Castle 2007 Consolodation thread

[Rubberchickenknight]

The pointed helm is much better than the grill helm. I have one of each, and I find that I use the pointed helm more and it has three different places to put plumes while the grill only has one hole.

[MaxiVisVires]

The new standard torso doesn't look too bad. It'll be a pretty good army builder in my opinion.

CLICKY

[supernova]

The new standard torso doesn't look too bad. It'll be a pretty good army builder in my opinion.

CLICKY

haha the expression on the knight is so funny
although I still slightly prefer the KKI torsos, this one looks really good!

[kajo163]

Yeah, that's a little too much....expression for me in a generic soldier...
Anyone knows what set he's in, not too many, I hope.

The sets still look very tempting by the way, but have they changed the release date, my catalogue says they will come out i June? I'd hate to wait another two months. But maybe that's only on that side of the Atlantic....

And I would be really disappointed if the joust set does'nt come with the pointed visor :evil:

[kelderic]

although I still slightly prefer the KKI torsos, this one looks really good!

Yeah, I agree with you; those torsos were awesome.

Kelderic

[wunztwice]

Yeah, that's a little too much....expression for me in a generic soldier...

hehe, yeah. That's my main gripe with this line, but hey, I can't really complain at all, with the huge improvement over KKII, etc.

[DNL]

looks very good! i like it to see some expression in LEGO faces
i also like the torso, it really looks good (in my opinion)

[Lonan]

The new standard torso doesn't look too bad. It'll be a pretty good army builder in my opinion.

I think so too. Plus it looks like there are some Viking torsos mixed in. Nice to have some variety, but they're generic enough and look enough alike that you could easily make a faction w/ other Viking torsos.

[ZIGGY!]

IWANTIWANTIWANTIWANTIWANT!!!!!

What am I gonna do! I need money!!! These are totally cool. That castle, how am I getting that castle!? These are great, really good prices on the smaller sets. Realistically, I'll probably start with two crossbow attacks, one joust and one chariot, wagon. Maybe, maybe a catapult too. I'm really looking forward to augest, I better keep my eyes peeled for money making chances. Those new torsos are great, awesome looking army, probably the first I will build all by myself through fresh sets!

~Ziggy

[Chuck06]

I'm torn about these sets.

Kudos to lego for the dramatic series of improvements over the last couple years to take their line this far. I will probably get multiple copies of the smaller sets (which seem very reasonably priced by the way).

But, on the other hand, I just can't quite get into this new line. This may be partly due to the fact that I spent too much money on KKII and am a little burnt out from the expense. While I appreciate the resemblance of the new castle to its 80's predescors, I can't help but feel that the line as a whole is lacking something in the area of design innovation (not to mention that the colors, as I beleive others have said, are a little off to me). I have to say that I really dislike the back left tower as it looks like the support pillars are inadequate to hold up the top. Furthermore, the sillyness of the wizard's tower confounds me.

But these are really the minor complaints. What I would really like is to see lego expore some new design ground. I raise the example of the forestmen. Compared to the rather standardly sqaure fortifications of the Crusaders and Black Falcons, this line introduced sets in which the ruins of ancient fortresses were overrun by and intertwined with nature. The result was an aesthetic very different from that of any of the other factions of the era. Some of these designs are, in my opinion, the most elegant and creative (especially given the limited color and piece selection of the day) ever produced in the castle line. Perhaps not surprising, when Lego revisited this idea in the mid 90's (I'm talking about Dark Forest) the resulting sets weren't as good (again a matter for possible debate). I recognize the need of recreating the standard castle every couple of years for each successive generation of builders, but I yearn for something new and inspiring (while at the same time maintaing classiness). I know it's a tall order.

As a plus though, I appreciate the fact that the cart once again has enough horses to believably draw its load. 8874 Battle Wagon was ridiculous for providing only one horse for that huge cart (although technically you could hitch up the second one as well).

[DARKspawn]

You raise an interesting point concerning design. I must admit that before this range came to light I was kind of hoping that LEGO would take a "Creator" approach to castle, perhaps even release an actual Castle Creator set - now wouldn't that be wonderful!

[ZIGGY!]

Interesting views, but do you have a suggestion, mayhaps TLC can't think ofanything!

~Ziggy

[Chuck06]

Interesting views, but do you have a suggestion, mayhaps TLC can't think ofanything!

I wish that I had some kind of amazing design idea, but unfortunately I don't (Perhaps that's why I'm hoping for TLC to inspire me). I do know that there are a lot of aspects of medieval life that TLC has never put into sets or have been underdeveloped. For example, monasteries and cathedrals occupied a very prominant and important space in the medieval landscape. Colleges and universities also first appeared at this time. Quite a few Classic Castlers have expressed interest in the past for more civilian/town life themed sets. It's kind of amazing that lego has never done a farm set, though they have made carts of an agricultural bent. Or, perhaps Lego could try a more ambitious attempt at medieval naval life (6057 Sea Serpent and 7018 were good starting points, but more could be done in this area). I would think that a castle designed as a port would be a good idea (8801/8802 technicallly tried to do this, but its execution is somewhat lacking).

Going in the fantasy direction instead of the historical, lego could create more factions of non-human races (elves, dwarves, etc) with buildings that have their own architectural styles. In this respect, the creation of the skeletons as a faction in this year's sets is probably one of the more creative aspects of the line. Unfortunately, the marketability of many of these things to children could be limited as battle related sets seem to be what hold kids' attentions (although there are exceptions to this rule as well: most town sets). But even the things I've listed here aren't really new or even my ideas (except for maybe the one about colleges) but are rather a conglomeration of the things I have overheard suggested within this community.

Btw I would find a lego creator style castle a very interesting change of pace.

[wunztwice]

Interesting views, but do you have a suggestion, mayhaps TLC can't think ofanything!

I do know that there are a lot of aspects of medieval life that TLC has never put into sets or have been underdeveloped. ... Quite a few Classic Castlers have expressed interest in the past for more civilian/town life themed sets. It's kind of amazing that lego has never done a farm set, though they have made carts of an agricultural bent. Or, perhaps Lego could try a more ambitious attempt at medieval naval life (6057 Sea Serpent and 7018 were good starting points, but more could be done in this area). I would think that a castle designed as a port would be a good idea (8801/8802 technicallly tried to do this, but its execution is somewhat lacking).

Btw I would find a lego creator style castle a very interesting change of pace.

Hear, hear!!! I agree very much so, with you Chuck! (I can call you chuck, yeah?) These are all marvelous ideas, some have been kicked around in some form or another, but you have a great point. I understand the market towards children (thus the more fantasy side right now) but I also know many children happy to have more hitorical-based sets too!

That said, I do like this new line. It looks VERY promising (yea! new princess/hair!!!) So this is in not way a bashing on this line. In fact some of these idea could be worked in eventually (maybe a farm under attack by the skellies?!?! hmm...)

[Lord Felix]

Those new torsos look great.

But is it just me, or is that sword Pearl Grey?