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It really would seem that way, wouldn't it? I love the Pig Suit Guy! You've got a great point about the feasts and the apple. I'm looking forward to the Farmer's pig in series 15 so that he can have a friend.

Yes. Exactly.

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That's pretty funny. It's nice to see a flag here, but as the location in the movie actually has many flags, I would have expected to see at least 3 here (unless this is from a different point of the story, or a different part of the structure). Either way, I'd rather have the prestigious bacon flag than no flag at all.

I would prefer to see Beast and Belle, along with a Mad Hatter using this teapot. Basically, I'd have a lot more use for a teapot than for Mrs. Potts, but I still want the main Beauty and the Beast characters.

It must be the render that's making it look like a bluish grey, then, because it certainly does. As much as I wasn't that much a fan of the Janitor, the news that he is sand blue rather than dark bluish grey is disappointing.

I mentioned that one. Quite an expensive set. I assumed that the Nexo Powers being printed meant all of the (non-transparent) Nexo Knights shield pieces would be printed as well. I'd like to be proven wrong. That would be great, as long as it isn't too costly to get the polybag or Batmobile. And I'm a bit too much of a purist to remove prints, personally, but I do appreciate the tip.

I voted for series 12. I love the Battle Goddess, Hun, Wizard, Swashbuckler, Fairytale Princess, and Jester. It feels like this series catered the most to fans of Castle or Historic themes, which is my primary collection. Also, the Pig Suit Guy and Goth Girl are fantastic. Other minifigures have very useful parts. I also liked 2, 5, 6, 9, and 13 a lot for similar reasons. 14 and 15 are great as well.

Agreed. It does look bland without it. I was definitely hoping for some color on the string when we first saw the preliminary image of the hat.

While you say they are very different, I agree, but I also say that they are very similar. Both use the Classic Space logo, so I'd consider both to be "Space" themed. Even if the new one looks like he would fit into City more than the older one, I'd identify both as Sci-Fi. This logo is "Space" themed: And this logo is "City" themed: I know, I'm being pedantic. They're very similar. It ultimately doesn't matter, as you can use them any way you see fit. I think the Farmer's hat may indeed have printing. In the past, these renders have lacked some of the detail of the final product. Much like the mismatched colors on the farmer's overalls between the torso and legs, I think that this is a result of that rendering process as well.

Collectability isn't a factor for me. I'd much prefer usefulness. With the prints, these have very limited uses. If they were stickers, I would be more likely to seek them out. I hope these shields will be available without prints, and in sets that are much less expensive than the Brick Bank (which uses them as floor tiles).

To me, I would say either the Farmer or the Animal Control Officer. If it weren't for the animals, there wouldn't really be anything that appealing (although the hat and net are nice). Since they do have the animals, that boosts them up a bit, and to me the worst 5 are the Clumsy Guy, Ballerina, Janitor, Jewel Thief, and Laser Robot (although the head wrap, mop, and black hair are nice).

That makes sense. For me, I'm mostly looking forward to all 3 Minifigure series, Star Wars (especially the Force Awakens) sets, more Dimensions packs, and the Thanos bigfig from the Avenjet set.

Ancient Greece or Rome would be my preferences if they are to leave medieval Europe. This is mostly because they are very similar in style and the weapons, armor, and helmets created for such themes would be useful for medieval European Castle characters. Also, any other creatures like Satyrs, Minotaurs, and the like would fit in well. For me, they would even be preferable to goblins, trolls, and skeletons. The next most applicable theme would probably be Vikings. My builds are mostly relegated to medieval European styled fantasy, and I see that as the crux of Castle. Sets based in the far east (feudal China or Japan) wouldn't feel like Castle, although they would be much closer than some futuristic medieval hybrid. I would say the same of sets based in India, the Middle East, Africa, or the Americas. Would I welcome them? I would, as they would be the closest thing we would get to Castle sets and they would be likely to provide many useful parts and minifigures. In fact, I think India and pre-Columbian America could be a lot of fun, and provide some really nice, fresh, and vibrant variation to TLG's lineup of themes. But any of these just wouldn't feel like Castle themes in the same way that traditional medieval European fantasy does and they shouldn't be considered as such in my opinion. Now some Silmarillion sets would be fantastic. I'd definitely be interested in seeing some of those. I think the Tolkien themes are some of the best Castle-related themes there have been. Great choices on detail, color, and overall style make these far more desirable to me, even without the licensing.

I use them all for the same faction, just different troops or divisions within the faction. Fair enough. There is support enough for Crusaders that a Lion faction would make sense. I'm just tired of seeing the Lion in every Castle theme. I can see where you're coming from. One thing I like about the Dragon faction is that it has appeared in a wider variety of color schemes over the years. There are a lot of factions that I either don't like the animal heraldry (Bull, Monkey, Bat, Scorpion) or the color combinations (Purple & Yellow, Green & Yellow, Red & Gold), so being able to get more variety on that front is always nice. For example, I would have collected far more Fright Knights and KK2 since I am a fan of Black & Red, but I didn't like the animal heraldry chosen in those colors. The new Dragons appeal to me far more with their Black & Red. The Joust Black Falcon is a wonderful example as well. I think he is actually much better in color than his Blue predecessors. Ultimately though, I think that I would prefer more generic factions to avoid these types of issues. The original Black Knight (Dragons) were my favorites of the classic Castle series, partly because with scale mail torsos they looked more realistic and were far more useful. The Crusaders and Black Falcons looked like they were wearing t-shirts by comparison. The armored Black Knight torsos aren't tied to a single faction by having it plastered on their chests. The new Scary Knight CMF is a great example of this type of design. Similarly, there have also been some great shields over the years that don't have faction heraldry on them, and I think some of these are among the best and most useful. So I'd like to see factions that are distinguished more by color and armor styles rather than by the presence of faction heraldry on their shields, torsos, armor, barding, and flags. I think that this would be the best way to create a really versatile Castle theme, while not putting off new or old fans with the design of the factions. One of the reasons I'd love to see "Classic Classic" Castle redone is because it has a somewhat more generic feel. There are colors and patterns (Blue with Clubs, Green with Chevrons, Red with Maltese Crosses, Purple with Crowns), but no animal heraldry. Unfortunately most of the patterns are in yellow, but I'll call that a product of the times. These old factions have not had a revamp since Classic Castle began in 1984 (to my knowledge). This could work as a compromise between Classic fans, fans of Jellybean color schemes, and fans that would prefer more generic styles. Having said that, I still think a more versatile generic style would be best.

1. Satyr 2. Shark Suit Guy 3. Scary Knight 4. Tribal Woman 5. Queen Kind of hard to pick 5, as I actually like quite a few of these. But most I only like for a piece or 2, so I chose the top 5 that I like enough as-is. Honorable Mentions: Winged Warrior and Wrestling Champion.

While I'm usually excited about printed pieces, this is one of the exceptions. I wouldn't have applied the stickers and would have enjoyed having some blank shields. I'm glad everyone's happy about the shields, but as is typical with this theme, I'm not jazzed.

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I would really hope that this wouldn't be the case. 1 dedicated Castle CMF series shouldn't put Castle minifigures out of future regular series. At a rate of approximately 3 Castle minifigures per series, in 3 years we would likely get around 24 Castle themed minifigures through regular CMF series (plus some useful stuff and some figures that could work). If one year had a dedicated Castle theme, we would get 34 over 3 years. Even if one year had a dedicated Space or some other theme, meaning we would miss out on a few from that series, we would still get 30 or more over 3 years. Anyways, I would much prefer to actually get Castle sets along with the regular CMF series that offer us around 3 Castle or Historic themed minifigures twice a year. Since they aren't presenting us with sets, I'd really like to see a dedicated Castle themed CMF series in the meantime. Basically, with no Castle theme we are at a loss for minifigures. We get very few in the CMF series every year. Either a Castle theme or a dedicated Castle CMF series would fill that void. I'd be happy with either, but I feel the latter would give us more minifigures.

That's really interesting. I don't have either one, so I wouldn't have noticed, but you've definitely given me some food for thought on which ones to purchase in the future. Thanks for the analysis.

You may be right.

all night.

I think they'll go with Tribal Girl, but either works fine for me.

I would probably prefer a dedicated Castle CMF series to an actual Castle sets theme, mainly because the best thing a theme can offer is minifigures. Of course, there are many other reasons to have sets, but medieval structures and vehicles can be built by anyone who has a decent supply of bricks. Minifigures are harder to come by. And the CMF series minifigures tend to be more impressive than those in a theme. Furthermore, if they did 16 for Castle it would be amazing, as it would provide a lot more variety than we would likely get from sets in a theme. I'd hope for reimaginings of some older factions we haven't seen yet. We already have newer versions of the Forestmen, Lions, Dragons, and Falcons, but more would be welcome. New Wolfpack would be the stand-out to me as what we are missing. Also, new versions of the Classic Classic Castle factions could be interesting to see. But overall, I think a few factions that are well represented would be the best way to go. I would also spend, and 'stoopid' is a pretty good word for how much I would spend.

I'll definitely be doing this. Might switch out the hips, though.