thetang22

Nice scene. Photoshop/Photography tip: If the artificial backdrop you are going to put into a pic is going to be dark (like above), use a dark piece of paper or sheet as your photograph backdrop. It will help reduce the amount of light "glow" you have around the edges of the cut-out area, and make for a smoother transition between foreground and background.

I've always been a fan of cart sets. The quality of cart sets has been all over the place, however, and I think this is one of the less impressive ones (even for it's time).

I agree. Solid design, but the story doesn't make sense....unless it's a reference to something, in which case I don't know the reference.

Until all this stuff is confirmed by product leaks, or an official announcement, all the "he said/she said" stuff has to be taken with a grain of salt....that's just the way it works.

I think the Wolfpack are the most criminally underdeveloped faction in the history of Lego Castle. There might have been some overlapping in the concepts of them and the Forestmen (outcast humans trying to thrive outside the confines of the kingdom rules). I'd rather see future Forestmen turn into the traditional fantasy Elves, and have any human outcasts be more of the Wolfpack type.

This is the set that started it all for me in Castle Legos. My parents bought me this set and my brother the Forestmen's castle tower. This set was a lot of fun, and packed incredible value.

Because Lego could build a castle that has a degree of modularity to it in the first place (which is not unreasonable to begin with). You could keep all the walls in a particular formation to simulate the enclosed castle, or you could unfold the walls to open up the inside, creating a vastly larger amount of interior space in which you could place the add-on sets. Some of the interiors may seem more out of place than others, but if you compare that to the limited interior features of existing castles....that's pretty par for the course. Most existing interior features require a healthy amount of abstract interpretation to seem reasonable within their context. Do the add-on interior sets have to complement every aspect of the existing sets? No...but they can expand the playability options of what you can do with the sets as a whole.

I've already conceded that even getting just 1 or 2 interior sets would be a nice change of pace without completely revamping the entire line. Most people commenting here seem to think the interior idea is great, but don't think it would ever happen, or don't think it could happen (logistically speaking). Gedren_y just supplied a couple of ideas in more detail than I gave that are very reasonable sounding sets...it just a matter of Lego getting out of their repetitive frame of mind and doing 1-2 of these types of sets to complement their standard Castle fare.

Again, I have to ask, where is your sense of imagination and thinking outside the box? You just said it would take "literally hundreds of pieces devoted to one play feature". HUNDREDS?!?! Do you seriously think it would require that many pieces? With all due respect, I honestly don't even know what to say to that. I've seen the arguments for the Friends/Princess lines. I get that girls can be vastly different than boys, but much of that is taught behavior. I grew up in a pretty large family (3 girls, 2 boys), and each of my sisters enjoyed playing with the Castle legos like I did when they were kids. At the same time, my older sister convinced me to play Barbies when I was young, from time to time with her. Its all about the sense of imagination (something that Lego is supposed to promote). Yes, I saw the report mentioned above about what kids want. I get what is being said in the reports. I also think the response to it is the sort of thing that ads to the problem. The problem: kids have such short attention spans today, due to being completely destroyed with sensory overload. They have a hard time appreciating something that doesn't have a shiny bell or whistle attached to it to grab their attention.

Where is your sense of imagination? A lot of the "boring setting" examples that you are providing are due to not approaching it with the outside of the box mentality. You mention all these sorts of play features of a castle being attacked, and say that an indoor setting couldn't possibly have the same level of play features. I ask the question again - why not? An exterior setting for castle certainly has a variety of play features...and we know that because Lego has been providing those same sorts of features over and over and over again for years. But how does that mean the indoor setting can't have just as interesting play features? Perhaps because we aren't used to the idea, and Lego rarely every experiments with the idea in Castle lines? How about: - collapsable chandalier - Hidden passageway/room (gotta turn a candlestick to access) - Hidden Pit/Trap in front of a throne for unwelcome guests - a haunted bed chamber with ghosts hiding in the wardrobe closet Add to that all the features that aren't exclusive to an exterior setting, like traditional sword fights....defending your king, etc... Maybe you even have play/story features that are unique to the theme. Such as - what if there are strange portals that are popping up all through the kindgom, and some of these portals are popping up INSIDE the castle!!! You have to defend the castle, while trying to find a way to close the portals, that way the castle isn't overruns with <insert dangerous bad guy type>. That's just a short list coming off the top of my head when I'm not exactly in the most creative frame of mind. To comment on what you said as well: these sets are aimed at kids, and kids are supposed to be the age group with the largest sense of imagination. If I can envision all sorts of possibilities as an adult, why shouldn't a child be able to go nuts with it? There's honestly probably a bajillion ideas for how to make it appealing to both those looking for combat, as well as those wanting a good building experience with some character from medieval times. Also, don't discount the idea of non-conflict uses in a Lego theme. You mention nobody wanting to serve dinner or put a King to sleep in his bed chambers....but that's the sorta stuff that my sisters did all the time when they were playing with their toys when they were younger. Rarely ever did I see Barbies do any sort of combat-related play. Lego Castle shouldn't just be assumed to be a "boy's toy for recreating medieval warfare".

Eh...this gets into an entirely larger debate that could be discussed for pages and pages and pages. You comment that they are responding to the market...but that's also a pretty tainted situation. The market requests more conflict/violence, but that's also due to being conditioned with more and more conflict/violence in pop culture. When youth is conditioned that conflict/violence is the only cool option wherever they look in media, it's going to be hard for them to pick something different from that. It truly is the chicken/egg scenario. The market changed pretty quickly to be more conflict/violence-based, but at the same time, you didn't have people blindly asking for more conflict/violence out of the blue. So who is responsible for starting the trend? The people buying, or the companies deciding what content to provide the market with? As a kid, I remember wanting a variety of castle sets. I didn't just want to get everything war-based. I wanted to get the castle, along with the blacksmiths shop, along with the Magicians shop, along with the carriage, along with the boat, etc, etc, etc... Getting that variety of stuff helped flesh out the world of Castle Legos in my mind. However, it seems the only way to get some of those types of sets made now is when there is an "Attack on <insert classic, non-combat-focused Castle set>". Sure, kids are going to want to get Knights and soldiers...but they don't have to be beaten over the head with it in EVERY set.

I can see a lot of play and/or display use in a build like this. It reminds me of maps in Final Fantasy Tactics :)

I enjoyed the castles with raised baseplates in the 80's-90's. I liked having floor studs through the majority of my castles...not just right up against walls.

I'd like to see them try it in at least 1 set. Do an interior throne room...you can still have plenty of soldiers, some royalty, and the like. I'm having some issue with a concept I've noticed with Lego castle sets in the past 10-15 years. When I was a kid, a castle seemed like it would come with soldiers of the caste's faction....maybe a prisoner or ghost, and that seemed to be about it. Nowadays it seems like Lego thinks they have to have conflict in every set they sell. A castle being sieged....a tower/gatehouse being attacked....a carriage being ambushed. Why do they encourage the spoon fed culture of today's youth by primarily producing sets with an obvious conflict? Is there no imagination left in the youth of the last 10-15 years? This mentality seems to be preventing Lego from producing any Castle sets that aren't inspired by Hollywood explosions and a short attention span. I had lots of Castle sets as a child, and very few of them came with obvious conflicts...but that didn't stop me from using my imagination and having fun.

And the question is: Why? (This is more of a rhetorical question for Lego) I get that doing the same old thing with minor/moderate cosmetic changes is the safe thing to do...but what about challenging the status quo? Star Wars has been finding some success with interior settings lately, why not Castle? If the build inspires stories and adventures to be had, isn't there a chance it could see success?

Another thing I've thought about recently is something I doubt would ever happen: choosing to do castle interiors rather than full castles. While I enjoy a castle just as much as the next person, one thing Castle has always lacked was quality interiors. We've always seen whole buildings from the outside perspective, whether it's a castle, a tower, or a farm house. Something these all have in common is they are scaled down considerably for the sake of size/cost. By scaling down, it always comes at the expense of more thorough and detailed interiors. I've never seen an official lego castle in which I could honestly envision appropriately sized rooms fitting into the castle, such as a thrown room, a kitchen/banquet hall, the King's bed chambers, the guard barracks, and so on. There are some sets in which we might get tiny little hints of these features...but they are always sacrificed for the exterior. At a glance, someone might say it's easier to imagine sieging a castle than it is to have conflicts on the inside of the castle...but come on....isn't Lego all about using your imagination? Imagine a throne room set in which the castle has been breached, and someone is trying to overthrow the king. You could have soldiers for the king, as well as enemies of the invading party, and it would be hand to hand combat...no siege engines required. The throne room could also serve double duty for when you would want to play non-combat situations, such as dubbing a new knight (or a hundred other non-combat story situations). Perhaps there could be the Kitchen and/or Banquet Hall, and it's not based on combat at all. It could be more like the villager sets, with this one featuring the villagers working in the castle, preparing a big feast for the festival. It could be a medieval kitchen connected with a doorway into the banquet table room, featuring noble guests and dignitaries. How about a stable? That's easy enough to include a few guards/Knights, as well as a handful of horses. The tavern/Inn is a favorite spot for medieval settings. Again...I'm talking about the interior here, so that people could have their group of adventurers meet up before exploring the INSIDE of that cave with treasures in it, or return to after the adventure. There's a chance encounter with local thugs while you are minding your own business. So many stories that can be experienced if Lego would take a chance on producing Castle interiors, instead of almost always relying on exteriors as the primary focus. It's not to say you couldn't also produce some of the traditional sets as well (for the umpteenth time...), but introducing a fresh build perspective for Castle might be refreshing.

One of the things I wasn't crazy about with Castle 2013's main castle was the abundance of blue pieces. I think that should be reserved for heraldry and a few other select pieces to give the whole piece a hint of faction color. Instead they made it bleed with blue all over the place, and looked pretty hokey. I would much rather 2016 go back to a limited amount of color, for a more authentic look.

I can't give too many solid details about the game just yet, because it's still in developmental stages. It is something inspired by Civilization, mixed with a little Warcraft (not WoW), Settlers of Catan, and a little Final Fantasy. I'm thinking the game will be competitive. You choose a faction, which has a starting tile (the castle shown would be the starting tile for the Crown Knights). You also choose 1 of 3 available heroes from each faction. There will be a variety of faction units to place into your party. Your party will either be represented by your Hero minifig, or a faction Micro fig. You will move your character from your home base and start exploring. You uncover tiles randomly (probably a card draw) as you explore. All the tiles have a Technic brick on each side of the base, so they can snap together with a technic pin. When you are on a tile, there are a few things to do. I want there to be event and/or quest cards drawn on a tile. You will have to complete the objective in order to claim ownership of the tile. When you do, you may extract resources. That'll have to be it for now....about to go out to dinner with the wife.

Here's a little game project I started working on:

I'm not going to turn away additional information, but it's not necessary for this to just be a rumor thread. I kinda see it as the catch-all 2016 Castle thread at the moment, until it become more than unconfirmed speculation.

I think it's great seeing wishlists. The sheer activity of the thread shows the enthusiasm for the Lego castle line. I think most people have been doing a good job of keeping it obvious that these are wishlists and speculation, rather than cold hard facts. I have to imagine Lego has to pay at least a little bit of attention to the happenings at the more popular fan forums for their products. Even if it's largely marginal, I like to think they put some stock in what fans think and want to see. At this point, I see this thread as the catch-all thread for everything related to the next Castle theme, whether it's facts or wishlists.

Why is Wild West paired with this then? It has nothing to do with any of that? It's as closely related to Castle as it is Pirates. First - duration of an active account isn't always true to how long a person have spent time on a forum. People lurking forums they have interest with is very common, without creating an account. That was my very case. I probably came here for a year or 2 before I finally pulled the trigger to create an account. Second - duration of an account has no bearing of the total value of a person's question or idea. Lastly - if a person who did just join is bringing up a point of confusion about the organization of the forums, doesn't it stand to reason that more people who haven't joined may be experiencing that same confusion...preventing them from really investing in the forum experience? These are just some things to consider before throwing around the traditional "you are new here...quit trying to change the status quo" response.

I've seen the merit in the arguments presented here. Part of this was confusion on my part. When I read "town" and "sci-fi" my mind immediately associated it with City and Space, for VERY obvious reasons. When I first came to Eurobricks and looked for the Castle section, "Historical" didn't have that super obvious and immediate association the way town and sci-fi do. I suppose that is my main problem with it...the naming choice. How is "historical" supposed to mean castles any more than it means pirate ships and imperial armadas? Oh, that's right....because they have the very obvious section titled "Pirates", despite being just as historical as castles. So why did Castle become the odd man out then, being put in the vague "Historical" section? Castle has a bigger representation and following than Pirates through Lego history, so why does Castle stay in the vague historical section, along with other sub themes that have absolutely no similarity to Castle...such as Wild West.

If we use that as a rationale, then Star Wars should be merged with Sci-fi.

It was getting quite a bit of attention in the 2016 forum, so the topic was moved here. It's more than just identifying the names of factions, but rather trying to determine if there were any sets of faction vs faction themes, comparable to the themes of post 2000. Officially there were no sub themes for Castle, pre-2000, but if you analyze the history, there do seem some comparables to the themes of post-2000. That is what this discussion is about.