Knight revival.

I know they are not generic, and that is why they are not widely available. But they are good historical prints nonetheless. And we have so few period appropriate civilian prints. I think TLG is stupid for not putting the figs into small battle pack type sets with a small build so people can get more of them. The math is simple. People only have so much money to spend on LEGO. If they are spending a ton on Bricklink for overly expensive figs where TLG only takes a small cut, they are not spending that money in LEGO stores buying sets. Sets have a much better margin for the company.

Oops... Just saw the title mentioned in the UK.

Hey all. Throwing the annual Eurobricks (but we let anyone come) pizza party! Just come see me at my 30 foot long Goldcrest (dark blue and gold) castle display before 3 PM on Saturday. Let me know what type of pizza you would like. I do charge a $10 entry fee, but you get garlic bread, cheesy garlic bread, and as much Lou Malnatti's pizza as you can snarf down. Party starts about a half hour after the venue closes to the public (4:30ish PM). We eat back by the concession area. Try to bring something to drink as I usually can't bring enough for everyone. Look forward to seeing everyone there.

I love Tolkein and all of his works. I collect all of the LOTR/Hobbit sets. I think most of the designs are very good. However, as a castle collector, I just have this one thing to add to this discussion. It is an absolute travesty that all of these historical torsos and other exclusive accessories are only available in these expensive sets. The minifig parts and the unique pieces are WAY too expensive to collect in any numbers. These sets have some of the most amazing historic looking civilian prints ever made IMHO. However, one or two isn't enough to populate large MOCs. If anyone knows of a way to obtain the LOTR minifig parts for anything close to an affordable amount, I would love to know how to do it.

Thanks. I agree 100%. Jayco and the knights he came with are jelly bean nightmares. His "unit" mostly came from the chess set. However, the KKII guys had less flashy colors, mixed in some silver, copper, grey and black, and had some of the best heraldry in LEGO history. I didn't really collect armies of KKI. I got the figs from sets. However, the KKII guys were worthy of making units of them. Getting even what I had of them was difficult because nobody collected them in numbers. These guys were available is so few sets, which in their own right were so unpopular, during a time the LEGO corporation was on the ropes. So, I was getting 1 or 2 from here and there. The shipping was the real killer. I really like these shields from KK2. I wish they would put silver, and copper/brassy colors back into their heraldry and minifig design. It really looks great IMHO. In addition this Harry Potter shield was so cool I made a unit of guys with it as well. It reminds me, of how few factions we had available from the 70's, 80's, and 90's back when I started collecting. If you look at the shields available on bricklink by the year they are released from 1978 to 1999 there was less than 1/2 of a page of shields and several of those were the early ones with stickers. From 2000 until now, there are 4 and a half pages of shields, even if a couple of pages are from other themes. Many are useful in a medieval setting. It is unfortunate that the number of actual banners or flags representing a faction is miniscule compared to the number of shields we have been offered.

Good lord, are those helmets a rarity. They look nice. Could put them on commanders but definitely too expensive for an army. Well... for my armies anyway.

I like the physical design of the Kraken logo a lot. I am not sure about its color. I think that the Kraken in teal and then having the shirt in a less flashy color would have been a better choice. As for the Bricklink designer program. I am not a fan at all. Don't get me wrong, many of the designs are first rate. However, I can make MOCs and these sets offer literally no unique parts at all. I am also not a fan of competing with scalpers who buy these sets the first second they release and then I can't buy one. I wanted to support the designers. I was online for the first releases, and I ordered immediately. I didn't get squat. The next day, people were trying to sell their copies for 50% more on Bricklink! The same exact place that ran that shitshow in the first place. And the prices for the sold out items just kept climbing. That left a really bad taste in my mouth. I will not be buying these sets. They are not official LEGO sets and as a castle collector, I am truly offended by how this program is run. LEGO won't give castle fans what we want, and instead are trying to toss us scraps through the BDP. I also feel like LEGO is taking advantage of the fan base that are wannabe designers. I know current and past LEGO designers. Years ago, LEGO laid off many of their best (and highest salaried) designers, to hire young AFOLs cheap. The current designers do not make what they deserve, especially considering the profitability of the company. It is unfortunate IMHO that some people want to be part of LEGO so bad that they undervalue themselves and TLG is taking advantage of that. They are not the company they once were. However, I still like the product for the most part.

I went onto the site and updated my Flickr for the first time since 2012. LOL! God I am getting old. I put some descriptions in for clarity on the factions represented. I added in some castle adjacent/fantasy figs into a couple of armies. Sadly, I have never had my army collection out after 2008. By 2009 my display was getting large and I didn't want to take up too much room at a convention. However, you can see my collection in summer of 2008 at Brickfair DC when I did take pictures. This is when I had about 3/5 of my Crown knights and the majority of my figs from the factions that existed at that time. Since then, some of the factions have grown considerably. Especially those that were re-released. Note: these photos were actually taken at the same time the Fantasy Era Trolls rolled out as an enemy to the Crownie's in 2008. Woah... That is a while ago, before I even knew what Bricklink was. My collection was around 2000 medieval military figs at this point, about a year out of my dark ages. And then... things got a little nutty. I hope this link works for anyone who wants to look. https://www.flickr.com/photos/28077643@N08/

That is very kind of you Shroffy. I am working on the display right now. At Brickworld Chicago this year the first half of the display will reach the limit of its length at 30 feet. MAB, I can't really use my display as an excuse for the size of my castle armies. My addiction to building armies happened before I slowly made a place to display them. If I want to be nice to myself, I can say I had a lot of forethought. But mostly, I just really liked them. I will note: I was smart enough to know that they would definitely be a great investment. That is, if I ever sell them while I am alive. If not, my heirs will make some money. I imagine the value of my figs has at the very least tripled since I got serious about it 18 years ago. So... How does one become a big army builder? By accident usually. For those who are interested... Just for perspective, if you think army building is expensive, and it can be, at 36 baseplates long by 4 baseplates wide, my display now has over $1200 of baseplates in it. I am laughing right now, but maybe I should be crying. The fact is. Army building might be the most expensive aspect of LEGO collecting. But we all know, collecting retired anything in this hobby is very costly. And even just acquiring parts to build with adds up quick. I often abandon a project I want to do because of rare retired parts that are too lavish for my taste. That said, my display has grown to have somewhere around 1200 figs on it. The only faction where I have a ton of figs displayed is the Crownie's since it is their city they have around 400ish army figs represented. However, since the city is holding a tournament I have around 10-15 figs from every human faction fighting in the tournament itself, populating in the tent area, sitting in the stands watching, and walking about the city. There are about 50 or so trolls being brought in as prisoners as an obvious group of bad guys. Now that I think about it, the actual largest "army" is the civilians. There are about 500 of those on the display as well. The fantasy era brought me out of a dark age, which was triggered by the Fright Knights and Knight's Kingdom I. Eww! When I started building my display in 2007, Crownies were the new thing, and they were readily available. I will admit, back then, I had no idea that I was going to build such a large display. I collected a large army because I could afford to, and I am one of those rare breed of people who like seeing large armies. Since I hadn't bought LEGO in many years and with the introduction of the new light grey, I bought multiples of all of the fantasy era sets for figs and for parts. When it came to figs, the chess sets back then were an incredible buy. They retailed for $50 here in the USA and had 24 figs in them. Now, mind you, 8 of those were black skeletons, but still at roughly $2 per fig it was a steal. Later I picked up a few more chess sets at $35 when they went on sale. Those days are sadly gone. However, I ended up with over 500 Crownies, and I will likely need to buy more to populate the second half of my build. Ugh... I could have used more forethought! Once you get one faction with that many figs, the situation snowballs, (in my sick mind anyway) and you want your other factions to have large numbers as well. After all, 25 soldiers are almost unnoticeable when put next to 500. So... I went back and started adding to my classic figs from the 80's and 90's to get those factions up to at least 100 figs each. Luckily figs were much cheaper back then on Bricklink and I also absorbed a few collections from other retiring castle fans. Since then (2007 to now), getting decent sized armies while the figs were current, hasn't really been a problem. Unfortunately for me, I did not use PAB until very recently. From 2007 until 2014, I mostly got my figs up from sets and battlepacks. Obviously, after that we had 8 years of nothing but CMF's which were their own challenge to army build with. But, I fondled bags for years to add 25, 50, even 100 of the castle and castle adjacent CMF's to my collection. Nowadays, I buy some CMF's at the LEGO store, but I just use brute force to buy CMF's on Bricklink. I am too busy/old to go to 20 stores buying them out of the best figs. CMF collecting has been rather brutal to be honest. The good news is that with PAB and LUGbulk purchases, getting masses of faction torsos, legs, shields, etc. has gotten easier than ever. The problem over the last decade has been getting a variety of figs. Lucky for us all recent news has solved that problem as well. Looking forward to building armies with the 4 new factions. Next year I will have another 1000 figs to store. Come to think of it... I might need a new house. And that sounds expensive too... Good luck collecting to everyone!

Wow! Did I miss a lot over the last month. First, the 3 in 1 castle is golden in my eyes. 4 new torsos including a civilian, 2 new leg prints, 2 new shields. A new yellow plume and a new blue hood. New factions that are not repeats from the past is very welcome to this collector! I am loving the white uniforms for the horse lords. The light blue gives off a little bit of a Jayco vibe , but it does go well with the white. The snake knight in all black is interesting. I reserve judgement until I see that one in person. His shield however, is perfect. I will be army building both of these factions and the peasant torso as well. I will likely pick up 3 of these sets since I primarily only buy castle anyway. Not to mention the parts are actually useful. Light bley is better than dark bley. I will likely never use the yellow, (Except as filler brick) from the previous 3 in 1 castle. The build is decent and the brick built horses actually look alright. I will never use them next to my molded horses, but good effort anyway. I am glad they didn't include horses if that is what made the 6 minifigs doable. Second, the vending machine turned out to be a surprise bonus for us castle folks! The Griffons look like a classic faction. The heraldry is great! The generic torso and legs could be used to bolster the recent BAM minifig's (dark red, silver, gray) faction as well as building a new one from scratch. I might use each of those factions figs as the leaders of the other faction. The Kraken... hmm... It is a bit too colorful and busy for me. With the scarf on, you can barely tell it is a normal yellow minifig underneath. I think that yellow hands might be called for on these figs. Easy enough to replace. I may go without the face wrapping as well, but will have to play with it. I like the heraldry and the shield. I find it cool we are getting such a variety of prints and shapes of shields this year. I think I might snag a gumball machine since it would be a fun way to distribute gifts to the public at LEGO shows. Most of my money will be spent army building all four of these factions on PAB.

You are 100% correct. Army building is overrated. It is expensive. Most of my collection rarely sees the light of day and just takes up space. But, it still is kinda cool seeing massive armies on occasion. I can't really explain it...

Army building for current figures is not all that bad. Army building retired and rare figures is expensive AF. Take collecting slow... The only advice I can give at this point for collecting older factions is to have patience. I started collecting LEGO in 1992 as a young adult. Over my 30+ years of collecting, I was able to obtain large armies of 100+ figs for just about, every faction LEGO has ever made. Yes, I have about 150 black knight figs. I only have a couple dozen of the pre 1984 classic castle guys. I have all of those early sets, but didn't collect any extra figs from that era. To be honest, I never really liked those figs much anyway. In 1985 the figs improved greatly IMHO. If you really really want to collect older factions, get involved in the community. Go to LEGO shows and/or contact people online. Collectors will sell at some point... none of us are going to live forever. Most of the people I know with the largest collections are older fans. You might be able to buy in bulk from someone retiring in the LEGO community. Even among AFOLs, army collectors are a rare (and some would say, strange breed). If you buy an entire army all at one time you will likely get a decent discount. One day, I will likely sell my entire collection of castle and fantasy figs. I have about 8000 castle military, and 1000 civilian figs. I also have about 4000 castle adjacent/fantasy figs consisting of Vikings, Dwarves, Trolls, Nexo Knights & Ninjago baddies as a compliment to my castle armies. I certainly do not want to sell well over 13,000 figs individually on Bricklink. That would just be more work than I can stomach. So one day, I will figure out an average cost and sell the lot for a discount to some LEGO castle fan with an adequately sized bank account. Or... I may have to sell it faction by faction. I certainly will not sell them individually. Luckily, I did get a lot of the original Black Falcons, Lion Knights, Black Knights, and Forestmen in the early 90's. Most of my older figs are from the sets I collected back when those sets were on store shelves. I was able to get 1980s retired sets in the 90's without much of a markup. However, I also acquired quite a few "classic" figs on Bricklink as well. To this day, when I place an order on Bricklink for parts I need, I usually will buy any random old castle figs people have for sale. People will frequently sell 1 or 2 figs for a decent price. It is the people who have a lot of a certain fig that ask much higher prices... Since I am already paying for shipping, (for the parts) the figs are just a bonus. Do this for a few years and you might be able to get smaller squad sized units to add to your current larger armies for variety and or individual characters. Personally, I find the hardest figs to acquire are civilians. My MOCs are huge and I do not tend to build battles. Any city should have more civilians than soldiers, so I actually army build medieval civilian figs as well. Thank goodness for PAB. I order torsos and legs for civilians in counts of 100 or more each time a new one comes out. There is not a lot of variety. We really only have the recent offerings, a few scattered old noble folks, and then civvies from the 2007 fantasy era. Plus the odd Jedi, or other theme torso that works for medieval townspeople. Good luck. Remember, when figs are not available, save some of your money for a future bulk purchase. You never know when someone will sell their collection.