MAB

Or they believe the demographics of people that will buy this is much wider than you think.

If you haven’t got any novel ideas, it is probably best not to create a new website.

Brilliant. Instantly recognisable.

Gone up compared to when? Most of the Rivendell figures can be had for about £10 each on BL from UK sellers (obviouslywith some variation based on popularity). That is about as cheap as they have been for buyers here. They started off at £15-25 when first released.

Very smooth action, well done!

For $350 now, I would not expect much more than Orthanc was back then. And that would be a huge disappointment to many.

LEGO's part numbering scheme is rather useless, as it doesn't allow users to identify base parts. BL (and LDraw) use the base part then use their own numbering scheme. That cataloguing is their property. When Brickowl first started, BL objected to Brickowl using the same catalogue numbers as that was BL property. Similarly, LEGO doesn't really care about naming of parts, and BL names are much more user friendly for searching for parts. This has the downside that the description they use is their property, so cannot be used by others unless they have permission.

At bricklink, do you mean 3068bpb2339? Where does the other number come from, as LEGO call this part "FLAT TILE 2X2, NO. 699" with part number 6465626. That part number from the LEGO parts database is used on BL.

Some questions were focused on whether you have bought on the LEGO website. It wouldn't surprise me if they intend to sell some of these online, like they currently do with clothing, bags and household items.

Some kids have rich relatives and get what they want. I know one family with two boys, each of them had the original UCS Death Star 10188. In a LEGO store once, a grandmother on the phone to presumably the parents of the grandkid. They couldn't decide whether the kid would want Hogwarts 71043 or Cloud City 75222. The grandad looked like he was impatient and bought both. It wouldn't surprise me if there are kids with the LKC and the Blacksmith. It might not be aimed at kids, but kids will still want and have it.

I think it is possible to go ever further than that. To me, the Blacksmith set was an adults' set for adults whereas the Lion Knights Castle is a kids' play set for adults. The former is highly detailed and mainly display oriented whereas the latter is in the style of a kids' set even though it is for adults (or adult budgets), hence the nostalgic link to kids' toys of the past. The Blacksmith is quite far removed from Castle of days gone by, where LKC is much closer and more recognizable as being from the same line as the originals, just being much larger (and costly). Although the techniques used in LKC are more complex than the originals (although not that dissimilar from kids' sets of today).

Bricklink evolved independent of LEGO, and internal LEGO code names were not public knowledge. Bricklink's language therefore evolved independently. I have used BL for many years and so I tend to use BL's colour names as they are the ones I am used to. To me, they make more sense than LEGO's names but that might be because that I was I have used for so long. There is also the issue that BL recognises some colour variations that LEGO does not, and I think there are some cases the other way around. Most (new) printed parts do have the official part numbers, so you can search for those, even if the base part number is made to fit in with the regular BL numbering scheme.

I don't think it is that simple compared with modern sets. Compare it to this 2024 set ... (313 pieces $30 vs 350 pieces $38). They are very similar in standard and style. Obviously both are simple compared to much larger and more expensive sets.

A lot of fan sites are advertising this survey, and many of them get free products for review. I assume LEGO think they reach more people this way and have paid the intermediary sites with free stuff. As to the products, it will all be very expensive and not so different to the household products they already sell.

Personally, I don't like it very much. It is way too busy for me, too much decoration. And too similar to all the other Castle builds. It is another nice MOC if you enjoy the style but I wouldn't buy it at what would probably be $240 or so.

That's a nice surprise in the last image!

There have been substantial price hikes on some parts. For example, the Black Falcons torso has gone from 83p to £1.20, so almost a 50% price hike. Quite a few others have gone up from 83p to £1.00+.

Yeah, when it comes to architecture and religion, they seem a little more relaxed. As to the minifigure designs, I think they'll be great as there is no need to go cartoony (like the 7 Dwarfs) and I'm sure they will fit nicely with most modern designs. I already have a lot of torsos I use for generic 'warrior' type figures (the Hun is probably my favourite, but also Dastan from POP, the CMF Elf, vikings, etc) but hopefully this series will provide some nice parts. For monks, I find a hood and cape usually does the job, especially for warrior monks.

Clerics and monks are probably unlikely unless they make them look very fantasy and not too religious. The other classes are pretty well covered with existing parts so long as they do not use some weird new printing style that does not fit with other LEGO figures.

Hands can crack and if left for years they might become used to holding a weapon or whatever and so become slightly lose. However, the main reason for not leaving them holding accessories is that they stick out and if they are knocked or pushed in storage then it may cause twisting at the joints. They also take up less room if stored with arms by their sides, no weapons are held and no excessively large headgear is attached.

You have to be a bit careful with WD-40 as it can remove prints if left on for too long. If arms feel tight, moving them gently can help but make sure the torso is held so the arm only goes back and forth with no twist sideways.

You used to be able to buy sticker sheets from the replacement parts service when it was a phone service with a little presenceon the website. But the price for them was very high, even compared to today's prices for capes and animals.

It's fine to glue it but if it has cracked in the middle then you might need to glue in a saddle or brick depending on how you will use it.

For me, it is do I like it enough that I want to keep it built or do I think I will want to sell it? If I am going to sell a set I have built, I will make sure not to mix it with MOC parts. Usually I know before buying a set whether I will build it or whether I am buying it for parts. In the case it is for parts, I will take out the parts I will keep and mix them with my MOC parts, and remove the parts I will sell on and not use them so I can sell them as new parts/figures. Even if I buy a set for parts, I will usually flick through the instructions to look if there are any interesting techniques used even if I am not building it.

For me, it depends what the build is going to look like. If you are doing a studless build then I like the tiles or curved slopes or other studless combinations as these look similar to the build on top. Whereas if you are going for a studs up build on the island then I prefer the multiple layers of plates look.