update: all 2008 (1st half) castle sets

[E of Alshire]

a realy nice and unique ship

I guess if you ignore that it's almost a direct copy of the Viking ship... go with what works, I'd guess they're thinking.

Also, am I the only one vomiting at that dragon? It would look great in a Megablocks set, mayhaps.

[Old_School_Fan]

I can't believe the number of figs in a set like this. Great job LEGO!

I personally love the goblin/troll/orc shield design.

While I am not the biggest fan of the new castle line of dragons, I like this one better then either of the others. The great original color of dragons, green, and even armored with a knight and lance!

The ship design is very appealing to me, just as the viking and skeleton ships were. The popular disappointment with it being closely related to the previous ones doesn't bother me. I loved the pirate line even though they used the same hull pieces over and over, and I can't have enough of these new ones.

The fact that there are aspects of '3' factions in one set is great, and this trend might continue with the other sets. While I am not clammoring for the dwarves, as I like posable legs, I am still pleased with the fact that LEGO actually went there.

So far, after seeing the mine and this ship, 2008 looks to be a great addition to the improved LEGO Castle.

[natepc]

I can't but help to be a little disappointed. The boat looks pretty neat, but after looking at for a while, there just isn't much to it. Body, shooter thing, seats, a drum, a cage and a deck on the back. The dragon looks a bit cheesy, printed armour and a weird head. It also looks like the lead goblin is wearing the UFO/Ogel shoulders, I don't think they fit well with the rest of the classic fantasy feel, too modern d&d feel. As have been stated, the helmets and swords look odd, and finally: The two little boats with mounted crossbows. It is a neat idea, but I would rather see some oars than a mounted crossbow. That way they could actually move around in the water.

That's not to say that it is all bad, I like the designs on the flag and on the shield, and the troll looks better than I had hoped. I love the troll keeping time with the drum, and as mentioned, another castle boat! This has to be a record.

Final thoughts: Lego really had something going with the first part of the new castle line. The really blurry dwarf's mining looked neat, but I'm just not as excited for this one. Like Exo-force, the first run was great, but the second isn't as appealing. I'm sure it will look much more tempting sitting on a shelf though. They always do...

Nate

[RebelRock]

Well, yay for more fantasy type factions. The goblin heads look great but it's going to take a while for that big troll to grow on me.

Looks like there's new 2x2 round corner plates coming(drum) and a new gate element for that cage. I can't judge the goblin helmet until a higher resolution photo is out. The troll logo is kind of cheesy. It looks like Boba Fett's logo.

Only thing I'm not liking is that goofy sword. Looks like it should have been in KK2.



It's definitely a step up from that skeleton half-ship.

[Brickzone]

Is it really a new dark brown? To me it looks more like black with just an effect from the lighting.

[Slobey]

I do really like this set. I would say with all the figs, dragon and troll this would be the higher price point set. The viking torsos are okay buy those green arms can easily be put on the armor of your choice

In a way I would have prefered a nice crown knights ship because with this as well as the skellie ship evil now rules the high seas!!

All in all, we can gripe about details but as with the rest of the new range I think it strikes a good balance between kids/AFOLs.

[Quickblade22]

Hey, this looks cool. The troll looks neat, and the goblin faces resemble Ottoatm's avatar a little. I think the design on the sail and sheilds is awesome, it loks like something LORDDOOM would draw. The dark brown color might be the color that seems to be it the new Indie sets. Not really a fan of those goblin helms, but I would have to have one to judge. The goblin swords aren't that bad, but shorter ones would've been better. As for the Dragon, well, he's ok, but I'd rather have a metalic colored dragon for the good guys like silver or gold, and the armor kinda seems unnessecary. I just hope the price range for this isn't too high.

[Morgan19]

Huh. I'm actually really liking this one. Seems like bulleted lists are the way to go:

– I think the heraldry for the goblins/trolls is really neat. It's so different from just about anything LEGO's done before and really seems "foreign", which is very fitting. It's creepy without being yet another skull or skeleton.

– Yay for good dragons! I've fallen in love with the Castle '07 dragons and it's great to see a "normal dragon colored" one will be making an appearance. The armor makes it look a like more Megabloky but I'll probably just remove that anyway.

– The viking torsos with sand green work surprisingly well for the baddies.

– It's hard to make them out– are the baddies' helmets fuzzy/hairy or just now showing up well?

– I'mm really digging the boat, actually. It's in fairly traditional colors, something the recent Durmstrang and Castle '07 ships were both lacking. It's a little funky but still looks like it could be an actual ship. It seems like it'd be a great start to building a classic fantasy airship or flying cargoship, also.

m19

[DerBum]

Hello everyone... this is my first post, but I have been lurking for years. I can hold my opinion no longer. Am I the only one who thinks that these sets are straying from the classic castle style that we have been praying Lego will go back to?

- To me the mining operation is ok as a sub-theme set.
- The crown knight tower, being attacked by an equally sized siege tower is a little odd, but tolerable.
- The dwarf catapult thing is just ugly and very KKII looking.
- The ship... Well I think the dragon riding good knight is a poor choice. The ship is ok, but clearly better ideas had to have been available.

The Crown Knights are very under represented in this next line up. The goblins/dwarfs/trolls should have been a sub-theme not the main focus of the line. These sets also seem too focused plot wise. It seems like the child would be very directed in their play, kind of like KKII. Just a thought, but maybe the Crown Knights should have gotten a $40 fortress out of the deal to keep fans of the human knights happy. Now there is too much fantasy and not enough material for people who want more realistic castle items. I hope that these sets do not represent the long term future of the castle line. I conclude by stating that I realize that these may be prototypes and may not represent future castle sets, but it is still a disappointing trend to me.

[Legoredux]

I lurk here a lot as well and I have just gotten back into lego castle after realizing that a new line was coming out again. I feal I need to give my opinion on the direction of the new line as well.

DerBum, I have to respectfullyh disagree with you in that I really like the direction the new line is taking. The Crown knights were a good start and I am not crazy about the skeletons theme but it was well executed and I really like set (7092 Skeleton's Prison Carriage).

I think it's great that they are going more "LOTR" in the sense that we will be getting lots of faction variety to choose from. Not everyone likes skellies, dwarves, trolls, or orcs but chances are that everyone will find at least 1 faction to their liking. The dwarf mining looks very interesting and this new castle ship is a fantastic idea. It looks relitively plain but afterall these are orcs and orcs don't need pretty war ships, just something that gets them from point A to point B
I like the fact that this boat is much longer than the skeleton ship so you could fit a good number of figs on there. The launcher on front seems like a obligatory marketing gimmick and everyone will probably just remove it. I am not big on dragons, but this one looks nice with the traditional green and silver armor. I do not like the orc helmets but it's hard to see them in these pics. I like their swords but they are too big. The troll is quite large, looks more like an Ogre because of his size.

BTW, I am calling them orcs instead of goblins because they look more like orcs to me and I happen to have a strong passion for anything Orc. Any future Orc sets will make me very happy. Now imagine if we got some small army builder sets like Orc wolf riders. That would make my day!

[Athos]

Now imagine if we got some small army builder sets like Orc wolf riders. That would make my day!

Personally, I'd much prefer to see a goblin pig farm set: Small hovel, goblin, two pigs in a pen. $20.

Steve

[Tanotrooper]

wow, this is the thead I got the most replies from in a day... lol

my opinion:

I live for war history, so fantasy and LOTR like things really arent my thing. The third LOTR seems like 3 hours wasted time... But I respect that some people like it.

Now, onto the sets

Well, it seems we wont be short on sand green minifig parts... The dwarves beards are nice, but perhaps too long... as said before I really like the greek looking troll helmet (would if fit on a minifig?) The boat is good looking, something pirate fans will enjoy too... the warf helmets may be used for celtic helmets, we have a sand green flag, those scimitars are useful for decent height scimitars...

thats about it. Not a big fan of it, but parts are useful.

We Want Romans!

TT

[Dr. J]

Anyone else notice that some of the orcs/goblins have yellow hands? A lttile odd.

[LORD DOOM]

Now imagine if we got some small army builder sets like Orc wolf riders. That would make my day!

Personally, I'd much prefer to see a goblin pig farm set: Small hovel, goblin, two pigs in a pen. $20.


Steve

AND A GOSH DARN PITCHFORK! Don't forget the pitchfork. I'd rather see pitchforks in those troll's hands than those bulbous clubs. But after looking at ALL the new sets I have to say Dwarf's Mining looks fabulous. The dwarf helmets are great and remind me of norse lore.

[DerBum]

Legoredux, I will grant you that it is nice to see more factions available, and that will benifit the more fantasy inclined... here is my "however" if this line runs like recent castle lines have, then next year only these new sets will be available from major retailers. For fans (esp. children) of realistic knights there will be little chance of them fullfilling their interest in castle lego next year. I am not a fan of the skeletons to be sure, but apparently they simply disappeared from the face of the earth... that does little to help people who chose them as their primary faction. As adults we have the ability to easily go to other sources to fill in our collections, children rely on retail and I cant help but think that these sets are too limiting.

That said, it is good to see that lego is expressing a vested interest in working with the Castle line to make it appealing to a borad audience... we older collectors cant be, and are not, their primary targets. I got started as a child in Lego with The Kings Castle, so I have a slanted view of what castle should look like... I would simply prefer that this new fantasy stuff be more of a sub-theme... My two cents.