Today I want to get on my hobby horse and talk about LEGO Dragons.
It is now more than 30 years since the LEGO Dragon first appeared back in 1993 and in the 2024, the Year of the Dragon, they seem to be everywhere. Not just the Seasonal Asian Festival sets and Ninjago, but also in Creator, Disney Princess, Ideas, and Minecraft, for a start.
In this series, I will look at the way that Dragons have been depicted in LEGO sets over the years.
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The Characters in LEGO DREAMZZz travel from Brooklyn, to Fantasy worlds, to Villages to castle, to worlds made entirely out of Candy. But this is not the first time that being able to travel between different LEGO Themes has been used as a framing device for a LEGO narrative. Last time, we looked at the 6000 IDEAs book and followed the adventures of Mary and Bill as they traveled from Town to Space to Castle.
Today, we meet Max Timebuster, a miscreant who jumps between pages of the LEGO Catalog, gathering bits and pieces as he goes.
Joins us for a healthy bit of 90s nostalgia as we continue our survey of ways that LEGO Media have encouraged creative play by having characters Cross the Themes
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This year, the Role Playing Game Dungeons and Dragons turns fifty. I was about 5 years old at the time when Gary Gygax rolled out the first version of his tabletop role playing game. I took some interest in the 1980s:I was intrigued by the notion of creating your own world, and the variety characters you could create, and the monsters that could be encountered, but the game didn’t take off with my circle of friends at the time. It probably coincided with entering my LEGO Dark Ages as well. I was therefore surprised when I went to see the movie Dungeons and Dragons: Honour among Thieves last year and I found myself seeing so many character types and monsters that I had read about in a nostalgic haze.
Flash forward to 2022, and LEGO Ideas announced a challenge for fans to design a set to showcase their favourite aspects of the Game. The winner of this challenge was Dutch fan Lucas Bolt. His submission “Dragons Keep: Journey’s End” brought a tavern, a ruined castle with caves and crypts, to say nothing of a couple of brick-built beasties. Today, the final product is revealed: with over 3700 pieces, this set takes Bolt’s original submission and bumps up the level of original detail.
Priced at $AUD499.99/€359.99/£ 314.99/$USD359.99/$CAD469.99, the set will be available on the first of April 2024 (and that’s no joke.) The set is also associated with a free D&D Adventure booklet available as a digital download, or as a paperback book with 2400 LEGO Insiders points
Dungeons and Dragons publishers, Wizards of the Coast, are owned by Hasbro, and this represents the 3rd collaboration with the toy giant/entertainment company, following on from Transformers Optimus Prime released in 2022, as well as Peppa Pig DUPLO sets, also due for release in April.
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As one of the original minifigure themes, the LEGO Castle theme has a history with many Adult Fans: initially as an item of childhood joy, and subsequently as a nostalgic call back to simpler times. While the regular Castle playsets dwindled into nothingness almost a decade ago, their legacy has been revisited through 2022’s 10305 Lion Knight’s Castle, as well as a number of Gifts with Purchase: 40567 Forest hideout along with 40601 Majisto’s Magical Workshop.
But before the great Castle Renaissance of recent years, the largest castle set (by number of pieces) was 10193 Medieval Market. With 1601 pieces, this set from 2009 was the largest castle set released prior to the 10305 (with 4514 pieces). If we include surrogate castle themes such as the inital Hobbit and Lord of the Ringssets, and (if you dare) Nexo Knights, it outsized only by the Tower of Orthanc. Harry Potter might be considered another surrogate castle theme, but only the larger Diagon Alley sets, along with the microscale builds of Hogwarts have more pieces than 10129 Medieval Market.
Suffice to say, for many years, this has been one of the largest Castle sets, embodying the civilian aspects of medieval life. Prior to this, we had the occasional blacksmith, and tavern, and subsequently the not infamous 7189 Mill Village Raid – part of 2011’s Kingdoms line up , this civilian farm had the opportunity to be overrun by the Dragon Knights (who seem a little different to those depicted in the early 1990s.
This is of course the one and only set that previously brought us the LEGO Goat. Just why we never saw another goat for years remains the subject of speculation – the official line is that the mould was ruined- although the relative scarcity did allow for profiteering and investment, with the iconic animal rarely fading into obscurity, of only because of outlandish behaviours on the secondary market. Tes – thats right, over $100 for a Goat.
Now, while the 10305 Lion Knight’s Castle brought us a ‘proper’ castle set, fans have never really be left alone, with Collectable minifigures revisting some aspect of medieval life with almost every one of the numbered sets over the year.
Ultimately, series 25 brought forth great cries of excitement from The People with the arrival of the Goat herd, as well as the reimagined Bat-Lord. The Goatherd brought us a new remoulded goat – this time with unprinted sided.
The LEGACY/ICONS castle range has included Lion Knights, Black Falcons, Forestmen, and Dragon Knights. In collectable minifigures, we can add Fright Knights( Fright Knight in Series 19, along with the Vampire Knight in 2024) , along with a Wolf pack Rogue, wayback in 2016.
And so it is into this Millieu that the latest LEGO ICONS set is announced: the 10332 ICONS Medieval Town Square. With 3304 pieces, 8 minifigures and a newly minted Grey Goat this set will be released on the 1st of March 2024.
The model features two large structures that open to reveal detailed interiors, including a tavern, cheese factory, shield-painting workshop, guard tower, woodworking shop, and weaving workshop. There is also a tree and vendor stall in the town. There are also functional features including a crane and a small water mill.
We see the weaver, wood worker, the cheese maker, the shield artistthe barmaid/landlady as well as the local noble… tax collector and a lion knight. But wait… who is that sneaking around the edges? could it possibly the return of the wolf pack? Oh yes.. there is a Dark Stone Grey Goat!
The Wolf Pack – a gang of ruffians have not been seen in full since the Rogue in Series 16 Minifigures, and they have seen a significant upgrade since their original appearance back in the 1990s.
Looking further into life in the village, I love the tapestry and the tribute it pays to the original yellow Castle sets from 1978-79:Including the iconic cypress trees.
From the outset, castle sets, and castle builders have been at the forefront of developing new techniques for architectural detail as well as landscaping, and you can see how the design of these thatched roofs has evolved since the days of the Medieval Market, where simple, long 45º slopes would do the job.
The increased parts usage can be seen, in part, in the level of detail in the roof, as well as the overall structure and surrounding landscape – something which is developed significantly in theis new set compared with the 10193 Medieval Market.
Here is a closer look at the tavern in the older set, compared with the new version. As I rebuilt the bed, every reddish brown 1×1 tile I touched split in half… so glad we are past this era of brittleness…
It is an interesting exercise in looking at the evolution of building techniques employed in this type of set, as well as the evolution of the LEGO colour palette over the past 15 years.
I am excited to see this set in real life, and I expect it will be the launchpad for a number of medival MOCs that will spring up over the next few years. The presence of the LIONs Knight in this set suggests that this vilage might be under the watchful eye of the the castle released in 2022, and I suspect that, side by side, they will form a formidable display.
The set will be priced at $229.99 / £199.99/ €229.99/399.99 AUD/1999 CNY/93990 HUF/299.99 CAD/5499 MXN, and will be available at LEGO.com on March 1 2024.
I love the way this set captures the look and feel of a contemporary Castle Construction, using increasingly specialised techniques to capture the details in ways that would not have been considered 15 years ago. This detail, in combination with new figures (and of course the goat) all contribute to making this set one to look out for in MArch – particularly if Castle is your thing
What do you think of this set? Is it a fitting sequel to 10129? How about as a companion piece to 10305? Why don’t you leave your comments below!
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Until Next Time,
Play Well!
I recently reviewed the Castle revival set 40601 Majisto’s Magical Workshop, available as a gift with purchase over the Insiders weekend as well as the upcoming Black Friday sales event at LEGO.com. With a buy in of US$250 / AU$400 / £220 / €250 / CAD$330, it has received some criticism from the point of ‘cost of ownership’ as well as the fact that perhaps some of the elements that defined the look of the Dragon Knights were no longer available – particularly the distinctive halberd, plumes and helmet. There were some elements that could have beeen printed, such as Majisto’s torso, and the addition of the Dragon Knight’s shield.
I accept that there are reasons for these elements not being included…
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This year we celebrate 30 years since the arrival of Majisto and the Dragon Knights. (to say nothing of LEGO Dragons) onto the landscape. The modern update of 6048 Majisto’s workshop as a contemporary gift with purchase has had many builders excited about its arival, and others just as disappointed, either by the omission of certain details (such as plumes in the Knight’s helmet, and decorations on Majisto’s Torso ), or the buy in price (>400AUD/250USD) as a gift with purchase on the LEGO Insiders weekend, or over the Black Friday shopping weekend.
I was really excited to receive this set to look at, from the LEGO Group, as I was keen to see how techniques used might differ from those used in the original model. While I may not have a copy of this 6048 Majisto’s Workshop I can at least take a look at the instructions, and see how this updated set might differ from the 1993 original.
I am also keen to take a look at the original models displayed on the back of the box, and see if they might be able to be put together with this set.
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Last year, I started to explore the way in which the LEGO® Castle theme has developed over the years. In our first installment, we looked at some of the ‘Pre-minifigure’ Castle history and continued to look at the way the Castle theme developed during the period of LEGOLAND Branding (1978-1991). In particular, we saw the development of factions, advanced use of landscaping, compared to other themes and the development of multiple animal moulds.
But what happened next? We have previously seen that 1990s were a period of diversification of material in both the LEGO Town and Space themes, with an increased number of factions and sub-themes. I apologize to those who have been waiting patiently for the follow up to last year’s article: Let’s take a look to see what happens in the realms of the Castle themes during the SYSTEM era..
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In which we explore the early days of LEGO® Castle, take in the early factions, and look at just what made Castle sets ‘Classic Castle’…
Over the past 18 months, the Rambling Brick has looked at the development of Classic Town from the early days, through the System era, a World City inspired Dark Ages to LEGO® City we know today. We have followed this up with a look at Classic Space, and its evolution through to the turn of the century. There is still an article to follow up here, looking at space themes in the 21st Century, and where they are today. This is particularly pertinent, given the 2022 reimagining of the original LEGO Space Flagship set: the 928/497Galaxy Explorer. This is not that article.
Before I write that article, for reasons that will eventually become apparent, I would like to take a look at the other pillar of the Classic LEGO Minifigure Themes – Castle. While Town gave kids the chance to live out the present, and space allowed them to imagine the Future, Castle allowed then to explore the past.
As a kid growing up in Australia, castles were a thing of fantasy: we only really saw them in books (with drawings) and in movies or on television. Typically in the context of an episode of Doctor Who. While the country has been inhabited for tens of thousands of years, the need for permenant fortifications was never really needed. In fact, the only castle I am aware of in Australia was built in the early 1970’s and run as a theme park.
But what are the characteristics of Classic Castle? And what time frame might be considered ‘Classic’? In this post, we will look at: Castle inspiration before minifigures existed; the initial range of Castle sets (1978-1981), and finally, consider Castle sets throughout the rest of ‘LEGOLAND’ phase: 1984-1990.
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