Why the Change?

Discussion of official LEGO Castle Theme sets and products
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lemon_squeezer2
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Why the Change?

Post by lemon_squeezer2 »

This is a question that has been lingering in the back of my head, but why did the Lego company make two changes to the castle line in 1986?

Being:
1) Rounder instead of Square towers see http://www.lugnet.com/fibblesnork/lego/ ... 074-1.html and http://www.lugnet.com/fibblesnork/lego/ ... 062-1.html
And to contrast http://www.lugnet.com/fibblesnork/lego/ ... 073-1.html

2) The one plate difference in the walls. Whereas The "knight's castle" had a staggered two stud walkway, later sets had their walkways perfectly flat.

Thak you for any theories or comments!
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David Girard
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Post by David Girard »

2) The one plate difference in the walls. Whereas The "knight's castle" had a staggered two stud walkway, later sets had their walkways perfectly flat.
I'm not agree. In 6085 (1988) you had two stud walkway on both side.
1) Rounder instead of Square towers see
I don't think this is a major change. In history there was square tower first, then rounded tower after. Both type of tower existed in middle age. The rounded tower were most solid, however.

The fact that on 6074, you have a flat walkway, is explain by the presence of corner wall.

My theorie is that all castle are different, like middle age castles. :wink:

These smalls differences are not as much important as the 1990 ones. I put in a same period castle from 1984 to 1989. There was improvement each year, but not too much for cut them in 2 periods.
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Brickboy
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Post by Brickboy »

I have no idea! Why did lego make 2 castles that are almost identical. :?:
Alan
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Jyp
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Post by Jyp »

I think that before thinking about changing wall colors, general design, etc., Lego wanted to give a "less simple" shape, a different "less square" shape to its castles. Selling always the same king/design of sets should not be a good thing for toy compagnies!

About the walkways, I have wondered too. I may think that building flat walkways costs less (because it uses less parts), but I must check it by comparing different building instructions, to be sure of that. Maybe the first two step walkays were made to get higher crenels (in order to provide more protection for soldiers).
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Post by architect »

Jyp wrote:Maybe the first two step walkays were made to get higher crenels (in order to provide more protection for soldiers
I agree. The lower plate level let soldiers walk by safely while the upper one was for archers to shoot from. One new piece, the corner wall piece, allowed "round" towers to be made. Like others said, it was a good decision which allowed castles that looked different while still fitting into the modular theme.

Ben E.
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Bruce N H
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Post by Bruce N H »

As with Ben E, I think it was all about the introduction of new elements. If you're working with basic bricks and plates, you'll get square shapes (yes, you can make a sphere, but it takes a lot more pieces). So they stuck to these types of designs until they introduced the corner panel piece. After they introduce a new piece, though, they often tend to use it a lot,* so the basic designs were changed to fit this new piece.

Bruce

*For a case in point, take this element:
http://www.peeron.com/inv/parts/41748
I first saw this in the SW Twin Pod Cars and one of the racers, but suddenly they could hardly release a set without these. Shortly thereafter they introduced a whole slew of related curved/wedged pieces.
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