Classic-Castle.com

I'm one of the ones hoping fantasy has run its course in the castle line. I'm more of a human v. human fan. I can't really explain it, the dwarves, trolls, and undead that I have piles of just don't do anything for me. When I set up a scene or display I always go to my human factions and the fantasy figures remain on the shelves.

AK_Brickster wrote: Plus, that would probably help to save us from yet another lion or dragon faction.

I agree that Lions are overused. (And please, oh, please, never let us get another Crion faction...) But if you take a look at all the factions over the years, there really have only been four Dragons factions: Black Knights, Dragon Masters, Kingdoms Dragons, and 2013 Dragons. So from Fright Knights through the Fantasy Era, there were no dragons factions -- there were bats, bulls, and scorpions instead.

Fantasy Era was a cool new look, with Crownies vs non-humans. And when the Kingdoms Lions and Dragons came out in 2010, they were fresh, new, and exciting as well, since there hadn't been any Lions for a while -- and no Dragons for over a decade.

The problem seems to be the 2013 Castle theme, since it repeated the Dragon faction (and mashed up the Crownies and Lions into a royal mess.) Hopefully, TLG won't do that again.

If this rumor is true, I'd love it!

I'd love an orc castle or something like that. A totally new type of design.

Looking forward to more Castle LEGO sets!

They had an orc castle in the Fantasy era last run. Hopefully Castle 2016 goes a bit more on the eastern side.

If they do bring out a new Castle line, I'd love to see a character similar to Princess Storm, who has always been one of my all-time favorite characters in Lego, back in the days of the Knight's Kingdom and Cedric the Bull. It's nice to get away from the whole 'Damsel In Distress', plus, fiery women who can fight are totally my cup of tea.

I have just come across something, and it is really strange. The next line might be here and it might be a new Kingdoms one with Red Lions vs. the Boars.
It is available in a Hungarian online store and as you might know, there is a LEGO Factory in Hungary...
Still, ca. 13 EUR for three minifigs, it is not really a bargain and it seems the packs does not have any IDs, so I don't know, they might be some kind of service packs. The store uses the Fantasy Era Castle logo, but I don't think that means anything.

The Red Lions:
http://kocka.hu/Lego_LM0001/LEGO_Minifi ... guraval%29

The Boars:
http://kocka.hu/Lego_LM0002/LEGO_Minifi ... guraval%29

Considering the 'Boars' are comprised of one CMF evil knight and two figures with the evil dwarf torso and a Norse shield from the CMF Viking, I wouldn't put much weight on it. I can't bring myself to buy in to the rumors of what is coming next year but something in Castle makes sense. I for one would love a return to Fantasy for a few reasons. I missed the last round being in my dark age, I generally prefer more fantasy than history in my castles, and it would mean some of the figs probably won't be yellow. In any case, I'm excited to see (and buy) the next thing they release for us but we have a bit of a wait ahead.

That's an interesting find, but the packaging is the same as what you use in the Build-A-Minifigure station at Lego stores. As noted, there's lots of old parts and prints there. Weird. I'm sure whatever we get in the next line, it will be fresher than that.

I'll be happy for anything besides yet another version of Lion and Dragon factions. I enjoyed the earlier fantasy line so if they go that route it would be nice to have some variety in the elves to fill out that faction.

rogue27 wrote:The rumor seems fairly reasonable based on how LEGO tends to design their themes lately. Humans versus monsters. Space Police III, Alien Conquest, Galaxy Squad, Monster Fighters, Atlantis, etc. It's like they don't trust children to use their imagination anymore; the bad guys have to be obvious now. I guess Trolls make sense for that.

Who's to say the orcs/trolls have to be the bad guys? A little bit of familiarity with human behaviour (and/or a little imagination) and all of a sudden there's two sides with conflicting, but overall grey moral codes.

I myself would like to see some Non-Licensed sets that are at the same Quality as The LotR and The Hobbit sets. With maybe new sigils, or maybe some kind of Elk or Stag symbol.

KuvarBlodøks wrote:

rogue27 wrote:The rumor seems fairly reasonable based on how LEGO tends to design their themes lately. Humans versus monsters. Space Police III, Alien Conquest, Galaxy Squad, Monster Fighters, Atlantis, etc. It's like they don't trust children to use their imagination anymore; the bad guys have to be obvious now. I guess Trolls make sense for that.

Who's to say the orcs/trolls have to be the bad guys?

The LEGO marketing team. Every Castle theme in the past 15+ years has had one faction that was clearly the bad guys. Aggressive facial expressions, scars, eyepatches, and set designs depicting them as kidnappers, robbers, or aggressors.

This puts a child's thoughts into a box as opposed to giving them an open slate like in the 70s and 80s.

A little bit of familiarity with human behaviour (and/or a little imagination) and all of a sudden there's two sides with conflicting, but overall grey moral codes.

I get that. I'd like to think that most adults get that. However, the mainstream news tends to tell the same good versus evil story as modern children's toys, so I fear that a lot of people's minds never leave that box I mentioned above.

TLG is afraid to challenge children's imaginations because they are competing against a plethora of toys that do not, and consumers tend to follow the path of least resistance.

What rogue says is true. I really wish LEGO would have stayed gender netural, and conflict netural.

However they would not have survived the way the have if they did. I also would say I wish LEGO would cater a bit more to imagination then they have in recent years. I love the creator line for this reason. Many 1 box 3 different builds. I wish most sets were like this, and i miss that we dont get pictures of alternate builds anymore like we did in the late 70's to early 90's. I would just like the next wave of castle to not be as juniorised as the last couple of waves. However if it is I hope that they do a few sets towrds AFols, again.

I would really like to see more use in the smag molds for more dragons of different colors. As well as a keep along the lines of helms deep and the joust set. I am looking forward to another wave and cant wait to see what they come up with.

More pesants and spoted cows, and pigs, and goats... did you hear me GOATS

I don't intend to be rude, or sauer, so I apologize if this comes across as such, but I feel I have to ask . . . how often do these sorts of rumors turn out to be correct? Are people who work at Lego stores, who Eurobricks members happen to talk to, really likely to know what sorts of themes are coming up?

I don't intend to be rude, or sauer, so I apologize if this comes across as such, but I feel I have to ask . . . how often do these sorts of rumors turn out to be correct? Are people who work at Lego stores, who Eurobricks members happen to talk to, really likely to know what sorts of themes are coming up?

It isn't rude to ask that. To be honest, I'm not sure how often they turn out to be correct. We hear rumors a lot. Sometimes they are true, sometimes they are not true. Although it isn't unheard of for an unknown line to show up during the year, I can't remember one in the last few years.

I guess the question I wonder about is if a LEGO store employee is under an NDA or even has access to that information.