Castle 2013... meh?

Discussion of official LEGO Castle Theme sets and products
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SevFalcon
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Re: Castle 2013... meh?

Post by SevFalcon »

I'm hoping that this series continues beyond a couple of waves. Still trying to recover from the quick ending of the last Kingdom series....
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Re: Castle 2013... meh?

Post by AK_Brickster »

The figs are the highlight for me. The printing on them is terrific, and I'm always glad to add more factions to my lineup. I have the dragon mountain set, which I really like (the dragon wizard is an awesome fig) and I have about 10 copies of the forest ambush set, which is a great way to build up troops in the two new factions in a hurry, and it also comes with quite a few foliage pieces and plenty of 1x1 round tiles in pearl gold.

It isn't the best lineup in terms of set design or parts, but if you like figs, they are worth picking up.
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Re: Castle 2013... meh?

Post by Sir Valiant »

I have to say that I agree with Athos on this one. The figs, especially the lions (as others have said) seem too childish and juniorized. I felt that LEGO should have continued with the Black Falcon knight form Kingdoms joust and expanded from there. :(
Probably the main reason for not collecting is the few parts that can be used for MOC's especially in the big castle set. I don't have a large amount of spending money for LEGO, so when I buy it has to count! :)
Just my 2 cents.

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Re: Castle 2013... meh?

Post by Sir Erathor »

I really like the new Castle figs, so I've bought a few of the sets just to get them. I agree with many of you on the fact that they're, well, childish, but I've still got five sets at home. I bought three Forest Ambush sets because they're good value, as well as the Gatehouse Raid and Dragon Mountain. Dragon Mountain is good for figs but I think the set itself is rather poor. As AK said, the many pearl gold parts are really nice. I'm gonna get more sets, as I'm trying to build up my Dragon army for the LCC ;)
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Papy.G
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Re: Castle 2013... meh?

Post by Papy.G »

For myself, I find the heraldry not too juniorized (well, it's kid's toys after all), for the castle's coulourish touches, you just can get rid of them, as I already did with my Kingdoms' one.
The castle has panels, but it's for the sake of hugeness, as it has more towers, with more levels, and its gatehouse is more accurate than the previous one's.
The 10 set with four figs is definitely a winner! As kids can make castles off any bricks they have (I know, I did), it can be a good starter for medieval. It can be a good way to beef up the castle that doesn't come overcrowded.
The dragon set is quite expensive, if you don't find use for the dragon, it would have better for 10 less than it is, and actually, many shops are listing it this way or at least 5 less than TLS.
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Coatsy
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Not that impressed with this line

Post by Coatsy »

Overall, I have found the new Castle sets very, well "underwhelming". I've looked at their photos on the Lego website, seen the models up close at the Lego Store, and I just don't like them. I see these sets as a rehash of the last two Kingdoms lines. I thoroughly enjoyed the last two lines, especially the green, black, and gold Dragon Knight Faction. I put that faction just below the Black Falcons as top notch design. Yes indeed, better than the Black Knights/Black Monarch line which had been my second favorite line. But, back to the current Castle set. It just seems haphazardly thrown together to keep the Castle line "going". Some more of the Lion and Dragon Knight sets, plus the already mention of the revamped Black Falcon from the joust would have been great.

But, we'll see how the next wave goes, and the LOTR sets are hands down the best castle sets out there right now.

At least this isn't the KKII "Knights of the Jelly Bean Table" revamp.
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jman44
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Re: Castle 2013... meh?

Post by jman44 »

I have purchased a few of the new 2013 Castle sets and have to say that I am not really impressed by them. So far I have gotten a couple of the $10 "ambush" sets and one of the typical $30 gatehouse vs. catapult sets from this line. I have to admit, I do like the figures but the building is very juvenile, taking me less than 20 minutes from unboxing to building of the $30 set and I didn't even bother building the $10 ones. While they are very juniorized, they do have some pros to them.

Those being that there are all new head, body, and leg pieces with modernized Lion sigils taken from the classic lion sigil and the red and black dragon knights are quite good in terms of figs. Also, the barding that comes with these sets fits the new horse design which is a plus as there hasn't been any until recently. And if you're not looking to play with the sets, they do come with good castle building pieces to bolster your collection. I participate in the LCC so the new Dragon figs have made an appearance in that so that was one of my reasons to buy them. I dont know about anyone else but since I began building in the Castle theme a couple years ago I realized that from my youth, I didn't collect very many of each castle theme, leaving me with a very small amount of figs/sigils of each faction. Thus I was unable to do large builds with a lot of one kind of faction so from then on I have made sure to collect a bunch of each so another reason for me buying these sets.

The cons for them is the juvenility and lack of originality, just appears to be a way to keep the Castle line going by recreating the $10 army builder, $20 carriage, $30 gatehouse, and $50 "evil" faction hideout/base and $100 castle sets with new figs and sigils but in a way that is a lot simpler in build and piece count. The good thing about this is that it means that Lego is obviously spending more time on the LoTR and Hobbit sets, both of which are very great in fig pieces, weapons, complexity of builds and great colors. Unlike most sets I buy lately which are primarily for figs and more pieces, I actually want to and enjoy building the LoTR and Hobbit sets.

So all-in-all I don't think that we should hate on these sets too much as we have figured out that they are for a younger market while the LoTR and Hobbit sets are meant for the more mature builder and Lego collector, offering sets with more complex building, unique colored pieces, and better figs and weapons. I agree with Coatsy, thank goodness there aren't any of those rainbow colored Knights again :o
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Re: Castle 2013... meh?

Post by Jaffleman »

I'm just happy castle is on the shelves. Gatehouse works well as an add on to kingdoms joust with some minor tweaks.
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Re: Castle 2013... meh?

Post by KumpelKante »

I got myself the castle with a 15% discount (i paid 85€ instead of hundred). The design itself is pretty bland. Should work for a child's toy but nothing i'd call worth collecting. On the other hand the castle has a nice selection of light grey bricks (and yes. i use a panel from time to time)

Thinking about a second wave, i am not use what i would like better: in one hand i'd love to see a line beeing expanded after the first wave with sets more interesting than tge typical ones like the big castle and the army builder. On the other hand i would like to see the current castle line being replaced by line with a more realistic heraldry (like the kingdoms just something else than dragons and lions) and more sophisticated buildings.

By the way does anybody know if Kingdoms sold well? ...espacially the second wave?
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Re: Castle 2013... meh?

Post by TeufelHund »

KumpelKante wrote:By the way does anybody know if Kingdoms sold well? ...espacially the second wave?
I can't vouch for other marketplaces but here in Australia the two smaller sets of the second wave sold out pretty quickly, the largest set sat around for a while but now seems to have gone completely whereas the King's Carriage set can still be had readily and isn't moving much even at 50% off RRP.
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Re: Castle 2013... meh?

Post by jman44 »

I know the kingdoms sets did sell well here in the US- most of the time you could only find the $10 sets (which they always produce in abundance) and the more expensive ones since those don't sell as readily but as time went on and the fact that they didn't make a third wave meant they did sit for a little while after until they just stopped stocking the sets once LoTR made its debut. I didn't notice how well the second wave went as they didn't fill the stores with as many of them as they did with the first wave.

I agree with KumpleKante in that they need to ditch the Lions and Dragons sigils for a while and go with something new- or just do a redesign of two of the Classic factions. I thought with the $100 Kingdoms Joust/Tournament set that they were hinting at a reappearance of the Black Falcons with one of the knights having that shield but unfortunately not :cry: At least we have the LoTR for more complex sets and figs.
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Re: Castle 2013... meh?

Post by andhe »

TeufelHund wrote:
KumpelKante wrote:By the way does anybody know if Kingdoms sold well? ...espacially the second wave?
I can't vouch for other marketplaces but here in Australia the two smaller sets of the second wave sold out pretty quickly, the largest set sat around for a while but now seems to have gone completely whereas the King's Carriage set can still be had readily and isn't moving much even at 50% off RRP.
The Kingdom's carriage ambush always seem vastly over-priced at £35.99 / US$39.99. It's a nice set, but should have been aimed at more of the £20/25 range IMO (Which is what I managed to pay for my open copy on bricklink). Maybe by losing one of the trees, or scaling down the carriage slightly.

If a parent is going to stump up the cash for a birthday gift, then I think they are going to go for the big castle or similar play set. If it's a smaller gift purchase, then it's likely to be one of the smaller 'battle sets' (a couple of knights and random scenery/small carriage).

The King's carriage just fell in between.
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Re: Castle 2013... meh?

Post by Lil_Curt »

In the next round of castle I would like to see a cariage with more accurate running gear like the stage coach from lone ranger. That way I wouldent have to modify a ranger kit. Also as previosly stated an upscaled castle, return of black falcons an forestmen would be cool. More forest type sets and outlaw sets.

Back on topic, i really liked gatehouse raid and the forest ambush set. I got tge carriage set but am meh about that. Dragon mountian i feel is overpriced but i got it for the dragon.
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jman44
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Re: Castle 2013... meh?

Post by jman44 »

I think what they should do is just stop making the same sets over and over again and start coming up with original ideas. While I do enjoy the LoTR sets, it would be nice to have some more original Castle sets with fresh sigils. The nice thing about the Kingdoms line was that they came out with great sigils, the Lion and Dragon which really hadn't been done before, or at least in a while for the red lion.

I honestly think they should do a remake of the Classic Castle sets and do several "Classic" Waves where they reintroduce the factions of the past in increments of two or three factions per wave, offering the same amount of sets that they do now but with those factions and can do two or three waves based on what was most popular. And with those factions, we could see the same exact sigils, only the rest of the printing is updated to match what they've been doing recently which is pretty cool. It's what has had me buy the newer sets because even as juvenile as they are, the figs no matter what sigil have really impressive designs so that high detail printing with classic sigil would make a wonderful line. Im pretty sure they would sell like mad. :twisted:
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Re: Castle 2013... meh?

Post by Bluesecrets »

I think what they should do is just stop making the same sets over and over again and start coming up with original ideas.
But see that is a problem because we are long time fans and only because of that. Kids usually fall out of the target market after 3 to 5 years. So repeating a set only makes sense...business wise. And actually if you look at city, it is far worse in that line than in castle.

Now before you go "oh pffffffft stop sucking the fun out of my discussion Blue" just think about it for a little while. You are 8 you get a LEGO catalog in the mail and see this epic castle set, so you get it. And then the next two years happen and you start looking at girls (or boys if you are a female or..which ever gender you want to look at because we don't discriminate about here), and playing of the video games and the brick falls aside, but now you are like 11 or 12 and the reality is, you may or may not be looking to be all excited to have castle. But...your little brother wants it! And he didnt' have the sets so...here is the cycle all over again. Yay!

Reality is, we always say the same things "these sets are juniorized." Um...we have been saying that over and over. Since KK2 actually. We always want less catapults. And so on and so on.

I think that in general there comes a time when castle sets just don't make you happy anymore, because you can build something so much more detailed than a set ever can be. Okay well there are exceptions such as the amazing MMV, but we are castle MOC builders we don't want simple. And sets are simple or they cost an arm and a leg.

So sure "meh" applies. But then be honest...go back and look at the so called "classics" they were pretty "meh" too and we tend to over look that fact just because we love them for they were our first love.
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