Ardelon

Seeing as the main draw of these sets would be the minifigs, and as we already have the these minifigs in the CMF line, I don't see this idea happening for some years to come, maybe until a new generation of kids grows up. The almost decade-long gap between the studios line and the CMF ine might be a reference.

If TLG did introduce a falcon faction, the awesomeness of this first one would still be preserved for a few months, as long as we didnt know whether there actually would be a followup faction. So TLG would cash in on those buying the set ofr the uniqueness factor of the falcon knight at first, and follow up with a full-fledged faction later. It might seem a bit unsporting, but it would make sense from a business POV. Maybe any following falcon faction isnt fully fleshed out yet, so TLG went with the dragon torso for this set. I don't know whether there is any precedent for this, though. My points are just for the sake of argument, though. I would prefer the black falcon to be a one-off, as I don't like that his shield doesn't match the orginal falcon shields, so I would have a hard time with the (in)compatibility of new and old falcons.

Maybe the yellow triangle is his "skin", and the blue is only supposed to be a mask+hood that covers the eyes and crown but not the forehead?

I seem to be in a minority on this issue, but I dont think the dragon knights need a castle - they have their fortress as a base. It does seem inadequate compared to the lions' castle, but that's what sets the dragons apart and makes them a unique faction - they aren't a standard castle-based faction with a royal family. A castle would seem unnecessary since the dragons already have a big base set. But I wouldn't say no to such a set though .

Your MOCs keep getting better and better, slovakiasteph! I like the furniture as well, especially the couches. And everyone has a flatscreen TV !

I guess I have a more long-term perspective, then. I simply think that the ability to add new sets to old ones and their mutual compatibility is one of the strongest points of LEGO. To me, these new larger cars are like fleshies - they both might interact fine with their current themes, but look just garish and out of place compared to either previous town sets or other minifigs, respectively.

I'd prefer the vehicles to be scaled in comparison with the LEGO structures they're supposed to interact with, not in comparison to real life.

I think that ancient subtheme could work like the Ninja theme of 1998 - stick around for just a year or two, so traditional Castle subthemes don't get too stale or repetitive. A Middle/Far Eastern subtheme set in a fictional universe (meaning no "European" cultures around, so no clash of civilizations) could work like this as well.

@ Elander: I’d be very surpised if TLG releases real-life factions like Romans vs Barbarians, Greeks vs Persians, Union vs Confederacy, etc. Any faction presented as the "bad guy" would risk fuelling strong negative reactions among the descendants of the factions’ real-life analogues. Remember the Iranian reaction to the film "300"? And the Muslim world is pissed of at Denmark as it is, what with the caricatures of Mohammed. Romans vs Barbarians might risk offending either the Romance or the Germanic peoples of Europe. The same goes for American colonists vs Redcoats - the film "Patriot" wasn’t recieved too well in the UK. Even the Confederacy of the US Civil War, seen by outsiders as a nation of racists and slavedrivers, isn’t seen that way by the US Southerners of today, and TLG would risk losing a big chunk of the US market if they went ahead with this theme. I guess I’m being too politically correct, I’d love to see any of the aforementioned ideas made in LEGO, but this is the world we live in. I hope TLG will keep Castle limitied to "Castle" and develop parallel themes for ancient and western settings. Otherwise, TLG could just lump Castle, Pirates, and anything else into a general "history" theme, which would be a step backwards, to put it mildly. Maybe an "ancient" theme might make the cut, as it would be too similar to Castle (armored guys with cold weapons fighting among themselves and with fantasy creatures) and would compete with it, but the more modern themes should be left out. Having said that, a Wild West theme would be welcome; maybe TLG could alternate it with Pirates, since they don’t have the will to make Pirates into a core theme. As to whether history is seen as too uncool, I think it just suffers from a lack of hot-rod-monster-trucks, superheroes, evil masterminds, monsters, and mega subs/aircraft to be appealing to the average KFOL.

@ Aanchir: Points taken.

To me, it seems this set has all the faults of Leo’s castle (juniorization, open back, green 1st floor, lack of mechanism for the gate and drawbrige) and none of its strengths (unique minifigs, swivelling "window" in tower, cloth with Leo’s coat of arms). Apart from a few other faults of its own (mainly stickers), it does have some redeeming qualities in the smithy and the dungeon. I find it inferior to Leo’s castle, and I think the whole KK1 subtheme is underrated because of complaints of juniorization. I was surprised and sorry to see it last only 1 year, I thought the Bulls could use more fleshing out. This castle on the other hand, I see among the poorest TLG has produced (and I consider myself generous towards castles, as you may have gleaned from my defense of KK1).

Early 19th century, i.e. still in the spirit of the 18th century in uniform style (except the shakos, which were new, alongside some cavalry elements), weaponry and tactics. The Napoleonic wars had more in common with the wars of the mid to late 1700s (our pirate era) than those of the mid to late 1800s (our Grenadier guard era).

Well, there’s this piece to fit 2 figs in a 4-wider; <insert that tiresome argument> as it may be, I think it works very well. Variety is fine, but when small cars look like bumper cars next to the trucks, it strains my suspension of disbelief. 7642 shows this neatly even within one set, with the blue pickup and the orange truck. A major gripe for me isn’t necessarily just the width, but the height, with the bumpers and grilles being 4-5 bricks high, as seen on the red and orange trucks. It seems the cabin of the orange truck is higher than the pickup is long, and it contributes to the gargantuan appaerance of the new super trucks. My point is, the new large vehicles do not fit the City layout (buildings (not counting modulars), aircraft and large ships). But, as you said, it’s a matter of opinion and ones requirement as a MOCer. There is a slight connection in that 2005 was the year the vehicles started growing, at least from what I could discern from brickset.com.

I myself dislike the big vehicles of post-2005 City. I don’t buy the reasoning that the scale of cars to minifigs is more authentic, as now the vehicles positively dwarf the surrounding buildings. Why not make the buildings in a more realistic scale too? Becaue it would take a ridiculous amount of time and bricks and space and, ultimately, money. So, they should have kept the vehicles at roughly LEGO Town scale. In this review of set 6394 by Rapseflaps, he shows how out of scale the new cars look (scroll down to the last part of the review). Now, Six-wide cars I can live with (to an extent, the bus from 7641 City Corner is simply a behemoth). But the vehicles just seem to grow taller and wider. It seems LEGO City is entering its SUV era, in contrast to the real world where smaller and more economical cars are the trend. Seems like LEGO City doesn’t have problems with rising gas prices. The oversized construction sets don’t actually bug me that much, as I (personally) see them as independent of LEGO City. But since 2005 is when this trend started, I consider it a disappointing year, and I voted accordingly. And yes, I consider this scaling issue to be a bigger problem than Town Jr. That’s not to say I don’t like the City theme. The minifigs are great and some sets are nice, and I noticed that it moved away a great deal from racing, a permanent and sometimes overpowering subtheme of LEGO Town. It seemed like the whole town was built around the racing business – I bet that’s why it had such a large police force, they needed to clamp down on the ubiquitous speeding and race fixing. Sorry for making this a scaling rant.

It’d be nice to have the best of both worlds – Kingdoms and LotR at the same time, but the two seem too similar to me to be able to coexist without competing. Space got around this by taking a long hiatus or making “semi-space” themes set on Mars and Earth and some random SP III planet. Maybe if Castle concentrated on Barbarians or Middle or Far Eastern theme, or even a non-medieval theme like ancient Greece or Rome, alongside LotR, that could be doable.

I agree with those who would have preferred more of a medieval fair atmosphere, without the tower and lion guards, and with a 3rd (or even a 4th!) faction included, a a jester thrown in as well. Maybe even a bear (new mold!) on a chain, though TLG wouldn’t go that far in portraying cruelty to animals, no matter how authentic. What we’re missing is a decent archery tournament (I’ll tempt you with a forestman fig ). Maybe one day TLG will make a whole fair subtheme, with knights, archers, jesters, vendors, fortune tellers, a thief/pickpocket, etc . Yeah, wishfull thinking on my part, and it would probably seem boring to the KFOLs. Oh well, that’s what imagination and MOCs are for.

Nice spin , but TLG wants to sell an action theme to boys who want nothing more than to identify with heroes gunning down rabid dinos (albeit with tranquilizer guns, so as not to appear too bloodthirsty), not a moralizing tale of how man is the biggest threat to nature and poor endangered species like dinos... I’m curious what the official backstory will be, though; it should be made to be different to the stories behind Dino Island (humans actively seeking out dinos on a remote island far from civilization) and Dino Attack (dinos appearing on civilization’s doorstep, humans just defending themselves).

Your picture proves my point – the militiaman of 1850 has a simple and solid red uniform, more typical of the 19th century. In my view, the grenadier guard fits this style. In comparison, the uniforms of the 18th century and the Napoleonic era were more “open”, revealing the white shirt, as well as more gaudy, with secondary colors like blue, green and gold, white lace around buttons, etc. The imperial guards of both incarnations fit this style perfectly. The wikipedia article on redcoatshas nice pics which prove both of us correct – the general styles of the 18th and 19th centuries were as I described above, but there were exceptions which show that the grenadier torso wouldn’t look out of place in the Napoleonic era, which could be counted as part of the LEGO pirate era. Nota Bene: I guess the indisputable canon name for the fig is Royal Guard, but I’ll keep calling him the Grenadier Guard or grenadier, because of the strong visual association with the British Grenadier Guards. The name "Royal Guard" seems too abstract, and could span from the Castle theme to the Imperial Royal Guard of the SW theme.

Very nice and authentic looking. Hope you do as well or better in round 3!

So, is the tiny dinosaur from the base set the same as in the coelophysis set? I hope so, since the coelophysis in the 2nd set is way out of scale. Also, is the gun clip holding the syringe part of the gun or a separate piece? I’m hoping it’ll be separate and look like the brickarms version, which would be great, as it would allow attaching knives as bayonets to muskets and rifles. Being pretty much a purist, I didn’t use the brickarms clip, meaning my historical troops were reduced to using their rifle butts when fighing at close quarters .

Terrific set, especially the two new aristocrats. I know I’m not alone in thinking that the LEGO realm suffers from a lack of civilians. That lion noble could make a decent wealthy merchant, for example. And while more villagers would have been welcome, it is to the designers’ credit that they include at least one, when the set didn’t really need it. I do wish they included a dragon knight champion (and squire) as well. To those saying that being enemies, it wouldn’t be likely for dragon knights to appear, we have sets like 6095 pitting a KK1 knight against Cedric the Bull, and 7009 with a crownie and a skellie! Even in real life, during periods of “cold war” or “hot peace” between rival powers, tournaments could be held. Concerning the falcon knight, I hope TLG won’t bring back the falcons using this new shield. I want to see a return of the old subthemes as much as the next guy, but I’d prefer TLG to stick to the original coats of arms, so as to be compatible with the original subthemes. So, I hope this is just a standalone nod to the black falcons without heralding a new subtheme. On the other hand, I’d like Kingdoms to stick around, there’s still plenty of potential in this theme. Forestmen could be an option if the dragon knights are retired and the green primary color becomes available again, but I’d prefer them to be grittier than the original forestmen, maybe like Dark Forest. Evil forestmen have been suggested here, but since forestmen are so strongly connected to the Robin Hood “gallant outlaw robbing the rich to feed the poor” stereotype, I find it unlikely. Maybe a resurrection of Wolfpack, which I would welcome, but only if the original coat of arms was used.

Joe the plumber? Mario? Luigi? (I guess I’m not being very original) Seriously, nice solid build, though I prefer 4-wide vehicles myself. Is the stuff on the roof LEGO as well? This thread is exceptionally ironic for me as we just developed plumbing problems at my place...

how about this face?

Nice and pretty accurate, with the differently toned ground floor. But it’s missing the usual jumble of TV antennas and satellite dishes! I’m curious, have you based your buildings on any real locations? Nech to frčí!

The bearskin cap and the face with the chinstrap of course fit nicely into the IG era (18th to early 19th century, as you said). But uniforms of that age tend to be more gaudy, and cut in a way to reveal the white shirt underneath (as in all the imperial soldier/guard incarnations), in contrast to the tider and more solid look of the mid to late 19th century (as in the grenadier). It’s not a big deal, though I would avoid combining them, like I would avoid combining bluecoats with the wild west cavalry torsos. On a side note, I think the combining the new highlander kilt legs with IGs or grenadiers would make for a nice highlander unit, no?