Classic-Castle.com

Hey,

This has been talked about many times before, but I think many of us would love to see a line devoted to Greek/Roman myths. As I'll show below, they could actually do all of this without even needing to make any new molds, or at least a very minimal number of new molds.

Leah and Andrew have shown how easy it is to make good figs and even mythic creatures without having to make any new molds. We've certainly seen a number of variants on centaurs, either brickbuilt like these by Onishi Shinji or they could make a new mold to add a piece replacing the horse-head with something that a torso could connect to, resulting in something like this by Chris. The hippogriff wing piece in white can be attached to a horse body in a number of ways to make a Pegasus. Micah has made tons of great creatures, and his updated Minotaur is cooler, but even his simpler original version would be very appropriate in a set geared to kids. Of course there could be sets with traditional Greek style buildings, and our army builder friends would love to see some soldiers in either Greek or Roman styles (also chariots, new weapons and helms, even appropriate siege weapons and triremes). You can cover several centuries of history, with realistic things like armies, temples and Roman emperors, and mythic sets like Perseus versus Medusa.






One year they could do mythic heroes, from a small set of Perseus vs Medusa, a medium set with Theseus and the Minotaur in a labyrinth, Jason and the Arognauts with their ship could be a larger set, as could one all about the trials of Heracles. A second year could do the tale of Odysseus - include his ship, various monsters, and with the biggest set be the Trojan War - think a big city gate, the Trojan Horse, lots of soldiers and siege engines. A third year could be Olympian Gods - small sets about individual gods, a medium level set of Poseiden's undersea palace, and a largest set of Olympus.

All of the things I've linked show both how doable this is and also how popular such a thing might be. I loved Greek myths when I was a kid, so at least some in the target group would want these (assuming I wasn't a total aberration). Also, Playmobile has a Romans line (including a big colosseum) - not that LEGO has to copy Playmo, but at least one company has decided this is a profitable line for kids.

Of course, this whole post also proves that we could already do all of this as MOCs, but then I assume that creative AFOLs can do anything better than LEGO would produce given their restrictions, except for making new elements and accessories (and we already have BrickArms, BrickForge and other customs dealers for that).

Added bonus, of course, is that there is no need for a license. Also, it might be educational (shhhh, don't tell the kids).

Bruce

Sounds like a great idea to me. Nice compilation of pertinent links!

Yes! I am all for this!

Pretty cool idea, there's tons and tons of stories they could build off of. Mythology would be my first choice, but even if they wanted to make sets that were based more on actual history than myth there would still be a ton of material to work with.

Personally, I think a Roman/Greek line is way over due. After all Playmobil has had one for years....its time for Lego to get on the ball, I'm thinking.

Josh

Thanks for bringing this back up, I'd be very interested in a theme about Greek mythology. What kind of things really could be done though? It's not like they had action vehicles and cool bases or anything....

They had war chariots and ships. A mythology-based line could include some gorgeously elaborate chariots for the gods. How about the Trojan Horse? Or the Argo?

I think all of Bruce's ideas are great, but I'd also suggest a "fantastic" Roman line, that is, a semi-historical Roman line including some mythic stuff and focusing more on heroic characters (as LEGO themes tend to do - not because I favor heroes and battles over other more generic sets and civilians). For example:

Year one could be based on the Aeneis. You would have heroes as Aeneas, Ascanius and Dido while you'd have villains such as Iarbas and Turnus. For soldiers there'd possibly be both Carthaginians, Trojans and Rutuli. There'd be great possibilities for a good ship set, a castle based on Carthage, some kind of funky cave place as the entrance to the Underworld and so on..

Year two could be the Punic wars. We'd have characters as Hannibal and Scipio and some really nifty elephant cavalry.

Year three could focus on Pompeius. More possiblities for ships in his campaigns against the pirates. Then there's Mithridates and maybe Tigranes with their Parthians and Armenians, as well as all other middle-eastern countries that he conquered.

Year four then could be Caesar in Gaul. We'd have Vercingetorix and possibly Ambiorix, and of course Druids! Could even let them have some magic powers to spice things up a bit.

And if that's not enough, what about a year five focusing on Antonius, Cleopatra and Egypt?

Just my two sestertii

LEGO has made sets of almost all human tribes, castle cowboy vikings and more! everything but rome/Greek people

nice idea

this sounds like a good idea. I am all for it!

Sounds great!

Some thing like this http://www.saber-scorpion.com/lego/clas ... notaur.php. Any way Im all for it

Roman Legos.......*drool*

all i have to say

I wonder if the Atlantis line will provide some Greco-Roman elements and sets?

Greek and Roman could always lead into Egyptian themes. We've already had the Pharaohs headdress, sarcophagus and stickers in the Indy and Adventurers sets. I wouldn't mind some Egyptian Anubis or Osiris warriors. All they'd have to do is make some animal shaped heads and a few weapons.
Hopefully we'll see more of the Mythical creatures in future Lego.


When are we likely to hear what the Atlantis sets are about? I'm hoping they aren't a new set of aqua or scuba sets with submarines etc. [unless there's underwater ruins, mermen and tridents. ]