Sirens-of-Titan

Where did you get them??

I agree with you on the point of unicorns, I never assumed that was the idea, to me it's just neat armor plus the helmet allows you to put tons of items as decoration at the head of the horse. As far as the baby dragons being statuettes, I'm gonna have to disagree with you on that: Yes, they appear to be used as ornaments on Prison Tower, but the Wizard set clearly contains a dragon that can't be taken as anything else but a dragon, plus the scroll has a picture of a dragon on it; very rarely will such symbols and figures be thrown in as a symbolic item, and if they were jade, why not make them a transparent color? So I believe we will see a mature dragon in the next wave of sets. As far as the wizard, I do think his role will be mostly like a shaman figure, and not really one of all-powerful magic. Recall that there were ghosts and dragons and wizards in the 90's though, so don't rule them out just yet, I think if you look at classic tales like King Arthur, you'll get all kinds of mystic creatures and people without straying too far from the "knights" aspect of it. In fact we seen to have an 'Excalibur' of sorts in the calendar! Keeping that in mind I am still hopefiul for a few woodland creatures from the mystic realm; we haven't seen that yet, and I will fit perfectly in the background of a forest men/peasant/wolf-pack type faction which is what most people seem to want out of the future of this theme.

I finally got to buying a few of the new Kingdoms sets and truth be told they look beautiful, especially knights in bulk; the new metallic gray is gorgeous and the shields and plumes make for a great color scheme. What is really intriguing about this theme however, is that it is a return to the classic non-fantasy castle of the 80's and 90's, and the fantasy factions such as trolls, skeletons, and dwarfs seem to be out of the question and out of this theme. There is, however, still magic and fantasy in the world of Kingdoms; We have wizards, and they have 'magic wands' and of course baby dragons; So that makes one wonder; what kind of role does magic play in the world of Kingdoms? And how much fantasy elements will be introduced in the new theme? I personally cannot wait to see the next wave of sets; they are a crowning achievement and a great mix between contemporary Lego design, and classic castle architecture, add to that the realm of fantasy that while it isn't as wild as that of the 'Castle" line, is very much present and you get a line bursting with possibilities at the seams. How far can the fantasy ideas be bushed into this theme? I mean can you realistically see other figures such as forest nymphs, walking trees for a forest men faction etc. ??? (since most of the fantasy is based on folklore)

Yes indeed, the run was all too short for fantasy, but I highly doubt we will get any extreme fantasy factions in this line just look at the old castle sets; you had dragons, yes, and there were ghosts and sure there was magic but it was all done in a very King Arthur type of way (very background and rooted in folklore as opposed to Tolkien fantasy) I rather like the design of the new castle sets though, and it seems the overwhelming opinion is that with more civilians and common folk structure this line could hit it off like never before. I don't think they'll bring in vikings; its very old school proper castle factions so you need proper "kingdoms". What I can see coming back is the feel of the "horde" army; peasant and mercs all draped in brown, and maybe some sort of other darker color, with improvised, rusted weapons, and a mish-mash of insignias and banners. As far as other elements of fantasy such as a monster army, its not gonna happen, and we also aren't going to see any faction based solely on ships, but a nice galley would be fantastic! I do want to see a new dragon model however! Not quite the static 90's model, but not the over-the-top fantasy model. So far it looks like this: Peasant Army: http://www.medieval-life-and-times.info/im...ants-revolt.jpg I really can't wait till any news breaks!

What a fantastic idea! Indeed that will give you both a fresh-looking army and a source of peasants and regular city folk.

Absolutely! Very good solution for everyone's wants and needs. I can kind of picture a sea-ferrying Wolf Pack faction with large medieval galleys and a port town. These can be something like this: It's highly probable we'll see a forest men army; the name of the theme is Kingdoms (as opposed to just Knights, or Castle) so even from the prelims it was clear there will be many different groups. I also like the idea of a knights army based on manors and wealthy houses as opposed to fortifications. I was also thinking; why not add a Spanish faction; it was pretty solid as a player in European affairs, and has the Eastern feel without the culture clash. We could finally see a lot of that conquistador helmet! I know the next item to add to the list of sets (besides a proper Dragon Knights castle) will be a new force, and I can't wait to see what kind of curve ball they'll throw at us! Either a gang of poorly-armed ruffians, or an archery based forest army will be next. I can't wait to see what they will add to that force is it is released; it seems every army gets a wizard, so here comes the green wizard with the forest dwellers and the power of the woods haha

I agree there seems to be a lack of peasant characters; this is kind of counter-intuitive to the idea of a feudal system (so far we've mostly seen the lords and very little of what would be 90% of the population ) but I could see how these will not really appeal to kids who want the shiniest, cleanest, most-powerful looking set possible. There is a ton of possibilities in making them look like jolly farmers though; not all peasants need to look gloomy and oppressed. And yes I would still love to see a whole bunch of Western "classical" knight armies but I don't simply want to see a new color scheme and body printing; if there is an army of lets say redesigned Wolf Pack, I would expect a run down kind of look to them, not a whole bunch of shiny swords and armor. Something with the consistency of the troll architecture and weapons of the last series would go quite nicely; (Imagine a sword made of that Rusty metal!! ) As far as crusaders, I don't see Lego doing any (despite the time period being perfect) it is not a line based on Historic events, and there are still elements of fantasy and lore, like wizards and dragons. Besides, I really can't see Lego ever putting a cross on a mini figure unless it is a licensed set. But because this series follows the classic Castle lines of the past we can kind of anticipate what we will see; there definitely will be at least two more heavy armor, chivalry-draped, mounted knights with unique shield and banners. I hope to see a new color scheme from them perhaps something in deep purple, or even an 'orangey' red. Now I just wonder how they will approach dragons; they have little ones so far, but they will surely bring in new ones as soon as the next group of sets comes out; I wonder if they will use the huge dragons from fantasy, the classic dragons from the 90's or a brand new cast that's in the middle!

It seems the new Kingdoms line is much more reminiscent of the Castle sets of the 80's and 90's than it is to the Fantasy theme of the last few years. As such, it contains strictly human-to-human factions with a few fantasy elements thrown in (like dragons) but is nonetheless not going to contain the classic Tolkien factions (dwarfs, elves, orks etc.) So, it makes one ponder; what kind of additions will this theme receive in the new factions department? Will they be other 'classic' knights with different coat of arms and color schemes or will the Lego Group make things more interesting? Since these are crusader-era knights it may be plausible to think of a new cultural aspect; perhaps a far eastern faction, or a middle eastern faction with unique accessories and design to match. (Yes there is a lot of politics in pinning culture against culture but it still can be done tastefully) Or perhaps we will enjoy a bit of an offshoot into the area of unorganized bands of robbers/pirates or forest-men that still wield a coat of arms but aren't held up behind castle walls. What do you think, and more-so what do you hope Lego will do with expansions on this theme which so far only contains very classic knights and very classic architecture? I like to hope than there will be a bit more to offer than just a reintroduction of a new "blue" faction or a new "yellow" faction, but we shall see! Ideas????

Count me in as well, this sounds too good to miss.

Hello to all the members, I just joined today, and I saw a post of another new member introducing himself, so I'm doing the same and just trying to get to know some people here. I've been visiting this site for almost a year, and I loved all the MOC's and the set reviews. My favorite themes to build on have to be either pirates, castle or space. I'm looking forward to posting some models soon enough, and being a part of your community.