Should Lego update and bring back some of the old sets

Discussion of official LEGO Castle Theme sets and products
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Re: Should Lego update and bring back some of the old sets

Post by architect »

Lego saves money by using elements across a variety of themes. This reduces the overall number and color of elements being produced at any one given time. Former examples of this can readily be seen in the 1980's with smile heads and torso/arm color combinations found in Castle and Town.

One problem with Legends sets is that Lego did not reuse specialized elements made in these sets in their current line up of sets. It is true that costs are high on retooling old molds for producing less common bricks for Legends sets. But I doubt it is more expensive than making an entirely new mold.

TLG seems much more interested in making a new element to serve an old purpose (click hinges, 1x1 bricks w/ clip, etc) instead of making more of a perfectly fine old element. With today's technology, replicating the printing of older figures and elements should be fairly straightforward. This is why we have the nice Vintage Minifig Collections which are still lacking castle figs (shakes fist in direction of Denmark ;) ).

On the other hand, many Legendary 1980's sets (ie: 6080 Kings Castle) use basic non-specialized elements. The molds for almost all of those basic elements are in production today but not in the same colors (ie: 2x2 inverted slopes are being made in yellow but not black). Poor choices of sets with specialized elements (USS Constellation, Blue Fury, Enchanted Island) which did not sell well is a main reason for the cancellation of Legends. Lego should have stuck with classics like the Guarded Inn and Black Seas Barracuda. It is too bad that space fans never got the Galaxy Explorer, Alpha One Rocket Base, or similar vintage set.

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Re: Should Lego update and bring back some of the old sets

Post by Tyrant »

I would personally like to see some of the older sets rereleased. I understand the potential cost if they use elements that aren't in production anymore. However, strictly with Castle (which is the main line I would want to see rereleases from) most of the parts are still in use. The only thing right now is that some of the parts aren't made in the right colors right now. I would be fine with them updating to bley instead of the old grey because that is the practical thing. The torsos would be the only thing I would think might be an issue. It would be best if they actually updated them with the greater level of detail that the current torsos see. Of course I would be fine if the sets were updated and not just straight up rereleases. The new sets are nice, but there were aspects of the older sets that I liked. The fact there were a number of smaller castles that were still nice castles is the main thing I enjoyed. Sets like the Black Falcon Fortress. Every castle doesn't have to cost $100. The Tower Raid and the upcoming Drawbridge are a good move in this direction.
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Re: Should Lego update and bring back some of the old sets

Post by Heir of Black Falcon »

Tyrant,

In many ways I felt Royal Knghts and the KKI Lions were rereleases of the old 80s Lion Knights. Maybe something along these lines a rerelease of old factions like Black Knights or the Black Falcons?

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Re: Should Lego update and bring back some of the old sets

Post by Jojo »

Hello!
Heir of Black Falcon wrote:In many ways I felt Royal Knghts and the KKI Lions were rereleases of the old 80s Lion Knights.
In what way?
I never felt that. There are only so many coat-of-arms-able animals and symbols, which are generic enough to be not too specific to be used in a toy. Thus it's not a big surprise that some animals are used more than once in the relatively long history of Lego Castle. Also in the real World™ there are many countries with similar coats of arms, most of them being lions and eagles.


Image Image Image Image

For me it seems they just didn't bother to reinvent the wheel. So the 1592's lion (1980) and the Crusaders' lion (1984) are clearly similar (but not the same) , while the Royal Knights' lion (1995) is almost the same as the Knights' Kingdom's lion (2000), but with different tincture. And why would they not reuse the old stencil for a new faction? After 5 years they were catering to a new clientele that most likely didn't even know the former faction. I don't think that any of the re-uses of "lion" for coat of arms was meant to be kind of a re-release of an older faction.


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Re: Should Lego update and bring back some of the old sets

Post by Heir of Black Falcon »

Jojo,

Fair enough. I guess reused over rereleased is a better way of putting it. I just felt with loads of possible heraldic devices we could expect more variation. It would not be reinventing the wheel to have more than a lion on a shield. Especially from a country that still has a college of arms and long history of heraldry seems a bit repetitive and uncreative to me. I guess it is just easier to go with simple. Of course this can be done wrong... KKII for example was too cartoony for me, many of the shields very puerile.

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