What got you into Castles?

[RichardAM]

I'm going to continue the bumping- don't shoot me.

When I was younger I just generally bought all the Lego themes, and while I had a lot of Castle I generally preferred Pirates.

Nothing's drawn me to Castle significantly but certainly there's certain factors that have influenced me towards this.

For a start i'm a student of humanities, so a lot of the things I study involve society before the Renaissance and even earlier than that, so I think that subconsciously I draw a lot of inspiration from this. But Castles have also played a huge part in my interests elsewhere, be they Videogames or even film, and who can't cite the LOTR films as huge inspiration surge?

Finally, I don't know, but AFOL's in a generalization either build in Space or Castle (though that's not the case with everyone obviously!) - i'm far more interested in the past than the present or future I suppose.

[kelderic]

What drew me into Castle was the actual architencture of castles. The draw bridge and moats and crenalations always used to fascinate me. Still do, actually.

Kelderic

[Lawkeeper]

In the Middle Ages, most of them did't have rifles and such. You had guys armed with handweapons, who relied on their fighting skill, not on the range and firepower of their bullets. Middle Age battles were fair, I think.

[JPinoy]

Braveheart
Excalibur
Willow
Cleopatra
Fall of the Roman Empire
Dragon Heart
Robinhood: Men in Tights
Valencia/El Cid
Prince Valiant
King Arthur and the Knights of Justice
The Pirates of Dark Water
Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
Xena: Warrior Princess
and others.

Tell me, after viewing films and shows like these would you ever go into boring Space or Town again?

[Sir_Brick]

What got me into Castle was when I was about 10 I read The Lord of the Rings. I liked it so much that I started buying some castle LEGO sets so I could play out the scenes and make my my own battles.

[Tower of Iron Will]

I can not remember the first thing that sparked my specific interest into Castles but even in Kindergarden, first, and second grades in school my teachers always chided me for being a bit of a "daydreamer." My parents/grandparents got me reading at an early age and some basic lego sets of the early seventies. I always had a healthy imagination.

Looking back now it was a conjunction of Chronicles of Narnia, some neighborhood friends into AD&D, and reading the Hobbit/LOTR. I think this is when my parents got me the yellow castle and some time after the film Excalibur came out in 1981. The Yellow castle hooked me; and it was the King's Castle of the mid-eighties that brought me out of my dark-ages. Medieval history fasinated me when I was young; it still does. But it is the combination of real history(medieval), Fantasy novels like LOTR, and knowledge of (unfortunatly no actual playing now) AD&D keep me buying castle lego. What fuels the fire even more now is the story aspect; I like making storys about lego figures.

At one time it became a matter of economics. I could not keep buying Town, Space, and Castle all at the same time. I had to select one theme. I kept with Castle not only for the abovementioned reasons but the continuity; Lions/Falcons up to KKI. Space kind of changed (in my opinion) too far from the original Galaxy Explorer days and Town just became less appealing. To be honest if I lived in a modest house instead of an apartment and made enough money I would collect all themes.

Castle helps me use my imagination on a daily basis, in contrast to my work which does not at all. Its all good.
-Tower

[HeartOfDarkness]

My family was always reading, and as such I grew up with Narnia and LOTR. I also like researching historic battles and strategy, and the epic scale of the wars of the Middle Ages (at least according to my imagination) always interested me. Plus, the figs are great and there's usually no obnoxious storyline to get in the way.

[ottoatm]

Tell me, after viewing films and shows like these would you ever go into boring Space or Town again?

Heh heh heh... well put~

[Dr. J]

I've always had a mild interest in castles (I would pretend I was a knight defending the keep, aka my house as a youngin.), but the Lord of the Rings movies really kicked me into building my own with LEGO or anything else I could put together.

[Princess_C]

At that time of my life (I was about 12, I'm now 30) my family and I lived in England (My dad is in the civil service working for the Air Force). I really loved going to jousting tournaments and seeing all the different castles. One day I plan to go back and take as many pictures as I can.

[Bandit]

I like general castles! The thought of mideval cities living in a huge, stone cold and bulletproof structure fascinated me. I've always wondered, where do they get all that rock to build those castles? It's awesome!

[MaceyWindu]

Ive allways found our time the time of the weak and cowardly- our weapons consist of awkward sniper rifles, automatic weapons and finally the biggest idiotic weapon of them all; the nuclear warhead. These weapons can kill alot of people without them realizing it, and troops are cowardly enough to camouflage themselves- bandits and barbarians do that! And all these things shows no skill at all. Therefore, I like returning to the ages when combat was a true art; the fights were serious, but you needed to reload along time if you wanted to snipe, and bows took on your strength to draw. Men in awesome armors runned around with cool heraldric emblems, melee weapons of various sorts, true heroes and villains instead of political blockheads, yes! Castles and fantasy all the way!

Sorry if I offend anyone, but the only good thing about this era is the freedom, most other stuff is crap, especially warfare. I do like wargames on pc, but hates modern warfare with cowardly camouflage.

Agreed. Back then, war took skill. Nowadays any bum can pick up a machine gun and mow down a crowd of people. I'm not saying that I like war, I hate it. Back then though it was better and more fair.
I'm not really sure waht got me into castles. Seriously, I've liked them as long as I can remember.

[Bandit]

Ive allways found our time the time of the weak and cowardly- our weapons consist of awkward sniper rifles, automatic weapons and finally the biggest idiotic weapon of them all; the nuclear warhead. These weapons can kill alot of people without them realizing it, and troops are cowardly enough to camouflage themselves- bandits and barbarians do that! And all these things shows no skill at all. Therefore, I like returning to the ages when combat was a true art; the fights were serious, but you needed to reload along time if you wanted to snipe, and bows took on your strength to draw. Men in awesome armors runned around with cool heraldric emblems, melee weapons of various sorts, true heroes and villains instead of political blockheads, yes! Castles and fantasy all the way!

Sorry if I offend anyone, but the only good thing about this era is the freedom, most other stuff is crap, especially warfare. I do like wargames on pc, but hates modern warfare with cowardly camouflage.

Agreed. Back then, war took skill. Nowadays any bum can pick up a machine gun and mow down a crowd of people. I'm not saying that I like war, I hate it. Back then though it was better and more fair.
I'm not really sure waht got me into castles. Seriously, I've liked them as long as I can remember.

And remember, modern war bases consist of bulletproof sheet metal and barbed wire. Bor-ing! In the castle age, there were moats, drawbridges, sandstone walls with bow slits, towers, dungeons, and a ton more! Who wants to research barbed wire and metal "buildings"? Who wants to research colossal cold-stone castles with armories, food storage, living quarters, and a king?!?!? Folks, I'll take the castles.

[Jansen]

When has war ever been fair? War is the killing of civilians because people in power can't solve their problems civilly. Yes, it did take more skill back then, but it wasn't more fair. Innocent people die from it. Humans might be the most intelligent, but are the only creatures on Earth that wage war and kill for pleasure.

Holy crud were off track! Anyways, I don't remember what got me into castles, I think I came out of the womb loving Medieval times.

[Voran_the_Scholar]

What got me into castles? I grew up reading and re-reading the stories of Robin Hood, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, and all sorts of similar stories. And like almost any boy, I had a highly romanticized view of the middle ages. As I grew older and learned more, the view of the Middle Ages, as days of great deeds and heroic acts faded. But my fascination with castles remains.

Continuing the off-topicness for the sake of America's fighting men and women, I would like to say that a lot of you have no idea what you are talking about.

MayceyWindu, you are wrong. It takes great skill to fight the wars we do now. Do you know how hard it is to fly a jet fighter at supersonic speed and still hit your target? How about calculating the firing trajectory for an artillery unit? Among other things? I rest my case.

War is not the killing of civillians. That is terrorism. Honorable warfare is killing the enemy who is trying to kill you. And staying alive while doing it. Camoflauge is not cowardly. It helps soldiers stay alive. Yes we have discovered more potent ways to destroy lives, but we've also discovered more ways to save lives. As late as World War One, if a soldier got so much as scratched by barbed wire, he was likely to die from tetanus. That danger is gone. Wounds in the Middle Ages often required amputations and other operations that would often kill men because the wound would get infected. That danger is almost completely gone.

I see war as a necessary evil. There are many who think war is wrong. So be it. There are also many who thinking killing anyone they want is just fine. It is because of those men that we fight. We fight to save the lives of others who would otherwise be in danger of being killed.

If anyone wants to continue this discussion, feel free to PM me.

God bless.

Tom, proud son of an American Soldier.