Funny, that's kind of why I like it... kind of a dilapidated place high up in the mountains...Jojo wrote:Hello!
King's Mountain Fortress 6081 looked like a ruin right away...
Anyway, on topic. I'm kind of lucky in that the decline of lego coincided with my naturally growing out of toys anyway. The last castle set I got was Dark Dragons den. Oddly enough, I never felt dragons were out of place. I've always been more of a dreamer/head-in-the-clouds type, so my idea of castle and medieval days wasn't just tied to Ivanho, the Knights of the round table, and Robin Hood, but included stuff like Willow, Chronicles of Narnia, (and later Lord of the Rings) with dragons, fairies, magic, etc, so it seemed a natural evolution to me. I didn't pay much attention after that, though some of my younger siblings got some of the Royal Knights, Fright Knights and Ninjas. I don't think I ever saw the KKI or KKII stuff during its run. I rediscovered Lego thanks to the 2007 Fantasy line (and the new Pirates... another favorite theme). Contrary to some opinions, I absolutely loved this line. Crown knights are ok, but the look of the old castles sets was mostly there (castle wall pieces, helmets and swords, etc), love the dragons, love the Dwarves mine, love the skeletons, etc. Looking back over the castle history I'm glad I missed KKII. KKI had a couple of interesting things going, but agree with others it looks more juniorized. Now about the new line... this is where I'm going to break with the general consensus. I don't like the new Kingdoms line as much as the outgoing one. Probably because it is mostly grounded in real life! Thankfully there are a few hints of fantasy, such as the unicorn horn piece (real or just a armor piece not sure), and the baby dragon in the wizard set. However, I really love the figs, especially the new bucket helmet. I like the factions much better than the crown knights. So all in all, I think it's a win, even if it doesn't appeal as much to my personal taste. Oh, and thanks Lego for the Elf fig!