Classic-Castle.com

I got an email this morning saying the new 2012 sets were available in the shop today with free shipping, so of course I went looking for #10223 Kingdoms Joust. To my horror, the entire Kingdoms line is missing from the themes list. All the sets appear to be there in the search page, but they are absent from the main list.

It seems inevitable that the LotR line will replace Kingdoms, but are they really scrapping the existing sets this soon?

It is odd that kingdoms sort of just disappeared from their website overnight. I say just have patience and wait to see what TLG is going to do next. I, for one, am not convinced (yet) that LOTR spells out the death of Kingdoms or a subsequent castle theme -- but anything is possible I suppose.

AAAAH!
Sorry, had to get that out...

Anywho...this slightly disturbs me. Kingdoms was actually a pretty strong running theme, or so I thought. It's a bit too early for a LOTR takeover... I wonder...

It's still on the main website, if that helps. Third row from the top, second from the right:

http://www.lego.com/en-us/products/default.aspx

Sad to see but my hats off to LEGO ... 2007 thru 2011 has been a glorious run of Castle goodness.

This kind of overlaps with my post in the LOTR thread but I'll say it here as well.
TLG have said that Castle sets (in whatever name they call it - Kingdoms etc) are one of their core themes (along with space, city) and will always be there in some shape or form.

Whilst I don't think that the LOTR is going to replace generic castle sets, I can see that they would be scaled back (just from an output/staffing/designing point of view, as well as making the most of an expensive movie licence. If you've invested in something you're going to put all your efforts into it to make sure it's profitable).

I can still see Kingdoms on the website so can't address that concern, but I wouldn't be suprised if we saw a couple of generic (non-licensed) castle sets (whether they are 'kingdoms' or not) in Autumn (especially as it seems there will be LOTR sets in the summer, and then Hobbit sets in Jan 2013 following the movie coming - this is all in the press release). I have no knowledge on this, just saying what I imagine could/may happen. Don't shoot me if I'm wrong.

Karalora wrote:It's still on the main website, if that helps. Third row from the top, second from the right:

http://www.lego.com/en-us/products/default.aspx

Hmm, that's interesting . . . from there, a couple of clicks can "backdoor" you into the S@H page for Kingdoms, where we find . . . everything is sold out. Except for the Joust, which isn't out yet, and 7187 Escape from Dragon's Prison, which is labeled "call to check availability". Oh well. At least that means they were popular*, right?

*I mean, most of the Prince of Persia line is still available - discounted, even!

Yeah. Right. A licensed theme, of course, isn't going to replace an evergreen theme. Kingdoms will always be around some way or another. Sure. I expect the Joust to have a three year production run ,similar to MMV, just so TLG can say "See? Castle didn't go away while we produced the LOTR licensed products."

Now, is available again

I suppose their merchandise was sold out completely and now with the 10223 Kingdoms Joust the theme is back.

Thumbs up for Kingdoms! (and the Castle line, I never saw in the Lego Shop a Lego Theme totally sold out before Christmas bricks! The Castle line is the best ever

i just Noticed kingdoms joust is available now http://shop.lego.com/en-CA/Kingdoms-Joust-10223,

Yup, looks like the Kingdoms theme is back on the list. Now, except for the Joust, everything is gone not just "sold out". I guess that's the end for now.

I'm really upset about this , because at first I didn't like kingdoms so much but after My Trip to the Mall I now love it! Too bad, maybe I can get some sets on bricklink.

On Lego.com I can find pictures and descriptions of the Kingdoms products still, but if you click on one of them you get that "Broken Link" page. Lego needs to update that. If this is the end of Kingdoms, I just hope that I can get ahold of some money and stock up on some before local stores sell out. A suggestion I have for anyone that still wants some of these is to go to a store that isn't really a toy store, such as a bookstore. People wouldn't have done much Lego Christmas shopping there. As of Tuesday, the Barnes and Noble I was at had several of these sets in stock.

I think the Kingdoms theme will slowly and surely fade away until the release of the LOTR sets... so go stock up!

You can still find Kingdoms at the Barnes & Noble website. Just type Lego into the search bar for hundreds of Lego items.