Weekly Set Review: Castle Mini Figures

[Teh Stud]

I still kick myself for not purchasing more of these back in 1988. I only bought two, and that was mainly because the Forestman shield was so cool. This was the beginning of my dark ages...

[The Blue Knight]

I did buy a boatload of these back in the day. I got 35 of these during that year. Brand new Lego minifigs were about a buck a piece. I used to cut apart the pitchforks at will, thinking that they were so plentiful. I still have more than a score. The only better minifig set was the one that had the Knight's Tournament figs. This is a classic, the best army builder of them all. When will Lego figure it out and make more of this kind? Alas,

[wlister]

Sadly I only purchased one of these great little sets. I was running short of allowance the week they arrived and when I went back they were gooone!

This of the minifigs sets was always my favorite. The classic set had its merrits, but this one was more well rounded, a few figs from different factions and those great little pitchforks. Another item I thought would always be easy to get, but never was.

Not buying more of this set and the 6041 were probably my biggest regrets from my childhood. I had the chance to get more of both at different times, but never did. I do have a lot of regrets from this time period, mostly I regret not being rich... I had the motivation to buy a lot of Lego sets, but not the $$$.

This set was a 10/10 then and is a 15/10 now. Wake up TLC, we need more sets like this.

Will

[Luís]

Great set.
But, infortunently again, i'm too young to buyed it
I'll give it 20/10.
Bye.
PS: And by the way, Luís is my real name, not a nickname .

[Webrain]

One of the things I forgat to mantioned about this set that one of it's names was "Robin Hood with Friends and Foes".
Assuming that Robin is a good guy and the other forestman and the peasant fig. are his friends, the lion knights is probably one of 'Richards the Lion Heart' knights which makes the BF his foes I guess and thus making them the bad guys. And I can already hear the replies for that:)

Well I guess it describes the set better then another title I found of it: "Robin Hood and 5 knight's and their weapons". The peasant minifig was promoted so easily to chevaliery hehe

P.S. something I don't quite understand, all of you want to abolish everything to do with wizards and witches cause they are unrealistic. Robin Hood is fiction just as well

P.S.2 yeah now I'm definitely gonna beheaded

[Mr. D]

<snip>A minifig pack done properly can never go wrong.

Lemon said it all. If a set like this would come out today, I'd buy at least 15 or 20 of these.
This is a great set, with variety and lots of good accessories as well as figs.

<snip>I think that this should definitely be a small Legend. Even if the pitchfork was not included, it could be replaced by a rare brown shovel, or some other tool.

Agreed.

100/100

[st1920]

This is a great set. the only that bothers me whit this set is that I don't have it

[Sir_Marcellus]

I would definitely love to see this set return! Unfortunately, I wasn't old enough to buy things on my own when Castle was at its best, and I missed out on a lot. If this set came out again, I would buy at least five copies of it. I probably would choose a 6102 over this, just because I don't have that many falcons and lions. However, I would still jump at the chance to buy some of these, especially with the peasant fig and the forestmen, I don't have enough of those to fill up my kingdom! Or the kingdom that I'm building.

[rogue27]

P.S. something I don't quite understand, all of you want to abolish everything to do with wizards and witches cause they are unrealistic. Robin Hood is fiction just as well

That's right, you don't understand. Allow me to 'splain.

This is not a problem with fictional characters. I am not opposed to witches and wizards in general, but, in a minifig pack, witches, wizards, and kings cause problems with army building.

You can always use more soldiers and peasants. Suppose you buy 50 copies of a minifig pack. If I built a village, I could find a use for all 50 peasants. Building an army, I could find a use for 50 archers and 50 swordsmen. I could not find a use for 50 Wizards or 50 Kings.

This is because soldiers are generic. The more identical soldiers you have in one place, the more realistic your army is. However, there is only going to be 1 king in a kingdom, so if a minifig pack includes a King, you are punished for buying multiples because you end up with useless and redundant minifigs. That is because the king is not generic, the king is unique. There is only one. I feel the same way about Wizards or Witches. They should be rare and unique in a kingdom. If there is more than one witch or wizard in a kingdom, they should look different (clothing, face, hair, etc) and they should be few and far between.

Take a look at Lord of the Rings. There's Gandalf. There's Sarumon. There is Denethor and Theodrin. There are hundreds of horsemen and hundreds of soldiers.

Now, imagine a LOTR minifig pack. What if it included Gandalf, Sarumon, Theodrin, 1 Rohirim (horseman), and 2 generic soldiers from Minas Tirith. Now imagine you are trying to build an army of 100 Rohirim and 200 Minis Tirith footmen. You would need to buy 100 of this minifig pack, but then you would have 99 extra and useless Gandalfs, Sarumons, and Theodrins.

That is exactly why "unique" figures should not be in minifig packs. They should be in one or two sets from a product line, but the minifig packs should have generic people like soldiers and peasants.

KK2 suffers from a similar problem without even having a minifig pack.

[TwoTonic Knight]

One of the things I forgat to mantioned about this set that one of it's names was "Robin Hood with Friends and Foes".
Assuming that Robin is a good guy and the other forestman and the peasant fig. are his friends, the lion knights is probably one of 'Richards the Lion Heart' knights which makes the BF his foes I guess and thus making them the bad guys. And I can already hear the replies for that:)

Well I guess it describes the set better then another title I found of it: "Robin Hood and 5 knight's and their weapons". The peasant minifig was promoted so easily to chevaliery hehe

P.S. something I don't quite understand, all of you want to abolish everything to do with wizards and witches cause they are unrealistic. Robin Hood is fiction just as well

P.S.2 yeah now I'm definitely gonna beheaded

I like the Robin Hood friends and foes title - anything is better than the bland "Castle Mini Figures". And the Black Falcon is shown dueling with the forestman. So Black Falcons are officially oppressors of Stout Yeomen and Goode Peasants?

The part about not wanting kings, witches and wizards in minifig packs has already been ably explained (I must have 20-30 Willa the Witches floating about), so let me address the bit about Robin Hood. Any given story about him is fiction, but properly speaking he is a myth or legend (depending on semantics and debates that bore me to tears). Like Arthur or Troy, he has real underpinnings.

[Webrain]

rogue27 wrote:

This is not a problem with fictional characters. I am not opposed to witches and wizards in general, but, in a minifig pack, witches, wizards, and kings cause problems with army building.

You can always use more soldiers and peasants. Suppose you buy 50 copies of a minifig pack. If I built a village, I could find a use for all 50 peasants. Building an army, I could find a use for 50 archers and 50 swordsmen. I could not find a use for 50 Wizards or 50 Kings.

True. I often have this problem myself. It wasn't really the exact question I was asking though. I really meant it in away of fiction vs real life.

Although I can still find use for most of the torso's, just get rid of the crown/magician hat.

TwoTonic Knight wrote:

so let me address the bit about Robin Hood. Any given story about him is fiction, but properly speaking he is a myth or legend (depending on semantics and debates that bore me to tears). Like Arthur or Troy, he has real underpinnings.

Don't get me wrong, I like the forestman and Robin and everything. I don't understand why everybody so mach against fiction but exclude Robin Hood as a fiction as well.
If you are not using Robin as Robin you are allowed, but you can at the same way use Merlin or King Leo torso, just get lose of their hat/crown.
And believe me I'm not saying it including in anyway that the KK II. KK II is not real, nor fiction, just a really bad joke that some1 probably drunk at the time made

[Teh Stud]

Rouge27 wrote this and much more...

You can always use more soldiers and peasants. Suppose you buy 50 copies of a minifig pack. If I built a village, I could find a use for all 50 peasants. Building an army, I could find a use for 50 archers and 50 swordsmen. I could not find a use for 50 Wizards or 50 Kings.

...and I couldn't agree more. Very well written post!

[Devari]

Firstly, fantastic set. The minifigs are quite nicely generic... I don't know how many I'd buy if I could, but considering I have a bunch of LEGO money and I'd take this over KK2... Much. 10/10. Too bad it doesn't include a WP figure. Otherwise it would arguably have all the best figs, In My Biased Opinion.


Hehe...

I'd like a back with peasents, WP, and Forestmen. Genericness... Yum.

[doctorsparkles]

This is an awesome minifig pack... 10 out of 10.
I've never owned this set, but I could probably throw one together from my existing collection and pretend. I, uh, lost the pitchfork and the green forester hat. Um... yeah.

[rogue27]

True. I often have this problem myself. It wasn't really the exact question I was asking though. I really meant it in away of fiction vs real life.

I understood what you were asking, but I thought you may have been asking the wrong question for the reasons given in my last post.

Personally, I love a bit of fantasy mixed in with medieval stuff, and I don't have any problem with LEGO making wizards and witches (except that the face on Willa is stupid).