Dear lego......large castles

[Bluesecrets]

So lets discuss this...first of all castle does get some good LEGO loving every so often..I mean come on MMV was a dream! Now the joust set...not my thing but it was/is good too. Both marketed toward the AFOLs not so much the kids. You know...the exclusives.

Castle is an evergreen line, but...have you really been very happy with the castle sets...other than the figs and accessories? Really? I look at the sets and think..."oh joy more big wall pieces..." by the way...I loathe big wall pieces. They take up too much room, and they just aren't something I like/want to build with. It's a personal preference for my own building. Every line that comes out...more and more people say "it's so...juniorized." But we never know what is coming next...

Unfortunately, one can't compare castle with Star Wars. SW is the highest selling line...kids and adults want those ships. Yes, they will make huge sets for it and they will sell.

Would a big castle be nice? Well sure...but I almost think I would look at it as a parts pack instead of a castle. Why? Because I like building castles MY way and as bad as this is going to sound...no way LEGO will build them that way.

So sure...bring a big castle. One day I might build in bley...

But if you want to make me happy...give me one or both of the Frozen castles. Both are nice, big, and they would be epic full of amazing details.

[timber_wolf899]

Forzen castles are nice, but can't we have big and detailed in a non license?

That's what i'm wanting, something of the quality of MMV, in fortress form.

[OverLoad]

While I typically only buy sets for various bits and bobs and especially the minifigures, I can add to the fact that I'd be much more inclined to buy a larger set if it was truly something out of the ordinary than say 7946 King's Castle from Kingdom's line. A UCS styled Castle would be quite the dream, and I might actually build the set rather than just siphoning the parts and minifigures for my own MOCing reasons.

But if you want to make me happy...give me one or both of the Frozen castles. Both are nice, big, and they would be epic full of amazing details.

Or an Arendele town square scene, complete with various nobles from all over the world of Frozen (which I suppose is just the world of Disney Princesses, no?). I too would be unable to resist Elsa's ice castle if it were ever to be a set.

[Bluesecrets]

Forzen castles are nice, but can't we have big and detailed in a non license?

That's what i'm wanting, something of the quality of MMV, in fortress form.

Will it sell? I've heard that castle is a very "niche" area of the AFOL world. That we aren't as big as we think maybe we are. I have no data to back that up. I know we were given two really amazing sets, well out of the price of the target age group. But it comes back to...will it sell? Will the test group of kids that are used like it? It just seems like a big risk.

But then who am I to step on your wishes and wants? Dream! Dream big! Why not?

Or an Arendele town square scene, complete with various nobles from all over the world of Frozen (which I suppose is just the world of Disney Princesses, no?). I too would be unable to resist Elsa's ice castle if it were ever to be a set.

I don't want to hijack this thread with discussion of Frozen. I'll start my own thread about the Disney castles so we can discuss it there.

[Lil_Curt]

I came out my dark ages 2 years ago. I didnt have a chance at mill village or MMV. How ever I have 2 kingdoms joust looking at adding 1-2 more. And 2 kingdows chess sets. If a large castle came out that was brick built, at this time I would buy 2 with out much thought.

[NovelNinja]

Modular anything would be nice. They were kind of doing that with the Mirkwood Elf Army set, which you could buy multiples of and combine. More of that would be great. Heck, just use more brown in that set and switch out the elves for Forestmen and you've got something Classic Castle fans would love.

[Grover]

I agree with many of the sentiments here. I, too, dislike the large wall panels. Sure, they make great corners, but why bother when you could fill in with bricks? The Helm's Deep set did a nice job of filling in angles with the 1x2 cheese wedges.

I would like to combine a few of these ideas and see Lego come out with a line for the Castle series akin to what they have done with the City Creator sets (Palace Theater, etc.). For instance, they could sell a single tower on a baseplate. You could probably keep it to $100-150 for the tower. Then a section of wall on another baseplate, maybe $80-100. Gatehouse on 1-2 plates, $150-200, the great hall or keep for $200, etc. Make them so that they can snap together with technic pins. Then someone could buy just what they wanted and fit together their own castle--long walls, short walls, a keep, no keep, etc. I know that something like this will never happen probably due to low market share (look at the Nexo Knights, trying to modernize and popularize the castle line), but it would be my dream.

Oh, and while I'm dreaming, how about a castle with a real gatehouse? The gatehouse was usually the most important structure of the castle and would encompass several sets of doors and a portcullis, plus most times a drawbridge out front. Most of the castles that Lego has made have a porcullis and some doors if you're lucky; otherwise, it's just a portcullis. Maybe I request too much realism in my castles.