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This is a fantastic build. So many things to praise, I don't know where to start. I love the environment, from the rocks to the foliage, to just the general layout of the landscaping. The castle itself is a nice design, and the little waterfall behind the castle is a nice touch. The forest makes me think of everything I want in a Forestmen's theme, it's like an Ewok village of woodsmen. The buildings are all wonderfully done, from the massive castle all the way over to the treetops. The Blacksmith, Windmill, and Cottage would each be enough to give praise, and they fill out this world very nicely. All in all, it's a wonderful build, and the kind of thing I aspire to. Great work!

That's a good idea. I could see that working. And it's a great way to include a bunch of villagers. I agree that the castles just haven't been up to par lately. I do love them, however, for their parts and minifigures. Still, I think we really need something bigger, comparable to the Creator Expert modulars or larger sets like the Disney Castle. It may not get as big as that, and may not have the selling power due to lack of licence and pop culture familiarity, but if done well I think a large castle set would sell. But the ideas you raised about modularity are also great. Each of the sets can stand alone, but if you put together a variety of Royal Tournament sets with the Blacksmith and other ideas, perhaps the standard gate house set, then you could have them connect to build out a large castle. You could even have a completely separate set of instructions available online for the full castle that incorporates all of the pieces from the various sets. This would encourage people to buy more sets, as well, and invest in the theme as a whole.

You have several! But seriously, a Beer Can suit would be really cool, and I can already see it working, but for some reason I have my doubts. And I really don't think it would be Beer Can Boy... Maybe we'll get a Soda Can Suit? Now that would be cool.

These are beautiful trees! Great work!

I really like the idea of the Royal Tournament expanded to an entire Castle theme. This is a great way to build it all up. It also keeps the competitive spirit light, which is nice. My ideas for the faction battle packs and small knight sets were based on old sets from my childhood and current star wars sets: The battle pack idea was based on a cross between Fantasy Era faction battle packs and Star Wars battle packs like this 75079 Shadow Troopers: The knight set idea was based on a cross between 6009 Black Knight and Star Wars Microfighters like this 75129 Wookiee Gunship: The People Pack idea was based on a cross between 6102 and 6103 Castle minifigures sets and the City People Packs like 60134 Fun in the Park: I still think these types of sets would still be viable in the Royal Tournament style release plan. All three of these could also come with faction flags and such that could be used in building out a base of some type for each faction. I love all of the joust sets. 10223 is a fantastic set, and would be nice as the central large set in the Royal Tournament theme. If it is too large, then something like 6060 or 6095 would work just fine. The Archery competition, Light Arms competition, and Awards Ceremony flesh out the Tournament theme really well. The Faire and Blacksmith provide us with villagers and merchants, which are always desirable. The Royal Carriage is great for those that like the Royal Family. I like the idea of fancy coachmen. I imagine they would be much like the royal faction, but with special embellishments and ornamental armor. Largely, I feel that many of us have similar ideas for the next Castle theme. We may differ on some of the details, but there is a relative consensus on wanting multiple factions rather than the good vs bad, 2 sided conflict we have gotten in the recent past. There is also a desire to see more villagers, and more depth in the ranks of the knight factions. I hope that LEGO can deliver on all of these things.

Yes! Exactly.

I'd love to see Star Wars and Marvel make it into Dimensions, but the likelihood of that is very low in my opinion.

There's an idea!

I have always loved the variety of factions available. Ever since the early 80's when I first started playing with LEGO, I have had a wide variety of minifigures. I used Crusaders, Black Falcons, both Dragon factions, Forestmen, Wolfpack, and found some use for other minifigures from other themes (or at least their parts). I even had Classic Space minifigures comprise their own faction. And Pirates were an extension of the theme for me, as well. In my ideal Castle theme, there would be at least 3 or 4 factions. I think that having 2 primary Kingdom factions (like the Lions and Falcons), plus 2 secondary factions (like the Forestmen and Wolfpack) would be a great way to go. It would closely emulate what we had back in the golden age of Castle in the 80's and 90's. But the idea I laid out above is to combine the following elements: Battle Packs for a few factions (rotating every 6 months to 1 year) Small faction build with Knight on horseback (rotating every 6 months to 1 year) "People Pack" of various Castle themed minifigures with small builds (including villagers) Castle themed parts buckets (lasting the whole theme duration) Perhaps a big Creator Expert level Castle (lasting the whole theme duration) If one is opposed to having too many factions, then this battle pack concept could still work for them. Simply purchase only 2 faction packs. You don't have to buy every available faction. Faction packs should include things like flags and banners, so you could decorate your castles with the things you get in the battle packs and small faction packs.

My wishlist is a Creator Expert Castle theme.

My list so far: Cake Suit Brick Suit Brick Suit Spider Suit Fireworks Suit

I wish the legs and head were available. Torso isn't very useful to me without them. But it's still cool to see it.

I suppose that's fair. But in my earlier post the battle packs were only part of the strategy.

Those are pretty weak compared to the battle packs that Star Wars gets...

I'd be interested in that, if only for the kangaroos!

Can't really tell either, but keen observations. This set may need modding.

I can't emphasize enough how true this is.

That's more to do with that particular wave of sets than with the theme as a whole, in my opinion.

Yes, something like that but without the Christmas theme. That could be great.

I think the "Fun at the ___" idea can cross over to other themes. Fun at the Castle, Fun in Space...

Love the set. I loved the idea to begin with, and it looks great as a set. To be honest, I would build it once because it's a beautiful set that will be fun to build, then I'd scrap it for parts a month later because it's a fantastic parts pack. That's disappointing. I'll have to assess the sticker situation before deciding if I can part with the cash to buy this. I will have to get a grey baseball cap to complete the figure and take it from coincidence to homage.

Honestly, as much as I like Minecraft and James Bond, I'm much more fond of the 4 you mentioned that were released. But I will say that Minecraft could have been a big seller.

If this movie is supposed to work in the real world like the LEGO Movie, I'm guessing they're bonsai trees. So they look huge to LEGO, but they are small trees.

That would be ideal, for sure.

Definitely looking forward to big cats and machetes.