Lego Kingdoms at 2010 Toy Fair

Discussion of official LEGO Castle Theme sets and products
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MarioDAlessio
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Re: Lego Kingdoms at 2010 Toy Fair

Post by MarioDAlessio »

The new range appears to equal the trend of improvement to the castle range and Lego in general. Thanks Lego no backwoods step here from the images seen.

We have being waiting a while for a Lego great helm. Interesting to see how the new will compare to that offered by Brickforge:

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Re: Lego Kingdoms at 2010 Toy Fair

Post by Blueandwhite »

Looks good so far. It reminds me of a number of the early previews we've seen before (Prince of Persia last fall for example). The knight's helmet for example looks to be an early mold. It's very rough and unfinished looking compared to the rest of the helmets. The Dragon Knights look to have a dark pearl grey thing going on, so I would expect a similar colour for the final great helm. I also hope they give the king a new face as the one he's got has been used to death.

Still, this looks to be a nice revival. The Castle line hasn't looked this strong since the introduction of the fantasy line.
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Re: Lego Kingdoms at 2010 Toy Fair

Post by timber_wolf899 »

I can't tell much about the dragon castle, but the lion castle impresses me greatly. That wall part is not so great yes, but the set design........Well KCS was nice but this is as far above KCS as KCS was above the castle of morcia!
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Baned
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Re: Lego Kingdoms at 2010 Toy Fair

Post by Baned »

Well hello there, can I take you all home with me? (Talking to the new sets, not you guys ;))

These are great! I love the return to human vs. human fractions. Let us decide who the bad guys are, instead of the obvious man vs. undead/orc/troll. I love the new heraldry as well, looks accurate to actual period styles. New helm, new horse helm. It's all so beautiful.
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Re: Lego Kingdoms at 2010 Toy Fair

Post by SunStorm »

Baned wrote: ...I love the return to human vs. human fractions. Let us decide who the bad guys are, instead of the obvious man vs. undead/orc/troll. I love the new heraldry as well, looks accurate to actual period styles. New helm, new horse helm. It's all so beautiful.
Yes, It is like we are actully going back in time, close to those old sets from the 80's and 90's! :)
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wallgorn
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Re: Lego Kingdoms at 2010 Toy Fair

Post by wallgorn »

The pictures look great. I am exited about the new Castle sets.
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Re: Lego Kingdoms at 2010 Toy Fair

Post by Karrde »

Yes, I really like the look of these sets! But the figs look even better, the goodies look like a fresh take on the classics and dark green is such a delicious colour for the new baddies! :twisted: Dark green plumes, lovely looking torso prints and official great helms :shock: Thank-you TLG, thank you very very much.
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Re: Lego Kingdoms at 2010 Toy Fair

Post by DaleDVM »

I have so much to say about the new line that I feel like exploding!
Count Blacktron wrote: I do not care for this piece. As a replacement to the old castle wall element, it eliminates the need for 2x1 bricks to anchor a pair together. The original was bad enough as a shortcut, but the new wall piece cuts the bricks out completely. Not a fan of that.
I would agree with you except for a couple of things. The new wall is 4 wide and therefore easier to center for towers. It doesn't have that lip sticking off the back which required plates to use properly and sometimes just got in the way no matter what you did. But most importantly, that is not how TLG is using this piece. With the old piece they would make big long walls just using that one panel over and over with a few 1x2 bricks to connect them. Go and take a look at good old 6080 one of everybody's favorite classic castles.

Image

All of the classic castles not built on raised baseplates (except perhaps Black Monarchs) have the big ugly grey wall syndrome going on. Worse is that those grey walls were made almost entirely of those panels and very few usable bricks.

In the upcoming Kingdoms release, TLG put an entire section of dark grey slopes between each one of the new wall pieces. This results in not only a better look but more usable bricks. Also note on the closeup photo of the gatehouse. They use 1x dark grey slopes where both the walls and the gatehouse ends to make it modular. When the wall sections are put together or when the walls are attached to the gatehouse you still have that repeating 2 wide sloping technique. With more than one set, you can make this castle as big as you want and it will all connect seemlessly! An absolutely fantastic design. I can't tell 100% how well this technique is working with the tower sections connected to the walls (the photo is too small) However, the towers look pretty good attached to the walls in the photo.

I think it is important to give kudos to TLG when they make a postive change and I think they are doing just that. IMHO I would say these are the best looking walls ever made in any lego castle set. The modularity of the castle may be the best as well. The walls appear to have more useful pieces as well. I think this is an epic WIN! Not to mention those cool 1x2 cheese pieces in dark bley! :D

I agree that having brick built battlements on the towers is a very welcome site indeed. Beats the POOPs any day. They are full of useful pieces. I am not a big fan of the design they used for the battlements. It looks rather flashy and attractive but seems to give little protection for the guys in the towers.

The figs, torsos, barding, plumes, (dark green, red, and white) great helm in two colors, weapons in multiple colors, and new heraldry are just great. The generic nature of the torsos and armor printing are nice so modifications can be made for other factions.

The red rooftops are a pleasant sight since we have had nothing but blue since the black knights days. Especially nice are the double convex 75 degree slopes in red. Those go for over a dollar a piece on bricklink.

The verdict is still out for me on the porticullis piece. I like how you can attach pieces to it but I am not sure of the look yet. the double clip flags are cool and I hope that the stickers on the shields and flags are just temporary or it may ruin the entire line.

I noted the catapult shown is from the lion knight's tower set and not the small set with the two figures. It appears to be well built and I like the cheese wedges on the wheels. The lions tower seems to be a bit airy and without doors or a more solid contruction it doesn't seem like you could add it to the castle without weakening the defenses greatly. I don't think the Dragon Knights are going to need that catapult to attack that tower at all.

The dragons tower set is a bit silly having a large gatehouse and a second entrance to what appears to be only a small tower. I like the look of the construction and the colors. Perhaps it will be the start of something bigger in the future. Or we could just MOC one up.

The impulses are great; thejester and dark green wizard are pure win. Is anyone else surprised that the dark green witch is nowhere to be seen. She only made appearances in the big chess set and the advent calendar. Not very accessable at all in my opinion. She would go with tose dragon knights for sure!

The little catapult and prisoner carriage have great figures and look to be little battle packs with some parts.

I am sad at the lack of regular bows. I hope the sticker use is kept to a minimum. Perhaps in the final version these will be fixed.

Overall I think this is a very nice line. I wouldn't worry about the lack of civilians. If TLG releases any civilian sets they will be exclusives and therefore you are not likely to see any early release photos until the actual announcement just like what happened with the MMV.

The release date I have been told for the line is late summer. I have also been told that battle packs for this line may be released before the rest of the sets and those may be coming this spring. I know lego has not done a release this way before, but I would find it an interesting bit of marketing. My source has always been correct in the past. I am excited about the new releases and I am certainly glad castle is going to be around for a while.
Last edited by DaleDVM on Sat Feb 06, 2010 5:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Lego Kingdoms at 2010 Toy Fair

Post by Ye Olde Republic »

Upon further inspection, I think the lion knights with the dark grey torsos are fairly generic looking. As in so far don't seem to have a 'logo' of any kind on them. This is nice and something that drove me crazy regarding the Crownies, they couldn't be 'hired' by the black falcons etc. The new knights seem to be far less loyal. In that regard anyway.

**edit**
I thought these were coming in June. The presentation card at these shows tells us this information but the pics are too small for me to be able to read them.
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dyntar
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Re: Lego Kingdoms at 2010 Toy Fair

Post by dyntar »

I figure we have a reinvention of the black knights and possibly the black falcons.. they have the dragon shield and the colours of the early falcons. [green] not too thrilled about another lion faction.. but i'll be buying at least one of each set.
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Re: Lego Kingdoms at 2010 Toy Fair

Post by Ye Olde Republic »

Can you show us what you mean by an early Black Falcon in [green]?
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Re: Lego Kingdoms at 2010 Toy Fair

Post by Handar »

Ye Olde Republic wrote:Can you show us what you mean by an early Black Falcon in [green]?
My guess is that the reference is to the flags used by the early, i.e. 1984, Black Falcon sets. The flags atop Knight's Castle were green and white, as were the flags on the Black Falcons Catapult. At least, that's my guess.
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Re: Lego Kingdoms at 2010 Toy Fair

Post by gormadoc1 »

Goodness gracious me, The Castle is fantastic as well as the figs. :D
I think the sets might come out in August because on the little card in the background of the grey tower, you can just make out the word August.
The shield design reminds me of the royal knights.
Last edited by gormadoc1 on Sun Feb 07, 2010 11:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Lego Kingdoms at 2010 Toy Fair

Post by Sir Kohran »

Hmmm...the sets look pretty good, particularly the minifigs, but there is something strangely generic about their style. I really don't need any more basic foot soldiers, and the set designs don't really feature anything we haven't seen before. Still, I applaud Lego for daring to produce a realistic all-human line, instead of flooding the sets with the usual hordes of beasties. It'll be interesting to see how well they sell.
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Re: Lego Kingdoms at 2010 Toy Fair

Post by wallgorn »

Yeah, when I look at the Kingdoms sets I get the feel of an Crusaders/Royal Knights and Black Knights/Dragon Masters mixed with Knights' Kingdom and Fantasy Castle. I too have noticed no bows in the sets just crossbows. I am also hoping that the shield emblems aren't stickers either.
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