Sirens-of-Titan

I saw a few of the City calendars in a local TRU in New York, and they assured me they will be stocking both that one and the Kingdoms one; be aware those things sell like hot cakes though; returning to the same store 2 days later, they had sold all of their City calendars

Well, it's been a while since these came out, but I find that if you wanted to build a force of dragon knights, there's not much stopping you. I don't like the quality of the BP's there's tons of ways to get a force of those guys. I think the footsoldier with the bullet helm sells on bricklink for like $3 a piece, so you spend thirty bucks and get a small force of lego quality plastic, without having to buy any Lion knights. Personally I think the imbalance is there to get you to buy multiples of sets to get a small force, that and most kids aspire to be good guys, so the bad guys have to be present but not in full force

Ditto, I my local TRU, in New York, stocks both the Kingdoms one and the City one; looks like they are out in the US first!

Great contest, Just one question; If you wanted could you include multiples of same minifig series 1 for category B? For example if I wanted to include 2 or 3 crash test dummies, is that allowed or is it grounds for disqualification?

Great thread Part 1: Chicken animal mold with single stud on bottom Description: A mold in the shape of a chicken/hen/rooster, about as high as the legs of a minifigure. A single stud on the bottom will allow for placement Usage: We need more farm/forest animal molds. This could be used in the farm, castle, western and city sets. Colors: bleys, white, reddish brown and tan Part 2: Donkey animal mold Description: A mold in the shape of a donkey; slightly smaller than the horse but still with the hole in its back so that a minifigure rider can be placed there. The features will be curvier, and the head a different shape. Usage: A must have for castle sets, it could also be used for conquistador sets, and especially for farms Colors: reddish or dark brown, dark bley Part 3: coming soon

I actively built and enjoyed playing until about 15, when my peers no longer cared for Legos I had to go and cave into peer pressure and "grow up". I was still very interested and even checked out Eurobricks within the last 4 years of the end of my dark ages, but never had the courage to buy a set. I was recently celebrating a one year anniversary of dating my girlfriend, and was looking for something special to get her. Try as I must i couldn't think of anything, until one day when I told her about how I used to play with Legos like crazy when I was a kid. To my amazement, she told me she was obsessed with them up through the 8th grade but stopped because she felt 'too old'. We couldn't believe it, we recognized the same maddening spark all Lego fans share in our each others' eyes, and we were off to Toys'R'Us so quickly the rest seems like a blur. We bought and built a few pirates/ Kingdoms sets and she also got a few city impulses. We later found out about Collectible Mini-figures, and we were hooked. I now have my own projects and also collect and build with her. I gotta tell you though, it was like falling in love all over again!

One of the best impulse sets of the year! I got a few just for the pig, but the farmer is also useful

Love the battlements on the tower! Great job man, and also your knights look great; a nice mix of old and new parts; I also love the combination of the PoP hair piece and the face with the mustache.

I sure hope they do with POTC what they did with Indiana Jones; release sets from the previous movies as well as from the new one. Just imagine the Black Pearl from the first movie with a crew of undead skeletons (possibly in a new tan or bley color! There's gonna be tons of new accessories as well, just look at the POP series and all the custom molds, and new colors that were introduced for it!Since it is pretty much replacing both pirates and POP, I can't wait to see the sheer splendor of these sets!

I think this has tremendous potential for expansion into historic theme; Just think, if the temple sets sell really well; better than the rest of the theme, it might send a clear message that people want to see more Greek/Roman buildings and we might get a Roman/Greek theme in a year or so!

So it sounds to me that this is collectible minifigure meets card game, meets the concept behind Bionicle (of including a series of different colored, themed figures as a set) while new Ninja parts and weapons could be cool, I am not as excited for the theme as I would have been if there were new buildings and entire sets coming out. Did you see any decor or is it all minifigure based? As far as a repeat of the "Jellybean Knights" I think Lego learned the lessons from that, and at least to me the current line of miniofigs is the best I've seen since the early 90's and I would argue they are the best ever. I mean, each new set fig has character and personality; and isn't a random face on a random torso withrandom acessories. That is to say that I trust the current Lego production team to make each ninja and the accessories in the set superb. KD, did you hear anything about when new KINGDOMS sets might be coming out?

I haven't seen an official date yet, I wonder if they will come out for Christmas or early next year. Most likely given the current rate you could see them as early as November

Wow, what a rate they're releasing them at! So far the only place I've been able to find even series 1 has been bricklink, and they charge an arm and a leg for these. (Like $6 per figure ) It's true we have to wait for the pics to judge these, after all most of series 1 and 2 would sound boring if you just read the descriptions on them (I mean the surfer wasn't very exciting until you saw for great the fig looked) Over all, I think the greatest contribution these figures make is that every series brings us 16 never before seen head prints, torsos, and new molds and accessories. I for one find little use for a lot of the torsos (as i'm a historic themes guy, modern bodies are not very useful to me) but the heads and hair pieces and some of the historic figures make it worthwhile to buy these. So if a figure sounds plain, it will probably come with great accessories and face prints which will make up for it. I can't wait to see the samurai, mummy and the elf. I'm really dissapointed there won't be any new Kingdoms sets until next summer, but I guess it'll give me a break in spending money on those sets and having some to get minifigures. BTW, thank you so much Klaus-Dieter! Did I hear correctly or are there really going to be Pirates of the Caribbean sets in 2011???

Awesome idea! For the special elements I voted for all 3 horses color changes! This would be fantastic to see some variety from the same old black/white/brown version. I also went with the black bear and the flesh colored fish option.

I have a small force of Royal knights from the 90'sthat I have updated with modern faces and armors and since I got the royal carriage back then , which came with a King, I treat him as the King of the Lions Kingdom, and his small force as bodyguards. The massive army of Lion Knights and Crownies i have still fight for him but are led by nobles and vassals. I don't believe i can ever amass a large enough force to have the king leading it personally, but to have his presence and several medium sized armies of "good guys" led by nobles works out much better in my mind. For example, my crownies force is led by a knight in the Crownie King's armor, but with a hairpiece instead of a crown, and same is true for the new lion Knights who are led by a noble clad in the Lion King's armor but wearing a new bucket helm, with a white plume. As far as dragon knights, i treat them as an order representing an oligarchy of states; i have a ton of foot-soldiers, and about 10 mounted knights, but I also have the new wizard figure as a mounted figure with a shield and a viking ax, because I don't really buy that "magic" is viable in the new line, i treat these wizards as wealthy landlords and although they lead the force, they are not magical per say. Depending on what comes out next year I might either be adding a third major faction to the world of Kingdoms, or making it into a subfaction of either Lions or Dragons. I honestly don't think that grouping all of the factions into either a good guy, or bad guy category is possible or practical, especially considering how much Lego minifigures have evolved in the last 20 years, grouping old crusaders and new Lion knights is simply not aesthetically a good choice. Even grouping old dragon Knights with new Dragon Knights is not something I would do. Plus it's far more interesting IMO to have many many factions who all have their needs and interests as opposed to 2 major ones. Just think historically and practically; when have there ever been coalitions big enough to encompass half the Kingdoms in Medieval Europe?

Damn, I was hoping for earlier previews at least in early October but I guess we'll see them when we see them. I wish they at least let us in on what kid of sets/ new factions they will be adding to the line

When do you guys think we can realistically start seeing previews for the next wave of these sets and possibly a new faction? I for one cannot wait!

Wow that looks great with the figs incorporated Let's hope that the next wave of sets will have a dragons commander or a king that can be incorporated as the crowning jewel in this tower

Thanks man, the poll is a great idea, and I like the idea of the tower on the shield, kind of like the shield of the "Redcliffe" faction in dragon age

Hey, great way to kick off your Euro-bricks career my friend, this is truly a pleasure to look at. You did wonders to this by simply mimicking the style of the set and adding a few key details. I'm impressed with how true to form your modifications to the design are, you can't really tell it's been modified, it just looks better and larger, like the part of the building that has been missing is back to where it should be. I too would love to see the tower fully manned, if it's not too much trouble please post a pic or two with the minifigs Once again great job, and welcome to Eurobricks!

Granted kids are marginally aware of the history of Rome and ancient Greece, the only way to truly make a big impression on them is to sell it on the bases of popular culture. Yes, they will dig the uniforms, and they will like the new pieces that will come in the sets, but to keep on coming back and buying more and more there has to be a hook, to really draw them in, a story of a sort that they can follow and continue when they get to playing, so if there is an "ancient' theme, which i too would love to see, there will undoubtedly also be a well developed story behind it, with motifs like monsters, heroes and villains. Look at any Lego theme and see for yourself that these are present in all of the them, and it is part of the reason people aren't fully happy with the Kingdoms theme; a lot of protagonists but few antagonists and no leadership on the side of the Dragon Knights.

Incredible!!! Your style is spectacular! it is at the absolute apex of MOC'ing and you are on top of it all working miracles with bricks while us mere mortals look on with awe! Fantastic stuff, keep it up, I cannot wait to see more from you!

I think there's a lot of material in pop culture to aid the castle theme; i mean starting with all of the fantasy Tolkien-inspired multimedia like movies, video games, and toys, it's just about one of the most popular historical periods to market on. Periods like the renaissance and imperial age are very underrepresented in popular culture, so they are much more so in need of cultural rescue than medieval themes.

It's true that this is a tricky theme to achieve; on the one hand you have a whole plethora of background that you could work with: Plenty of Greek city-states, distinct architecture and armor to make for a unique theme, as well as an endless supply of mythological tales can make designing sets a breeze. On the other hand interest in this period of history is not present by itself in young kids. (Unlike knights which are always present in popular culture and movies) If they are to do this successfully they must present it in a very creative and informative way, to rouse interest in the ancient, for example telling a very modern story but setting it in the BCE. A very clever way they can do this is by creating a theme somewhat along the lines of "Mythical Heroes Vs. Monsters" and then creating numerous sets of monsters who face off against a faction of hoplites and "heroes". It will be to ancient themes, what Fantasy was to castle Let's hope it happens!!

Much obliged :)