DaleDVM

I am sorry. I just want to note that people are comparing LEGO parts to software and cell phones? I suppose since LEGO bricks are older than baseplates we should stop using them as well? I don't discount your opinion, but the logic of this argument is faulty. I speak from VAST experience. Both baseplates and plates have VITAL uses. There is literally no need for a debate. If TLG stops using baseplates altogether (as reported) it will hinder their fans in the future, especially those of us that build BIG. My full castle display is 30 baseplates x 4 baseplates. That is, 120 baseplates holding together around 500,000 pieces. Yes, there are tons of plates stacked on top of the baseplates, However, I added the plates more for aesthetic reasons. The fact that they add stability and tie the baseplates together is important as well. The display sits on plywood. If the base was made of plates/bricks it would still sit on plywood, but it would be much much much MORE fragile. Over time, moving such a large display to shows all over North America, if the base was made up of plates/bricks it would separate by tiny little amounts every move because of their own inflexibility. I would constantly have to push the display back together. How do I know? Due to large vertical variations in the display, I have sections of my display that are built solely on plates and large lego base bricks. Like most MOCs baseplates can only be found in the bottom most layer of my display. The upper large structures suffer much more from slowly separating than I ever see down at the baseplate level even though you would think the bricks/plates would be more sturdy. There is one thing that is just as hard as putting large plates onto baseplates. That is stacking large plates on top of each other and getting them fully attached to one another. The integrity the baseplates add to a build is lateral, not vertical. And that is what is essential for very large MOCs. The large surface area of a 32x32 baseplate means a large 40" x 40" (1m x 1m) section has only 16 baseplates that need to be bound together. The vertical integrity is provided by the plywood, which is never even seen at a show. There is literally nothing that TLG could ever produce that will provide stability like the wood does because it is cut to size and perfectly fits the display. It doesn't bend and is one solid piece. Finally as mentioned already. Baseplates can be moved onto wood smoothly. Plates/bricks catch at every imperfection. When driving, the display does move slightly on the wood base. Without the baseplates at the bottom the display would tear itself apart. I just went and counted how many baseplates I have for the second half of my display. I have over 100 and can't believe I need to start buying more because I don't want to be left short next year after they are discontinued. On the plus side, my hundreds of baseplates will go up greatly in value!

I welcome the new photos, thanks for posting. The set is better built/designed than I thought it would be. For me it is mostly about the parts, so... I welcome all of the castley stuff. BFs, swords, shields, armor, helmets, etc. Most of the parts I have in my collection have come from past castle sets. So... some interesting parts included in this set that will add more variety my collection... The olive and dark green slopes are very useful for landscaping and not very common. I do not think I have any targets like the one in the set. Not sure if that is a new print or not. The Nexo knight shields in light bley will be useful. The dark blue roofs are nice for crownie mocs. The pyramid shaped 1x1s in reddish brown. I could use tons of these. The set actually does have a decent number of wall panels. They are just the smaller solid ones not the large ones with windows. I like this better than past castle sets, since window openings at ground level kind of defeat the purpose of castle walls completely. These are also more useful to me since I only use the windowed panels as filler inside of landscaping. I do not like how I can see through the corners of the towers to the gatehouse where the 1x1 rounds meet the dark bley panels. The best part in my humble opinion... The rounded windows for the water wheel, and used as windows on top of the tall tower in model 2. These are brand new in reddish brown, only being available in white up until now. These will be very very valuable if not used in other/cheaper sets. I have not had the chance to use this part yet. I notice lattice pieces put into these windows on the tower, but I can't see it clearly. I am also old... I assume the flat lattice pieces from the gatehouse windows fit into the curved window? Does anyone know? The final new part, that I noticed, is the civilian minifig. If you go back a bunch of pages, you will note the civilian was the only part of this entire set I was really looking forward to. Well, it is official. This is unlikely to ever get used by me. I am sad. It just screams pirate. My nephew has the complete collection of all pirate sets... so it looks like he will be getting a few of these guys to add to his collection. At least they won't sit in a box... All in all, I would give this set 4.5 stars out of 5 for design but sadly 2.5 stars for parts. Too few castle figs, no new castle molds, no new heraldry, no animals. I guess this is what I should expect from a 3in1. But, as a castle collector in the historic forum, I am judging 31120 as a castle set. As a parts set for non-castle builders, I am sure it is much better.

I wouldn't call this set a slap in the face. After 8 years of no castle... I think this is more like TLG is Lucy, the 3in1 is the football, and us castle fans, we are Charlie Brown. Good Grief! I might consider the 8 years a slap in the face though...

Finally some pictures... I think the set is good for a 3in1. I also like the more civilian nature of the build and this makes it unique in my eyes. It is even less militaristic looking than the BF's original castle with its yellow tudor pieces. I agree with others that the incoherent color scheme for the heraldry is less attractive, but I do understand how they like to include a lot of different colors in 3in1 sets. This set is not nearly as useful for parts to me personally as "normal" castle sets due to the lack unique/new castle parts or prints we typically get with a castle theme. Obviously there are not a lot of details yet but from my cursory examination I can't see a single element that compels me to buy in multiples. Yet, I will buy a half dozen anyway because there has been zero castle for so very long. The BF soldiers in this set may make army collecting on B&P easier, but 2 black falcons in this $100 set in no way helps any army collector directly. Very disappointed in the pirate looking striped shirt on the civilian. That is literally the most important part in this set in my eyes. A new civilian would have been something for me to collect in large numbers. Now there is literally no element in this set (aside from the BFs) that excites me. Sorry to the earlier poster (about the civilian figure), but I don't think you get it. We are not deciding whether to buy a $100 set or not because of that one minifig. But... Buying an existing peasant on Bricklink to replace that fig does not help anyone out. I have tons of civilian figs to replace that fig with. (and to be completely honest I will likely never even build this set) This is not about one minifig to occupy my 3in1 set. LEGO sets are how I collect pieces for MOCing with. Currently, there is a drastic shortage of period appropriate civilians, they can be quite expensive, and most importantly they lack variety. Most of us castle collectors were hoping for a new civilian to populate our MOCs and take the buying pressure off of minifigs that haven't been available from TLG for over a decade now. In conclusion, I am glad they made this 3in1. It is certainly better than no castle at all. However, like the more beautiful blacksmith set, it doesn't offer enough of the medieval parts I so desire. I am still in need of the elements that come along with a fully fleshed out castle theme like Kingdoms was. And so... my watch on this forum continues. I know, I am in for a long wait... I hope everyone enjoys the castle and there is more to be excited about when we get more detailed pictures.

Didn't you notice the wink emoji after my statement? A wink means it is a joke... Back to the topic at hand. Castle LEGO fans have suffered the worst because they are the only real LEGO fans... <--- joke indicator But in all honesty, the fans that have suffered the longest without the release of new products are... Modulex fans!!! Architects around the world weep for its discontinuation!!!

An earlier post said no horses in the HP chess set. I don't know where that information stems from. However, if the chess set is cheap like described earlier, there is no chance of horses. Thank goodness I was lucky enough to get a case of both brown and white horses when they were on the PAB wall years ago. I never would have thought how scarce they would become among LEGO sets, since usually the castle theme gives us plenty. I didn't really think of the problems "no castle" for 8 years would have for the broader LEGO community. After all, castle LEGO fans are the only real LEGO fans anyway...

Bits and Pieces is certainly taking a long time to get to the USA. Bricklink shipping times depend on the store owner and doesn't really have anything to do with TLG. Sometimes it takes less than a week. I think 5 weeks has been my longest wait. TLG is just running the website and skimming profits off of resale of the very products they profited from the first time they were sold. Thus taking vertical integration of a company to the next level by grabbing a piece of the aftermarket as well. The last store employee I talked to said the castle 3in1 was coming in August. That was just one employee however...

Great work. I am curious what parts were used to make the medieval bow saw? Or is that a third party piece?

These are my common sense opinions. Supported by TLGs very own focus groups. Not only do kids want an adversary. They prefer an obvious adversary. They preferred skeletons back when fantasy era started vs a second human knight faction. Hence why the Crownies fought first against the skeletons, and then against the trolls. I was privy to insider information back then when I knew quite a few LEGO group employees. But people do not need inside information when TLG has had opposing factions in their castle sets for decades. However, I am really bored with debating. You think kids want knights in armor with swords and nobody to fight against. You think pink castles fill the needs of people who are fans of the LEGO castle theme. I think your opinion, while valuable, is yours and in a tiny tiny minority of castle fans.

That torso and legs are very useful. Thanks for the heads up.

Concerning the question, do kids want to play with pirates and castle? Of course they do. And yes the numbers of kids that find this or that attractive change over time. Anecdotes about one's own children not wanting castle or pirates is just fine. But they are just that. Anecdotes. For a larger sample size, do you know who random fans of LEGO talk to about castle sets? Me. I talk personally to tens of thousands of LEGO fans at shows annually. Because my display is a walk around, I am not behind a table during shows. I sit right amongst the crowd and love talking with them and answering the repetitive questions. And, I have been doing this for 16 years now. Granted, I do not have much data from the last 14 months (Covid), but unless everyone is going to argue the LEGO market and kids have totally changed since late 2019... I can say this for certain. The number of parents complaining to me about the lack of castle sets for their kids has been steadily growing for about 5-6 years now. The kids don't complain, they just ask me where I got my knights because they can't find any in the stores. Kids are so cute because they have little concept of time and live in the present.(i.e. have no idea I collected my knights decades ago) Some fans have complained about pirates to me as well and my display only has a couple of medieval ships. Some parents are upset to the point that they are complaining about TLGs decisions and priorities to me. And like I pointed out earlier in this very thread. I don't defend TLG like I used to. As a side note: I can't tell you how many parents complain to me about the overwhelming number of LEGO licensed themes. The complaint is typically this: licensed themes have sets that are supposed to be a very specific thing "usually from a movie". Which makes it so the kids never want to make anything else from those parts. They only want their parents to fix it when they break it. In other words the kids are no longer creating with their licensed sets as they are determined to keep them as they were designed to be. Obviously, I didn't have these type of conversations with LEGO fans a decade ago when castle sets were regularly available. This large sample size over a long period of time tells me that LEGO fans have certainly noticed core themes going away. They complain to me because many people come to a show, see my display, and think this guy must be connected to the company. I really need to tell them to start writing to TLG. I refuse to believe that the world changed completely since Kingdoms was discontinued in 2013. And I know that Kingdom's did sell well. Perhaps LEGO knows better than I do. But to be honest, I think they listen to number crunchers more than people who are closer to the products and the customers. 2013 castle not selling well only tells them one thing. They don't take LOTR, Hobbit, HP, juniorized sets, 3 back to back to back Castle themes being available for 8 straight years, etc. into their calculation for the lack of sales. The number crunchers just see Castle=Bad. I guarantee that if they ever do a castle theme again. It will sell well in that first year just due to pent up demand. Sadly, one off sets, creator, ideas, etc. will not get the sales a full Castle theme will. Why? There are no bad guys to fight. The 3in1 pirate ship also will not sell as well. There are no red/blue coats for them to fight against. I can only hope pent up demand will outstrip the effect of having only one faction available. Because if these sets don't sell well TLG will take all of the wrong lessons IMHO.

Yes. However, that was a sin I committed 25 years ago when I was using baseplates for water features. Today I would build around those horses. But since I have them already cut... I display them. @Valon I do have other castles, however nothing near this size and this is my only full city. As a homage to all factions there are knights representing every faction in the tournament being held and a tent made in their colors for every single historic faction including all of the KKII knights. With 3 exceptions. I do not have tents for the 2013 factions. Because that part of the display was done before then... And Jayko's faction. He is being refused access by "Crownie" security outside the city. And I have him crying, because... he is Jayko. Nuf said.

All I am saying Alexandrina is that getting an ideas set and a creator set every couple of years is not going to provide AFOLs with the parts we are used to. Not by a long shot. You have to remember, we have got used to some castle theme being there for 30 years. The last 8 years have already been a blow to most castle fans. Then to learn that instead of getting a castle theme soon, we most likely will not get one at all is shocking. So yes, we will get some castle sets very sporadically. I already admitted as much. But it is not a theme, and that has implications for the parts we are going to get. And for me the parts are 90% of the point in the first place. And Serenity in Fire. I look forward to the day we meet. I will be displaying in Wisconsin in May at Uke's Harley Davidson in Kenosha. Next year, I will likely be doing Brickworld Milwaukee when this Covid stoppage is over with. Make sure to say hello if you can make it, and let me know who you are on the forums.

I take no offense Alexandrina. Some people take their love of the castle theme seriously. Some people are more casual about it, or are general LEGO fans, and that is cool too. However, I don't think you understand how important a regular flow of parts from a selected theme can be to some AFOLs. I have been following this thread since it began. Waiting and waiting for the next news of a castle theme. This has been the longest dry period ever for castle. I have been collecting since the 1980's so yes I am deeply invested. and this... is how serious I take the castle theme. Sorry I had to link to an old video but I do not post pictures of my display online. It is not just a hobby to me. It has even been a job at times. My display is well over a half million parts at this point, but sadly I haven't been building as much over the last few years. The lack of a castle theme has nudged me into a grey age. I suppose at this point I just need to motivate myself and reach back into my old castle sets for my inspiration. In the mean time, after several years of patiently waiting... let us Castle fanatics grieve. Because a set or two (which I do appreciate) does not really make up for the lack of a castle theme for the last 8 years and for the foreseeable future.

I am not blaming Samuel Johnson for not getting a castle theme. But I did direct one of my emails to him because he is in the loop, and he should get feedback from us to pass on to his team/managers. "I am hoping in the near future you are going to be extremely happy." LOL!!! He says... as the new creator castle is just about to be revealed. Maybe he really doesn't know if something is coming soon. (I guess he had to say that) However, unlike some people in this thread, I didn't forget about the 3in1 that we got news of just a couple of weeks ago? While I am thankful for it, the 3in1 creator set is going to be released with the same figs we got in the blacksmith set. The only hope we have for anything new is for a new civilian fig. There will be no new heraldry, accessories, animals, shields, or new molds. This is creator after all. Fact is... this thread name should be now changed to "there will be no future castle theme for an indefinite amount of time". Because without a full theme we will never get anything near what we expect from LEGO for our castle hobby. After this year, unless LEGO changes its mind, we will likely not even get a creator or ideas sets for a couple of years. After following this thread into its sixth year and 8 years with no real castle theme, I am truly saddened by this news. If LEGO castle fans were paying attention right now they would all be weeping. Sadly most tuned out long ago due to the lack of sets over the years. There are literally only a few of us even paying attention to this any more. How long can anyone hang on waiting being disappointed over and over.

@LEGODavid... If the LEGO company was to receive hundreds/thousands of emails about upset fans in the next few days, yes they would pay attention. It can't be just a couple of fans. It needs to be a lot of fans. And unlike many other themes castle does have a big following. Unfortunately, most LEGO castle fans are tuned out right now because of the lack of sets. Spread the word everyone! If you think that your creative castle ideas are going to get them to release a new castle theme they have already discounted you are deluding yourself. First off, any new ideas that you have for castle aren't likely to be all that new. There are decades of sets and there is really only so much you can do with castles and medieval sets. But more importantly, if you do think of something totally new it is doubtful anyone would recognize it as castle anyway. Nexo knights was new. And... most castle fans hated it. A bright pink castle is not castle. The yellow castle would not be castle either... if it wasn't the first castle set and had nostalgia value. Nobody would be happy with a yellow castle released today if it wasn't for the original set.

I am more of a castle guy and my nephew is into pirates. However, this is tragic news for all historic themes. https://www.brickfanatics.com/lego-designer-says-creator-3-in-1-is-the-new-home-of-retro-themes/ As I said on the castle thread. This was released on the Ides of March. Et tu Brute... I am devastated.

Sorry about the empty quotes. I literally couldn't figure out how to delete them completely. I don't think Worldbuilder is going to save any of our classic themes. Worldbuilder is for giving TLG new creative content. A castle theme no matter what the backstory is nothing new to TLG. It sounds like they have made a decision about historic themes and these classic themes are only going to get a nod now and then going forward. I personally think anyone pushing them on worldbuilder is wasting their time. Perhaps the Blacksmith and 3in1 will sell in such numbers that TLG will realize their mistake. I recommend everyone who cares to write to TLG today. I have already sent a pair of emails to express my concerns.

Why is anyone talking about anything except ^^^ this? This interview has announced that Castle and Pirate themes as we know them may be dead FOREVER. We aren't going to get a castle pirate mashup. We aren't getting either of them at all. Am I supposed to be happy with the occasional bone thrown to us once every few years in a 3in1 creator set? LEGO design manager Sam Johnson is going to be getting some mail from me. I am a castle collector. It is my theme. For the past 8 years I have been buying some sets that are useful to me in hopes that castle would return. However, since I will no longer be getting fully fleshed out castle factions, figures, accessories, new molds, etc. I am not sure I really need much in the way of new LEGO any more. Without new castle products to MOC with I feel like my part of the hobby will become stale. It has been hard to get excited about LEGO for me since Kingdoms left the shelves. While I will buy multiple castle sets from this year in some vain attempt to make TLG change their minds about castle. I will no longer collect any other LEGO products. Sadly, I will now be going from a grey age to a dark age. I really feel bad for those who are new castle fans. I have a ton of old castle sets, minifigs, accessories, etc. to MOC with. Going forward it is going to be extremely difficult (expensive) for AFOLs to collect a good variety of medieval themed LEGO pieces. It doesn't sound like this is 100% a done deal from the interview, so I would suggest making an overwhelming amount of noise if you are not happy with 1 or 2 sets every few years and zero full castle themes for the foreseeable future. And this announcement came on the Ides of March. Et tu Brute... I kind of feel like I was stabbed in the back.

I, for one, hope this does not become a series of sets for that very reason. After 8 years, anything that gets in the way of a castle theme is the enemy. If Mythica sets are developed my LEGO knights will have to hunt them down at the next AFOL event and eat them! ;-)

I put some outlines and ideas out there as have others. However, I would hope that LEGO would make some sort of determination that a castle theme is worthy enough that perhaps they hire and pay someone for creative content. Pitching AFOLs to engage in an "unpaid theme battle" against one another is ridiculous. Winner gets their favorite theme produced? Does the winner get paid for their time? Or is it just the pride that this is their theme? But, more importantly, do the hundreds/thousands of losers get paid for their time doing TLGs work? I know the answer to that one: No way! In the meantime the owners of TLG will take home billions more exploiting AFOLs talents. Ideas was bad enough... Now they want AFOLs to make entire themes for them. What really concerns me, is the thought that getting a new castle theme is riding on how good AFOLs are at pitching a story to TLG. Kind of tragic after 8 years of no Castle. It almost seems like TLG is using a stick disguised as a carrot on LEGO fans. The thought of fans of different themes competing like this sickens me. The worst part might be that someone could come up with the literally the best story ever for a Pharaoh/Egyptian type of theme, yet TLG is never going to accept it because of how poorly Pharaoh's Quest sold. But TLG is not going to tell people what themes are actual possibilities and who is just wasting their time. IMHO fans need to start treating TLG like the for profit corporation it is. They work for us, not the other way around. Every dollar, pound, euro, etc that TLG makes and every job there is paid for by the customers. We buy their product and it is within a customers rights to ask that the company deliver on what we want. TLG uses our feedback and then has the right to produce what they want, or think will sell the best. And we vote with our wallets. Which is why in the last 8 years I have saved up a lot more money than usual. If people want to create TLGs content for them free of charge that is fine. I hope they find their time spent rewarding. I know that so many AFOLs are absolutely brilliant and creative. TLG knows this. That is why they are trying to tap their creativity. I just think fans deserve to be treated better than this by such a profitable company.

I think the Kingdoms dragon and lion look great! The 2013 dragon looks alright, but that lion, I threw up in my mouth. However, there is a worse lion but that was in the 1990s...

I know this is off topic... Now that I look at 2013 castle and refresh my memory. I say to myself, I like that line of sets. But the heraldry! Ugh! It is just flat out terrible IMHO. That lion and dragon belong in a Duplo set and not in castle at all! And the worst part is. When it comes to castle, the heraldry is the most important part to many AFOLs. The rest we can MOC or modify to our liking. Yet we are stuck with the heraldry and minifigs they give us... TBH, I think the minifigs are pretty cool... Until they hold a shield or a flag.

Vehicles sell because kids like to fly/drive them around when they play. However anything kids can push/hold and "zoom around" works for this. My granddaughter "zooms around" dinosaurs, dragons, horses, in addition to vehicles all of the time. Chariots, Knights on horseback, some carts, siege equipment, and large creatures flying or not can fill that niche. I don't care if AFOLs do not like siege equipment. One should be included in every set with a castle, tower, gatehouse, or wall. We do want these sets to sell after all! I think they should also make more of a mix of siege equipment. Catapults are a bit overdone. Spear throwers, siege towers, some simple shields for archers to fire behind, and they have never done a good simple battering ram. This is where the modularity of the castle comes into play. If you have a main castle set, a tower set, and a wall piece set, each with a different piece of siege equipment it encourages the collecting of all of those sets not only for the individual buildings but for the different siege equipment as well. Each of those sets should either have a knight on horseback, vehicle, and/or a creature as well. Only the small army builder type of sets should be devoid of these. Granted LEGO mostly knows this... even if they stray from the plan sometimes. Thanks MAB while I was typing you showed how they make too many catapults...

Alexandrina, that is what I was getting at but didn't elaborate on it. Two young human leaders one a male and one a female. The two are the royal leaders of their factions. They are allies but are also competitive in a fun way with one another in leading their kingdoms. This could lead to some very playful storylines between the two young royals. The elf female and dwarf male are older and could have some awesome tension/harassing one another by being forced to ally in this situation. The wizard would be the powerful old wise one that is holding the alliance together. I see a great opportunity for an interesting story with the mix of sexes, ages, and races in the group of heroes that I think is lost when all of the heroes are of the same age and race like ninjago.