How Much Fantasy Do You Want in the Next Castle Theme?

[Azaghal]

As we all ponder the [url=http://classic-castle.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=26950]death of the Nexo Knights[/url] theme, one topic that keeps coming up is the desire for a more grounded concept, with less wackiness. While I suspect this has an element of get-off-my-lawn-kid-ism from us AFOL types, I thought it might be worth trying to quantify. First, let me define my terms:

Historical: Sets based on real-world cultures and events. As far as I know, with the possible exception of some of the Collectible Minifigs this has never actually been a thing with LEGO, and is included mostly for completeness.

Traditional: Knights, princesses, forest bandits, and the like, with no direct connection to history but nothing supernatural, either. As befitting its name, pretty much everything from before the mid-1990s goes here, along with the first Knights Kingdom line and 2011 Kingdoms line. The late 90s Ninja, too.

Mythic: As above, but with some magic - wizards, witches, and fantastic creatures, but nothing too far from medieval legend. Dragon Masters, Fright Knights, and maybe Knights Kingdom 2, depending on how you feel about all those skeletons.

Fantastic: Magic, monsters, and what might be termed the standard fantasy races. This would be the Crown Knights era stuff with the dwarves and trolls, the Elves subtheme from LEGO Friends, and Lord of the Rings.

Gonzo: Full-blown wacky techno-fantasy - Nexo, Chima, Ninjago, Star Wars ( ).

Personally, my sweet spot is probably somewhere in the Mythic-Fantastic range, although as I mentioned in the linked thread I wouldn't mind seeing the Fantastic-Gonzo line pushed a bit, just without being quite so . . . silly.

As an aside, regardless of your answer to the poll, what would you think about re-using the concept from the Elves of having visitors from the modern world? Let's face it, if it's not just a quick rehash like the 2013 Castle sets there's probably going to be some sort of kid-friendly storyline involved in what comes next, and it would make a nice change from the standard "five-great-warriors" trope TLC seems to like lately.

[architect]

In the past LEGO alternated between traditional and fantasy castle themes. While I would prefer a traditional theme after Nexo, any company designed true castle theme would be acceptable. However with Minecraft and the return of Harry Potter, I have limited expectations.

TLG has hamstrung themselves with an overabundance of themes from other corporations (and a few in house themes like Ninjago). Pursuing themes like Nexo may have been partially influenced by a desire to not compete with other space and castle related product offerings. Given the age of the primary consumer (adults buying for children) and the exponential increase in value of space and castle sets from the 1980s and 1990s, one wonders if well designed castle and space lines would fare well in the marketplace.

Internal resources in terms of product design, element design, packaging, marketing, etc seem heavily tilted to licensed lines. It would take a concerted effort from leadership at LEGO to pursue legacy themes (space, castle, etc) or develop new ones (ancient Rome, mythical Greece, etc). Until then, only the best license is good enough.

Ben

[Elephant Knight]

I put my vote in for Traditional, but it was a close call between that and Mythic. While I wouldn't be against the Fantastic option, Traditional is where my loyalties lie. I wouldn't be opposed to another wacky theme like Nexo knights, but like you said, one a bit more grounded in reality.

EKnight

[Frank_Lloyd_Knight]

I feel like Lego Castle is kind of its own fantasy theme. Strangely, though, I believe a couple of lines strayed outside the boundaries of that theme -- namely the Nexo Knights and maybe the jelly-bean knights a bit. I think pirate sets and even some town sets blend better with Lego's castle theme than NExo and KKII do, and I wouldn't object to seeing some sets that straddle the divide between town/castle/pirates. Historical sets sound like a really neat idea, but I get the feeling those would end up within the architecture or world monument series.

[Athos]

As long as the castles are stone colored and the knights don't look like they belong in a roller disco, I do not care if they have dragons and wizards or not.

Steve

[Bluesecrets]

As long as the castles are stone colored and the knights don't look like they belong in a roller disco, I do not care if they have dragons and wizards or not.

Steve

Well said! I second it!

[stone forest]

I think we're long overdue for Greek mythology sets. I know people don't really think of traditional castles when they think of the ancient Greeks, it's more temples and shrines, but it would easily contain a lot of elements form the castle sets, such as weapons and torches. And Lego have been kind of teasing us Greek mythology geeks with their Minotaur, Faun and Medusa minifigures. Give us a full on maze for the Minotaur littered with some bones and traps. Give us Medusa's lair with statues. Lots of pillars.
Give us a swamp with Heracles, Iolaus and the Hydra. Maybe a palace on the cliffs where Perseus comes to rescue Andromeda from the sea monster. And a tree with the golden fleece being protected by a dragon serpent, and the gateway to the Underworld guarded by Cerberus. A cyclops' cave with a dungeon where he traps Odysseus' men and cooks them over a spit. And a mighty Mount Olympus set with all the gods and their pets and props. Zeus with his throne and lightning bolt with an eagle perched at his side. Hera with a peacock. Athena with her owl. Hephaestus and his forge. The Greek gods and heroes also present an opportunity to create some magnificent horse drawn chariots and trireme ships. And some Lego centaurs.

It would also be nice to see some non-combat oriented Greco-Roman sets, like a simple vineyard or villa with some pretty plants and food props, fountains, vases and mosaics.

*EDIT with all the Disney stuff Lego have been doing recently, perhaps they could start out with a Disney Hercules set.

[BrickJagger]

I would like a sequel to Fantasy Era more than anything else. I missed out on it during its original run, and since I have the majority of Kingdoms and all of Castle 2013 I could use a couple of fantasy factions.

I think that a two-year run with Humans, Goblins and in the second year, Elves would be a nice little theme. There is a new Castle theme once every three years regardless of years off...

KK2 (2004)
Fantasy Era (2007)
Kingdoms (2010)
Castle (2013)
Nexo Knights (2016)

...so I feel that there's a strong chance that we will get a new theme as early as next year (2019).

[minoboys]

I would defiantly go with the Historical or Traditional theme as I like to built within those categories. I think your right about Nexo Knights. There were just released for mostly kids and not really for expert TFOLs, like myself, and AFOLs.

[JBM]

As long as the castles are stone colored and the knights don't look like they belong in a roller disco, I do not care if they have dragons and wizards or not.

Steve

yes!

[minoboys]

I'm not sure BrickJagger. It doesn't seem like were going to get any more castle themed series any time soon.