TomC

I don't see the harm in discussing this, but personally, as long as I keep getting *really cool* castle sets like MMV (feel free to disagree, but I love every castle set I own, and I own all the modern ones, with multiples of the really good ones) I'm going to keep loving my lego. I think I got my first Lego bricks in 1962, I think, and my dark ages began several years later (perhaps 1967?) not that long after. Still, somehow, I purchased the yellow castle and the king's castle (6080) even during my dark ages... I've now been out of them for a year. Yeah, Lego group! Long live the castle theme by anything they name it! tc

Dear LEGO group, I really, really, really got lucky last year and got a castle advent calendar here in the States. I don't have friends in other parts of the world who can buy me one and ship it through the very expensive international postal system. Please have these available in my local Lego stores here in Virginia. If they don't sell well, I promise I'll buy several. tc

Guys, Castle is going to survive. It's going to have fantasy in it. Will it be the same? Not necessarily. Will there be new factions? Probably. Elves? Not immediately. I'm certain, myself, that new factions are coming and the old ones will continue. Lego reissued 10176 Royal Knight's Castle with the ghost and the old skeletons. Now skeletons are a faction. Castle is going to continue to evolve. Many of the sets of the current line, like King's Castle Seige and Medieval Market, are wonderful. There will be more. All right, battle wagons haven't been really clever lately. And there will be more drawbridge and tower sets in isolation. Hopefully, some of them will be very creative. I'd personally love modular castle sets. tc

Thank you for reporting the tree's fragility. I was wondering about that. This creation is simply marvelous. I'm greedy for more pictures, it's so beautiful. Wow. tc

I was having a hard time visualizing how you could do better than you've already done. So the siege shouldn't have been the surprise to me it has proven to be. Wow. I'm was really impressed by your post where the tower was being built, and I admit that I should have expected a siege *this* good. It's breathtaking. The black burned bit facing the castle from the siege line (a siege tower burned to the ground?) is particularly impressive. I have to wonder if the fire on the tower roof will win out and how far it will spread, or if the barrels of water will put it out. I want to see the day after this siege (but realize I probably won't). I am looking forward with high expectations to the next (modern?) stage. I'm somehow wondering if you're going to include tourists buying ice cream cones at the gate. Wonderful work. tc

This Moc gets a "Wow" from me. I love the crack. tc

"Something like this" Good sequence, the pair of successive scenes. Thank you! tc

You may call it a thurible or a censer. article at : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censer describes them both. tc

I've been admiring where this was and where it was going since stage one. Wow. I'm *very* impressed. I'm learning a lot of techniques from your build. Thank you for posting this (all three so far, actually). Looking forward to more if you do them. I'm going to repeat myself: Wow. -TomC

I have this strange reaction to your post. First, I majored in History in college, and love my historic Lego castle stuff. But I love my fantasy as well. Fantasy: I'd love even more fantasy than I've got. I wouldn't like to see history pushed out, though. I'd love a big castle set, on the order of the bigger street-corner buildings, as suggested. On a side note, catapults are a fad, I think. They'll always be a part of Lego castle from now on, but I suspect there will be fewer of them. Dragons, however, are not; they'll be with us in newer forms as time marches on. Basically, the bigger and more historical Castle I can get, the better. I'm torn. I want both a historical line and a role-playing line with lots more fantasy races and monsters. About your son: the good news is, although your son may well outgrow his legos and have a Dark Ages, almost all boys and a whole lot of girls love building toys of all varieties; chances are, if you listen to what he likes and wants, he's going to love the entire duplo-through-adult experience. And, finally, by far the best thing TLG has ever done thus far, in my opinion, is the Medieval Market Village. -tc

It can be a little hard to follow, but he's been "catapulted" toward the wall. They've already cocked the catapult for another knight and he's sat on the catapult ready to go, while the first knight is still in the air, so the time sequence is a little "fantastic" (impossible). tc

Hi, Teddy (and, I Scream Clone). I'm TomC, and I'm new around here. How in the world did you do the arrowslits? And, I'd like to add how much I like the portcullis designs, too. Your castle is one of the more awesome ones I've seen. the added stone extending out from the wall certainly does away with the dull gray wall syndrome, as well as the color scheme you're used to break up the gray. It all really works for me, I'd like to add. The stones extending out: "headlights" to get Studs Not On Top, then tiles? What a massive amount of brick you're used up! Outstanding. What else to say... the trees are really nice, too. tc