Fantasy Era was my favorite Castle subtheme, having so many factions and so many mythical creatures really put it a cut above the rest.

Nice dragon!

Some of the 973 parts might be big and chunky, but you get a fully formed castle, a dragon with a lot of articulation, and 10 minifgures with those 973 pieces at a mighty respectable $100 price tag. That's a Star Wars fan's dream for just a starfighter and three to four figs these days.

EDIT: I was going to make a comparison about Star Wars from 2007, but looking at the lineup, man, we were living it up good back then. Everything's a solid PPP ratio, and that's not excluding the MTT with it's 20 droids at only $100, and the Rebel Base with it's 8 figs for $50. Ironically, the worst of the bunch is the classic Clone Trooper Battlepack with only 58 parts for $10, but in terms of Clones, you couldn't be happier to get so many so easily.

2007 man, what a time to be a LEGO fan.

It's a leak!!!

Kidding. But we'll take it as a sign of good things to come this summer.

Side note, Fantasy Era was HIGHLY underappreciated at the time and actually is one of the more innovative Castle subthemes. If anything, it is proof that a modern fantasy spin on a classic theme (Castle) can work, and work very well.

In my personal opinion, this is probably the best medieval castle LEGO has ever released (outside of Lord of the Rings of course). But then again, we'll just have to wait until August.

Really wish I got some of the fantasy era sets, particularly this one and the market village.

@MCLegoboy said:
"Some of the 973 parts might be big and chunky, but you get a fully formed castle, a dragon with a lot of articulation, and 10 minifgures with those 973 pieces at a mighty respectable $100 price tag. That's a Star Wars fan's dream for just a starfighter and three to four figs these days.

EDIT: I was going to make a comparison about Star Wars from 2007, but looking at the lineup, man, we were living it up good back then. Everything's a solid PPP ratio, and that's not excluding the MTT with it's 20 droids at only $100, and the Rebel Base with it's 8 figs for $50. Ironically, the worst of the bunch is the classic Clone Trooper Battlepack with only 58 parts for $10, but in terms of Clones, you couldn't be happier to get so many so easily.

2007 man, what a time to be a LEGO fan."

Too bad I was learning to walk and talk then

@R1_Drift said:
" @MCLegoboy said:
"2007 man, what a time to be a LEGO fan."

Too bad I was learning to walk and talk then"

I had been out of college for 12 years and had my drivers' license for 19 years. I must seem like some kind of senior citizen to you.

I will never understand why a set like this (with updated pieces and building techniques of course) couldn't sell today.
I personally prefer more realistic historical themes, Kingdoms was my favourite and the one I collected. But I understand kids prefer fantasy and fantasy medieval stuff is still very popular, just look at games like Legend of Zelda, Clash of Clans, World of Warcraft, plus there's LoTR, Hobbit, GoT, How to Train your Dragon etc. etc.

This is definitely one of the better castles Lego did. I like the properly built mini catapult (a lot better than the tiny one piece ones my Kingdoms castle has), and the dragon (while of no interest to me), is still a really cool piece and would definitely be a lot of fun for young children.

Let's face it, Nexo Knights was literally a fantasy castle theme just with different colours and a sort of mash with Classic Space stuff. Nexo Knights (the first couple of waves anyway) was very popular and frankly I think that proves kids ARE still interested in medieval themes, nor do I think Lego needs to make it futuristic either. After all, the knights still rode horses and used largely medieval weapons and certainly the bad guy factions could easily have come from a more traditional theme like the 2007 Castle theme.

The only reason historical themes like Castle and Pirates failed in more recent times was because Lego kept doing the same thing over and over again, literally doing the same sets like prison carriages and outpost towers being attacked by an enemy catapult.

All Lego needs to do is have a fresh take on Castle, maybe reintroduce Forestmen or Fright Knights, think of new set ideas and back it all up with a good TV show and well developed characters, rather than just dumping a grey, blocky castle with barely any play features and then wondering why it doesn't sell.

Marbled BURPs, nice

I got this set, either winning it as a convention door prize, or buying it on clearance. I enjoy taking pieces out of the bags when I need them to build other things. Dragon’s cool, too.

@NatureBricks:
Batman got cancelled during its third year, too, with a criminally underproduced final wave that evaporated upon arrival, immediately preceding the opening of The Dark Knight. Seems to have done pretty well since hitting San Diego in 2011…

A nice return to form after KK2. Still, the portcullis looks funny when raised without a proper gatehouse and I've never liked that empty half-spire placed precariously to the side of the rear tower

@chrisaw :
The Dragon is not 'good'...he's attacking the castle after all...:)

If the rumor is true, supposedly we're getting a "new old" (or is that "new ole") castle from the Lion Knights line...wonder if we'll get space-stuff "next year"...(And 'yes', I know about the 'City stuff', but come on...)

@NatureBricks:
Batman was cancelled before the 2008 wave hit shelves because retailers weren’t really interested in it after the 2007 wave didn’t sell that great. The decision was to finish the third wave that was already in production, and call it quits (I got that much straight from Kevin Hinkle). My entire state has one LEGO Store, which opened two years later in 2010. Between TRU, Meijer, Walmart, and Target, I saw the 2008 sets exactly one time, bought double copies of them all on the spot (thankfully), and when TDK premiered the sets didn’t fly off shelves because there weren’t any more left to sell. Even that stupid little Mr. Freeze set was listing for around $100 by the end of the year. So, I don’t know where you were finding them so easily, but it definitely wasn’t within 30 miles of where I live.

No wonder the siege happened once the king displayed his treasure in the highest tower for the whole world to see and covet. Now in a few moments the dragon will just fly in and snatch it up. A treasure should be hidden and/or buried. Bit safer that way.

10/10 for playability though.

I loved that style of dragon.

Crazy to think there was a time when people didin't really care about Batman in LEGO and Castle was one of their top selling themes... Man, how have times changed.

I am really curious, why has Batman become so popular after its reboot in 2012? If you looked at the number of Brickset people who own, the most owned Batman set from the original line is barely 3,856, while the most owned from the rebooted line was 12,737. That's an absolutely insane difference in interest! I wonder what cause such a huge resurgence in popularity just four years in between LEGO releases?

Sadly for Castle, I am afraid the failed 2013 line is what killed it. Juniorized builds, that looked almost the same as the Kingdoms sets from two years prior, must have really killed consumer interest at the time. But it has been almost a decade for goodness sake! If the interesting Batman case from above proves anything, is that people's interest shift in different directions as time goes on. 2013 Castle may have failed with the rise of LotR, but that doesn't mean wouldn't sell like hotcakes today. The fan-demand I see online is absolutely insane, and LEGO can't deny it.
But oh well, a 350$ set is better than nothing I guess.

@LegoDavid said:
[Sadly for Castle, I am afraid the failed 2013 line is what killed it. Juniorized builds, that looked almost the same as the Kingdoms sets from two years prior, must have really killed consumer interest at the time. But it has been almost a decade for goodness sake! If the interesting Batman case from above proves anything, is that people's interest shift in different directions as time goes on. 2013 Castle may have failed with the rise of LotR, but that doesn't mean wouldn't sell like hotcakes today. The fan-demand I see online is absolutely insane, and LEGO can't deny it.
But oh well, a 350$ set is better than nothing I guess. ]]

Some good points, although I return to an argument I always make, it's not that people lost interest in the subject matter, merely that the sets at the time had the problems you described well. LoTR for example remains very popular, but Lego doesn't make any sets. We didn't have Harry Potter sets for years, and during the years we didn't have HP, it wasn't that there weren't any HP fans, simply that 1. Lego refused to invest in it and 2. Like you say, the previous attempt ruined people's perception of it.

Lego has this stupid idea that "Oh kids aren't interested in (insert theme)". Well how can they be when there isn't any sets for them to buy? Take Atlantis for example. It's not that kids don't like the idea, it's simply that there aren't sets on shelves for kids to want to buy, and/or the execution of one line of that theme doesn't go well. You wouldn't say "Oh kids don't like submarines or underwater stuff anymore" just because they aren't buying the specific Atlantis theme, yet that's what people do when discussing themes like castle and pirates. Kids LOVE pirates, there are whole isles in dress up shops dedicated just to pirates.
Hidden Side was a great attempt at a new idea for a spooky theme. It failed, (which was again due to execution; obsession with technology overshadowed the Lego part), and yet I don't see anyone whinging that kids don't like spooky stuff?

The problem with the Lego pirate theme is that Lego only ever released one expensive ship. The whole point of pirates is two ships shooting cannons at each other. Imagine if the Pirates of the Caribbean movies had just one pirate ship and then the good guys fight them in rowboats.

Lego should reinvest in historical themes. Kids need to be educated about history and made to appreciate the past, as well as just have fun with it.

Lego just needs to sit down and actually think about new historical themes. Maybe try a new location or time period, like Vikings or Ancient Greece (Greek mythology is very popular), or indeed just try fresh ideas with castle and pirates, maybe bring back Islanders.

In regards to castle, perhaps a massive $100 grey castle isn't the best idea. Maybe one could place more emphasis on smaller factions with smaller bases. Bring back Lion Knights, Black Falcons, Fright Knights and Forestmen for example. Each has their own medium sized base and have starter packs to allow one to build ones army, and let kids decide which faction is their favourite, who's good and who's bad, who wins and who loses.

I think that would work really well, especially since Forestmen and Fright Knights are very different to the regular grey castle realistic knights, and both have opportunities for really creative ideas, like perhaps exploring nature a bit more with Forestmen (sort of like Elves did), maybe have a big spooky castle on a mountain for fright knights and have them ride mini dragons instead of horses or something.

@PDelahanty said:
" @R1_Drift said:
" @MCLegoboy said:
"2007 man, what a time to be a LEGO fan."

Too bad I was learning to walk and talk then"

I had been out of college for 12 years and had my drivers' license for 19 years. I must seem like some kind of senior citizen to you."

I was 9. Perfect age! ;)

I know people on this site tend to wax nostalgic about the Castle sets of old so it’s heartening to see so much support for what is a legit good set like this despite it being more modern

How log has the siege taken? Well, it's been dragon on for a while now...!

@NatureBricks said:
" @Brickchap said:" Nexo Knights (the first couple of waves anyway) was very popular and frankly I think that proves kids ARE still interested in medieval themes, nor do I think Lego needs to make it futuristic either. "

How popular could it have been when it failed and was canceled in it's third year? "

It was cancelled in its third year because that's usually how that kind of "Big Bang" theme works. CHIMA, for example, only lasted three years, and other fairly popular Big Bang themes like Games, Power Miners, Agents, Atlantis, etc. lasted only one or two. NINJAGO and Bionicle are the two big outliers that became essential evergreen themes. A theme's cancellation doesn't make it a failure, sometimes it's just run its course as expected.

I think this set is the last appearance of the “classic” castle panels before their redesigns in 2010ish. Truly the end of an era!