Castle 2009. A slow year??

[Ham Salad]

I admit to being torn between my two Lego loves of Stars Wars and Castle and have been into the new fantasy range for a couple of years building on from sets bought for me in the early 80's.

I like the whole orcs and goblins and I am loving the dragons, the dwarves are great but I just wish Lego could make some stumpy legs that moved. Apart from the fantastic medieval village with cows and other goodness the other sets that I have seen around the net haven't inspired much enthusiasm. Am I wrong or you all buy it regardless? Will we have to wait for 2010 for someting new.

[ccjwprongs]

I completely agree. With the exception of the Medieval Market Village (which is frankly amazing) it's all very lacklustre. The Troll Mountain Fortress has too many BURPs, the Chariot is too colourful (yet at the same time boring), with the Drawbridge Defense being the best of the three coming out later - but even then it's none too thrilling and very reminiscent of KK. :/

Hopefully LEGO will resume normal service in 2010. The Mountain Fortress is a wasted opportunity, though - should have been more like the Viking Fortress of old, with brown structures ala the Siege Tower rather than grey walls like the King's Castle Siege.

[Green Brick Giant]

The Mountain Fortress is a wasted opportunity, though - should have been more like the Viking Fortress of old, with brown structures ala the Siege Tower rather than grey walls like the King's Castle Siege.

I completely agree, it should have been more brown and dark green than grey. I think it's grey because LEGO had extras from last castle so they save a little money.

[Ham Salad]

Have seen the 2009 Toy Fair pictures and the Troll's Dark Fortress looks like it has some good figs and interesting bricks...might have to pencil that one down as well. gorram you Lego! Too many sets to buy not enought cash.

[Hunter]

I agree that the Drawbridge Defence is alarmingly reminiscent of KK, but I`m willing to wait and give these a chance... on the whole I`ve been pretty impressed with how the new Castle sets look in person contrasted to how they look on the internet.

I would have liked to see a more Viking-esque Troll fortress, but remember that the Viking line had a pretty short lifespan, and it was the Viking fortress that ended up getting slashed from $99 to $35 here in Canada. (I know that that is common in the US at Target and the like, but here in Canada, that`s almost unheard of these days. Sigh.)Perhaps that had something to do with the design, looking at what had sold well in the past, and what had been reduced drastically to move.

[BrickSith206]

Castle sets will always have a place in my heart. I grew up with some of the early Castle sets and now I'm thrilled to have seen it morph into what it has become. Let us not forget the behemoth Chess set that TLG recently discontinued, 31 figs, and a huge board to build for $199. The figures alone could have brought in that $199!! I cant wait to see what TLG has in store for Castle 2009. If you think it's just the three sets at the Toy Fair, think again.

[Jargon]

Castle is one of my favorite LEGO themes. The monster/fantasy focus in the newest incarnation has been a lot of fun. And, at the same time, the Medieval Market portrays a domestic side of things that has been long desired.

I'm looking forward especially, however, to the Elflands sets hinted at in March/April 2009 magazine.

- Aaron

[Jettbacca]

I love how it's like all the people from the Hobbit! There's Smaug and Thorin and the Orcs and all of those people. I do want to get the village but it is so expensive!

[onions]

less new product in one line means more money can be spent on others. it's a balance. like ying and yang.

what worries me most is when a line has such few products at toy fair, or doesn't even make a showing, that the possibility of the line ending is all too real.

[Jettbacca]

This is a great line, but Ace, you're probably right. Did it show anything at the Toy Fair or just a few?

[onions]

i don't understand your question.

[Jettbacca]

Did the Castle line have any sets at the Toy Fair or only a few?

[onions]

Just the three sets.

[Crusader]

Just because there are less sets this year than others does not mean that the line is coming to an end. For one thing, since its start, I think there has always been some Castle sets available every year (please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, I often am). So my guess is that there will always be Castle. But it is possible that the the new line's 2nd year was slower than the first, so they scaled back for the 3rd year. My guess is that this is often the case with most themes. Kids like new stuff, not more of the same.

Lego also knows that there are only certain number of sets that their major retailers will carry every year. Shelf space is scarce. This year they are promoting other lines. Maybe next year Castle 2010 will be revamped for the next wave of kids.

[onions]

i never said castle was coming to an end. i was making a more general statement that some lines didn't make a showing at toy fair and that it could possibly spell an end to the line, in particular HP but we all knew about that one; batman was also a no show; and there were 0 august sets for spongebob.

though it is possible a particular theme may take a break like it did before the knight's kingdom or whatever subtheme that was a few years back. this particular subtheme with the trolls/dwarves may end though. hard to say.

[Servant Saber]

I sure hopw this line doesn't end. I made the switch from Star Wars to this one, and I've been very happy with the sets as a whole.

If it ends, they better have a very good replacement.

[BrickSith206]

I seriously doubt the Castle Theme will end anytime soon. It's a Lego staple like Space or Town. I would be willing to bet that the sub-theme is most likely near it's end. They will all end at some point. It's just like the Vikings, Fright Knights, Crusaders, I wont list every sub-theme that Castle has been through over the years, but you get the idea.

[Darth Caedus]

I agree, the sets shown were underwhelming. With all the great new Clone Wars stuff, I can't justify spending big bucks on the troll's fortress, and the chariot is boring. The drawbridge defense is the only one that catches my eye, but I may still pass on it. Not sure why Lego is dragging their feet with the elves...now there's a faction I would buy in bulk. But then again, if Castle is slow in 2009, I would be ecstatic to see it die in 2010 and be replaced with a Hobbit theme in 2011 to accompany the film. And it's quite easy to pull an Indiana Jones and make sets from the last three films to accompany the 'fourth' film's line.

[Jettbacca]

A Hobbit theme would rule! A lot of lego money would be involved too. I hope Bilbo's legs could move though.

[Blue Squadron]

Castle is one of my favorite LEGO themes. The monster/fantasy focus in the newest incarnation has been a lot of fun. And, at the same time, the Medieval Market portrays a domestic side of things that has been long desired.

I'm looking forward especially, however, to the Elflands sets hinted at in March/April 2009 magazine.

- Aaron

Yes, I remember that small section of the magazine illustration causing much discussion on the old forum! I was wondering if anything new regarding this would be forthcoming at Toyfair but no sign of it yet.

If it's something that TLG are considering then it would be nice to see them go ahead with it - it could be good for the Castle line on two fronts: 1. it meets the criteria of being a new and different addition to the line and 2. the general theme of "elves" seems to be perenially popular and tends to provoke interest from a core group, whatever the franchise or product line it appears in. Elves are now a pretty universal theme in many Fantasy novels and games and certainly aren't restricted to any one intellectual property so hopefully TLG shouldn't have trouble with copyright/licensing if they wanted to go ahead with this.

Let's hope they do decide to follow up on the Elfland sub-theme, either later this year or next year.