The Decline of Lego Castle?

[Rogue Shadow]

Oh my... I just threw up in my mouth...

I was worried someone might do that...

I know this is a classic castle site. However, I now feel that castle is truly back and actually better than ever! With the exception of a few sets, the last four years have had great set design. Some I consider the best sets ever made for castle. The Dwarf Mine, MMV, the ultimate castle chess set, and the new King's Castle are great. The sets along with the fantastic minifig, civilian, and faction designs really make me believe this is a new golden age for castle.

[/quote]
I agree with you! (I guess I forgot to mention that in my first post...) I love the new Dragon knights, and I did mention that the Crownies were also a fav of mine. I also agree that Lego has really honed their skills with civilian sets/accessories that makes cities possible. Thank you Lego!
In Christ,

[Armored Archer]

I'll probably catch some flak for this, but the Fright knights were certainly one of my favorite factions, along with the Royal Knights. It might ahve sometihng to do with some of my first castel sets being Fright Knights, but I still think they have a good, useable place in some storylines.

Just think of it; a whole army from the badlands of the castle world led by the bat Lord and a witch. It makes for a good twist in the castle timeline, even if they were a bit juniorized.

[Halberd777]

Well I personally don't think the frights knights were nessecarily that bad but I do think that is when lego was starting to go into the foray of guessing what kids wanted based on what they thought was popular. I personally don't think lego went way out into left field with castle until Kingdoms II.

[Armored Archer]

Well I personally don't think the frights knights were nessecarily that bad but I do think that is when lego was starting to go into the foray of guessing what kids wanted based on what they thought was popular. I personally don't think lego went way out into left field with castle until Kingdoms II.

Agreed.

[Zilberfrid]

Whenever the decline of Lego Castle started, it is at an end ever since the medieval market village. The current series (and I include the MMV in that, it fits into the current line much better then in the previous) is pure AFOL gold.

This actually fits nicely in the period when I left the modern village my lego group builds, and started a new and medieval one.

[aplbomr79]

I am late to the show.

I have recently come out of my 'dark age' and with my boys (and my lovely wife giving me the Catapult Crusher). I have rediscovered LEGO. With this came my love of Castle LEGO. I have been gone since the era of the Lion Knights and the Black Falcons. For some reason, the Black Falcons have always been dear to me.

With that being said, I have sifted through all things Castle LEGO for almost a year. Many AFOL's before me have stated that 'there is no useless LEGO set' - and I agree. Yes there have been some lacking themes and sets, yet TLG does a good job of putting out sets that will appeal to different groups.

After my long look at the history of Castle LEGO that I missed out on, I missed a lot. However, in that time, I found some great gems. Not just in certain series or sets, but overall.

I think that we can all be happy with the recent turn of TLG to more unique and storied sets that they are about to release. I think that the Lion Kingdom vs the Dragon Kingdom in the Kingdoms series is a great re-start. No doubt that the Medieval Marketplace was a great jumpstart...

My only question is this: Where in the Megablocks did my wife find a new Catapult Crusher (she will not tell).. does anyone know?

[Jojo]

Hello!


Welcome to the Castle world.

My only question is this: Where in the Megablocks did my wife find a new Catapult Crusher (she will not tell).. does anyone know?

If you mean by Catapult Crusher the set 6032, it is an eleven years old set, out of stores for like eight to nine years. It's not impossible to find things like that in stores, while most likely not in big corporate chains like Walmart, Kmart and so on. However, at the end of a production line many sets are on clearance for really small prices, so lots of people stock up on such stuff and never open the sets. Years later they sell them unopened as they are via Ebay or Bricklink.com, which is where your wife may have found your copy.


Bye
Jojo

[krzyzak]

I like all the castle factions although I don't like the kingdoms to much. Castle never really declined. Castle was cool all the time except for the kingdoms which, in my opinion, is kinda lame. By the looks of it, KKII is kinda cool.

Why does everybody not like fright knights?

[OverLoad]

While I wasn't around for what is considered "the Golden Age" of Castle, I will have a say on what I can clearly see from pictures, MOC, etc etc.

To me, I think the only failure was KK2. While it was horrible to all other Castle in comparison, it wasn't THAT bad in general. TBH, it got alright towards the end of it. Vikings was an alright theme, while not strictly Castle, but to me Vikings was lacking a bit. I don't see why everyone dislikes the Fright Knights so much though, besides the few offbeat sets here and there (the airship balloon thingy) I thought they were a pretty solid theme, from the very few times I saw them as a child. If anything though, I feel that Castle has done a great job recovering from the not-so-great KK2 theme.

[Velliscig]

To me, I think the only failure was KK2. While it was horrible to all other Castle in comparison, it wasn't THAT bad in general.

Couldn't agree more, but nonetheless, this was the time/theme that got me into LEGO Castle. Shortly after if though, I became obsessed with the idea of getting old knights and sets from the golden ages, but never really got around to it due to the bank... Since then, though, the theme has been on the way up. With amazing themes like the Vikings, Fantasy and Lion Knights now, I feel we are seeing some of the best TLG has ever offered. So much so, I am afraid that they will go away before I can afford to buy massive amounts of the sets! I'm SCARED haha

[davee123]

I don't see why everyone dislikes the Fright Knights so much though

They're cartoony evil bordering on dumb. The logo is silly, the Bat Lord is over-the-top "evil", as is Willa the Witch. Night Lord's castle even has a red "witch's hat" on the tower. And the Bat Lord holds some sort of bat-on-a-stick as ... a weapon? A scepter? Anyway, the idea of the theme is basically a halloween-style evil group, which is just goofy.

But if you look at castle NOW, you wouldn't see it as so horrible. LEGO's taken the castle theme to a cartoony place in more recent years, with KK2, the undead, and trolls. So, comparing the Fright Knights to those themes doesn't give it a sharp contrast.

However, if you were a LEGO fan in 1996, looking at the upcoming Fright Knights lineup, you'd likely be similarly mortified. Sure, LEGO had gone a little goofy with Majisto and the Dragon Masters in 1993, but this was taking it one step further into the realm of disgusting. In contrast to to 1978-1996, Fright Knights stood out like a sore thumb of pure awful.

The hobbyist community was pretty disapproving of a lot of the 1996-1998 lineup. Time Cruisers was seen as a mishmash of craziness, and "Town Junior" (juniorizing LEGO town for younger kids) was heralded as the sign of the coming apocalypse. In 1997, with the advent of Time Twisters, UFO, and Fright Knights, one fan commented along the lines of "1997-- now with 20% more evil!" People also loathed Insectoids and Cyberslam in 1998.

Basically, that's the timeframe when a lot of AFOLs started heavily critiquing LEGO for taking a wrong turn. And (amazingly!) 1998 was the first year that LEGO ever recorded a financial LOSS rather than a financial gain. Coincidence? Who knows-- they blamed computer games at the time, but here we are in 2011, and LEGO's doing fantastically well, so I doubt that excuse adds up to much.

Anyway, I view Fright Knights as part of a trend in the late 1990's where LEGO tried to spice up their offerings to the point where they lost touch with the AFOLs, and possibly even with kids. Again, looking at it retroactively, you might not think it's all THAT bad-- but in context, it was a pretty different picture.

DaveE

[Jojo]

Hello!

They're cartoony evil bordering on dumb. (lots of thoughtful sentiments) but in context, it was a pretty different picture.

You summed it up precisely.


Bye
Jojo

[Heir of Black Falcon]

Davee,

Bat on stick... haven't you seen three amigos? Bat, the other white meat.

I do not think the 2007 lines on are even close to how cartoony Fright Knights and early KKII were.

That said at least with minor changes I can use Fright Knights.... still cannot figure how to use much of the sill KKII guys and armour.

Heir

[Hikaro Takayama]

Even though the Fright Knights had my least favorite SETS, the figures (and parts as well) were actually quite useful (with some modifications, of course).... Especially now that I have access to various custom Mini-figure accessory vendors (BA, BF, Arealight, etc) and Brick Link... I actually liked the Brigandine and Fleur de lis torsos and the Bat shields are nice for an evil faction, and their barding design has been the most versatile one that I've seen (since it can be used by ANY faction with Red and/or Black colors due to not having any coat of arms on it)... My only gripes with the figures was the goofy bat-helmets and Willa the Witch....

Set design, on the other hand, was just plain awful, although I did manage to convert the Traitor Transport into a nice, mobile siege tower.

Oh, and the only reason that KK II is not on my list of least favorite sets is because it came and went when I was in my second, Navy-induced dark age....

[lord_of_orks]

I think that lego castle started great then got even better with the lego land castle theme but after that it started to decline(the fright knights had the all time worst castle set http://guide.lugnet.com/set/?q=2848_1&v=z ) and stayed down with only a few good themes till the 2007 crown knights which got better with the orks and dwarfs but is now starting to go down again with kingdoms.

.P.S ORKS RULE!