Do you know the feeling of having too much cake with icing and a soft drink? Perhaps you’ve seen the effect such a combination at a children’s party? That is the feeling I got from this set.
The highlight of this set would obviously be the unicorn. As it turns out, this singular unicorn shares its habitat with two pegasi! Although, is this really a habitat? Or something else? I felt confused when building this set, and perhaps that is a good thing.
The ‘due-to-license-issues-officially-not-my-little-pony‘ set, 31175 Unicorn Castle is retailing for AU$59.99/£34.99/$44.99/€39.99 and contains 390 parts and three tiny horse-adjacent creatures. The creatures are probably the main selling point, but there’s quite a bit more in the box; perhaps a bit too much. Read on to see what this set has to offer, and find out if this is for you.
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.
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..
It feels just like last year when you could get a Disney Castle LEGO Set with over 4000 pieces and came with 7 minifigures. Wait, it was, and with classic iconic characters such as Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck and Daisy, along with the signature Tinker Bell, and a random statue. Back at the time the set was released (September 2016), this was the first time we would see Tinker Bell in true minifigure form. And it has taken another 7 years before she would appear as a minifigure once more!
But we are not going to talk about that set much today (initially at least)
Instead, we are going to talk about a brand New Disney Castle, set to form the centerpiece of the 100 years of Disney Celebrations, in LEGO form. The minifigure selection Highlights Disney Princesses from across the years, including Snow White (her first time in minfigure form)and Prince Florian; Cinderella and Prince Charming; Princess Tiana and Prince Nareen; Rapunzel and Flynn Ryder. With 4837 pieces, the set is due for release on July 1 (VIPs) and July 4 (every one else). It is priced at £344.99/ €399.99/$399.99/8999.9 TRY/169990.0 HUF/3299.0 CNY/519.99 CAD/ 599.99 AUD.
Now, as I implied earlier, the previous Castle was retired just 6 months ago. Does this set offer enough reasons to make chasing it down worthwhile, despite the increased price tag? Let’s take a closer look at the set, and perhaps compare what we know of the two. (And read the press copy along the way.)
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.
It seems like a lifetime ago that the LEGO Ideas fan vote took place, to select the theme for a 90th Anniversary, AFOL level build. It was a close call between the castle and Space themes, but this seems to be the grander of the two sets. With 4514 pieces and 20 minifigures, this set goes on sale to VIPs on August 3, with general release August 8. The set is aimed at an adult audience and will cost $399.99 / £344.99 / €399.99 /549.99 599.99 AUD/449.99 CAD.
If you are a fan of LEGO Castle, this has almost everything, and everyone: villagers, Black Falcons, Lion Knights, Forestmen a wizard and a queen. But no King! I wonder if there will be a realistic way to obtain one in the months to come?
A little over eighteen months ago, Clemens Fiedler’s LEGO® Ideas Submission ‘Medieval BlackSmith’ reached 10000 supporters on the crowd-sourcing platform. Finally, we can reveal the official details about this set. Last year, 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay saw classic Pirates given the LEGO Ideas/ AFOL Audience Treatment. This year, the 21325 Medieval Blacksmith sees the same treatment meted out on the Classic Castle/Medieval Market village style sets.
With 2164 pieces, and costing 149.99 USD/ 199.99 CAD 146.99 EUR / 134.99 GBP /249.99 AUD, this set will be released through LEGO Branded Retail on February 1st.
This is the largest set in the range: while 71360: Adventures with Mario is the set that everyone will get, 71369: Bowser’s Castle Boss Battle is the set that many will want. Bowser is Mario’s nemesis, and leader of the turtle like Koopa race. And so it makes sense that the flagship set in the theme will involve LEGO Super Mario taking him down.
Even with all the wits and power ups at his disposal to, Mario will still need a little bit of luck to defeat Bowser.
AS we continue Further and further into advent, we continue to look at short lived Advent Calendar themes. While Castle has been a long standing theme since the beginning days of the Minifigure, it has not been an endless source of Advent Calendar based material. this is a shame, as the daily development of accessories and stories works quite well in this context.
There have been two Castle themed Advent Calendars over the years: ‘Castle Advent Calendar 7979’ in 2008 and Kingdoms Advent Calendar 7952 from 2010
In recent weeks we have celebrated the 40th Birthday of the LEGO® Minifigure by looking at the ways in which print advertisements evolved over the years for City,trains and Space. City had us building what we knew, Space let us look towards an optimistic future, and today, I would like to look at Castle. The knights of the LEGO Castle theme took us back in time. These were stories we already knew: King Arthur, Robin Hood, the Crusades, and now LEGO brought us a way in which to explore and reenact these stories our selves, in the comfort of our own home.
Once again, we visit advertising material from a number of different sources, predominantly European comics. I have had a bit more help with the translations here, as some of the concepts were too much for a simple machine translation engine… Read on and enjoy…
In the beginning:
Build your own Knight’s Castle. Populate the Legoland castle with small funny colorful figures Just like at King Arthur’s time when Prince Valiant passed the Camelot drawbridge on his adventures.
