Should Lego update and bring back some of the old sets

[Gomur]

I don't think that the BL prices are too overly inflated in *most* cases, but if I'm going to shell out $100+ for a set, I want it to be sqeaky clean and new and complete that I can tear out of the baggies myself. Just my $0.02. There is definitely some character in used Lego as well, so this isn't a universal desire, but if I'm going to buy Black Seas Barracuda (which sold so well because we all wanted it when we were kids and only some of our parents could afford it), I want a new, complete one.

And to be fair, if the 2008 sets are going to keep my attention, they're going to have to come up with something better than King's Castle Siege and a gorgeous box-o-minifigs Chess Set as their flagship sets. There just isn't enough castle in the Castle. Hence, I still drool over the Black Knight's Castle.

[dragonblade24]

yeasssssssss! they should bring but the oldies because it seems more people enjoy classics more than fatasy era. I liked the older sets more because there very original no special pieces or wacky bricks. but that is why i like or fantasy era also it has dragons and magic and all kinds of cool things. its a hard choice CC should start a poll about this classics or fantasy era! just an idea.

[natelite]

And to be fair, if the 2008 sets are going to keep my attention, they're going to have to come up with something better than King's Castle Siege and a gorgeous box-o-minifigs Chess Set as their flagship sets. There just isn't enough castle in the Castle. Hence, I still drool over the Black Knight's Castle.

do you own any of the old sets? i have the black monarch/black knight (6086), 6080 lion knight and 6081 mountain castle sets. i also have the royal castle 6090. i can tell you right now that in terms of piece count they are not more than king's castle siege. feature-wise as well, they are not any more elaborate than KCS. mf count is also on par. in fact KCS may surpass some of these classic sets.

it's quite interesting to hear of people bashing the new castle sets when the classics also used large "juniorized" brick walls and corner walls that they complained about. really...the only castle that is entirely made from bricks and not large pieces is the yellow castle 375/6075.

it's not like the classic sets have 2-3x the brick count or 2-3x the size of KCS.

and the no.1 complaint is that the KCS structure is hollow. eg, stupid treasure room and throne room that are exposed. many of these so called classic sets are also hollow in terms of structure. your much praised black monarch castle is also hollow, if you didn't already know.

[draugaer]

Still You have to admit that the design for some of the older castles are much better than the newest ones lego offers (with the exeption of maybe the viking castle).

The older sets (especially the ones not on raised baseplates) look very defensible, the color blocking is very well thoughtout, and they were even somewhat modular. It makes sense that they are hollow on the inside because that is the bailey. All the castles (with the exception of king's mountain fortress) have the basic elements of a castle: Gate house, walls, towers, and a keep.

The newer castles have really strange color blocking (looks random in some places) The walls and towers are very open and airy looking (not solid like the old sets) They hardly look like a defensive structure. -the frightknights and KK castles were most guilty of these things

The newest castle (7094) is definatly better than the KK castles and I'm happy that it went back to the layout of the older castles. But there are design choices that just baffle me. The color blocking is rather poor, the colors are used far to less (and in too big of pieces) to create a texture, but are used just about everywhere so that they don't make good highlights either; it makes it look very "thrown together". The portcullis opens right through the top of the gatehouse. The keep is far to open, it doesn't give the impression of a closed space, then there is that one small tower that just hanges out.

[Gomur]

do you own any of the old sets?

I have Blach Monarch's Castle, Black Falcon's Fortress, the Tournament and the Woodsmen's Hideout, plus several smaller boats/catapults/impulse sets.

I hear where you're coming from with piece counts, etc, and some of those rock prefab pieces sure would have been nice in the old days (or a Dragon).

On the other hand, like someone already mentioned, the older sets actually look like defensible and solid (albeit out of scale) fortresses. The walls appear thick and sturdy, the gatehouses strong and ready to repel invaders with their drawbridges/portculli.

The King's Castle Siege has a couple of things going for it for sure. It has better detail than the older castles and it does come with a great array of parts and figs. The problem is that I can't see how, if that and maybe the Dwarves Mine were the only sets I bought, I could make a large detailed MOC castle with the pieces I'd have.

Maybe I'm way off base here, but I got this impression when I saw one on display in Target that was put together and it looked like a strong breeze would knock the 1-2 stud thick walls down. It looked very playset-ish, in other words, like just a perfunctory setting for the minifigs themselves, whereas back in the day it was more the castle itself was the star and you did whatever you could to make the minifigs unique.

That said, I will probably end up buying KCS just for the pieces that I don't have, but I can't shake the feeling that if I were a kid and that was the only set I got for Christmas or something, I wouldn't be as awed by it as I was by the older, more versatile castle sets. There just isn't as much castle there.

[KDog]

I'm enamored with the classic castles just like most of you, but I also love King's Castle Siege. It's a really fun set, is huge, and harkens back to the old style. It has some quirks, of course, but I think it will one day be viewed as a classic set.

[Count Blacktron]

Enough of this silly topic! LEGO should just get on it and sell the sets they already manufacture to consumers who wish to buy them (i.e. 2008 Castle Advent Calender, 2008 Good Wizard...).

REALLY.

[gormadoc1]

I certainly agree with you because that was a good era for Lego Castle.

[tiberium_blue]

Lego have been doing this for years. Look at any of the city lines or the new drawbridge set with the 'golden knight' for a specific example.

Often the only reason to buy such sets is if you missed it the first time around or for any new figs or pieces they may include - which can usually be cheaper than the full set via bricklink.

Personally, I'd like to see more focus on new ideas. The castle line has produced some real gems in the last couple of years when the designers explored new areas and the quality of sets has improved greatly. I see no reason to change the way they're doing things at the moment. TLG already have a good mix of the old and the new.

As someone above mentioned, if you're feeling nostalgic about a set you can always hunt down the instructions and build or update it yourself.

[Heir of Black Falcon]

TB,

I agree somewhat but think there are still some neat concepts under used still from the past that could use a second chance. I'd like a return to the old medium size fortresses from the 80s and early-mid 90s. Think of sets like Black Falcon's Fortress, Knight's Castle and others. These sets were of a decent size and nice piece count as well as being well designed and made castles/fortifications. The neat bridges like this years are a good medium sized set, and likely my favorite for 2009, but I think it'd be nice if they mixed them up a bit more... Looks like TLC stopped bombarding us with siege engines for 2009. I was shocked to see a chariot, a drawbridge and a castle with no independent siege engines this year. To clarify I think one or two a year are fine between 5-7 sets but I'd like more medium sized fortresses in the pot as well.

Heir

[gormadoc1]

They brought things like the guarded in back as part of the legend sets so I dont see why they cant do it again.

[divonic]

I guess I wouldn't be against reissues of old sets. I bought the guarded inn and the black falcon's fortress. As long as it didn't take TLG's focus from the current Castle line. Which in my opinion is the best set design since the black knight / wolfpack era.

[Colonel Strider]

Updated Black Falcons would be great Too bad that I did'nt like castle when Legends were out.

[BreadMan]

They brought things like the guarded in back as part of the legend sets so I dont see why they cant do it again.

They can't. The legends line was canceled because it was becoming too expensive to keep the molds and machines necessary to produce all the old elements they used while also producing all the new elements available today.

[Heir of Black Falcon]

Breadman,

I had never heard that before. Of course I do not understand why it would be expensive to keep molds and such on hand indefinitely. From what I have seen most fabrication machines can use a variety of molds depending on the need. I can see the expense in leaving machines set up not in use though... Is it because they were really old technology and could not update them?


Heir