Weil

There was a blury, low resolution, preliminary design image along with the same for the other 2013 LOTR sets.

The 5th POTC movie may or may not start filming in 2014 but it certainly seems that it definately won't be released until the summer of 2015 earliest. I'm not sure what you mean, exclusivity in a license contract would normally mean in this case Lego is the only one who can produce POTC construction toys, not LEGO can't produce any other Pirate themed products. Indeed this sounds like a very strange thing to put in a contract to me. As far as I was aware the modular western town was refused due to conflict with the Lone Ranger on the basis that LEGO didn't want to produce competing products that clashed with each other due to similarily but belonging to different themes and would be confusing for customers as well as putting an arguably higher amount of resources into western themes products than demand would warrant. I think if another POTC film isn't going to be released until summer 2015 earliest then some classic pirate products in 2014 is far from inconceivable. Though I would agree another POTC film in 2015 is likely to mean more POTC Lego at the same time and definately makes classic pirate Lego in 2015 very unlikely and may mean the same for 2014 but I think the later is not so clear cut.

This is really good! For what it's worth, I prefer your entry to all of the comics I've seen even if it goes against the rules.

Can I raise the suggestion of a seperate sub-forum for this competition's entries?

I've seen that too, it might be a skirt piece or could it be a new piece to make a long coat on minifigures? This is what we're talking about:

Is it confirmed the revolutionary solider is coming with the book? Last I heard the rumour was the tin soldier was going to be the book minifigure and the revolutionary soldier would be part of CMF series 10. The tin soldier seems to be a more intuitive choice for the book to me. I may of course be completely wrong... Your argument on the mould seems plausible but there's been many CMF with new moulds that aren't looking like they'll be re-used? (e.g. All of the animal suits) That said I do think a Classic Pirates release in 2014 is likely and if it does happen I agree it would seem silly not to re-use the wig piece for some of the minifigures.

They're not my favourite but I'll stick up for the Royal Knights too. They were right towards the end of my childhood lego castle interest (lost interest when fright knights were released) and I also have some nostalgia for them. Looking back the sets weren't very impressive but I think I was just pleased to have a Lego King. That said I'd take Kingdoms continuing over a return to them without even thinking.

I think despite all the negativity (mine included) we would do well to remember that most of us weren't convinced that there would be any classic castle at all in 2013 not so long ago and some of us even thought there may be none at all for the duration of The Hobbit and LOTR themes liftetime. Given the choice of no castle or these sets I would gladly take these. It looks like there will be some great new parts or varieties of old ones to pick up, especially if the theme continues for more than these sets. 'Forest Ambush' also looks like it could be a great little army builder allowing us to pick up large numbers of new knights while also picking up a lot of useful foliage/plant pieces at the same time. My immediate reaction was of a bit of disappointment but I'm still very keen to see the final versions of the sets now.

I take this point but I think it's a bit flawed in comparing licensed and non-licensed themes. I do think licensed themes are driven by the main characters and stand out scenes. Also while there often were no named characters or at least lesser known names for characters (consider classic pirate line) as a child I was always excited to have the 'special' figures of a faction, for instance I was excited to get my first Lego king when the royal knights were released, I was excited to get the wizard when the dragon knights were released. I also was excited by getting 'the knight in the big set with a cool helmet and horse' etc. even though they didn't have names.

As has been said before battle packs may very well follow later on in the theme's life but I can see reason in Lego not producing them at this point. I would think kids were more interested in getting the main characters than generic troops if they had to choose and so it seems reasonable that the first sets push the main characters. I think these sets are more likely to bring people into the theme as well. If and when the theme gathers enough momentum that it has established a large fan base who've collected most of the main characters through various sets already then I imagine Lego will release more battle pack style sets. I would certainly not be surprised to see a chess set at some point either.

I'll be honest I'm not filled with excitement by these sets and I don't think they stand up to Kingdoms which I thought was a great line. I think it's too soon to judge them properly though. I'll reserve proper judgement until better pictures of non-preliminary designs. These pictures are very useful though in being able to confirm the style of the sets as a classic castle theme that isn't re-makes. Even if the sets do end up a bit of a let down it looks like we'll get some great new parts including what appears to be more of the new style horses with helmets and barding that fit them.

I agree with you in principle but I'm really not going to complain about getting a shield and a longbow! Even if I wouldn't use them on a figure together. Looking at the pictures I think this will be the best series yet.

Fantastic MOC!

I agree, the picture we now have from behind seems to be consistent with the new mold I received in my chess set that I posted some pictures of. The picture is too blury to be clear though. I agree, Kingdoms was a great theme in my opinion. I think it had the capability for a much longer lifetime than it got and I would love to see it return. I'm a fan of the LOTR films and both the LOTR books and (more so) the Hobbit, despite that I far prefer Kingdoms to the LOTR/Hobbit Lego lines. I am impressed with how well Lego has done LOTR/Hobbit, (better than I anticipated when it was first announced) and I think it's nice that it's there but I would still always choose Kingdoms.

Your sarcasm exaggerates the point. In some parts of the world such as Britain, Police do not carry guns apart from in extreme situations. The criminals LEGO produces are typically 'Robbers' armed with, if anything, crowbars or similar. They certainly don't justify the use of SWAT style police with sniper rifles and as I've said, in places such as Britain these would not be tackled with firearms at all. As for riot police, I don't think LEGO want to make toys based around riots. Cops and Robbers is a theme children understand with clear 'goodies' and 'badies'. Riot police vs civilians is not. With regards to a plain clothes officer surely this would just be a normal civilian LEGO minifigure? A child would easily mistake that for just some guy with a gun! Furthermore with regards to your comment concerning cowboys/bandits, superheroes/villains and spaceman/aliens carrying guns: we don't live in a world where any of the aforementioned currently exist and with the historical themed case of cowboys/bandits the 'goodies' and 'badies' are clear so their portrayal in toys is far less controversial. That aside, whatever your opinion on LEGO's morality stance, big differences in their morality stance between sets and CMF would be very strange!

I don't think the name differences are that strange, lots of products have different names regionally. For example J. K. Rowling's book originally published in the UK as 'Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone' has the title changed to 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone' for publication in other parts of the world such as America. I assume the name differences are the result of different feedback from focus groups in different parts of the world. It's not hard to imagine that different names appeal more or less to children from different parts of the world.

I agree that Helm's deep is a great set for parts to build a castle. Based on what it sounds like you're after surely the Kingdoms Joust set is worth considering instead though? http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?S=10223-1

Looks good! The kingdoms chainmail torso works really well to add some variety to the romans. I like the use of the owl as the top of the standard, too bad there isn't an eagle. Why are so many of the romans in the shield wall smiling/laughing?

Literally the same! Nice MOC.

Really? I haven't found one that shows the torso print of Bombur ie with the moulded belly part removed. There's this one: that shows Legolas with Tauriel's head but not the Bombur torso print.

Didn't know we had seen the torso print? Any chance someone can point me to it.

Fantastic moc! The upside down hull fits in perfectly.

Well given that I own just this one copy of the set and not a wide sample of sets from before and now I cannot possibly confirm or deny if the printing is overall any better with the sets currently being produced to earlier production runs. All I can say is that the printing in my set, as I've said, is excellent.

I ordered it on September 24th from Lego's online shop (S@H). I'm in the UK.

Hmm, I like the Armada soldier's torso for the time it was made. I would have scored the build lower personally but I agree with you that the flag is nice. You must have been in a rare position to have that set still sealed. Nice review, even if I have a different opinion about a few things.