Erynion

I laughed! There is a forestman shooting a deer from behind a tree... that is so awesome... The trees are absolutely stunning. I can't tell you how much I wish I had the skill to build trees that look so realistic (nevermind the rocks, water, tents, and everything else of course). As for the comments about LEGO and art, I would definitely say that LEGO is a medium of art, like painting or sculpture or w/e...

Wow... cool... I'm not really into Star Wars anymore, and I rarely read SW updates on the frontpage but... I'm very interested in that Queen Amidala minifig...

So glad to see some additions to the classical era! The gladiator and Egyptian queen are a must-have for me. Now we have even a half-decent Roman sword too. What series will the Roman Legionaries and Centurions be in? Seriously, I can't wait. Anyways, once again thanks for the detailed review. Although I'm curious about this: Since I didn't notice either of those accessories anywhere in this review...

*Sigh* I just saw this and read it, and now I'm feeling very nostalgic. Those archer helmets are absolutely adorable. Why, oh why, did LEGO have to take them out of production and replace them with those comparatively ugly wide-brimmed helmets? Man, I wish our castles nowadays came with as many figures and horses

Thanks for the replies everyone. Interesting idea. I've considering double-stick-taping some new decals onto some of my City people torsos and Native American shields, though that might not come out right. I don't know about the whole fancy color-stripping washing repainting sealing decal thing... that just seems too far from LEGO to do for a LEGO hobby... By the way, that search brings up nothing Discontinued whole "battle packs" (or any complete sets) looks like a very expensive way to collect figures to me - Fantasy Era Knight packs are going for almost $30 apiece, which strikes me as considerably more expensive than buying the figures and accessories individually (Kingdoms battlepacks on BL look reasonable, though). I live in Canada and the CAD price is 30-50% higher than the USD price, even though the Canadian dollar is presently stronger than USD, so I think that whatever I collect, ordering from BL/Ebay is a better bet for me than using S@H or even the local toy store. Wonderful To me, CM seems like a terrible way to build an army. I'm incredibly sick of hunting down stores that sell them, and then going in and huddling over my barcode or dot sheet to figure out which ones to buy. I know of *one* local store that sells them for a reasonable price, so even if I got there the day they opened a box, I couldn't expect to get more than 3-6 minifigures that way. And I feel really bad taking all of the Spartans/Elves etc out of a box. Spartans and Elves on BL are generally very expensive. And as you said, none of them are "generic medieval", so it's not really what I'm looking for. All in all, I really don't see Collectible Minifigures as meant for, or good for, army building... As far as numbers go, one hundred soldiers would be a dream for me. I don't know if I expect to even get that far... Yep, that's me. Time for a casual LEGO hobby, but not much for MOCing. Although I do have plans to someday build a really nice custom Castle for them. You have some interesting suggestions that I'd never thought of. I'm not sure if they would work well for me or not... I had planned to just buy 10-20 new figures or so a few times a year as I had the money and felt the urge. The idea of collecting torsos before everything else sounds... hard... and almost too serious. I don't know where my life, interests, and finances will take me over the next few years, so I'm afraid I'll end up with a whackload of torsos and shields and nothing else, and either have no money to spend or no interest in collecting anymore... hmmm Thanks for the ideas everyone, I appreciate your taking the time to post. And sorry if it seems like I'm just dismissing or disagreeing with your ideas - I'm only commenting where I disagree Aaaaauuuuggghhh... before I was torn between something retro, since I'm fond of retro everything and especially these helmets, and between Fantasy Era Crown soldiers, because I like fantasy and because I love the colour scheme... and maybe it's time to move on and stop being nostalgic about the past... Now I'm torn between Fanstasy Era and Kingdoms, fantasy for the same reasons, and Kingdoms now because I think it would be considerably easier to collect (still in production, cheap battlepacks, etc...)... I didn't really like Kingdoms at first, since red isn't my colour and because I think the whole Kingdoms theme lacks originality (lion and dragon emblems, just humans vs humans, etc, it has been done so much... unlike Fantasy Era). Also, it occurred to me that my favorite REAL medieval civilization is probably the Britons, and the red lion coat-of-arms in Kingdoms is PERFECT for that. *sigh* At least I've ruled out retro. For... today... I used to be indecisive, but now I'm not sure.

This is just way too massive to not comment on... I like the building architecture, though I can't say I appreciate the colours. Something darker than red would have seemed more appropriate to me. Not that I've build anything better... Also, as far as being ELVEN, the whole idea didn't seem very ELVEN to me - I'm more of a Lord-of-the-Ringsy kind of guy, so the idea of Elves living underground and having such square-looking architecture just doesn't seem quite right to me. But obviously other fantasies do things differently, and that's okay too...

Beautiful project! It's really interesting to see the build in-progress so I have a tiny inkling of how people actually make epic landscapes like this. Wow. Even if I had twice as many parts as you, I wouldn't even know how to start building something this detailed and realistic. The landscape in general looks very good to me, but I especially admire the trees! That willow is awesome! I look forward to seeing more. But don't kill yourself over a hobby

Greetings Over the past year or so my childhood interest in LEGO has gradually sparked anew. I unfortunately don't have a lot of time to pursue the hobby and build epic and beautiful MOCs, so I most focus on collecting minifigures. Lately I've had a desire to build my Castle army bigger, and I was wondering if any experienced army builders/collecters had some advice for me. Since I can't really afford to purchase a lot of sets (especially out-of-production ones...), and since I'm not really a big fan of the Kingdoms line anyways, I think my best bet is to purchase minifigures and accessories on Bricklink - unless someone has a better suggestion? I'm also debating which figures to collect. I like to have my army relatively "uniformed" and have at least the same color scheme/coat-of-arms throughout. However, at the moment I have a smattering of various Castle/medieval themes (Fright Knights, Knights Kingdom I, Ninja, and a bit of Fantasy Era). I think I prefer the Fantasy Era soldiers best, since they look so awesome in their shining silver and I like navy blue/black a lot better than the red on the Kingdoms guys. But I don't know though - I also like retro Castle (I miss those old archer helms without the wide brim...). I THINK it generally holds true Fantasy Era figures are cheaper and at least more plentiful in the online marketplaces than, say, Royal Knights or Dark Forest or whatever, since they were sold most recently? If some experienced army builders could lend me some advice about what and how to collect soldiers, and if I've said anything in error correct that, I would greatly appreciate it. Sorry this got a little long-winded. Thanks! ~Erynion~

Thanks for the review. I truly admire the uniqueness of this set compared to the other Kingdoms sets... everything else - King's Castle, Prison Tower Rescue, Prison Carriage Rescue, all that stuff - is really just recycled ideas that we've had in most Castle themes for decades. But this one is really something new. I'd like to get it to go along with my MMV, but I'm sure my student budget will support it... As for the chickens, I dunno... I have to say I admire the brick-built ones from MMV more than these ones...

Cool castle. I'm not sure if this is the look that you were going for, or if anyone else agrees, but to me it looks more like a 'decorative' castle, or even an old stone mansion - e.g., like it belongs to a lord or nobleman of the realm, and it's where he and his subjects live, rather than being a fortified defensive structure. All the same though, the detail is impressive, especially being your first MOC in 15 years... good job.

I echo the posters above... This is easily among the best, if not THE best, MOC I have ever seen (and this is not something I say lightly). I love it. As I stare in awe at the wonder, many thoughts go through my head - where did you get all the pieces? Where did you get the money for all the pieces (I'm a student )? Where did you get the time to build all that? And then finally, you have such incredible skill to create a MOC with that much detail - oh, the detail! Even if I had all the pieces at your disposal, and a year to with which work on it and nothing else to do, I wouldn't be able to put such intricate detail into it... the stands, the stables, the ground, the landscape rocks and grass and flowers and plants, the tents, the shops, the tournaments, the... everything... you created a great atmosphere of the medieval fair with, not just jousting, but other competitions and performances too. I also looked at the rest of the castle on Brickshelf and had similar thoughts about the MOC as a whole. Truly awesome. EDIT: I just thought of this. The tournament is missing an archery competition, and a quarterstaff bout. Maybe this is coming with Robin Hood...

In response to the talk of Rome stuff - I REALLY want Roman Legionaries and Centurions... I'm hoping that since they seem to be creating 'mini-themes' in Collectible Minifigures over different series, as with the Wild West, the beach, the musicians... that we'll see some more classical era figures to go along with our Spartans, and now the gladiator. Like Romans soldiers On that note, I'd like a Rome series altogether - the medieval castle theme is getting old. Let's have a classical era 'castle' series for once.

Cool MOC! I'd love to see more Stargate & Star Trek MOCs. I suppose I might if I ever browsed passed the frontpage but... yeah But that's for teleporting in. What if they teleport out? Then it looks like... 1. the jaffa are standing in the ring 2. the rings come down in sequence 3. the rings are all stacked on top of each other 4. the jaffa disappear 5. the rings go back up

Thanks again for another comprehensive review, Whitefang. You clearly put a lot of work into these, and I truly value the detailed pictures of the minifigures, as well as enjoying the extra 'fun extra' picture and comments you throw in. I still like Series 2 best overall, but I think S4 is better than S3 or S1. As for the surfer and the skater boy, I do think they're unnecessary repeats. But I'm very interested in the mad scientist. I guess we're just different

Cool battle. It vaguely reminds me of Helm's Deep (although that might be just because Gollum in your avatar syced me up for LOTR). I wish I had a collection of orcs and castle soldiers like you do

The dragon prison looks... meh... just a wall, not too exciting, though I expect people will go for it because of the armoured horse. I might want to pick up a couple of Blacksmiths just because of the unique armour and weapons it comes with. King's carriage looks a whole lot better than the fantasy era chariot, but I'm not sure if I like the printing on the horses. I think it limits what the horses can be used for - what if I want to ditch the carriage and ride like a cowboy? Overall, though, I also really liked the Royal King's Carriage from back in the 90's and I don't think this one looks better.

After looking at the suggestions here, I have to say I really like the Black Knight's Castle and Royal Knight's Castle. Wow. I don't know if I've ever seen those before. Now I want them too As for modern castles, I really like the fantasy era castle. It looks way, way better than King Leo's Castle, which I think was a big flop (I mean, honestly, there's holes in the walls at the side...). I also like the fantasy era in general. I've been considering taking LDD and building myself a custom castle and then ordering the parts on Bricklink (too expensive to order from LEGO directly). Would probably be cheaper than buying any of the aforementioned sets...hmm...

OMG! Those little advent calendar ships look so cute, I want them, even though I'm not an SW fan. On a similar note, I do love Ewoks, and my Forestmen would love that tree stump...

You misunderstood me I don't actually have the ship, not even the pieces to build it (unless you want a very colourful ship). I probably won't actually build one; just that seeing your ship makes me 'feel like it'. Know what I mean? As for the corridors - maybe I didn't look closely enough. I couldn't tell if the interior was actually all connected. Thanks tho.

That's one sweet ship. The shape isn't my favorite (actually, it reminds me of the LMS Explorer from Rock Raiders), but it's a very impressive build anyways. I love the interior and exterior details. One question: can the minifigures move around from room to room inside the ship (doors, hallways etc). Or were you too tight on space to allow for that detail? Now I want to build my own massive spaceship (these great MOCs do that for me ) ~Erynion~

I'd agree with some people that this is a bit of a... weird set. I'm also rather shocked at some of the torso positionings in it - eg, the king's torso on the snake charmer, a pirate-y torso on one of the soldiers... it's just... wrong I would say that the short knight and princess are definitely cute. I want those grey legs for the plastic edition of my WoW Gnome Warrior.

My votes are: ACPin - 1 Athos - 1 Blackicep8ntball - 1 Philocrites - 1 -since these make me think of the true meaning of Christmas twigman - 1 -cause it's cool

Since I can't think of a better way to word my appreciation... Whitefang. The additional pictures and comments with the collectible minifigs interacting or standing with other minifigs add a lot to the generic pictures of the Series 3 minifigs themselves. Such detailed reviews with pics of the assembled minifigs, individual parts, and even probability and analysis are great to have. Whitefang - I do have to point out though that when you referred to the 'traditional bow' and showed a picture of the S1 Forestman, that's not quite correct - that bow has a slightly different mold, barely noticeable, from the bows we've had for years and years before the collectible minifigs came out. Now I'm just going to paste a few of my opinions here because I feel like it. I don't really care if no one else cares. In general I liked Series 2 a little better than series 3, but S3 has some good stuff too. I'll comment on a few individual minifigs: Elf: can't wait to get my hands on these guys and their nice bows - I need an army of those guys. However, I'm a little disappointed that he doesn't come with a quiver. I suppose that would be too much to ask considering the beautiful torso/leg prints, cloak, bow, shield, and nice hairpiece, but, seriously... he can't use a shield at the same time as the bow anyways. I think it would have been better to have two elves - perhaps and archer (same as this one, but with a quiver and no shield), and then perhaps in a later series, a spearman (or spear-elf ) Racecar driver: I can't begin to express how BORING I find this fig... I mean seriously, we've had racecar drivers before... this is nothing new... Tennis player: I'll definitely want a couple of these - I'd like to get some more skirt prints for my female figs. Samurai, chief, others: I'm still not quite sure how I feel about the 'new' figs that are really just re-prints of figs from old series. I don't know. I like some better than others. They're mostly there for the new prints I suppose, and are really only interesting to people who are specifically interested in that theme (eg, I picked up the Forestman cause I like castle/dark forest, but, the racecar driver... no). Anyways...

OR... civilian Castle sets could be non-theme-oriented... eg, unlike sets that involve soldiers with uniforms that are specific to a certain Castle theme, peasants and villages could go with ANY Castle theme. So perhaps we could see the civilian 'theme' going on through many different LEGO Castle themes. Just a thought, ~Erynion~