SirBlake

I'm sure that is the case, but it sure wouldn't hurt. I work in the design world (advertising agency), and while it doesn't take a great illustrator to make a great designer, having that in your portfolio is very meaningful.

Hopefully there's not a pre-existing thread on this topic, but if there is, I failed to find it. Who else out there gets the joy of sharing LEGO with their kid? It's exponentially more fun, that's for sure. I thought y'all might enjoy a couple pics of my 6 year old that's lucky enough to have an AFOL as a father. Here we have her with one of my classic castles... And here giving Frodo Baggins a makeover at her Friends Salon. (Friends hair with a bow in it) Hard to tell what's going on with the crummy photography, but the joy on her face is easy to see.

As I said earlier, not older than me, but I thought y'all might appreciate the minifigs that date back to my 6 year old self (1981).

I realize that there's no news here, but I just can't believe how little info we have on this. Has there ever been an instance where we have a current series on the market with no idea what's coming next?

Hola, Paulo! Soy hablas español un poquito. Hahah, being from Texas, I have to try. Welcome!

Man, in a way I'm jealous. There was very little for me to miss in the late 90's/early 2000's as far as castle stuff goes, being out of the game for 2 decades is tough. Be proud of yourself for coming back to your roots so soon. I remember when the set that's pictured in your avatar was new! <- Old guy.

In that instance, I think I'd have to just hit BrickLink. I'd rather not pay more than $5 for any specific minifig, but in an instance where I'd have to get a big set that I don't even particularly want, there is a point where I'd shell out just for the minifig just so I wouldn't have to throw that much money at a set where I don't want the set itself, or the parts that make it up. It's a tough one, but I think that's where I'd have to land. I'm in a similar situation with LOTR. Weathertop just doesn't seem like a good brick-to-$ ratio deal, so I'm going to tough it out and wait for a sale, or get Merry and some ring wraiths via BrickLink instead. Nevermind the poor people that are dead set on 9 ring wraiths, and the prospect of buying 5 over priced sets to gather all of those. Once again, we are fortunate to have a marketplace such as BL to do our business. Having myself come from the Hasbro Star Wars 3 3/4 inch action figure background, I can say with no hesitation that the LEGO fans have it figured out better than anyone.

Edoras is perfect in so many ways. Beautifully represents the movie set and is totally pure as it relates to what a LEGO set needs to be. I would be thrilled if the official offering was anywhere near this level of excellence. Can't wait to se what (if anything) is next for Two Towers from you.

Sorry to dig up a thread from April, but I had to. I entered my dark age at about 1991, when I got a car. My sweet mom, who's just a big kid like me, threw a few sets my way over the years, but for the most part, I've been dark up until last year when I ran into the kingdoms line, specifically this set: http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=7946-1 It all came flooding back, and motivated me to dig up the castles that I had at my parent's house for the last 20 years. 36 years old and I'm just as big a LEGO maniac as I was as a kid, only now I have cash, and the internet. Special thanks to EB for being the single most wonderful online asset for discussion that there is.

Generally speaking, I would never buy a set just for figs, but there's a (*) on that statement. Some "Battle Pack" type sets are just too good to pass up, where the bricks are useful, but the main reason for purchase is the figs. The current example of that for me is the LOTR Uruk-Hai set. I could use one more for my Helm's Deep set, but I'll likely buy a couple because I can never have enough light bley bricks, and the figs are great. Another, (*) example is when I was given a Star Wars set: http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=8083-1 and the fleshie parts are proving super-handy with my first licensed theme experience as far as mixing and matching minifig parts. (again, for LOTR) This experience has shifted my attention to other licensed themes, and if they have useful parts and minifigs that I could adapt, I'm going to have to consider the purchase solely for the figs.

Hah, I don't want to hear it. 1975 here, and my oldest LEGO is this one: http://www.brickset.com/detail/?set=6083-1 Which would put me at 6 years old or so at the time. I only have the king and two knights left (minus visors, unfortunately). Thankfully, by the time I really hit my stride (1984), I took great care of things and all my classic castles are 100% in tact.

Thank y'all for the kind welcome! Hah, there were no pirates sets when I got my start, so for better or worse, that decision was made for me.

Very glad to hear it! I'll be waiting (impatiently) in the mean time.

Though I've just recently joined, I've been perusing EB for months, and wanted to thank you, The Cook, for these wonderful builds, and really, for this spectacular concept. Though I'm thoroughly enjoying the Kingdoms sets from the past few years and now the LOTR stuff, my heart will always be with the classic 80's castle stuff. Thankfully, I've held on to everything from back then, and the simplicity and modular connectivity were always my favorite aspects. Your creations speak to that so directly and elegantly, it's brought me a lot of joy to see what you come up with. I hope you're not done exploring the possibilities. I'll be paying close attention. Thanks again!

I've been enjoying your "Quest" for months, and now that I'm joined up here at EB, I thought I'd drop you a line to thank you for the inspiration. I too am enjoying my LEGOs through my child, and thought you might appreciate the following picture. If you can fight through the poor quality, you might be able to see that there are some modifications that differ from the original instructions. Because of your site, I've gone back and rebuilt some things since this photo was taken, which required a couple orders from BrickLink. Thanks again!

Fair enough, just a suggestion. Doesn't diminish the coolness one bit. Carry on, sir!

I believe a hearty "WOW!" is appropriate here. Loving the changes. The only alteration I would suggest is to mod the additional Uruk-Hai extensions so that they are flat, without that "bump-out". So it better resembles this:

The S3 Elf parts are absolutely perfect. I'd do the same thing if I had more than my one precious Elf. The short bow would probably be best for them, as opposed to the elf's longbow, but that's just picking knits. Thanks for the pics.

Whoah, you sir, are committed. I'll give you that. Thanks for being so quick to upload pics and keep us posted. Super-cool project.

That's a cool idea! Can't wait to see how this turns out.

I appreciate the analysis of how to add Uruk-Hai sections by Deskp. I must admit I was already thinking this way, but it helped to visualize things before I had the set in hand. Here's a pic of how I put mine together. Uruk-Hai section between the "drain" and main body, and I evened out the crenelations at the top. I plan to add one more section on the end, and I'll build it without the bumped-out section. I also deleted the catapult and "dwarf-tossing" feature.

Shelob and Uruk-hai last week, Helms Deep on Wednesday (had to pay the crazy TRU tax on that one, I just couldn't wait anymore) and found Gandalph at Wal-Mart today. I realize how fortunate we are in the states (I'm in Texas) to be getting the LOTR stuff first. The wait was already killing me.

Long time lurker, first time poster. I'm already quite familiar with these forums and figured it was finally time to engage in the conversation. My name is Blake, I'm 36 years old, and a designer at an advertising agency in Fort Worth, Texas. My castles from the 80's have been in boxes at my parents house for a couple decades and I finally decided to unpack them last summer, and man, I'm glad I did. I love them just as much now as I did then, maybe more now that I get to share them with my 6 year old daughter. I'm including a couple of pictures, and a link to my photobucket album. I'm afraid I lack the equipment or desire to capture great photography, so apologies in advance for bad iPhone shots. http://s40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/BlakesAlbum/LEGO/