Aanchir

Pretty much! The sections built on wedge plates extend beyond the main 32x32 footprint, but that's not really unlike how some parts of the original set extended beyond the baseplate's footprint. It IS slightly taller than the original set — the parapets of the main structure rise 24 bricks tall, compared to around 23 in the original model — but overall, the designers seemed to adhere pretty closely to the original build's dimensions.

I mean, the Barracuda design from Pirates of Barracuda Bay is pretty much what you're describing, aside from the modified interiors. The masts, bowsprits, and sails are slightly larger than the original for , but the hull is more or less the same size as the original BSB. Caribbean Clipper is one I've tried designing a digital update of, but I'm not very knowledgeable or experienced when it comes to shipbuilding so I've never really gotten close to any sort of state of completion. I'd love to see somebody else attempt that in the style of these two sets, though! Yeah, as much as I loved the Islanders sets as a kid (I even dressed as King Kahuka for Halloween when I was four years old!), as an adult it's much easier to see the numerous issues with the theme. It's very overtly an arbitrary mashup of Western colonialist stereotypes of indigenous cultures as portrayed in pirate fiction, rather than any sort of earnest tribute to or representation of indigenous island cultures. For my part I'd say that faction is more heavily Polynesian inspired from a cultural standpoint than Caribbean-inspired, despite the theme's intended setting. After all, they use catamarans and outrigger boats in addition to standard canoes, and the colossal brick-built stone statues evoke the famous Moai of Rapa Nui (though I suspect the Olmec colossal heads from present-day Mexico may have also been a source of inspiration). But then you have the seemingly African-inspired graphic designs of the shields, sails and canoes characterized by bold, brightly-colored geometric zigzag motifs, not to mention the inexplicable zebra-skin drums — who ever heard of zebras living on islands? In any case, all of this is kind of tangential to the Eldorado Fortress discussion, unless it turns out to have some Islanders-related easter eggs like the statue in Barracuda Bay. Back on-topic, this article I came across yesterday has a couple photos I hadn't seen elsewhere, including a still image of the narrow skeleton cave in front of the jail, and a clearer pic of the stove I mentioned in my previous post. The cliff wall underneath the stove is built solid, which I suppose isn't too surprising given how narrow a space there is between the inner and outer walls. Still eager to see a review, designer video, or designer interview that really gets into more detail about all the features that aren't obvious in the official photos, though… EDIT: Here's another article with lots of good photos, including some of the back-of-box photos a little clearer and not cropped so tight!

Looks like all printing to me. The only new non-minifig, non-textile graphic I see is the big imperial flag, and that's clearly printed in the high-res pics. So even if there ARE one or two new decorated elements that I haven't spotted, it'd still probably be more cost effective to print them than to make a sticker sheet just for those couple parts.

There's quite a bit down there! For example, in this video you can see the wine/rum cellar beneath the left rear corner, the caverns below the front gate, the treasury/storeroom below the rear parapet wall, the escape tunnel/waterfall cave below the jail cell, and the pirate skeleton's niche below the right parapet wall. The treasury/storeroom is also shown in this photo. There are also other "underground" sections that I haven't seen any clear photos or videos of yet — namely, the areas below the front and left-hand parapet walls, as well as the area below the crane (you can see glimpses of two 1x4 arches forming a narrow tunnel here in some of the official photos, but no obvious indication of what's inside that tunnel). Like the areas we have seen, these sections would only allow room for fairly narrow chambers, but I suspect the designers found uses for them just as they did for the other underground chambers listed above. In case it's not obvious, the 8x16x8 dock with 2x6 dining table that is visible in all the pics of the set arranged in an "open" layout serves as the fort's central courtyard when arranged in a "closed" layout. Intruders who fall through the trapdoor in this area land in a pool full of kelp/seaweed. I am not really certain whether there are any secrets beneath the front entrance ramp, but it seems like there'd be space to include SOMETHING there, even if just an "easter egg" of some kind. Also, on the left side of the courtyard (above ground) there is a stove/grill to prepare meals for the troops, most visible in the 360-degree turnaround video. This isn't quite what you asked about, but I only noticed it today so thought I'd bring it up!

Huh — I'm not really a naval history buff, but I always got the impression from old LEGO Pirates catalogs and story material that Admiral Woodhouse substantially outranked Governor Broadside, and was sent in by the crown to clean up Broadside's messes when it was clear that the governor was either too lenient or too inept to deal with the local pirate problem! Not doubting your word, though! After all, it's not as though pirate fiction (especially the sort aimed at kids) has ever had a sparkling reputation for historical accuracy! And you're right that the figure's design isn't obviously modeled on Broadside aside from the uniform. All the more reason I'm eager to learn if the instruction manual offers any more specifics about the characters and setting.

Truth be told, I see a LOT of clever new stuff going on in it. For one, there are lots more subterranean areas like a rum cellar, storerooms with vaulted ceilings, and an escape tunnel from the jail (which leads to a gorgeous looking waterfall cave). The upper areas of the fort are also furnished in much more detail, and even the architecture is improved considerably with additions such as clay tile roofs, a more rounded bartizan, and narrower gunports. The crane has been upgraded nicely with a more substantial boom and a turntable and support beams on the base, which gives it more playability as well as a very period-accurate look. Plus, naturally, the printed textures of the cliffs and cobblestone ramp are replaced with more tactile 3D textures, and even spiced up with some cliffside foliage. I don't mind the black wooden details, either — after all, it would've been accurate to the setting for wooden ships and piers to be treated with tar to prevent rot. I certainly wouldn't MIND if some of these details were in shades of brown like the piers and jetties from Barracuda Bay, but I don't think the current look is lacking in authenticity. Even that set used black for many wooden details such as its masts and spars (which is part of why I find some of the complaints about the black parts on this set's ship especially surprising) For my part, what I find most underwhelming are the palm tree designs. While I get that people are nostalgic for the classic palm leaves, a flat-looking canopy made up of big, solid leaves like this feels simplistic by modern standards, especially for an 18+ set like this one. Considering what an amazing job LEGO has done with botanical builds in various LEGO Friends, Ideas, and Icons sets this year, I was honestly hoping to see more innovation in that regard. But on the whole, I'm extremely impressed, and very eager to see reviews of the set to get a better sense of some of the details that aren't obvious in the official pics and videos — for example, the contents of some of the other subterranean areas, as well as the treasure chests and other containers. I also very much hope the instruction manual includes fun flavor text about the set and characters like Barracuda Bay and the Lion Knights' Castle did, especially since LEGO Pirates has always been the most story-driven of the "classic" LEGO themes. One detail on the LEGO.com product page that caught my eye is that Broadside's office is described as an "Admiral's office" — not sure whether that's a typo/error, a retcon, or a sign that Broadside has earned a substantial promotion since the classic era! Broadside's design does show some signs of aging, just as Redbeard's did in Barracuda Bay. It's a bit of a shame that there's no sign of the governor's second-in-command, Lt. de Martinet, but it'd be easy to make a modernized version of him using minifig parts from this and other current sets). Perhaps he could even be included it a future GWP set. I agree, I'd have preferred if the ship were helmed by a non-military merchant character like the original version from the Imperial Trading Post, rather than another naval officer — even if that'd be less suited to "army building". Also, now that you point out the red and yellow flags, it kind of has me wanting to imagine that this colonial empire originated with the very same kingdom as the Lion Knights from the medieval era, since those are also their signature pennant colors! Just a "headcanon" of course, but I think that's charming to think about. Yeah, the modular approach is very exciting! It also has me thinking how neat it'd be to make "updated" versions of other sets like Lagoon Lock-Up/Soldiers' Tavern and Imperial Trading Post/Port Royal that can connect to this one to create a larger harbor town! Admittedly, a lot of classic imperial builds would feel redundant to combine with this one, considering how many there are that primarily depict jails/prisons like the one this set already contains — but perhaps some of those could be repurposed as storerooms, lock-ups for confiscated goods, treasury vaults, etc. I don't think the red is at all out of place, to be honest. In the original Imperial Trading Post, this ship was seemingly a merchant vessel rather than a military gunboat — as evidenced by its sails not matching the crests of either the Imperial Soldiers or Imperial Guards. The emblem on the sails does suggest an allegiance to the crown, but I've always taken that as a sign that the ship is owned by a state-sponsored enterprise similar to the British East India Company. Anyway, even the Imperial Soldiers used bright red rowboats — including the one from the original Eldorado Fortress that this ship replaced! And for that matter, the Imperial Guards' flagship (Imperial Flagship/Admiral's Ship Sea Lion) had blue lanterns and gunports, and no red at all aside from its cannons, flags, and sails. So there's no reason we should expect even military vessels from these colonial factions to be strictly color-coded. On the whole, I find the ship quite gorgeous. It makes good use of some of the same parts/techniques that @Samarth used in his rendition, although with the same bright colors as the original ship (in keeping with the way Barracuda Bay stuck with the original Black Seas Barracuda's Bright Yellow accents instead of opting for gold ones). The back of the hull is also somewhat more streamlined than in that MOC, and I'm impressed that it adds a ship's wheel while still leaving ample cargo space. It definitely feels up to the same standard of detail as the BSB redesign, despite the much stricter size constraints and lack of suitable preformed hull pieces! In the future, it'd be neat to see how LEGO might approach a midsize ship like the original Imperial Flagship and others that shared its 12-stud-wide hull elements, since there's no direct modern counterpart to those pieces. It's definitely something I will continue to explore in MOCs, although I'm sure there are much better Pirates builders than me who'd be far more equipped for the challenge!

I doubt they'd make a GWP based on 6020 Magic Shop. That set's main structure takes the form of a hollowed-out tree, so rather than delivering any real sense of novelty, it would largely just feel like a less impressive repeat of the Forest Hideout. 6048 Majisto's Magical Workshop seems like a more suitable inspiration for a new GWP in terms of both size and visual distinctiveness. Black conical helmets would definitely work from a nostalgic standpoint, IMO, since they were widely used for Dragon Knight footsoldiers. Though of course if it wouldn't be as exciting as the more ornate cavalry helmets from a parts standpoint. As iconic as the dragon-shaped helmet ornaments were, I feel like the helmets themselves were just as integral to the "look" of higher ranking Dragon Knight/Dragon Master minifigs — especially since the Black Knights had already used the same dragon-shaped ornaments on more generic helmet pieces. And I strongly doubt that LEGO has Dragon Knight inspired helmet AND helmet accessory designs waiting in the wings. Of course, LEGO could also throw us all for a loop by replacing the Dragon Knight minifigure with a different character entirely, such as a modernized version of the Black Knight, Willa the Witch, or the Black Monarch's Ghost. After all, even though the original set was a Dragon Knights/Dragon Masters set, Majisto's current incarnation from 10305 does not appear to have exclusive authority over or loyalty to that faction. And from a play perspective, Majisto was the "star" of the original set, while the Dragon Knight was a supporting character whose role could just as easily be played by a different LEGO Castle character.

I'm still waiting to see an adult dalmatian with proper floppy ears, to be honest! The ones using the Alsatian/German shepherd mold have honestly always felt kind of awkward to me. One that uses the newer golden retriever mold would be a considerable improvement IMO, even if that one's chest and tail are a lot fluffier than a Dalmatian's fur would typically be in real life.

Yeah, it's always felt a bit odd to me when graphic designs in themes that use minifigs have "human" features instead of minifig-inspired ones. That's also something I prefer about recent City sets' pedestrian crossing and road work signs compared to the ones I grew up with in the 90s — they use a minifig silhouette instead of a human silhouette. There's always some room for creative license when dealing with stylized imagery, of course! For example, the Black Falcon coat-of-arms isn't an exact likeness of any type of LEGO bird, but real animal heraldry was rarely an exact likeness of the animals it depicted, either. Even the Jolly Roger pattern from old-school Pirates sets (which is more or less accurate to a minifig skull's facial features aside from the outline) has aged far better than some other graphic designs from sets of my childhood, like the unmistakable five-fingered human handprints that appeared on Jailbreak Joe's arrest paperwork, and on one of the horses from the Wild West sets. But I still slightly prefer the more LEGO-like skull and bone shapes from newer sets' Jolly Roger patterns. The small changes do a lot to help make it recognizable as not just a pirate flag, but a LEGO pirate flag. It's a detail that I also always appreciate about LEGO flags featuring cannons or cutlasses that clearly resemble their LEGO counterparts. It just helps the world that these graphics appear in feel a little more cohesive.

The color that BrickLink previously called "Flesh" is now "Nougat", "Medium Dark Flesh" is now "Medium Nougat", and "Dark Flesh" is now "Light Brown".

I don't see anything particularly futuristic about most of them, just modern. I mean, skybridges like the one in the new Downtown set have been a thing since at least the 90s, and likewise, building-mounted wind turbines became quite popular in the mid to late 2000s. The Ice Cream Shop wears its 20th-century art deco inspiration on its sleeve, and the Family House has an even more traditional appearance (albeit with some modern technology like solar panels and an EV charging cord). Even the apartment building wouldn't look out-of-place in the city where I currently live, though it's naturally much smaller than any of the ones around here. The new passenger airplane seems less strictly "realistic" than any of these, but I still wouldn't describe it as "futuristic" — frankly, its closest real-world analogue that I've seen is Boeing's New Large Airplane, a concept airliner from the 90s. And the accompanying shuttle bus is reminiscent of self-driving microshuttles which a growing number of airports have introduced over the past 5 years or so. It's worth keeping in mind that a lot of the architectural styles associated with Cyberpunk originated in media of the 80s and 90s, and were often merely an extrapolation of the sort of colorful, brightly-lit cityscapes that already existed in real life: places like New York City's Times Square, Tokyo's Shibuya Crossing, and various parts of Hong Kong. What differentiates these cyberpunk settings from their real-life counterparts (aside from sci-fi flourishes like hovercars in place of regular cars or holograms in place of LED billboards) often has less to do with their architecture or design language than with their scale — spreading the visuals of a modern city's most modern and bustling areas across entire metropolitan areas that feel impossibly tall, vast, and densely populated. As such, the implicit condensed scale of LEGO building tends to flatten or erase some of these distinctions. After all, a four- to six-story building is unremarkable in real life, but feels huge within a typical LEGO cityscape. Still, it's not hard to see a striking difference between the overtly cyberpunk-influenced sets from the Ninjago City range and LEGO City's new Downtown. Ninjago City is perforated by a maze-like array of narrow alleyways, peppered with cramped micro-apartments as evidence of its booming population, riddled with colorful billboards and signs, and studded with high-rise buildings at every corner. The Downtown, on the other hand, largely just feels like a small slice of a modern big-city shopping district.

Agreed about all 6253's faults, but at the same time I do appreciate that it (like Barracuda Bay or some of the 90s pirate hideouts) is recognizably built from a shipwreck. 6270 never quite appealed to me in part because it felt more like a crumbling fort/outpost with some pirate ship parts like a mast and crow's nest arbitrarily slapped on. It also didn't really seem to make a whole lot of sense for the island's shape itself, what with the staircase that descended right into the water (maybe that was meant as a place for the rowboat to dock, but if so, a pier or jetty would have helped make that a lot clearer). Perhaps 6270 looks better in real life than it ever did in pictures, but even as a kid who grew up with LEGO Pirates posters advertising all the sets out there, it was never one that really spoke to me. It probably didn't hurt that by the time of my KFOL years, there were other pirate hideout sets like 6273 Rock Island Refuge and 6279 Skull Island with clearer logic behind their layout/composition — strategic defenses, cargo hoists, places to dock boats, places to store loot, purposeful use of terrain, etc. That's the sort of logic that I feel is epitomized by Barracuda Bay, which both makes it clear what shipwreck parts became each element of the structure, and gives each of those elements a discernible purpose in their new role as a pirate stronghold. So I definitely agree with @RichardGoring that it satisfies my expectations for a modern, AFOL-targeted "big pirate hideout", and would prefer that future AFOL-targeted exclusives focus on other sorts of LEGO Pirates subject matter — most obviously, colonial fort/outpost/harbor sets like the current rumors, but also remote "treasure islands", imperial naval vessels, smaller/more agile classes of pirate ship, rafts, etc.

Recently LEGO uploaded a single picture of the Super Mario set 71422, and while most of its parts seem unremarkable, it does appear to include the first appearance of the rowboat piece in Dark Brown. Hopefully it will also appear in other sets (perhaps even the rumored imperial fort)!

I suspect this also has to do with the way that "Classic Space" specifically tends to be strictly associated with a particular period of minifig design — simple torso printing, generic smiley faces, and simple helmets without visors. LEGO has made attempts at more "modernized" Classic Space inspired figures to various degrees (e.g. the Minifigures Series 3 Spaceman and Series 6 Intergalactic Girl), but the result is that fans often struggle to relate to those sorts of figures as part of the "Classic Space" faction. By contrast, old-school LEGO Castle factions like Lion Knights, Black Falcons, and Forestmen from LEGO Castle lasted long enough to overlap with minifigures that were already beginning to incorporate greater levels of detail to into their torso prints, face prints, and accessories (e.g. molded breastplates and helmets with working visors). So people don't associate these factions as strictly with their earliest and simplest minifigures. And Pirates minifigures incorporated a wide variety of printed and molded details from the beginning, even if the face prints from their original run still stuck to the traditional black dot eyes (without the white gleam of modern minifigure eyes). So faces with varied print colors and patterns, torsos with detailed contours, etc. aren't anywhere near as huge a departure from "tradition" for them as they would be for a Classic Space minifigure.

Terrain built from BURPs and other panel/frame pieces is most useful if you want to maximize interior space (either for hidden mechanisms of some kind, or for caves and stuff). A pretty straightforward LEGO Pirates example from my childhood is 6248 Volcano Island — in which an island with both a treasure cave and an "eruption" function fits comfortably on an 8x16 baseplate. If basic bricks, slopes, and arches had been used instead, it would have either meant making the entire island larger or the cave interior smaller (and thus, less "cavernous"). And I could certainly see the appeal of adding basements and tunnels and stuff to a structure like Eldorado Fortress instead of just going with the original set's "large hill with a single big pit in the middle" approach. Imagine if perhaps pirates imprisoned in the island's jail have already begun digging an escape tunnel while the guards are distracted! Or if But that sort of stuff is also possible without BURPs if you're willing to let the cave/tunnel exteriors take up slightly more space, something the Lion Knights' Castle set shows quite brilliantly. For my part, I have no aversion to BURPs, but I get why they have a reputation among old-school AFOLs for being overly simplistic and cutting down on actual building. And so while I don't think there should be any hard rule against them in 18+ sets (consider the one used sideways as an uneven stone slab in 21338), it makes sense for designers of those sets to use them sparingly.

I figure they'd probably include at least SOME studs on the ramp surface so minifigures can be attached securely for display. Plus, the simplicity of big single-piece parts with printed textures would likely clash with the level of textural and brick-built detail elsewhere in the build. While big printed pieces DO still exist, such as the examples you mentioned, sets for older buyers tend to use these for literal representations of flat graphical details applied to uniform surfaces (like murals, billboards, road/sports field markings, flags/sails, or digital screens), rather than representations of three-dimensional textures or details. Compare how the Lion Knights' Castle opted for fully brick-built walls with occasional cracks, half-timbering, crawling ivy, etc. rather than the more traditional "printed wall panel" approach. In the case of Eldorado Fortress, it also helps that there are so many tile shapes and sizes today that can be used for an irregular flagstone path. Just take a look at the stone podium texture in 71411 The Mighty Bowser.

One problem with the "Expert" labeling is that it would often alienate adult builders who AREN'T dyed-in-the-wool LEGO fans (some of whom may have never even built a LEGO set before) and so don't consider themselves "experts". In reality, building an adult-level set doesn't necessarily require "expertise" — just somewhat more patience, dexterity, attention to detail, and visual-spatial reasoning than a lot of younger kids are likely to have. Consider the difference between a LEGO Dots set and a LEGO Art mosaic. Obviously, neither an adult nor a seven-year-old requires any particular "expertise" to attach 1x1 plates or tiles to a surface. But due to the LEGO Art sets' larger scale and more specific arrangement of colors (as opposed to the smaller canvasses and more "freeform" patterns encouraged in LEGO Dots), a lot of younger kids might get bored, frustrated, or lose focus and start making careless mistakes over the course of assembling a full-size 48x48 mosaic. One outlier in the Art theme is the "Art Project" set 21226, which shares the 7+ target age of most Dots sets. Compared to other LEGO Art sets, this one is broken down into smaller 16x16 images, so that a lot less time and patience is needed for younger kids to enjoy the satisfaction of "completing" each image. Moreover, it presents choices of different subject matter so kids can pick designs that will make the experience most rewarding for them, and its "Create Together" conceit means that kids who DO experience momentary frustration will have the support they need to move past those hurdles and get back on track. Aside from that exception, the LEGO Art mosaics are all recommended for adults — not because kids can't build them, but because kids are less likely to have as positive an experience doing so.

Yeah, his new Destiny's Bounty definitely doesn't seem as useful for Pirates builds as previous versions — the shape and color of the hull feel much more modern/futuristic, whereas many previous versions were more obviously an old wooden sailing ship retrofitted with rocket engines for flight. There are some parts in the new Ninjago sets that could be individually useful for pirate/nautical builds, though, like Arin's whip-like grappling hook piece (visible in one of the pics TeriXeri shared above).

Yep! Also it seems like the height of these various modular sections is very SNOT-friendly — most of the building/room modules are 8 bricks and 1 plate (10 modules) tall, and the shorter modules in the Skate Park set are 3 bricks and 1 plate (4 modules) tall. Ooh, good spotting! It doesn't look like the front hull has a cutout like the rear one, but it's still wider than any of the other current floating hulls we have with a similarly pointed bow shape. This hull is probably a big factor in why the set is pricier than the Ocean Exploration Ship. But it also explains why the interior is able to be so much larger. Eager to see more interior pics of that set — in one of the lifestyle photos I see a small, closed-off room that could be a head/ship's toilet, but I would not be surprised if some of the other abundant interior space is used for other lifestyle features like a sleeping area or kitchenette, or for additional lab equipment.

Yeah, me neither (especially since we haven't gotten pics of the City sets from more varied angles just yet) but those were a part that stood out to me since we haven't seen it in any colors besides shades of grey before now. Hoping to see it in Reddish Brown, White, and Black at some point in the future also! Some other fun recolors I've noticed that could potentially be of use to historic/fantasy builders: The Friends Botanical Garden includes spiky minifig shoulderpads in Bright Red as Rafflesia flower petals, bars with three leaves in Dark Red, ducks in Dark Orange, and butterflies in Black with a common morpho / blue emperor print. Autumn's Stable has stable doors in Reddish Brown The Dragon of the East Palace has the Marine Life Accessory Pack (with octopus, scallop, clam, sea snail, seahorse, sea star, and angelfish pieces) in Flame Yellowish Orange, 1x1 octagonal gem tiles in Tr. Light Blue, 1x4 flame bricks in Dark Stone Grey and Earth Blue as stylized rock formations, and 3x3 curved corner roofs in Bright Blue.

I believe the final 1997 wave of Pirates sets was only released in North America (although there may have been some exceptions). A lot of themes back in the mid-90s had limited-release waves like that, such as the Aquaraiders subtheme of Aquazone, the Dark Forest subtheme of Castle, the Roboforce subtheme of Space, and all the Unitron sets except the Monorail Transport Base.

The Monkie Kid set 80049 Dragon of the East Palace has a new Flame Yellowish Orange recolor of the marine life accessory pack (which includes angelfish, seahorse, sea snail, scallop, clam, sea star, and octopus pieces)! The Friends set 41745 Autumn's Stable has a new Reddish Brown recolor of the stable door, which I'm sure could have nautical uses. And the City set 60380 City Center has the 1x4x3 half-arches from the Lion Knight's Castle set recolored in Dark Orange and Brick Yellow, which I suppose could be useful either for architectural details or for the "ribs" of a ship (though a darker shade like Reddish Brown or Dark Brown would probably be preferable for the latter).

In terms of more basic parts, folks who've been awaiting new recolors of the 1x4x3 half-arches from the Lion Knight's Castle set should be excited to learn that 60380 City Center has them in both Dark Orange and Brick Yellow (Tan)! The Brick Yellow ones also appear in some upcoming Dreamzz and Harry Potter sets.

Truth be told, I was a bit surprised to learn about some of the reasons behind the design of the classic castle wall elements in "The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks"! The 1978/1979 sets that introduced the minifigure were considered somewhat experimental, so the three minifigure "play themes" at the time were afforded a relatively limited production capacity (with the heaviest emphasis on the Town theme, since "present day" sets had already proven reliably popular in the pre-minifig era). And because the "yellow castle" had such a MASSIVE piece count for its time (even after efforts to reduce its scale), it took up the entire production capacity afforded to the Castle theme in its debut year, hence the lack of any smaller sets to complement it until the following year. Thanks to the success of the yellow castle and its immediate follow-ups, the designers were allowed more new element frames (i.e. new molds, decorations, and color changes) for the theme's 1984 relaunch, along with the possibility of new waves of sets each year. But they realized that if they continued making castles out of basic bricks like the Yellow Castle would continue to limit how many new castle sets they could afford to release per year. Wall panels were their solution for how to make large, substantial-looking walls using fewer bricks and less raw material. The reason for the unusual odd-numbered width of the classic castle wall panels was that prototyping new elements was much more time-consuming back then than it is today in the age of computer-aided design software and rapid-prototyping equipment. designers didn't want to waste time waiting for physical prototypes of the new wall panels to be molded before they could move on to the actual model development stage. So instead, they opted for a buildable placeholder made from existing brick and arch pieces. And since narrower windows would be more authentic than wider ones, they based their design on the odd-numbered 1x3 arch instead of the even-numbered 1x4 arch. Page 93 of the book even provides a quote from Niels Milan Pedersen: "If it had been today, with instant 3D printing of prototype elements, I am sure it would have been an even number of studs. In fact, when the piece was revised, they made the new castle panels four studs log. We were right about the window size though: they kept that the same!"

I feel like that's a little bit of an unfair judgment. Just because Creator 3-in-1 sets are made primarily from basic bricks doesn't mean they are implicitly worse or less useful to medieval builders than "play theme" sets. After all, I don't think I've ever seen Town builders don't tend to question the usefulness of Creator 3-in-1 houses and shops, despite having fewer specialized parts than you'd expect in a City set. Moreover, even if a set like the 3-in-1 Medieval Castle might seem basic compared to some other modern Castle sets, it's arguably a lot more refined and detailed than many of the classic sets that it draws inspiration from, despite having more emphasis on basic building elements than they did. Not only does its architecture include authentic medieval details like arrowslits, machicolations, half-timbering, and a garderobe, but even many of its accessories and furnishings like the well, torches, weathervane, throne/armchair, fireplace, and anvil far surpass any equivalent features from 80s or 90s castle sets.