AmperZand

Depending on where someone is, the minifigure parts are mostly available on Pick a Brick and the castle/horse parts are available either on PaB or on BrickLink. The set is available for 30% off at a couple of retailers in the UK where I'm based. At one of them, I had loyalty points so my cash outlay for the set was less than £40. I then spent another £15 on PaB to add a few minifigures to my Horse Knight and Serpent Knight factions. So my total spend, £55, is half the RRP of the set of £110. My point is that with patience - and yes, some luck - it's possible to get Lego for reasonable prices.

There’s also 31161 Creator Medieval Dragon. Traditionally, LEGO has thought of European style dragons as part of Castle settings. The image of 31168 Creator Horse Knight Castle in the background of the box art of the Medieval Dragon suggests it still does.

Pretty sure they’re Archer Helms by BrickWarriors: https://www.brickwarriors.com/archer-helm/ @Shroffy123, Cool army I don’t have 31168 Creator Horse Knight Castle yet - it’s too expensive. But I’m planning on building out the Horse Knights from the set when I eventually get it.

Can confirm that BL was down yesterday. Today, all's well. I was able to integrate my BL and LEGO accounts without issue.

I’ve used the omgbricks app for previous series which I find works well, but I have no way of knowing if it will be up to date with the European Spider-Verse CMF data matrices by the time I find the CMFs in store which could be as soon as tomorrow. The code numbers would ensure that a generic code reader, not a CMF reader-specific app, works in an emergency. UPDATE: Answering my own query, I managed to find the European codes on Reddit:

Does anyone have the alphanumeric codes for the European boxes of Spider-Verse CMFs? It’s actually only the last two digits of the first block of seven numbers that are needed for identification. If you have those, please share in reply to this post or provide a link. Thank you.

LEGO has, in a way, reintroduced battle packs. If you’re in a country with online Build-a-Minifigure, you can select from a variety of preselected minifigures in each bundle. The bundles are: - Viking warriors - Lion knight archers - Horses with lion knight caparisons - Wolfpack marauders with wolves - Magenta knights There’s little to no variety in each bundle and the price is no better than buying the parts separately. But if you’re army building, it could save you time. It also shows that LEGO is thinking in the right direction even if this isn’t quite what most Castle fans would consider ideal. You can find them in LEGO’s online shop on the 31168 Creator Horse Knight Castle page and scrolling down almost to the bottom.

The box art shows a silhouetted castle on the horizon - literally and figuratively. My guess would be that we’ll get a Serpent/Snake Knight Castle in 2026 with a bunch of factional minifigures.

There's also a thread for this mod. I don't have the set yet but when I do, I plan to mod it and post pics. That could be some time off though. The set's too expensive at RRP and even with the discounts already offered by Asda and Chaos Cards. I'm waiting till it's 20 - 30% off preferably at Argos as I have loyalty points there.

That's brilliant! It's imposing like the previous Creator castle (31120) was which is what a castle should be. It's also prepossessing in its proportions, contours and surfaces. Great job If I might venture one criticism it's that it lacks the look and feel of the original. If I had two Horse Knights Castles - I don't even have one yet - I would create a super version of LEGO's design rather than a mostly original edifice. I appreciate that that wasn't the intention here. That's just my preference.

I voted for the Series 3 Elf. I waited so long for an elf and when it appeared, LEGO did not disappoint! Ironically, I didn’t vote for the one that, I strongly suspect, was inspired by one of MOCs. I’m not going to say which one it is, but more than appearance makes me think that my design inspired LEGO’s.

@Wardancer @SpacePolice89, Thanks for your kind words and apologies for the tardy response. @Wardancer, There are a couple of reasons for the self-imposed constraint: 1. It’s a fun challenge to see what you can do within limitations. I’m in admiration of some Rebrickable designers and wanted to test myself to see if I could do as well. 2. If I opened it up to unlimited additional parts, I’d wind up splurging on BrickLink when I’m trying to save for some of the summer releases. Sadly, my LEGO budget is pretty meagre. @SpacePolice89, This one’s a good size but I do like large LEGO dragons, too. I have Cinderhowl the D&D set dragon, the 2025 3in1 Creator dragon, and Maleficent in dragon form among others. I also have Smaug but it’s still in its box.

You certainly can re-whiten parts as long as they don’t have stickers on them that you’re not willing to sacrifice. Here’s how to re-whiten yellowed parts: https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/forums/topic/7167-brick-de-yellowing-techniques/#findComment-1977178

@DonQuixote, Unfortunately, I don’t have any intel on the Castle minifigs. Sorry

I have it from a fairly reliable source that one of the CS astronauts is a shade of turquoise (teal) and the other is one of the azures, so they’re not both the same. I’m guessing - not based on any particular info - that there’s only one warm gold one and that the fourth spaceman is either a different colour or space themed but not from the CS era. It just seems that in a prize machine, it would be more fun to have a variety of colours/styles with no two minifigures the same.

@danth @SpacePolice89 @Feuer Zug @LEGO Train 12 Volts Thanks for your kind words. Apologies to anyone who came to this thread, couldn’t see the pic and was wondering what was being talked about. The picture is linked to Brickshelf which was down for quite some time. LEGO has a thing about not-minifigure-scale Classic Space. First there were the micro fig sets and today, 15 May, there’s a new GWP of an oversized red CS baby. I’m glad we’re getting new colours of CS astronaut minifigures in the forthcoming Prize Machine though will wait for the set to be on sale before getting it.

As a LEGO dragon fan, I had been eyeing up Ninjago set 71829 Lloyd's Green Forest Dragon for a while but hadn't pulled the trigger when a friend bought it for me as a surprise gift. The reason for not getting it myself was that there were features of the dragon that bothered me. I'm not particularly into Ninjago so was seeking a more generic green dragon, e.g. a quadruped, not a biped, and one that was better proportioned (the wings are very large compared to the body). When the set recently went on sale at a retailer where I have loyalty points, I couldn't resist the urge to get a second dragon and combine them. The resulting dragon is very much more to my liking. I set myself the following requirements: Quadrupedal dragon More proportional overall More posable/better articulation More greebling/more organic looking More generic fantasy/not specifically Ninjago Not designed to be ridden Smallest possible number of additional pieces, i.e. parts not from two 71829s In the end, I only used four additional parts: two 6043656 and two 6039479. This is what I came up with. What do you think?

Maybe I need to see the balrog in person at a LEGO store because the images make it look too squat and stocky even when you account for LEGO aesthetics. It should to be taller, leaner, more menacing. As is, it’s dangerously close to being chibi. Of the four spring/summer 2025 sets I was considering - this, Fantastic Four, Creator Castle and Prize Machine - this one comes last. It’s not bad, but not a must have. Also, as others in this thread have pointed out, it’s not good value.

As others have noted, NOT acetone/nail polish remover. Gently detach the arm, apply a very thin coat of Humbrol Satin Cote to the male part (the shoulder ball), allow 24 hours to dry and gently reinsert into the torso. If it’s not stiff enough, repeat the steps above. You won’t be able to see the shoulder ball once inserted but even if you could, Humbrol Satin Cote is clear and has identical lustre to LEGO’s ABS. The trickiest aspect of using it is that you can’t see it going on as you apply it because it’s invisible, so there’s a temptation to put too much.

I suspect the weird names are due to LEGO’s sales channels and timing. A significant percentage of LEGO’s sales is to resellers (Amazon, Walmart etc) and wholesalers, not direct to consumers. At the point in the sales cycle when the toy trade is making buying decisions, LEGO doesn’t have set images, just set names, piece counts and recommended pricing (which, incidentally, is why those details leak first). A trade buyer who isn’t necessarily very knowledgeable about LEGO or Marvel might not understand that ‘Fantastic Four vs Galactus’ isn’t a set of five minifigures costing $60 at retail. So LEGO explains in the set’s name that Galactus is a large, built figure. It seems stupid to us, but makes sense from a business perspective.

I’m not a purist and not an arbiter of purity. I was just putting it out there as a suggestion for those who see purity as a scale rather than a category.

Another way of doing new candles (ones that are unlit and therefore not melted) is to use this piece: https://www.bricklink.com/v2/search.page?q=String grips#T=A If you cut the string at the base of each bar and partway to the next bar, you get a great candle and wick. Some consider cutting string unpurest but I believe there’s precedence for cutting string in official instructions (though, admittedly, not this piece).

I started collecting History (fantasy, mythology, historical etc) minifigures back in 1993 as an offshoot of my interest in D&D. As a result, I've always been more interested in individual heroes than massed ranks (D&D for anyone who doesn't already know is centred on individuals, not armies). So my collection emphasises variety, not uniformity. That's in no way a value judgement: I very much enjoy seeing the armies of other collectors and even have one army - of Uruk-Hai - myself. But for the most part my 'armies' are themed groups of heroes, not rank and file soldiers.

The recently released Micro Command Centre (40786) is a great set, but because it's micro scaled it isn't easily integrated with most of the rest of Classic Space. I therefore modded it to make it minifig friendly. It wasn't my intention to make a proportionally scaled up version, only to modify it just enough to work for minifigures. I'm not a big fan of stickers, so none from the set were used. The microfigs appear here as space kids/babies. This mod follows on from my enlargement of the Micro Rocket Launchpad (40712) from a year ago some of which is included here.

I was also wondering about the positioning and suspect it will be a play for the premium end of the market. If so, it won't be competing with LEGO on price which will be a shame for many AFOLS, myself included. I'm not sure that it will be porting existing licences over to Mattel Brick Shop. Those IPs may already be too strongly associated with Mega Blocks/Construx. It may seek new IPs. It may compete with LEGO by being more innovative and varied in its products such as parts or materials that LEGO doesn't do or doesn't do much of. Parts with studs (or anti-studs) facing in opposite directions, elastomer (silicone) parts that flex, or sets with elaborate lighting systems (not just single light-up bricks) are a few possibilities. I wonder also about the segments Mattel will target. Will it go after the 18+ segment (architecture, plants, art) or particular geographies (China)? It could also compete with LEGO in certain non-IP themes either targeting kids or adults or both. Castle is ripe for development as are trains, pirates, western and modern warfare. I'm hoping for quite a lot from Mattel Brick Shop because there are so many ways in which LEGO could be improved. Ultimately though, Brick Shop may turn out to be quite disappointing. We'll have to wait and see.