Classic-Castle.com

Well folks, it appears that the current Castle theme is going to be discontinued this year of 2014 with no introduction of a different "castle" themed line (as of right now). This is quite surprising as they usually do at least two waves of each theme. I know that there is another wave of LoTR sets coming out this summer but no more Castle... What do you all think about this? I know many weren't that fond of the line but over time of looking at and buying some of the sets, they really grew on me. I plan to purchase more in the near future to build up a decent sized army of both

It seemed that after Kingdoms finished there would be no more castle sets, but TLG then brought along the current Castle theme. Hopefully they'll do the same this time, and maybe they're just hiding the new Black Falcons from us

I heard that LOTR may be ending and that there is no news of another wave this year Which makes me sad because TLG has barely even scratched the surface of what could be made for LOTR.

Before you all fall into a depression, remember Castle is one of the evergreen lines. Whatever is happening with it or LOTR are just rumors at this point. And I'm not sure until we see actually sets from LEGO themselves that these rumors can be substantiated or not. There have been times where the Summer release of sets have been so well guarded that we didn't know what was coming out. Not saying that I know anything different, but I do know rumors don't always mean fact.

But if we are on a year hiatus from castle, well think of it this way, they took a break after KK2 and came back very strong with the next line. A lack of sets doesn't determine what we do or build. It just means a lack of a new faction, and for some of us that is almost a "big deal...do I really need yet another faction?"

Have you not seen the pictures online of the new Black Falcon castle? And Robin hood inspired forest line?

I'm kidding of course, but as Blue mentioned, castle is one of their 'evergreen' themes. Which in theory means they will always return to it. That said, they seemed to drop Pirates quick enough, though I think it's only Castle, City and Space (?) that are supposedly 'evergreen'. It's a side note, but I'd be interested to hear if that's still a company policy, as times change and I can see a lot more love/effort going into the action themes like Ninjago/Chima that seem to resonate more with kids these days than pirates/knights/cowboys etc.

If you look on Brickset http://www.brickset.com/browse/themes/?theme=Castle there has pretty much been something in the castle theme every year (barring 2003, 1982 and 1980) since 1978.

2012 had only the Kingdoms joust (and the chess set) but that's a fantastic set (that I still don't own...) so we still may see a few 'Castle 2013' sets trickle out, even if it's a chess set, battle pack or similar (personally, I'm hopeful for some battle packs like these http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=852921-1 http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=852922-1).

This makes me chuckle a bit, as I posted a similar post back in 2012 viewtopic.php?f=12&t=21035&p=232015#p232015

You're totally correct Blue, thanks for that! TLG hid the newest Castle series pretty well, didn't they? I'm not too bothered about LotR, but it would be nice to see it stay

Sir Erathor wrote:It seemed that after Kingdoms finished there would be no more castle sets, but TLG then brought along the current Castle theme. Hopefully they'll do the same this time, and maybe they're just hiding the new Black Falcons from us

That is true, I know its an evergreen line so we will see something new in the future but Im just surprised they're ending it that quickly.

Brickninja wrote:I heard that LOTR may be ending and that there is no news of another wave this year Which makes me sad because TLG has barely even scratched the surface of what could be made for LOTR.

Where did you hear this? I've heard from Eurobricks and other sources that there will be another wave of LoTR, we just dont really know what sets are gonna come out until summer, from my readings it sounds like we're gonna see a Minas Tirith $100+ "castle", as well as a couple Gondor sets and probably some others.

Bluesecrets wrote:Before you all fall into a depression, remember Castle is one of the evergreen lines. Whatever is happening with it or LOTR are just rumors at this point. And I'm not sure until we see actually sets from LEGO themselves that these rumors can be substantiated or not. There have been times where the Summer release of sets have been so well guarded that we didn't know what was coming out. Not saying that I know anything different, but I do know rumors don't always mean fact.

But if we are on a year hiatus from castle, well think of it this way, they took a break after KK2 and came back very strong with the next line. A lack of sets doesn't determine what we do or build. It just means a lack of a new faction, and for some of us that is almost a "big deal...do I really need yet another faction?"

I have to agree with you Blue, my reasoning behind this post was mainly due to surprise that they would be ending it so soon. I suspect it's probably because LoTR and Hobbit are more sellable as well as the Ninjago and Legends of Chima lines like andhe said. A break from "castle" sets would actually be a good thing for me so I can focus on purchasing more Kingdoms sets while they're decently priced along with some Castle

Not to argue with you Jman, but the source that reported those sets was confirmed to be false. They came from a blogger, and on his blog he even claimed they were false.
There is absolutely no proof there will be another LOTR set. Having said, I think the license does continue until 2015. I could be wrong though.

I read that about Castle ending and I am quite disheartened. I know I was in the minority but I absolutely adored the 2 new factions.

SSchmidt wrote:Not to argue with you Jman, but the source that reported those sets was confirmed to be false. They came from a blogger, and on his blog he even claimed they were false.
There is absolutely no proof there will be another LOTR set. Having said, I think the license does continue until 2015. I could be wrong though.

I read that about Castle ending and I am quite disheartened. I know I was in the minority but I absolutely adored the 2 new factions.

Ah my mistake then everyone, I read that a couple weeks ago and it must have changed since then. Thanks for clarifying And alright, I suspect there will probably be one though as the Hobbit movies haven't finished yet. It has seemed that they release LoTR during the summer and Hobbit during the winter. Although I haven't had much interest in the LoTR sets since the first wave, second one didn't do much for me. But I have to agree, I was really beginning to like the new wave with their detail in the fig prints and was hoping for the possibility of a couple new sets offering newer castle civilians and such. But we'll see what the future holds as we might be pleasantly surprised.

Even if LotR is done, the Hobbit is not. There were no signs of new Castle sets mentioned in the reports from the London Toy Fair according to Brickset and others. As Blue mentioned that means little. Castle is a summer release and many of the minifig's at the London Toy Fair were mock-ups or stand-ins (for the lines/sets shown).
We've had pauses in product lines before, we'll have them again. Castle may be a evergreen theme but it's not City level of evergreen.

But you know, in spite of those rumors being false, I honestly cannot imagine them not releasing a final wave, especially with so much of the movie left unexplored.

Yeah it would make sense if they did a final run of LoTR, especially since there will be three waves of the Hobbit- one per movie. I agree SSchmidt, they have a lot of unexplored material and characters left to release.

jman44 wrote:Yeah it would make sense if they did a final run of LoTR, especially since there will be three waves of the Hobbit- one per movie. I agree SSchmidt, they have a lot of unexplored material and characters left to release.

I wouldn't put too much stock in rumors. I would love to see a final release of the Hobbit and LotR, but it will depend on how well the line is selling (which I know nothing about). If things are going well, I would like to think we'll see more. If not, then I'm sure LEGO will have no problem "leaving things hanging" if from a business perspective they will lose money (or not make as much money as they would like) developing another wave of sets.

Personally, I'm not sad to see the current castle line go away. My budget is limited and I like the LotR/Hobbit sets better anyway so I haven't bought any of the new castle line and don't plan to. My hope would be that they re-boot the castle line sometime next year with something newer and not as juniorized/cartoon-y, and bring back a pirates line while they're at it.

Oh well. I'm not to bothered if this line finishes. To me the line seemed like a placeholder series. There was nothing particularly exciting about it and apart from a few new pieces there was nothing that made it stand out from other castle sets. Lets hope they come back next year with some new factions and some fresh ideas.
We are getting one castle set this year, the guard house from the Lego movie.

I sure hope it's not ending! Unfortunately, the only Dark Age I've ever had wholly encompassed the Fantasy Era castle line, which means I'm playing catch up in the realms of factions! I do quite like the red dragons (or as I call them, Wyverns just for the sake of convenience), and I do hope that the supposed discontinuation is nothing more than a misunderstanding/rumor.

Only time will tell.