thetang22

You mean, kinda like how Space has been a lot over the past 15 years since Lego Star Wars was released?

I'm sure "soon" is in reference to the 2016 rumors. In terms of being bigger, that's just plain logic. - the most recent Castle theme wasn't considered a huge success, but rather an alternative option from the Hobbit, aimed at a younger audience. Many considered it a less than 100% effort by Lego to make a "great" Castle set. - Through the history of lego themes, Castle has always been one of the most popular. - It is no longer going to be competing with LotR or Hobbit, so the fanbase won't be divided. - ever since the 80's, the only time we haven't had a Castle line was when there was either LotR or Hobbit stuff taking precedence...that is no longer going to be the case, so it only reasons that a new Castle theme should be coming soon. - The popular rumor is that the next Castle line is taking inspiration from the Fantasy Era, which was one of the most popular themes ever. If you do the math, it seems a pretty likely assesment.

In regards to Castle 2016, I think it would be kinda neat if, instead of having 2 human factions to fight each other, they fleshed out the society of the single human society with good and bad minor factions within the castle community. For example, in the Robin Hood story, the kingdom had Knights that were good, but you also had the corrupt Sheriff...who was technically part of the "good" Kingdom, despite being bad himself. You could have internal conflicts within the same larger faction, but when faced against another primary faction....the internal conflicts could be put on hold to rally against the common enemy.

Pre-2000 is kinda tricky, but there was sort of a loose relation between phases of the classic castle sets (this is back when I was collecting). Phase 1 - Crusaders, Black Falcons, Forestmen Phase 2 - Black Knights, Wolfpack, Dragon Masters Phase 3 - Royal Knights, Dark Forest, Fright Knights While it's supposedly true that all these factions existed within the same setting, Phase 1 and 2 seemed more related to each other than 3 did. Phase 3 almost seemed like they were trying to unofficially reboot the Castle line, whereas Phase 2 seemed like a pretty obvious continuation of the previous Phase. There was a lot more crossover between Phases 1 and 2 as well. I can't remember if there was really any crossover with Dragon Masters (the last of Phase 2) and Royal Knights (the first of Phase 3). There was a promo poster, but I can't remember if their sets were really co-existing together.

As the title states, ever since I've been lurking at these forums, I've found it very odd that Castle, one of Lego's 3 classic themes (city/town, castle, and sci-fi), doesn't have it's own section of the forums. Instead, it is grouped together with a variety of other themes that are, in some cases, very remotely related to each other. I look at the list of sub-forums, and I see City has it's own, Sci-fi has it's own, heck....quite a few others have their own dedicated section. But when it comes to Castle, despite being one of the 3 classics, it gets lumped in with a bunch of other themes as "Historic". You also have the Middle Earth stuff getting tossed in the same forum (as well as a variety of other non Castle themes, like Wild West)...but Middle Earth is to Castle what Star Wars is to Sci-fi. I get that Star Wars is supposedly the most popular brand Lego has been doing for a while, but even still, it's not as though the Middle Earth and Castle themes aren't plenty popular themselves. Why does Castle settle for a lower status than City/Town and Sci-fi?

very cool looking

I've been out of the Lego loop for almost 15-20 years. The last faction to come out when I still collected was Dragon Masters. I'm trying to say...I missed a LOT of Castle themes in my absence. I can say with 100% confidence that Knights Kingdom II is easily the most oddball, undesirable Castle theme that came out during my time away...and I don't feel bad that I missed it at all. If you place all the Castle themes together from Lego history, it would definitely be the black sheep. I hope not. They put too much emphasis on the heroes in that theme, to the extent that the non-hero stuff suffered. I don't mind having a few unique characters between all the factions, but I also want to see the regular soldiers get plenty of attention.

Not at all...these are wish lists for what people would like to see in the next Castle line. People aren't saying "this is how its going to happen". Wish lists are simply people expressing what they'd like to see, or think would be fun ideas....why put a limit on that?

This is something I'm debating a bit right now. I'm still at the brainstorming stages of all this, so I'm not quite sure yet. I know anything I do paint, I will want to do so with the intention of using it as gaming pieces...so they will likely see a lot of handling. I have enough painting experience that I should be able to do full-fledged painting conversions, full of shading, highlights, and the such. However, I've seen some examples of those...and while they look cool...they tend to look less and less like Legos the more extravagent the painting gets. Legos rarely have any sort of color gradients on their models....it's much more frequently crisp, clean lines and blocks of color. I'm thinking I'd probably rather do painting that looks more Lego-authentic...but I'd probably be interested in doing at least 1 model with full painting detail, just to see how it would turn out.

I've never used enamels. With mini painting, it's almost exclusively done via acrylics, so that's what all my experience is with. I was sort of wondering the idea of mixing varnish in with my paint, and wondering how that would work out. I've never done that with minis before because it was always implied that you would seal them. However, in this case I'm 1/2 tempted to not seal (and chance giving a strange finish). I was wondering if the varnish mixed with the paint would still be sufficient. I know it's possible to do, but would it end up being too thick? You could always mix thinner in with it...but at what point would it defeat the purpose? I imagine I've got some trial and error ahead of me... At the same time, I may just attempt a Satin finish...like you were suggesting. That's kinda what I was thinking might be the best bet. Thanks for commenting, Wardancer.

Ive been a miniature painter for about 15-16 years, but now I'm wanting to try my hand at some minifig painting customization. I've done some very light research so far, and it seems it's basically all the same processes I'm already familiar with from my miniature painting experiences. The one variable that stumps me is the choice of sealer. I've always been familiar with the 3 primary types: Gloss, Matte, and Satin. In miniature painting, it was almost exclusively matte, if done for display purposes...but gloss was sometimes used for heavy play, due to the increased protection. Satin was rarely used by anyone. The uncertainty for me comes from the fact Legos have a very peculiar sort of finish to them. It's not quite gloss or matte...but maybe more like a satin finish. I'm just not sure, personally. Is it something funky like layering of different types of sealer (matte over gloss)? I was hoping anyone who's had good results matching their sealer choice to lego could chime in. Thanks for any help. edit: I guess I should be a little more specific. Some parts of a minifig look like they've got different finishes. Some pieces look glossier while others look more matte. Heads for instance are pretty glossy looking most of the time, whereas I see some arms and hats in my collection that are pretty matte by comparison (and I'm talking about new minifigs too...not just ones that would have been scuffed from years of handling).

If we ARE getting a new Fantasy Era, the big question: What faction colors will be represented? Are we going to see continuations of existing color combos from the 2007 Fantasy Era? Entirely new color pairings? What would you like to see for army colors? It's almost certain we will have at least 1 human faction...the question being - will they be the Crown Knights, or something different? There's quite a bit of buzz regarding Elves and Goblins. Will they have their own armies, or will they be considered part existing armies from the previous Fantasy Era (under the notion that this would be a direct sequel to the original Fantasy Era)? Castle Humans have almost exclusively had at least 1 Red and/or Blue army in every release since the beginning of the theme. Would it be time to perhaps give them something more off-color?

I agree with this. If I'm collecting these minifigs, I'd prefer they were identical to the most recent version, unless there is some crucial improvement that is needed, which is not the case with the current Royal Guards.

I was also wondering if the encyclopedia character might be from Kamino.

Instead of good guys or bad guys, it would be nice if there was ambiguity, as someone already suggested. Each faction could have its own leader(s) (instead of the typical human heroes/villains). Also, there's all sorts of fantasy archetypes...there's no good reason why Lego should only ever utilize knights and wizards when it comes to the primary hero/villain.

I really don't intend this to sound mean...but that is kind of an arrogant thing to say. Who's to say that store manager isn't an avid fan of Lego? Matter of fact, I'd think there's a decent chance they would be to work at that sort of a store...much like employees at a local gaming hobby shop are usually gamers themselves. If that were the case, it would be likely the store owner would have every reason to be just as, if not more, knowledgable than the typical person that visits fan forums. They've got access to all the same info we do on these types of forums, in addition to the potential of inside info (however rare that may be). I'm not saying this is the case, but I do think it's unfair to simply assume we have more info than they do. And that would be based on them starting in November of 2014. If there LotR/Hobbit stuff was scheduled to be done by the beginning of 2015, It's hard for me to think they would start the replacement theme just a month or 2 before the previous one is set to retire... I'd have to think they'd start at least in earlier 2014.

I don't. And it's a little hard to swallow the going prices for them on the aftermarket. While I'd like to see some new factions as well, I'd also like to see some of those existing factions from years ago. They don't have to be represented as extensively as they were back then, but even a battle pack would be appreciated, just to help some of us get up to speed without breaking the bank.

I'd really like to see a return to Fantasy. I collected Castle sets back in the late 80's and early 90's...so I've got a good collection of vintage stuff, but I haven't seen anything from the last 10-15 years that made me upset for having missed it like the Fantasy Era.

The other thing to consider (and I don't meen this to be snarky) - very few lego sets are made with avid adult collectors in mind. These adult collectors may have bought most sets for a long time (or since the beginning), and therefore this doesn't look as alluring to them....but they aren't the target audience. People who enjoyed the OT when they were young now have their own kids, and are sharing it with them. My Nephew loves the OT, and he's 8 years old. Star Wars basically transcends generations gaps...so the OT sets aren't any more for a 40 year old than they are an 8 year old. My nephew doesn't get all the sets as they come out...he basically gets some for his birthday and Christmas, and maybe sprinkled inbetween. I'm 33 years old, and until about 6 months ago, the last time I bought a Lego set for myself was the Endor Luke speeder bike set from 1999 (7128). There is a ton of stuff I missed out on... I'm very intrigued by the Final Duel set. That was my favorite part of the entire Star Wars franchise...the culmination of everything in that scene, and I'd love to have a Lego version of that. Sure, the molds may not be new, or the scene has already been depicted in the past...but lets consider that a little bit. There were 2 Final Duel sets from years ago, and neither one of them was even close to this new one in scope. The scene is available in the Death Star...but lets be realistic...the Death Star is only meant for the most rapid Lego SW fans who can also stomach a $400 purchase in one shot. I don't care how much "value" is there, $400 is still just too rich for my blood. You can get the Final Duel Luke in the Ewok Village, but you run into the same problems as the Death Star set....an iconic figure only available in a very pricey set. Having a new Final Duel set like what is shown seems to be just the ticket for an adult like me, and will surely be a big hit for tons of kids too. The Shuttle looks great too. Since I don't already have a Shuttle and this one will be under $100, it is definitely on my radar. PT stuff rarely makes me excited, so I'm not to worried about them. I'll be interested to see what the Episode 7 stuff brings. I'll probably hold off on purchases until after seeing the movie, just to judge whether I like it enough to get invested in it.

Everybody has opinions. I love the movies, but there's also some content from the EU that's more enjoyable than the movies (more enjoyable than the PT, anyway). But then again, that's just my opinion...and we all know how opinions work. In regards to the rumors - I'll be using this opportunity to get a small collection of Storm Troopers via the ITT. I don't particularly care about whether they are OT design or Rebels design, as I think the differences are so minor it doesn't matter to me. When I look at them, I see Storm Troopers, and that's what I care about. I don't have any of the OT ones already, so as long as I buy exclusively from the ITT, then they should all look the part.