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I voted for this idea and I love the final product, but I can only speak for myself. You say it ruined IDEAS, other people in the thread are saying it's the best IDEAS set ever. Watch the video of the designers discussing all the considerations that went into the set, and it becomes clear how deeply they DO care about keeping the spirit of the original (which, anecdotally, I think it does very successfully).

When I look at them side by side it looks like the designers tried really hard to incorporate the layout of the original build despite not being able to use the raised base plate and old hull elements. Personally I think it will be a great base for my pirates, albeit a base made out of a shipwrecked Black Seas Barracuda.

You can't please everyone, but I think they knocked it out of the park here, on everything from classic box design, to the alternative build (hearkening back to the days of alternative builds on the back of every set) which looks fantastic, and all the little details and callbacks to the original Pirates. I like the idea that the base is built out of the shipwreck of the original Barracuda. I had a feeling they would do something to break up the mass of brown pieces in the original build, simply because to leave it as an overwhelmingly monochrome brown would not be eye catching on the box. After years and years of people calling for the return of classic themes like Pirates I truly appreciate the fan service this set provides and will be a day 1 purchase for me.

My wallet is happy after seeing the minifig.

The purple goblin looks awesome. This series could be great for Castle fans.

Sounds a lot like a Ninjago line to me. Not what I was hoping for out of this one.

The new shield is stunning!

Not at all what I was implying, I agree with mostly everything you said. At the end of the day Lego is guessing what kids want, just like us, but they're educated guesses.

"Research and development activities: Each year, new product launches account for approximately 60% of the LEGO Group’s sales to consumers. More than 250 designers from more than 40 different countries make up the creative core of product development within the company, with the majority being based in the company’s headquarters in Billund, Denmark. The development activities that enable such an extensive degree of innovation comprise a wide range of initiatives from trend spotting and anthropological studies to the development of specific products and campaigns. The LEGO Group also co-operates with a number of educational institutions concerning various research projects within, among other topics, children’s play and new technologies." Note 8. Research and development expenses 822 million DKK (roughly 126 million USD) for FY 2018 550 million DKK (roughly 84 million USD) for FY 2017 (source) Just to give an idea of the rough amount of capital they invest in this area.

The historical view, at least in the Lego community, seems to be that these lines would interfere with other lines (Castle to HP, Space to Star Wars, etc.). Whether that's actually a factor (and whether or not it's actually true) is up for debate. It's possible that, as you've already pointed out, the lack of success of the last Castle and Pirate's series have made them hesitant to produce something similar. Perhaps limited shelf space at brick and mortar retailers is a factor in us not seeing a traditional line of these sets as we did in the past, and instead we're more likely to see one offs like the IDEAS sets. My point is that, however much we may question their judgement, Lego is far better equipped to answer these questions than us. All we can do, for the most part, is speculate, whereas they have huge quantities of data to assist in their decision making.

It's data from their sales. I don't have access to their financial statements as they are a private company. However, here's a couple small excerpts from the executive summary of Mattel's 2017 financial statement which I quickly pulled up: "Mattel bases its production schedules for toy products on customer orders and forecasts, taking into account historical trends, results of market research, and current market information." "Competition among the above companies is intensifying due to trends towards shorter life cycles for individual toy products and an increasing use of high technology in toys. In addition, as a result of the phenomenon of "children getting older younger" resulting from children outgrowing toys at younger ages, Mattel competes with companies that sell products outside the toy aisle, such as electronic consumer products and video games. Competition continues to be heavily influenced by the fact that a small number of retailers account for a large portion of all toy sales, allocate the shelf space from which toys are viewed, and have direct contact with parents and children through in-store purchases, coupons, and print advertisements. Such retailers can and do promote their own private-label toys, facilitate the sale of competitors’ toys, and allocate shelf space to one type of toy over another. Competition is also intensifying due to the availability of online-only distributors, including Amazon.com, which are able to promote a wide variety of toys and represent a wide variety of toy manufacturers, and, with limited overhead, do so at a lower cost." "During 2017, 2016, and 2015, Mattel incurred expenses of $225.2 million, $215.3 million, and $217.8 million, respectively, in connection with the design and development of products" Lego is acutely aware of their competitors offerings just as Mattel is- if we don't see them offering similar products, it's a fair assumption they have data or analysis to back it up. Also I'm simply trying to add to the discussion, there's no need to be so dismissive.

Pretty much my line of thinking. I have gone back on classic-castle.com and seen discussions from the early 2000s where users absolutely panned Knights Kingdom 2 saying it was "not even a real Castle line". Well, I was a kid at the time, and I absolutely loved KK2. As much as I didn't like Nexo Knights for all I know there are kids out there for whom it's their favorite theme. I think we're a lot less in touch with what the kids of today want than we think.

My point is only that Lego conducts an enormous amount of research and testing, in addition to the huge amount of data they undoubtedly have about which sets and themes have historically sold best to certain demographics, variances due to geographic area, etc. that none of us have access to a fraction of. The idea that a company posting $2 billion in yearly sales, who right now is clearly tailoring their offerings to certain demographics like China, doesn't look at this kind of data and communicate with their core customers is hard to believe. Just because you don't see children posting on the internet about their opinions on Lego's latest products doesn't mean Lego doesn't listen to them. You and I (and anyone else on Eurobricks for that matter) aren't representative of Lego's average consumer simply by virtue of being adults, and especially adults interested enough in the hobby to be active on a Lego forum; it doesn't mean that Lego doesn't want to court the demographic that we belong to (they clearly do, look at Medieval Blacksmith, Pirate's Bay, the Pirate/Castle themed offerings in the CMF line, etc.) but we are not their core customer.

Just want to give my personal experience- I live near Lego HQ and had a family friend who worked there. As a kid I remember going to watch the Bionicle movie, being asked questions about it and various other products (the one I remember in particular is Clickits). I'm certain Lego does an enormous amount of testing and market research on their target demographics. We all anecdotally think these themes would sell well because they're what we loved when we were kids, but Lego is more in touch with what their average consumers will buy than we are.

The CMF series 20 knight's feather/plume appears to be in maroon, which would be a new color for that element.

The knight's feather/plume looks maroon (unless it's red but it looks darker), which I believe would be a new color for that element.

The longer I look at the knight, the more I like him. A new sword mold and a new color of heraldry that reminds me of this figurine I used to have as a kid: As another user mentioned, I will also probably end up replacing the helmet with the fixed-grille helmet in pearl dark gray and putting a cape on him. I think he might also look good with Dracus' shield from Knights Kingdom 2: The viking looks pretty good as well, the new helmet is cool, and I was pleased to see his shield seems like a callback to the old Vikings line: The female pirate is a little boring, the new tricorn/hair mold looks cool, but isn't anything earth-shattering for me. Certainly not the most ambitious series as far as pushing new archetypes, but I'm pleased there are a couple figures I'm interested in, which is pretty much what I've come to expect as there are so many different niches Lego is trying to cater to with unlicensed CMF.

Over in the guessing thread both people who had three correct picks guessed Terracotta Warrior, so I'm going to guess that's the figure you're talking about. Thanks for the hints, looking forward to the reveal!