Ok, I was quite impressed with the new KK2 stuff. It was a step in the right direction. As some people pointed out though, it was better, but could have been better still. These sets have got me a lot more excited (though). Probably a lot more excited than a grown man should be over a toy
Leaving aside the creatures for the moment, apart from the odd bionicle piece which still look out of place to me on a lego set, the set design looks pretty cool. It's a step away from the fantasy elements of KK which is good, mythology sits much better with Classic Castle than fantasy power swords. Some of the new pieces look a little to detailed rather than stylized like lego should be, the metallic effects being a case in point, I'll get over that (though). If Viking had been a theme in the late 80's, yes I'd probably have liked the sets more, and been dissapointed with the new ones, but as there is no previous frame of reference and thats just being picky

With the new castle sets we have a frame of reference of the old sets to measure the new against, a new theme and we don't have that which is a good thing. I would have been horrified to see that amount of bionicle in a castle set (we call it "Lego And Bionicle Intergrated Assembly" here in the UK) mixed with classic pieces. Here it dosen't bother me, and I even like some of the beasts. The dragon is cool, the wolf looks good and the serpent looks very good. So we have some nice looking new sets, some interesting new pieces and some great looking (at this distance at least) generic viking figs.
Yay! go Lego (although Im sure the fortified harbour would look better in old grey
