London Toy Fair reports - no castle

[Bruce N H]

Hey all,

It's Toy Fair time again, where we get news about the upcoming sets for 2015. They don't allow people to take photos, but they can take notes, so we have a few reports:

Brickset part 1
Brickset part 2
Brick Fanatics

Lots of cool stuff, but no castle theme seems to be forthcoming, nor is there a continuation of the Lord of the Rings sets (as we already heard through rumors). There is the Elves theme that we have discussed, and a couple of sets are castle-friendly (i.e. some of the Scooby Doo stuff, also the Hydra fortress that's coming out in a couple of months, the Disney Princess-friends sets have lots of useful pieces). Of course, the newest Collectible Minifigs line has lots of castle-friendly figs, and maybe future CMFs will as well.

Anyway, thoughts? Personally I'm not hugely concerned. First, I don't spend a lot of time building actual sets, and all sets are MOC-fodder. If they keep giving us great figs like the most recent two lines of CMFs I'm just as happy, and it also might be good for my wallet. However, no new sets in a line mean that new fans are not being brought in to the theme. However, I'm hoping that a pause in castle will mean a stronger line to come out next year, or hopefully before Christmas this year.

Bruce

[RedBrick]

Perhaps they take their time and make a decent, elaborated play-world with civilian sets again, as it was back in the 80s and early 90s. Might be wishful thinking, I know, but one can still have dreams

The big sellers seem though more in the Starwars, Ninjago and Chima-direction - and city of course. I think the pirate sets will be a nice source of material too. And they are lots in the style of the first series. Very good indicator

[Bruce N H]

Hey,

Just a follow up, LEGO has released pics of two of the Scooby sets, the Mystery Machine and this castle-friendly set, the Mystery Mansion:



Bruce

[Lord_Ashenwyte]

I like that Scooby Doo set, it reminds me of some Harry Potter set.

[Kev]

I'm excited about the Scooby sets, a little disappointed in all the purple in that castle, though it isn't unexpected. I'd like more views to see how it matches up interior-wise with Dracula's castle. Looks like lots of layering bricks and plates in its walls.

[KristinnK]

If you think about it, Medieval Market Village was released in 2009, and Kingdoms Joust was released three years later, in 2012. Well, this year there will have passed three more years, and call it wishful thinking, but I'm hoping we just might get another large civilian-like set before the year is over.

I got back into Lego quite recently, and I was lucky to find a MMV set for less than $150. Buying a similar set at retail price would be really quite nice

[Wilfred of Ivanhoe]

Although I would really like to see more LOTR and Hobbit sets coming out, I am still optimistic about several upcoming sets. I was not aware of the Scoobie-Doo theme. It should be interesting. The CMF series are always great. They always have something for everybody. It might also be interesting to see what TLG comes up with to replace the Chima theme. I believe the upcoming Elves theme will include a lot of new part variations that will contribute to some awesome MOCs. For me personally, I would LOVE to see a darker, more realistic, possibly more adult geared fantasy castle theme. Others may not agree with this part, but I would want it to be flesh toned minifigs, with different races and monsters. As it stands, I believe 2015 will see many sets that will contribute to this wish, and many other FOLs. Anybody agree? Disagree?

[Lord_Ashenwyte]

I think fleshies are only for licensed sets. I like yellow, well, that's because the original LEGO castle was yellow.

[AK_Brickster]

I think fleshies are only for licensed sets. I like yellow, well, that's because the original LEGO castle was yellow.

Hear hear! The man speaks the truth. TLG has specifically said in the past that they flesh figs are exclusively for licensed products and that they will remain true to their roots with the yellow figs in non-licensed themes.

[Old_School_Fan]

It would be a great disappointment for me if any future castle sets contained flesh tone figures. It has been laborious enough brick-linking yellow heads to replace all of those in the LotR-Hobbit sets.

[AK_Brickster]

Agreed. I'm constantly running a deficit of yellow hands and heads as well.