Aanchir

I mean, this is a fabulous MOC — certainly closer to the design philosophy of other recent "throwback" sets than the one you shared on the previous page, and I love how elaborately the builder furnished it! But as others have mentioned, the piece count is enormous (the brick-built cliffs are surely a factor in this), and it deviates a lot more from the original set's design and proportions compared to sets like the Forest Hideout. For example, the windows have been lowered from the upper floor to the ground floor, the window shutters and balcony below the windows have been removed entirely, the footprint of the building is two studs larger than the original in every direction, the black ridges on the roof are rotated 90 degrees from those in the original set, the weapons on the front have been raised up far higher relative to the roof, and brown parts are used about as extensively as black ones instead of as a subtler accent color. It also sticks to old-school arches for its tree branches, eschewing the more rounded and organic style of branches from the Forest Hideout and Lion Knights' Castle. All in all, it's a very different sort of re-imagining of the original model than what the set designers were going for. That's hardly a mark against it as a MOC — and frankly, I could even imagine it as a retail set (although not a GWP) if LEGO had previously opted to take more of these sorts of liberties with the designs of their other throwback sets. But it's far from what I'd have expected this particular set to look like, in light of the precedent we've seen with other GWP sets.

great start! a few small corrections based on the pics I've seen: the 1x2 plates above the windows and the ones below the 1x8x2 Dark Stone Grey arches should be 1x2 round plates (35480) like the ones used for the door. I don't think the back and front walls are supposed to quite match — the back wall definitely has inverted half-arches pointing out towards the sides, but not ones pointing in towards the center. On a related note, the plates between the 1x8x2 Dark Stone Grey arches and these inverted half-arches are Reddish Brown 1x1 plates with clip (4085d) rather than black 1x2 round plates like in the front. Don't forget the chimney! It's actually taller in this model than in the original set (it used to be that the top of the 1x1x5 brick used for the chimney was level with the 1x8x2 arches, but on the new set it rises 5 plates higher). I'm wondering whether the added height might be to allow for a second-story fireplace in place of the sconce/torch from the original model. In any case, just as in the original set, it is positioned one stud behind and one stud to the right of the left rear 1x8x2 arch. I also have doubts about the use of 4x8 wedge plates above the 4x8 parapet bricks — my current guess is that it instead uses 2x2 triangular tiles so that it doesn't cut into the second-level "floor space" — but as of yet it's impossible to verify what the correct parts are since all the pics so far have this thin layer of parts hidden behind the leaves growing in the front. Hoping we'll get more pics soon to lay some of thoe uncertainties to rest! Honestly, I appreciate that they did a Majisto's Magical Workshop remake since it was such a significant set from my childhood! Whereas how excited I'd be for an original Castle model in its place would depend heavily on the execution, and on whether the subject matter offers something that complements my current medieval sets or something that those sets already include in some capacity like a jail or blacksmith shop. But obviously that's personal preference on my part, since I realize a lot of y'all have more extensive frustrations about the ways it deviates from the original, and not everybody is quite as drawn to it on account of it re-imagining this one specific model design.

I get where you're coming from but I wholeheartedly disagree. I think they're just as valuable to have as other large structural frames and panels. If a rough cliff face or mountainside entirely built up from basic bricks were suitable for KFOL playsets, then I imagine we already would've seen LEGO doing more of that in the years prior to BURPs being introduced. On a separate note, I just noticed that the roof plates leave a two-stud-wide gap towards the base of the roof. I think the designer might have added some windows to the sides there!

I mean, the yellow banner with blue text is specifically a reference to the "LEGOLAND" branded box art that LEGO used for minifig-scale "play themes" from 1978–1990. By comparison, the original Majisto's Magical Workshop, like all sets from 1991–1999 had "LEGO System" branded box art, in which the yellow border and banner were replaced with color-coded sides (yellow-orange for Castle, black for Space, purple for Pirates, blue for Town, etc). See this image for reference. So I wouldn't have really expected the LEGOLAND-style box art for this set any more than I would have expected it for 40581 Tahu and Takua. Admittedly, this doesn't totally evoke that original 1993 box style quite so closely — originally, the yellow-orange on the sides would have extended to form a border around the front, and unlike the LEGOLAND-style throwback set packaging, it doesn't use vintage fonts for the name, set number, target age, etc. But the other changes in the box art are more or less to be expected. Honestly, as gorgeous as that MOC is, I would not have expected the set to introduce changes of this magnitude one way or another. Even before we had any specifics on this set, I was fully expecting it to stick fairly close to the original's proportions, layout, and color scheme, just as we saw with many other "throwback" sets like Barracuda Bay, Forest Hideout, and Eldorado Fortress. So stuff like making the roof two studs wider or Anyhow, I've got to say, I'm a little bit disappointed, albeit for different reasons than some of the other folks here. I don't mind the lack of printing on Majisto any more than I did in 10305, but I don't think it was a good call to get rid of the sack on his back without adding another accessory in its place — perhaps a black fabric cape to echo the black plastic cape on the original figure. Even in lieu of a unique helmet, I wish the Dragon Knight's helmet and armor had been black instead of silver, both to echo the original Dragon Knight minifigures better and to better differentiate their color scheme from that of the Lion Knights. Since the wand is a new recolor anyhow, I would've preferred a color like White Glow (to echo his classic wand) or Warm Gold (to echo the staff he has in 10305, and take advantage of a sort of color that did not exist in 1993). I don't mind the Tr. Yellow that much, but it's not what I'd have chosen. The feather plumes on the workshop… I would've liked if they could have chosen a part with more of a dragon motif to use instead, or at least a part that would have still felt like an ornamental statue/grotesque/gargoyle instead of just an abstract ornamental shape. The roof design feels like it could have been a little bit more innovative. Like, obviously, the overall shape of the roof is important enough to the original set that I would not expect any huge changes to it. But I don't think the designers needed to stick so strictly to the original set's "thin black plates on big red plates" approach. For example, they could have added some curved slopes like in 71367 to create a narrower point at the top where the two wall surfaces meet. And the black plates could've perhaps been replaced with tiles, jumper plates, or even 1x4x2/3 curved plates to add more textural variety. As for stuff I do like: Just as with the Forest Hideout, the designers did a good job keeping this model close to the same scale as its classic counterpart (despite Majisto's Magical Workshop being a slightly larger model to begin with than the Forestmen's Hideout was). A lot of the landscaping improvements from Forestmen's Hideout and Lion Knight's Castle (e.g. the curved base, scattered yellow flowers, and improved tree roots/branches using curved slopes, inverted arches, and dinosaur tails) are used just as effectively here. Not only does that help the set look nice in isolation, but it will help it fit in nicely in a shared display. Adding a more clearly defined brick-built door was a good call, IMO! The lack of a door on the original set was confusing to me as a kid, even though as an adult I understand the implication that Majisto would literally open up the entire workshop using magic in order to enter and exit. The brick-built detail here makes that implication a little clearer at a glance even when the structure is closed up. Using a jumper plate and lock tile for the actual lock was a particularly nice choice! The door and the Dark Grey bricks around it also help the mountain/cliff face feel more cohesive, instead of having a sharp separation between the dark grey rock faces on the sides and the black bricks and panels surrounding them The railing on the balcony and the little wall sconces on either side of the door are simple additions, but ones that add a lot of visual appeal, IMO! Replacing the two layer of 4x8 parapet wall pieces with one layer with a brick-built wall above should hopefully allow the designers a little bit more usable floor space to work with on the second story (whereas in the original, the second layer of parapet wall pieces created a protruding "shelf" that cut the usable floor space down to 2x4 studs on either side). Obviously, I'm still very eager to see what the interior looks like — after all, one of the strengths of the original set was that it had a slightly more furnished interior than many Castle models of the time (though of course a hearth, barrel, trunk, and 2x4 brick workbench make for a rather austere interior by modern standards). And the interior details were a big part of what drew me to other recent medieval models like the Medieval Blacksmith and Lion Knight's Castle. Using 4x10 BURPs like the original set means that the designers of this set will have just as much space to work with, but if other modern sets are any indication, I am hopeful that they will have made much better use of that space. Hopefully now that high-quality pics have started to surface it won't be long before images show up on LEGO.com! Even with a number of part choices that feel iffy to me, my overall impression remains positive, and I'm enthusiastic to pick up this set (and take care not to miss out like I did with the Forest Hideout).

That could be an interesting layout, although the museum building in that sort of layout would still be more or less the same size as in the official set (since despite adding 16 additional studs of baseplate width, those studs would be completely taken up by the sidewalks wrapping around the building). Still, if anyone ends up doing that, I'd love to see it! EDIT: I was just looking at some more of the lifestyle photos from the press kit. This one nicely showcases the garden and first floor from above, including how the tree in the garden is attached and how the exhibits on the first floor are arranged. Meanwhile, this photo offers a good look at the gift shop, archive/storage room (that's actually a microscope in there, not another fossil as I'd previously assumed), and bathroom. And this one offers a close-up of the ceramics exhibit including the shattered pot, bench, and bathroom door. All in all, the ground floor isn't nearly as empty-looking as some folks have made it sound, although the second floor does have a fair amount of open space between the orrery and the big map of the Earth which could have maybe been filled with another table of museum pieces, or perhaps some seating to turn it into a space for science or history presentations.

Yeah, while it's not the most intuitive pairing, a hot dog van certainly makes more sense here than it would with other recent Modular Building sets that include eateries or food kiosks of their own. The pastel color scheme is also a very good fit for the modular street's vaguely mid-20th-century setting.

I mean, maybe he wouldn't need an ID badge for ordinary office work. But for public-facing work like exhibit openings, fundraising events, or VIP guided tours, it doesn't seem odd for him to wear a name tag so he can be recognized by people who don't regularly work with or under him. For that matter, it wouldn't surprise me if this museum's ID cards are also used as key cards for access to otherwise restricted areas of the building (like the curator's office or exhibit storage room. That would explain him wearing it on a lanyard instead of on his lapel.

I definitely wouldn't expect LEGO to introduce a baby goat mold this soon — seems to me like that'd make more sense to do after the full-size goat has been back for a few years and its novelty has worn off a bit. Same as how piglets, foals, and calves all came out years after the "adult" version of those animals. Granted, there have been exceptions, like how this year's Arctic sets introduced both adult and baby seal molds for the first time, or how the Wildlife Rescue sets a couple years ago introduced lion, lion cub, elephant, and elephant calf molds all in one wave. But I don't think there ought to be any particular rush.

Oh, hot dog van looks charming. With its pastel paint scheme it certainly has the right "vintage" vibes to fit in with the modular street. Yeah, very exciting to see Dr. Kilroy again, especially after getting throwback versions of Johnny Thunder and Pippin Reed in other themes! Ordinarily I associate him more with the outfits that have green in them, but the gray suit does feel more fitting for a job in the city like this, whereas his other outfits are more "outdoorsy" and suited to expedition work. Honestly, the statue placement doesn't seem like much of a problem for me — those particular windows seem more geared towards letting natural light IN than providing a vantage point for looking OUT. And as for the area around the doors, my wife and I were both pretty impressed by the staggered door and window surrounds in the center, which recede two layers of bricks in from the outer wall. For my part, I worry that putting the statues right by the entrance along with the columns would've felt a little too busy.

Red hair with headband from the barbarian or whoever could be useful, maybe? Also looks like the weightlifter has gray shorts, which if unprinted could potentially be used for sailors or castaways. Otherwise not seeing too much that stands out as especially useful to the Pirates theme. Maybe there's other stuff that might be more noticeable once we have higher-quality official pics.

Not sure, but I suppose it does help compensate for the lack of a cafe here. In that regard, it fits better with this set than it would with other recent Modular Buildings that already came with some sort of food kiosk or eatery. Honestly, I kind of get it. The Modular Buildings have always had a lot of emphasis on creative uses of generic parts, so brick-built exhibits make a lot of sense for it in that regard. Moreover, fossils/skeletons of dinosaurs and other extinct animals tend to be some of the star attractions of any natural history museum. Whereas including a bunch of molded animals from still-extant species to represent taxidermy would risk it feeling less like "really unique/exciting museum" and more like "feeble substitute for a zoo". I feel like goats (or any farm animal) would feel unusually mundane for a museum like this, and would only really be meaningful/exciting to us AFOLs. Plus, it'd get much less meaningful/exciting the longer the set remains on shelves, despite being really unique and novel when the set is first released. Casual adult buyers 3–5 years from now will probably have no idea what's so special about a goat that it needs an exhibit in a natural history museum. I mean, for comparison's sake, how many people in real life would plan a trip to a natural history museum to see chickens or cows?

I expect the official name will probably be "Noir Detective" or something, given the monochrome design and mid-20th century clothing. But I do love the cheeky "red herring" accessory! I am very excited for Basil the Bat Lord! It's a brilliant-looking redesign of an iconic character from my childhood, albeit with his scepter re-imagined as a glowing axe. While the helmet is obviously too specialized to use for realistic knights/soldiers, it is a great update of this specific character's classic helmet, and one that could still be useful for other fantasy characters. Overall, since I wouldn't expect to see throwbacks to larger Fright Knights sets as exclusives or GWPs, I'm very happy that they decided to make a CMF based on him. The goat is obviously very exciting too, though it's a bit of a shame they didn't redesign it to allow for interchangeable horns. I can't say I mind the color scheme they settled on too much. Multicolored plumage works alright for a half-bird character IMO, and adds some great fantasy appeal. It also helps her stand out nicely from past mythological monsters like the Medusa and Cyclops figs. By comparison, the custom example you shared has more of the deathly pale look I'd expect for undead monsters like a vampire, ghost, or skeleton. I don't mind the claw pieces used this way, but it feels odd to me that the printed talons on the feet don't match the color of the hand and claw pieces more closely. I also kind of feel like the big molded wing piece from Vidiyo and Monkie Kid might've been a better choice than individually articulated wings on a transparent neck bracket, since this multi-piece approach makes them stand so far off the torso.

Honestly, it's never made sense to me to think of tiled floors as implicitly better than studded ones. Tiles definitely work nicely for some types of flooring, like wooden boards, patterned carpet, or actual floor tiles of various materials. But for types of floors that AREN'T meant to have color variations or visible "seams" (like wall-to-wall carpeting or uncovered earthen/concrete floors), they make less sense to me than just leaving the studded surface exposed — especially if the material is also supposed to have a rougher texture instead of a smooth glossy finish. Yeah, after watching this I definitely recommend it to anyone who wants a better look at the interior details on each floor! It shows many of those details much more clearly than the official set photos on LEGO.com. Yeah, the room in the back near the base of the stairs indeed a bathroom, as can be seen more clearly in the lifestyle video from LEGO.com (which I also recommend checking out)! The other room next to it seems to be an archival/storage room, with a spare pot, some bones mounted to the wall similar to the one the dog out front has nabbed, and also a smaller brick-built skeleton/fossil of some sort. Stairs 3 studs wide are plenty big to allow a minifig to climb up or down. After all, it's the same width as all the stairs from Parisian Restaurant and Jazz Club (as well as the interior stairs of the Boutique Hotel and the Bookshop's townhouse)! A lot of the past buildings that had wider stairs did so by omitting railings entirely, which would probably look a bit lackluster for a stately building like this. I believe the Palace Cinema and Pet Shop were the only sets in the series that had four-stud-wide interior stairs with railings that didn't subtract from that width. Of course, this doesn't leave much room for people trying to climb up and down at the same time, but addressing that generally tends to require much wider stairs in LEGO than in real life, since minifigs are so wide and rigid/inflexible compared to real people. In any case, it certainly beats the Grand Emporium's escalators… which had only two studs of width per stair, and also made it even more puzzling how minifigs could both ascend and descend unless the escalator periodically switches directions! I'm surprised how many people are really put off by this set's color, considering how beloved the Parisian Restaurant was! Also surprised that many people find the architecture plain, since IMO there is lots of good detail there, at least in the front: a rusticated layer of sandstone on the walls of the first story, staggered bricks and arches framing the central doors and windows, decorative ornamentation around the windows of the two wings, and a stately dome. Honestly, my main disappointment with the design is that the back is very plain, with the only textural detail provided by a few windows, a decorative architrave around the back door, and a single drainpipe. Obviously, the wall structure itself couldn't be changed too much without affecting the interior, but some crawling ivy or perhaps an old billboard could've helped to break up a lot of that flat wall space (along with some SNOTted rustication like in the front). All that said, I realize this is a pretty common issue with modular buildings — the back is pretty much ALWAYS far simpler than the front, with nowhere near the same level of textural detail. The main reason it stands out here is that the back wall is so much wider than usual.

They don't, though? BrickLink lists Bright Bluish Green parts as Dark Turquoise, whether from the 90s/00s or from from 2018–2023. Unless by "teal" you meant a different color — but Bright Bluish Green is the only specific color on the current palette that LEGO retired and then later brought back.

Yeah. Just for comparison's sake, in 1998, there were still only like two shades that I might describe as "purple": Bright Violet and Light Bluish Violet. Prior to 1997 the latter was the ONLY shade of purple — and it was so pale and so exceedingly scarce that it was hard to coordinate with anything. Also as of 1998, there were four shades of blue, three shades of bluish green, four shades of green, three shades of yellowish green… I hardly think that's any better than the situation with colors within that range today, especially considering that this didn't include any of the darker shades and more muted tones beloved by AFOLs today (Sand Blue, Earth Blue, Sand Green, Earth Green, Olive Green, etc)! But roll the color palette back even just one year earlier, and you lose several beloved staple colors like Bright Orange, Bright Yellowish Green, and Bright Bluish Green! Obviously, I have no desire to go back to the color palette of the early to mid 2000s (the company's crisis years), which was so bloated with so many rarely-used colors that I and many other LEGO fans didn't even realize that several of them EXISTED. But part of why that explosion in colors even occurred was that LEGO clumsily went overboard in their response to how deeply inadequate the range of brick colors in the 90s had been.

He's from the Jim Spaceborn comics, and plays a prominent role in the first one, The Undiscovered Galaxy! He's built studs-down with 1x2 tiles for feet, stacks of 1x1 round plates for legs, and 1x2 three-finger hinge plates for arms. A bit larger than most Classic Space droids from official sets, but still a very charming design!

I think the center building in this set is supposed to be a great hall, albeit heavily condensed, so I can't imagine them making a separate stand-alone banquet hall set. But I definitely could imagine LEGO making more viking stuff (perhaps a knarr as a GWP set?) to get some more use out of some of this set's printed elements.

Omg, I love the Keko cameo here! Even if I prefer his original build with the backwards 1x2 plate for his face.

That set also has Fabuland washtubs, 3x3 macaroni tiles, and 5x5x2 wheels in Dark Orange for the first time! I imagine the first two, at least, could have lots of potential nautical uses. Some other recolors I can imagine uses for in Pirates MOCs include the butterflies in Medium Lilac (not useful for the high seas, per se, but very suitable for tropical islands) and six-pointed flower stems in Brick Yellow!

To me this doesn't really feel much different than the crown knight minifigures in MMV or the Black Falcon minifigs in the Medieval Blacksmith. Yes, these sets are all more civilian-focused, but civilians and knights/soldiers didn't live their lives in complete isolation from one another. And in fact, I find the presence of knights a little less galling here than in MMV. Back when that set came out, nearly ALL the preceding Castle sets were focused exclusively on knights, soldiers, and combat, so sets like it were pretty much the only source of medieval civilians. By contrast, as of today, the last few Castle models like Medieval Blacksmith, Lion Knights' Castle, and the 3-in-1 Medieval Castle have all included a mix of uniformed figures and commoners. So while most of us (even those who only recently started collecting) probably still have more knights than commoners, we're no longer completely reliant on civilian-focused sets for the latter. Including a couple of knight minifigs also adds a variety of interesting play/storytelling scenarios to this sort of set. They could be there working as guards (for instance, keeping watch from the the tower shown in the survey image) like those in the Guarded Inn, or they could be there to do their own shopping like those in the Medieval Blacksmith, or they could be on the trail of a wanted criminal, or they could even be there to collect taxes from the commoners! It provides an opportunity for the set to explore not just the lives of the common folk, but how their lives intersect with the lives of medieval knights. Certainly from a "new parts" standpoint, it's less exciting to get uniformed characters from established factions than to get entirely new minifigs. But at the same time, I don't know how realistic it is to look at it as if every repeat torso is a place where we could have gotten a new torso. The costs of including an existing element vs. introducing a brand new print aren't at all equivalent, so it doesn't feel realistic to assume that including fewer generic knight/soldier uniforms would mean getting more unique civilian clothes in their place (any more than to assume the same if the Ninjago City sets included fewer figs in generic ninja suits). As I see it, the trade-off designers of sets like this are more likely to consider is "number of new minifig prints" versus "number of new non-minifig prints". In other words, if the designers devote all their new element slots to uniquely printed minifig parts, it would leave none to spare for uniquely printed shields, flags, signs, animals, and other decorative elements. In that regard, it's hard to really pass judgment on the minifigure variety in this set until we have a better idea of what other new printed elements are included. Yeah, while I'm a little more indifferent to the crossed axe torso than older AFOLs who were around back when it was in use (to me, there's no obvious reason in the present day that the Lion Knights need more torso variations than the Black Falcons), I can't deny it'd be a really cool callback to the Guarded Inn and Blacksmith Shop for this set to include them! It could also be an opportunity for LEGO to reuse the corresponding shield from 10305 (and presumably, these guards could still reuse the same printed legs as the existing Lion Knight figures while still providing a bit more novelty than if the uniforms were left totally as-is. In the future, something else I'd really love to see to expand on uniform options for these established knight factions would be a "scale armor" mold inspired by this torso print. I know that traditionally, scale armor has been represented with printing rather than with a dedicated mold, but having it as a separate mold could allow you to freely apply the same scale armor color to any torso color/print/faction of your choosing (and to allow for more varied colors of scale armor) just as the molded breastplate did in contrast to its printed predecessor . This could also potentially allow future Black Knight minifigures to get their own unique torso prints while still resembling their classic counterparts (whereas both torso patterns used for classic Black Knight minifigs were shared with figs from other factions, and they never actually got a torso print marked with their heraldry). I'm not expecting any of that with this particular set, though. It's just a fun thought I had while thinking about how modern Lion Knight and Black Falcon minifigs could be diversified further in the future without relying strictly on new faction-specific prints.

No, i meant they were encouraged to stick mostly to existing grey elements (such as the plates they ended up using for the upper walkways) instead of introducing a lot of new elements in that color like they'd need to do if they wanted grey walls or parapets. Sorry my wording was a little unclear there!

honestly when I first saw the video I thought "huh, maybe that COULD be a good sign for them reintroducing that plume" — especially since most of the other parts and figures I noticed on my first watch were modern ones. But after folks pointed out that the Harry Potter baby dragon mold also shows up in that scene, I've re-watched the video and noticed a few other molds that were retired years ago (like the old triple flower stems with a stud and anti stud outside the front door, or several of the old soft plastic book piece in the main hallway). Plus a few long-retired printed element, most significantly Timmy's torso from the Time Cruisers and FreeStyle themes. So at this point I wouldn't read much into in the dragon plume's appearance in that video. But I wouldn't mind being proven wrong!

I'm pretty sure it's safe to share details, as it's a story Niels tells pretty regularly in interviews and presentations such as the one he gave at the LEGO Inside Tour when I went back in 2015. Here is how he describes the story in an interview from BrickJournal Volume 2, Issue 4: At the LEGO Inside Tour presentation I mentioned, he showed off the skeleton figure in question — although I can't remember if it was just an old photo or the physical figure itself. It was a very rough mock-up, glued together with a 1x1 round brick for the head, a 1x2 plate for the pelvis, and I believe some antenna pieces cut short for the legs. According to Niels, he did this mostly as a joke for his colleagues, and left it in the dungeon of a Castle sketch model a fellow designer was working on so he'd find it the next day. What he hadn't counted on was that Godtfred Kirk Christiansen would be offering some visiting business-people a tour of the premises (including the design department) the following day, and so he ended up seeing the skeleton before Niels could remove it from that display. Niels paraphrased Godtfred's words to him as something to the effect of "if I ever see a dead LEGO man here again you are fired!" The issue of building tanks is also a very real thing that Godtfred was concerned about, according to another story Niels told. If I remember the details correctly, at one point one designer had been putting together a LEGO tank in his off time for a friend who was a military history enthusiast, and then when Godtfred Kirk Christiansen came by the workshop unexpectedly they hastily removed the cannon and slapped some wing pieces on to try and convince him it was a prototype for a new LEGO spacecraft. Apparently Godtfred was not at all convinced but was still relatively good-humored about it, while still making it clear that it shouldn't happen again. However, while I believe this is part of why LEGO discouraged green bricks for a long time, it's unrelated to why the Yellow Castle was yellow. That was more because the Yellow Castle was a big, expensive set with a huge piece count for its time, and LEGO Castle as a concept was still unproven, so designer Daniel Krentz and his colleagues were encouraged to do as much of it as possible using only grey elements which had already been introduced instead of relying on recolors. It was only after those first few Castle sets proved successful that the designers were permitted a more generous budget for new recolors (as well as for large and complex molds like the LEGO horse).

I like 'em a lot. I dunno about whether they should have been real sets per se, but they certainly do speak to how cool and set-like those idea book models were. I especially like the robot/droid, since Space Police 1 was otherwise lacking in those sorts of brick-built robots compared to other space factions of that era like Blacktron, Futuron, and M:tron! While a little chunkier than many of the other brick-built robots of the time, it is still close to the height of a typical minifig and it's not hard to imagine it accompanying a crew of Space Police officers to the scene of a crime. As for the rover/prisoner transport, I'm not sure how essential it feels for a Space Police fleet since they have plenty of other single-prisoner transport vehicles. But admittedly, there were no restraint pieces like handcuffs for securely transporting detainees on foot back in the 80s, so I suppose this would be the next best thing at the time for escorting detainees short distances. The cable restraint in the back also feels rather low-tech compared to the laser-barred prison cells in actual Space Police sets, but obviously those would have been far too large for a build this size. And in the very least, it stands out nicely from any sort of modern police equipment. By comparison, I am very fond of the floodlights in the front, which feel both futuristic and very suitable for a small space police rover like this!

You know, aside from all the minifig talk, it's also worth keeping in mind that Majisto's Magical Workshop originally used the "dragon plume" pieces for ornamentation on its windowsill, rather than on the Dragon Knight helmet. So I wonder whether the final set will have a new part to serve that purpose, or if not, what it will have in their place. Certainly there are plenty of parts with dragon motifs in Ninjago, including part 36017 which we have seen used for ornamentation on buildings in the past. It lacks the full-body detail of the original dragon plume, but could certainly serve a similar decorative purpose. But on that note, if LEGO did decide to make a new helmet piece and/or accessory piece with a dragon motif, there's a very real possibility they could come up with uses for it in Ninjago as well as Castle. After all, a lot of Ninjago dragons tend to resemble traditional western dragons more closely than traditional Chinese or Japanese dragons anyhow, and it's also far from unheard of for Ninjago villains to share headgear/helmet pieces with other themes. Of course, LEGO could also opt to replace the molded dragon ornaments on the workshop itself with a different sort of decoration, such as printed Dragon Knight or Black Knight shields, which I'm sure would also be appreciated in their own right! Lots of possibilities for them to choose from. I'm very eager to see what the finished set looks like in any case, since Majisto's Magical Workshop was a set I loved as a kid, and I'm sure a modern version will be plenty impressive in terms of structure and building techniques regardless of what specific approach it takes for those finer details!